queensland First Fish of 2021 - Jan 1st - The Spit

[Kat]

Hi All

I decided that 2021 would start with a fantastic day of fishing.  New Years eve I pumped yabbies for bait.  Hard to keep alive in this heat but changed the water at 11pm and out for a fish at about 7am.

It is mayhem on the Gold Coast waterways, foreshores, boat ramps, car parks etc! Even at 7am New years day.  Was expecting more people to be sleeping off hangovers.

Arrived at a spot I hadn't fished before about 7.30am. Line in the water shortly after that.  Was after Whiting (having recently cracked the code ). Landed an undersized bream almost immediately.  Another few casts and had a legal 27cm Bream.  Another half an hour and I had landed five Bream.  No whiting but at least it wasn't going to be a donut.  

I moved up the beach a bit and things had gone off the bite.  Another half hour and I packed up my gear and walked a little further up the beach.  Found a promising Whiting spot and within 30 minutes had landed a couple of legal sized whiting and a couple of unders.  When I landed my second legal size I decided I had caught enough whiting recently and I Changed to heavier gear.  I didn't have any wire trace with me but decided, as it was the 1st January, I would try my luck with a live whiting for a Shark or something else bigger than whiting (given the size of the bait it would have to be much bigger!).  Dreams are free.

Anyway I tried to cast as close to the deep channel as possible.  Every 20 min or so I would check on the bait and when he was showing mo signs of live I decided to cut him into large fillets and thread o the hook.  Out went the bait into the channel again.  I sat bag and waited.  As I was taking a drink of water I saw the rod tip move a little.  I carefully picked up the rod and tighten the drag a little, but not too much, enough to set the hook if the fish took a run but not to tight that the line would snap.  I wasn't really set up for Sharks just being impulsive.

A few seconds later the drag screamed and I let it run.  The battle had begun.  The fish was powerful and I was worried the line would break.  I was being careful not to panic and was tightening the drag little by little as I fought the fish.  I was really excited and imagining a big fish other than shark - not sure what.  The fish wad getting closer to the beach and fighting even harder.  I was disappointed to see a stingray!  But the adrenaline was worth it.  With the stingray at my feet I couldn't get him up on the beach easily so sacrificed my hook.  By this time people were watching - it is always funny how everyone gets excited to see what you are battling.

A few more casts with a chunk of whiting and nothing but pickers.  

I started concentrating on the whiting again and to my surprise landed a flounder.

With enough sunshine, rain, sand, sand, salt and excitement had I headed home to rest and plan my next fishing adventure. 

Hope 2021 continues with success.

Cheers Kat!

[Guest]

51 minutes ago, Kat said:

Hi All

I decided that 2021 would start with a fantastic day of fishing.  New Years eve I pumped yabbies for bait.  Hard to keep alive in this heat but changed the water at 11pm and out for a fish at about 7am.

It is mayhem on the Gold Coast waterways, foreshores, boat ramps, car parks etc! Even at 7am New years day.  Was expecting more people to be sleeping off hangovers.

Arrived at a spot I hadn't fished before about 7.30am. Line in the water shortly after that.  Was after Whiting (having recently cracked the code ). Landed an undersized bream almost immediately.  Another few casts and had a legal 27cm Bream.  Another half an hour and I had landed five Bream.  No whiting but at least it wasn't going to be a donut.  

I moved up the beach a bit and things had gone off the bite.  Another half hour and I packed up my gear and walked a little further up the beach.  Found a promising Whiting spot and within 30 minutes had landed a couple of legal sized whiting and a couple of unders.  When I landed my second legal size I decided I had caught enough whiting recently and I Changed to heavier gear.  I didn't have any wire trace with me but decided, as it was the 1st January, I would try my luck with a live whiting for a Shark or something else bigger than whiting (given the size of the bait it would have to be much bigger!).  Dreams are free.

Anyway I tried to cast as close to the deep channel as possible.  Every 20 min or so I would check on the bait and when he was showing mo signs of live I decided to cut him into large fillets and thread o the hook.  Out went the bait into the channel again.  I sat bag and waited.  As I was taking a drink of water I saw the rod tip move a little.  I carefully picked up the rod and tighten the drag a little, but not too much, enough to set the hook if the fish took a run but not to tight that the line would snap.  I wasn't really set up for Sharks just being impulsive.

A few seconds later the drag screamed and I let it run.  The battle had begun.  The fish was powerful and I was worried the line would break.  I was being careful not to panic and was tightening the drag little by little as I fought the fish.  I was really excited and imagining a big fish other than shark - not sure what.  The fish wad getting closer to the beach and fighting even harder.  I was disappointed to see a stingray!  But the adrenaline was worth it.  With the stingray at my feet I couldn't get him up on the beach easily so sacrificed my hook.  By this time people were watching - it is always funny how everyone gets excited to see what you are battling.

A few more casts with a chunk of whiting and nothing but pickers.  

I started concentrating on the whiting again and to my surprise landed a flounder.

With enough sunshine, rain, sand, sand, salt and excitement had I headed home to rest and plan my next fishing adventure. 

Hope 2021 continues with success.

Cheers Kat!

Sounds like you had some fun Kat , I think the fish had hangovers here at bribie they just didn't want to play. Have you tried coomera river ? My youngest ones friend has been dragging big jacks out of there, she keeps sending pics saying show these to your dad . There meant to be plenty of bullies in there too

[Kat]

 

16 minutes ago, Sneaky1 said:

Sounds like you had some fun Kat , I think the fish had hangovers here at bribie they just didn't want to play. Have you tried coomera river ? My youngest ones friend has been dragging big jacks out of there, she keeps sending pics saying show these to your dad . There meant to be plenty of bullies in there too

Yes it was great.  I .havent tried the Coomera.  Wouldnt know where to start.  Was going to go night fishing with my brother tonight and thought about targeting jacks with live bait but don't really have a clue.  If I can get some live bait I might just pick a spot and give it a go.  Although the live bait is remaining elusive at the moment!

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Good job Kat, that’s the right way to start the New Year! Sounds like a fun little session.

I’m going out tonight with Dad.

Cheers Hamish 

[ellicat]

Nice one, Kat. Good start to the year and great to see you getting some whiting.

The ray would have been fun to play. They make good shark bait too, but I guess with a crowd watching, killing it would have drawn criticism as they don't die easily.

Happy New Year and good luck if you go on a Jack hunt.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

2 hours ago, ellicat said:

The ray would have been fun to play. They make good shark bait too, but I guess with a crowd watching, killing it would have drawn criticism as they don't die easily.

That reminds me - I need to cast net sone mullet and herring, catch some eels (I need to try the first spot from my first ever post haha), and maybe catch a few rays for bait for the comp.

Cheers Hamish

[Brodie_S]

Good job on the stingray there are everywhere where I live good job on the beach fishing to I’ve never been good at it good you got some whiting and bream to seems like you had quite a decent sesh good job .Lmao it’s probably gonna be late February before I can go fishing again because the water is so dirty and it just keeps raining it’s really pissing me off the last fish I got before 2021 was a decent size flathead and that was around the start of this stupid rain . Not bad for my last fish of 2020 though . 

[kmcrosby78]

Nice start to the new year @Kat, well done!

[GregOug]

And the end of the year for you Breaming with Bro