Fishing tips

dang. lose the gaff?

Yep.

Losing the fish like that is a bummer
Could have been worse and have dropped the rod I guess

I'm not sure who this is for but well known charter captain Rob Smithy Smith rolled his boat Capricorn on Mooloolah River bar this morning and passed away. 4 clients are safe and well. Tragic loss for the fishing community.

Damn, thats sad news.
Fairly solid sets this morning.

Yeah FR the wave buoys showed an increase in swell with a big rise in period. Having crossed the bar with or behind him more than a dozen times he always took caution. Huge loss. Lots of people will be doing it tough today.

Caught my first flattie 200m from my place! But the leader broke as I was trying to land it because I was on a jetty :( The leader was stronger than the braid so I don't know how it broke there.

I don't know how because it was a strong double uni knot. I'm going to try an FG knot. What's the consensus knot here for tying the braid to a leader using soft plastics?

Crazy adrenaline rush! Now to calm down and go for a surf. Fishing has proved very addictive so far.

FG all the way every day
slimmer and stronger than uni knot (when tied well)

saltman wrote:

FG all the way every day
slimmer and stronger than uni knot (when tied well)

Thanks! FG all the way from now on. All I was thinking about in the surf was fishing! Hopefully I'll get to go out tomorrow morning and fish the run out tide.

awesome, @js.. good series:

Double uni knots are excellent and so are the FG.

FG's are very good for small guides on your rod (which many bait caster rods have these days) and onto the reel as they are slimline. They slide through the guides smoothly. But you have to tie them properly and tight or they will fail. And that is guaranteed to happen on a PB fish!

Did the leader break at the braid or on the leader? If on the leader it may have been a slight knick in it or abrasion. That will weaken your leader significantly.

basesix wrote:

dang. lose the gaff?

Won’t lose this gaff FR

fitzroy-21 wrote:

Double uni knots are excellent and so are the FG.

FG's are very good for small guides on your rod (which many bait caster rods have these days) and onto the reel as they are slimline. They slide through the guides smoothly. But you have to tie them properly and tight or they will fail. And that is guaranteed to happen on a PB fish!

Did the leader break at the braid or on the leader? If on the leader it may have been a slight knick in it or abrasion. That will weaken your leader significantly.

Yeah it failed on the leader. I was fishing around rocks/oysters on low tide so that's a possiblity but so is a shitty knot. It was only when I was trying to land it and it thrashed free once out of the water.

Anyway, failing sucks but it's how we learn. I now know the importance of good knots and I'll endeavour not to let it happen again.

I'm so keen to get back out there, even more than surfing tomorrow! Time to build up the brownie points again with the missus and hopefully I'll be eating flathead for lunch tomorrow.

More failure to report. The other day I got another, the drag was super light and as I fucking around the fish kinda just spat the lure. It was only a foot long or so. A lesson.

Yesterday I fished for a while and got fuck all. This morning I ran down whilst the baby goes down for a nap, first cast hook a big one, 60cm+. I've learnt to keep their head in the water. I climb down the rocks, about to land it and the line snaps at the braid when they did the head shake. I'm devo'd. I've been using whatever line (seems like a light mono) was on the reel when I bought it and I paid the price. Worse, there's a delivery from China with new 10lb braid about to be delivered! If it gets here in the next hour I'm going back down to the same spot and getting my revenge.

Lessons learnt. Lots of them.

Ha ha jueg but thats what makes it addictive...like surfing......im on a quest to get a jew on a soft plastic from the beach.......4 goes = nothing but the sunsets have been sensational.....love the peace and quiet of late arvos down the beach when the wind drops........

Hang on Jueg.

Were you using mono or braid mainline?

And what are you using for leader?

Are you getting cheap Temu braid?

freeride76 wrote:

Hang on Jueg.

Were you using mono or braid mainline?

And what are you using for leader?

Are you getting cheap Temu braid?

I was using whatever mono came with it, 6-8lb at a guess (2nd hand special) and tying the leader on that. Now I got 10lb braid (Temu brand but looks strong) and am using 7lb leader for bream (haven't caught any yet) and 15 lb leader for the flathead. 2.5" grubz in bloodworm for bream, 4" diesel minnow in pearl for the flathead.

I got a cheap fishing kayak as well but all my "success" has come from land so far :'(

When I hooked that big flat head the pressure was dropping (1022 -> 1018) and they say that's the time to go fishing. Do you agree with that? Is it worth chucking a line in when the pressure is below 1017?

I'm not discouraged, I can jump on the bike and hit a few spots pretty easily and take the kayak out when I get a bit of free time. I can launch it super close to my place as well so it's very convenient.

I'm not even bothered by the shitty surf at the moment! The elusive flathead has my thoughts.

hahahaha, spring is flathead season- it makes the northerly days fly by.

There are so many factors- dropping barometer can be good, but stable high pressure seems the most reliable.

Your line should never snap at the braid if your drag is set right- unless you've abraded it somewhere.

Not sure on that Temu braid eh- seen some very dodgy line from there.

I use 8lb J-braid or BerkelyX smooth 8 and a 10pound fluorocarbon leader for all my estuary fishing - I very very rarely get leader cut by a big flatty- play it very gently, take your time, keep the head down - it's the head shakes that cut the leader.
My thinking is braid is relatively cheap (35 bucks for a spool), lasts years ( I get 5+ years out of it) and fish are very expensive (flatty fillets $50/kg).
You get your money back very quickly on good braid.

Rods and reels- all the fishing gear is so good these days even mid/entry level-range stuff (100 bucks for a rod, 100 bucks for a reel) does the job incredibly well and will last with just a tiny bit of maintenance.. Give 'em a rinse in freshwater and a spray with WD-40 or Inox every couple of weeks.
Also very easy to pull of the sideplate and regrease once every year or 3.

But I rarely do that. My flatty reel is a Shimano Sedona- bought in 2017- paid a 100 for it and it's caught me thousands of dollars of fish.
Never done even the basic maintenance on it and it still works fine.

I'm a tight arse to a fault and I see your logic. I've already lost a big fish to being tight (my missus said the same thing, I should've bought the braid from the shop because it already would've paid for itself).

This morning I went for a flick. First cast, got a bite, nothing. Wound it in and something ate the tail off my grub! I swear I'm running out of ways to fail which makes me even more keen, haha. Went home, tied another one on. Tried a new spot, which was a mistake in hindsight, got snagged and couldn't get it back.

I have a plan for tomorrow morning and hopefully I can get out amongst the oyster leases, mangroves and poles and have a go. The hi vis braid is way better because I can drift it with the current under structure and stuff.

https://imgur.com/a/1VknfV1

Love your enthusiasm Juegs
I’m needing something to keep me busy in the arvo/evening so chasing flathead might be good.
Going on Steve’s suggestion Anaconda have a Sedona rod reel combo discounted at the moment so that’ll do.
Does anyone use hard body lures or just plastics?

I use hard body lures but to be honest, plastics are cheaper and catch more fish.

Flathead aren't fussy- 99% of it is getting a lure down near the bottom and in their face.

Okay so I guess different jig head weights depending on depth of water being fished.

What Steve said. If you want to go budget with reel Sedona or other low price point Shimano are the go. Smooth drag and decent performance that lasts, just don't dunk them in the salt water or pay them down on sand and they'll go for yonks. I target the 40-50cm size, and hard to go past 3-4" plastics for them. My formula is target the edges of weedbeds in the secondary channels. You want current moving but sometimes main channel current is stronger and difficult to fish. Broken bombie style weedbeds the best.

Hey Tiger how you going mate?
Thanks for the tips. Never been much of a fisherman other than to chuck out a prawn or at the beach a pillie, and wait.
I suppose I’ll have to learn retrieval techniques too.

Came across this local on my morning walk, always check if your boat is sufficiently inflated before heading out .

Haha I can see one patch in there already

What are your thoughts on Alvey reels lads?
I was brought up using them because my dad did. I don't fish much at all, but I'd love to get back into it.

They work fine.

Not as easy to use for lure fishing but if you want to bait and wait they are perfect and indestructible.

didn't you have your old man's Alvey still going, @fr?
wasn't his old gaff I hope..

Thanks Steve, yeah, even though I don't go often, they just seem natural to me.