We packed some food and drinks in preparation of the barbeque we would have down there, packed the fishing gear in the car then headed on our way with our little boy in his chair in the back seat. The mrs, being from Albury originally, hasn't seen a great deal of Melbourne so for her it was exciting to go somewhere new, even if it was only half an hour from home.
On arrival, the little man was hungry so I let my wife feed him some dinner while I went for a quick walk up the pier to see if any action was happening. It was windy as all hell out on the pier and nobody was catching anything, not even reports of getting any bites, except for one guy that said he had caught a couple of gar's. On my way back I spotted a few people fishing the mouth of Mordialloc Creek, so I wondered past to see if they were having any luck. Again, nothing happening down there.
So I walk back to the car to find my wife playing with our son on the grass, he had obviously finished his dinner. We grabbed the food and found an available barbeque. After enjoying a nice meal of gourmet sausages and salad with a nice cold bottle of Wild Turkey and cola, it was time to grab the fishing gear and try our luck.
We headed towards the creek where I was keen to give it a crack, being a little bit more sheltered from the wind than on the crowded pier. Our boy was in the pram which meant we couldn't get down to the tip of the mouth of the creek, so we set up shop on the footpath, giving me great access to cast between two boats on the edge of the creek.
Earlier today I had bought some heavier jig heads, 1/6oz because I knew it would be a little windy and I wanted to be able to cast half decently. So with my new jig head on, I baited her up with a 65mm poddy fish Squidgie (http://www.squidgies.com.au/squidgyprofish.aspx). I'm new to lure fishing, only started this year and was yet to catch anything on a soft plastic. I've been out quite a few times with no hits at all, so my confidence in soft plastics was fading very quickly.
But... I hadn't fished at Mordialloc before, and today was going to be my lucky day. I cast the squidgie in, not really expecting anything to happen. First cast returned nothing. Second cast, similar area, again no result. Third cast, I decide to cast a bit towards my left, couple of jerks, nothing happening yet, get the line just about half way back in, another double jerk, then bam! I was on. It wasn't a very hard hit and she wasn't fighting very hard, so I wasn't expecting too much, but it wasn't long till she surfaced and I could see she was a very nice sized flat head. By this time I had a small audience cramping my space, wanting to get a glimpse. I guess they don't see too many fish being caught right there. I bagged her up and continued casting, with my hopes of catching more pretty high at this stage, considering I got that beauty on my third cast. But unfortunately it wasn't to be. We stayed for another hour and a half without any hits, and by this time the wind was very strong, so we decided to pack and go home.
Before leaving thought I took the opportunity to get the flat head out and measure her, and take a photo. She measured in at 49cm, which is probably a PB for me. You could not wipe the smile off my face. Great size and first fish caught on a soft plastic. Today was a great day, even if it was only one fish!
Hopefully there'll be more to come!
