Duration: 8.30 pm - 2.20 am
Tide: HW at 1.15 pm
Weather: Calm, mild, clear
Bait: Razor, rag, lug
Rigs: 4/0 pennel pulley, 2 hook flapper (1/0 hooks), 3 hook flapper (size 4 hooks)
Results: Me: 8 Codling, 4 Coalfish, 2 Flounder
Report: Zoltan (Zoolio) had sent me a PM a while back as he was interested in meeting up for a session. So I arranged to meet up with him last night. The plan was to try a beach for flat fish and hopefully bass. When I arrived at the mark there was practically no surf. Zoolio/Zoltan arrived shortly afterwards with his buddy also named Zoltan. They are from Hungary and apparently Zoltans are as numerous there as Johns are here. I suggested we try another venue that I thought would have a bigger surf.
There was a better surf at the second beach, although not great - from past experience a big surf is needed at this beach to bring the bass in. I set up two rods, one with a 4/0 pennel pulley baited with lug/razor and cast out behind the furthest breaking wave in hope of a bass. Initially I used a three hook flapper with size 4 hooks on the other rod baited with rag and lug and cast in fairly close to target flat fish. I had recently got a couple of rolls of Ultima Power Steel and had the 15lb line on the rod in close. This was to be a test to see how effective it was. As an added test I was using a stiffer rod (Century Carbon Metal) whereas the rod a distance was a much more sensitive Penn Affinity.
Not long after setting up I had the first bite, a 30 cm codling on the Affinity. A little later I spotted a subtle twitch on the CCM and struck - at first I thought I had missed the fish until I retrieved an found one of the smallest flounder I have ever caught - barely more the 10 cm. At about the same time Zoolio caught a more substantial flounder - his first for the year.
A little later I had another codling, slightly larger than the first on the distance rod. This was followed by a small coalfish in close. The bite detection with the Power Steel was superb - although the fish was barely 25 cm it gave a good knock - normally on the CCM I wouldn't even notice a fish of that size on the line.
The bites slowed down for a while, I was detecting a few nibbles but nothing was hooked. The two Zoltans then packed up as they had work early in the morning but I was in for the long haul - well until an hour after high tide at least
I switched the three hook flapper for a two hook flapper (1/0 hooks), baited with rag on the lower hook and lug on the upper, and began to fish mid distance. The fishing picked up considerably then - I hauled in a stream of codling and another three coalfish plus a 35 cm flounder. Nearly all the fish were taken on the mid distance rod with the Power Steel line. Every bite was clearly visible. When holding the rod I could clearly feel the bites even from the mini codling. The only problem was that some of the knocks were so strong that I thought I had something more subtantial each time.
I packed up about an hour after high tide when all the worm baits were gone. The razor wasn't fishing so well - I had a few codling on it on the distance rod but worms, especially the rag were by far the most effective.
If there had been a better surf there might have been a few bass knocking around but give the conditions I was happy enough with 14 fish from the session and more than happy with the Ultima Power Steel - that will be going on all my reels from now on.
It was also good to meet the Zoltans - East European anglers tend to get some bad press here but Zoolio is a serious angler so I will be looking forward to another session with him soon.
Oh and thanks very much for the home made gripper weights.
have ordered a spool of Power Steel the other day cant wait to try it out gets alot of good reviews!
, got a few schoolies during the week and a welcome doggie but apart from these my last few sessions havent been worth a report 
Must get some of that Power Steel and a recommendation here from a regular angler like you can be taken seriously 
. i must get myself some of that powersteel to try it out. was fishing beside a guy at the weekend who sweares by it.
, its gettin better now so might try it friday night myself.