fragmeister Posted August 10, 2018 Share Posted August 10, 2018 (edited) Hi Raiders, I checked out the weather reports and decided it would be OK to head outside to drift for blue spot flathead. The swell was only 1 meter but the wind was forecast to pick up about 11 am so I planned to be heading back home by then. I got out to the 50-meter mark off North Head just before dawn and started a drift with the light NNE winds from one of the 3 Reefs I have found so far that is called "The Colours" A few weeks ago I caught some Blue Spot Flathead off the edge of this reef and they were so tasty in a tempura batter that I wanted some more.! I was using a two hook paternoster rig with either a salted pilli or a piece of squid on the top hook and a soft plastic ( squid vicious) on the bottom hook. It was quiet for an hour or so but when the sun came up I hit a patch of Mowies around the 40cm mark. I tossed half a dozen back but kept one because I have never tasted one ( someone told me about 30 years ago they were very average and I believed them.) All the mowies were on the bait. After about the 5th drift I let the drift go a little longer and I stumbled on a patch of Blue Spotted Flathead and pulled in half a dozen in fairly rapid succession. Half the flathead were on the squid vicious and the other half were on baits. I am assuming that there were lots of Jackets about because I lost a lot of baits without really feeling anything and the SP'S were chewed to bits plus occasionally my line was simply cut off. Again, because of the Jackets I am wondering if the SP's are effective just because they stay intact longer than the baits. I only kept the first three flatties but I easily bagged out in an hour after 3 or so drifts During one of the drifts a humpback breached not more than 20 meters away from the boat. It was the whole body clear of the water thing and while it looked great as I watched it slide back into the depths now not 5 meters from my boat I did wonder where it might surface next! At about 11:00 the wind came up strong enough that it was difficult to hold bottom so I headed off home. Haven't had a bite to eat all day... so looking forward to fish and chips! and a beer (or two)! Cheers Jim Edited August 10, 2018 by fragmeister 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoingFishing Posted August 10, 2018 Share Posted August 10, 2018 Great report jim...nothing beats a feed of freshly caught blue spots in my opinion. Love it when you come across a thick patch of them and its just chaos with a fish a cast (sometimes even two at a time on the paternoster). Plenty of jackets about atm i got plagued last weekend too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratchie Posted August 10, 2018 Share Posted August 10, 2018 Great report Jim. Had a good day on the water, picked up a feed and home by lunch. Perfect ? Those whales, whilst majestic they are, they can certainly create some anxiety when they’re that close to the boat! Cheers scratchie!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
61 crusher Posted August 10, 2018 Share Posted August 10, 2018 The whales are amazing when they’re doing there thing but can be quite scary when they are that close,nothing better than a plate full of fresh flattie fillets, great report Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berleyguts Posted August 10, 2018 Share Posted August 10, 2018 Great stuff, Jim. A nice day indeed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolongeramember Posted August 10, 2018 Share Posted August 10, 2018 Nice report Jim. Flaty’s are one of my favourite eating- and catching. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big Neil Posted August 10, 2018 Share Posted August 10, 2018 Envy personified Jim. Here I am on a Saturday morning wondering if it's worth going out to get a few Carp! Good report and well done finding them and securing a few decent feeds. bn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blaxland Posted August 11, 2018 Share Posted August 11, 2018 (edited) Hey Jim I was out there friday a bit further north got my mate a feed of bluespots and on the way back through the heads about 11:30 saw some bird activity threw a 10gm halco I had already rigged and got a small king fun way to finish the day. cheers Bill Edited August 11, 2018 by blaxland 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yowie Posted August 11, 2018 Share Posted August 11, 2018 Good work Jim. Flatties are nice, as for mowies they are fish to give away to enemies. ? Had a humpback swim under my tinny a few years ago and surface just out the front of the boat. You then realise how big they are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cogo44 Posted August 11, 2018 Share Posted August 11, 2018 Eight of us went out on Friday in ideal conditions. The snapper were not hungry out from North Head so we went to Rosa Wide. In the past we have had very good catches of flathead in early August and so it proved again. We also saw a young whale slapping its tail with a whale watcher boat close behind it. Green eye sharks were caught for the first time in many years and there were a few jackets around but far more whiting. This was a good sign and by the time we upped lines there were forty flatties in the mix. The best one weighing in at 1.2 kilos cleaned was caught two minutes before we upped lines. If you can find the hot spot aggregations at this time of the year, flathead is the go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blaxland Posted August 11, 2018 Share Posted August 11, 2018 22 minutes ago, cogo44 said: Eight of us went out on Friday in ideal conditions. The snapper were not hungry out from North Head so we went to Rosa Wide. In the past we have had very good catches of flathead in early August and so it proved again. We also saw a young whale slapping its tail with a whale watcher boat close behind it. Green eye sharks were caught for the first time in many years and there were a few jackets around but far more whiting. This was a good sign and by the time we upped lines there were forty flatties in the mix. The best one weighing in at 1.2 kilos cleaned was caught two minutes before we upped lines. If you can find the hot spot aggregations at this time of the year, flathead is the go. Good haul there where is Rosa wide is it out from Diamond Bay? cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cogo44 Posted August 11, 2018 Share Posted August 11, 2018 1 hour ago, blaxland said: Good haul there where is Rosa wide is it out from Diamond Bay? cheers Correct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fragmeister Posted August 11, 2018 Author Share Posted August 11, 2018 11 hours ago, blaxland said: Hey Jim I was out there friday a bit further north got my mate a feed of bluespots and on the way back through the heads about 11:30 saw some bird activity threw a 10gm halco I had already rigged and got a small king fun way to finish the day. cheers Bill Well done Bill. Did you head out early? Was that you I saw rounding north head about 30 minutes before dawn? Cheers Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sam bros Posted August 12, 2018 Share Posted August 12, 2018 Great report Jim Always love reading them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blaxland Posted August 13, 2018 Share Posted August 13, 2018 On 8/11/2018 at 10:14 PM, fragmeister said: Well done Bill. Did you head out early? Was that you I saw rounding north head about 30 minutes before dawn? Cheers Jim Probley not my mate was late and then we went to the artificial off south head for some livies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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