flattie classic summary

[micksta]

hi all,
Just finished the classic with my son and brother and overall very happy. We finished 7th overall, 6th in the three person team and 1st in the mixed (seniors/juniors). My brother, Geoff finished 4th overall.
Day 1 was probably the hardest days fishing i have ever done with the combination of wind and rain pushing us to the limit. We stuck it out and managed 9 scorers.
Day 2 was much better weather with better fishing, we hit a couple of patches and scored well finishing the day with 13 scorers.
Day 3 went well (for the team) my son and I managed a 39.5 cm (5 points) each while my brother gave us a fishing clinic catching 7 scorers including a 73cm in half a day.
Overall we got 29 scorers with the biggest going 77cm we wasted about 5 hours in the deep catching nothing while people around us were catching, saw a nice 89cm landed. There is a technique I just couldn't crack, pretty frustrating.
All in all a good effort,
Mike

[bennykenny]

well done mike, thats a top effort, those 39.5 fish get very frustrating at times.

[OB1]

Well done Mike,
That's a fantastic effort finishing 6th, particulaly seeing you picked up your fish away from the deep water, and score heavily on the final day. We really struggled this year after finishing top ten over the last few years. Couldn't find fish in the deep or the shallows. Found some good patches of water but didn't hook up much. At one stage we found what looked like perfect water and worked it hard for ten minutes only for Ross, Ben and Brad to troll past us and land 4 fish in the next few minutes. Certainly did not see many fish caught in the deep this year which was very unusual (especially with northerlies around) - it has changed quite a bit on the bottom though since the rains.

Which boat were you guys in?

Cheers,

Ollie

[micksta]

G'day Ollie,
we were in the quintrex topender and we mainly fished around pandanus and the p!$$ drain. We pre fished in some ordinary weather which really helped our cause. We caught one fish in the deep in about 6 pre fishes and just about all our fish in the shallows. But I know how you feel about ross, brad and benny, we were hammering kalinga (you know there is a fish there as it looks too fishy) Ross comes by, one cast and a 67cm and off they go.
We used the spot lock on the i pilot and it enabled us to really fish an area. I would say we got 80% of our fish from two areas which we found in the pre fishing.
Which boat were you in?
Cheers
Mike

[Why-ting]

Nice work Mike. A top ten finish is always good. looks like you got some nice fish. Those conditions on day 1 were an absolute joke. I Think a fair few boats would of hit the sheds early. Im already looking forward to next year its a great couple of days even when the weather is shithouse.

Cheers Whytey

[Franco]

Hey boys yep I was glad I couldn't fish it this year wrt the weather! Sounded tough!

Was off my tits at a mates wedding! (was one of the Groomsmen) so probably felt as knackered as you lot on sunday! Ha Ha!

[micksta]

yeah whytey those conditions were ridiculous, the only reason we didn't go is we were frozen but your right about it being a good few days. Franco i am sure alot of people in the classic would have gladly swapped with you on day one.
P.S. we came 7th overall not 6th - crossed wires

[lido76]

Congrats on the finish Mike. We struggled for the whole 3 days but never the less we had a great time as usual. The young fella got himself in the kids draw and picked himself (me) up a new Tairyo rod and some other stuff so he was happy. They really look after the kids down there which is fantastic. As whitey said we're already looking forward to next year.
Cheers Brendan

[OB1]

Mike. my boat is a green quintrex hornet wildfisher - probably would have seen you out there as we fished similar areas. Finding fish and staying on them is the way to go, even when they're smallish - we did that last year, but just couldn't find a patch this year. I think we were a bit impatient and tried all the spots we found over the years. If you're a gun like Greenie or Ross you can pull up to a spot have a few casts and move on if nothing takes - but us amateurs probably need to work the spots a bit harder.

Whytey, great to catch up mate - you guys caned it over the last 2 days (well done).

Franco, I would have to say you may have been missed this year - we simply ran out of ideas as a 2 man team!

[micksta]

Brendan, your boy (you) would have been wrapped with the win in the draw and I agree about looking after the kids they gave away quite alot last year. We (my son and I) learnt heaps from our not so good performance last year so i am sure you guys will be all the better for next years.
OB1, we only found a couple of patches but with the i pilot we were able to really make it pay. In saying that we went hours 4 at one time without even a wriggler. Those are the hardest times do you cast, troll or throw a stick of dynamite. Change lures, change style or change areas. One thing we did this year was to keep our plan simple and try not to have too many options but like I said 80% plus of our fish came from two spots.
At least now we only have 360 odd days for the next one.

[Rhinoc]

Great to hear your stories from this years classic. I did the classic this year for the first time and really loved it. My team mate and I really struggled as we hadn't really fished together before but all in all, it was a fantastic experience and I'm really keen to have another crack next year. I've never seen so many boats around the place. That weather on Thursday was horrific but thats fishing I guess.

In recent times I have been catching some really good fish in the deep with a couple in the 90's (PB 94cm) and several in the 80's but I couldn't buy a fish in the deep during the classic. Probably got equal results on plastics and on the troll but all from the shallow. From some of the chats I had with other crews it appeared a number of the high scorers tended to mostly troll. I haven't done a lot of trolling before so plan on working on that for next years classic.

Rhino...

[luckystrike]

Hey Michael, you blokes certainly put in a great performance. i was stocked to see you guys win the category of seniors and Junior it was a real shame you left before they announced it Jake would have been wrapped i am sure.

Mate as always great to catch up with you... oh and i suppose your brother as well!! Must catch up before next years comp and do that snapper trip in the bay.

Scott

[micksta]

rhino, we spoke to a bait fisho during the classic and we saw him catch a 90+ in the deep along with him telling us he had caught another 90
+ and two 80+ in the deep. We saw Ross McCubbin catch an 89cm in the deep so they were there probably just use to the same old lures thrown at them. Interseting what you say about trolling as we were chatting with Greenie after day two and they caught 32 fish with 29 on the troll all in the shallows.
Scotty, I have changed focus to the bay now starting with this sunday to Mud and beyond. If there is a seat you are more than welcome, give us a ring or pop in.
Talk soon
Mike
P.S. i will go halves in the crab pot with you