Ozzybass

Smallmouths are my absolute fave American bass! I lived in US for 4 yrs. I might be struck by lightning for saying this...but I think I like them more than Aussie bass!

Madkanu - if you had any bass fishing experience in North America? If so, you may like to consider Aussie bass fishing. Great fun on lures.

Great stuff Derek! What you said about winding left handed - yes, it is what you're used to, but consider this - everyone else in the world, except for Australia & Japan (& NZ too I think) wind left-handed if they are right-handed. I have reeled left-handed since childhood so its second nature to me. I do admire those people, often of advanced age, that have made the switch. I know I would not like to have to wind with my right hand. I had to do that with baitcasters when I got my first one, but LHW baitcast reels are common nowadays. Classic case for winding left-handed is lurecasting a trout stream for example. You're fishing in fast shallow water, maybe using a lure that sinks (eg. a Celta). If you can cast with your right hand, you can flip the bail over with your left hand almost instantly rather than having to switch hand holding the rod. This means less chance that the lure sinks & catches the bottom which could mean snagging or picking up weed/algae. Using a buzzbait for bass fishing is another example where not switching hands is a major advantage. However, it is what you're used to as I know of many Aussie right handers that wind with their right hand that can switch very well.

I always used barbless hooks when I'm bass fishing. Makes it much easier & safer for both fish and fisho. I've dropped very few fish that I can definitely say is because of the barbless hooks. As long as you can keep some sort of pressure on the hooked fish and not give any slack line, you're usually no worse off than if you used barbed hooks.

Very nice! Landbased or on watercraft?

I never use my Cranka Crabs in freshwater, but a good mate has caught good carp using a Cranka Crab. Personally, I just about go broke buying Cranka Crabs replacing the ones that big bream take home to use them for bass or other freshwater fish.

This is absolutely "the wedge". I have been waiting for this for years and the only thing that surprises me is that it is mixed up with all the other animal welfare issues. It is such a broad brush that my greatest fear is that rec & especially sportsfishing will be "sacrificed" to please the animal liberationists so that the other farming stuff will be left alone. /as PaddyT said, don't expect the ALP to help us anglers. DO NOT BE COMPLACENT!!!

I thought I would try to emulate your success last Sunday. I kayak fished from 10am - 2pm with high tide around midday. I did not get a single bite, let alone any fish! I tried Zman Grubz, Slimswimz, crankbaits, blade, plastic vibe, popper & Sugapen among the mangroves. No mojo.

I too have caught bream on cabbage weed while blackfishing the rocks.

On the hook size question - if specifically targeting flathead, I use 3/0 size hook. This gives good hook clearance and also is nothing to a flatty's gob. Of course I have caught flatties with smaller plastix and hook sizes but usually as bycatch when bream fishing. Certainly if targeting flathead on foot, I would go no lighter than qtr ounce (7g) for casting distance and the 3/0 hook size means I can comfortably use Zman 3" MinnowZ, 4" Streakz and even 5" Jerk shads. However, I must say, I prefer to use a worm hook for the 5" Jerk shads.

I did not mention Gulp in my answer as the question was with "Squidgies" or shall we say, "real plastics". I have a love/hate relationship with Gulp and I have successfully weaned myself away from Gulp over 2 or 3yrs ago, except for one scenario which I will get to at the end of this post. IMO there's no way Gulp is as durable than "real plastics" even Squidgies. The reason I have a love/hate relationship with Gulp is that I love the way they work and catch fish. No argument. However, I hate using them because they represent everything I didn't like about bait fishing - mess, smell & pickers eating them. If you fish anywhere with pickers like little chopper tailor, leatherjackets and worse of all, toadies; you will be constantly replacing the Gulp as they will be eaten and chewed up. Zmans can tolerate a HECK of a lot more attacks from the pickers. It is not uncommon to go through a packet or more of Gulps in a session. Zmans, in my personal experience, I lose maybe max. 5% to pickers and most of the time I only lose my Zman when I get snagged & lose my jighead or I get bitten off above the jighead or a big bream busts me off! Gulp Sandworms - whiting love them. Possibly as much as they like real worms. If I'm fishing some flats, I like having a packet of Sandworms around especially if they're not biting on topwater lures.

Squidgies work very well but are not durable as you have found. Zmans completely overshadow them on the durability scale AND are just as good in catching fish. 1 packet of Zmans equals 4 packets of Squidgies in my opinion.

Very nice! Thanks for your report.

I have been more impressed with your blackfish efforts, especially where you are fishing. Well done there! I also fish the shores of Botany Bay for flathead. I do it in late Spring/early Summer and I do it every year. Sometimes they start by Sept/Oct and in other years, nothng much happens until December. Main point is that this time of year is not a great time to be walking the shores of BB lurecasting for flathead. Not saying you won't catch any at this time of year, but they will be hard work. Both of my last PB flatties (10 yrs apart!!) have come from the Ramsgate to Dolls Pt stretch including my current PB caught in October 2018 with some good fish caught in Nov 2018. 2019/2020 - not a good season at all and I didn't get out much.

Sometimes you catch the resident fish that happens to be there. The ones that school can move around.