Fishing and Crabbing

[BIGG DADDA TREVS]

Went with 2 buddies and @Pattherat to his place north of Sydney for a few days of fishing and crabbing. Got there thursday morn and decide to go fishing. I fished plastics while everyone else a mix of bait and plastics. No action on the plastics so decided to help my mates who new with this type of fishing. Had them on a tiny hook with a longshank to try for the numerous dink bream there. To everyones surprise the little bait rod goes off, screaming drag running around the boat into broken branches. The he stops moving, he was proper snagged. Pat smokes in his lure to help me with the fish and there was a very nice flatty behind it, he though that it was the fish on my line so he yanked the lure out of the water. We try to wiggle the fish out to no avail. We know he's still on as every now and then there's a few headshakes. As the weather was rather hot and the water was very nice and cool I decide to hop in and try to get the fish out. Since it rained the day prior the water was pretty mucky and clarity was not the greatest. We tried for quite a while following the line down and digging around unsuccessfully, I was ready to give up but pat insisted on 1 more dive. Deep breath and straight to the bottom this time, instead of trying to untangle the line I yanked the branch out and pat got a good look at the stick. The bream was tangled up everywhere in the branch. Got the fish out and we went for a swim in the creek. Before that though we dropped 4 pots with bonito heads and frames around the mangroves to try for muddies. Swam around, messing about with some half-hearted fishing mixed in and 2 hours later we pulled the pots. First on up had an average sized crab, around 10-12cm vertically across the back. Second pot came another at the same size. Third pot was empty and the fourth had one large crag and another regular one. Thanks to @rickmarlin62 for the tips of having the entrances of the pots parallel to the tide. Very happy with the result we took the crabs up to the house and let them clean themselves out in the bathtub. The pots which still had bait were left in, we had dinner and headed out to check the pots again. The very first one we pulled housed a large crab and a ray. The remaining 3 pots were all empty, we think that the yield is dictated very much by the tide. The first drop was through the high tide and the second was low running out, hence the less successful second attempt. next day was far too hot for any fishing or crabbing during the day so we just stayed inside and watched some movies. Then as the sun began to lower we set 2 pots loaded with bait. Checked them 2 hours later and one was empty the other had 1 very respectable size crab measuring 15 length ways across the shell and another average size crab but since we already had so many crabs we let that one go. We left the one untouched pot overnight to see what it would yield. Third day we went out at high tide to pull the pot left overnight but unfortunately the bait was gone and the pot was empty. Just a question, does anyone know if we should check to pots more often and not leave overnight cause the crabs get out? We took the chance at high tide to pull the boat out and get it clean for the trip back. Since the big boat was out we took a little rowing boat down to our usual spot and tried for flattys. Cast for a while with nothing, suddenly I get a nice hit. A decent flatty around 40. Not too long later pat picks up my rod to try the different lure, second cast he hooks a nice 43. We keep casting but nothing. Out of nowhere a massive hit and I rip the rod up, fish on! Very nice fish, able to peel line of my 4000 size reel (I know its a little overkill for flatties. 30lb leader too but pat assured me the fish in the creek were pretty dumb). 4 or 5 series of runs later we land this absolute monster for a little creek such as this. Measured 80 on the money. Left the next day and thx to pat for letting me nick those 2 muddies of ya! Ate them that night and they were crackin! Great fishing and crabbing trip up the coast.

[BIGG DADDA TREVS]

A pic of the flatty cause couldn't include it in the main section

PS, does anyone know how to rotate the image? Thx

[masterfisho7]

One top flathead and a nice report

[rickmarlin62]

great report..glad you got some crabs....we check ours every two/three hrs...nice flatty...rick

[Rock&Beach]

Some big lizard there mate. Well done on the report. R&B

[Specimenhunter]

It auto rotates when you click image to see better pic...great catch

[KingfisherMan]

What a great report. Nice catch