Nice early start in the Caboolture River

[PADDLES]

The weather gods, work gods and tide gods were all smiling this morning so i snuck down early just after the 4am low to pump some yabs and fish my favourite banks and gutters before all the rest of the crowd made too much noise. Ended up catching a heap of 25-30cm bream but I fish for whiting so I chucked them back and ended up keeping 4 good fat whiting around the 30cm mark. The bycatch however was an absolute shovel of a flattie around the 90cm mark which was a bit of hard work with my whiting kit. Once I realised what was hooked up I played things very steady indeed because next best dinner to whiting in my books is a nice piece of flattie and I didn't want to miss out. Wrapped things up by 10am as it was getting both busy and hot, but it's pretty nice down the river at the moment, the big tides have stirred up the water a bit and the fish are out to feed.

[Todddo]

I was kicking myself when I woke up and didnt get the boat ready! Seemed like a good morning.
Good work mate, Hope you let the old girl fight another day.

[PADDLES]

Nah, I'm a bit old school Toddo, I fish for a feed but once i get that feed i go home. The only fish i release are undersize (my own limits which are a bit bigger than the government's) so the old girl is going to go nicely with a salad this evening.

[Todddo]

If its a Dusky which I'm sure it is being the Caboolture river, Then the max limit is 75cm....
Even so I've never understood why people keep big breeders. Don't you want them to keep reproducing so our fish stocks stay fishable for years to come?

[ben_460]

if you overlook the big breeder fish stocks thing, and the oversize max size law, is it worth keeping the real big ones anyway? I caught an 80cm plus model in cab river years ago, it was crap eating, bit chewy and tuff and had a smell to it. It put me off any sized flatty going in my esky ever since.

[PADDLES]

i honestly didn't think it was a dusky, it was the lighter colour so i thought it was a sand flattie. like i said i don't fish for sport, i fish for a feed and only take a feed at a time and then head home because i live here and can fish when i feel like it. ie i dont keep fishing till i hit my bag limit. personally i don't beleive in releasing a fish that i have just flogged the krap out of to get into the boat on light gear, but i do respect the rights of someone who wishes to sport fish responsibly. i dunno how you cook your fish ben but it tasted awsome with a dusting of rice flour and slowly shallow fried in olive oil, you might have overcooked your one.

[Todddo]

I don't keep anything over 60cm as they get tough Ben so I agree with you.
Even Dusky flatties get lighter shades in some areas, seen some real light ones in my parts.
Well I think thats a stupid way to look at things Paddles. just because you worked hard to catch it, you decide to go against the regulations set by fisheries.
Either way you have caught it and kept it. Hopefully next time you will leave the big females as per regulations so we have fish next time we all go out fishing to keep or for sport. If not, Hope fisheries is at your local ramp.

[barra71]

Nice to see some good fish come from the cab river.. well done mate and enjoy..

[coastrunner]

Hope fisheries see this post

[brock13]

A nice fish from the cab river. Shame you werent aware of the regulations.

[burleygu]

I bought myself one of those laminated fish charts from bcf. Think they are 10 bucks has saved my skin a couple of times as i always get confused with the spangled emperors. Every boat should have one in my opinion.

[BLOOEY]

I think paddles must be stirring. A platinum member on ausfish for 6 years would know flattie size limits. Ben

[sandbankmagnet]

Easiest way I've found of determining if it's a dusky is the spot on the tail. Sandies have a broader head and smaller spots. They normally only grow to about 50 or 55cm.

Reminds me of a time I pulled one of my rectangular crab pots about 10 years ago. Down one end was a big sand flatty. Down the other was a big buck muddie. They didn't want any piece of each other. I would have backed the muddie.

[AFE666]

It wasn't a sandy..

[PADDLES]

nope, it wasn't a sandy afe666. blooey and ronnie have spoilt all the fun, whoever would have thought to use the mythical 90cm beachmere flattie as bait, but it got some good bites from the self appointed ausfish angling report police. you guys should lighten up and we might start getting some more good reports and info on here, i'm sure there's blokes who won't put reports up because of some of the krap that shows up on here.

fish was a dusky at 72cm and was the best i've ever caught in the river and it tasted just frikking lovely. i know my rules and still have trouble identifying duskies from the rest, but i will only ever take 45cm or so anyway because anything less is really just a pup and lets face it, i only really fish for whiting anyway the flatties are just tasty bycatch.

haven't seen you guys down the river lately ronnie, hope you've had a good christmas.