Headed out early this morning, up past Lilli Pilli.
Various baits, all attacked by small reddies, though 2 were just over the limit, and the bream as the first fish caught. Also a just over size flounder, too small to keep, and a jewie at 65cm. Nothing on the surface apart from pillies. There should be bonnies and frigates at this time of year, none to be seen anywhere.
No yakkas to be caught. I hooked a solid fish, bit of weight to it then the hooks chewed off almost straight away. I'm guessing a good sized tailor.
As I was heading home on the run out tide, I decided to have a fish on the drift, sitting just off the sand bank near the ballast heap. A soft plastic prawn thrown over the bank, and an unweighted pillie on ganged hooks out in the channel. After a while the smaller flattie grabbed the plastic, but that was the only hit. Spooked 2 other small flatties as I was drifting along, and they swam off.
Decided that was enough, so I wound in the pillie at a bit of speed. When it was near the boat and just under the surface, a brown rocket followed the pillie at speed. It was the larger flattie, it was way off the bottom and obviously hungry. I slowed speed and the flattie slowed speed, and swam around the pillie a couple of times. I jigged the pillie and the flattie swam up to it and away from it, mouth opening and closing a few times. I jigged the pillie right past the flattie's mouth, the mouth opened and the pillie disappeared in one gulp, like being sucked up in a vacuum, the pillie was just inhaled. Interesting to watch the flattie's reaction to the bait.
A bit of a fight by the flattie. When I hauled it up, the 3 ganged hooks holding the pillie were sticking in various parts of the flattie's mouth and not coming out easily, so I decided to keep it, otherwise it would have been released. Headed home after that.