Passage Flathead - Sat am 26th Feb

[Mullet Musketeer]

Saturday

After a good session on Thursday, I headed back up to Bribie Island early on Saturday morning. I was wading out under the bridge, on the mainland side, just after high tide, at about 4.30 am. I decided to try some big GULP Crazy Legs Jerkshads, to see if I could find some bigger fish, under the bridge lights. I rigged a pink shine version on a 1/8th 2/0 jig head and cast out to the north side of the bridge. After a few casts, nothing was happening so I moved to the south side. The first cast came up taught as soon as I flicked the reel bail arm over. The fish held on until it was only a couple of metres away and then let the lure go. The same thing happened, a couple of casts later. I could not see what was biting, but I think they were probably Pike or Moses Perch.

As the sun came up I moved south, past the old oyster jetty to the big drain that empties round the corner from the direction of Sandstone Point. The tide was really running out now and I decided to try a 1/5th of an ounce Berkley Big Eye Blade lure. I cast it out let it sink briefly, and jerked it back towards me fairly quickly. To get the right action you really need to keep these lures moving fast. After a few cast, I had a fish. The small, soft hooks on these blades mean I often lose the fish before I can get it back to shore. There was no problem this time. I had a nice Flathead around 48cm.

After a 15 minutes more fishing with the blade lure, it got snagged and I lost it. I switched to a GULP 4” Minnow soft plastic in the pearl watermelon colour and rigged it on a 1/8th 1/0 jighead. I was now fishing along the edge of the big sand bank that channels the water down through the drain. After a couple of hits I cast back in the same spot about 6 times before I finally connected with the fish. It was another, bigger Flathead at 52cm. I wandered around this area for another hour or so. I hooked up with a couple more fish but dropped them or they spat out the lure. Finally I connected with a good size Long Tom who jumped clean out of the water when it realised it was hooked. These really are ugly fish.

Another great morning fishing and as we have plenty of fish in the fridge, they were all released today, some unintentionally!

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[Chris1984]

nice work mate

[Mexikan]

Once again well done MM
Mex

[alleycat]

Good catch MM, i slepped my boat in just north of the bridge saturday at 5.30 to fish the banks around the mouth of ningi creek, anyway 3 hours of drifting flicking plastics saw me catch just 1 small flattie that dropped of as i lifted it into the boat, i tried south of the bridge but of a running tide the water was brown from the current.. im finding the going a bit harder than you seem to lately..

[Mullet Musketeer]

Good catch MM, i slepped my boat in just north of the bridge saturday at 5.30 to fish the banks around the mouth of ningi creek, anyway 3 hours of drifting flicking plastics saw me catch just 1 small flattie that dropped of as i lifted it into the boat, i tried south of the bridge but of a running tide the water was brown from the current.. im finding the going a bit harder than you seem to lately..

It can be tough at present as the water quality changes so quickly - it seems mid run out and mid run in, the water is pretty good, but around the turn of the tide its awful. I think the fish are all still there - its just difficult to cast confidently into all that murky water. I have also been getting nearly all my fish in less than a metre so it is worth casting in close to the bank on these high tides.