queensland Brisbane River Session #28

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hi all

Last night my dad and I decided to go out prawning. It was mainly to stock up on some good baits, but I have decided to be a bit adventorous and I'm going to try some of the bigger prawns for a feed. (If it goes to plan, I'll either post them up in the recipes, or make another topic, or post them up in this thread). We were going to the Colmslie boat ramp, which seems to be a reliable location. 

When we got thee, there was a massive moon (which is good for prawns apparently) but the tide was only about half way up, which is not so good there. It's better when the tide is high for prawns there, or that is what I've read on it anyways. Luckily, on my first cast, which was rather crappy, I got one big one. My dad, who was throwing the twelve footer, got two big ones as well. It continued on like this for about the next half hour, so until about 6:30PM. By then, the tide was really gushing in and it had complete control of our nets. We were starting to get lots of prawns now, which was good. But the bad thing was, they were tiny. These prawns were actually very annoying, because each throw it would take a few minutes to clean them out. 

As well as the prawns, we were getting lots of something that was not very welcome. The scat were out in plague proportions, and they were the world's biggest pain to clean up out of the net. They got stuck like herring, they were spiky as anything, and they were grimy, grunty and just yucky. LOL. I think they are now one of my least favourite fish to catch in the cast net, and they are certainly up there with glassies and catfish. I have lots of net cleaning to do today, and I am planning on an arvo session so when I finish this I'm going to have to get cracking. 

It was now about 7:00PM, and I decided I'd throw my tiny net (4 foot) up in the shallows, mainly just to check for any snags. It is a lot harder to get a good circle as the rip from the last time I took her out in the yak (I don't remember what report but I do remember standing in shin high mud throwing my net onto a log) makes a difference. I wasn't getting any big prawns, but I did manage to get a little bream. I think it's good to see there's still some fish at Colmslie, but hopefully all the bigguns haven't been taken. Here it is (I took a photo just for AFO ). - 

I think this could possibly be the worst picture ever, LOL, but I think you'll all be able to see the bream (tiny). 

The bream was released and swum off well. I then got back to throwing the net, which really wasn't that eventful for the next 45 minutes or so. My dad only got one big prawn, and that was it. Luckily for us, one of the people who seem to be a regular there was very nice to us, and he actually showed us a new way/tip off throwing the net.He seemed to like my BCF net very much, because it was heavier. Maybe because it sinks quicker that way. To the point though, he picked up my net (10 footer) and showed us how to throw it. To our amazement, he did a perfect circle (like, PERFECT), and when he pulled the net up a few herring were in it. I threw them back, as I already have some herring, but I was very glad. The main point he tried to emphasize though was that you need to hold the net back a little longer. Even a half second. 

After that, it was about 7:45PM. We started throwing buckets off water on the jetty to clean it off, and we eventually had it looking better than when we got there. Some others came down now as well, I just hope that they cleaned it up too.  By about 8:00PM, I was back in the car, ready to leave. We had left with an OK haul of prawns, and while there weren't to many we got lots of big ones. 

It has become a custom to have a traveller pie on the way back from our cold, cast netting trips, so we stopped off at the Foodary and got a 4 and 20 traveller. Yum! 

(My reward for cast netting )

We finished them, and were back at home at about 8:45PM. I got some quick snaps of the prawns there as well, so now you can all finally look at the catch.  One frogmouth pilchard came home (which you can't see because it's under all the prawns). The funniest thing was though, while I did get some in the net, I found this one floating along the surface, still alive. I scooped him up and put him with the rest off the prawns. Here is the nights haul - 

OK, so that is the prawning report done. I suppose it is great that we can still catch good prawns from the land, and even though I didn't even get 1Kg, I still got some . Hopefully everyone enjoyed the report, I know it was a bit different to usual. I've got a bit of stuff to do before I go out this arvo but if it goes well a report will follow. 

Here are the stats of the trip - 

Statistics of trip - 

Tide: Low, 4:00PM, .3M, High, 10:40PM, 2.8M. I fished the rising tide

Moon Phase: 98% Full Moon. Lots of run. 

Air pressure: 1021.8 - Might've been OK for a fish... 

Time fished: 6:00PM-8:00PM

Crustacean caught: 30 odd prawns, all large

Gear used: 12 foot, 10 foot, and 4 foot Surecatch bottom pocket/top pocket cast nets

Overall Success rate: 85% - Good prawns, hopefully they taste good too

Cheers Hamish  

Sorry it's not the best pic...

[ellicat]

Some good size prawns there, Hamish.  That's a decent haul.

Nice of the bloke to give you some tips. Were you able to put them into practice ?

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hey ellicat

Well, we gave it a crack, it certainly didn't look anything like his, but our throws were a bit better. I think the ten footer is a bit heavy for me, as I find it hard to get good momentum. It's better for my dad, he could get a decent throw with it after the guy showed us. We didn't quite pick up on the way he threw the net though, he had it ready in a flash. I am thinking I might need an eight footer, but with my luck, by the time I get it, I'll be able to throw the ten foot . 

Cheers Hamish  

[benno573]

Keep practicing mate. There’s so many different techniques and some of them are much easier than others - even for a young fella like yourself.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

1 hour ago, benno573 said:

Keep practicing mate. There’s so many different techniques and some of them are much easier than others - even for a young fella like yourself.

Hiya benno573

Thanks for that, I'm sure there are. I think cast netting is just one of those things you get better at with more and more practise. Hopefully I can eventually pick up a couple easier techniques as well.  

Cheers Hamish

[GregOug]

Some good prawns there Hamish!

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

4 hours ago, GregOug said:

Some good prawns there Hamish!

Hi GregOug

Thanks for that, I don't think I'll be catching any that big any time soon.  

Cheers Hamish

[Hweebe]

Thanks for the report Hamish. Who doesn't love getting perfect circles instead of the banana throw

Took me a long while to get a technique I liked and one that kept me semi-dry.

With the weight of the 10ft for you, the trick  is the pre-throw routine when you start the swing of the leads, use the momentum of the leads in the back swing to help start the throw, rather then trying to "muscle" the net to spread. Like any sport swing (golf, cricket etc) a smooth flowing backlift is your friend.

Took my mate showing many times how he could effortlessly throw and get a good spread with limited effort whilst i would puff out after a few.

 

 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Evening Hweebe

Thanks for the tip, I'll put it into practise the next time I'm throwing the net. I agree that a good backswing will help a bit.  

Cheers Hamish