Dad and I went for a drive yesterday afternoon to have a look at some of the ramps on the smaller creeks and rivers around Townsville. "Throw your plastics rod in" I said, thinking we might find some water to have a cast for a Flathead. After heading off just after lunch I was texting Ward back and forward about his 82cm Barra from that morning. Dad I joked about how funny it would be if one of us got an 83cm fish! So after we had a look at some ramps, including the new Bohle ramp, I took him to a location I thought we might have at least a chance at a small fish.
First cast and a very nice Mangrove Jack rolled on my plastic, but he failed to find the hooks! Bugga, he was a good keeper for sure. I persisted in that spot for many more casts, but only managed to pull out a smaller Jack.
A few casts later and Dad nailed a good quality Flathead. A good fish, but I remember him mumbling something about coming to this place to get away from Flathead! We put the fish in a pool of water behind us to keep it fresh, but it was later released by the rising tide!
I put some casts into the area where he had hooked the flathead, and was soon connected to what I thought was to be a good fish. If it was a Flatty, he was a ripper. But as the fish approached I could see the silver flanks of a small GT. Nice fish for in the upper reaches of the salt.Dad moved down the shore a little, and first cast he hooked up a nice little Barra. The fish was probably in the 40-50cm range. But where he was standing there was no room to 'beach' the fish. So when I tried to do a lift the 20lb leader snapped. Next time I will throw in my little net! But only a few casts later he was hooked up again. A much bigger fish this time, clearly a keeper. But again the 20lb leader was not enough and fish broke free after a couple of jumps. I was getting a little jealous by this stage, all I could manage here was Barracouda. But a good cast along the bank soon had me hooked up. Lucking the fish was hooked on the outside of the mouth, and I was able to work it to an area of the bank where it could be pulled ashore. We didn't measure the fish, but I didn't care what length it was, it was a nice catch on light bream gear.
The tide soon started flooding back up the creek. But even though the bait started going crazy, and fish were rounding up the mullet all over the place, we couldn't manage another strike! So by about 5pm we headed home. A fun afternoon on plastics!
