I have spent the last two afternoons flicking small soft plastics around the creeks for very little success. The afternoon outgoing tide was what I would consider ideal for the Haughton/Morriseys, but the fish had different ideas.
Wednesday was the family trip. Down to Morriseys to give the boys a go flicking around the sticks. We initially headed up 'Little Salty' to try and get out of the winds. The water was was a little dirty, but not too bad. I rigged Lachlan up with a modified DOA. I came across this YouTube clip a couple of weeks ago and thought it was ideal for the kids. Weedless is a must when allowing kids to throw lures among the timber! For Sebastian I rigged up a Squidgie fish texas style. But despite the weedless nature of the riggs I still ended up spending more time undoing tangles and snags than actually fishing!
We headed off toward the mouth in search of cleaner looking water somewhere out of the wind. I found a really good looking bank. Water was green and clear on a deep outside bank with lots of timber. I had been past this bank a few times and never stopped to look. But I couldn't attract so much as a bump.
Off to the mouth, one last chance at a fish. We worked the edges of the beach and mud banks in search of a flathead. At lease the casts don't need to be super accurate here! But the most fun the kids had was throwing their plastics up onto the mud bank and watching massive mud skippers chase after the lures. I must admit, it was pretty damn funny.
In the end we just pulled the boat up on the beach and wend for a walk. Tania and kids collected some shells and we headed off to the servo for dinner.
Thursday afternoon I took Andrew back down to the Haughton for another look for some Jack's. When we arrived I was pleasantly surprised to see the water around the Cromarty creek ramp very clean and clear. With such good looking water we thought we might head up Cromarty, rather than going to the mouth.
The first fish of the day fell to my DOA fished amongst the tight timber. The hit took me completely by surprise as I had my hand off the reel adjusting the iPilot at the time. But a quick set of the rod and he was hooked. A solid Pikey Bream soon came into sight. A pretty weak fight from a decent fish on light line! But it was one on the board for the day.
A little further along and Andrew soon nailed his first of the day, a small Jack. It took his Gulp Shrimp from a section of timber I had already worked over with my DOA. Clearly my offering wasn't good enough! Only a little fella, but at least it was the target species. A quick pic and he was back in the water.
Next fish again fell to my DOA. A nice little Barra that come from a set of snags that 'had to have a fish'. It hit the lure and instantly launched from the water shaking its head. Both Andrew I and were thinking 55ish cm rat. But the next time it came into sight it was clearly a bigger fish! The Barra was lead to the boat and released quickly. In the end, we think more like low 60's.
The rest of the way up Cromatary was very quiet. So we decided to make our way toward the mouth. Part way back I picked up a section of good looking bottom on the Humminbird 998 SI. So we pulled up and put down a couple of Thready Busters. It didn't take long and Andrew was nailed by a big Barra. She launched straight out of the water shaking her head, and throwing the lure right back at Andrew. We are thinking it was well into the 80's, but a big guess from the little was saw. Again, it was no real loss being the closed season, and neither of us were upset by the loss.
On to the mouth where it was really hard to get out of the wind. We worked several banks for nothing more than a Cod or two. On the way home we decided to work the rockbar near the ramp on dusk. Hoping for a Fingermark, all we could do was watch a couple of big Barramundi work some bait on the drains. We pulled out before it got dark and headed for home.
Might have to have a break from the creeks for a while, and wait for the season to open. Just wish we could get some decent weather and get out on the blue water properly.
