queensland help! Is there any place to fish around St.Lucia?

[kiara_poltegerist]

hi there guys. I'm gonna be over in Brisbane somewhere next month, and I'm wondering whether there're any places to fish around St.Lucia or in the surrounding areas. I'm in Malaysia at the moment, so yea, not familiar with fishing in Brisbane at all. . Hoping you guys could help me out

I've looked at the satellite imagery of St.Lucia, and it does show some jetties along the river. Are these private properties or can any bloke just go and fish off one? are there any places to fish in the surrounding areas, and what species should I be expecting?

Are you guys who do lure fishing familiar with Japanese brand lures such as Megabass, Imakatsu, Evergreen,Smith etc? The tackle shop I'm working with here in Malaysia, we do product testing and development for Megabass Japan, so yea, I'm gonna bring some of our goodies over there to see how well our lures work on Aussie fish as well

oh, one more thing, I'm aware that a recreational fishing license is required in Australia. Where would it be possible to get one in Bris?:cheer:

thanks in advance guys!

ps - i've posted some pictures of the fish that I catch over here in Malaysia, under the \"Overseas and Interstate\" pictures thread. have fun!

[Feral]

Welcome to the site.

In Queensland you do not need a fishing licence unless fishing some of the dams. If you go over the border into New South Wales you will need a licence, but most tackle shops sell them.

I dont know much about that area of the river, but there are plenty of others here who do, so you should get the good goss from them as soon as they get out of bed!

[Angus]

G'day mate.

There are mostly Private jetties around St Lucia.

However the Uni itself has several jetties for the colleges. I have fished off these a few time. Only had problem once when a king jock type tried to flex his ego muscle. However once telling him we were there for sharks he was intrigued.

Also Kayes rocks, and the whole stretch of coronation drive (over 3km of bike track) will prove no problems to fish.

I think you will find that a lot of the serious lure fishermen here love Japanese brands so you wont have trouble there. I prefer Japanese lures for fresh and salt. Just not the price tags so much!

For other advice have a read through the fishing reports they will more than likely open up some more info for you.

When you get over here im sure you will find plenty of people on here keen for a fish.

Angus

[kiara_poltegerist]

Angus wrote:

G'day mate.

There are mostly Private jetties around St Lucia.

However the Uni itself has several jetties for the colleges. I have fished off these a few time. Only had problem once when a king jock type tried to flex his ego muscle. However once telling him we were there for sharks he was intrigued.

Also Kayes rocks, and the whole stretch of coronation drive (over 3km of bike track) will prove no problems to fish.

I think you will find that a lot of the serious lure fishermen here love Japanese brands so you wont have trouble there. I prefer Japanese lures for fresh and salt. Just not the price tags so much!

For other advice have a read through the fishing reports they will more than likely open up some more info for you.

When you get over here im sure you will find plenty of people on here keen for a fish.

Angus

hehe, thanks alot for the warm welcome guys! I'm itching to start fishing there already.

hmm, so you can fish off the jetties at uni as well? that's great. what species should i be expecting there? Bream, flathead, catfish, sharks, er... barramundi? what other fish are there in the river that would be much obliged to have a go at a nice shiny lure? That strech of river is brackish and tidal right?

sharks:blink: I think I'd be rather undergunned for those. Would a 10-17 IMX matched with a Biomaster 2500 be enough to handle one? how big do they go? I dont really plan on bringing any heavier gear with me. Probably just another travel BC rod and a fly rod as well.

Angus, thanks very much for the info, appreciate it alot . Good to see that you're big into Japanese lures as well. Do you fancy Megabass lures? I'm not too sure whether they're available in Australia. Are they? We carry quite a few of those here, and if you're interested in acquiring any, I wouldnt mind bringing over a few for you or anyone else. We had a customer from Australia before who purposely made a transit stop in Malaysia on the way back from London to purchase 2 Megabass spinning rods from us.

[Angus]

G'day mate.

I had a link at the links in your footer.

Those Mega Bass lures look good.

We might have them here but im not sure.

We do have a lot of importing from Japan.

Do you have a catalouge or anything of those lures?

I reckon they would be an awesome Bream and bass lure (the smaller ones anyway).

as for other fish in the river have a look for pictures of threadfin salmon in the fishing reports. I think you will like those. Also Estuary cod are a common specie on lure in the river.

Thise \"Snakeheads\" you have are amazing looking fish. They look like a cross between an Australian Freshwater Eel and a Saratoga but with way cooler colours. I imagine they are good fighters?

Anyway mate have a good day.

Angus

Oh by the way you have to go a bit further north for the Barra. But there are stocked fish farms pretty close by if you fancy catching them.

Post edited by: Angus, at: 2007/03/14 13:53

[kiara_poltegerist]

er, there is an online catalog at www.megabass.com , but i think i'll give you the links for the lures that we carry which i think will be suitable for bass and bream there

Crankbaits - http://www.megabass.com/Griffon%20Series.htm .

Vibration/tailspinner - http://www.megabass.com/Bullet-X%20Doppler.htm

Jerkbait (sinking-for ripping) - http://www.megabass.com/Zonk%20Series.htm

Jerkbait (floating) - http://www.megabass.com/X-Minnow%20Series.htm . we only have the X-55 and X-70 (1 colour) left in stock tho.

Cranking shad - http://www.megabass.com/Live-X%20Margay%20SW.htm

Topwaters - http://www.megabass.com/PopX.htm & http://www.megabass.com/Dog-X%20Series.htm . The Giant Dox-X is touted as the best pencilbait in the world by many, it's action, consistency and fish-calling power is found in few, if any other lures. The Pop-X is not your average popper, it's more of a popper/pencilbait, and you can walk it back to you and pop it as well! .It has these bubble chambers towards the head which leave a bubble trail as you retrieve the lure.

Incidentally, these are the lures that I'll be bringing over as well .

the Megabass Griffon and X-minnow series are apparently largemouth bass killers in Japan, so I guess they'd work very well on the local bass in Australia as well.

bream are bottom feeders right? I was thinking about using the Griffons for them as well. For flatties, I was thinking about using the Megabass Dopplers tuned with double hooks.

Threadfin salmon? hmm.. interesting . This means that I'll have to pack quite a few topwaters as well. are there alot of barracuda or long toms along that stretch of river?

stocked fish farms? Do they allow fishing, and how much do they charge?

The giant Snakehead that we fish here in Malaysia, hehe, I'd say pound for pound, they'd fight either better or equal to any GT or jack. We fish for them on minimum 30lb braid, but even on 50lb braid we get busted off on sunken timber and stuff. They're a ferocious fish, easily chewing through the tail of a Rapala 9cm Shad rap or a Taildancer. The more aggresive specimens puncture even Duel aile magnet poppers with ease. we normally fish for them with our drags set at 70-80%. Even a 2kg fish can straighten or crush size 2 or 4 Owner trebles, so we have to change most of our hooks to 4X hooks. Imagine this - I was fishing size 2 Gamakatsu doubles on one of my crankbaits, and even those got straightened out :S

I've attached a picture of a BIG Toman(this is what the snakehead is normally called in Malaysia). This is a 9 pounder, landed by one of my RHA Alpha members. Great stuff! you guys should really come over to try fishing for these fish!

Post edited by: kiara_poltegerist, at: 2007/03/14 14:29

[Angus]

Those lures look great mate.

There are several there i would love to try out.

The spinner ones are interesting.

We use simialr yet different lures here which are very good for Bass.

There are barracuda and i have never seen a longtom caught in the river. The stretch you are talking about isnot considered the cleanest stretch of water. But it still hold a fair few fish.

While you are here you must come Bass fishing with us. I think nearly all of those lures could used with with success on bass.

In fact the first ones, the Griffons, remind me stronly of od the Eco Gear CK40's which i use for both boass and bream.

See you later mate.

Angus

[Tim a]

Madd! I was looking at some of them in fishing world mag and I want some! I can't find them here tho. Tell us when your over and I'll come for a fish after school some time.

[adventure_angler]

hey mate,

those lures look awesome!!!

i actually go to UQ at st lucia and have also wondered about the fishing possibilities within close range of the uni. i tried fishing a spot at st lucia after uni 1 day which looked promising. guess it will just take time to try a few spots and different techniques before it can be decided whether its worth fishing st lucia. as angus said there are a few jetties but i am yet to try these myself. then of course theres the lake

-nelson-

[Cowfish13]

kiara_poltegerist wrote:

hmm, so you can fish off the jetties at uni as well? that's great. what species should i be expecting there? Bream, flathead, catfish, sharks, er... barramundi? what other fish are there in the river that would be much obliged to have a go at a nice shiny lure? That strech of river is brackish and tidal right?

sharks:blink: I think I'd be rather undergunned for those. Would a 10-17 IMX matched with a Biomaster 2500 be enough to handle one? how big do they go? I dont really plan on bringing any heavier gear with me. Probably just another travel BC rod and a fly rod as well.

Well you will almost definately not get a Barramundi. But the Bull Sharks can get massive, up to 15ft or something, maybe more.

[kiara_poltegerist]

adventure_angler wrote:

hey mate,

those lures look awesome!!!

i actually go to UQ at st lucia and have also wondered about the fishing possibilities within close range of the uni. i tried fishing a spot at st lucia after uni 1 day which looked promising. guess it will just take time to try a few spots and different techniques before it can be decided whether its worth fishing st lucia. as angus said there are a few jetties but i am yet to try these myself. then of course theres the lake

-nelson-

hey there Nelson! hehe, it's great to see that there're soo many avid anglers who'll be close to where i'll be . Have you caught any fish in the waters around uni or St.Lucia to date? I'm trying to take a closer look at all the banks, jetties and stuff, so I can at least pinpoint the places that'd most likely produce some interesting fish. The rest'd be groundwork I guess.

On second thoughts, the water in the river looks quite murky, so i might have to include some more lures in my arsenal lol . Having fished there, could you advise me on the water colour? Is it murky, and how's the visibility range? The bottom there predominanrly mud, gravel or mixed?

tried fishing the lake in uni yet? :P ?

btw, does winter affect the fish there much? I hear the temperatures are dropping pretty quickly now.

thx in advance!

[Angus]

Nelson: I let my pet spangled perch go in those lakes so there is at least one fish And there are loads of huge eels.

Kiara: The Brisbane River up that far is very murky. Chocolate coloured water. However, most fish i have seen caught on lures in the Brisbane River are on natural or gold patterns. So i would still not go all out with colour.

I have not personally fished lures in that exact area.

But rest assured you will have plenty of options once your in Brisbane.

Angus

[Tim a]

As for the winter question I rekon it slows down during winter. The salmon expert has told me that the threaddies bugger off and last winter the bream disapeared for me. The bream have already slowed since the holidays which is a bit of a bummer!

[Angus]

Which is strange as Bream are traditionally a fish you target in winter.

Angus

[Tim a]

I know thats why I was looking forward to last winter but I caught 4 Bream in the river all winter.

[Feral]

If your keen for a Barra, we might be able to organise a AFO trip to Barra country while your here, there are a few impoundments less than half a day away with Barra in them. (Or the fish farm)

[adventure_angler]

Barra trip would be awesome!

I've never fished for barra and cant wait for the day i do...

Kiara: Only fished the area around uni once and didnt manage to catch anything. Fished for about 20mins and in that time saw a mullet and got the tail bitten off 1 soft plastic. However, there definately seems to be some fishy looking areas around the place. I suggest just walking along the bank, maybe target parks, until u find a good looking spot.

-nelson-

[kiara_poltegerist]

Feral wrote:

If your keen for a Barra, we might be able to organise a AFO trip to Barra country while your here, there are a few impoundments less than half a day away with Barra in them. (Or the fish farm)

wow, that's great! is it doable? I mean, the barra there dont go off the bite during winter do they? how big do they go?

[kiara_poltegerist]

Feral wrote:

If your keen for a Barra, we might be able to organise a AFO trip to Barra country while your here, there are a few impoundments less than half a day away with Barra in them. (Or the fish farm)

wow, that's great! is it doable? I mean, the barra there dont go off the bite during winter do they? how big do they go?

Biggest barra here I've managed to land was only around 8kg. The rest just just small buggers around 2-3kg.

From what I read, the barra in Aussie impoundments grow up to 18+kgs?

[kiara_poltegerist]

btw, guys, I've managed to post the pictures of the Giant Snakeheads or \"Toman\" as we call them here. I've also posted some pictures of the biggest Peacock Bass I've landed here. pls note- they're pests here :ohmy: , but they've spread out through most of the river systems, so there's no getting rid of them.

[Oztrav]

the bottom of the brissy is mixed some parts are just mud from years of dredging toward the mouth mud sand gravel and up the river more gravel and mud, dont worry there have been jewies caught in the winter at newstead (according to old reports) which is down the river from st lucia, also the gold coat canals have a heap of options to play (bream, tarpon, jacks, giant herring, trevally and mulloway although you will 99% of the time get bream:woohoo: ) with if you can get onto a boat or canoe/ yak I have also read about flatheads in the gold coast come on the bite more in winter because of the water temperature during the day if that is all your limited too

So i hope i didnt dribble too much crap and you gett some ideas gold coast is only an hour drive anyway

[Feral]

Barra are still catchable, except around August, gets a bit tough then

[kiara_poltegerist]

btw, guys, er, so the fish that I can most likely catch are threadfin, estuary cod, bream and barracuda? trying to get my lure selection ready ..

Post edited by: kiara_poltegerist, at: 2007/04/09 14:08

[Oztrav]

Baracuda? I dont know about them

[adventure_angler]

Well I was walking past the lake at uni today on the way to my car when I saw a metre long eel in the shallows scavenging for food amongst the rocks. This lake looks like it would be amazing for fishing... it has more snags than you can poke a stick at, pilons for the walkways, lilly pads in a few areas, rocky areas, grassy areas, almost enough habitat types to cater for most fish.

I also saw 2 grad students walking round the lake with a net, got me wondering if there might be something in their worth studying (that they keep secret to prevent people becoming interested in fishing the lake). The amount of birds around the lake is phenomenal, if only the same could be said for the fish in there.

I wonder if they would mind if I followed Angus's lead and dropped a few more natives in there Judging from the habitat types and the abundance of food sources in the lake (millions of gambusia ) Im sure the introduced fish would have a field day.

-nelson-

[Oztrav]

these are things best kept secret make friends with a fisho security guard and go their in the wee hours of the night and find out yourself and if there are no signs up saying your not allowed to fish then fish

but i would curb the culling of tilapia on uni grounds as most hippies dont understand that its a pest and you will draw negative publicity to yourself

[kellyndamien]

I reckon you'd have to be pretty keen to fish in the lake at UQ, wouldn't you?! :sick: I'd be washing out my gear for a while after that!! There are definitely eels in there, and I have seen some pretty fat carp walking across the boardwalk near the civil engineering building (err.. I was on the boardwalk, the carp were in the water ). I think I may have seen those two grad students you mentioned - I didn't speak to them but I'm pretty sure they were trying to catch a duck in that net (if they were the same two).