Kedron Brook Floodway Jewie

[fifis101]

I took the yak out to the mouth of the Kedron Brook Floodway on Sunday morning, hitting the water at sunrise.

Very slow morning with lots of small hits and two lost fish (nothing special though). I finally found out what all the small hits were by landing a couple of little toadies.

As the tide was going out there was plenty of paddling back up stream to start a new drift. This gave me an opportunity to throw out a little deep diver for the hope of a nice flattie on the troll. Sadly though no flatties but I did get a very feisty little whiting.

I threw the diver straight back in for a hope of a bigger model only to get a snag in the first couple of meters. As the tide was going pretty quick, this was a bit of a battle with a 2kg and 6lb line. I finally got hold of the leader and the snag came free with weight on the end. I just thought it must be a big bit of weed but up comes a ~30cm stonefish!

I didn't get a photo but here’s a Google pic for example.

If anyone has seen a stonefish before, they will know that these things are ugly as hell and are built like footballs. I’d say it was at least 15cm wide! I reached for the net but before I get him in, he took another dive for the bottom and there he stayed. I think he must have buried himself in the sand as after a few more tugs at the leader he refused to budge, so I made the call to bust him off with one final tug and ping, up pops my lure with a half straightened out hook. I was pretty happy with getting my lure back and glad I didn’t leave it in the fish.

After this the fishing picked up a bit with a couple of flatties, a couple of bream and a couple of unknown lost fish.

I then find a good little eddy that I liked the look of and beach the yak so I can stay in the one place and have a good crack at what might be feeding in there. So I’m standing up in my beached yak when all of a sudden my reel comes to life without any indication of a bite. I lift my rod and set the hook, which only makes the fish take off faster. I quickly take a seat and with one arm try and push off with my paddle. After a few painful seconds I get myself free and start chase after the fish with a bit of a one-arm-paddle/stop-wind-in-some-line kind of action. Once I get a bit closer I put the paddle down and get stuck into the battle. As the tide was strong he is using this to his advantage and keeps his head down deep. Every time I see the leader and think I’m winning, he takes another run back to the bottom. This makes me thing I’ve got a big lizard and I get pretty pumped as I was only just saying that I have never caught one over the upper legal length before. A few more minutes go by and a couple of one-arm-paddles again to get away from some semi-submerged trees, up pops my first jewie. I quickly slide the net under him and breathe a sigh of relief.

At this stage I was pretty surprised and pretty pumped as the adrenaline was still pumping through my body. I attempt to get a few photos but as any yakker knows, taking photos by yourself is no easy task. As I know jewies can be pretty sensitive I give him a quick measure (came in at 60cm) and get him straight back in the water. I give him a swim with the lip grips for about a minute to make sure he’s ready to go. Once he looks like he’s ready to go, I release the lip grips. He sits there for a moment looking nice and peaceful before shooting off in one big kick of his tail splashing water all over me. I suppose I can’t blame him for that one, I would have done the same.

After this it’s about 11am and time to head home. I throw out the deep diver for the paddle back to my launch spot but nothing to report there.

I had a great morning out and it was great to get a good variety of fish and a first is always a little treat.

Thanks for reading.

Josh

[Kiwi_pete]

Great stuff Im still jealous of the jewie though

[Luvit]

Excellent report and photos. Clap,Clap

[Brissy_yaker]

Great post! Easy spot to get out to? Never thought of going out there but seems like a few fish out there..would u head back or not worth it?and wat did u get the jew on?

[fifis101]

Great post! Easy spot to get out to? Never thought of going out there but seems like a few fish out there..would u head back or not worth it?and wat did u get the jew on?

Really easy to launch from the boat ramp mate. Other areas can be a bit harder due to rock walls.

Yeah mate, plenty of whiting, bream and flatties.

Any place is worth heading back to, regardless on how the session went. A spot can fish very differently on different days. Different times, different tides and sometimes the fish are just more in the mood.

I got the bream, flatties and the jew on a 2.5" Zman grub in bloodworm. Good allrounder SP.