Sinister-steve

Biggest is a 45cm dog :(. Keen to go out and try get a monster threadfin or jew on bait like yours mate but need a new rig first - the ultralight set up probably wouldnt work out too well

Headed out this morning nice and early to White Patch, Bribie Island. Had only scouted here once before on a high tide so I didn't really know what the day would look like. I snuck out of my girlfriends house at 3am. The roads were very quiet this morning, and I arrived at White Patch at about 4:20am with a Morayfield BP croissant and coffee to fuel me for the session. Dawn gets earlier quick in summer! I had hoped to target some whiting off the bat, so I kept my 6lb bream leader on, and rigged a 2 inch Berkeley Minnow Grub in the banana prawn colour, and started flicking it in the shallow sandy patches between the weed beds. I had a flash of success on my second cast, reeling in a small whiting (my first ever!) IMG_0336 (1).HEICIMG_0340.HEIC There were plenty of boils on the surface, and I had a lot of nibbles on the minnow grubs as I made my way casting down the beach. The smaller fish were chewing through the little plastics at pace, so I decided to change tactics. I switched to a 2.5in ZMan Slim SwimZ with pro-cure applied, but this didn't get many takers. As I waded out onto some less weedy sandflats, I switched to my go-to plastic - the Berkeley 4in minnow in pearl watermelon colour, and began to work this along the sandy drop-offs. The minnow came through for me, and over the next couple of hours I caught several flathead. IMG_0343.HEICIMG_0344.HEICIMG_0345.HEICIMG_0349.HEIC At 6:50am, right on low tide, I felt a bump with my lure just a few meters from my feet and hiked back for a hook set. My rod bent-over but it almost felt like I had been snagged. As I reeled backward, finally, the fish burst to life. It was an enormous flathead, I suspect over 70cm. It had a broad belly like only the bigger fish get. I saw her cruise away from me and then line started peeling off my rod. I couldn't believe I had finally hooked a big fish, but I didn't panic and I let her have her head for 3 big runs. While I fought, I began worrying about my 6lb leader and praying it held on as I backed out of the water. I usually fish 12lb for flathead, but I had gone lighter due to a string of donuts at Bribie. Although I managed to keep her head low, sure enough, when she was about 5m away from shore and I started to get confident, my line popped, and the big girl shot off with my plastic. I have learnt a tough lesson about 'going light to get the bite'. I was gutted, but I fished on and managed to land my first flatty on a hardbody - the Daiwa Double Clutch. IMG_0363.HEIC All in all, a great day of fishing. Can't wait to get back and find the one that got away.

G'day guys, I've been lurking the board for a few weeks, thought I would introduce myself. My old man is a mad keen fisho and got me into it. He used to live in Brisbane and I have been following in his footsteps fishing, mainly Brisbane River and offshoots as well as the Pine River and the Pumicestone Passage on the Bribie side. I'm always hearing that Bribie is a nursery but so far I've mostly collected a lot of donuts up that way. I have managed a few legal fish mainly in Brisbane out of boggy creek - have attached a few pics. I fish soft-plastics and hard bodies, without much success on the latter. Have steered clear of bait so far. I'm currently stuck in 40cm flathead purgatory, but hoping to put up some monsters to rival the big dog soon... Cheers