# Cowan calling 2/12



## Peril (Sep 5, 2005)

Met up with Dave (justcrusin32) at Apple Tree Bay. Kantong came and said hello and we said we'd meet on our return (where were you mate - we got back at 12:30 and the showers passed quickly).

Headed upstream as planned. I trolled a large sp for nothing. Hit some flats. Chucked a towadi around for an eternity for no interest. Tried a pink grub for the same result.

Decided to troll some hbs upstream and drift back with the last of the run out. Put on an SX40 and a Scorpion. Almost immediately got a hit on the Scorpion but nothing after that. Picked up an undersized flatty and a silver biddy on the SX40 over a flat. Kept going upstream and passed a couple of guys in a tinny fitted out for breamin'


guy said:


> Dave
> can't make it, have to pick my son up from the airport after a week at schoolies.


Guy introduced himself as a fellow akff'r. Shame on you mate  Did you get anything after we spoke?

I eventually got a hookup and brought in a smallish whiting. It managed to catch all three hooks of the rear treble. Didn't measure it - close to legal I suppose but released anyhow.

In the next arm, I came tight again on the SX40 and reeled in a nice flatty - 48cm. Bugger pulled the yak around then tangled the other line - ended up having to cut the line, then dropped the lure overboard - D'oh! Despite us heading against the current, the flatty came when we went through a large eddy so were going with the current at the time.

Kept going for nothing more. Plenty of whiting about but we were headed against the current so not getting takes.

We took a break at a beach while I rerigged. Decided to go for the drift downstream. I put on 1/2 a gulp sandworm in natural with a 1/32oz jig on one rig and a 5" gulp jerkshad on a large weedless jig on another (still had towadi rigged).

Dave had a flick while I was busy and got a couple of good hits from the whiting that were about. Maybe even a hookup, but none stuck.

The drift was stop start but it wasn't long before I was getting lots of hits on both plastics. Came up tight and bought in a 30cm whiting on the sandworm. Later pulled in a 28cm whiting on the same. Tossed the towadi around when I could and got a few follows but only one strike and no hookup. Eventually the run slowed, as did the bites although there were still one or two.

When we got close the Bobbin Head the southerly came up so be bolted back to the ramp. Not a bad day for me, unfortunately Dave couldn't get them to stick long enough to get in the yak. Only a couple of heavy showers, otherwise the weather treated us well, with very little wind until the end.

Upper Cowan Ck is a great spot. Mangroves, small creeks with largish flats, very shallow water with some good holes. Just upstream from Bobbin Head is an extensive ribbon weed bed in shallow water, with a large 5m hole before sandy flats. Gotta be a reasonable jew spot on a high tide.


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## RedPhoenix (Jun 13, 2006)

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

Good result Peril  I know it's now a pretty common thing, but it still amazes me the number of whiting you guys catch on artificials  And it seems to be the larger specimens :wink:


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## Jake (Sep 23, 2005)

Nice whitings there. There is certainly some bloody good fish to be had in Mexico.


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## simond11 (Aug 29, 2005)

Hey guys
Good results on the HB and SP's. Sounds like it was a great day, especially as the weather held off.
Cheers

Simon
Prowler 15


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## justcrusin (Oct 1, 2006)

Gday Guys
It was a great morning up there not to hot not to cold. 
Unfortunately i just couldn't get one to stick. Only three that should have, a largish flathead that spat the lure when i got him near the boat, and whiting while along side peril taking a photo of his lizard and a little flatty hit a sp i was flicking around while we stopped for five minutes on a beach.
Dave had the whiting on toast, he hooked a lot more than what he kept.

I have to thank dave for not mentioning my blunder, just after having a break we paddling back downstream chatting, i was mentioning how happy i was with the stabilty of my yak and proceeded to rock it from side to side to prove the point ( they don't have a stupid emicon) and you guessed it rocked to far :shock: (water is wet) really i was just testing how i would cope rolling a fully laden kayak really i was, i wouldn't tell a lie :wink:

Cheers Dave 
Wish i had some fish to post


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## justcrusin (Oct 1, 2006)

The remount wasn't to hard occy i was only in a metre of water 

Cheers Dave


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## PoddyMullet (Aug 29, 2005)

Sounds like harsh weather for a bit of Yak Daving gents (we may need a Kayak Daving section admin :wink: ), but with some beaut fish amongst it. Gotta be happy with the flatfella Peril...tasty 

Justcrusin, good onya for sharing ya moment. Could see myself in that that one :shock:


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## Dodge (Oct 12, 2005)

Dave/peril good report and nice to see a result mate.

Dave/jc32 stability demos have a way of coming undone, happened to me in the past and I didn't have the nous to demo in the shallows so wound up up demonstrating minimilist swim technique before reentry


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## Guy (Aug 8, 2006)

Dave
we were off the water well before you, when you said you were going to Smith's Creek it was going to be too long a day so I took my mates offer to crew. 
Very quiet day - early on all we got was a couple of estuary perch right up the system. Not a bream all day on sps even though conditions were good. As we went back downstream we picked up another ep and a few small legal flatties. I hooked a good one but dropped it, very careless 

There are holes in the creek to >7m so well worth a go for something bigger . In the summer at night we often heard something spooking the mullet but never caught a jew or shark - in those days mainly fished crabs caught on the mud flats behind that first sand bank, best bait for bream up there.


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## YakAtak (Mar 13, 2006)

Nice feed there Dave.


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## onemorecast (Apr 17, 2006)

kraley said:


> Could have been worse - could have been raining!


My favorite is: Could have been worse ...could have been me! 

Good report, hopefully I'll be along to a couple of these over the coming months


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## Peril (Sep 5, 2005)

Guy, no problems (I can't resist a cheap shot). I can't believe the bream were so quiet. Hardly saw one all day. Too shallow for the eps when we got upstream, but we didn't stop to explore the holes.

Agree those holes would be worth a try. We saw something creating a ruckus in the shallows. I also had something hit the 5" jerk shad with a bit of force twice through one of the holes.

I guess one of the beauties of this creek is that there are some challenging and rewarding fish there and always a chance of picking up some flatties or whiting for a feed. Next time I'll time it so we run up with the tide and back out with it and spend a bit of time exploring the holes


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## Davey G (Jan 15, 2006)

good one dave, glad to hear that you got out despit the winds..

and it just wouldn't be a 'Peril" report without something getting dropped overboard! :wink:


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## Daveyak (Oct 6, 2005)

Good to hear at least some Daves were out there having a good time & catching some fish.



Davey G said:


> and it just wouldn't be a 'Peril" report without something getting dropped overboard! :wink:


Surely that should have read "something (or someone) dropped overboard" :lol: :lol:


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## justcrusin (Oct 1, 2006)

Gday Guy,
We did see something big chasing mullet around had a huge bow wave but didn't see any fin so i don't know wether it was a shark, jew, but it was shallow so it could have been a ray, It was only around the bend before we saw you.
cheers dave


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## kantong (Nov 5, 2006)

Good report Peril

sorry I had to bail out early, my mate had a bit of a run in with some oysters and it gave him some cuts. He's ok. However we caught a 30cm bream and a fattish 33cm whiting for our troubles.

Hope to meet up with a few of you on some other meetings. I saw both your yaks before you headed out, must say i am impressed!


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## Y-Knot (Sep 26, 2006)

great fish there peril, flattie and whiting make for a nice feed


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## Peril (Sep 5, 2005)

Thanks guys. Fish were gently barbequed without adornment and enjoyed by all. Secret is in the timing.



redphoenix said:


> Plenty of bites there Dave, and a couple of good fish by the looks of things.
> 
> w.r.t the phantom hookups, are they too well fed at the moment, or just lazy to hammer the hooks for some other reason?
> 
> Red.


Fish tend to be wary in clear water. With the sandworms I find that they will often latch on to the end without the hook and may hold it for a while but then let go. Basically I was just letting them hook themselves. Maybe next time I'll work with one line and see if I can improve my hookup rate.

BTW, while pedal seems to beat paddle for casting and trolling, I think paddle is superior for drifting with current. Easy to make fine adjustments to the drift with a paddle and the depth we were in at times would have rendered the pedals useless - both Dave and I dragged our yaks over a couple of banks and grazed bottom on a couple more while surround by whiting


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