StreakZin Bream Mixing up MinnowZ GrubZin Noosa BETS 2013 Kinchant Barra Flathead on Blades

Transcription

1 StreakZin Bream Mixing up MinnowZ GrubZin Noosa BETS 2013 Kinchant Barra Flathead on Blades

2 StreakZ Breamin By Cameron Cronin At almost four inches in length, you could be excused for saying that the ZMan 3.75 StreakZ isn t exactly your typical bream lure. In fact, until very recently, I have also been guilty of thinking the same. While I have spent countless hours using this lure for larger, more aggressive species, the StreakZ have sat patiently in my tackle box while I targeted bream, there just in case the pelagics show up. So the question begs, how did this lure go from something I would maybe tie on, to a lure worth writing an entire article about? Read on to find out It was April last year and after a great session on the bream. A large shoal of whitebait, sheltering near the pylons at our feet, was discovered by a pack of hungry pelagics. Fortunately, the predators didn t seem too keen to swim underneath the dock, preferring to use lightning quick bursts of speed to dart in and pick off the hapless baitfish one at a time. This gave me a few moments to hastily rig up my favourite Shiner coloured StreakZ on a 1/4oz jighead with a larger (3/0) hook, that was promptly launched into the flurry. Cameron with a nice bream on a 3.75 StreakZ in Shiner.

3 If the bream are feeding on baitfish, give the StreakZ a run. After landing a few bonito and tailor, I was burning the lure through the mass of baitfish when the StreakZ was stopped dead in its tracks, presumably by another tailor or bonito. You can imagine my surprise when I saw that the fish was in fact a decent bream that had chased my lure down, at almost max speed and managed to eat the StreakZ rigged on a 3/0 jighead! After a few quick photos the fish was released and as the pelagic action began to heat up I would have probably forgotten about my freak capture if it wasn t for a string of big bream smashing the StreakZ. This in locations where I could rarely tempt even a small fish on my usual presentations. At this stage the switch flipped and I realised I could be onto something, so I mentally flagged the StreakZ as a potential big bream lure to try another day and continued on fishing. It took a few months for me to get around to it, but after a painfully slow session in the same location, I decided I had nothing to lose and tied on the same Shiner coloured StreakZ. This time I rigged it on a far breamier jighead, a TT tournament series 1/20oz with a 1/0 hook. The result was instantaneous and in a few casts I had a small bream flipping about on the dock. Despite being barely legal, the bream had not only taken the lure, but managed to completely inhale the entire presentation. After carefully removing the lure, I began to walk back to my bus stop, firing casts into areas I had worked with other lures earlier on hoping for a result on my new presentation.

4 Fish on! By the time I had reached my stop the StreakZ had surprised me yet again. I was 6 bream up, from an area that I couldn t even pull a single fish from before and although most were small, many had managed to inhale the plastic like my first fish had, indicating their fondness for the lure. It was a long bus trip home in peak hour traffic but the time flew by as mind started to piece together the technique that has since become one of my go-to methods of targeting bream.

5 Since I started using the StreakZ on bream, I have trialled it in all of my local systems, while fishing a large variety of different environments, including sand flats, mangroves, marinas, rock walls and of course the docks where the events I just described took place. What has surprised me is that although the bream in all these places all behave very differently, they have all been just as keen to nail a well presented StreakZ. For those of you interested in giving the StreakZ a go, the technique is very flexible, although I will outline how I like to fish this cool little plastic.

6 The great thing about the StreakZ is that because of its super soft and flexible ElaZtech construction, the lure will simply fold away when hit by a bream, resulting in a great hook up rate. Because of this I tend to rig this lure on fairly small (size 1-1/0) TT Lures HWS (Hidden Weight System) jigheads, which seems to be the best size for the bream s relatively small mouth. Although normal jig heads work well, the slow, horizontal sink of a Hidden Weight jighead is hard to beat, not to mention the great skip casting capabilities of this jighead / lure combo. If you re struggling to get a lure into a tight space, this is the one to try! Shiner & Watermelon Red are a couple of Cameron s favourite s. Although there are no restrictions on retrieves, there is one specific action I use on the StreakZ that the bream seem to really like. When fishing the StreakZ for bream hanging high in the water column or in shallow water, I like to use a retrieve that I like to call slapping the slack. To do this, make a cast and allow the lure to sink to the desired depth, while allowing the line to stay semislack as the lure sinks. After this, begin a series of small but sharp twitches with the rod tip, but do not wind the reel as you do so. By doing this you are effectively slapping the slack line and causing the lure to erratically dart from side to side over a very short distance.

7 For this retrieve I love using the shiner colour (although most have been successful), as the twitches cause the lures pale underbelly to catch the light and shine (hence the name), triggering aggressive strikes from otherwise shutdown bream. I have also employed this technique on bream in deeper water, using slightly heavier jigheads and although it does take some patience, to allow the lure to sink down, the rewards can be very sweet. Ever since I have added the StreakZ to my regular bream line-up, I have been experiencing some great results on bream, when nothing else is working. So next time the bream aren t on the bite, why not tie on a StreakZ you never know, you might be able to turn your day around! A Watermelon Red 3.75 StreakZ did the job on this solid bream.

8 GrubZin Maroochy River By Andy Gunn After years of chasing flathead on larger size plastics I decided to target some fish on the smaller profile of the 2.5 ZMan GrubZ. The area I decided to target consisted of some mud flats that had about four to six feet of water over them and with the low tide around three hours away I was confident I could find some fish. With the run out tide you will generally find the flathead pushing back down to the deeper water, where they wait for the tide to turn before pushing back up onto the flats.

9 Rigging the 2.5 GrubZ in Motor Oil colour on a 1/6oz TT HeadlockZ HD jighead allowed me to send out long casts to cover more of the areas where I was expecting to find some flathead laying, waiting to ambush bait fish. After landing a couple of smaller flathead I was hoping to see if anything bigger would eat this plastic and it wasn t long before halfway back to the boat I felt a solid bump on my plastic, which was quickly followed by a good solid run. After a few more runs I slowly worked a nice flathead to the side of the boat. I was only fishing 6lb fluorocarbon leader, so I had to take it easy until the flathead glided safely into the net. I was rewarded with a 77cm flathead and after a few quick pics the flathead was back in the water and swimming away. The Zman 2.5 GrubZ has accounted for some big flathead.

10 With very little run left in the tide I decided to go and have a look at another section of river where there were some deeper holes around the five metre mark. I was curious to see what was sitting in these holes and with very little current I was still able to still use the 1/6oz jighead and get the plastic to the bottom, where I was hoping to find some more flathead. Casting up into the shallows and hopping the plastic back into the deeper holes was my approach and it wasn t long before I had hooked up on something solid again. This time the fish fought with harder, longer runs and I wasn t sure what had eaten the ZMan GrubZ. Being a different fight to that of a flathead, I wasn t game to call what I had hooked. After a few anxious moments I had a nice 43cm mangrove jack at the side of the boat and while bringing it into the boat I could see it had totally engulfed the plastic. It was time for a few quick photos and then back over the side he went too good to catch just once Since this trip I have used the 2.5 GrubZ in a variety of colours and have caught a host of different species on them, from estuary cod to bream, trevally, tarpon, jacks and flathead. Andy is all smiles with a nice jack on the ZMan 2.5 GrubZ.

11 NEW GEAR ZMan GrubZ - Watermelon Requests from the Tackle Tactics Pro Team, along with other anglers have led to a couple more additions to the ZMan range - 2 and 2.5 GrubZ in Watermelon. Watermelon is a classic colour that has proven deadly over many years of social and tournament fishing, so it is a great addition to the range. In its first week of release it was part of a tournament winning bream bag and it is sure to be a favourite for bream and bass s anglers, along with those targeting a wide range of species, with over 70 recorded species being taken on the 2.5 GrubZ so far. The ZMan 2 (3113) and 2.5 (2926) come in a pack of 10 and are available now. Watermelon GrubZ Vortex spinnerbaits - Now fitted with stinger hook TT Lures Vortex spinnerbaits have been a popular option for bass, yellowbelly, saratoga and a range of other freshwater species for many years. This popularity is due in part to their compact frame design, Mustad chemically sharpened, fine gauge hook to maximise hook penetration and other quality materials including silicone skirt, ball bearing swivel and 24K gold plated blade. Another reason for their popularity is the colour range, designed for Australia, that includes Red Nightmare, White Boney, Purple Blue Scale, Fire Tiger and Baby Bass, to name a few. Now the Vortex will tick the box for even more anglers with the inclusion of a stinger hook, pre-attached with Bait Buttons so that it is ready to fish, straight out of the pack.

12 MinnowZ Mixing it up with MinnowZ By Jay Noble ZMan's 3" MinnowZ would have to be one of the great all rounders, from their smaller, slim profile, to the aggressive tail beating and body roll action that is often too much for most fish to resist. The smaller size of this action packed plastic really punches above its weight, producing anything from bream and bass to jew, jacks and barra, along with everything in between. This makes it a very easy inclusion in the kit for guys that love to flick a plastic. MinnowZ

13 Some of the reasons they do work so well include a great profile that replicates a baitfish very well and a swimming action that is extremely natural. Matching the bait in the area that you are fishing is often a key factor when trying to trigger that strike and with over twenty different colours in the range it would be hard not to find one to suit the bait in your area. Like all ZMan plastics in the range they are made from an extremely tough, yet soft and supple material called ElaZtech that is up to 10X tougher than a standard soft plastic. The ElaZtech construction of these plastics is also very buoyant, so you can fish them on the surface, roll them back, hop them along the bottom. This buoyancy is also a great feature of the ZMan plastics because, when at rest on the bottom, the tail will stand up and wiggle in the current, still fishing for you even when at rest, and this feature triggers a lot bites. Lucky it s 10X Tough! Jay with a nice bass on the Houdini MinnowZ Being 10X tough, fishing with the same plastic all day is hardly a challenge and it eliminates the need to change over lures due to a damaged lure from a solid bite. Even Fishing for toothies like tailor and mackerel is not a problem for any of the range. In short (more fish per bait) and easier on the hip pocket. The range of fishing techniques and rigging options with the MinnowZ is just about endless with the range of TT jigheads on the market. Let s take a look at a few. Jacks love MinnowZ!

14 HeadlockZ HD and Head Hunter Extreme jigheads are an effortless way to present a lifelike baitfish imitation that can be hopped back, slow rolled or even high speed retrieved to imitate a fleeing or injured baitfish. Using a HeadlockZ HD jighead with a TT Jig Spinner works well, creating extra flash to attract the fish to your plastic for those sometimes fussy species like bass and even bream.

15 Snakehead jigheads allow you to fish into the nasty country with maximum action, getting right in close with less snags. This rig allows you to fish country that with other jig heads you would not even bother due the threat of losing gear.

16 The SWS (Snagless Weight System) has a couple of applications that I like to use when fishing for bass and rigging up with a 3" MinnowZ. Firstly you can rip it across the top and fish it along the surface to attract the fish s attention and secondly you can simply flick into heavy structure or let it slowly sink with maximum action from the plastic. The best bit is that this is without changing rigs, meaning you re keeping your lure in the water for longer. The TT Lures ChinlockZ jighead is another option that does away with the weight on the belly of the hook, making it ideal for weedless surface presentations or a dead slow sink. Jay with a quality bass on a ZMan 3 MinnowZ and TT Lures SWS (Snagless Weight System) jighead.

17 Everyone has a favourite lure or plastic in their kit, a lure that when the chips are down and the fish hard to come by you pull out and fish it with confidence. This is a lure that will often change your day. For me it has been the 3" MinnowZ that has been my confidence lure, producing regular results on many different species. In the last few months the bigger brother of the 3 MinnowZ, the 4" DieZel MinnowZ has also been producing some cracker fish. By using all of the same techniques as used with the 3" MinnowZ, the newer 4" DieZel MinnowZ has proven to be a great lure on the Gold Coast for the mangrove jack fisherman, using either a slow or quick retrieve back to the boat. So whether you enjoy fresh or saltwater fishing, from a boat or land based, the results achieved by these action packed lures speak for themselves. If you re just starting out fishing plastics the MinnowZ are an excellent option due to their inbuilt action and the small amount of effort you need to put into these plastics to start catching fish. Flick them out, roll them back and hang on! Hope to see you out there on the water soon, Jay Noble The 4 DieZel MinnowZ is already making its mark as a go-to jack plastic.

18 BETS 2013 Grand Final On the road to the Early in 2010 the Bets Bream Tournament hit the scene, with a chance of fishing four rounds to try and make the Grand Final later in the year. I had been competing in a few comps the year before and so I decided to team up with Bill McGuire to fish this event. It was during these first four rounds that I had a chance meeting with another couple of passionate anglers by the names of Dave Tosland and Jorg Van Hussen. Even though both teams had limited success that year Dave and I decided to form Team Pflueger/David Tosland Building. The main reason behind this was that Dave and I could always get time off to pre-fish the competition locations, before fishing each of the rounds and we felt that this continuity would help us gel together as a team and do well in each of the rounds. In 2011 we finished 23 rd, just missing out on a place in the grand final. In 2012 it was a year not to remember and from memory I think we finished about 64 th, out of a field of about 150 teams. When 2013 rolled around though we did make the grand final in 19 th place. Gary with a brace of bream - one on a TT HWS jighead and the other on a TT Switchblade. By Gary Brown

19 When we are targeting bream around boats, Dave will usually cast to the front and I will put a cast in at the back of the boat. If nothing happens one of us will put a cast into the middle. During the six rounds of the BETS 2013 competition the events were held at Lake Macquarie, Sydney Harbour, St Georges Basin (2 rounds), Foster and the Hawkesbury River. Throughout these rounds we fished areas that had oyster racks, rock walls, vast flats, drop offs, rock washes, weed beds, breakwalls, artifical reefs and deep water. The techniques we tried out were working surface lures, slow rolling hard bodies, soft plastics and blades, working soft plastics in shallow to deep water and also working blades in just about every place we could. I lost count of how many hours we spent on the water fine tuning these different techniques. After 3 years of hard work it was a great feeling of relief that all of our hard work had paid off and we both couldn t get over the excitement that we had made the Grand Final! What a great thrill it was to be fishing against 19 other highly experienced teams. Once we had realised what we had achieved, it was down to the business of planning our assault on the grand final.

20 Dave couldn t make all our pre-fish days so on this day Bill came along to help me locate a few bream. It pays to have a good wing man. Dave and I caught up a couple of weeks later and sat down to put pen to paper in terms of where our go-to spots were and to also plan when we would actually go out on the Harbour to pre-fish these spots. The tides for Saturday the 2 nd of August 2013 were a high tide at 5.54am and a low tide at 11.29am, Sunday s tides were a high tide at 6.39am and low at 12.14pm and on both days there wasn t a great deal of tidal movement between the low and high tides. It was only a difference of about 60cm on both days and the fishing time on Saturday was from 7am to 3pm and Sunday fishing times were from 7am to 2pm. So that we didn t pressurize our favourite spots and hook every bream we came across, we would also be on the lookout for other spots where the bream may have been holding up. So while we were out prefishing we would also take note of where the bait anglers were catching their bream, the time of the tides they were fishing and what baits they were using. All of this type of information is essential when putting a plan together for chasing bream with artificals. While out on the harbour we were also putting together a couple of backup plans in case our Plan A fell apart.

21 Over the few weeks leading up to the Grand Final we tried so many places and so many different techniques that we decided that our main lure of choice would be the blade with a backup of soft plastics. Four of the main techniques that we employed while using blades during the six rounds and the pre-fish leading up to the Grand Final are as follows; 1. Cast out as far as you can in the direction you are drifting and allow the blade to hit the bottom. Allow the blade to sit for about three to four seconds before slowly lifting it off the bottom in a series of two or three small hops. Once again allow the blade to rest on the bottom, before repeating this process over and over again until the blade is directly under the boat. Pre-fishing is a must before each tournament and sometimes it means an early start to find where the bream are hiding out.

22 2. Lower the blade directly below the boat to the bottom, take up the slack and then it is just a matter of slowly raising the rod tip upwards to feel the vibration in the blade. Once the rod tip is above your head you need to quickly drop the rod tip back down to just about the water s surface. Once on the bottom it was just a matter of repeating the process over and over again. The bites mainly happen when the blade is fluttering back down to the bottom. This is where the Minn Kota I-Pilot came into its own. Once we got a hook up Dave would set the spot lock on the I- Pilot so that we stayed within five metres of the hook up and if we didn t get another hit we would move on until we managed another hook up. 3. Once again lower the blade directly to the bottom below the boat. Instead of taking up the slack, give the blade a couple of lifts, then fold the bail arm over allowing line to come off the spool. The blade then flutters back down to the bottom. Again, give the blade a couple of hops, then once again fold the bail arm over and allow line to come off the spool. This process is repeated until you ve let out about thirty metres of line, or you had a hook up. The only disadvantage with this technique is that you do get snagged a bit on the bottom. Another pre fish partner Terry hooked onto this jewfish while working a TT Switchblade in the Parramatta River. By catches are very common when fishing tournaments. Sometimes our by-catch of flathead doesn't get released. Dave can not only catch bream he can also cook.

23 4. Cast out as far as you can in the direction you are drifting and let the blade hit the bottom, allowing it to sit for about three to four seconds. Then, as fast as you can wind, wind in a few metres of line (about four to five turns of the handle), stop and repeat the process over and over again until the lure is directly under the boat. Once the blade is directly under the boat, slowly wind it back to the surface, with a few pauses along the way. Some of my biggest hits have come when using this technique. On the first day of the Grand Final the first area we hit was a drift in deep water from Cockatoo Island to Long Nose Point at Birchgrove. The depth of water here varies from 9.1 to 14.9 metres and the bottom varies from sand, to mud, to broken shells and muscle and cockle beds. All of the blades we used were smeared with the Pro-Cure Super Gel (Bloody Tuna or Shrimp). For the first hour Dave managed to catch plenty of legal sized snapper, flathead, whiting and two or three small bream. Now, as for me, I never caught a thing for the first one and a half hours! I didn t even get a snag! So we decided to move to the opposite side of the Parramatta River and fish the entrance to the Lane Cove River and see what that would bring us. It was on the first cast that I caught our first legal bream of about 600 grams and we were away. It wasn t long then before our second, third and fourth bream came aboard. All we needed was our fifth bream and we could start upgrading. By 9am we had our bag of five, with the biggest being 37cm to the tail and the smallest was 26.5cm to the tail. We just love using blades. Take a look at where the treble is, this fish wasn t getting away.

24 It wasn t until about 1pm that we started to upgrade our smaller fish, not by millimetres, but by centimetres. So much so that we actually had three double hook ups in a very short time. After the weight-in at 3pm we were placed 6 th with a bag of 3.4 kilos. This was 790 grams from first place and we felt we were within a podium finish on day two if everything came together. Sunday arrived and we were sure that we could put together another bag like Saturday s, so off we headed to the entrance to the Lane Cove. The plan was to get our bag of five, then go and look for upgrades at our other spots where we have caught fish. What a difference a day makes. During the first hour of the comp I managed to boat three legal bream and we thought, here we go, we are well on our way to getting a bag of five. Then, all of a sudden, everything turned sour. One of our biggest fish died and it was as stiff as a board. Now we were back to two bream in the well. Not good! The only thing I can think of is that it came out of the depth (14 to 15 metres) of water we were fishing in too quickly. The objective is to get a bag of five bream. This particular bag had a kicker fish of kilos.

25 87cm of dusky flathead that doesn t count when fishing in a bream tournament. It was then a number of things really started to go pear shaped we started to miss bites by working the blades and soft plastics too quickly. The blades also started to roll in the air as we cast them out and get tangled up. This was also causing us to not concentrate on how tight the line should have been going onto the spool, which was causing loops on the spool and then allowing extra line to come off when we cast. At one stage Dave had so much braided line over him I thought he was going to strangle himself with it and as for me, I couldn t stop getting knots in the braid. In short we had both lost the plot and started to second guess ourselves. All of our hard work of pre-fishing, our back up plans, everything had gone to mush. We even had the offer from another team to fish where they were so that we could at least get three more bream, but that didn t work. The horse had bolted as they say even though we only weighted in two bream and we dropped from 6 th to 12 th on the final day of the Grand Final.

26 If you would like to see what the final results were for the BETS Bream Grand Final 2013 you could click onto the link below: Or if you would like to view some of the great photos taken go to the following link: The gear that I used throughout the six rounds and the grand final when using blades is as follows: Outfit 1. Pflueger Medalist PFLM-7P70LDS, 2 to 4 kg rod, mounted with a Pflueger 2500s spinning reel spooled with 6.6 pound Fireline Exceed. This outfit was mainly used when fishing blades in deep water. Outfit 2. Berkley IM6 Dropshot DS , 2 to 4 kg rod, mounted with a Pflueger Abor 7430SW spinning reel spooled with 3.3pound Exceed. This outfit was mainly used when fishing over the flats, when plenty of distance was required. This silver trevally was caught while fishing the deep water in Sydney Harbour.

27 We have lost count of how many bream we have caught where the hooks are not in the mouth. This is due to them being so sharp! We also used 1/8 th, 1/6 th and 1/4oz TT Lures Switchblades in the following colours; Gold Noggin, Green Back, Golden Boy, HS Mango, Brown Mongrel and Peacock Blue. All of the blades were coated with Pro- Cure Super Gel (Bloody Tuna or Shrimp). I would like to thank Gareth Williams and his crew from Tackle Tactics for their support over the years. Without their help we wouldn t be able to do what we do. Thanks again from both of us. I couldn t do without David Tosland my partner in crime in the Bream Tournaments. If I'm not catching bream he is.

28 Pushing the Boundaries By Dave Brace With the popularity of kayak fishing over the recent years, many kayak fishing anglers have experienced some exhilarating, adrenaline pumping moments, pushing themselves to the extremities of the unknown, all in the hope of catching that fish of a lifetime. Whether they have taken their fishing to the outermost limits offshore or in the upper and lower reaches of a coastal estuary, to even out west of the Great Dividing Range targeting monstrous Murray cod, one thing that this type of fishing has in common, it can and will surpass all imaginings when the stars align, so expect the unexpected. Dave with a nice barra from the weed of Kinchant Dam.

29 There are many reasons why fishing from a kayak has its advantages, however there are two reasons that immediately spring to mind; it allows you to access waters rarely fished or even seen by other keen anglers and it also allows you to be extremely stealthy, a key ingredient in catching many species including one particular fish, the mighty barramundi. When you do find your fishing niche, the passion to exceed, to advance yourself as an angler and to better that last fish you caught, can become overwhelming and extremely addictive. Being a passionate barramundi angler, there is no exhilaration that comes remotely close, for me personally, than experiencing coming face to face with a spirited, vivacious barramundi at water level from the seat of my kayak. There are many barramundi stocked impoundments throughout Central and Northern Queensland, and these make ideal locations to target these regal fish, with relative safety. However, targeting barramundi in the many coastal rivers and estuaries along the southern coast of Queensland is also an option and a fantastic place to chase these fantastic fun fish. Be mindful though, the further you travel north, the more crocodiles can become alarmingly apparent.

30 From experience, targeting these fish using a high end graphite rod, from a kayak, is a miscalculation either when casting or trolling. It s when you find yourself in a close quarters contest, trying to tame these hard fighting fish, these graphite rods can snap like twigs. Using a Silstar 6 6 Crystal 6-10 kg Powertip spin rod, matched with a Shimano Stradic 4000 spin reel, gave me so much more confidence in landing these brutes and bringing them yakside, as the rod finds itself deep within the top layer of water and at very peculiar, acute angles many times during these battles. The Stradic is spooled with 30lb braided line, with no less than 80lb mono leader attached. I personally prefer to use an Improved Albright Knot to join the main line to the leader and as always, a Loop Knot to attach the ZMan lures that I use. The soft plastic lures used in conjunction with TT Lures range of weedless jigheads, including the ever reliable Snake Head and ChinlockZ jigheads, were predominately the ZMan 6 and 4 SwimmerZ, the 9 GrubZ for sub-surface fishing and of course the 4 Hard Leg and Pop FrogZ for all of our surface action. Dave in the action with a ZMan SwimmerZ and a FrogZ rigged and ready on the other rod.

31 The areas I prefer to target these awesome fish are mainly in the shallows amongst the weed and within the vast areas of lilies, so weedless jigheads are most definitely beneficial. Constant checking of the knots, leader and the chosen soft plastic lure is also a necessity, being vigilant not to leave any weak links in the equipment. You have no time for complacency as the windows of opportunity, when these fish are in feeding mode, can sometimes be short and in minimal number. On one occasion, whilst casting adjacent to a patch of lilies late one night, I had the rod cocked over my shoulder and had almost pulled the soft plastic from the water for my next cast when it was absolutely inhaled by a huge silver body of barramundi. It was an absolute heart stopper, which shook me to my very core, as I now found myself tussling with this fish from the wrong side of the kayak and it had just swum with thrusting pace to open water, after smacking the bottom of the kayak with its enormous caudal fin. The sound of braided line screaming off the reel, which was no more than 10cm from the water, as I looked on helplessly, was exhilarating to say the least. As I glanced over my shoulder, I managed to catch a glimpse of this massive fish jumping clear of the water, with the moon s rays reflecting iridescent colours from the large scales as this magnificent fish glistened in the dimness of the clear night.

32 Surely nothing is more exhilarating for an angler to witness than this extraordinary visual exhibition, the explosion of water erupts as a metre plus fish with flared gills launches, trying to dislodge a lure and no more than ten metres away! Escalated levels of adrenaline now course throughout the body, leaving the angler a little shaken. With a gentle breeze blowing through the tightly strung line, stretched between every guide of the rod and the fibreglass blank beginning to sing after an impressive encounter, I soon had this 121cm mass of barramundi overpowered. Countless fish were caught on this particular trip; however one memorable morning was had when four solid barramundi were landed from the kayak, all of which were over a metre in length and within forty minutes of being on the water before sunrise. The combination of emotions, the euphoria, anxiety, excitement and the adrenaline, keeps the passion burning. There is no preparation that would have readied me for the experiences I encountered on this particular morning, pushing the boundaries and leaving me with thoughts that will be clear in my memory forever. Dave is all smiles during another successful session on the ZMan 9 GrubZ and TT Lures Snake Head combo.

33 Flathead on Blades By Andy Gunn Fishing the Maroochy River on a weekend during the school holidays, with the increased boat traffic and just enough rain during the week to discolour the water can be less than ideal. I was still hopeful about wanting to head out and chase a few fish in the upper reaches of the river; by doing this hopefully I would avoid a lot of the holiday boat traffic. After a thirty minute run up the river I arrived at one of my favourite rock bars, hoping to pull a few fish off it. Opening up the rear casting deck, I found that I had left my HeadlockZ jigheads back on the lounge at home! Ok, time for Plan B. I had some TT Switchblades in my tackle box and decided to go with a 1/4oz model in Pink Bimbo. I went with this colour hoping it would stand out in the dirty water and improve my chances of a hook up. After my start to the day I also applied some Pro-Cure scent in Bloody Tuna flavour to the blade to increase my chances. A Plan B can be one of the most important things in an angler s arsenal.

34 One of Andy s flathead on the 1/4oz Pink Bimbo Switchblade. Positioning the boat over some bait I sounded up holding close to the bottom in the deeper channel, I made a cast. By casting up current and allowing the blade to sink to the bottom, then hopping it back to the boat with a series of lifts of the rod tip, allowed me to keep the blade near the bottom where the bait was holding and the predatory fish would be. After a couple of bumps and one fish I pulled the hooks on, I was confident it wouldn t be long before I had success. A couple of casts later and I came up tight on a fish that took a couple of runs. Before long I had a nice flathead at the side of the boat and having a Plan B had paid off. I was surprised how aggressively the flathead were hitting the blade. It was only a couple of casts later that I had hopped the blade up off the bottom and the rod loaded up with what felt like not too bad a fish. After a couple more runs I was very surprised to see another nice flathead of around 50 centimetres beside the boat. I managed a couple more flathead out of this area before I called it a day, happy with my Plan B and with the Switchblade as a flathead luring option. Check out back issues of the mag & more -