headed up DI sat for a 24hr leave pass. the beach was pretty flat and the water even flatter. you could have launched the Brissy if she wasnt at the bottom already. saw a heap of birds diving in close and though yeah yeah here we go. put on a slug and threw and threw and nothing. no surface action so the only guess is that they were hitting bait only. spent most of the rest of the day soaking up the sun with two rods set in the holders and fine tuning my worming skills (managed to do quite well considering it was only my third time trying to catch these buggers). Nailed a nice whiting just as the tide started to push in. wind was well and truly blowing by then and seemed to have turned more southerly. travelled back down beach to just north of third cutting and it was flat/no wind. Met up with mates and headed down towards the mouth to put the nite in for maybe some good late season tailor. set the rods - got a few nibbles but with the dolphins chasing bait within a rod length from the shore there wasnt much hope. waited till just after dark and spotted some bait splashing just behind the first wave - got two good live mullet and threw them out - but still nothing. tide went down and i headed to the mouth leaving mates behind. pulled up conducted a sitrep of the mouth. how it changes so regularly. found a nice bank where the water was flowing over with a nice drop. thought i would grab a few livies in the cast net as there was plenty to have. walked out along the bank and took my first cast at some bait. boy oh boy did i get a surprise. as i brought the net in - i saw this hugh tail flapping and there she was "LIZARD LADY'" couldnt believe my eyes - had to show the crew. knowing straight away that she was oversize - i place her in my large live bait tub (like a trawler tub). bolted back up to show my mates and their girlies. should of heard the comments but i am sure you can imagine. after measuring 92cm on the stick she was released unharmed although she needed incouragment. couldnt believe it - the biggest i have seen - raced back down to mouth to get more livies and she was a little big for my hooks. saw countless marks from the previous high water ranging from her size to 6inches. makes you feel better about letting these big females go when you see the results of it - so many flathead in a beautiful river. anyways nailed some good livies - about a dozen mullet various sizes. raced back up beach to a gutter i noticed earlier in the day and set up for the change of tide - one big livie and one with bunches of worms for the bream. caught half doz throw back bream and 1 small whiting. my big livie got hammered and pulled in a good size tailor. thought beauty here we go. hooked up another through the tail (tailor factor). sent her out and no sooner had i put the rod back in the holder when the reel started to scream off - picked it up and laid back but nothing - wound in and whatever it was (shark or pelagic my guess) had nailed everything bar the last inch which just happend to be where my hook was set. clean bite straight through - any thoughts?? anyway kept throwing till the eyes started to shut - 2 am went to sleep content knowing that i had seen my biggest flatty ever and had let her go so she can keep enabling us to catch those magneficent fish. all in all a great 24hrs leave pass and taking the other half up next weekend to do it again. its hard i tell ya.
Originally Posted by shut_up_and_fish
