queensland New "boat", Maiden Voyage

[benno573]

Hi all,

I recently purchased myself a new vessel - well, new for me, second hand for someone else.  After a quick shakedown run to check all was working well last weekend and a vist to @Zim man to top up the lure supply,  I loaded up with way more lures than I could possibly use and headed to Cabbage Tree Point on Saturday morning with dreams of crocodile sized flathead in my mind.

 

I hit the water about 6:30am and peddled towards some spots I used to fish in my "real" boat, thankfully the extreme shallow draft and higher tide meant that some short cuts were available and within about 20 minutes I had two lures deployed and was trolling along a deserted stretch of a back channel.  Things were a bit quiet at first, one small flathead took a liking to a pontoon 21 crackerjack and was promptly released.  Unfortunately eel grass was a big problem and the lures were continually being fouled up, so I headed a bit further afield towards a generally cleaner bank I had had some success on in the past.  Again a pint sized flathead took a liking to the crackerjack but things were quite slow so I stopped on a nearby sandbank to stretch the legs and back out a bit.

 

The tide was dropping out fast and as more banks became exposed the fish started to come on the bite a bit.  I had something a bit bigger hit a trolled lure, a 32cm bream appeared, not a regular lure capture for me at all.  Just to prove it wasn't a fluke I repeated the process another 3 times in the same area, all were decent fish 29-32cm but they weren't what I was really after.  The crackerjack did the damage on all.

 

With the tide nearing low, I headed towards my favourite flathead spot and it wasn't long before I was into them.  I landed 4 in quick succession on plastics, with the water quite murky bright colours were the order of the day.  2 in the high 40's were released into the esky, the other two were just legal and nicely lip hooked so were let go to fight again.  One small flattie was dropped yakside, note to Santa - landing net please! After things went a bit quiet in that spot, I peddled quickly towards another spot, and made it there just before the turn of the tide.  Two more flathead were landed, one more released into the esky.  I also hooked up on a small bullie in about 18" of water, he played up a treat and jumped about all over the place but soon won his freedom - 12lb leader was never going to last and probably easier to deal with that way than on my lap.

 

By now the bite had shut down, the tide was now running in, the NNW had kicked up to about 15-18kn, making a yucky wind vs tide short sharp chop to look forward to on the way back to the ramp.  I took a slightly longer way out so I was running with the wind and chop but against the tide.  It was a slow and steady trip back to the ramp but it never felt unsafe or unstable - and I was mostly dry as well.  Several people at the ramp were bemoaning the lack of fish for the day which made me feel a little better that I hadn't been as successful as I'd hoped.

 

I didn't get a lot of photos for the day given my lack of any sort of waterproof photo taking device, the waterproof case I got for my phone unfortunately ruins the camera function and I'm too chicken to take it out of the case on the water. According to google earth, I covered about 11km for the day.

Thanks for reading.

Benno <'><

[Old Scaley]

Back to the old stomping ground, hey @benno573.  Pretty sure the word is getting around the fish in the Jacobs Well area - HE’S BACK!!!!  Not a bad start for your new vessel.  

I still owe you a few deckie spots, so if you see a good midweek day with the right tides that happens to coincide with an unfortunate bout of industrial diarrhoea, sing out and we can arrange a play date. 

[ellicat]

How do you reckon you'd go towing another yak for the day ;) lol

[benno573]

@ellicat Just a yak fine. If you were in it... not so fine. 

[benno573]

@Old Scaley - noted to all the above, I’ll add that to the minutes. Was good to get out there again.

[kmcrosby78]

Great first outing @benno573 and three keeper flathead is a good result in my books, but then again, you're a better fisherman than I am ..........  

[Poddymullet]

@benno573 great report! Sounds like you had a lot of fun...never done any fishing in yaks but want to at some stage. Just a bad back keeps me from having a go. Congrats on the purchase and look forward to more reports 

[Drop Bear]

Nice one mate. I have a yak... it doesn't get wet very often... 

[benno573]

i am hoping to sneak in a trip at least every other weekend, depending on weather.  It's cheap fun and very peaceful. and crumbed flathead fillets taste AWESOME. 

[Drop Bear]

15 minutes ago, benno573 said:

i am hoping to sneak in a trip at least every other weekend, depending on weather.  It's cheap fun and very peaceful. and crumbed flathead fillets taste AWESOME. 

Yes they do. Good luck mate.