Tackle Tactics » Tips-Techniques » Fishing-Adventures-Destinations » FROGZTOMP!
FROGZTOMP!
By Sean Bekkers
No this isn't the story of a forgotten 90's album, this is a wrap up on an experiment in my local waterway. Like most anglers I have watched videos and read articles of barra, jacks and bass smashing frogs off the surface, however, being located in south east Queensland means that barra aren't my bread and butter fish. One of my favourite fish to target is flathead and especially when chasing them in the skinny water.
Living in the Great South East we are lucky enough to have plenty of estuary systems that hold quality flathead and being a dad who has daughters that like to fish means that I always have fishing buddy. Kaitlin in particular is hard core when it comes to the early morning winter fishing sessions and with a low tide early the following morning we decided to work some skinny water as well as the drop offs where bait likes to congregate.
Day 1
We rose early and following a quick coffee set off to hit the water on daybreak, with grand plans of working the mouth of the creek. We didn't get that far though as while launching the punt we both noticed that up near the first bend the water was smooth and bait was hitting the surface. It got the better of us and we opted to start fishing there.
More often than not I start a flathead session throwing small hard bodies in the shallows and work them on or just under the surface, especially in a low light situation. This does have its disadvantages though, the first being that if you're casting into weed beds, oysters and other structure, you run the risk of fouling or snagging the trebles. The second disadvantage is that once you've worked the lure back to the edge, you can't work the entire water column from there.
This session though we not only wanted to cast into the shallow weed beds and temp lizards that were hiding in the skinny water, we also wanted to pause, twitch and slow roll down the edges into two to three metre holes. For this session we opted for a 1/8oz TT Lures SnakelockZ Finesse weedless jighead, matched to a ZMan 2.75" Finesse FrogZ. As it was low light in the morning I chose the Watermelon Chartreuse colour, loaded with some Pro-Cure scent in Blood Worm flavour to get the ball rolling.
We used the electric motor to keep us clear of the bank, allowing us to get a full cast in and not spook any fish. My first flathead came from hard up in the shallows, right on the mangrove edge. I'm sure I only got one wind of the handle in.
Kaitlin spotted a small twig sitting out in the middle of the creek and her first cast landed pretty much smack in the middle of the branches. A nice slow roll saw her rod load up, unfortunately though it was soon followed by utter disappointment as the hook didn't find the mark. Although you occasionally miss setting the hook when fishing weedless, I honestly think getting your plastic hard into structure gets more strikes than normal.
We kept working the edge and landed the usual estuary suspects, like pike and although we didn't manage to land one, I'm pretty sure the bream were having a fair old crack at the FrogZ as well.
It happens more often than not for me, when chasing flathead along steep drop offs, the odd school jewfish rocks up to smash a well-presented softy. There's nothing like a jewie's distinct grab and run on light tackle. Although I lucked out on this occasion, Kaitlin chalked up a nice school jewfish. Kaitlin worked her plastic just under the surface and once it got to the edge gave it a pause. This is where the jewfish struck, on the edge of the drop off, hitting the plastic in just two feet of water. Now as far as jewfish go it's wasn't a monster but on light gear it was good fun and kept Kaitlin on her toes until we landed it. Apparently they don't mind the frogs either. After some quick photos of the fish we decided to head home and cook some hard-earned breakfast.
Day 2
Our second morning was very similar to the first. The tide had just started flooding the weed beds and the morning itself was cool and crisp. We decided to head out of the creek and into the passage, with the plan being to work some FrogZ over the weed and again hop them down the drop offs and deeper sections of the banks.
The weed banks were filled with small baitfish, the odd prawn and heaps of small bream and whiting, a perfect flatty buffet was on offer. By using the electric motor to make small adjustments, the current assisted our drift, allowing us to concentrate on making long casts right to the edge of the bank.
A nice consistent slow retrieve saw the FrogZ work perfectly across the surface. A few smaller model flathead got the ball rolling but the bigger ones saw the fun factor get turned up. My next hook up felt like I had snagged, that was until I heard the drag spewing line into the water and observed a flathead attached to the end imitating a mini marlin, which was awesome by the way! The fight continued for a short time until it managed to throw the hook. Begrudgingly one to the fish...
Kaitlin was on next and like mine it felt like a snag at first, then launched out of the water! I've heard the term used before 'bend is you friend' and after reminding Kaitlin she fought this beastie like a pro. After a lot of heart in throat head shakes and long runs, Kaitlin finally landed a solid 60cm flatty.
It's pretty cool to be able to fish the entire water column in one retrieve and this new technique has us hooked. I'm already planning some more adventures using FrogZ... and who knows, maybe even a trip north to chase some barra. Boof!
Our Froggin' tackle -
ZMan 2.75" Finesse FrogZ - Watermelon Chartreuse
TT Lures 1/8oz 1/0L SnakelockZ Finesse Jighead
Spin Rod 1-4kg matched to a 3000 size spin reel
Braid 8-10lb with a 10-14 pound fluorocarbon leader