queensland Pine Bream & Flattie

[jim_bream]

Howdy all,

was umming and ahhing whther to go down to the Pine River and wet a line yesterday arvo & after much deliberation decided to go for a quick flick.

Grabbed my gear and hit the road at about 2pm, on the water by 20 past. Little bit windy and not all that busy so I decided to check out the entrance to a little creek running off into the main channel. (I'd seen some birds diving and surface action- whet's my appetite any time!)

I rigged up with one of my Fin-nor reels packing 4lb Crystle Fireline and trusty Siglon leader (10 or 13 lb leader, can't remember which one it was). Decided to use a 2" Mann's minnow-grub type thing ($1 a pack Super Amart sale) with flouro yellow body and flouro orange tail. Found resinhead Squidgy jighead and we're good to go!

Sneaking up on the mouth of this creek I can see flashes in the water (only knee deep where I see the flashes) and swirls on the topwater. Hmm, seems like something small is rounding up baitfish and having a good old 'eat-as-much-you-can' buffet... Crouching in water I side cast- can't have the fish seeing a huge rod waving around as you try and cast) and my little placcy sails way past the 'drop zone' and softly lands on the water like a leaf falling off a tree.

Thinking to myself I've pitched it too far and will have to retrieve carefully I flick the bail arm over and HELLO!

Zzzzzzzzz (breath) zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz 'Geez, where onto something decent here I reckon' i start saying to myself as I reach down to check my drag: I'd forgotten to tighten her up after threading the rod!! Ha ha ha ha, set the drag right and realise i don't have a GT on the line, just a little bream. After farting about and trying to find somewhere to hide he decides that the game's over and comes to Jim nice and obedient....

Never having eaten a bream before (just freshwater bream in Zimbabwe) I decide that it gets the bucket treatment for dinner/ entree.

An hour more casting and changing Sp's I get frustrated and have a cigarette while I reassess the situation. Decide to pack up and head home- have a mate's birthday bash to freshen up for. Wish I coulda stayed, last visit to the Pine was a goody. Here's how it went down:

Tied on a 1/8th TT jighead (my preferred) and 5" Berkley Minnow in Ghost colour.

As the sun got lower in the horizon the wind started slowing down and as a result the casts were getting further out. Sweet! Standing mid-thigh in the river I think I managed to hit the edge of the channel. In my minds eye I can see all the flatties laying on the edge of the channel just waiting for dinner to wander out just that bit too far... Like the big Barracuda in "Finding Nemo" after not much joy I remember I have a pack of Squidgy's with "S-Factor" in my hip-tackle-bag, wind in my SP and give it a good coating of "S-Factor" even the knot and about a foot of line. Sorted! With the residue on my fingers I rub it all over my crocs so it'll waft down the current (I believe the tide was just starting to come in) and make me even MORE attractive to the fishies (had bugger-all luck with the ladies lately :-(

Anyhoo, first cast goes out like a dream. I always fan my casts out as I find Cod like to hang in close and sometimes nail a feed in the shallow water. You also cover a lot more water and reduce your chance of casting over your target fish and missing them completely. I Change my retrieve technique for the targeted flattie- cast out, let the SP sink for a 10-count then slow lift with a few small hiccups, Slooowwww wind, twitch-twitch BANGGGG!!! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz not wanting to get my hopes up again I feel for the drag and she's set just right- that's when i know I got something halfway decent. The rod's got a nice arch to it, the line is singing through the water, the sun's about to go behind some trees and I got a nice something on the end of the line. What a perfect afternoon on the water!

Some spirited runs, a few small headshakes and one last break for the border keep my on my toes, last thing I want to do is lose it in front of the interested onlookers that have gathered.

FINALLY a decent flattie makes its way up onto the sand and into the bucket. You beauty!

Took em both home and performed autopsies- bream was chocka full of 2'-3" baitfish and the flattie had a big fat orange prawn in its belly.

Fished the last of the falling tide and the bottom of the low....

Flattie was made into a green Thai coconut curry and the bream pan fried with flour and Cajun Seasoning. YUMMMM.

Tight lines all.

Flattie went 58cm..

jimbo [img size=500]http://www.australianfishing.com.au/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/P6030219_AFO.jpg

[brisfisher]

very nice effort mate,ur lucky to live so close to a good waterway.keep the reports coming;)

[Feral]

Nice flatty!

[tacklebox]

nice work nothing better than fresh flattie lightly crumbed I reckon.

thanks for the report.

[Zim man]

nice report. where abouts in zim you from?

[Cowfish13]

Great work on the feed, and cheers for every detail in your report. It's really appreciated:)

Thanks:)

[jim_bream]

Mukiwe,

from Bulawayo.

(I just recently got a hold of Wrex Tarr's 'Chilapalapa' CD, let me know if you want a copy.

I'm gona post a tigerfish pic for the locals- tell em I caught it in the river.... he he he

hamba gahle!

Zim Jim

[Rocket75]

Great report, really sounds like you enjoy your fishing, good to see.

Rocket

Footnote:(no pun intended:silly: ): be careful wading the shallows in the estuaries and local waterways, there are quite a few stonefish about, you really do not want to get one in the foot, sure to ruin your day:angry: