fragmeister

Thanks Salty, I didn't venture further upstream as it seemed to ve very soft underfoot around the mouth of that little creek just past the bridge. Next time I might take a paddle up there in a rented canoe and toss the fly again. Cheers Jim

Hi Raiders, Just before Christmas I had a week camping down at 7 Mile Beach. I have been there a few times and I have to say that it is reasonably tough fishing compared to other destinations down the coast. We stayed at the caravan park on Crooked River which is a very shallow estuary that I believe was closed off until a few months ago. In the past I have caught some jumbo whiting in the Crooked River but this time around they seemed to be absent. It was very relaxing wading the sand flats with my fly rod and I did pick up a few flatties with my favourite flattie fly. It's a little blood worm pattern, and it works for me every time... mind you I don't think flatties are that discerning! I am afraid I didn't get any decent pictures but here's one from the bridge over the river taken by a mate. You can see how shallow the water was. I was casting into a patch of seagrass and I got two fish in rapid succession. Not big fish, but it is always good to bring in a few on fly. I didn't hit the beach this year, but I would be interested to hear any comments from other raiders. The beach has a very gradual slope and at least at the northern end is comprised of very fine and tightly compacted sand. Plenty of pipis and some beach worms that are a little difficult to catch because the sand is so compacted. I also find that there are very few gutters and I think this leads to an absence of many of the traditional beach species like salmon and tailor. Plenty of flathead though if you wade out to get a decent casting distance. All this may be different further south on the beach though where it is a little less protected. Would love to hear from any Raiders who know the area better. Anyway, it was all a very relaxing time with some great sunsets, few beers and some good friends. Cheers Jim

I have all 150's, but I can see some logic in having the best available for the skipper. As the skipper you may go offshore solo, and potentially you could get knocked out and fall overboard. I came close once going a little too fast and coming down hard off the back of the wave. Smacked by forehead on the top of the windscreen. I was ok, but it could have been a lot worse. So, a quality self inflating and self righting 150 is a good move for the solo trip outside. So perhaps more budget priced ones for the crew is ok when there are a few on board to help each other out. Cheers Jim

Salmon, bream and trevs, and with the weather in the background you could be excused for thinking it was winter! Nice catch though and a well-thought-out photo telling the whole story. Cheers Jim

Cant agree with that one.. Bluespots are Platycephalus caeruleopunctatus Sand flathead are Platycephalus bassensis In Sydney you will catch sand flathead in the bays and close in but generally blue spots are only in 25 meters or more. Plus they have very clear blue spots. Cheers Jim

`` Going to edit that post. That wasn't meant to be my order of preference LOL!

Hi Raiders, After a recent fishing trip I cooked some flathead fillets using my favourite batter - Tempura Batter. This is a personal taste only because I was never keen on a thick batter. While the flathead I cooked was very nice it was not quite as good as I thought it would be. I think it was a little "watered down" and not a sweet as I expected. That's not to say it wasn't good, but it was just a little shy of fantastic which is how I normally think of flathead cooked the same day. What was different ( apart from my expectation after 12 months without a fresh fish perhaps)? Well, this was a Tiger Flathead and I would usually be cooking Blue Spots. So this led me to wonder whether there were any opinions in the Fishraider community as to the table qualities of my big 4 in the flathead species. Certainly other fish such as Sand Whiting and King George Whiting are rated differently, so flathead may also vary on the chew. So here are my big 4 Flathead species in no particular order of preference. Dusky Flathead Sand Flathead Blue Spot Flathead Tiger Flathead Let me know your thoughts. Cheers Jim

Thanks Yowie, Have you seen any Blue Spots around? Also, I found a post of yours from 2017 where you talk about a mild poison in the dorsal fin and how generally difficult they are to handle. I have to agree with that! I did not know that there was no legal size on them. Most of the ones I caught would have made two great baits! Cheers Jim

Hey Frank, I have to agree about the Mowie's fight, they are no slouch in that department. Cheers Jim

Thanks Neil, All work and no play was the main issue. It was a big year of COVID and adapting at work and that put everything on hold. (including my planned semi-retirement!) Cheers Jim Thanks Isaac, It was a great day out. I see that you hail from the Shire. I grew up there (50 years ago) and fished as kid from all the local wharfs and sandflats. Great fishing memories from those days. Cheers Jim

Thanks Donna!

Hi Raiders, It's been a while since I had anything to post with lockdowns and changes at work. I had the opportunity , so I ventured out today to check out the harbour and a few inshore reefs. I was surprised how many boats were out on a weekday. There were six boats were on the artificial reef and another 6 boats on a couple of k's out from Diamond Day. There were also a few in much closer trolling or down rigging for Kings I suspect. I tried drifting for flathead from Diamond bay, but there was very little wind or run in the tide. I wasn't covering much ground and the place was alive with small spikey flathead. I drifted in 30 meters, then 40 meters and finally 50 meters. By the time I had finished all the slow drifts all the boats had dispersed - I guess they weren't doing well either. I moved across to the reef off North Head ( some people call it the Colours but there is also a Colours off South Head so I don't actually know which is the one, although they are both structure.) Some squid strips went down on the standard 2 hook paternoster rig and I immediately got hit by a Mowie. He looked like this. I don't normally keep mowies but my neighbour fries them whole with Thai spices so I kept one for him. I was excited about the catch because I have found that Snapper and Mowies are often caught together but unfortunately the next two catches were similar sized Mowies. The bite went off so I returned to the start of the drift and sent the Paternoster Rig down again. Almost immediately I get a hit from what I picked as Flathead and this came up from the 35 metre mark I kept this one for feed, but I released two more that were a little smaller. The bite went off again, and I lost quite a few snapper leads working this ground so I decided to move inside the harbour and check a few of my normal spots. I was surprised that on the way out and back and even in the harbour I saw no sign of any birds or any surface action. I checked some of the main markers and there were no sign of Kings, so I anchored up at Sow & Pigs reef with half a dozen other boats. The tide was on its way out so I set up a burley trail heading back towards the reef. Unfortunately the sweep were in plague proportions and I just caught them one after other. I cast well away from the burley trail and came up with a few bream that look like this. They all went back too. I decided before I went that I would just keep enough for a feed on the day, give a fish to my neighbour and return the rest. I just wanted to get out there after more than 12 months of being out of action. I have to say though, I am out of practice... the whole prep the boat, get up early, fish for hours, back to the ramp and clean up at home is bloody exhausting! And, to show I'm even more out of practice, I reckon I got "Flathead Spiked" half a dozen times! Cheers Jim P.S You would think I could get 1 of the Fish Shots the right way around!(lol) Fixed for you Jim

Nor worries @kingie chaser- I am sure you are a very experienced chef but I guess it all boils down ( or is that fries down!) to individual preference. If someone gave me the best thick, soft chips in the world I probably wouldn't like them! There are so many ways to make chips and my method only works for people who want a no fuss thin and crunchy chip that stays crunchy for a long time. Happy for you to make me some chips one day and put them to the test! Cheers Jim

Tried all that @kingie chaser but it is still hit or miss in my experience. I think the secret is the fozen chips. It stops the inside overcooking so you can get enough crisp of the outside of the chip. Give it a try ... its a 6 - 8 minute job straight out of the deep freezer and its as good a result ( and more consistent) as I have ever got using a blancing/double fry method. Cheers Jim

Hi Raiders, It has been so long since I posted, so long since I have been fishing. The whole COVID thing has meant that I have to be more involved in my business at a time when I was hoping to retire. Ah well. $H1t Happens! What I wanted to share with you may well not be any big secret, but it sure is news to this little black duck! It's not a monumental discovery... but it matters to me and I suspect for many of you, it does too. So here it is... I have struggled with getting a good chip for many years. I've tried all the techniques... Super fresh potatoes, soaking them in salty water to draw out the moisture, double frying them, tripple frying them, using diffrent oils, different temperatures ,drying them out in my air fryer before frying, blah blah, fricken' blah. But the results were always inconsistent. Sometimes they were great, sometimes they were soggy ( some like them like that but I don't!), sometimes they were nice and crisp but only for a few minutes. Really, should it be this difficult! All I want is a decent chip! But then , I stumbled on a consistent approach to producing my perfect and long lasting crunchy chip... My local chicken shop serves great chips so I asked them for help. They sold me a 3 kg bag of pre cut frozed chips for $15 bucks and told me to chuck them in the fryer frozen and fry them in canola oil at maximum temperature until they were golden brown. ( they said my choice of peanut oil was good but too expensive for them). In their industrial fryer, that was only 4 minutes of cooking time but in my home fryer it was more like 8 minutes and you have to do it in small batches otherwise the frozen chips just drag the temerature down too much and that mucks up the final result. The result is a cripsy golden brown chip that stays crispy even until it gets cold. Every single time! No more sourcing the right potato, no more peeling, soaking, drying out and molly codling the bloody things. I'm in heaven! I hope this helps others in the quest for a great chip to go with the fish you are hopefully catching. Cheers Jim

8 Days! thast pretty quick Frank! Looking forward to some interesting projects. Cheers Jim

Very entertaining post! Cheers Jim

Thanks for the post Wazza, Brings back memories from my land based days in Coal & Candle Creek- certainly not as challenging as your experience... The car was close by for shelter from the rain and you could watch your glow sticks from the relative comfort of the front seat with the heater on! They are a great fish and reading your account just makes me keen to go out and catch one again. Cheers Jim

This is my favourite catch mainly because it involved a few challenges. It was caught while slow trolling a live yakka at 12 mile reef. My 5.8 meter Quintrex is only really suitable for going outside on good days so to get out there is a rare enough event anyway. This fish was quite a challenge and of course you are never sure who well they are hooked so I played the fish for perhaps 15 minutes as it stayed down deep. When it came to the surface it made a few jumps and lit up iridescent blue with its fins raised... very spectacular and the fish in the photo doesn't do it justice. Getting a gaff in the fish single handed was a challenge so it was a great relief when I had it boated. By far the best dollie I have caught and it fed the family for a few months Cheers Jim

My Dad taught me to fish when I was very about 5. I recall pulling a chair on to the verandah on Saturdays when he worked up until lunch so I could see when he got home because that meant we would be off to Gunnamatta Bay wharf for a fish into the early evening. I think I sat there for hours impatiently waiting and the excitement never wore off. He had a German mate who paid me a penny for the yakkas or slimies I caught at the wharf. Get paid to catch fish.. bargain! I remember him catching jewies from that wharf that were longer than me at the time! I remember being bitterly disappointed when they went on night fishing trips and I couldn't go. I think I told mum I had to go because they needed me to catch the live baits! She didn't buy it ... and not the sulking 5 year old either! When I was still only 12 or 13 dad often left me overnight at the Lugaro Street Wharf to fish until the morning ( not sure what mum thought about that! You certainly wouldn't do that these days! That wharf ( gone now) was an absolute gem in those days. Right on a narrow channel with weed beds in close and a sand bank over the channel in casting distance you could catch the limit of squid and bream in a session plus the odd John Dory, jewie and flathead in between. From time to time schools of tailor would appear and a frantic session would follow. I think many of my pb's came from that wharf. I had three brothers and in some way we all connected with dad but my thing with him was a love of fishing. Great memories. Cheers Jim

That's a nice touch Jeff. You set a great example. Cheers Jim

I have a few including a cedar spool job but here is the latest Christmas present... ... I ordered this when I though Alvey were going under but now it seems the rush of orders and a little restructuring has revived them indefinitely. Cheers Jim

I bit late since you are probably already well into the trip but drifting in 30 - 40 meters of water off Rose Bay will almost always get you a feed of Bluespots as my son can testify to.

Thanks Scratchie. I don’t know how I survived this last 6 months without the stress relief! my wife reckons I have been easy to get on with though (not!) Cheers Jim

Thanks all. It was great to be back on the water but I am certainly out of condition for a 3 am start after 3 hours sleep! The drift was north to south Blaxland. Correct Yowie, they were red spots. The foot was a little tender - all that lateral movement I guess, keeping balance in the swell. I settled down last night for a feed of deep-fried flathead and double cooked chips... bloody beautiful! Oh, and a few quiet ales. Funny thing, I didn't seem to feel any pain after that! BTW, I didn't mention earlier that I have changed my flathead bottom bouncing strategy a little. Through the entire drift, I will be getting bites. I believe most of those bites are either Red Spot Whiting or small Flathead. With one rod in the rod holder further out back and the other in my hand in closer, I will feel every bite in the handheld rod and strike at many bites which of course are often too small to hook up. Eventually, I will strike at a more serious bite and it will be a decent Bluespot. Almost immediately I would hook up on the rod in the rod holder which ofcourse arrives at the patch of fish a little later. So, basically, my strategy is that as long as I don't start the drift too far away from the patch of Blue Spots I leave both rods in the rod holders and stop interfering. There will be plenty of bait still on the hook by the time I am over the right patch of fish and the Bluespots will hook themselves. This saves the effort of striking at small fish, winding up a little way to see if the fish is on, letting it back down again and effectively taking it out of the bite zone. Not a lot of finesse but I think it is more effective to let the fish do the work for you. I am sure this will be a familiar strategy for many but for those who like me can tend to over-manage the rods this may be of value. It is certainly true that I will catch more fish with a rod held in the hand but they will be species and sizes I don't want. We have had a few discussions on bottom bouncing in this forum... So I am interested in how many of you would use a less managed rod holder approach and how many want to keep the rod in hand? Cheers Jim