Tackle Tactics » Tips-Techniques » Fishing-Adventures-Destinations » A Stroke of Good Luck

A Stroke of Good Luck

By Nick Thompson

Recently for me, the fishing has been tough, and I mean really tough. Whether it was going out and being rained on, meaning an early trip home, or due to the rain my spots were too fresh to fish. I have also had some motor troubles, so I would get to the boat ramp and be stuck there. Sometimes I couldn't even get a hit or bite… but with a stroke of good luck and plenty of persistence, I have broken the curse!

We started our day at about seven in the morning, with the plan to arrive at the yabby beds at low tide and then to fish the incoming tide. Once we arrived at the yabby beds, we saw some mullet and quickly threw the cast net over them. This produced some nice 3” to 4” mullet for flathead bait. Dad was going to fish with bait, and I was going to fish lures, so while he was pumping yabbies, I tied on a 1/8oz TT Switchblade in Purple Glimmer colour. The white underbelly created some flash, while the light purple and yellow head made the lure stand out in the dirty coloured water.

A good tip, when fishing in dirty water, is to add scent to your lures. I was running with Pro-Cure Mullet Super Gel Scent to match the hatch as best as possible. Another reason I went with the Switchblade metal vibration blade was that there was a breeze that day and these lures allow me a long and accurate cast, even in these windy conditions. I rigged up my lure with 15lb Platypus Hard Armour Supple Leader and 15lb Platypus Pulse X8 Braid as a mainline. This was spooled onto a 30 size Okuma Epixor XT spin reel, paired with a 7’, 2-4kg Okuma Cerros spin rod.

On the edge of the yabby bed was a small creek that feeds into a larger creek known as Sandfly Creek. This small creek is one of my go-to spots for flathead and bream as there is obviously yabbies, but also an abundance of mullet and prawns that use the creek to shelter from the predators that lurk out in the deeper water.

As I walked along the creek, I was throwing casts along the bank and just onto the edge of the drop off, as I often pick up the odd flathead or bream hanging on the edge of the yabby bed. I was using the double hop action, consisting of two short, sharp hops, followed by a long pause on the bottom. This action is my favourite for flathead as the hops allow the lure to create vibration and flash, to help the fish see the lure, while the pause gives them time to find it and eat it.

It's important to ensure that you give the lure resting time on the bottom, while keeping an eye on the belly of the line as even big fish can appear as just a small tweak in the line. I saw some disturbance on the water, threw out a cast, and while allowing the lure to sink to the bottom I saw a small tweak in line. That was enough of an indication to signal interest in the lure, so I set the hook.

The fish took off with a massive run, out toward the middle of the creek, however it ran out energy and I quickly made ground getting it back closer to shore. At this point I still had no idea what the fish was. As it came towards me though it took to the air and that was the moment that I realised that I was connected to a nice queenfish. After the acrobatic performance, the fish took another blistering run out to the deeper water. Another battle, back into the shallower water, and I guided him to a good landing spot on the shore.

With a quick measure the queenfish went 66cm, which wasn’t bad, especially in a creek. After a few photos we released the fish. This queenfish was a great sign because it meant that the water was salty enough for a queenfish, so would definitely be salty enough for a flathead. Once we released the fish, I quickly made my way back to where I had hooked it in the hope that there was a school of them.

After a few casts and no luck, I continued my walk down the creek. I began peppering casts around and once again I saw the small tweak in the line and set the hook. This fish was much smaller than the previous fish, but it was still a fish. It was a small flathead of around 35cm. Not the right size, but it was the right species. By this time dad had gathered enough bait and we moved on.

We fished a few old spots, with little luck. Dad landed the odd small bream or grunter but other than that there was little fish to be caught. I saw a tree that looked like it might hold some barramundi or possibly a mangrove jack. Slowly creeping up on the electric motor and paying close attention to the sounder, we saw some big barramundi on the sounder and more submerged timber. I put my small rod down, picked my Okuma Komodo 6-8kg rod, paired with a Komodo 364 baitcast reel, and tied on a 5” paddle tail and 5/0 TT SnakelockZ to the 50lb leader.

I anchored the boat down current so that I could cast my lure and slow roll it back to the boat. After about five minutes of casting, a massive hit and I set the hooks on the fish! It ran me straight into the timber, never to be seen again. Dad had two rods out, one with a mullet and the other with a yabby. The yabbies were getting smashed by small grunter and then the mullet was smacked and to our disappointment, it was by a gold spot cod.

After that we decided to move up Water Park Creek, where I changed lures to ZMan 2.5” TRD CrawZ in Greasy Prawn colour. The reason for the change being that we had a short amount of time left in the trip and we were putting most of the yabbies out for burley. It didn’t take long before I hooked up to a solid bream that measured 36cm on the mat.

This trip was breath of fresh air for us as the fishing had been really tough. Not only did we get onto a few fish, also finding some new spots that will hopefully provide some good fishing in the future. This trip was the true meaning of being persistent during the tough times because there’s always some good fishing around the corner.

Cheers, Nick

Gearing Up:

Okuma Cerros Spin Rods – CER-S-701ML 7’ 2-4kg
Okuma Epixor XT Spin Reel – EPXT-30
Platypus Pulse X8 Braid – 15lb
Platypus Hard Armour Leader – 15lb Supple
TT Switchblade – 1/8oz
ZMan 2.5” TRD CrawZ
TT HeadlockZ HD Jighead

Okuma Komodo Baitcast Rod – KM-C-661MH 6’6” 6-8kg
Okuma Komodo Baitcast Reel – KDS-364
Platypus Pulse X8 Braid – 30lb
Platypus Hard Armour Leader – 50lb Supple

ZMan 5” DieZel MinnowZ

TT SnakelockZ – 5/0