queensland Friday afternoon paddle

[Alby]

Hi Guys

Haven't been on the website for a while....haven't been paddling or fishing for a while! Yes, there is life other than fishing....occasionally. Anyway dusted off the kayak a couple of weeks ago and deiced to get back into excerfishing. My doctor reckons I'm getting fat!

Anyway, put the kayak on top last night so I could go straight from work. So, I'm heading down the road, procrastinating as usual as where I'd go...gotta make a decision at the intersection..but how do I make up my mind? I know, whichever way the car in front goes, I'll go the other way. That's good fishing logic eh!

Bloody worked for me today! I got this lovely 70cm flatty near the mouth of Ningi Creek. I use a very light, but gutsy little rod with a baitcaster reel, and most times my favourite lure, A natural coloured crawfish hard plastic. I was drifting for 1/2 hr with the tide, and decided I should paddle a bit at least, and troll. 10 min later...clunk...I had a fish, not much weight, I thought maybe I've lost it....2 seconds later it took off. Drag running out, it was off down the creek. It had two good runs,broke the surface when it got into about 1m of water, then I gently persuaded it to come my way.

I called it a day straight after landing it. Suc a lovely fish. :-) Alby...PS...the date on my camera is wrong, it was actually 18/05/07.

Post edited by: Alby, at: 2007/05/18 18:36

Post edited by: Alby, at: 2007/05/18 18:38

[Alby]

trying again [img size=480]http://www.australianfishing.com.au/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/70cm_Flatty_18-219d4d54f6096527f28c15430ef5bb28.jpg

[Alby]

Phew!!!

technology...........hmmmm

[Alby]

Also had an interested observer. [img size=500]http://www.australianfishing.com.au/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/An_interested_Obsever.jpg

[Plastic Man]

nice catch mate on a lure did you let her go or did she hit the dinner plate?

[Terry H]

Nice catch alby, good to see you on the site again mate

[Dazzamcgee]

Mate nice work.....I caught 1, 70cm flattie yesterday and it tasted very good.........

[Alby]

I felt very sad as I killed her:-(. Had no self caught fish for a while, and guessed she was under the top limit...is it 75cm?

I never take more than two fish per trip. With this one I was happy to call it a day with one.

:-)

[johnsonMAN]

Nope the limit is 70cm any over and they have to go strait back. besides to big and they taste like .

Well around 40cm is the best tasting i reckon.

IF YOUR FLATTY IS ANYTHING OVER THEN 70 THEN CONSIDER YOURSELF VERY VERY LUCK.:whistle: :whistle: :whistle:

Moderator note: Please do not swear in the forums.

Post edited by: Angus, at: 2007/05/20 17:56

[werewolf]

nice fish mate, my biggest lured flatty is about a foot shorter:blush:

[Alby]

Thanks for the tip. She was 69.99cm tip of the tail to the tip of the bottom lip. If I'd realised it was that close I would've released her. Like I said it's been a while since I've fished, and that'll be the last one that size that I'll keep. Besides all that, they're such a beautiful fish at that size, it's such a shame to take them. The biggest I've kept previously were the two at 60 - 65cm shown on my avitar.

[Jordan]

how could you....

[Alby]

How could I what? Let the next one go, or eat this one?

I've let plenty go within the legal size.....and this fish was legal also, I feel no guilt whatsoever. Like I said, I only ever keep two, and that's if I haven't caught any other species.

[James W]

good to see ya back alby!...nice ningi creek croc too....and a nice pic of the kingfisher.....will have to hook up for a fish soon mate.....just one thing alby?.. more to life than fishing? oh yer..buying fishing tackle:P

[Alby]

Hehehehe...spoken like a true believer!:laugh:

Yep, love to do some fishercise with you guys again.

I bought a new camera duty free on our way out to NZ in March. It's a Canon S3IS. New model of the one I already had. It makes the fish look even bigger!:laugh:

Seriously great zoom. It's 6 megapixels, and 12X optical zoom, but it also combines Optical and digital zoom to go to 48X...thus the kingfisher shot. Best quality digital zoom I've seen. Advice to anyone......buy one!

[Angus]

Alby god report mate ans what a great fish!

Up to and incuding 70cm is legal so dont worry about it.

Plus i know for a fact how many fish you throw back so i hope you enj0yed your feed!

Karma for your efforts.

Angus

P.S. What lb lin were you using. I seem to recall you fish pretty lite??

[Angus]

By the way mate glad to see you worked the photo's out

Looking forward to many more great shots to come.

Angus

[Tim a]

Great fish!

[Alby]

It's about 10lb. It's been on the reel a while. Oh, also I've got a tip for anyone who's got a Daiwa Millionaires Baitcaster reel. I've had a problem ever since new that after about half an hour flicking a lure in salt water the line guide on the reel would start to jam up.. It would make it impossible to control the wind.....many, many strong words still didn't fix it! I was so damn frustrated. A design fault I reckon. The hole on the guide simply doesn't have enough clearanceas the salt gets encrusted inside it and it just siezes up. So, I pulled it apart the other day, and put a 1/8\" drill bit in the vice and twirled the guide down until it drilled through the hole enlarging it slightly. I did it this way cos I was worried about bursting out the side if I used power. I'm now in heaven!! I love my reel now! I must be a bit slow on the uptake though cos I've put up with it for 3 years like that!:S

Oops, just re-read this....more detail required I reckon. What I'm talking about is the clearance between the line guide and the pin that it slides along. The pin runs across the reel parallel to the worm drive.

Post edited by: Alby, at: 2007/05/21 13:49