queensland Boggy Creek

[Crusty]

Wet a line with Dad down at Boggy Creek last night. I had a couple of great sessions there are few weeks back chasing bream & whiting - we decided we would go for the 'bigguns' this night instead (Cod, School Jew, Sharks, etc.). Stopped at the first road bridge to do some cast netting for bait. The tide was fair romping, and the water at the bridge was literally boiling with baitfish - it was amazing, you could have nearly walked on them. Despite this, not a real lot of luck with the net :S. We only just picked it up recently...it's BIG (20 foot diameter), but doesn't seem to sink / close fast enough? Whatever the cause, it was catching hardly anything given its size. We had about 5 prawns, a couple of small mullet, and about 5 small fish which I let go as I had mistaken them for baby salmon...looking up Grant's Guide to Fishes shows that they were definitely an anchovy species and would have made A1 bait! Similar features tho, which the fleshy over-hanging snout, and body shape etc.

Drove down stream, and eventually found a spot 100m or so downstream from the foot bridge onto Bulwer Island, near a small creek / inlet. Nothing much going on here until I got a huge strike on a live mullet bait. Got whatever it was close to shore, but didn't keep the rod up enough and it took me under a snag only a meter or two from my feet....hard to say what it was, but definitely solid, and a fast / hard fighter.

We quickly realized we would need more bait tho, as we were gradually losing the small number of prawns / live mullet that we had. We drove down to the beaches closer to the poo chute to try and get some more bait...again, slow going, which 5 or 6 casts netting only on small mullet, a small gar, and a largish mullet. Went back to the road bridge to try our luck live baiting - 1 largish catfish and that was all she wrote! A night that seemed to be full of opportunity but nothing in the bag...still, better than spending the night at home!

[dhess]

Too bad you lost the big one. Still sounds like a good night.

Where did you get a 20 foot cast net? I thought 12 foot was the largest size legally available.