I've done a fair amount of land based saltwater fishing around Australia, mainly from the beach surfcasting and from piers. Along the way I've picked up most of the usual species but apart from the odd decent size bream, I've yet to hook into something of a good size. So my hope for today was to find some of the fabled 50+ cm flathead that Peter has been picking off in recent months. This was also only my second outing sea fishing on a boat as apart from a bit of handlining for Red Emperor on holiday at Brampton Island, I've never really had the opportunity before - fingers crossed my sea legs would be ok (luckily we weren't leaving the river for open water!) and we'd get amongst some fish.
It was a cold start! We arrived just as the sun was coming up and Peter wasted no time getting the boat in the water - it still impresses me that he can reverse park and get the boat off the trailer so quickly, I guess Aussies just have this skill in the blood?! It was a short scream down the river (that boat can move...) and I was really glad I brought so many layers - two long sleeve t-shirts (one of them thermal), a thick hoodie, a down jacket, snood, beanie, boardies and tracky-dacks. I felt slightly like a Michelin man but, with the exception of my nose, I was actually pretty toasty - who knew it could be so cold in the sunshine state?!
Peter had very kindly rigged me up with 3 rods for the day: a light soft plastic, a heavy soft plastic and a hard body with the idea being different spots would work better with the different set ups. As the sun clipped the top of the trees we pulled into our first spot, the corner of a channel of the main river and got to casting the lighter plastics around the edges. Amazingly, Peter got a hit on the first cast to open water! But sadly other than a couple of knocks, nothing showed itself along this section so it was time to move on.
You sure do get places quickly in a boat and in no time we were in the next spot, the opening of a larger back channel off the main river. The difference this time though was that we were in open water fishing to the bank and with the heavier plastics. Within a couple of casts it was very apparent that there were fish here and within minutes Peter was into the first fish of the day, a 50cm monster flathead who gave a good account of itself and was soon in the boat despite my amataur landing net skills. As is the case with Australian fishing, if it's a legal fish, it goes in the eski and unfortunately for this flathead, it was her unlucky day.
Something I wasn't expecting was the police turning up! We'd been facing the bank and I hadn't noticed their launch until it came along side and they hailed Peter for his name, licence and registration. A quick check of the credentials and life jackets and they were off. It seems the waterways in Australia are policed as well as the roads (which is no bad thing).
Then things got tough, not through lack of fish as there were definitely a lot around but more through lost tackle. I got my first chance at the action only to be bitten off. Then again. Then Peter got bitten off too. The suspicion was it was smaller tailor snapping at the lures and biting through the line! Not ideal. We stuck at it for a little while but we were racing through plastics and jig heads at a rapid rate of knots so it was time to move on.
So we headed down the back channel to fish the boat ramp and structure I'd seen in Peter's latest video. Sadly for me, despite casting to the exact spot my guide suggested I somehow managed to get snagged on the first cast! After creeping towards the boat ramp, we somehow got everything back but my biggest fear was my antics would have ruined the spot... But a couple of casts later Peter hooked into yet another decent flathead so all was not lost.
After a few more casts, I finally got in on the action hooking into the one and only bream of the trip. Not a big fish, but it was my first and put a big smile on my face.
We spent a good while creeping along the various jetties and structure before Peter mentioned that it might be worth a cast to open water and true to form, he was instantly into a fish, this time a tailor. I soon switched over, casting the heavier plastic out into the channel and using the 'hop, hop, wind' method and within a couple of casts I too was into a tailor - they were definitely around!
Then from nowhere I got my 'fish of the day'. I'd cast out and almost got the lure back to the boat when something absolutely smacked it and tore off. On light gear, this thing gave a hell of a good account of itself and it was a bit of a struggle to get it under control but after a bit of excitement a beautiful fish graced the landing net.
I had absolutely no idea what it was but luckily my guide was better informed and let me know it was a mulloway, and a decent on at that coming in at 63cm. Sadly for us (but luckily for the him/her!) this wasn't a legal fish the required size being +75cm so after some pics and a piece to video this one went back. I was stoked though, what a fish!
We continued down the back channel, hitting all the likely spots but the bream just weren't around which was really surprising. After an hour or so of exploring we upsticks again and headed down to the mouth of the channel to try the sand flats for flathead. The water here was really shallow, ranging from 3 to 5 feet which was ideal but try as we might, we couldn't buy a bite...
It wasn't until I cast right up into really shallow water towards the bank that we got our first hit. The lure had hit the water and I'd done my first 'hop' when a huge spray of water kicked up... Flathead on! This thing absolutely tore off, it was clear I was into something of a decent size and sure enough, a few runs and twists and turns later I had my first flathead in the boat.
This one came in at 56cm and I was blown away - what a monster! After a brief lesson in how to hold them (flathead have savage teeth and spikes that contain a anticoagulant meaning if you get spiked by one, you'll bleed for ages) we did some pics and a piece to camera. And again, it was this fishes lucky day as despite it being of legal size, I decided to slip it back. The catch and release angler lives on in me and I still like to see them swim away to fight another day.
After that commotion we were hopeful of some more fish but the action was still very slow. That is until Peter decided a lure change was in order. Switching to a hardbody and got a fish on the first cast to open water - unreal! This fish was clearly something serious and on light gear he had to take it very easy, but wind by wind he managed to get it back to the boat and a huge flathead slipping into the landing net. This thing went absolutely mental in the net and as they have a tendency to shake the hook once the line goes slack you need to get them into the boat pronto. As if to prove a point, this fish flapped around and managed to get itself down the side of one of the cabinets in the boat and we had a bit of a time getting it out. But we managed it in the end and after a few trophy shots with the lure (complete with straightened out hooks on one of the trebles) another flathead went into the eski with the others.
Time was marching on and we couldn't believe it when we checked our watches and discovered it was 2.30pm (we had it in our heads it was only around 12/1ish). As there were two more spots we wanted to try we upped sticks again and started to make our way back. The main river had gotten a lot more busy with boats in pretty much every likely looking spot but after a quick petrol top up (I'm not going to lie, when the engine spluttered and died I did get slightly concerned...) we hit the last areas to try our luck. But sadly there were no more fish and we decided to call it a day.
All in all it was a pretty stunning day on the water! The weather had been very kind and the crazy westerly winds we've been having recently stayed light which made casting a lot easier. I really enjoyed fishing from the boat and I'm indebted to Peter for taking me out - I felt like a propper Aussie fisherman!
And Peter had more than bagged up, managing to to get 5 decent flathead to take home for the table which was a bit of a result. Now that I've got my BBQ smoker set up at home, it's going to be very hard in future to put any flathead I catch back...
