kiwicraig Posted July 28, 2018 Share Posted July 28, 2018 I headed out early this morning with @antonywardle to chase some flatties off shore. When we had the central coast Fish Raider lunch the other day ant was telling me that he had gotten pretty good at the flatties offshore. He was not kidding! We launched just after 6am from Woy Woy and made our way out of the heads and into Broken Bay. We started drifting in about 50-55m of water. First 10 mins or so were fairly quiet. Then mayhem! After I pulled in the first couple on pilles we hit a patch of flatties. We were both using two rods and went through a period where we could barely rebait one rod without the other going off. By nine we had 12 keepers between us and had both several undersize or just legal fish go. Ant also pulled up a few whiting as well - I think about 5 all told through the morning. By this time we were running out of "the good pillies" and were into some prawns and some very manky pillies that had been refrozen and were pretty awful. But we were still catching fish but it took a bit longer to get the remaining ones. We repositioned and worked through the remaining bait and I even tried out my worst ever lures just for a laugh. I was picking they would catch nothing. Ant thought I might get a jacket. Surprisingly we were both wrong with my two biggest flatties (both over 40cm) falling to my $5 squid lures! Having said that Ant landed the two biggest fish of the day. Mine ranged from about 35 to 45 cm. But we both bagged out - with me pulling up my 10th just as the bait ran out. This was my first time I've ever bagged out so was pretty happy. We headed in about noon and on the way back in I spotted a whale breaching and Ant killed the motor. As we slowed it arched gracefully, flicked its tail up and disappeared. What a great finish to a top session. Everyone one at home was dying for fish tacos - so we had a good feed and could give some fillets to the elderly couple across the street. And there was still enough left to vac pac some for later. A great day. 10 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fragmeister Posted July 28, 2018 Share Posted July 28, 2018 Beautiful! ... and look at the Kiwi place mats! LOL! Cheers Jim 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoingFishing Posted July 28, 2018 Share Posted July 28, 2018 Awesome result mate....great report. Ive been chasing snapper the last month and didnt realise how much ive missed bottom bashing for flatties until i saw your report. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryder Posted July 28, 2018 Share Posted July 28, 2018 Great bag mate. Mmmm fish tacos. Fishraider at work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antonywardle Posted July 28, 2018 Share Posted July 28, 2018 Great write up @kiwicraig Good to catch up for a fish together after such a long time. I think my technique has improved and I put that down to actually going out a lot more and trying different things. @zmk1962 gave me a tip about putting a soft plastic on the top hook, and I think that has helped me. @wazatherfisherman, I tried your plastics, but they got eaten by Jackets. I suspect that if I use the properly, they'll go OK. Probably the best bit of advice is a heavy sinker, you gotta be on the bottom! Boat stats: 23 litres used, 44 km traveled of which 6 km was drifting, top speed 55 km/hr. People stats, Rigs lost lost, 4. Braid lost, 200 metres, I'd love to know how it broke where it did Craig, and on two different rods. It was slightly funny that after you retied, you couldn't reach the bottom ? Blood loss from being spiked, Craig 2 litres, Ant 20ml. Guys, being spiked is very serious for both Craig and myself as we both type for a living and have ultra soft skin. Not being able to type or click a mouse would see us losing our jobs and having to live under a park bench somewhere. That said, my biggest blood loss for the day was when I bumped my thumb putting my boat antenna down! Looks like we picked the best day, I'm sitting here thinking about going to chase something else while listening to the rain on the roof. Pleased I didn't try for hairtail last night, that it be a couple of weekends time I think. It turned out to be a top morning out there, thanks for your company Craig, I had a great time, and congrats on your first bag! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big Neil Posted July 28, 2018 Share Posted July 28, 2018 Well, there are 2 top reports from 2 very excited Fishraiders. Great reports, nice sense of humour from Ant while Craig focussed more on the practical aspects of the experience. Either way, you both had a great half day on the water with top results. Great pics to accompany the yarn and close encounters with a whale. Life is good guys. bn 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sam bros Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 Great report mate. A feed of flathead is awesome 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwicraig Posted July 29, 2018 Author Share Posted July 29, 2018 16 hours ago, fragmeister said: ... and look at the Kiwi place mats! LOL! Of course mate! 3 hours ago, big Neil said: Great reports, nice sense of humour from Ant while Craig focussed more on the practical aspects of the experience. We had good laugh about the spikies on the boat as well. One in particular got me right next to the nail on my middle finger and bled heaps. We were wondering which was going to run out first - the bait or my blood. There was nothing funny about all the little nicks and cuts on my hand when I juiced the lime for the mayo though! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wazatherfisherman Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 6 hours ago, antonywardle said: Great write up @kiwicraig Good to catch up for a fish together after such a long time. I think my technique has improved and I put that down to actually going out a lot more and trying different things. @zmk1962 gave me a tip about putting a soft plastic on the top hook, and I think that has helped me. @wazatherfisherman, I tried your plastics, but they got eaten by Jackets. I suspect that if I use the properly, they'll go OK. Probably the best bit of advice is a heavy sinker, you gotta be on the bottom! Boat stats: 23 litres used, 44 km traveled of which 6 km was drifting, top speed 55 km/hr. People stats, Rigs lost lost, 4. Braid lost, 200 metres, I'd love to know how it broke where it did Craig, and on two different rods. It was slightly funny that after you retied, you couldn't reach the bottom ? Blood loss from being spiked, Craig 2 litres, Ant 20ml. Guys, being spiked is very serious for both Craig and myself as we both type for a living and have ultra soft skin. Not being able to type or click a mouse would see us losing our jobs and having to live under a park bench somewhere. That said, my biggest blood loss for the day was when I bumped my thumb putting my boat antenna down! Looks like we picked the best day, I'm sitting here thinking about going to chase something else while listening to the rain on the roof. Pleased I didn't try for hairtail last night, that it be a couple of weekends time I think. It turned out to be a top morning out there, thanks for your company Craig, I had a great time, and congrats on your first bag! Great reports from Craig and Anthony, a fun time and a feed to boot! Never get sick of eating those tasty Flatties. Sometimes braid eaten by those blasted jackets, if you get a 'micron' of bait/juice on your line it's fair game for them, even up high in the water column. On the bleeding, did you try the old remedy of rubbing the Flathead's belly slime on your wounds? Belly slime works for a lot of other species also. I'm on Warfarin blood thinner for life now after 2 pulmonary embolisms and I bleed pretty easily, so knowing different ways to help bleeding stop is vital. Hope you heal quickly! Cheers Waza 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vara Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 Well done lads. Good read. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest123456789 Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 Well done @kiwicraig and @antonywardle. Great result and saw a whale as well!!! Looks like you both will have some intel to share at the next meeting of The Happy Anglers Institute (T.H.A.I.). I’ve discovered some awesome lures I’m dying to show you both along with a couple of marks. @wazatherfisherman - first fish from one of your lures! Can’t wait to catch one myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratchie Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 Well done fellas! Love seeing raiders team up and smack em! Good feed right there, must have lost my invite! cheers scratchie!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blindmullet Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 nice one, will have to head out there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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