Bribie ABT Flathead - How to turn a crap day into a cracker!!!!!!

[OverNover]

Hi Guys,

Fished the Bribie ABT Flathead round today with my good Mate Stu. We had little expectations other than to try a few new techniques and lures before the GC Flathead Classic in late September. We arrived to the tent 1st so got keytag number 1, having never fished the area before, our plans were based on Google Earth, You Tube and past Ausfish reports!!!! We cruised straight up to the wreck out the front of Ningi Creek, I hooked up to a 36cm model in the 1st 5 minutes, whilst I was photographing that pup, Stuey nailed a horse of a Tailor on an Exude soft plastic, needless to say our confidence was up and we were in for a top day..................................or so we thought.

With masses of snot weed building up, I soon gave up on the blade, we tried a few spots all to no avail, at around 11:30, finally scored a 26cm Flattie on a bank between Ningi & Bullock Cks, fair dinkum, it's mouth was still round from suckin on it's mommas titties!!!!!! But, in ABT comps, it scores so we reluctantly wasted 3 minutes measuring & photographing it before giving it a stern talking to and releasing it. We runned & gunned for a bit, headed up Bullock Ck which looked really fishy but not a tap, then headed out the front, same deal, time was running out, we even contemplated heading in to Pacific Harbour to chase some Bream at one point!!!!

We were half heartedly heading back to the harbour when Stuey said, "lets just run that bank from the Bridge back to the Harbour", so off we went. 1st cast in on the bank and Stuey comes up solid.........to a snag!!!! Gets that off and we carry on, on probably my 3rd or 4th cast, I drop my Z-man 3" minnow hard up under a mangrove tree, before I've even engaged the reel, I feel a solid 'tick' through the braid, I lift the rod tip and there's solid weight but that's it! I give it another hit and start winding, then it awakens!!! It took off like a freight train, I picked it for a Trevally due to the speed it took off, then I got a look at it and it was big and brown NOT silver, could it be????? With the 30 minute to go alarm on my phone going off tap, the chase commenced, this thing was on a mission, stripping line off the little Okuma baitcaster then sounding and just sitting on the bottom, then I'd pry it up and off we'd go again, was it a ray??? After about the 3rd time this happened, it completely changed direction and I managed to get it's head up and we got our 1st look at what was a monster lizard!!! The heart beat ramped up and the legs got wobbly, now we'd seen her we were even more stressed about all the things that could go wrong, after about 10 minutes of Stuey chasing it with the leccy (on hands and knees, using his hand with the net in the other), I said to Stuey, that's it, this leader ain't gonna last much longer, as soon as we get her head up, have a shot with the net, we thought we had her, she saw the boat and hared off again, after two more of those, she was about 3 foot down and in view, gave a massive head shake, I raised the rod and Stuey nailed the net shot!!! High 5's all round, I had to sit down for a bit!!!! We ended up forth and I took out biggest Flathead, absolutely stoked, bring on the Gold Coast round!!!! Big Thanx to Stuey, couldn't have done it without you, you're the Man!!! Photos attached, Cheers, Jamie.

PS - I've made an appointment at the doctors on Friday to have that smile surgically removed!!!!

[bennykenny]

nice work Overnover, your story had my heart rate up a little aswell, cheers BK

[Kewy]

Great story and one cracking lizard! That's what keeps us coming back for more!
Luke

[nick-o83]

epic tale mate! Congrats on a good end to the day.

[carnster]

Nice fish congrats.

[blaaahkey]

well done mate, i was G'ed up just reading that let alone the one catching it LOL

Blake

[loophole]

Nice Fish... Go the Z-Mans!

[Jeremy]

Nice work to come up with a great fish like that in a comp. So how'd you place in the ABT event after all that?

[OverNover]

Cheers Guys,

Keen as for the GC round, got a weekend at Borumba between now and then to chase the Toga. We finshed 4th in the end Jeremy, we only managed 3 fish out of 5. Reckon if we'd got another two average fish we'd have given it a real shake!!! Below is another photo a fellow competitor took, Cheers, Jamie.

[B U Z Z I N]

well done , that's a monster lizard .... it's a good spot 4a lizard or 2 down that side of the bridge
troy .....

[stuart db]

Go you good thing. Have your knees stopped shaking yet???????? It was a great result but didnt come easily. You earnt that fish with the 4237 casts prior for nothing and the 5 times it tried to cut you of on one of the props. You keep that up for the GC round and the Classic and I will be your net man all day. Maybe next time i wiil even contribute with a fish. Thanks as always Jamie for another successfulf and fun day. Thanks also to the guys at the ABT for another great comp.

Stu

[OverNover]

All good Stuey, as I said, would not have boated it without your leccy skills and net job, real team effort, it sure did try every trick in the book. I reckon that's the key to always enjoying our fishing, even in a comp situation, NEVER TAKE OURSELVES TOO SERIOUSLY, just enjoy the day regardless of the conditions (remember the Classic last year, 30 knot Northerlies with horizontal monsoonal rain and we still had a great laugh .....................we've got issues!!!!). Hopefully I can return the favour at Borumba in a couple of weeks on a metre long Toga!!!!

[Fishbait]

Awesome flathead - biggest I've seen. Bad luck on the bream numbers though. Good luck for the GC comp.

[King Rat]

Awesome Flattie, and a great write up, what size leader and line were you using?

[OverNover]

Thanx Fishbait, Yeah, the boys struggled to find the Bream, most headed to Redcliffe I heard and some even to the Brissy River, fair hike from Bribie, all right for those in Skeeters I s'pose!!!!!

King Rat, of course that thing smashed me whilst I was using one of my lightest rods!!! Was using my little 1 - 3 kg Raider / Okuma V100 Baitcaster Combo, 8lb Fins Braid with 10lb Fluro leader, wouldn't recommend anything under 15lb leader if you're targeting big lizards though, which is what I had on pretty much all my other rods!!!!! I got lucky with a perfect corner of the mouth hookup and managed to keep the leader clear of the gill rakers, might have been a different story if she had of engulfed the plastic and the leader was rubbing on those raspy teeth for all that time, I reckon it would have been all over. I just love this little combo, beautifully balanced and light enough to use all day, and now it's proven that it can easily handle some big fish!!! Cheers, Jamie.