# NSW Syd Nthside - Loon 111 vs 86cm Croc



## murd (Jan 27, 2008)

Been many moons since I put up a report but today I caught something worthy of mention. Managed to land my biggest ever sand flattie, an 86cm monster from a gravel patch off the Northern Beaches. It took a piece of year-old salted bonnie and picked up the handline rather than the rod. Initially I thought it was another fiddle fish or banjo shark before I got it boatside and realised I had the mother of all flatties on. Decided to keep it as I haven't been fishing for ages and haven't eaten any fresh fish for a long time. Also caught a bunch of legal reddies and some other flatties but chucked them back as I had my quota. Didn't see any other yaks out and only a few tinnies on a perfect day. Nothing on the surface though something huge came up near me while drifting causing a number of fish to leap into the air. Threw the lure towards the disturbance but (luckily) I didn't hook up. Possible a huge shark? Water was 21C and not overly clear.

A couple of photos:


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## mehi (May 25, 2009)

Now that's the sort of croc you want in your yak, nice fish


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## AJD (Jul 10, 2007)

Top feed there Murd. Gotta love fresh flattie tails on the bbq!


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## yakattack (Jan 12, 2008)

Thats a beauty well done

Cheers Micka


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## yaktopia (Nov 30, 2008)

That's a cracker of a sand flatty! I hear they are the best eating of all the flat ones too! Enjoy!!!


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## Pinky (Jul 17, 2010)

Nice fish but I've got to admit, I'd much rather see big breeders like her go back in, especially when table sized fish are so plentiful and easy to catch. Just my opinion.


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## ohagas (Dec 4, 2006)

What a beautie Murd, well done.
Have you small feet?


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## Southerly (Apr 20, 2007)

Well done Rick, very big flattie for offshore.

David


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## Musty (Oct 12, 2010)

murd said:


> Been many moons since I put up a report but today I caught something worthy of mention. Managed to land my biggest ever sand flattie, an 86cm monster from a gravel patch off the Northern Beaches. It took a piece of year-old salted bonnie and picked up the handline rather than the rod. Initially I thought it was another fiddle fish or banjo shark before I got it boatside and realised I had the mother of all flatties on. Decided to keep it as I haven't been fishing for ages and haven't eaten any fresh fish for a long time. Also caught a bunch of legal reddies and some other flatties but chucked them back as I had my quota. Didn't see any other yaks out and only a few tinnies on a perfect day. Nothing on the surface though something huge came up near me while drifting causing a number of fish to leap into the air. Threw the lure towards the disturbance but (luckily) I didn't hook up. Possible a huge shark? Water was 21C and not overly clear.
> 
> A couple of photos:
> View attachment 1


Congratulations on the keep! and Im glad i didnt have to hear all the negativety usually directed at somebody keeping a decent flathead wholley whithin the limits of the law! Get some great fillets of that one mate, arn't they awesome. Well done!

Musty


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## sbd (Aug 18, 2006)

Cracker fish Rick, especially for out there.


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## murd (Jan 27, 2008)

Musty said:


> Congratulations on the keep! and Im glad i didnt have to hear all the negativety usually directed at somebody keeping a decent flathead wholley whithin the limits of the law! Get some great fillets of that one mate, arn't they awesome. Well done!


Musty, someone actually said not to post this report because I'd basically be tarred and tarnished by the fishing community. Why? My mate 'Cisco' who regularly fishes Longy / Northern Beaches in a tinny had the hide to call me a 'murderer' and that I should have let her go. This is the same guy who last week in his tinny kept 22 flatties from the drifts off Narrabeen, and I keep one - go figure?

An observation I regularly make at the cleaning tables at Longy is that at least 80% of all the flatties brought in by the stink boaters to be cleaned have row in them. One big keeper (i.e. mine) ain't gonna damage the breeding cycle judging by the amount of younger ones about eager to spawn.

What would put me off more about keeping one so large would be toughness to eat. To date I've cut mine into thin pieces, shallow fried them and the delicious meat literally falls apart in your fingers!


ohagas said:


> Have you small feet?


Yeah, I have actually. (size 7). Often have trouble standing but save money on shoes as I can shop in the kids section!


indiedog said:


> Would have been scary having it in the yak with you! :lol:


You're not wrong. I managed to push it up the front under the deck as it seemed too messy to slide it in behind me where I normally store any fish. Unfortunately, it was very near my feet which had the risk of a spiking.

I'll add one more thing about the day regarding that big disturbance near me that I thought was a shark. Months ago I posted a report where I mentioned a similar big disturbance/upwelling and as I moved away, the thing began following me leaving these big surges of water (like when you kick a swim flipper up near the surface) trailing behind. I never identified what it was then but it was really weird. The bizarre thing to note though is, that this has happened twice now in *exactly *the same spot... WTF is going on?


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