Fishaman

Fishing trip or family trip? If it is just a fishing trip you could try some of the rivers around Lakefield. Should be sheltered enough to get on the water most days. The North Kennedy fishes well for barra and jacks. You can camp at Annie River, which flows into the North Kennedy. It is pretty rough, lots of crocs and snakes, but it does have a sort of ramp. I wouldn’t recommend it for a family trip though. 

Hey Fishaman
Sorry, I've never been there so completely clueless on the area. I'd say your best bet would be to fish the rivers and try and find some new territory 🙂 
Good luck!
Cheers Hamish

Thanks, but been there, done that, got the cholesterol in my arteries to prove it. Had that vanilla slice after we came back from fishing on the first Saturday.😁

Have had this on the bucket list for a while. Scored it on about 8inches of water. 6lb braid and 8lb leader
 
 

Head down the 1770 Marina Cafe and try his vanilla slice. It’s awesome 

Yeah we’d planned on doing a much bigger trip than we did, we had some serious engine dramas and spent most of the trip in limp mode. This was combined with a broken marine radio which made this interesting to say the least Especially as the dramas started 100km offshore. Most importantly we made it home safely. Worst part was the motor was serviced two days before the trip ( specifically for the trip) and radio was three weeks old. We didn’t get to fish our big red grounds but thanks to some bush mechanics and luckily having good tools and spares on board we still had a great trip considering.  I CANT stress enough to anyone undertaking long range trips how important it is to be prepared for the worst and have a good understanding of your equipment the weather and the grounds you are heading to. We were able to do the majority of our fishing on anchor in the shallows withIn protection of the reef Or at least in sight of it. Then it was a matter waiting  it out two nights for a break in weather for the run home. We spoke to another boat we knew out there who was heading home on Monday and gave them the track we would be taking home (as we had zero radio comms) and left four hours before them as we were at fairly lows speeds. Knowing if engine totally gave up the ghost we could drop anchor and wait for them to come by. This option was probably a result of good karma as on day one that other boat had busted a hydraulic steering line and luckily we had a few litres of hydraulic steering fluid to give to them and some hose clamps which saved their trip. Keep in mind both boats are well maintained and always serviced and regularly checked over before big trips so it can happen at any time. And last but not least on night one our gas mate cooker with a Brand new freshly opened canister started spewing flames at a rate of knots directly from where the canister connects to the cooker so was promptly sent for a permanent time out at Davey Jones’s locker, as with 300 litres of petrol on the deck this was NOT good . So it was cornchip an salsa sandwiches and a couple of skipped meals for the next day and a half( not ideal in the middle of winter)
in conclusion with high spirits and a bit of know how we still had a really good trip which could have been so much worse we managed three reds, twenty one trout, 1 gold band and then a good mixed bag of lipper parrot and some nice coral tomato and Māori cods. So the fishing front was pretty great! ( I’ll get my big red next time !!)
anyways enough dramas here’s some pics enjoy and stay safe !!!
 

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I use a 7 foot 6 inch Shimano Cranx 1-4kg rod matched with a 1000 reel. 6lb nanofil and 8lb flouro leader. 1/12th oz jighead. 
 
cant buy the Cranx  in the 1-4kg anymore unfortunately and they don’t make nanofil anymore either. But any similar gear will get the job done.

Thanks.

Cracker mate, well done!

Managed to snag a solid 88cm flat one. 6lb braid 8lb leader. She put up a good fight and swam away without a problem. 
 
 

Pummy Passage mate. Northern end.
Yeah she was sunning herself keeping warm 😉
Gulp Swimming minnow. 4 inch in Green Prawn
99% of the time it’s soft plastics mate. Use as light line and jig head as you can to reach bottom. Fish it nice and slow. 😉

Managed to snag a solid 88cm flat one. 6lb braid 8lb leader. She put up a good fight and swam away without a problem. 
 
 

Nice one mate. Good to hear she swam off strong 👍👍

great fish mate well done. 

Pummy Passage mate. Northern end.
Yeah she was sunning herself keeping warm 😉
Gulp Swimming minnow. 4 inch in Green Prawn
99% of the time it’s soft plastics mate. Use as light line and jig head as you can to reach bottom. Fish it nice and slow. 😉

My tinny is pretty stock standard, but I added a “pee pipe” which is just a length of poly pipe that stops you getting your own back in windy conditions. I have different sizes - 50mm diameter poly pipe for the decky and of course, 90mm downpipe for me. I keep a drinking straw in case @ellicat is on board 🤣
Seriously though, I often think about what I could do but lack the imagination to come up with anything so looking forward to hearing from others. From memory @rayke1938 has a few tricks on his bass basher to make life easier. Over to you, Ray.

Hi Fishaman
Rightio, thanks for the tip. When I'm next using plastics for flathead I'll make sure to give that way a go. 🙂 
Cheers Hamish

That is one phat flatty. Where was this from?

Nice big girl ! 
8 pound leader ... wooow good job
Im guessing in less than a metre of water at this time of year ?
 

Ripper !
They get so chunky at that size compared to legal ones.
What did the damage ?

Hey Fishaman
That is one stonka of a flathead, you must've been stoked with that one. The fact that it was on such light line must've made the fight so fun and landing the fish so much more rewarding. 🙂 
Do you use soft plastics on the surface/bottom or hardbodies for these mainly? 
Cheers Hamish 🙂 

Horse flatty mate well done!

Pummy Passage mate. Northern end.
Yeah she was sunning herself keeping warm 😉
Gulp Swimming minnow. 4 inch in Green Prawn
99% of the time it’s soft plastics mate. Use as light line and jig head as you can to reach bottom. Fish it nice and slow. 😉

Managed to snag a solid 88cm flat one. 6lb braid 8lb leader. She put up a good fight and swam away without a problem.