ALWAYS take your landing net...

[NeMo84]

went for a fish on the weekend with some mates in the brissie river, I think it was Saturday. Anyway my mate caught 3 shovelnose sharks on his skull dragging spin stick with 9kg mono and i hooked a lovely big flattie on my 6lb SP rod, anyway after about 5 minutes i got him in nice and close and he was tired, when this twat had the brilliant idea of chucking a cast net at it to land it! [smiley=angryfire.gif] anyway to cut a long story short the flathead broke my 8lb trace and disappeared off into the browness that is the brissie river woulda been my best quality fish out the river so far but oh well, at least i got a good look at it...landing net is always gonna be with me now, second big flattie ive lost under same circumstances, not the cast net throwing though, the fish was too heavy to lift and i couldnt reach it...take it easy people

[straddie]

Bad luck on missing the big girl Nemo, any guesstimates on size? The bigger flatties usually don't venture too far away so another trip to same area might see you hook up again.

My gaff and big landing net never comes out of the boat these days unless there is some crud to washed off it, then after a shake off it goes straight back in.

The cast net was a pretty low percentage option. If you get caught like that in the future grab the heaviest mono you have 24kg is nice and tie on the biggest hook you have 6/0 or better, run the line through the tip of a rod and use it like a gaff. Has worked well for me on the few occaisions it was needed, only use the rod as a guide though not to pull the fish in with.

[NeMo84]

thats a very good idea mate, i reckon it was probably about 70-80cm, at first i thought it was a big cattie then when i saw its head i was like , tryin to forget about it now

[flickflack]

mate if that happens again and the bank is not too steep just keep walking back with the rod tip up and the flattie will beach itself.definately better than the cast net.

[NeMo84]

yeh that was the problem, it was a cement\rock wall slope, if it was a sandy beach id have been able to post a pic of it i was just happy to hook a fish like that in the brissie river, most people think there's nothing decent in there but i know there is, just gotta try a bit harder to find em thats all(and be lucky )

[flickflack]

A pity mate.
Went fishing this morning in the southport seaway and got a few bream on sp's with my little 4lb spin stick,good fun until a 55cm flattie took a liking to my little 2 inch berkley minnow. We were in a boat and i didnt feel like donating my last light jighead so found myself in your situation,ended up lip landing it.OUCH! At least I caught a few more bream on the jighead afterwards.Still dunno if ile do it again