We fished Alva Beach yesterday morning for the first time in probably more than a year. I use to love walking the beach here tossing lures for flathead when the conditions weren't right for the boat. But since owning the tinnie Barra have been too big of an attraction. But the electric on the tinnie has been our of action for a couple of weeks now, and I have not had a line in the water at all in that time. So looking for something different and more relaxing we headed off for Alva.
It was a high tide of about 3.2m just on sunrise, ideal for chasing lizards. The sun was just rising as we pulled into the carpark. It didn't take too long and Dad had the first fish to shore. Without a measuring tape it was too close to call and was released. Dad was second for a fish too, and a much better one. Guessing around 50cm it went in the eski for keeps.
I still hadn't had a touch, but it wasn't too long of a wait when a solid fish took the plastic. A few good runs on a lightly set drag and she was pulled ashore. The biggest fish so far. It joined Dad's for dinner.
For the next hour we enjoyed some very good fishing. Several lost fish, a few small ones and numerous missed hits. In all we took home a feed of 4 solid fish and had released several smaller ones. But by about 8am the tide started running out pretty hard, and we couldn't raise another scale. We looked around several locations both up and down the beach, even got the Pajero onto the sand for a bit, but to no avail.
We left about 10:30am for an early mark and lunch at home. A great morning thats relaxing and easy. No boat to clean and a good feed of fish for the wife and kids for dinner. What more could you ask for?
I fished with a 70mm Squidgie fish in pody colour for the pro range on a 1/8 oz jig head. Its my favourite lure for Flathead and rarely fails. I used a Shimano Stella 1000fe on a T-curve 661 rod and 8lb PowerPro. Rigged with a 20lb leader of about 1.5m in length, its more than capable of handling even the biggest flathead on the beach.
