Georges River flattie and bream - 4 Jan 2016

[fiveflies]

Braved the weather today and went for a fish with my twin daughters to target some flatties and bream. We left from Como and headed up the Georges to a hole where I've caught them before. We anchored up and I began to rigg up the rods.

The girls cast out with a prawn each and I began rigging the other rods so I could enjoy a little fish as well. No sooner had I opened the tackle box than I hear "Dad, I think I've got a bite!". I ask my daughter to reel in and see if she's been baited or she was just imagining things.

As she begins to wind in the rod buckles over and the drag starts to run, slowly. I leap over, tighten the drag as she slowly brings in what is no doubt a big fish on her first cast. Its murky in the water and as we get leader I am peering into the river wondering what the hell it is.

All of a sudden I can see colour and a big lizard materialises. Its big and I start to panic as I am sure we'll lose it when it sees the boat and/or its head gets lifted out of the water. I'm scrambling for the net, slipping on the tinny floor, standing on the unrigged rods and trying to provide instructions as the same time. The flattie's head breaks the surface and its starts to go mad, shaking away and I am sure we'll lose it. The girls are screaming with excitement, joy and fear!

Finally I manage to get the net to the water and we manage to net the beast and get it in the boat!! Its high fives, knuckles and back slapping all around! This is a beast for my daughter and measures in at 66cm. We take the obligatory photos and then we release her to fight another day and to produce even more flatties for the future.

We couldn't believe that we'd snagged this fish on the first cast!

After this the bites continued and the girls managed a lot of bream and we kept two of the bigger ones at 29cm and 31cm for a nice feed.

So after about four hours in the rain we finally turned for home having had a brilliant afternoon and constant bites and a steady run of fish. No more flatties unfortunately. We were hoping for some smaller ones that we could take home to eat. Ironic that we were hoping to catch smaller fish!

Here's to next time we get out and get a bend in their rods.

[daniel944]

Great catch, after loosing a few flatties at the boat I now mostly just pull them straight out of the water and into the boat if bait fishing

[Scratchie]

Great work mate. The girls look extremely happy with the catch. The weather is obviously different down there. Only good for ducks up here!

Cheers scratchie!!!

[Ribs]

Great read and well done to the girls for braving the weather..... I considered getting the boat out but decided to stay warm and watch the cricket, yes I'm soft! Must of been early as it has not stopped raining since midday yesterday, good work, nice flaty for the Georges.

[fiveflies]

Great result for all concerned and well done on braving the conditions

Thanks, we had fun despite getting wet. Had a half canopy on the tinny so a little bit of shelter.

Great catch, after loosing a few flatties at the boat I now mostly just pull them straight out of the water and into the boat if bait fishing

Those head shakes when you lift them are deadly on the mono! This one fell into the net nicely so we were lucky.

Great work mate. The girls look extremely happy with the catch. The weather is obviously different down there. Only good for ducks up here!

Cheers scratchie!!!

It was pretty wet scratchie. Started off overcast and then got wetter and wetter.

Great read and well done to the girls for braving the weather..... I considered getting the boat out but decided to stay warm and watch the cricket, yes I'm soft! Must of been early as it has not stopped raining since midday yesterday, good work, nice flaty for the Georges.

Was well worth it as the girls were stoked with their catches. The flattie in particular and it kicked off the session in good style. We hit the water around 10.45 and fished until around 3.00. Most of the afternoon was wet although the showers were intermittent.

[Welster]

Great read and a top little session.

I love stories like this, you have gone out when most stay home, taught the kids these days are what you make them despite the weather and they were well rewarded for the effort. Winning all round.

[fiveflies]

Great read and a top little session.

I love stories like this, you have gone out when most stay home, taught the kids these days are what you make them despite the weather and they were well rewarded for the effort. Winning all round.

Thanks welst. They were hesitant at first and luckily it wasn't raining as we launched. That first fish in the boat after 15 minutes got them hooked!

[adkel53]

To avoid losing fish to those head shakes try swimming the fish alongside the boat (ie parallel to it) without letting it get its head out of the water and swim it into your net. This stops them thrashing around on the top and risking cutting your leader with the sharp gill plates or teeth, especially if the hook is well down the fish's throat. Much safer than lifting them in, especially those 66 cm models. Your girls will soon get the hang of it once you show them how and teach them to remain calm(ish) when the fish materialises from the depths. I did a lot of live baiting with poddy mullet with my kids when they were young and we lost very few fish at the boat by learning to do this. They were great times in our lives.

Taking two grandkids visiting from Tasmania (4 and 6) out tomorrow to see if I can hook them up to a legal fish or two in Botany Bay.

[jenno64]

Great session and some top fish. Good to see the kids fishing in less than ideal conditions too!

[fiveflies]

To avoid losing fish to those head shakes try swimming the fish alongside the boat (ie parallel to it) without letting it get its head out of the water and swim it into your net. This stops them thrashing around on the top and risking cutting your leader with the sharp gill plates or teeth, especially if the hook is well down the fish's throat. Much safer than lifting them in, especially those 66 cm models. Your girls will soon get the hang of it once you show them how and teach them to remain calm(ish) when the fish materialises from the depths. I did a lot of live baiting with poddy mullet with my kids when they were young and we lost very few fish at the boat by learning to do this. They were great times in our lives.

Taking two grandkids visiting from Tasmania (4 and 6) out tomorrow to see if I can hook them up to a legal fish or two in Botany Bay.

Its Daddy that needs to remain calm!!!

Great session and some top fish. Good to see the kids fishing in less than ideal conditions too!

Always good to catch a fish early in the session and to have lots of bites, keeps the kids interested. They did really well given the weather conditions.