queensland 02/03/07 kookaburra park

[adventure_angler]

hey guys,

me and 2 mates drove out to kookaburra park last night for a bit of fishing, arriving at about 7pm. we had bought mullet and squid on the way but were interested in trying to cast net for livies, however, on my mates first throw of the net it got nicely snagged on a submerged object only about 1m out no matter what we did it was not coming unstuck and it wasnt until 2 helpful guys launching there boat offered to help that it came free. they used there boat to pull the net out away from the shore and sure enough it worked.

on the 2nd throw a tiny (8cm) bream was found in the net and released. a few throws later a 12cm gudgeon was caught in the net and once again released. we decided to give up on cast netting and instead started to bait up with strips of mullet. things were going slow for ages until a i caught a small forktail catfish. next thing to be caught was a 60cm pike eel... my first pike eel. and that was the end of fish for the night. the rest of the night we spent with baited mullet lines out and filling in time flicking lures, nothing!

there was another group of fisherman about 20m away and they managed to get a few good hits from what we could see and hear, unsure if they were able to hook-up at all. its amazing how slow the fishing was because the entire time we were there fish were continuously jumping out of the water (mullet most often). the problem seemed to be that all the action was occurring on the opposite side of the river. i recall some1 mentioning the fact that there is a deep channel about 3/4 of the way across and this definately appeared to be where u needed to have ur bait.

We ended up leaving at about 12:30. First trip to kookaburra was a bit slow, but i would definately head back and try it again.

-nelson-

[Oztrav]

yes most of the action is across the river bout 3/4 or so

that is why i might buy a surf rod for beach and brissy river

[jeff f]

that was me and my deckie john that unhooked your cast net A.A:P

headed out into the river and proceded thget bombed by jumping mullet scared by the boat had five good liveys befor i even got the net out. started casting and found reasonable sized liveys hard to come by the bony bream were all huge we were getting 3or 4 35cm ones to every 15-20cm one, kept a dozen large ones for crab bait 3 buckets with 12 smaller baits in each. went over to my favourite hole and started fishing, wind was a bi of a problem to start with spining the boat round but it died off after a half an hour or so.

things were slow till the current picked up lost 18 baits killed by crabs befor we got a run.

didnt manage a hookup till the third run, john landed a good little bully of 83cm and knocked it on the head,later we found it had a tag in it.

all i could get was undersized or female crabs and a couple of pike eels(kept for terry).

i ended up getting a bully at about 11pm then another on the very next bait. packed up at and went home at 1:30am

[img size=500]http://www.australianfishing.com.au/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/3_bullies.jpg

Post edited by: jeff f, at: 2007/03/03 17:56

Post edited by: jeff f, at: 2007/03/03 17:57

[Lozzel]

SO where is your report jeff..

[jeff f]

patience my friend i only type with one finger

[Lozzel]

OK But i can type with 2 fingers 1 on each hand :woohoo:

Good report jeff , shame about the tagged bullie, but thats the way things go sometimes. Good size fish though.Plenty of bait arround by the looks.

Post edited by: Lozzel, at: 2007/03/03 18:38

[jeff f]

yeah the amount of surface activity on a full moon is amazing, especially from the back of the golf course to the pontoon

[Oztrav]

jeff your mate just ruined decades of research by knocking that bully on the head the professors are gonna be pissed:P

[werewolf]

Jeff that interesting about the tagged bully. One of our's from last night had two tags in it! The tags were sequential numbers so I don't know what was going on there. Maybe the researchers get more money for tagging more sharksB)

[adventure_angler]

thanks again for ur help jeff, if u hadnt have lent a hand i wudda been walking in to try get the net off

sounds like u had heaps more action than us, we just cuddnt manage to get any live bait with the cast net...

its good to see you guys got some decent sharks, gives me hope and ill definately be heading back sometime soon for another go!!!

-nelson-

[adventure_angler]

jeff, karma for lending a hand on friday night!!!

[adventure_angler]

well heres some photos of the eel -

Post edited by: adventure_angler, at: 2007/03/04 16:31

[werewolf]

um, your pic isn't quite there yet dude

[adventure_angler]

take #2 [img size=200]http://www.australianfishing.com.au/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/eel-12e86c3e702bc651cd369d442f8cae4a.JPG

[adventure_angler]

another pic:

[img size=500]http://www.australianfishing.com.au/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/eel1.jpg

[jeff f]

didnt take pics of eels, hate eels with a vengence.

jeffs method of dealing with pike eels.

when you get them to the surface bounce them around a bit to piss them off so they open thier mouths

drag the line over the grab rail so that the eel hits the rail one jaw over one jaw under the rail pull really hard on the line to lock them in place

grab hardwood billy club and BASH REPEATEDLY around the head with extreme prejudice till head is severely smashed to a pulp. grab eel with multi grips and violently extract hook with pliers.

put eel in bucket for terry.

make sure you rant about what putrid, filthy, disgusting bait thieving, trace destroying things they are all through the process!!!

[adventure_angler]

hahaha ill have to remember that for next time...

the hook was so far down its throat u cuddnt see it. there was no way i was putting my hands near its mouth either, they have some nasty lookin teeth. so the ony way to get it out was to yank it with a bit of force... it didnt like that at all!

[Oztrav]

I know that jeff does this from experience im glad im not a slimy pike eel

[Lozzel]

Oztrav and I can vouch for JEFFs method :evil: , It is quite amusing watching and listing to him take care of these critters :laugh: in the early hours :woohoo:

I hit Kooka at 3.30 am today,All I got was a couple of CATTIES and sacrificed all my livies to the crabs. Got there at near bottom of tide, I think that place needs run in tide to do any good.Left at 7.30 when bl****dy ski boats arrived.

Post edited by: Lozzel, at: 2007/03/04 16:59

[jeff f]

iwas talking to a maori fella today he said in un-zud they drag them through a fire before they cut them up for bait it makes them smell even more (releases the oil out of thier skin)they use them for schnapper bait

[werewolf]

do you want eel to smell worse. They make me gag when I fillet them as it is:sick:

[Oztrav]

that is interesting as i have been told eel puts fish of the bite but not sharks which made them ideal shark baits but smoked eel gross

[Feral]

hah you just like the idea of causing more grief to eels!

[Tim a]

I hope no greenies read this post!

We cut the head of our eel the other night and thought that there was some stomach line or something holding the head and the body together, but no, it had just swallowed 30 cm of trace with a 4/0 hook. They're evil ugly things!

[greggy]

it takes a lot of time and money tagging sharks, so when you do catch one with a tag (or two) in their back, release it! as was said before, i cringe to think how the greenies would/will react if they ever read this...just what we need!

gregory