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Bad Weather Creek Session

By Sean Bekkers

So, as luck would have it, I had a day off and the weather, though not raining, was windy as, blowing well over 40km/h. So, my options were to do some adulting (chores around the house) or find somewhere to launch and cast some plastics around. As you can imagine, I chose option two.

Naturally, when the weather is bad, you look for areas that are likely to provide you some cover. For me, that was a creek that would give me some respite from the prevailing SE wind. On this occasion the tide was dropping, creating a wind over tide scenario, which made for some quite dirty water and sporting conditions in some spots. I decided to head out in the Hobie Outback on this occasion, rather than putting the boat in as that way I could hug banks and work the slack wind and water pockets.

I decided for this trip to hedge my bets and throw both ZMan 2.5” GrubZ and PrawnZ, rigged on 1/4oz 1/0 TT HeadlockZ or DemonZ jigheads, with the idea to focus my casting on any drains or current breaks. There should at least be a bream or two hassling bait that is being flushed out of the mangroves and once out there, to give me added confidence, there was the occasional boof and hassle of prawns on the surface.

After a while and a couple of half-hearted taps, I couldn’t really get the hooks set on what appeared to bream. I decided that, as I was only fishing in a few metres of water, I’d lighten up my presentation and match the hatch, opting to rig a 2.5” ZMan PrawnZ on a 1/16oz HeadlockZ Finesse jighead. The reason for going Finesse is that the jighead is built on a fine gauge Gamakatsu hook, with super sticky point, so even if the fish has a swipe at the presentation the hook should find its mark.

By rigging on a lighter jighead the prawn falls slowly through the water column and much slower than in would on a 1/4oz. Colour wise I opted for Blood Oil, with the reason being the UV would pop nicely, while the fleck would shimmer nicely with whatever light could penetrate the water column.

You know you have the presentation right when on your first cast it gets hit and that’s just what happened. I positioned my kayak on the downside of the current, so that I could cast on the upside of a drain and let my presentation drift back past the mouth, twitching and hopping the presentation as it sunk through the water column. As it hit the flow of water running out of the mouth of the drain, the PrawnZ was hammered by a bream. Not massive but I landed a bream for my efforts.

Pushing along the edge of the creek, I continued to flick my lightly weighted PrawnZ into the slack water, drains and structure, that included rocks and mangroves roots, once again picking off bream, which kept my session interesting.

Moving down the system, the tide was still running out with about two hours of run to go, while the wind kept increasing. As you can imagine the fishing conditions were getting rather sporting, especially when out in the middle of the creek. As I made my way up the creek, I decided to use the wind to my advantage by casting the 2.5” PrawnZ with the wind. This meant that I was gaining a few extra metres, which was awesome when trying to cover ground.

I kept focusing my casts near structure, by placing myself in the current breaks, and I was rewarded for my persistence. A cast landed perfectly in less than a metre of water and I was rewarded with a solid hook up and drag screaming. I’ve got to mention that the new Okuma Ceymar HD drag sounds mint by the way.

After two or three good runs and a couple of laps around the yak, I got the first glimpse of a solid spotted grunter, which proceeded to put three good runs in once it saw the yak. It also did its very best to bury itself in the drives and rudder, which made for a few tense moments. After a couple of minutes, I managed to net a respectable fish.

If you haven’t caught a Grunter before, for their size these fish go hard, especially on light gear. They are an absolute buzz to catch and often sought after by anglers. By this stage I had been on the water for a couple of hours, so it was time to head back. As any good angler would, I targeted all the places where I had caught fish while working my way up the creek and once again, I was rewarded for my efforts.

So, for a day that I could have easily stayed at home, I managed to find some respite from the wind and managed to find some fish for my efforts. Sometimes it works out and you get rewarded for having a crack. On this occasion the ZMan 2.5” PrawnZ matched the hatch perfectly in this system and lightly weighting it made all the difference.

Screaming Dragz.
Thanks for reading, Sean

Sean’s Tackle Box

Rod: TT Rods Red Belly Spin Rod – RBS701L 7’ 1-3kg

Reel: Okuma Ceymar HD Spin Reel – CHD-1000HA

Braid: Platypus Pulse X8 Braid – 6lb

Leader:  Platypus Hard Armour Leader – 10lb Supple

Jighead: TT HeadlockZ Finesse Jighead - 1/16oz 1/0

Plastics: ZMan 2.5” Prawnz - Blood Oil