Flatties & bream this week

[arpie]

Hi guys

I had a couple of kayak buddies visiting Forster from the Illawarra & they were keen to hit our waterway & try for some fish on topwater lures in particular.

As I have a torn rotator cuff in the right shoulder, it has been hindering my kayak fishing expeditions in recent months, but I made the effort to get out whilst Gazz & Rob were in town!

We hit the river on day one, that was supposed to be full of bream as the banana prawns were EVERYWHERE ........ and we found it really hard to catch any legal fish! In hindsight, we thought it may be because there ARE so many prawns in the system, that every night, the fish are getting a free feed of 'the real deal', so why would they bother with fake bait?

Then I chucked a small diving lure parallel to the bank & suddenly, the line was moving sharply towards deeper water ....... and I struck, feeling good weight on the line!! At the same time, I thought I'd adjust the drag (lower it a bit) and sadly, the big fish made a dash for freedom & busted me off! It was the only decent hit of the day!

I DID like what Rob had done to a Squidgy Lobby tho!

Next day, we hit the Breck Channel and I worked my way up the channel, casting my way along the shallows & boatsheds. I'd decided to just use the one lure today - the Strada Viral that is so similar to a Sugapen. I was hopeful of bream on topwater and I was in for a couple of surprises! Rob was keen to land his first bream on topwater ...... and if any lure was going to do it today, I reckoned it would be the Strada Viral! So much so, that I decided I would only use the one lure all day today!

The tide was still hooning in - I was amazed at how much power was still in it, as it should have turned not long after we got on the water. It was going way too fast for most of the leases, so we opted for the shallows, hoping to find slower water, where the fish may be feeding.

I tend to cast ahead of the yak as I float along until a fish shows interest, then I use my stakeout poles to hold me in position whilst I pepper the area with casts. Today was no different. A huge bloop indicated a good fish had had a go at the Strada Viral but missed the hooks - so I positioned myself ready for another go at it. Casting past the area of the first 'bloop', I retrieved aggressively & it had another go at it & missed! Damn! I paused, to rethink my strategy & he jumped back onto the hook!! I thought I'd hooked a nice breambo, only to realise, as it approached the yak that it was a reasonable sized flattie! Rob reckoned it was a good 50cm ..... in the bag he went for dinner! He had virtually taken the whole lure into his mouth!

I continued casting & the next thing I see is an explosion in the water! Rob yelled "What the hell was THAT?" I said I guessed it as a big Longtom as they are always very acrobatic when hooked & grow to 1m or more in our lake!! I started to wind in my line & I could feel resistance on it - "He's still ON!!" I yelled!! Rob immediately grabbed his camera & started taking pics of the battle in progress!! I was only using the 6lb SAS Tasline (which is THIN AS) and 10lb leader and this fish was appreciably bigger than the first one!! He took me to the left, he took me to the right ...... he took off again as soon as he saw the net - I was pleased to net him finally & have him safely in the yak! Rob took some shots for me!

The reason for the BIG SPLASH was made obvious when I looked for the lure!! He'd taken the whole thing in, HEAD FIRST & the whole lure was in his gob!! That is the 10lb leader you can see, going into his mouth! How it didn't break, I don't know!? Tho luckily, I DID have the drag set pretty soft, allowing him to run. The Strada Viral outworked itself today!

He went 57cm on the lie detector

Rob was all the more determined to aget a fish on surface lure today!! He was peppering the poles and the weed beds and the mangrove edges ..... he was finding it annoying in his paddle yak - getting blown around way more than I was in the Hobie. He had to admit that in estuary situations, the Hobies were great!

We moved to another area where I usually had hits on topwater - and Rob had a couple of hits there but no hookups! In the Hobie, I was pedaling all round the shallows, peppering casts in every direction. I had quite a few hits & finally come up tight on a nice whiting.

These Viral Stradas REALLY work!

I hooked a couple of small bream & on the last one of the day, blow me down if a bigger flattie doesn't chase it, as I retrieve it back to the yak! The flattie only peeled away at the last moment, or I could have netted both of them!!

It was time to head back to base - the wind had really came up BIG TIME ..... making any headway was truly difficult. It took me ages to get back to the car park.

Yesterday, we headed to The Keys for another go at getting Rob into his first bream on Topwater - I'd given him special tuition in 'my method' of topwater retrieval ....... and he finally was getting 'the rhythm' ...... so was hopeful of a fish or two!

As the water covered the shallows, making it about .3m deep, the bite finally came on - not monster bream, just nice sized ones.

Once again, on the Strada Viral (I was using it again yesterday) tho a different colour as I'd loaned the other one to Rob to try & break his topwater drought!

Rob got a stack of hits & actually hooked up to 4 fish (first one a flattie, the others, bream) but sadly, they all got off before he could land them! He was stoked at having 'cracked the pattern' - and he is KEEN as, to continue trying when he gets back home & now has a stack of the Virals in his possession, to aid him on his quest!

It was a fun few days on the water - but boy! Was I bushed, each day when I got home - falling asleep on the couch!! I had finished a full bottle of Mizone yesterday in the first 90 mins & wished I'd taken at least one other out with me! This hot & humid weather really took it out of me!

cheers

Roberta

Edited January 13, 2013 by Roberta

[Guest]

Top report there Roberta and those mods to the lobby are very interesting

Regards Stewy

[The Iceman]

Nice looking lure Roberta Flatties are fun when they hit surface lures they usually come up and track the lure sitting just under the surface you may not see it being low to the water I had one on friday come up from ten feet away from the lure and swim towards it with its fin breaking the waters surface before boofing the lure and missing the hooks

[bluefin]

Thanks for a great read !! Love your reports !!!

Howard.

[arpie]

....those mods to the lobby are very interesting....

Hi Stewy

Yes, I thought it looked terrific!! Just 2 beads either side on some 40--50lb+ mono & burn the tips of the mono to hold them in place!!

cheers

Roberta

[bassboy888]

....those mods to the lobby are very interesting....

Hi Stewy

Yes, I thought it looked terrific!! Just 2 beads either side on some 40--50lb+ mono & burn the tips of the mono to hold them in place!!

cheers

Roberta

They were shown on the squidgy fb page if you are interested and there's the how too on YouTube.

Well done Roberta on the good few days, hope all the injuries held up. Got to love the days surface fishing especially when the bite goes through the day.

Edited January 13, 2013 by bassboy888

[insearchof]

Great report, ill have to invest in a viral stickbait.

keep it up