lukeyj1973

Every fisherman needs at least one lost rod story to tell mate - bad luck... At least you didn't go home empty handed!

Mate - we were out there Sunday morning for a few hours... Tried plastics and blades out from the Novotel first up for a couple of small snapper and flathead... All released. Then over to trevally alley to set a burley trail and soak some pilchards for not even a bite! Finally we set up at the Yarra bay reef where we managed a few more small bream and snapper on pilchards and chicken... Tried a couple of yakkas live and butterflied... One bite off on the live one, otherwise nothing... Great day just to be out there though.

Well done mate... You just keep on making the rest of us working folk jealous with your mid-week reports! Top stuff

Great report - thanks for sharing. We stayed at the van park for a long weekend before Christmas and managed a couple of large flatties (65 and 74cm), but also none between that and under size... Great place though, and will definitely be back.

Such a good looking fish the Murray cod... I'm heading back to the Murray next weekend and am keen to give cheese a shot as have never used it before... seems like it goes all right!

Managed to get away with the family for a long weekend downstream from Echuca, and did surprisingly well on the green fish. Final tally was 5 cod ranging from small to 75cm... Only measured the two biggest that went 70 and 75, but a third would have been over 60 for sure. One decent yellow belly and amazingly only three carp!! All fish were caught from the back of the houseboat, and so we didn't muck about too much in the tinny as it just seemed too hard... Only used bait, and the cod came in on live shrimp or frozen bardie grubs... And the yellow belly was on a yabby. Carp all took shrimp. I find catching cod is pretty straightforward... Park the houseboat upstream from a likely snag (of which there are plenty), and then just throw a decent sized bait back into or near it... Late afternoon and early evening was the peak time for us. Rig is just a running sinker straight down to the hook. We used 40 pound mono as a trace, and main line 30 or 50 pound braid. Stick the rod in a rod holder, grab a beer and the fish basically hook themselves,,, easy. It really is a magic part of Australia down there. All fish except the carp were released. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That's just insane... on a popper!!! Well done - great memories...

Mate - that GT is a beast! Nice work... and great pics too. Trip of a lifetime indeed...

Off Ramsgate I generally motor in as close to the rock walls as I dare, and then drift back out... This time we were anchored about 75-100 meters off from the swimming net thing... not too far in other words

Hi Raiders, Took the father in law out for a morning session today... the intention was to use bait as he's not too good at flicking plastics which is my usual technique. So we started off Ramsgate beach where we started soaking some Hawkesbury prawns and pillies... I managed to nail a decent 50cm flattie on a plastic while we were anchored whilst the father in law managed a couple of throw back flatties only. We moved over closer to Towra for a drift but didn't get so much as a nibble so decided to escape the rising wind and head up river. We anchored up right on Kangaroo point and lucked upon a school of trevally which were great fun on light gear. There were some bream mixed in with them but all throw backs... Called it a day at about 12 and headed home with one flattie and 3 trevs for dinner. Nice day out on the water, but think we saw the best of the day...

Hi Raiders - what a cracking day it is out there today... It's been an age since my last report as my little 15 month old daughter has been keeping me busy... in a good way of course! Anyway - I managed to sneak off to the groynes along Brighton beach for a quick flick at about midday today - the bottom of the tide I think. I was using some 10cm Berkley Shakey Shads in the punk prawn colour... basically I just cast as far as I can, and then slowly bounce it back along the bottom... well after about an hour I managed to get this beast which put up quite a decent fight once it realised it was hooked!!! I measured it at home and it went bang on 60 cm... It will go very well as a red Thai curry tomorrow night... It's always tough landing them out on the stones, and this time was no different... I use 12 pound flourocarbon leader so basically reefed it out, and then tried to grab it without getting spiked... unfortunately it got it's head down a small hole in the stones and as it shook it's head the line was cut on the oysters and down into the caves it went... It probably took me 15 minutes to finally grab it's tail with some pliers and pull it out again... slicing up my arm nicely on the oysters in the meantime! It was well worth it... There was another bloke fishing off the end of the groyne using bait whilst I was there... he managed a couple of small rays which were both released. All in all - a lovely day out on the water, and am looking forward to getting out a bit more over this summer. Hope everyone else managed to get a fish or two... Cheers

Cheers guys. The plastc was a Squidgie Fish - Flash Prawn colour #SQPRO F70... I fished along the beaches where the rock walls are... not sure exactly what the place is called, but guess the whole area looks the same so it probably doesn't matter too much. This is the same place that we came with Scotty where we drifted just off the shore. The tide [if that makes a difference was about 1/2 way out... 2 hours before the low]. I'm definitely going to be back again, and so may see you down there...

Hi all. After spending a "Day on the Bay" with Scotty Lyons a few weeks back, I have become somewhat hooked on the whole flathead on soft plastics game... I'm still learning the ropes having done most of my fishing in fresh water chasing trout, but a fish is a fish right! Anyway, Scotty put me onto a few flatties when we went out [thanks again BTW] and gave me a few pointers on technique etc. So I went back to the Cook Park area today armed with some Squidgy Fish and my trout spining rig loaded with 5 pound braid and a 6 pound leader... Spent about an hour casting from the shore and the rock walls there with no luck, but then had two decent hits in consecutive casts which brightened my mood... and then a few casts later I came up trumps with this beauty! She went about 67cm and is easily my largest flathead to date... Thanks again to Scotty for making me aware of such a great fishery right on my doorstep! Fillets in beer batter for diner tonight... Please forgive any balls up with the pics as I am new to posting.... and can't seem to get all 3 pics up....