FLATHEAD MAGIC!

[Franco]

Hi all. Its been a long time comin with hardly time for a fish in the past months, but this was one of those sessions you talk about for the next year.

Launched my boat 1300 then up to the aldershots to say Hi to Greeny and his son Michael. We leap frogged our way up towards Tipplers, Greeny having been out there for a while and scoring a few decent flatties already. We were on our way to meet up with a mate on their new 26ft Cat anchored in Tiger Mullet. Greeny decided to shoot on up ahead. I decided to stay back & hit an obvious, though hardly-fished spot on the main channel north. To my delight there was a school of bait nervously hanging round the edges in 2 feet of water dropping into 10 ft, where the back eddy created a textbook flatty hunting ground ...... perfect. ;)

1st drift: a 77cm prize on a berkley shaky shad. Noticed this fish came off the edge of a 3m patch of weed
2nd drift: Brother scores a 66 in same spot!
Time to pull up stumps and catch up with Greeny ........ Stuff that!
3rd drift: Lynchie says "My turn now" .......
We see a few large swirls; big fish hunting in the shallows ..... almost like sight casting!
Next thing bait explodes right on the edge in 2 ft of water - Lynchie and I send our lures in (landing a few metres apart) and within 2 twitches we both hook up to big fish on 4 to 6lb braid: double hook-up!!

Holy shit flathead aren't supposed to fight like this!! :o :-X :D
Mine actually jumped in the shallows! All hell broke loose as we spent the next 10 min fighting, tangling, untangling and my little brother netting the 2 fish perfectly despite not ever having netted a fish in his life! All credits to him He was a legend under pressure. Both came aboard: 84cm each!! AWESOME! :o :o ;D

These fish actually go bloody hard when hooked in really shallow water on light braid and it was as good as Flatty fishing gets. I think they just get so shit-scared in the shallows and go mental ... the same fish will fight twice as hard in this scenario.

To top it all off Greeny got suspicious we hadn't caught up, only to come back to find our 2 lizards swimming in the livewell ready to pose for His camera!! After Greeny wining the Flathead Classic 3 years in a row, it was great to see him eat humble pie! And just to rub some salt in the wound Lynchie pulled another 75 and a 60 out from under Greeny's nose when He started fishing next to us .... Ya gotta love it!

Total score: 84, 84, 77, 75, 66, 60 and a 50ish fish all from the same 3m patch of water. Home by 1700.

Until next time Lads,
Ciao.

[Franco]

A closer look ....

[Franco]

Can you tell we're happy??

[Franco]

Andrew the master netter!

[Franco]

The first fish that gave it all away!

[ratherbefishin]

Nice Goin' Guys,
Those Lizards are awesome.
And the smiles tell me you might just be a little happy about it too!!
Justafiably proud!!!

[theVan]

that is just sensational !!!!

great report and awesome pics! :o

as you say..... a day to remember.... well done!

[Floyd2006]

mate i'd be talking that session up for the rest of my life,

awesome catch.

Floyd

[Archer]

:o Very nice fish guys bloody hell you dont see to many lizards at that size these days and to get 2 on a double hook up.WOW!!! :o

[SimonT]

Awesome lizards!!!! Great work guys!!!!

[Tinn]

What a nice catch of lizards. You got to be happy with that catch. Well done guys would have put up some good fights those sized lizards. It don't get better than that guys. Top report ;)

[puks]

guys
the more i read your report to keener i get on getting out there and get my own reports happening
i know i would be smiling like a chestshire cat with a catch like that
great effort and thanks for sharing



kinda lil jealous
anya :D

[mickstar001]

Franco, well done - you forgot to mention exactly where it was ;D

[Franco]

Mick,

It was EXACTLY along the main boating channel in the broadwater between Tiger mullet channel and Couran cove!! ;D ;)

[lukesnapper]

top report, awesome pics, well done! what a sesion!

[puks]

franco
i have a off topic question
i saw on your pics that your crew is wearing crocs
i was wondering if they are really as good as they say they are

they look practical enuff for the boat or even wading
and i wouldnt mind getting me a pair
but like to know if they are comfy


thanks
anya

[Franco]

Puks: I only bought them yesterday for myself and My brother after a bunch of other mates raving about them. All I can say is my brother wasn't really too fussed before we bought em, and afterwards we BOTH thought they were fantastic. Even though we had wet feet from launching the boat they kept our feet warm and dried out easily. They are really comfy.

Buy em.

[assasin]

Quality lizards. Great mornings work. Well done!!!

[puks]

thanks franco

gonna have to show this to my skipper hehehehe





always looking for a good reason to buy more shoes ;)


regards anya

[bidkev]

Nice report Franco and bloody awesome fish and pics. well done mate.

kev

[Blackened]

G'day
Brilliant
Dave

[Brenno]

great fish there mate, well done to you and your crew.

[F1SH_BOY]

hey nice fish there could you tell me the size and colour of your berkley shaky shad. also where did u fish?

[NeilD]

Great fish and a good read. Thats a very impressive double header.

[snakecatcher]

Great report and awesome fish - if I caught even one lizard of that size I would be very happy. Going out Wednesday so fingers crossed!

[john_steward]

awsome, very impressive day, great read.

[Bundy_Burp]

Top story and some bl@@dy nice flatties
Good job guys

[Toppy]

Hey Franco, looks like life is good to you at the moment & I hope it stays that way mate!
cheers
Toppy

[Sea-Dog]

Hey puks,

If you want to try some cheapie versions of those "Crocs", Big W has them for under $9.

They are REALLY comfy. Although the heel strap on mine came adrift when retrieving the boat.

I just wear mine around the house for slippers. 8-)

[Got_the_Fever]

Seadog puks says thanks for where to get the crocs from we will be getting a pair each on the weekend. Guys thanks for the great report and sharing a fantastic day with us. I will definately be taking the deckie down that way very soon. I have never fished tiger mullet, I used to spend all my time at short is and the little sand bank just near there. Another reason to head down the pin again.

Kel [smiley=2vrolijk_08.gif]

[gunnabuild1]

Nice fish! Without the photos just be another this big, this many story

[richieboy]

Breathtaking stuff. Was with ya all the way reading your post! Nuthin better than sight casting. It must have been a top thrill. The pics just top it off as well. I'm even more impressed with the double hook up.
Now all I gotta do is get one bigger. My biggest to date just topped 80cm.
Well done again Franco!

Rich

[lattic]

nice flatties franco, and a good read

[flickflack]

HEY HEY YOU ARE STILL ALIVE AND FISHING :D. Awesome way to get back on the water mate. WELL DONE.
You must pack those studies in before Jack Season starts so we can get back into a few allnighters after work again. ;D

Cheers Rod

[jackash]

Top fish mate. Dream sesh that!
Cheers
Jackash

[luskin]

Congrats Franco

Awesome report ;)

Well done to you all

Cheers

Sy

[Matthias]

Great Pics. What a session, I think we are all eating humble pie...

Pete.

[Craigus]

Awesome report and fish there Franco ::) ::)
Thats Gold

[T1]

And why wouldn't you be ecstatic with that effort?!!

EXCELLENT STUFF guys! Well done!

Take Care T

KEL: The pin is a great place with lots of options - i too am a fan of Short Is and its surrounds...

[Jack_Hunter]

Great catch guys. Absolutely awesome lizards. They go so much harder in the shallow water.

Cheers.

[Dirty]

I totally agree....tip tip report...fantastic photos...awesome lizards...thats fishing.

well done!

[stack]

Best pics I`ve seen in a while.Size limits are working well when you can hook up to 2 that big side by side.
Very well done

Stack

[flattymattyb]

Hi Franco,

Great read as usual, that is one hell of a session and to do it in that company would make it all the more sweet. Hope to see you rejoin the club again this year ;).

Cheers
Matty

[mistress_T]

Heh Franco,
What you haven't said is that you are 5' tall and Lynchie is 4"9". That's why I use you guys as stunt double fish models for my mag work, on the simple premise that small anglers make average fish look very large.
Great fish, but you only caught 6. Mick sends his regards and points out that you were just lucky to pin big ones and it won't happen again. We had a great day also- 22 to 65cm, taking the tally in our prefish to 331 up to 95cm. Haven't had better winter flatties for 10 years.

Greenie

[Franco]

;D ;D ;D

Hee Hee Hee!!!!
Hi Dave. Bit touchy eh?!!

Finally got a bite!! About time Mate!!

I was wondering how long it would take you to get online with a rebuttal!!
Good to see ...... don't know bout your username though ::) ::)

PS. Hi to Mick tell him not to worry we won't go out catchin his pets for a while!!

Ohh so sweet; can't blame us for revelling in it ... doesn't happen often!!

I still can't believe you chose that username!!!! ;D

[Lynchie]

Closer to 4'8'' Greenie. It was a day to remember.
Lynchie ;)

[Red_Bull]

Franco, absolutely great fish there mate! Sorry I'm a bit late onto the scene here, but thought I'd have to ask you a few questions:

What do you find to be the best jigging methods for these whopper lizards? I remember reading an article by Greenie that advocated the use of stiff rods and a rapid, aggressive triple-twitch jigging technique. Do you use this method too?

Also, what size jig heads do you find to be the most effective in shallow (under 4 m) Broadwater areas?

Anyway, great work again, you've reminded me of what I could be missing out on by watching the footy instead of getting out there! :)

Cheers,
Red Bull.

[Franco]

Mate there were posts from myself and Flick flack regarding this back in saltwater section (I think) so have a search.

Briefly
- vary the techniques you work your lure with. That twitching technique Greenie uses in just one of several that work. I've fished with him heaps and its just one of the techniques He uses (but He does use it a lot!) If you use a grub simple lift and drops are fine, for example
- make sure your lure pauses and hits the bottom so your line goes slack
- watch your line so that you can strke when you see / feel the "bump" Strike hard so you set the hook then back off and let your rod & drag do the work
- Use 1/8th to 1/2 an ounce in shallows depending on current. Usually 3/8th to start then change as needed
- More important than twitch technique is actually finding where the fish are. Once you do that flathead are pretty dumb and like to eat lures that's why they're heaps of fun!

Hope that helps

[Runaway_Bob]

Franco,

Those fish were great!

I'm a bit dissapointed you did not adhere to Rossy's photo modelling style of showing all your tackle though!