queensland Bad First Run In The Brisbane River

[sprintcardude]

After reading the reports of yesterday my eagerness to fish slower went down. We decided to head out from kirra street at 5AM and see what it was like at the port. We got out to pretty much next to the entrance of boggy creek and there was a huge cargo ship and dad shit bricks. We checked the beacon to beacon and found a spot in the clear zone away from the shipping channel. We started fishing and waiting for something to happen. Something was playing with one of the pilchards and the smart fish decided to eat until he found the hook. Pretty much the story of the trip. tried so many things like 2 hooks, single hooks, small baits, positioning of the hook. NO fish. we thought we had something good, ran the reel well then started hauling it in and then weight gone. Bring the line in half a god dam jelly fish. so disappointing. Came in after a few hours. happy with the first time in the river. hopefully next time we head further out and the fish eat the hook*****.

Cheers Justin

[rosstralia46]

Live bait is a must for the river find some good structure anywhere around the shoot drop off is a start or claras rocks the sunken wall or the rock wall out the front sound around and then use livies or big fresh green prawns stuff like pilchards more than likely will attract catfish small bream etc you can cast net around the poop shoot or near the boat ramp mullet herring prawns are all good bait for the river as long as your not right in the middle of the river you shouldn't be bothered by the cargo ships just be mindful of the wake

[Old Scaley]

The river has been tough lately, in my opinion anyway. I think Rosstralia is right about live bait, but you can still dud out with the best livies if the place is quiet. I find that fresh prawns are the go for threadies, and livies are the best for jew. I don't usually fish for bream but have caught the best ones on live herring.

But don't give up on the humble pilly. A half a pilly on a 5/0 circle hook is my go-to bait for river snapper. You will get some pickers, but you will get them on other baits and even the livies. Catfish seem to eat anything, but if you keep your bait off the bottom a bit more you will catch less catties and hopefully more of the better species.

The ships can be a bit intimidating the first few times you fish the port area, but if you keep your wits about you and don't anchor anywhere near the channel you will be fine. I saw some guys anchored about 20 metres away from one of the major wharves yesterday. Not only dangerous, but also illegal. Just the sort of behaviour that will get everyone banned from the fishing the port.

Good luck next time, Justin. Don't think that everyone else is getting nice Jew and Threadies every time they go out. The beauty of the river is that every now and again it will surprise you with a real quality fish.