DAVID Hoyle is excited. The sports fisherman from the Koala Bay Estate at Tanilba has just nailed a very large flathead.

“I knew I had something big on the moment it hit my lure,” he said.

“My fishing buddies reeled in to give me space and one grabbed the landing net.”

David described how he got it near the surface twice but it took off on two long hard runs against the set drag of his reel.

“It circled the boat and I actually started to shake when its mouth broached the surface.”

“My buddy could hardly fit it in the net and I was somewhat overwhelmed to see it floundering in the bottom of the boat,” he said.

“We are strictly ‘catch and release’ with big female flathead and I watched on in awe as it slowly glided beneath the surface.”

David and his friends started out their day’s fishing spinning for flathead around Snapper Island.

With nothing to show for their efforts, they headed for Oyster Cove where they hit the jackpot.

Apart from flathead, their hard bodied diving lures nailed bream up to 40cm (1.6 kg).

The big one in the framed photo measured 76cm and topped the scales at 3.2 kg.

It was hooked near the turn of the high tide.

Oyster Cove is well known as favoured spot for both blue swimmer and mud crabs.

Mulloway are also caught there on the odd occasion.

A fishing tip: If you catch a fish and release it, all you have to do is measure it first and google on your mobile: ‘How to weigh your fish with a ruler’ and bingo.

A conversion chart will give you the weights of all the well-known species if you have the length.

 

By Geoff WALKER