kiwicraig

@mrsswordfisherman we really need a reaction that captures "OMG that looks so good I could eat my phone". Like seems inadequate! 😂

Thanks Adrian! That looks amazing and I for one will be following your posts with interest. I'd love a few more non fried options - particularly for the humble flathead. Keep them coming and I may well come back with some questions as I delve into this more. Cheers, Craig

Great stuff. Don't lift the crab or of the water. Scoop the crab quickly from behind. There are few things better than fresh swimmer. Hang in there!

Beautiful morning for it. Well done.

Picking up this thread as I was outside today and had a few spikey flathead in with the bigger models. Here's a photo of a spikey. @Yowie is quite right really easy to spot the difference when you know there is one. This one was fairly badly hooked so his fillets made some good baits.

I'm back to work on Monday so today I got out for my last fish of my holiday with my good mate Chris. I launched from Blackwall at 5am and headed over Palm Beach to pick up Chris with a quick stop at Lion Island where I grabbed a slimy and a yakka for some bait. After collecting Chris we headed out into Broken Bay to drift for some flatties. Are first drift was a long one because we just kept catching fish. Chris had some tackle issues and was re-rigging while I was fishing. I had three keepers in the esky before he really had a line in the water - but I lost the live yakka without even feeling the bite. We were fishing a mix of pillies and slimy mackerel strips but the pillies were easily out fishing the fresh bait. Go figure. We had a fairly busy time. Amongst the flatties I also pulled up a slimy that I put back down as a second live bait. This one caught a nice flattie in the mid 50s. I also pulled up a horrible little leather jacket. My high and my low was the same drop. I was pulling in a nice flattie and as I caught sight of it I say a tailor following up the bait on the second hook. I dropped the tip and the tailor took the bait - but pulled the other hook straight out of the flattie. Unfortunately the fish were still biting when the conditions deteriorated and I made the tough call to head back in. No regrets though. I had 9 flatties and a tailor in the Esky and Chris had 5 flatties. I gave him a couple of mine to even it up and dropped him back off in Palm Beach. I'm also a little relieved because the last couple of times he has fished with me has been unsuccessfully chasing hairies in the dead of winter and his wife was beginning to think we couldn't catch fish in a pet store. On my way back home between Lion Island and the channel into Brisbane Waters I ran into a big bust up on the surface. I put in (quite) a few casts into it with a metal but could not tempt anything to strike - but was not too worried. I ended up with a nice feed and we had a great time. Here's my share.

+1 for Navionics. I made a power supply for my sounder. More info here.

Wow beautiful fish. Well done.

I have been getting stuck into the flathead lately so this morning I decided to mix it up a bit and try something different. Low tide slack water at Rip Bridge was due just after sunrise so I decided to soak some baits in the hope of a nice Jewie. It was still dark as I launched just before 5am and standing on the jetty Rip Bridge was lit up not far away. It was not going to be a long trip. I motored gently over to Rip Bridge. The tide was still running out so I anchored on the downstream side of it just on the ledge where it drops into deeper water. I was just fishing one rod with a butterflied slimy mackerel on snooded hooks below a swivel and a running sinker. I had one hook pinned through the head and the other just swinging loose towards the back of the bait. There were certainly fish around - I could often see some nice arches around mid water. This screenshot shows plenty of fish but it is nowhere near as busy as it got. What are we seeing here do you think? The problem I had was the current was still running hard out - even well past the time where it should have slackened off. I'll need to figure out exactly how far past the top or bottom of the tide it actually slackens because despite the promising looking sounder I struggled to get a bait down to where the fish were. I switched up to my biggest ball sinker and cast up stream to let it sink but it was being swept back before it got down to where the fish were. I tried putting the reel into freespool and feeding line out to sink the bait a bit further back. Doing this I lost my first bait to a amazingly subtle bite. Encouraged I rigged up my next slimy and tried again. This time I felt a bump and dropped the tip, counted 5 and lifted it up. The line came up tight and there was weight, but it felt weird. I was getting little nods and a very light pull but could not feel any tail beats or head shakes. After a short fight I got sight of it - a great big eel. I didn't measure it but I would call it at somewhere between 80 and 100 cm. Hard to tell because it was going nuts and tying itself up in knots around the line. Couple of bad photos attached - sorry about the quality but it was not cooperating. I grabbed it with the lip grips and did a few quick snips to free up the loops around its body and dumped it unceremoniously over the side. I hate those things! Out of fresh bait and with only an hour or so before I had to head in I shot out to Ettalong to try prospecting for some flathead with a soft plastic. I had two really good strikes but failed to hookup either time. Pretty sure the first one was a tailor judging by the cuts in the soft plastic. Second one felt like a flathead - but I ran out of time before I managed to land one. Back home by 9am so a pretty great way to start the day - even without a feed.

I use them in Brissy Waters on a handline for blue swimmers. I prefer the backbone and tail but the heads work too. I wrote a post about my crab rig a while ago. I'll find the link for you later.

Stonker squid - well done on the PB.

Top effort. Brisbane Waters has certainly been producing some great fish lately. Well done.

Thanks Luke. Was within metres of where we got the 63 the other day.

I went out yesterday morning with a friend of mine. We started by gathering some live bait from the bait station by Little Box Head, then came inside by Lobster Beach to drift. We had live baits and a cut bait out the back I was casting ahead of the drift with soft plastics. We were only on our second drift when my rod - which had a live slimy on it - folded over. I grabbed it and lifted the tip to set and I thought I was on. I started bringing it up and there was a lot of weight on it. I got it up to the surface and my mate got sight of it - a huge flattie. Then it opened its mouth and was gone. It was not actually hooked - it had just been holding the bait. I brought in my now dead livie to re-rig, but told Jas to keep his livie down because that same fish might take it. And then it did. We were drifting towards the channel and a ferry was coming so I was a little concerned, but then in a stroke of luck the sea anchor caught the yellow 4 knot buoy and stopped us drifting into the channel. Jason brought the fish in and it was a cracker of a croc. We measured it at 80cm, snapped a quick photo and let the old girl go with big grins on our faces. We carried on like this for a while and had a few hits, but were struggling to connect. I decided to anchor up in front of Half Tide Rocks so I could make some coffees. I had a very frustrating stretch with 4 hits on my plastic in 5 casts without connecting. After each hit I would drop the tip, then give it a few jigs to try and draw a second strike, but it was not happening and every time when I wound in the plastic was pulled down the hook and needed to be straightened. It was going quiet and I had suggested we move up stream a bit a s the boat traffic in the channel was becoming a pain. We had pulled in the lines and I was about to go lift the anchor when I saw a huge bait ball on the sounder. I told Jason to drop a line down again an I put down the plastic for some @flatheadluke style vertical jigging. It was a good call Jas came up tight and it took off on a run. I said straight away - that's not a flattie. I was right. After a couple of runs and a few jumps we boated a nice salmon. It even came with someone elses hook and leader hanging out of its mouth. We removed both hooks, took a photo and let it go. After that we headed up past The Rip Bridge to one of my spots. We tried a drift and towards end of we were getting bites. The wind had come up quite a bit so I preposition and then anchored at the end of the drift. Jason pulled out a nice flattie and a lovely bream. I pulled out two lumps of weed, half a cockle shell and a pair of pliers. At this point I was feeling a bit crap if I am honest. Putting a mate onto fish is the next best thing to catching fish - but it is a distant second. I had even changed tactics as I could see bait was winning the day. And then I came good with a couple more position changes I brought in the next three fish - all good table size flatties - and a new personal best for starfish! LOL. We closed out the day with a drop over by the rip bridge but were just getting baited by little fish. We called it and headed back in. Took a while to get it but we did end up with a great feed. The three on the left were mine.

Great stuff @antonywardle! I am super excited for you. Can't wait to come off shore with you and give her a try.

Yeah - Near the ladders. We were not there long - probably less than 10 mins. We were keen to get after the target so as soon as we had half a dozen in the tank we were off.

That's a win! Well done.

Hey All, The latest episode of iFish was filmed on the Central Coast. Aired on Sunday but is available on 10 Play. Paul goes out with local guide Scotty Thorrington chasing kings off shore, then again chasing bream and flatties inside Brisbane Waters. If you have fished this area it is fun spotting the landmarks and working out where they are. If you can't be out fishing well worth a watch! Cheers, Craig

It has been noticeably busy on the waterways of Brisbane Waters of late - as always this time of year. So @flatheadluke and I hatched a plan to kick off New Years Day with a dawn session - figuring that a fair portion of the boaties would be sleeping off a big night. I met Luke at his place at 4:45 am and we headed straight to Blackwall ramp. We were on the water quickly and it was a truly awesome morning. The plan was to mix up a couple of styles. We went out first to get some live baits with a plan to put one down looking for big flatties while we drifted. It did not take long to put half a dozen yakkas and one slimy in the tank. We then headed over to the flats in front of Ettalong flick plastics and put into practice some of what I learned on the soft plastic charter I did on Boxing Day. I hooked the first fish on a plastic pretty quickly near Half Tide Rocks - a easily legal flattie in the mid-40s range (didn't actually measure it). Despite it being well past high tide and not a lot of wind the drift was still taking us in so we re-positioned a bit further out to drift back in. We were flicking away when the live bait rod folded over. Initially I thought it was snagged but when I lifted the rod I let it run a little then struck and was on. Up came a great flattie - my first on a live bait. It measured 63cm which makes it my second biggest. We shifted around a few times. I managed one more keeper. Then Luke took over and caught the next fish. I also managed the smallest flattie as well - a little throw back that took a lure not much smaller than itself! After a while out in front of half tide rocks we came inside to try the channel between Wagstaffe and Half Tide Rocks. We were spot locking next to the sand bar and casting up onto it and retrieving over the drop. Hard to believe we did not hook up here. We could see bait all around us the same size and colours as the plastics we were using. Luke also had a good flattie following his lure through centimetres of water but just couldn't draw the strike. Exciting stuff. We finished off back where we started the session and Luke managed another nice flattie. All the fish were caught on Z-main 4" paddle tail shads in a white sparkly colour - though I did drop one fish on a darker curly tail as well. All up a fantastic start to the year.

Haha - when you put it like that should turn it into a movie. They were Zman tails. A mix of curly tails and paddles in natural colours.

The wife was taking the kids off somewhere today so I decided to do something a bit different and head out on the yak to work on some of the things I learned on the soft plastics day I did on Boxing Day. It was a beautiful but hot morning out on the water. Lots of holiday boat traffic in the Ettalong/Lobster Beach area. I put the kayak in and paddled out in front of Lobster Beach with the last of the run out tide. My plan was to try and work around the edges of the weed beds. Only problem was I was so low in the water it was hard to see the weed beds! After an hour or so of fishing blind the sun was a little higher and I could see a bit better. I repositioned and started work the plan. I had one rod I was actively working and one with a nice curly tail grub I was letting bounce along behind me. Once I could see I got a bit more activity. I had one really solid hit on the passive rod but it did not hook up. Just left the plastic wonky so I had to straighten it up again. All the rest of the activity was on the active rod, but it was not the good kind. My plastics just got picked to bits by tailor (tail gone behind the hook), jackets (plastic all gnawed around the shank) and squid (large bites taken from just behind the head). I was traveling light so eventually I ran out of trails and had to head in with nothing to show for it. Nice morning out though. I did a fair bit of paddling so I reckon I'll pay for it tomorrow!

No worries - next time we catch some flatties together!

You are not wrong Luke. By the time we were having beers that night it was already being referred to as "so many fish it broke the eski".

haha I was far less concerned about the esky than losing the hard won catch!

For my Dad's Christmas Pressie (and mine) I shouted him a charter trip with a difference. (Site rules - that is all I'll say about the charter, but PM me if you want more info) It was just the two of us and the whole trip was in Brisbane Waters and focused on targeting flathead on plastics. My dad had never fished with plastics before and being from NZ (where they don't have flathead) had only caught them a couple of times on bait with me. I've caught a few flathead on plastics but I do have a bad habit of going back with the tried and true drifting techniques with bait when I am wanting a better chance of a feed - so it was good to force myself to do something different. Dad was stoked to get the first fish of the day and his first fish on plastics. I landed the biggest of the day - which we released after a photo. We spent most of the time fishing on the flats between Lobster Beach and Half Tide Rocks. Our most productive period coming when managed to spot lock just on the edge of a big bait school and we were dropping casts around the edge of it. While doing this we saw something bigger harassing the bait. Dad switched to a fast retrieve and was rewarded with a nice Aussie Salmon. It was great until some dumbass came in and anchored in the middle of it and scared all the bait away. We still ended up with a great catch 13 keeper flatties, a nice salmon. Several smaller fish and the big girl released. We got back to the marina and I had the pleasure of watching someone else do all the filleting. Absolutely my favorite part of a paid trip. My little esky that I had brought to take the catch home in was half full of fillets and the salmon. We chucked half a bag of ice on top to keep them cool for the short trip home. And then, as we walked down the jetty we had an absolute disaster. The handle on my esky snapped and the whole thing dropped onto the jetty and then into the water! I was quick but not quick enough to save it all. I grabbed the esky and managed to get a couple of the fillets that had fallen out, but could not do much more than watch the others sink to the depths. We lost the salmon and more than half of the flathead fillets - ending up with 11 fillets and 7 pairs of wings. Devastated! Still a great day and enough for a great feed - but not much left for the freezer.