queensland Brisbane River Session #26 And #27

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hi all

Here are the two reports from my weekend, and while not much happened they were still somewhat eventful. I am hoping you will not find this boring, but here goes!  

Once the lines were in, baited with fresh, dead banana prawn, I set the gear up, got the net out, filled the bucket up with water, and threw the net. The first cast resulted in nothing, but in the next four casts I had two solid prawns in the bait tank. I chucked the salmon line out then, and began my long wait. While this was happening, I was talking to two people about a couple years older than me. One of them recognized me from the tennis competition I play in, so we had a chat (I think I've played him once or twice). He said he owns a house on the water, and he told me he'd caught a few bream, a few catties, and one thready. This was just in the duration he lived there I believe, as he said he didn't fish that much. I also told him what I'd caught there, but the thing I find funny is that the species list is becoming too long to remember.   

They then left, so I gave the lines a quick bait check. They were all pickered, so I rebaited them all. I chucked them back out and set the drag. I then started to cast net a bit more, and to my surprise a whiting came up in the net. After a quick look at it, I noticed it was a Winter Whiting, so into the live bait tank he went. Here he is prior to being deployed - 

He stayed in the bait tank for another uneventful 20 minutes, and then I checked my line. The prawn was off it, so I pinned him through the mouth like you would with a mullet and chucked him out. He seemed to stay put, so I did a bit more netting. I didn't really get much, but the prawns on the other line were still on. I then just sat around the top to have a bit of a relax and waited. 

The fishing was very quiet, with no bites. Since it had been about another 20 minutes, I went down to the jetty to check on the whiting. I reeled it in, and to my surprise when I pulled him up, well, he/she was a mess. To give you an idea, look at the above and below images as a before and after  

Done!

I am not sure what it might've been, but my initial thought was a little shark, as I have heard sharks will hit their baits from the tail first, not head first, like other fish do. From second thoughts, I realised it very well could've been a crab feasting on my live bait, or it even could've been baby breamv or something of the likes of that. I guess, unfortunately, I will never know, so I will just have to guess and hypothesize.  

After that whiting, another live prawn was deployed. It would've been close to dark by now (around 5) so I starting tipping water on the jetty to get mud and gunk from the net off, and put the gear in the cart so it was ready to go. I made sure to keep the rods in though, just for good measure. In another few minutes of pacing around, the rods seemed like they could use a bait check. The two rods were pickerred, and I decided to keep the bottom one out so I had better chance. I re baited and re casted, and hoped something would take my bait in the last few minutes... 

Well, that never happened and it looked like I was going to finish up with another doughnut. I sadly did, and then I trudged all the way home, dragging my fishing cart along. This was not before I decided to take a quick sunset snap of the relatively gloomy day, so at least the report had some pictures - 

That is it done and dusted, or the first one anyways, so here are the statistics of the trip - 

Statistics of the trip - 

Tide: Low, 11:30AM, .5M, High, 5:15PM, 1.7M

Moon Phase: First quarter moon, so not that much run

Air Pressure: 1019.8 - a bit lower than my better days have been

Weather: Quite cloudy, light winds, gloomy

Tackle used: 14lb and 30lb mainlines, braid, 30lb, 15lb fluorocarbon leaders, 80lb trace, size 2 and 6 ball sinkers, 4/0 circle and suicide hooks, large barrel swivel.  

Bait used: Prawn, live and dead, and live winter whiting

Bait caught: Winter whiting and banana prawns

Fish caught: - 

Overall success rate: 40% - Not to bad of a day out

OK, that is the report done. I hope you enjoyed reading, and hopefully you aren't bored out and can't read the next. I hope QLD's COVID-19 cases stay at a minimum as well, and I hope everyone can get out for a fish soon.  

OK, so here is report two. It was a bit more exciting than the first, and I had three of my mates with me, two who had never really fished before. 

I met them at the train station at half past one, and we would've had our lines in the drink by about 2:00PM. The first cast I did I got zilch, but on the first cast I did on the jetty bait started rolling in. In about 5 casts, I had three solid mullet and about a dozen prawns, which I happily live baited on the lines. My mates were pretty happy with that, and then we could just sit and wait for a bit.

Since there was no action in about ten minutes, and one of them kept bugging me to show him how to throw the net, I showed him. Giving him the best instructions I could, he only managed a figure of eight on the first throw, LOL. The second was a slight improvement, but then he decided to put the net down and fish for a bit. I gave the lines a bait check then as well, the mullet was still very lively and the prawns were actually still on, much to my surprise. 

They were deployed again, and this time the wait was a bit longer. To keep myself from tiring out, I kept catching some prawns in the net. The best throw was three bigs ones, and, boy, they certainly make the net vibrate and pull A LOT for their size. By now, it was about 3:15PM, and with nothing happening, I was starting to think we might doughnut again. Luckily, the fish liked the live prawns and I saw the rod out in the middle of the river (or that area) getting pecks. I figured it was a perch, so I set the hook and told one of my mates they could pull it in. I suspected it was a perch, and I turned out to be right. A tiny one - 

I de hooked him, got my mate a quick pic (he's only caught a few fish in his life as he doesn't fish often) and then I chucked him back. He kicked off straight down, so another that was another successful release. Once he had dealt with that, everyone wasn't so bred again so I did some cast netting. Since the tide was absolutely rushing in, the net was a big effort. I also wasn't getting any bait, so I decided to give that a break for a few minutes. In that time though, one of the rods went off. To be specific, to cod rod did (no rhyming intended but it does ). I picked it up with haste but to my disappointment it had bricked us pretty good under/around the pylons. At the start, he was right stuck in there but with some rod maneuvering he started to come out. Then, whatever it was, took a run for structure... That had us done, and I could tell we weren't landing that fish, after about a ten minute wait, I started pulling the line out and eventually the braid snapped. That was a pity, because the fish (most likely a cod) felt pretty good. 

After the liens were re rigged, I had a throw of the net off the jetty. I felt some vibrating in the net, so I thought I might have some prawns. When I pulled the net up though, I realised I had a little perch in it. After a quick photo (sorry it's not to good) I chucked it back in the drink and off he went. Here it is - 

After that, they were really shut down, or maybe we were just missing them. I know that the lines weren't getting pickered, because when I did bait checks there was still bait. My friends had to go now though, as it was pretty much four thirty (they wanted to be home before it got dark). I said goodbye, but just before this, my other mate (who normally comes fishing with me) said the rod I had positioned in the channel just went off. There wasn't a fish when we reeled it up though, just a headless prawn. Whatever it was (most likely a small perch) had completely missed the hook. 

This was probably the last event to occur, as it was very quiet for the rest of the duration of my fishing. By about 5, it was getting a bit darker, so I knew it would be wise to load up the cart ready to go. Once this was loaded, I went down to check on the jetty rod. It seemed to be getting picked/pecked, so I picked it up and reeled it in. I assume the culprit was a bream, but both the mullet and the prawn which I had put on were gone. I guess some fish got an OK feed, but not me. I casted it out again, with the last big prawn and hoped. 

To sum it up, nothing more happened. I left in the dark, miserable that I hadn't gotten anything good. I am also quite tired today as I went out mountain biking this morning (that is the reason I wasn't out this morning). Here are the statistics of the trip -  

Stats of Trip - 

Tide: 12:15PM, .4M, Low, 6:20PM, 1.8M, High. I fished the rising tide. 

Moon Phase: First quarter, so not that much run.

Air Pressure: 1019.9. Just realised I got today's air pressure for yesterday's fishing session, so you'll have to do without an accurate one for that one. 

Weather: Wind, 3Km'h, Humidity 90% (not sure how accurate that is but that's what the weather forecast is saying), and partly cloudy. 

Fish caught: River Perch x 2

Bait caught: About two dozen prawns, Mullet x 3

Bait used: Live mullet and prawns, dead prawns

Time fished: 2:00PM-5:20PM or so

Tackle Used: 14lb and 30lb braid mainlines, 80lb mono trace, 30lb and 15lb fluorocarbon leader, large-ish barrel swivel, 4/o circle and suicide hooks, size 2 and size ball/bean sinkers, size 1000 Shimano Sienna, Size 2500 Shimano Nasci, Size 2500 Diawa Shinobi, Size 650 Penn reel, 6'6" Ugly Stik and Rogue Firepoint rod, 8' Ugly Stik Rod.

Overall Success rate: 60% - A nice afternoon. 

OK, that is the double report done. I hope you all enjoyed reading, despite the fact it wasn't the most exciting session at all. I hope you can all stay safe with the virus.  Sorry for any spelling errors either. 

Cheers Hamish

[ellicat]

Keep at it. Another thready isn't far away.

[Hweebe]

Hey @AUS-BNE-FISHO good read, have you tried going lighter on your trace or leader to entice some more bites?  With the whiting I wonder if you had pinned through the body near the dorsal fin if you would have hooked up?

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

22 hours ago, ellicat said:

Keep at it. Another thready isn't far away.

Hey ellicat

Thanks for that, I sure hope so.  

19 hours ago, Hweebe said:

Hey @AUS-BNE-FISHO good read, have you tried going lighter on your trace or leader to entice some more bites?  With the whiting I wonder if you had pinned through the body near the dorsal fin if you would have hooked up?

Hey Hweebe

Thanks for that, well, the reason behind the very heavy trace is that the jetty at the local park has lots of pylons and snags, and is quite deep. These affect it because if I go lighter on the trace (i.e. 30lb) I am not going to have as much leverage on the fish as I may need to land them, and with the deep water, I want to kind of get the fish in quicker so they aren't going to be puffed and not swim off after the fight (not saying I don't love the great fights, just like seeing my threadies swim off if I'm not keeping them). 

I also wonder with the whiting if it was hooked through the dorsal fin or tail if I'd hooked it, I suppose doing it that way may result in higher hook up rates. In saying that, I have hooked the bait through the tail before only to have the head bitten off... LOL. 

Cheers Hamish  

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hi everyone

I have had an eventful arvo this arvo, mainly because I got some good bait, and found a new spot! First of all, I'll start off with the cast netting, which was great. In summary, I got a few prawns, and the biggest prawn I've ever seen as well. I'll let the pictures do the talking - 

A decent haul

Ready for a fish to gobble up!

That was about 18cm! 

So, as you can see from that, I got a few prawns, and the big one was a massive surprise as it made no clicking and I only saw it in the bottom pocket last minute. 

The next exciting thing was a scouting mission. As I was walking home with my mates from school to train home, I saw a rocky, old platform which I'd always seen over the bridge. We decided to clamber down the gnarly track, and it was worth it. I know what to bring for when I go there next time, but once again, here are the pics - 

Well, that is all from today. The summary from the prawns was 18, and hopefully I will be able to give you all a decent report about this spot when/if I get out there (It's going to be a pain lugging my cart the 2.5Kms). 

Cheers Hamish  

[Hweebe]

Did you deploy any of the live prawns? Or saved for another day?

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

8 hours ago, Hweebe said:

Did you deploy any of the live prawns? Or saved for another day?

Hi Hweebe

Unfortunately since I have no rod, I didn't. 

My dad had told me I need to bring a rod down because that bait would've been "to good to resist", so I think I'll start too. May also improve my chances rapidly. I think I can ride down with a back pack and the bike, so next time I'll be giving it a try.  

Cheers Hamish

[Hweebe]

Hey Hamish, I basically go everywhere with a telescopic rod in my car, always prepared for a random flick into a body of water

Never know where you might see fish boiling up or if u have a few hrs to burn 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hi Hweebe

Yes, that is a good idea. I have my telescopic, but it is mainly reserved for bike trips, scout trips, long car trips, etc. 

It would be good if I could land salmon on mine, but I would be sure that I'd have no chance. 10lb line and a whole load of strucutre is ideal, LOL.

Cheers Hamish