RodHogger

Haven't posted anything in a while as I've been prospecting new areas in the Bay the past month as well as experimenting with Vibes, poppers and assorted hardbodies compared with my more "normal" soft plastics approach. For someone that has fishing Botany for quite a number of years I thought I knew most of the better flathead areas but yesterday discovered a new patch of ground literally within 100mtrs of 2 other areas I have fished for many years. I had previously ignored this area as its quite snaggy - more weed and rough ground than sand patches but with all the boat traffic elsewhere yesterday decided I'd give it a go. Well forget that "you can't teach an old dog new tricks" because I learned some good lessons. Within a 2-3 hrs period just after low tide managed to catch 1x50cm, 2x55cm and 1x66cm bruiser plus missed a couple of others. Only 2mtrs of water and 75% of the time I was literally ripping the plastic through weed and getting snagged but obviously they like the spot The bigger one was caught on a 2-3kg combo and must have been close to my best flathead fight. Lots of big headshakes and took several minutes to get him off the bottom and get him near the boat for a nervous net shot. As soon as he saw the net back to the bottom and try again (must remember to buy a bigger net) Had a school of chopper tailor move through the area and tear 3 plastics apart. Landed a couple of these that regurgitated heaps of small 3inch white bait and probably added some natural berley to the mix A few other interesting pointers that are purely my own experiences * I have several regular flathead areas in the Bay that I like which either have lots of smaller 40-45cm fish or fewer 50-60cm models - but rarely do I get them mixed in together (maybe the smaller ones are more aggressive and beat the larger models to the lures ...) * After having tried LOTS of different lures my soft plastics still consistently out-fish most other lure types and generally are more versatile that the rest. The attached photo shows my favourite colour choice which again catches more fish for me on a regular basis (possibly the one I have the most confidence in ...). Also soft plastics are MUCH cheaper than the other lure types and I don't cry when I lose one 😁 * Surprisingly all my larger fish (55cm plus) are coming from shallow water (less than 2mtrs) and the smaller ones are from deeper areas * With my jigheads I find larger hook sizes around 5/0 increase my hook up rate. Often the flathead will grab your plastic and just sit there and when you lift the rod you need a lot of point exposed to ensure a good hookup and stop the headshakes from dislodging smaller hooks First 55cm model ... Bigger 66cm fish that went hard ... Another 55cm fish to add to the list The Contenders ... Bruised and battered but still champion ... Weapon of choice ...

Well I didn't get to go out last weekend with the weather the way it was and the forecast for the rest of this week also looks ordinary so bailed out on Melbourne Cup celebrations and hooked up the boat and drove to Silver Beach ramp at 3.30pm. Headed to a little bay that has been good to us the past month and first lure hit the water around 4pm. Didn't look right at all - dirty water, lots of ribbon weed floating around, no baitfish action but tied on my "special" vibe with ball bearings and was determined to have a good go. 30 minutes and many many many casts later hadn't even had a hit so plan B was in order. Stuck my nose back around into the main Bay and the wind had calmed somewhat and with an hour to go until low tide I hit the edges of the flats. The water looked MUCH better and the wind assisted in a good drift straight along the bank. Went back to old faithful Z-Man 3" paddle tail with 1/8 jig head and proceeded to work the edges of the weed. With a bit a swell running and the very low tide I ended up drifting in only half a meter of water but this seemed to be where they were. Had a good 100mtr drift going and every second drift would result in a fish. Smallest at 45cm and one really chunky 55cm model with a huge head in excellent condition. The weight this fish had made me think I had a much bigger fish on. All released to make more flathead babies A highlight was 2 takes right at my feet. One fish I watched rise up and hit the lure just as I was about to lift the plastic out of the water. With 4lb braid and a brisk tide running all fights were very decent for the humble flattie. Also all fish were coming off a shallow sandy bottom so were really light in colour and/or very mottled and much prettier to look at than the ones you pick up in deeper water Back home at 6pm and quick cleanup and hoping the weekend weather will be better than it looks on the forecast. Good luck to whoever braves the conditions Apologies for the ordinary photos - was trying to multi task catching, netting, taking photos and watching the drift all at once. Obviously need some more practice at this ...

Managed to get home from work a bit earlier today and the wind didn't look too bad. Boat was sitting in the garage ready to go so hit the Bay around 4pm with the aim of a couple of hours throwing some plastics around Headed for a little sand patch that has been working well for us the last couple of weeks on the rising tide. Thought I'd try the falling tide and second cast saw the first flattie landed. Then nothing for the next hour and things looked a little grim. Saw some decent sized bait schools swim past and switched up from a 3" to 4" plastic. That seemed to do the trick and hits started to come. Nothing too exciting but ended up with 4 keepers for dinner around 40-44cm and a couple of self releases and back home by 6.15pm - will let the pics do the rest of the talking ...

Hi All A 2 part report for you today - Rodhogger son took out the boat with a mate of his on Tuesday. They left at the leisurely hour of 10am to go spear fishing around Yarra Bay. That plan changed when they hit a patch of 21degree water off bare island with birds diving. For the next couple of hours they boated numerous tailor and Mack tuna on 6lb tackle and generally had a ball while severely depleting my metal lure stocks So we hit the water together this morning hoping for a repeat with secondary instructions from Mrs Rodhogger for a meal Alas very little surface action this morning with water back to 18-19 degrees. So plan b was implemented and we hit the flattie spots. First cast Rodhogger Junior is on to a 45cm model (I hadn’t even stopped the boat yet) Then nothing for the next 2 hours whilst we tried various places. Around 9am we ended up where we had caught a 75cm flathead the week prior but with a big tide wasn’t working for us UNTIL we headed closer in to the bank and the wind kicked. We drifted a particular spot which went from 4mtr into 2mtr very quickly and got hit on the soft plastics straight away. Another 40cm model, followed next drift by another and then another. The wind started really pushing in with increasing wind chop and we got wet. But as the wind increased so did the action and bites. Final tally was 3 flatties and 1 trevally for the table, another 6 or so released with 6 more self-released and a couple of big bust off plus shredded plastics from some tailor we encountered A day of quantity rather than quality with the trevally going 37cm to the fork The magic soft plastics that did most of the damage The ride back to the ramp in a 3.9mtr tinnie in 20 plus knots was a drenching but great trip all round and good to see the bay flathead waking up

Hi All Been about 10 years since I last posted - used to fish Botany a bit with my son "RodHogger 1" before he turned into a teenager and life happened. Lucky enough to still be doing things together but mostly surfing in Bali, Sumatra, etc but this year with COVID we cant get away and we have therefore reinvested in a little tinnie last month (like I am sure a lot of others have also) RH now is somewhat older and has a boat licence so can drive around the old man so spent a couple of hours yesterday throwing soft plastics at some of our favourite flathead spots and managed a couple of keepers at 55cm each for the pan Having had this much fun we went back today although the wind was a problem on the eastern side of Towra so tucked around the western side and RH managed to land this 75cm lady Looks awfully familiar to another shot I took below almost 11 years ago with a fish the same size. Looking forward to some more Rodhogger revival action in coming months!