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Brisbane Fishing Online Winter Camp Report

Angus

By Angus
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Angus Rookie

Angus

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G'day everyone.

Well what can i say......

To those of you that were there, the smiles said it all.

For the benefit of those that were not, over the 2 28 AFO members managed over 500 bass!! Most of these fish were in the high 30cm range and fought very very well. There was also a 52cm bass boated on saturday so they are in there.

Thanks again to everyone that came along.

Thanks especially to Steve Wilkes, Leeann Payne and Andrew as well for all their efforts in ensuring it all went so well. Andrew, the girls are still talking about what an awesome cook you were mate :P And Leeann everyone appreciated your fly fishing workshop immensely thank you very much for donating your time.

I fished the saturday with Tanya and boated 20 bass biggest going 39cm, while Tanya boated a further 15.

I fished with Jimmybob on sunday and 6 bass and one yellowbelly. Woot i love the yellas.

Stand mention must be made to some of our rookie members. Jaharn Giles, who has never fished before boated 15 bass all over 30cm. Richie Muir, also a fishing novice took out the first days prize winning himself a very good rod. Amelia Gorrie and Natalia Long also boated over 30 bass between them.

Ill leave it at that for now and let people add as they will.

Please add all you thoughts and memeories as ill somewhat collate this thread into a AFO front page story and a write up for local press.

Cheers guys.

Angus

Sorry to all those other fishermen that i did not mention!! I am a bit buggered :) I will go into a lot more detail for the front pager.

Post edited by: Angus, at: 2007/06/03 15:11 [img size=400]http://www.australianfishing.com.au/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/angustanya_1.jpg

Post edited by: Angus, at: 2007/06/04 08:13

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Feral Newbie

Feral

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Ferg and I got 37 bass between us for the weekend, and I managed to win the Wilson Live Fiber \"Blade N Tails\" rod for best bait / Lure pair of Bass. Awesome Rod, thanks very much to Wilson, and Steve! Sorry to Nelson whom I pipped at the post, to win by 1cm in combined length!

Bait was pretty easy fishing, but the lures were hard work, of the 500 hundred Bass caught over the weekend, probably less than 10 were lure caught.

For the second leg of the comp, I had to resort to my \"not catching anything lure\" a mat black G Vibe.

When ever I am not catching anything, I trot her out, always get a couple! Which I did again today!

Day 1 we fished the front of the Dam, launching from the normal ramp just west of the wall. No one had to travel far to find fish, all the fish we caught were in Bonner's Bay and then the little fjord behind the rowers starters stand.

Day 2 we fished from the far western ramp (so now many AFO member know where it is!), people fishing from there back towards the front of the dam.

Photo is of AFO members cars parked at the Western Ramp [img size=500]http://www.australianfishing.com.au/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/AFO_at_western_ramp.jpg

Post edited by: Feral, at: 2007/06/03 19:26

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adventure_angler Newbie

adventure_angler

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I shared a tinny with Paul and we decided to start off at the same spot that produced a lot of fish on the last AFO trip. Managed to get a few bass early on, before moving to the opposite bank where we stayed all day. We anchored in a deep hole about 20m out from a steep bank and just spent the day dropping live shrimp down to the bottom. The shrimp didn’t even make it to the bottom on some drops, getting hit about ¾ of the way down. As usual the bass put on spectacular displays of energy, fighting well over their weight.

At one stage we were working on the theory of a bass per shrimp left in the container, and this was almost the case. The only times you didn’t bring up a fish was when you failed to hook the bass, or the shrimp was taken from the hook by banded grunter. A large number of bass were caught with Paul catching 20 and I got 23. Of these, 4 were kept in the 35-36cm range and taken back to the ramp in the live-well. We figured we should keep a few extra in case others hadn’t managed to catch their dinner, but ended up releasing 2 of these at the ramp. Paul hooked and brought in a decent bass at the start of the day which was released before we remembered we were meant to keep the best couple of bass. This fish was never measured as we didn’t have a ruler at the beginning of the day.

A mixed bag was obtained, with Paul bringing in 2 monster eel-tailed catfish and I managed my first silver perch. A few banded grunter were caught and left to dry on the esky while we continued fishing and Steve told us how to feed the local eagles. We began whistling and waving the grunter above our heads when we saw the eagle fly overhead and it immediately started circling above. Eventually it perched on a nearby tree and made a sudden swoop for the boat. We threw the grunter into the air, but the eagle just missed it as it flew a few metres above our heads. It came back for a second swoop, but the grunter began sinking and the eagle retreated to the tree. Was an amazing sight and had us totally forgetting about fishing for a good 15 minutes.

We got back to fishing and as the shrimp became a scarce option we started thinking of new alternatives. Despite the continuous hits and catches on the live shrimp, the Hinze bass did not want to touch any kind of lure. We persisted with G-Vibes, spinnerbaits, and soft plastics ranging from imitation shrimp to gulps, but nothing could catch their attention. Towards the end I landed another banded grunter and as we had very little shrimp left and had been having no luck on lures we decided to cut the grunter in half and use it as bait. We each dropped half down to the bottom and began flicking various lures. Not long after putting the rod down my line started to twitch and then started running. I picked it up and went to tighten the drag and I could feel the weight of this fish but unfortunately the bait got spat not long after. Within 10 minutes Paul’s line went off and he managed to set the hook and was on in a big way. He fought with this fish for about 5 minutes, with me eagerly holding the net ready to bring it aboard. The fight was not as energetic as a bass but you could tell it was a very big fish. You could see the rod bend with its tail kicks and a few times Paul got it close to the boat and it would run straight down again. Eventually it came almost into view and ran yet again snapping the line. We both couldn’t believe it, but with the clock ticking to 4 and the shrimp supply exhausted we began trolling back to the boat ramp.

After a highly enjoyable day out on the water we made the 10 minute drive back to the Numinbah Environmental Education Centre where Andrew showed us the way to fillet and skin the fish and a few guys had a go at doing this. Everyone sat round and got stuck into the delicious fresh bass and home-made chips. We then made a camp-fire and sat round to continue telling fishing stories over a few cold drinks. As the full-moon got directly overhead Terry and James went off on a fishing expedition and returned a few hours later totally saturated. I’ll let them tell that story.

We woke up the next morning to have a hot breakfast Andrew had once again cooked and after cleaning up made our way back down to the dam for a fish. We launched in an upper reach of Hinze and made our way down towards the dam wall. A few people undertook fly fishing lessons with Leeann Payne while the others tried to catch the elusive lure caught bass. I managed to catch a 38cm bass while trolling a trusty gold G-Vibe along a steep bank. I continued to work this bank but was unable to pull anymore from the water.

Once everyone was back at the ramp prizes were handed out and morning tea provided. Congratulations to all prize winners!!!

Overall it was a great weekend trip which is sure to become a regular occurrence. It’s always great to put faces to names and get to know a few other like-minded people. I would personally like to thank Angus for putting in the time to make this trip possible, Steve for once again providing a well organised and fully catered camp, Leeann for providing her time, and Andrew for helping out over the 2 days and cooking dinner and breakfast. I know I for one will be going back next time!

-nelson-

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Aaron H Rookie

Aaron H

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Well what an awesome weekend, arrived Saturday morning to find Jimmybob knee deep in water looking for mussels, and you could see the excitement in everyone when they arrived and it was a good quick team effort to get the boats ready and set up for the days mission. I was teamed with Tristan (aka funfisher) who had never bass fished before but we soon got him his first one (check out the grin when he posts the photos) We hit the point pretty much opposite the ramp and virtually first cast we hooked up onto bass on the shrimp. We gave that point a good thrashing for a while with a heap of double hookups providing some good moments with the light gear. After the grunter moved in (I caught one and had a couple of missed hits and said bugger this we are moving). We tried a few points up the Eastern arm and ended up where I thought was Angus's yellowbelly bay. Things quietened down there and had real trouble holding in the wind with the canoe dragging the anchor with the wind. Caught my biggest bass there it went 39cm (gave me the lead for all of about fifteen minutes back at the ramp :( )

So we headed back to the points that were producing early (and most importantly out of the wind) and fished out our shrimp to heaps of small bass (25-35cm standard for Hinze)

In all honesty Tristan and I lost count of the number of bass we caught, we gave a conservative extimate of forty to Steve today but it could have been more as the action was pretty constant.

A good night was had by all with the beers flowing and the constant fishing chat (nothing better than picking the brains of other fishermans) around a camp fire.

A special mention has to go out for Jimmy and Terrys midnight mission to the river, I'll let them go into detail but watching two fellas come back around midnight soaking wet gave us some great entertainment:evil: .

The sunday effort for us was pretty ordinary nothing on the lures we trolled spinnerbaits and deep divers, I tried Ice jigs and flicking Gvibes but nothing worked, ran into a familiar face in the Cannonball, Brian was being chauffered around the Dam, must of been a long trip from the ramp to get that far up mate?

Thanks to the guys for organising a great event, and it was great fishing with u Tristan, will have to chase those Pin crocodiles with you some time.

Post edited by: Aaron H, at: 2007/06/03 17:46

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Feral Newbie

Feral

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I've put my photo's in the Lakes gallery (To lazy to put them in here!)

Also good to see Brian's monicka show up in the \"users on line\" area, I was seriously worried after traveling all the way down to where we were he might not have enough batteries to get back to the other ramp!

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rayke1938 Experienced

rayke1938

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Feral wrote:

I've put my photo's in the Lakes gallery (To lazy to put them in here!)

Also good to see Brian's monicka show up in the \"users on line\" area, I was seriously worried after traveling all the way down to where we were he might not have enough batteries to get back to the other ramp!

especially when we left him trying to unravell half a spool of line that was wrapped around the prop. That is what happens when you have a novice pilot and you cant abuse him as he is a relly.

ray

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rayke1938 Experienced

rayke1938

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I tried to place a post earlier but stumblefingers must have deleted it.

Everything has been said by others so on behalf of the two old farts i will just say thanks ro everyone who attended and helped make this a wonderful expierence.

I am sorry we missed seeing the results of the midnight swim but the oldies have to be in beddies before 9 if they have to function in the morning.

I enjoyed hearing the bikes on full song as a lullaby but appreciated it when the boys on blue came and broke it up. Was kind of waiting for the bang and sliding when they came off.Wouldnt have been too good it it had gone on all night.

I would be remiss if I didnt thank Angus and Steve for the seemless running of the event. I didnt take any photos as I was too busy enjoying myself. I lost count of how many fish I caught on Saturday when I reached 30.

I was also fortunate to win a prize from Wilsons for the largest tandanus. ( probably as no one else bothered to bring theirs in for measurement.)

I am looking foward to this becoming an annual event.

Once again THANKS everyone.

Ray

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Rocket75 Newbie

Rocket75

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Firstly I would like to echo the sentiments of previous posts in thanking Angus, Steve and all others involved in planning & organising an excellent weekend.

Up till AFO WC07 neither myself or my wife Kath had ever caught a bass or fished Hinze.

Here are some of our highlights:

Upon arriving at Hinze about half and hour early, we found out that we were at the wrong boat ramp, no big deal, just a short trip across the dam wall...wrong, road closed:(

A quick chat with the ranger and we were on our way. Armed with new directions we arrived at the launch point with time to spare.

After quick introductions, and some basic but handy tuition we were on our way...in the slowest boat in the fleet!:blush:

This turned out to be a blessing in disguise as we ended up dropping anchor quite close to the ramp in a likely looking spot that everyone else had motored over.

After fifiteen minutes of no action at all ( used to re-rig as per Steve's suggestion) we were ready to move on to another spot. Ten minutes later, using her trusty Alvey 500B and 2-5kg Penn rod Kathy had boated five fish, one over 40cm :P , and I had one! We were grinning from ear to ear, both of us had broken our Bass duck in the first half hour:woohoo:

We stayed on this spot and just kept catching all kinds and sizes. One big, ugly, eel tail catfish came on board, as well as a handfull of those little stripey vermin. The catty was released with a sore lip, the vermin stayed in our live tank (esky with airator!)Over the next hour or so I had upgraded my biggest fish 3 or 4 times:cheer: Kath's second fish of the day still beat allcomers though.

It was the sort of session I had hoped for, but not really expected.

It was quite literally one fish per drop, and very rarely did a shrimp live for more than a couple of seconds once it hit the water.

Not wanting to limit our experience, we pulled anchor and \"sped\" to another arm of the dam.

Lots of action, mainly small bass, but a few vermin also.

Running low on shrimp we decided to troll some lures and then headed back to our first spot.

Oh for a GPS! We knew from our first session that the fish were thick, but bunched. A drop at one end of the boat could be ignored, but the other end was getting hammered on the drop.

Three attempts later we were on the money, and we finished of the day with a few more bass. Second last fish of the day was the result of a great hit. Just as my bait hit the bottom, the 3-6kg Pflueger Trion loaded up and the tip dipped into the water. I leant back with my thumb on the spool of my Penn Captiva 2000, ( I had been bricked a couple of times as had Kath ). After a short but hard fight a lovely fat bass came on board.

A final upgrade for me, and we were off to the ramp to measure up and pack away the boats.

Swapping stories on dry land, it turned out that everyone had caught fish, most were into double figures, with some good ones amongst the keepers. The ruler told part of the story...Kath 42cm, Rod 42.5cm!

The other part of the story was not as easy to measure, but just as important. It was the memory of a great day's fishing, close to home, with a group of people who share your passion( to varying extents, there are some really mad keen fishos out there!) Overall it was a great weekend, we left plenty of fish there for next time and there were a few that got away too.

But we will be back.

Here are some happy snaps.

[img size=235]http://www.australianfishing.com.au/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/Kath__s_Huge_Eel_Tail_Catfish_50cm__wc07.jpg

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Terry H Newbie

Terry H

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Thanks to everyone who went to the Winter Camp '07, even though I stuck to lures and didn't catch much, it was good fun. Special thanks to Angus, Steve, Andrew and Leeane for putting in the time and effort to make it all happen. Another special thanks to James for driving me down.

Werewolf and Aaron: yes. Clearly the highlight of my trip, it was good stuff. I'll post a picture of the google earth image I have a little later. James and I found the only patch of the creek/river that wasn't fishable. There we climbed over broken bridges, bashed through chest high grass, fell in holes, and waded through weed filled ponds. I cut myself, broke my sandle/thongs and at the end of the day didn't get to cast a bloody lure:(

Edit: and at the end of this trek, we finished at the bridge we started at, and didn't find fishable water.

Post edited by: TerryH, at: 2007/06/03 23:02

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Feral Newbie

Feral

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Those that got the bigger Bass, dont forget to put them in for the \"fish of the month\"! (We can fill it up this month!)

Also Angus, can you bung the final prize recipients list up somewhere? I was that taken aback with my win I did not pick up on who won the other sections :blush:

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Angus Rookie

Angus

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Andrew:

Mate ill put together an official spread sheet of all the captures etc tonight.

But in the mean time.

Prize Winners:

Biggest Bass On The First Day:

1st: Richie Muir

2nd: Rod Vardy

3rd: Kathy Vardy

Biggest Combined Day Bass (Bait/Lure): Andrew Kennedy

Biggest Silver Perch: James Wahry

Biggest Golden Perch: Angus Gorrie

Biggest Tandanus Catfish: Ray Kennedy

Biggest Banded Grunter: Jeff Flynn

Well done!

Angus

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Funfisher Newbie

Funfisher

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Well i think you sum the weekends fishing up quite nicely Aaron!! It was my first real fresh water fishing experience and i had a ball, and geez those bass give bang for ya buck woo woo, the setup of the whole weekend was excelent! And now you have shown me how to catch bass Aaron i will show you how to hook some monster lizards. I was also very supprized how bloody delicious the bass tasted it was far better than i expected. A big thank you too every one who made this weekend possible.

Post edited by: Funfisher, at: 2007/06/04 11:08

Post edited by: Funfisher, at: 2007/06/04 11:58

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Angus Rookie

Angus

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One cool thing that happened on the second day was a i actually had a tail walking bass. It was awesome.

James and i were trolling lures and this bass fully jumped. I only heard it and saw the aftermath of its re entry so i was thinking in head \"Toga?\" hahaha.

Has anyone else had a jumping bass?

Angus

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jeff f Newbie

jeff f

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THANKS TO EVERYONE who took part in this brilliant weekend!!!!!!!!!:woohoo:

i caught twenty bass and i think my boat mate merv(novrain)got 18 and his first ever bass too.he also learned that bass dont like pink fluro line straight to the hook:S i had 10 to his one till he changed reels but once that was sorted he was storming home. good on you merv, you're good company mate.

this must happen again and not anually regularly. steve may have to buy more boats.:woohoo:

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rayke1938 Experienced

rayke1938

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jeff f wrote:

THANKS TO EVERYONE who took part in this brilliant weekend!!!!!!!!!:woohoo:

i caught twenty bass and i think my boat mate merv(novrain)got 18 and his first ever bass too.he also learned that bass dont like pink fluro line straight to the hook:S i had 10 to his one till he changed reels but once that was sorted he was storming home. good on you merv, you're good company mate.

this must happen again and not anually regularly. steve may have to buy more boats.:woohoo:

Great idea jeff summer camp probably in early february as I think steve would be busy during school holidays but then again if it was in holidays maybe kids could participate. They could also peel the spuds. Actually it is good to see how steve organises them all peeling spuds, breadcrumbing fish and singing along as they go. Maybe a AFO parents and kids camp??

Ray

Ray

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Feral Newbie

Feral

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Angus wrote:

One cool thing that happened on the second day was a i actually had a tail walking bass. It was awesome.

James and i were trolling lures and this bass fully jumped. I only heard it and saw the aftermath of its re entry so i was thinking in head \"Toga?\" hahaha.

Has anyone else had a jumping bass?

Angus

Seen it a few times Angus, if you check my photo's I put in the gallery there is one shot there where I just missed it, the fish had just gone back into the water leaving the splashes to settle. Rotten camera had gone into sleep mode!

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James W Newbie

James W

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well, what a weekend hey?....a big cheers to the sports tution boys and leanne payne for having us...and a massive thnk you to you Angus for dreaming it all up and getting it all done, it was a blast of a weekend so, THANKS! GUS!

Terry and i were there just as daybreak was stating to happen..lures were tied and a bank bash was on...got to a certain spot that looked very fishy and first cast i was on!..a bass no more bigger than my hand...smiling away to myself fired in a second cast and was on again!..my first 2 bass on lures at hinze....and its here i would like to thank the local ranger for kindly:laugh: advising me and terry that fishing was prohibited \"that close\" to the dam wall...whoops:pinch: ..i didnt know i swear:whistle: ......soon we were all together getting ready and i was partnered up with jaharn who had never fish before(thou ya couldnt tell with her pulling in fish one after the other)...saturday was a fish a minute almost with our canoe landing close to 50 fish..and i got myself a silver perch!...was the only second siver i had ever seen caught so i was stoked..and it won me the biggest siver perch prize too....day 2 i only got one bass with angus boating them constantly and he scored a yella to boot!....i had a great weekend..great to see the old faces and great to meet all the new ones....next year will even be better:woohoo:

1st pic early morn bass [img size=448]http://www.australianfishing.com.au/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/h1.JPG

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