queensland bribie island - 13.05.07

[novrain]

hi guys,

here's a short report on yesterday's trip at bribie..

reached the marina at about 1215 and proceeeded to move out stuff from the cars onto the boat... initially we were expecting a very small dinghy type boat but it turned out pretty alright for 6 of us.. i have to admit we brought too much stuff on this first trip...but it was alright for 6 of us

before the trip i had some idea on where to go (thanks to the tips from the guys on my previous thread) but the bloke at the jetty told us to head towards the gutters...

so instead of heading towards the bridge as suggested by dazzamcgee, we headed towards this wreck in the middle of the passage...

anchored up, dropped out pots in and took out the baits.. i prepared some baits the night before, mullet flesh, sliced chicken breast and raw prawns...

also made some burley with bran and cat food...

there were lots of bites and we landed a couple of bream but they were only around the 23-24 mark so we let them go.. the pots were doing alright actually . we pulled up about 6 sandies but they were all female so back in the drink they went...

finally landed a bream that was about 28-29 so that went into the ice-box.. after that we moved on to the creek on the opposite side (on bribie island side) anchored up near the beacon but it was too deep and i i didn't bring heavier weights... only a spilt shot on a 2/0 hook...nothing worked at that spot so again moved nearer to the creek mouth or mangroves or whatever you called them...

gf's bro got busted off by something huge that just took his line and ran...

gf's line got busted also on chicken gut by something as she was reeling in...

other 3 mates didn't really get much bites... until i hooked up on a bream.. this was slightly bigger.. say pushing 29-30.. so again into the box he went...

it was a little too choppy out there yesterday but was still an enjoyable day out..

i was looking for the wooden boat as suggested by dazzam but couldn't find it... the flats as suggested by tim was a little too shallow and we actually got bogged down.. i had to push us out of the sand..

i was looking for a drop off but couldn't really find but i reckon if we tried the drop-offs, there'll be heaps of flatties and bream and what have you..

last spot we headed to the bridge .. 5th pillon as suggested by dazzam but bloody current was too strong.. couldn't really anchor up so we ended drifting out baits a bit out from the bridge... nothing took it so we headed back to the marina to return the boat...

will be going out again this weekend ... they're all 'hooked' onto fishing .. literally...

final count in the ice box - 2 bream around 29-30.. 1 male sandy... rest were released..

was hoping a couple of flatties but none...

any suggestions as to where we should go this week? i reckon the mouth of ningi cos i think there are a few old oyster leases there..

thanks guys

merv

[Angus]

Nice one Merv.

Mouth of Ningi is usually pretty good. Fished it a few time in the Kayak with good results.

Angus

[Dazzamcgee]

Ooppss me bad ! :whistle: forgot to mention about the current.....

The bridge is a really good spot ya just got to know how to fish a bit of current...

Anyway good to hear ya got a few fish well done!!

[Rocket75]

Nice report.

There are lots of fishy looking areas around Bribie, and a lot of people fishing them too:(

A good idea is to prospect areas at low tide, looking for flathead lies and likely drop offs.

There are some good yabbbie banks up near white patch and they would be worth a drift at high tide.

White patch also has some coffee rock and weed patches that look likely to hold fish.

Have fun exploring, it's a great place to spend the day...or a week!

[novrain]

hi dazzam..

yeah i would love to try the bridge cos fish really love to stick close to structure.. thing is the boat we've got doesn't have a very strong motor so if we get caught in the current, it could swing us straight into the bridge.. the motor isn't powerful enough to get us out of trouble quickly..

we nearly got into trouble that day.. i anchored up but the anchor got snagged on the bottom so we were just swaying left and right in the current... the motor couldn't push us back towards the anchor to un-snag it so i had to literally pull us back to the anchor on the rope!!!..now i've got biceps of steel....

then i tried to anchor up again but the anchor couldn't anchor up and we ended drifting from under the bridge to like bloody 50 meters away.. such a waste...

any tips on how to fish the current?

rocket - yup we'll be getting yabbies from white patch this week and prob heading towards ningi to try out luck.. was looking for drop offs but couldn't spot any.. how can i tell without a sounder? any tips?

thanks guys

[Crusty]

Nice report Merv.

getting amped about 2nite now!

[Dazzamcgee]

Novrain, What I do to fish the bridge with a fast current is to make sure you have a sand anchor with plenty of rope. Motor up current way past where you want to be and deploy the anchor let out a fair amount of rope and stop then hang on, the anchor will drag along the bottom as you drift along until it hooks in(this can take a few attemps). Be sure to let out a little bit more rope once the anchor is secure and give it a good pull to make sure its a strong hold. Now let out as much rope that is needed to lower the boat toward the spot you intend on fishing(the longer the better) and tie the rope off. Now you should be with in casting range of the pilion. Sometimes the anchor will work itself loose or let you drift slowly as it tries to get a grip again so make sure your not positioned right in front of the pilion as this may result in a collision. To remove the anchor, motor forward to release the tension on the rope or pull the rope in by hand until the angle is increased this will allow the anchor to become free.......

As for fishing bait in a fast current use just enough lead to keep the bait on the bottom but dont over do it you dont want to pin the bait to the bottom. Let the bait move along toward the pilion by letting out more line when need to keep it down low and most of the time it will get nailed way before it reaches it...

Hardbodies just peg them way down current and let out heaps of line(by doing so you can cover heaps of area) start the retrieve very slowly as there is heaps of pressure from the moving water to get them down to their diving depth, retreive slowly....

I'm stopping it there as I could ramble heaps more..

Hope this helps....

[Bud]

Great advice on the anchor rope dazz. Thanks mate, that helps me out as well.

[James W]

nov rain- if ya gunna fish the bridge, 9th pylon from the mainland..fish towards the pylon itself..bream,parrot,little squire and at the moment(wish i could get at em:pinch: ) mackerel on pillies and live herring.. the current doesnt seem to be as bad there most times but then again no run no fun:P ...if ya gunna do the mouth of ningi creek , make sure ya check it out on the low tide so ya can get a real good look at where all the \"good stuff\" is....

[Bud]

If you head away from the bridge about 300 mtrs with the mainland on your left there is a park with a big arcing concrete wall. there is red marker close to the wall. Around this marker I have landed some nice flatties. (40-60cm) This was about 12 months ago so that's a long time in fishing. But hey not far from where you are fishing and worth a go if nothing else is working for you.Good luck.

[novrain]

dazzam.. .great tips mate...

will have to convince the others to give it a go.. i really wanna try the bridge...

what im worried is that if the anchor really hooks up and holds us there, will it not hook up too much till we can't pull it free?..what do we do if it really gets snagged?..

if we can't pull it free, then we're pretty much stuffed...cos the motor ain't strong enough to get us out of there. we'll be getting yabbies this wkend first so if we really try the bridge, im sure it'll go off...

dazzam says 5th pillion from bribie..

jimmybob says 9th pillon from mainland... haha we'll give both a go if possible...

bud - we can't head too far away from the bridge.. i think the most we can go away from the bridge is 50 m past it but because of the small motor, we'll take too long anyway...

[Dazzamcgee]

The only real way that you can snag a sand anchor is if it gets stuck into some solid reef then that could become a problem:( .....as you should have been using a reef anchor with the bendable arms but in the passage there's not any real reef mainly just reef rubble that can break up easily once hooked.

Sand anchors work on the principle of angles, the lower the angle the more holding power and the higher the angle the less holding power( Use the bottom as the base line and the direction of the rope determines the angle). Like I said before the more rope out the lower the angle, this will hold you better then a shorter length.

To get the anchor free you just need to increase the angle between the rope and the bottom IE: pull in as much line as possible till you are positioned directly above the anchor and lift the rope in a upright direction this will \"unhook\" it from the bottom.

If you do get a sandy stuck and I mean really stuck and there's no way of getting it free (snagged which can happen even to the best of us) there is only 4 way of getting it in:

1. Drive forward and let the motor pull it free(if the motors big enough)

2. Pull in as much rope as possible and cut the rope! bye bye anchor:(

3. Wait till the tide turns, this will pull the anchor from its holding.:whistle:

4. Way your arms in the air like a Wally at a big day out concert at the next boat that passes by, hopefully they will come to the rescue and have the horses to get you out of trouble.:blush:

[ellicat]

A couple of additional tips to Dazza's wise words -

Always leave yourself some surplus anchor rope (i.e. don't put it all out) If your motor struggles to push you directly into the current towards your anchor try motoring at an angle slightly across the flow. This is where the remaining rope is required. Don't go at too big an angle or at right angles to the current though it won't help much.

If trying to use the motor to pull you out you need to be a bit cautious that the bow doesn't get pulled down.

Always start your motor before attending to the anchor.

Cheers.

[novrain]

phew.. that's a fair bit to digest...

wise words from the wise ones....

i really hope to be able to fish at the bridge .. if not this time, then i'll have to drag some one else to go with me...my gf and friends were pretty terrified last week cos we got stuck in the current..

i don't really care as long as there's fish but yeah if we do go the bridge, i'll put what you guys said to practice....

Thanks heaps!!

[ellicat]

I'm sure the motor will push the boat a bit easier with only 1 or two occupants on board. That's probably close to a quarter of a tonne less in weight! :woohoo:

[Feral]

Run a second anchor (you need one attached properly in case you get into real trouble, and need the anchor to hold no matter what!).

Tie the rope to the \"wrong end\" of the anchor. Then get some 50lb wire and crimps use it to attach the anchor rope to the \"right end\". This should holds in most cases, but if you pull like \"heck\" on it, it will break the wire, and the anchor should then pull out backwards.

I rig my fresh water anchor like this. Never lost one yet.

[ellicat]

I think it's a hire boat Feral.

[novrain]

yeah i thought of that too feral... jsut that like what ellicat said, it is a hire boat.. but it is an idea...

hoo yeah.. can't wait for the wkend

[Feral]

If its hire boat, ring em up!