Father's Day overnighter

[Wags]

It's been a long time between trips and for me missing out on the awesome conditions off 1770 last month, I was keen to hit the water again. As some of you know, a couple of weeks ago I had knee surgery which ruled me out of solo runs in the boat. A received a call from a good mate and hinted at an overnighter in the Broadwater on Saturday night. As quick as I could I was granted a leave pass - this surprised me as this trip would take up half of Father's Day. It turns out the wifey was happy for me to go.....
Anyway, we departed Horizon shores marina and made our way toward the pin area to catch up with the other boats to organise the location of our raft up and trip activities. A location was agreed upon and we then made our way into some likely locations to have an afternoon fish before dark. My friend Dan was soon to land his first flatty on a soft plastic, followed in quick succession by another 2. Dan's friends were in a similar sized boat with their twin girls, and were soon high-fiving themselves with a corker flatty in the high 50's which later would be dinner on the bbq for them. We went our separate ways for an hour or so and we ventured into an area I'd only fished with a mate from work. We had previously caught flatties and sight casting for squiddies, but during our brief fish, we were having fun with small whiting on worms, and a couple of persistent resident sandies who took a liking to squid offerings but seemed to let go just inches from the net on an out-stretched arm.
A call was made to head to our anchorage and we were soon firmly anchored to the bottom with Steve and his family tied up alongside. I have always been sceptical of using butane cookers on boats, until we setup Dan's BBQ - I'll be looking into one of these for Xmas. Steak and fish on the bbq, cold beers and watching the footy live on the big(small) screen- doesn't get much better...

The next morning we woke and needed coffee.....Hmmm 6.30am too early for tipplers, quite a hike to Jacobs Well, then finding out the bakery there was also shut...Decided to wait around for coffee at tipplers. Well the coffee attendant decided to take our money, although unhappy, and we were off to find an area to set up and have brekky and a fish at the same time.

After the breakfast of champions, we decided to have a troll before heading for home. I was trying to keep us in the deeper water and trying to go as slow as possible as my 200hp trolling motor doesn't like water under 0.6m and at 550rpm we were hookin at 3.2kn with the tide. Just passed to creek mouth and Dan's rod exploded into action and we both called it for a good fish and possible even a jack. We were quickly in neutral, then found myself backing down on this fish as if it was a billie - the wind and tide weren't helping when in neutral. Some tense moments with some cracking runs, we finally had the fish beside the boat and obviously not liking the brighter coloured water and deciding to run again. Now with an audience, we netted the big girl leaving her in the water ready for some quick photos.
92cms on the mat. A donkey of a fish. Some quick photos and then released back to her home.High fives all round. One bloke wanted to know if we were pre-fishing for the classic? I never thought of entering the cruisey into the classic... This is the biggest flathead I have ever seen, and definitely a hard PB to beat.

Can't wait to get out and do it all again.
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[Wags]

Am I the only one to use attachment manager and post photos on the piss? Can I have some assistance please?

[Didley]

Wags I have this problem with photos off the Iphone. Only way i've found to get around it is put the photo into my "Nikon" photo software, rotate it and save it.

[Blackfish]

Thats a beast of a Flatty you got and it sounds like a great trip was had.
Great read, thanks.

[ActiveAngler]

I'll jump on and fix them up shortly, however I'd love to know the brand of that stove. It looks a cracker and would be awesome for Dids to cook me breakfast on our next
trip to the trout ledge.
Great trip out by the looks.

[Didley]

I've got a stove Chewy, haven't you heard

Yes a cracking Flatty, I'm going to get a few like that on the weekend!

[3Macks]

I've got a stove Chewy, haven't you heard

Yes a cracking Flatty, I'm going to get a few like that on the weekend!

I've got a stove too Dids, the grandfather of yours.
I don't even like cigarettes in the boat with a petrol motor, let alone a stove.
I had problems with Samsung photos too until I worked out which ones need to be rotated but doesn't seem to matter any more.
Great fish there Wags

[555mac]

Nice fish, and good report.

[Wags]

I'll jump on and fix them up shortly, however I'd love to know the brand of that stove. It looks a cracker and would be awesome for Dids to cook me breakfast on our next
trip to the trout ledge.
Great trip out by the looks.

Chewy,
Dan mentioned he received the BBQ from Amart furniture as a bonus gift after purchasing an outdoor setting, 6 years ago.

[Barramag]

There ya go, great trip and now great pics,