Flatties at the Pin 14-08-05

[JT]

Had another practise day up at the Pin today with Marty_Z flicking plastics for Flatties, with the Flathead Classic fast approaching, we need all the practise we can get.
Started from the Jacobs Well ramp at 6.20am and I had the first flatty hooked by 7.00am, "quick Marty get the net", "net what net", "ohh you mean the net still in the car at the ramp" ;D ;D. Flatty is lip gripped by hand by Marty and goes 62cm. After a quick trip back to the ramp to collect the missing net we are back into them.
Bite is pretty hot upto about 11.30am with 11 flatties to the boat. The next couple of hours are pretty quiet with just a couple of undersized rats boated.
For last 2 hours the bite is back on with another 6 to the boat including a 61cm and the last fish of the day a fat 65cm.
Tally for the day is 19 flatties (5 were under size), kept two each and released the rest.
Pretty happy with the result (our best to date) and only hope we can continue the form for the Classic.

Cheers

John


65cm Flattie, the claret on him is mine >:( >:(, bugger got me good.

[scuttlebutt]

that's a great day on lures - you must have them sussed!

cheers,

steve

[Poseidon]

19 Flatties well done!!! Do you find yourself working areas that have produced on earlier trips or do you pick the spots given the outlook on the day or areas not tried previously? Whatever you are doing seems to work a treat and only wish to see if you play by a game plan or make it up as the day goes on.
Regards Cameron.

[a]

Gee I hope you haven't peaked too early.
That would be a real shame. Watch your back,. I hear there's a new team in town with some secret weapons!!! :-X

[Billo]

Nice tally
sure have been some great lizards being caught jover the last few months .......the breeders are really doing their job ! C'mon you big mummas ;D

good luck in the classic !

[JT]

Cam, we are finding the fish in old spots and we are fishing specific runs of the tide. We can go to the same spot and pick off 6-8 fish in an hour, go back at a different part of the tide and get zip. We log every capture against the tide, with times, barometer, wind speed & direction water temp and depth, as well as technique and lure colours and jig weights. Seems a bit anal I know but it seems to be working. 35 flatties to 91cm in two trips with different tides and varying wind conditions proves this - or we might just be lucky B$#^&$ds ;D ;D.

Armoz, mate we ain't no threat to the top guys, to be able to compete with some of them I think we'll need TNT ;D ;D

Cheers Billo, should be a great comp, at last count we have about 75 teams, which is about 220 senior anglers. We are on track for this years Classic to be the biggest. If we don't get any more entries (which we will) then that means every senior angler has a 1 in 220 chance to win a new Mako Craft tinny and Jonhson outboard, or a 1 in 12 chance to take out a major prize :o :o, I like them odds. Lets hope the two W's (wind and weed) stay away this year.

Cheers

John

[S.S.]

Yep, keep working hard..... Saw Ross McCubbin on Saturday and they managed 20+ fish in a couple of hours.
My mates best fish went 78cm P.B. for him so he was happy (secret gold coast location ;D)

[a]

I can't believe you picked the secret weapon on the 1st attempt. I'll have to come up with a plan B.

JT This will be my first Classic and first attempt at the pin, are you doing guided tours? ;D

[westie]

Armoz.....Scott you only have to mention about going flathead fishin and we get rained out. Guy if Scott is about then get the wet weather gear out and batten down the hatches..
Don't worry Scott they are just trying to scare you off with all the big sizes and numbers don't fall for it >:( >:( ???

[Poseidon]

John, the approach you are taking regarding the logging of information etc. sound like a good tip. I remember someone saying years ago to keep a diary of the days fishing, seemed odd at the time however I will give it a go on the next outing and hopefully stick to it. Can only help I suppose. Would it be safe to say that if you find a match in your records that are similar to the conditions on the day then you have noticed that the spot in question does offer a few more fish?

Regards Cameron.

[keen_as_mustard]

Armoz... we know the feeling. This will be JT and my third classic - the first one was a bit overwhelming. We went in pretty green as we had only started throwing plastics for flatties 1 month earlier, and didn't have anyone to help us out. Since then we have met plenty of people doing the same (especially thru ausfish) and most have been willing to share their knowledge (although most keep their top spots a secret). BTW, we will be glad to give you a guided tour - say 12.01pm on the Saturday arvo of the Classic :).

Armoz - will you be able to prefish the pin before the classic - will make a big difference to your results? PM me or JT for some general info if you want it.

If you are looking for some help, Doug Burt runs fishing seminars monthly and concentrates on different species each month. The September seminar will most likely be on catching flatties with plastics - well worth the $5. Let me know if you want more info on it - I know we have learnt heaps from these seminars.

Not sure if Westie is serious or not, but we are definitely not trying to scare people off - the opposite in fact. A couple of months ago, Cloud 9 (aka Jamie - I think he started the post) suggested people should post everytime they go fishing, so people can find out what is biting. By posting our results, we hope to encourage people to enter the Classic, and let them know there are flatties out there to catch. I know when I can't go fishing the weekend, the posts of others keep me sane!

Trust me, we don't usually catch fish this regularly, but things just seem to have clicked the last month or so. JT and I claim we are in training - my wife just laughs at me when I tell her that!

Hope to see you all at the Classic.

[RobSee]

JT - you forgot to black out the back ground - I think I know where that 65cm one was caught..... what was the tide doing I wonder?

[RobSee]

lookng at that picture very closely I'd say it was caught...













...........in a boat ;D

[a]

WESTIE
I was wondering when you would appear...
I'm glad I am able to assit you to spend more quality time with your family. ;D

Rob See
I've already got u sorted mate. :o

Marty Z
Thanks for the kind offer but at 12.01pm I'll be sizing up the podeum!!!(can't spell either) I hear they are giving a prize for the worst ever effort this year!!

Gent's can't wait to get amongst it.

[Cloud_9]

gaday fellers them flatheads are finicy buggers went out today the 15th and had a ball.
Cheers Cloud 9

[keen_as_mustard]

jamie,

gee you live a great life - fishing on sunday and monday. do you ever work?

would have been nice out there today, not so windy - were the flatties playing ball a bit more today for you?

marty

[Cloud_9]

yep
found a colour rubber combo that works
found that if be fishing 2 different live fibre rods this year.
both 2kg out fits. 1 spin and the other a bait caster.
had a ball with the bait caster today. finally tuned the reel the way i like it. casting 50+ meters into the wind with 3/8's jig.
no pics today cos not that big a fish but numbers there and the big 1that another guy hooked just in front of me on a plastic i gave him shite my to tiers.it should have been my fish :-X
but thats fishing
till next sunday , same bat chanell.

cheers cloud 9

[elephrez]

great catch pal.....

[mr_stinker]

never fished s/p in my life.but have fished plenty of money comps ( heavest fish) and going anal as you call it,there is no other way.you must put in the hard yards. hope it pays off

[JT]

Cam - we have found after a couple of trips to the same areas that there does seem to be a pattern forming, so hopefully by the time the Classic comes about we'll have some sort of game plan. But hey this is fishing, on the day that game plan could go to S%#t and we just end up driving around throwing plastic at everything.

Rob See - ahh ya bugger, now everyone knows our secret spot ;D ;D, I'll have to crop the photos even tighter now.

G'day Jamie, good to see you on the water Sunday, did you make it back to the Club for the draw. If my name was pulled out of the barrel I don't want to know >:( >:(. Good to see you get amoungst them yesterday, so spill the beans what is your new magic colour, you can tell me on here, I won't mention it to anyone. ;D ;) ;)
It's always a dissapointing (and good) to see someone get a big fish just in front of you, In our first Classic Marty and I were trying to anchor up at Kalinga Bank (no electric and racing tides) and we watched a guy just next to us boat 3 fish around 60cm in around 3 casts. We pulled anchor and left very quickly after that :-/ :-/ :-[.

See you on the water.

John

[flattymattyb]

Hi Guys,

Great Stuff JT, couldn't get out on Sunday was cutting it a bit fine to make it to the footy. 19 fish on a day like that will stand you in good stead for the comp. Took a mate out on Monday we got a few fish fo average size to a bit under and #one hooked one nice jewie that did me on 2kg gear and had another attack the lure about 15mins later just a couple of meters from the boat in 1.2m of cyrstal clear water that just missed the lure but sent the heart racing. Moved to another spot for a few more small fish and then the deckie hooked up solid and lands an 81cm fish.


Cheers
Matty

[DICER]

great flatty, a I like your idea of logs

but now I'm seriously homesick and jealous - + wishing I were home to go in the comp

[RobSee]

this is Scottie's (armoz) effort for Saturday at Golden Beach

[davo]

RICHO and I went out on the 15th for our first flatty trip of the year. We caught 18 flathead with 6 over 60cm, 1 sole, 1 jack and got nailed by another jack. The pin is firing.

[JT]

Top fish Matty & Scottie, don't those big girls give a good account of themselves on light gear.

What is eveyone fishing with at the moment, I use 2kg to 5kg rods (Pflueger & Strudwick), 1500 to 2000 size Daiwa spin reels, 6 lb Fireline and 14lb Vanish or Nitlon leaders, seems to do the job. These rigs aren't too heavy which means we can cast all day and they are strong enough to stop most flatties, although we do tend to play the bigger ones a little longer and do our best to keep their heads in the water to stop their last ditch head shakes on the surface to throw the hooks :-[ :-[.

Davo - nice session mate, you'd have to be happy with a by catch of Jacks :o There seems to be an earlier start this year to the big females being caught more often, seems the new slot limits are working.

Cheers

John

[RobSee]

I'm using a 7 foot loomis 2 kilo stick - with 4lb fireline, 8lb vanish or 9lb 10x leader on a 2500 stradic.

As yet I have not been smashed up on this outfit, and even landed a good sized Trev for my trouble.

[davo]

Yeh mate. I always enjoy a session on the lizards. I think I will be able to squeeze a couple more trips before I go to Mackay.

[squidgiepalmer]

Hey JT was up your way on Wed got some nice flathead in bloody SW wind nearly blow us of the water shame i wont be there this year but Neil tells me he has a new crew for River Rats but wont be the same i was up there with Brett from Ballina he will be there hpoe the wind is good to all
cheers squidgie
question how do i put pics on now was going to add one to this post but what the