queensland The weatherman is a fisho

[samsteele115]

Another day, another wrong forecast. Probably saw 1 other boat out there yesterday and I reckon it might be the weather forecaster wanting the bay to themselves by scaring everyone off with a 15-20 knot northerly forecast. It was a glass out! 

I fished the bay islands targeting snapper with my brother in the arvo which happened to be a run out tide. We got some just legals or just unders that were all released back into the 4-6m depth where they came from.  

(only got a pic of one the day before. This 36cm is apparently the first squire caught on Gobblers Lures new paddleshad)

We got snipped a few times also, and eventually caught the suspected culprits; school mackerel. All undersized though! Still fun on 6lb. The first keeper fish was a Watson's leaping bonito. I don't mind eating those things. They are nice smoked too. 

The bite slowed in that area and we moved on to target flathead and squid. It was awesome sightcasting the squid when we saw them, but we only got 2. Enough for dinner at least! 

I got 2 of the target species before calling it a day as the light faded. Man I love flathead fishing. A 45cm and 57cm were caught and kept and we had a delicious assortment for dinner  

 

[Allnighter]

Woooow thats a glass out!

Nice pics a nd nice size flathead yumm ! 

Must be the cap on backwards that flattens the bay

[jon]

Nice work, what a glassout!

[ellicat]

Gee, that's flat !  I went up to Caloundra yesterday and not even the Passage was that flat. One flathead 39.5cm -bugger.

The new paddle shad looks the goods. Nice fishing, Sam. I'd be stoked. Mixing it up with the target species worked well for you.

[Old Scaley]

Good looking seafood basket there, Sam. I have smoked the leaping bonito a couple of times and they were tasty, but never tried just fried fillets.  Will have to give it a crack.

[Drop Bear]

1 hour ago, Old Scaley said:

but never tried just fried fillets.  Will have to give it a crack.

YOu are gonna love it. They make fantastic sashimi too. 

[Drop Bear]

Nice one Sam. Run in tide in the shallows of Straddie for the flatties by the look? 

[samsteele115]

3 hours ago, Drop Bear said:

Nice one Sam. Run in tide in the shallows of Straddie for the flatties by the look? 

Something like that mate! 

[kmcrosby78]

Nice one Sam, amazing how wrong the forecasts can be ....... I wish I was paid to guess ....... .

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hi Sam

Nice flatty! I will have to try some Gobblers Lures. I had an unsuccessful bass trip on a lovely little creek on the yak, so maybe I’ll get lucky in the salt. Haha
Hamish

[samsteele115]

Well I've got the flatty bug again. Been out a couple more times since, and stocked up on the appropriate gear that I had been quite light on. I tend to have mostly heavier gear these days. 

What I've also been loving is occasionally seeing squid have a go at the lure and switch baiting them like so: Simply leave lure out there to keep them interested and put the rod in rod holder, grab another rod with squid jig ready and cast out. The jig will get their attention and you're on! So yeah, picking up calamari bycatch has been quite satisfying even if the flatties are slow. 

Muzz (co boat owner) got a nice 58cm and a couple more in the 40s were boated. 

I also lost an 80cm+ near the net the other day! Was a bit of a bummer. Obviously would have released the big girl anyway but it would have been nice to take the lure out... 8lb leader can be a tad too light for these larger fish. I usually like using 14lb for flatties but only had 8 or 20 to choose from. Nevermind, I'm stocked up and ready for next time! 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hi Sam

Top work! I’ve been buying a couple more plastics so hopefully I will be able to land a few in the coming weeks on lures. I must say currently, I have not done amazingly this holidays.

Cheers Hamish