Sykes121

Hey guys,I am interested in targeting Flathead since i have heard it is a great fish to catch and the larger fish put up a good fight. Was just wondering where a potential spot around the Adelaide metro area would be to try my luck. Not asking for your secret spots, just a general area.Also what pound line/lures etc. would be best.Cheers in advance, S121.

Don't forget the February comp. Get your reports and pics in 

Further to this, drove over the south para about an hour ago, and she's barren, could barely see water from the road, and the old bridge is high and dry haha

As with every competition Strike & Hook runs, a detailed report is required to win the monthly prize. A picture here or there in a single thread alone isnt what we are after, we want lots of people sharing their adventures in some adventure Whether you caught fish or not, what tips you could give to novice, a few pictures as well. The aim of these comps is to get people out fishing and make the forum tick over with reports full of information to fill the site with more knowledge
 
Also we are very thankful for Weavers generosity, a session aboard his boat is not one to missed given his angling prowess.

Got onto some nice little st today around torrens island. All on the same hb lure. Managed to land 4 but also dropped another 4 Nice day to be out enjoying the fresh air https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=s6X5-hqZNWU

I was down at the shack around rogues point on the Yorke Peninsula over the weekend chasing fish on the sand flats on the turn of the tide. We spotted a big fish scoot by as we were crabbing in a foot of water through the weeds and everyone thought it was a KGW (which would be highly unlikely in that particular area/depth). Half an hour later after pumping some clickers I threw out a line and was just reeling it in to check the bait when bang - this same horse of a fish absolutely smashed the clicker bait. It was great fun on the 2-4kg graphite with 1000 sienna reel and 4lb braid and it put up a good fight and was a great way to start the weekend. We only realised it was a yellow-fin once I had it safely on the sand and it measured 42cm and was seriously fat - even the old timers down that way couldn't believe it. The only downside is that the fillets definitely were not as sweet and tender as a 30cm specimen. I don't think I will beat that size for a long time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaEW6Z2pw18

James and I finally set off to target mullies. First we were fishing for livies with little sps and bait but all of them were undersized. We kept fishing with sp for st and then the water stopped running. James casted his sp where the water was running and saw a huge silver flash which he thought was a massive salmon but it came back for the lure and fully engulfed it! James Screamed out MULLY! So I started filming.

I find it more difficult to catch bream than mullys in the lake now I'm not kidding either. just find the baitfish schools and lob out your livie or lures and ones bound to hit it. like king monkey said mono for live baiting is a good choice a lot less tangles. since switching from braid back to mono i've hooked up a lot more then with braid and lost fewer fish, 8-15lb mono is plenty. a schoolie from tonight taken on an unweighted pillie cube intended for bream good fun on a 500 sienna and 3lb braid.

okay here are 2, not sure what happened to the other picture

Firstly - Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to post in this thread :)After some consideration we have decided to lock this up. Members will still have access to view the content, but for those of you wishing to contribute, please consider using the Report Section.This will ensure your reports are only viewed by members & lets face it, most of the reports here deserved their own thread. Again thank you for all who have contributed and we encourage you to continue doing so in the designated Fishing Reports Category.CheersJack

Beach fishing - you should be in for a chance with Mullet, Yellowfin Whiting, and flathead. Be sure to post a report if you do well.Cheers, S121.

Hey guys, went for a quick session in West Lakes a few weeks ago and landed this 34 cm beauty! :woohoo: :woohoo: I have never seen or caught a flathead in west lakes! EVER!Also landed a nice a flounder!Both caught on whole small squids!

Taken from PIRSA website.Hooks must not exceed 56mm in shank length and a gape of 23mm between 5am and 9pm.The use of any wire trace or a monofilament trace exceeding 1mm in diameter is strictly prohibited between 5am and 9pm.It is my understanding that if your hooks/leader etc. comply with the above rules, it should be all good..Perhaps someone could elaborate further?Cheers, S121.

found this on tha S.A police news page Monday, 23 September 2013 3:16pm Catch of the Day: Barossa Police bag law-breaking fishermenThree fishermen have landed themselves in hot water with Barossa Police, after 426 blue swimmer crabs, nearly all of which were undersize, were discovered in their vehicle.Police were assisting Fisheries Officers when they stopped and searched the men’s vehicle at Port Pahram on Friday evening. Two men, aged 50 and 51, were issued with expiation notices totalling $1,500 each and their equipment was seized for exceeding bag limits, and taking undersized crabs.It’s the second time this week that Barossa Police have ‘pinched’ fisherman for flouting PIRSA regulations.At 3pm on Wednesday, police patrolling the foreshore of Thompson Beach witnessed a fisherman, assisted by a woman, loading plastic tubs and crab rakes into a car.Police discovered 27 undersized swimmer crabs in the tubs, which were released back into the water.Police wish to remind the community that persons who conduct illegal fishing activities will forfeit their catch and may have their equipment, including vehicles, seized. Before you hit the water, be sure that you’re familiar with size, bag, boat and possession limits- See more at: http://www.sapolicenews.com.au/component/content/article/19-lsa/17462-catch-of-the-day-barossa-police-bag-law-breaking-fishermen.html#sthash.81NOq2ob.dpufI cant believe how many :c stupid people are out there raping our fishery and doing this sort of shit it makes me :c furious, start tying nooses and hang em I say like Des mentioned in another post to fish in S.A you need to sit a simple test to say you understand our rules and sign off on it I would happily pay a fee to do so cheers a pissed off 4THA

Do other members experience 2 distinct Flathead seasons on the Northern Sandflats?I find they are around when the water temperature is between 13 to 20c.This most commonly occurs during Spring and Autumn. Although if you do get a cold spell of 4 or 5 days in Summer, they will return momentarily while the sea surface temps has dropped.What times of the year do you most often catch them? … IN SHALLOW WADING WATER that is.As I find other times of the year when it is too cold 20, there are more frequent reports of them being caught in deeper water from boats.I finally managed to get out for them on Saturday. It has been frustrating as the water temperature has been rising to the optimum level to see Flathead appearing in the shallows and I have not been able to get out. Sunday looked like a perfect day and I could not go. It was forecasted to be windy Saturday morning but I went anyway.When I got there I wondered if it was the right call. It was windy & choppy. I have found that Flathead prefer calmer conditions. When the water is clear and visibility is good so that they can see the bait fish easily. Or maybe it is because the baitfish do not like the rougher conditions in shallow waters and retreat to deeper water and the Flathead follow them. Either one or both. Same result when it is blowy. No Flathead. Well regardless I went through the motions. Not long into the session and the wind drops off. The sky clears and visibility in the water improves as sunlight penetrates deep into the water. These fine conditions just make you feel good regardless of catching fish. But I have found Flathead also like these conditions. Right on cue. I strike on a bite. The heavy pull of an unmistakable Flathead bite. It is heavy. But the fish is obligingly come in easily. Never be fooled by that. It soon realises it is hooked and takes off for a blistering run. Retrieve, run, retrieve, run. The fish gets in close and you reach towards it with the landing net. Then it makes a mad dash right between my spread legs. Fortunately there was not much line out for it to rub the braid off on my boots. I managed to hold on with the bent over rod pointing down between my legs!!! I hung on until it decided to turn around and come straight back out from between my legs! Soon it was in the net and in the tub. A solid 65 cm Flathead. My first for this Spring season. Not too long after I had another which fought as hard and went 60cm.I tried a few other Flathead spots without success Well that was it and I was happy. Two great fish to get off the mark for the season. I switched to trying for some Yellow Fin Whiting. They have thinned out a bit up here. I have had the odd evening fish on a southern sand flat and have started to pick up some YFW there. Along with the occasional spring Bream in the mangrove creeks. So I was expecting the YFW numbers to be down as they have started moving south. I managed to keep 7 from 30 to 35cm. I released a few under 30cm. Size does drop here as the weather warms. On the metro beaches the early arrivals are always the better size fish. It took some searching and angling at the very bottom of the tide to get these YFW. Probably more satisfying than catching a quick fire bag of 20 when they are going bunta. Well heres looking forward to a few good Flathead sessions ahead .. if we can get a calm day or two! Cheers, Des

I did want to fish on Sunday. I had a plan! But the forecast was for a big blow coming through on Sunday. Forecasted to bring with it some hail & thunder in case just strong winds don't put you off your fishing. Hey and lighting too, which makes me scurry. Me the highest object protruding skywards on the sandflats, complete with a graphite super conductor in my hands and feet immersed in water. And golfers thought it was dangerous! So the obvious change of plan saw me go fishing today (Saturday). My plan was to fish the bottom of the tide. Yes! Chasing goldbars at the bottom of the tide. Sundays low tide was a fairly high for a low tide!!! at 1.09mt. You see you can do rather well on the Yellow Fin whiting around the dodge tide. It is then that water sits on some prime feeding ground for extended periods. And no big run in tide to disperse the fish far and wide. Fish are all compliant and concentrated on the feeding ground waiting for you to hook them! (My theories!)I have previously fished this spot, with soft sand full of nipper holes, on a few occasions. I always picked up some good fish there at the bottom of the tide. So the idea was to find an extended period for the "bottom of the tide" Which would be around a dodge. Well Saturday proved to be the next best thing with a 0.85mt low tide.Yes the plan worked! Caught my bag of 20. Sizes are 30 - 40cm. I only released one fish under 30cmThey took some angling. At the bottom of the tide these fish are not voraciously feeding. They are grazing. A nibble here, a peck there, a sniff here and a poke there. They are trying to sniff & poke out a nipper or two on this patch. When the tide is running they tend to grab most worm baits going past. So today they had to be enticed into a bite. I started with a very light single hook rig with a small ball (00) slipped down the trace to the long shank hook. It was not long before I was missing a lot of bites. The fish were biting tentatively and the size 4 Gamakatsu was not connecting up as usual. I went down to a #6 with better results. The tide is not moving your bait or bringing the fish to you. You need to cast and retrieve with a slow steady constant retrieve. You need to attract the fish's attention by moving your bait and you need to cover a lot of ground to find the fish. Retrieve & recast in another direction/area. Pretty soon you will feel the tap, tap, tap, of a tentative YFW bite. Or rather an inquiry. No not their normal THWACK! when the tide is running. To convert a tap into a tug or bite bait placement on the hook is important. Always have a tail of worm of your hook. YFW do not 'Bite" they suck. And they can suck aggressively. Now some role playing. How can you suck in a strand of spaghetti if all you can mouth is the bottom of the spoon. Have a bit dangling of the end so that you can latch onto it and you will suck the lot off the spoon. Like wise allow the YFW to have a suck of the tail to draw the hook into it's mouth. I use a whole worm on a hook and feed it down to create more tail as it is bitten off.The bigger fish are attracted to these feeding spots in these conditions. I lost a few good fish today. Mainly pulled hooks as they are biting tentatively and are mainly lip hooked. An occasional bust off. Big YFW are incredibly powerful fish for their size. In very shallow water they can easily bust a weak trace that does not have any give in it. I did manage a couple at the 40cm "Goldbar Standard"I will be back for those biguns! possibly with some trout hooks and an altered rig. Just to make sure they get swallowed and properly hooked!Cheers, Des

Good work mate! love your enthusiam Keep up the good work.S121.

Hi all,After some advice/ opinions. So today the girl comes home and says she wants to have a chat.! WTF now goes through my head.. To my surprise I'm told that she thinks its a great idea for me to buy a boat. Seeing as I love my fishing and its a pain in the ..... To go to port augusta to use the old mans anytime I want to have a serious fish on the water. I've been tentatively looking for the past two months and showing her photos from boatpoint /boat sales. She's either sick of looking at them and has given in or she just thinks I'm a top bloke that deserves my boat LOL... I have a budget of 25- 28 k or a little more if I finally sell my mustang ( If I sell her though a new patrol will prob replace her ). I'll mainly be chasing reds and whiting , fishing Yorkes, Cowell and metro so throw out the advice guys...Time to get moving before she changes her mind

Well I'm back and after the plane didn't pick us up last Wednesday, we ended up having to spend an extra 3 days on Kiritimati fishing. Life is hard to take sometimes . Anyway as promised here are some pics of my trip and all I can say is this place is a fishermans paradise. For the trip I caught over 100 Bonefish (lost count), 7 Triggerfish, small GT's, Goatfish, Yellow Snapper and all sorts of reef species. Walking the flats and seeing Bonefish of around 10lb swimming at you in ankle deep water is a sight I will never forget. My best fish was approximately 5.5lb with all the rest averaging about 3lb or better. I had a few tussles with the big 10lb bruisers but they really like to run you through coral, which isn't really good on flylines and 12lb leaders :pinch: .Here are a few pics and all I can say is if you get a chance to fish on Kiritimati you will not be disappointed, it is one very beautiful place.Cheers Dazz

This is the craziest Jetty Game Fishing I've ever seen. Pure dedication. It's no longer these day's but up until the mid 90's this was real land based big game fishing, even catching the bait would of been a hand full. Have you ever herd of a landcruzer in low range 2nd hauling sharks up on to the jetty? Check it out - http://bluemako.customer.netspace.net.au/jetty.htm

A few weeks ago I had a bad weather bonanza.It started out mowing the lawn at my mates place. Being a nice day, one thing led to another after a few too many coffees and I was digging up a garden bed.I was noticing some very large worms, both big blue worms, and red wrigglers. I knew their names after doing some worm research online recently. They looked too good to waste so I started collecting them in a container. After a while I totally gave up gardening, focussing on collecting worms instead.When I had a decent amount I decided to go to my local carp ponds and try them out. By this time the weather had changed completely, with dark rain clouds moving in, even though the temperature was still fairly warm. I decided to continue with my plans for fishing, and proceeded to my favourite spot.I set up, baited up, cast out, set the drag, got settled in my chair........and it started bucketing down. I left the rods out and rushed the 10-15m back to the car to wait it out. It was hard to see the rods properly through the windows, but after a short while I noticed one of the rods going ballistic. I quickly chucked on a jacket and ran to the rod.That was the start of 8 carp all up, with the smallest 53cm and 2.90kg, and the biggest 73cm and 4.9kg.This frantic action went on for about an hour and a half, at one stage with both rods going mental at once. The whole time the rain was hammering down, and I couldn't care less, coz I was catching fish!Then as suddenly as it started, the rain stopped, and the fish shut down completely. I kept fishing for another 2 hours with not even a sniff. I pulled the pin, packed up and went back to my mates place to dump the remaining worms back in the garden.I will never forget those fish that day. It was warm, it was raining and they were hungry.Thanks for letting me share that with you.Steve

Here is my youtube vid I made.

Guys, this is relevant to those people who are a member of this forum and FishSA. The administrator of FishSA is monitoring posts written on this forum!I found today that I was banned on FishSA within an hour of posting this comment below, on this forum:
A rediculous reason to be banned (surely), so I contacted the FishSA administrator immediately, and politely asked why my membership was banned on his forum. He gave me no reason, and simply said I was banned. Considering I haven't posted on FishSA for sometime, I can only come to the conclusion he read my posts on here, and determined I should be banned on his forum. Now let's be clear, I won't lose sleep about not being able to access FishSA, as it's my opinion it's been on the downhill slide for sometime - and besides, this website is a much better one anyway! However, it's deplorable to think that the FishSA administrator is lurking on here and monitoring what is written by us. Why bother? Just shows a total lack of integrity and a great deal of insecurity. What ever happened to freedom of speech?Anyways, please be aware of this if you frequent both forums. To avoid any problems can I suggest you don't have the same user name for both forums so it makes it harder for someone to identify you.Mods - I haven't started this post to start a shit storm between the two forums, that's not my intent. However it's clear many members frequent both forums and I feel they need to know what is going on.Cheers.

Headed down to the Onk late this arvo in the kayak. Water level was incredibly high, so much so that I couldn't fit under the saltfleet road bridge at the first entrance!! Trolled around for a while for two ST's that were well below legal. Finally on the way back I hooked and landed my PB onk bream of 33cm on my Bassday lure. I took me for a tow and fought very hard but I netted the beast, measured him and then watched it swim away freely to fight another day.