Tackle Tactics » Tips-Techniques » Fishing-Adventures-Destinations » Chasing a PB

Chasing a PB

By Sean Bekkers

Like most sports, fishing can become very addictive and a passion for hardcore anglers. For some it's the sport side of things, like competing in bream and bass tournaments, while for others it's at the other end of the spectrum and purely a way to pass the time whilst having a few beverages. For others, like me, it's to catch a feed and have heaps of fun along the way.

When I was a young fisho our trips ended up in a competition. Who landed the biggest, who landed the most and who ended up with the variety bucket. These trips are still talked about twenty years later over a BBQ... does this sound familiar? This is basically the unofficial fishing Olympics, where the winner holds bragging rights for life.

Some of us keep albums full of fish that we've caught over the years, while others write them down in a book, however for us (me and my girls), we write them down on a brag mat. Who caught it, when it was caught and the mat is usually not too far away from our BBQ either... generally hanging on the fridge. The girls, being keen anglers, often rip it out and check how big their next catch needs to be to get their PB or even better the overall family Olympic title.

As you get older and have more fish to your name, getting a PB seems near on impossible to achieve and although I write down personal bests for just about everything, there are two species in particular that I target in my local estuary system, these are jewfish and flathead. The magic metre is regarded as the bench mark, and one day I'll get it... but up until recently I had been stuck on a 79cm flathead for over 6 years.

I've spent countless hours researching deep drop offs and structure, weed beds, shallow water, deep water, etc., etc., in the hope of chalking up another PB in my local estuary system. In the last month or so the flathead have really start smashing the plastics and I have been using two with great success, both ZMan 3" MinnowZ, with Hot Snakes and Pinfish colours excelling. In the hope of chalking up a solid lizard I have been working a new stretch of bank. It has a nice solid weed bank, with two drains that pour into about 4-5 metres of water, which just screams flathead heaven.

Recently, a good mate of mine Gav and I had a three hour window to go and hit some fish. The boat was in the water before sunrise and we hit an old faithful spot which resulted in some mid 40cm model flathead, landed rolling some ZMan 6" SwimmerZ before sunrise. With an hour left on the clock before we had to call it, we made the decision to rip around to the bank, which has been fishing well, even though it still had three hours of run out until low.

This particular morning was wind over tide, which meant a lot of work on the electric motor to hold position. We both placed a cast up towards the draining bank and hopped the lure back with no result. On Gav's second cast he got a wind knot... so being the supportive fishing mate, I made another cast. This time I put a cast in with the wind, right up the channel. This meant I was working my lure through 5-6 metres of water.

I gave the lure a few seconds and when I went to hop it... "you're kidding me, snagged straight up!" As I was using a 1-3kg setup, with 10lb everything, I was a little reluctant to just lock everything up and pull, which in hindsight was a good move. My snag just gave me that unmistakable head shake of a solid lizard.

At this point Gav ripped his lure in and grabbed the net. I could tell early on that this was going to be a solid fish and with the current ripping out I tried to drift with it rather than work the fish against it. There was a couple of tense moments when it pulled drag and ran under the keel of the boat, before it finally came into view. It was big and fat too, a really healthy flathead.

It had one look at the boat and ran straight for the electric. I ended up sticking the rod in the water up the handle, until I could get some control back. The next time it was back at the boat Gav was quick on the net and she was in the boat... at which point the jighead fell out! "Damn that was close." I was extremely excited to have caught such an awesome fish and to have my mate with me made it even better. A few quick happy snaps and a measure and she was released. Hopefully I'll catch her again when she hits the magic metre mark.

I had finally cracked the 80cm mark, which is awesome as I had been stuck with a 79cm PB for over 6 years. It's amazing what one centimeter can do and I was pumped. I started trying to work out how many hours I've spent to try and crack my PB and let's just say a lot. I have tried a lot of different gear as well. Plastics in different patterns, shapes and sizes, mixed up the jigheads from light to heavy and following heaps of close calls and disappointments... it has all been worth it, to catch such a cool fish in my local estuary system. A little luck goes a long way as well.

Just remember, they don't get that big by eating anything, so just keep mixing it up.

Happy PB hunting.
Cheers Sean

My Favourite Lizard Gear

ZMan 3" MinnowZ (Hot Snakes and Pinfish colours)
ZMan 6" SwimmerZ (Bad Shad and Golden Boy colours)

TT Lures HeadlockZ 3/8oz 3/0 Jighead
TT Lures SnakelockZ 3/8oz 8/0 Jighead

Pro-Cure Mullet Super Gel Scent
Pro-Cure Bloodworm Super Gel Scent
Pro-Cure Pilchard Super Gel Scent