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Great Day In Woolooware Bay


paul.kenny

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Hi Raiders,

After some tough weekends fishing the Georges River I decided to capitalise on the good weather this weekend to chase the larger flatties in Botany Bay. Sunday dawned with very slight winds and myself and the old man (visiting from Central QLD) raced out to Woolooware Bay for the run out tide to work the drop offs with SPs and soft blades. The old man had never used SPs before and was keen to learn.

The conditions on Woolooware Bay were near perfect and on my third cast with the MF40 I hooked our first fish. The flattie hit the lure with a soft tap, followed by a great head shake and a powerful run. After a brief but fun fight I pulled up a solid 48cm Flattie....a great start to the morning.

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We continued to work the same drop off, which consisted of a sandbank covered by 1m of water dropping off into a weed bank in about 2m of water. About 10 minutes later I had another soft tap (Squidgy wriggler this time) and a short run from the sandbank. I then thought I had lost the fish as the line went slack, however the fish was still connected as it had swum directly at me. As it was spooked by the boat it ran strongly back towards the sandbank. This fish was an improvement to the first model at 50cm.

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My old man, who was fishing with SPs for the first time (he was using a 80mm squidgy fish) got a good strike by another flattie. Unfortunately it threw the hook just as it got boat side :wacko: .

The sandbanks then became quiet as the wind completely dropped off, so we decided to try the deeper water in Woolooware. This paid off with the old man hooking this nice 49cm flattie....his first fish via a SP :thumbup: .

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For the last half hour of the run out tide and with a slight southerly blowing we decided to work the drop offs again. Again I was rewarded with a nice fish that hit the MF40 hard, followed by a powerful headshaking run with the tide. His run was short lived and I boated another upgrade...this time a healthy 51cm flattie. I was lucky to keep this fish hooked as he had snapped the rear treble off the MF40, fortunately the front treble stayed connected.

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I replaced the damaged MF40 with a new one and five minutes later on the same sandbank I felt another small tap followed by a dead weight on the line...I thought I had missed the strike and had collected weed. Much to my surprise the reel started to sing as a large fish took off, testing my bream gear to the limit. I knew I had a large fish, as it peeled line and I chased the fish with my electric as it ran for deeper water. At one stage it took a sudden change of direction and took me under the boat, thereby forcing me to pass the rod between the bow-mount electric and the bow of the boat to ensure the braid did not touch the keel or the electric. After a tough five minute fight it surfaced briefly allowing us to identify it as a large Croc (flattie). I was concerned that my 6lb leader would not last much longer as it took another long deep run, however she was spent and we were finally able to boat her. Heart thumping I carefully placed her on the brag matt.....oh yeah a new PB of 81cm. :yahoo:

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After a couple of quick photos she was released to continue breeding (as were all of the other flatties).

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Well done on the pbs Basscatcher! :thumbup:

Cracker session with some ripper flatties!

I'm not sure if it's against the rules, but I think it's unfair to have a name like "Basscatcher" and you catch big flatties!?! :wacko: Also, I think your old man shouldn't be allowed to catch a 49cm flattie for his first go using sps! :wacko:

Great fish, great release, great read, great report. :thumbup:

Cheers

Peter

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What a great day for you guys...you certainly found the big flatties and that 81cm model is outstanding!!! I went for an hour troll this arvo and only got one 40cm flatty and a couple of near legal reddies. Were you guys fishing the eastern drop offs near the leases?

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What a great day for you guys...you certainly found the big flatties and that 81cm model is outstanding!!! I went for an hour troll this arvo and only got one 40cm flatty and a couple of near legal reddies. Were you guys fishing the eastern drop offs near the leases?

Rob - yes we were fishing the eastern drop offs of WB.

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Mate awesome sesh!!! Those Crocs looks awesome and there must have been a few around...we managed 3 x 41 cm models today drifting Towra, with heaps of little guys in the mix too...Was considering doing WB but didn't quite get there Doh!!!...perhaps I should have....Congrats on the PB 81cm, what a beauty....is there any better feeling than grabing a few happy snaps and watching a big girl swim off to the depths....

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Geat reprot and well done, what a day.

A few years ago, spun the same drop off with SP, 4"shad and got slammed just at the drop off in about 1 to 1.5mts of water.

It only took a few casts, a couple of flicks bouncing the shad across the bottom, and the scent from the Gulp shad must have then woken the old fella up and he decided to have a snack, as he hit the SP pretty hard.

Landed a nice 45cm flattie and had a great time.

Look forward to gettin back out there soon.

Cheers WD

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Finally woolooware bays is coming back on!

Fantastic flattie mate what a cracker! I hope its only the start of things to come for you this season :)

Not long untill the surface action starts to come on too

Cheers

Pete

I was tempted to try the surface lures as there were small tailor chopping small bait fish on the surface, however the flattie action was too good to change tactics......I reckon mid-October should see the start of the surface action.

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Just curious to know what you think the 81cm one weighed?

I've never seen a fish that big in the wild....

As soon as the electric motor is finished i'm hoping to change that.

Hi JET01 - I didn't weigh the fish, only measured it's length. As depicted in the photos it was quiet fat and certainly fought hard on my bream gear. I was surprised she didn't bite me off, however she did straighten two of the hooks on the rear treble and I was lucky to net her. All the best once your electric motor is finished.

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