queensland North Pine Blues...

[Cliffy]

Packed the boat with the young fella, a mate and his boy last Sunday and after putting in at Deep Water Bend headed up the North Pine River on the last couple of hours of the incoming tide. Was really looking forward to a feed of crab for dinner, had promised the missus fresh fish for main course, it was a HUGE tide (around 8' 7\" in the old scale - sorry whipper-snappers, too tired to convert to metrics), so was pretty keen:cheer: .

Soaked 8 crab pots between us, 3 casts with the net and enough livies for the whole day, and WOOHOO - we're into it (fishing, that is:blush: )! Kids getting heaps of hits on squidly-diddly, livies occasionally getting anxious and giving a good kick, when suddenly the kids start reeling in moses perch around 8\" long - good workout on very light tackle.

Nothing much else for the next hour, so we check the pots - WOOHOO again, plenty of crabs! Problem: they're all huge, and they're all ladies:( . Move nets and resoak in new spots...back to fishing.

New problem: crabs seem to have followed us and are now camping on the sunken barge by the bridge, knocking off our livies as they get tired. Soon fixed, though, as someones crab-pot floated under a red Castrol oil container came floating down the river (tide going out now) and got snagged on the barge - within 10 minutes, no more crab activity:laugh: . No fish either though:angry: .

Re-check pots, mix of the opposite sex and little blokes, not a single keeper in over a dozen crabs! Still, shows the ecosystem's healthy.

Final tally: Crabs 14, Livies -4 (lost to crabs), Us 0, Fish Shop Owner (on way home) $45. Better luck next time.

Only slightly more seriously, anyone got any ideas about the lack of fish on a new moon tide in that part of the world? Or were we just in the wrong spots??

[Feral]

Not really, the North Pine gets flogged. I am suprised anyone catches anything in there, just goes to show the fish move around a lot!