queensland Where Do You Fish When Wind Is Not Playing Nice

[Hweebe]

So I started my fishing journey largely all land based many years ago. Pretty simple really, each weekend with a mate and cousin we would scope out canals and bridges (Goldie).

Being students we rarely ever purchased bait and fishing for us meant cast netting for bait, if there was no bait we would move to the next spot.

Besides rain and tides, wind typically didn't factor into our fishing plans (if we were free we would go fishing)

Bream,  Flatties, Trevally and Jacks were our common catches. When Iooking at boats and trying to decide open tinnie or bay boat  my target was for Northern bay fishing (had enough fun fishing for estuary species) so i went with a bay boat (bar crusher 575c)

But where do you go with a bay boat when the Bay is playing up and conditions are rubbish?

I did not realise how weather dependent boat fishing was. Wind, rain, tide, moon, swell etc. I live near Brisbane CBD (5km south) where would be some suggested estuary areas that are protected from wind and not too shallow so if  when I feel the urge to wet a line i'm not constantly hoping for a forecast change on Seabreeze, met eye, windy each weekend hahahaha.

Pumicestone Passage? Broadwater? Southern Bay? Trying to decide where i explore next.

 

 

 

[ellicat]

Jacob's Well / Jumpinpin area has plenty to explore. Pretty much bread and butter species on offer, sometimes tailor and jew.

Always somewhere to get out of the wind there. I'm heading there this weekend.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hey Hweebe

Well, if you are interested in fishing estuaries/rivers when the weather is crappy, I can recommend the Brisbane River (totally not biased even though I fish it like twice or three times a week ). 

The main area I fish are the Middle Reaches, which are very non-wind dependant and fishable from bigger boats. The target species you can have would be threadfin, jew, estuary cod, bream (yellowfin), whiting (both sand and winter, I've never caught either on line but caught them in my net), flathead (dusky), catfish (vermin), pike (bait), bull sharks (In Summer only because in Winter you shouldn't waste time with them as they don't seem to bite in Winter), freshwater eels (bait again), mullet, herring, prawns, silver biddy (they're all bait), and, well, that's all that I can think of now. 

In terms of fishing, live baiting is the most efficient way for all of these but I have caught all of them on dead bait too. As said above, prawns are a great live bait. They will get the following - 

Yellowfin Bream - They are not the world's biggest bream in the middle reaches, but they fight very hard. Live prawns rigged on a 1/o-4/o suicide hook will get you them, and if you like circle hooks a 2/o - 4/o circle hook will go a treat . I use anywhere from 12-15lb depending on what structure I'm in, and I'm sure if you wanted to you could go down to six pound leader! I find bream hang towards the bank, or structure, so if you have a depth sounder maybe look for underwater structure and if you don't, maybe cast towards jetties, and any snags you can see that look fishy. 

Threadfin - First of all,  I just wanted to say that I don't mean to sound like an expert in these but more so I am sharing my experiences/what works better for me to help you with the location (if you just wanted the location, I'm sorry I wrote this up because it'll probably annoy the hell out of everyone because it's so long ). I have caught threadfin on frogmouth pilchard, prawns, and live silver biddies. I have also been absolutely destroyed on a live mullet, by what I can only assume was a massive salmon. I use an 80lb trace (which I think you know from one of my reports) which is a bit of overkill, but when there's lots of snags fish can get you in I don't like trying my luck . I think you could go down to thirty pound or forty pound if you wanted. I use a 4/o circle hook now, but I have caught them on 1/o suicide hooks, and 6/o circle hooks. Use a sinker to suit the depth/run. I think finding the bait, and then finding a deep hole is key. 

Flathead and Whiting - The techniques for these are quite simple, but so different. I have only caught one 50cm flathead in the middle reaches, on a soft plastic lure. It was in about 30cm of water on a mud bank. A slow hop/roll technique on mud banks is the best technique if you want to get any of these I think. While I haven't caught whiting on lines, you can get them in a cast net, and I think they might go tiny bits of prawn on tiny hooks. 

Eels - I have not caught to many of them over time, but I think the key is baits on the bottom. Prawn is the one that has worked for me, and I find they are actually by-catch more than anything else, when fishing for bream or live baiting for salmon. If you do get one, and you plan on chasing bull sharks, knock him on the head, chuck him on the esky, if its thicker fillet it up and then freeze it, but if it's thinner cut it into about 12cm cubes. 

Bull sharks - This Summer was the first time I got into some, and they were quite fun. I found the best technique was lobbing a poddy mullet (well, about 12cm-20cm) out on an 80lb Halco wire trace, and then just waiting. The sharks will take off, and then you should give them a little bit of run time so they eat the bait... And then you're on! I think you should use lighter gear (i.e. 15lb) as when I had them on 30lb the fight was a bit of a black and white sided fight, one being that I skull dragged them in...

That is all I really know about, or everything in summary to be more exact. I hope it helped, and the river is a good place to fish when the winds are up as while it may be a bit gusty, the water will only have the smallest chop (if any!). I hope this helps you, and sorry for the fact it was so long and that it may have missed the mark of what you were asking for a bit. 

Cheers Hamish  

 

 

[Hweebe]

@ellicat I’ve only fished that area once by boat but seemed more suited to a boat with an electric trolling motor and drifting around? That time I was exploring but the current was going hard at times so I constantly needed to adjust the drift line. Thanks for the map!! Do u drift around or anchor up?

[ellicat]

4 minutes ago, Hweebe said:

@ellicat I’ve only fished that area once by boat but seemed more suited to a boat with an electric trolling motor and drifting around? That time I was exploring but the current was going hard at times so I constantly needed to adjust the drift line. Thanks for the map!! Do u drift around or anchor up?

Troll for flatties and then anchor up somewhere for some whiting usually.

[Hweebe]

2 minutes ago, ellicat said:

Troll for flatties and then anchor up somewhere for some whiting usually.

Haven’t spent any time trolling for flaties but I know some friends that swear by trolling lures through drain areas and ambush points for flaties with bycatches of bream, trevally. Will have to do some more research and source some trolling lures

[Hweebe]

Hey Hamish,

Back in the day I used to live in western suburbs and fished Oxley creek, Jindalee area often. We would catch fish you have mentioned but just got tired of hooking catfish. When u say middle reaches where are u referring to? Do you have issues with catfish in the middle reaches?

[ellicat]

@benno573 can probably give you the name of some lures to try. I can never remember the names, I just use them. haha

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

10 hours ago, Hweebe said:

Hey Hamish,

Back in the day I used to live in western suburbs and fished Oxley creek, Jindalee area often. We would catch fish you have mentioned but just got tired of hooking catfish. When u say middle reaches where are u referring to? Do you have issues with catfish in the middle reaches?

Hey Hweebe

Sounds like you did good fishing the river. When I say middle reaches, I refer to about Newfarm to about Colleges Crossing, or probably a bit further downstream. The Upper Reaches are about Colleges Crossing up, and the Lower Reaches are about Newfarm and down. In the middle reaches, especially in Summer, the catfish are in plague proportions, but I find to escape them you can do two things. If fishing for salmon, you'll get catfish more on live prawns, so it can be more efficient to put out a line with a live biddy, mullet, etc. Also, avoid fishing your bait on the very bottom of the river with more weight than you need (but most things are bottom feders there so it is a bit of an issue). I think you mainly just have to be patient with them, until you hook up to an OK salmon . Like I said above though, they aren't around in Winter and when its colder, so now you would be good.  

Cheers Hamish