queensland Brisbane River Session #73, #74, #75, #76, and #77!

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hi all

Well there are a fair few dud reports in the following write up. Hopefully you will enjoy them though, as it was a real mix up between bogans, kayaking, and landbased sessions. The first session was quite a while ago, so I won't be able to recall details that well.

I got to the park at the normal time. It was an overcast day, and the first session after the whopper in #72. I still hadn't put out the salmon line, as I planned to try for some cod today. I dropped all the baits down below the jetty (except one which I let out a bit more) and was fishing. I had a couple left over prawns from the sessions prior to this one, so they were the bait of choice. Nothing happened for a while, and apart from loosing some baits without even feeling it, some other people rocked up.

They were all shirtless, one bag, one rod. I wasn't sure what to think at first, but they were minding their own business. Before long, they got into trouble. One of them climbed up a pylon and started shaking it - I thought it might fall out of the ground. They wouldn't shut up either, and had bloody dreadful music on. Sooner or later they were jumping up on the railing of the jetty. In this time, I'd given the rods a couple bait checks for no love which was disappointing. The other people eventually landed a small perch, which the thought was a bay Jewfish (wouldn't listen to me) and then they pegged it up as high as they could into the air. Luckily, it swum off all good. One of them had a chat to me and told me about large Jew and Threads he'd caught, as well as Marlin in Vanuatu, and big sharks at Luggage Point. I reckon his folks are keen fisherman and he knows bugger all - he was pretty well full of rubbish from what I could get.

Then, they started doing flips off the jetty so I hoped Jaws would hop up and gobble them to bits, but unfortunately that didn't happen. They got one more apparent hit, but there was no fish on the end. Sooner or later they were departing (same time as I was, only because I didn't have much bait and tides were wrong for netting), so I said goodbye to them and they were gone.

I was almost 100% they would leave trash on the jetty, and guess what?! I found their bait (Woolies prawns) rolled up in a ball shoved under the pontoon with all their other rubbish. I cleaned it up and put it into the bike buggy, so luckily the jetty was nice and clean on departure. Here are the stats of that little trip - 

Statistics of Trip - 

Tide: 11:30AM, Low, .8M, 5:30PM, 1.8M, High

Moon Phase: Waxing Gibbous

Weather: Overcast, cool, slight drizzle

Bait Caught: Zilch

Bait used: Prawns and Herring

Fish Caught: -

Tackle Used: 20lb, 30lb braid mainlines, 20lb, 80lb fluorocarbon and mono leaders, size 2 ball sinkers, 4/o hooks, Abu Garcia Barra King reel (size 65), Penn SSM 650, Ugly Stik, Rogue Firepoint Boat Rod.

Overall Success Rate: 30% - Pretty dismal

I took a break on Chrissy Eve and Day, and then we were in Esk for a couple of nights, so the next session was on New Year's Eve. Today, I was fishing with a mate who had his father and grandfather along too. They were using bloodworms as bait, and I was using prawns and herring. I was still fishing for only cod and bream, so I hoped to encounter something.

After no bites, the father and grandfather of my mate moved up onto the wooden pier. They had whiting rigs on, so I figured that's what they might catch if they were lucky. Some other people came down as well, who seemed nice enough. They were fishing off the jetty, which ended up going alright. 

My mate's grandfather then got snipped off, which seemed strange. I couldn't think of how that could've happened as a shark wouldn't of taken worm. Any ideas?

My mate, who kept reeling in his bait like it was a lure (I kept telling him he wouldn't catch anything like that but he didn't seem to mind), eventually tangled his line with the people on the jetty. He started untangling, and within a couple minutes of no progress I got off my bum and went over. Just at this moment, there was run a run on the line (probably a catty). I could've hooked him, but I left it on a loose drag for my friend to reel in. This allowed the fish to shake the hooks which was quite annoying. I started untangling, and I thought the person was going to explode with the look on his face. I started some small talk with him about fishing and that worked though. Eventually we got the tangle all free and then we started fishing again.

I was giving two lures a flick - a four inch Pearl Soft Plastic, and a little bream hardbody. After numerous casts with both of these, I put them down and had a bit more of a bait fish. The herring line was untouched and the other one just had no bait which was unfortunate.  I re-casted and kept fishing.

Soon enough, my mate's grandpa was hooked up. After a nice little fight with a couple of runs, guess what surfaces? A dirty old catfish! I hoiked him and and took him away in the net. The hook was jammed in the blubber in his mouth, and that gave me grief so much I needed a hand dehooked him . I flicked him out of the net in the jetty and he swum away just fine. Hopefully staying away too.

Dirty Rotter

The other people who were fishing left after about 20 minutes. I was quite surprised but said goodbye and they said something like, "I'll be back tonight to catch 'em". I don't know if they did come back, but I do know they left heaps of garbage on the jetty, including some squid that they were using. I picked it up and chucked it away for good. 

After that, I put the lines back in. It didn't take long for them to hook up to another fish - this time a perch of about 12CM. Haha. Unfortunately for it, the perch was gut hooked and after being dehooked he floated away. I would've kept him for bait if I could've reached him. Sooner or later, there was yet another capture. This time it was a small catfish... The old fellas were showing me and my mate up! (As they put it). 

My mate switched to fishing with worm, so he might be able to catch something. Luckily for him (and my ego), he managed to get onto the biggest perch of the day. This one too was gut hooked, which was a little sad. I thought he kicked down but by the time he surfaced again he was out of range for the net. I suppose it would've just fed something else - the crabs!

I believe that was the final fish for the day before they departed off at around 4:30PM. My mate had to come back as he forgot a hat, and my dad was down throwing the net by now. The tide wasn't exactly good or bad - in the middle. We got a live herring which I deployed on the overhead. Now, I don't understand how that didn't get a fish. Right in front of the pylons. Kicking. On the bottom. If there was a cod there I think it would've taken it! 

Dad and I left soon after, and it was a pretty average session overall. Though, I did have an OK time with some more company than usual. Here are the stats of that trip - 

Statistics of Trip - 

Tide: 11:10AM, 2.3M, High, 5:00PM, .3M, Low

Moon Phase: Full Moon, so lots of run

Bait Caught: -

Bait Used: Prawns, Bloodworms, Herring

Fish Caught: Catfish x 2, Perch x 2

Tackle Used: 10lb, 15lb braid mainlines (on the lure rods), 20lb, 30lb braid mainlines (on the bait rods), 20lb fluorocarbon leader, 4/o suicide hooks, size 2 sinkers, 4 inch Z-man Pearl plastic, small bream lure, Shimano Cranx Baitcast rod, Ugly Stik 6'6", Rogue Firepoint Boat rod 2M, Ugly Stik rod, Diawa Mag-Force Baitcaster, Shimano Sienna 1000, Penn SSM 650, Abu Garcia Barra KIng 65. 

Weather: Overall and drizzly

Overall Success Rate: 50% - Some more company than usual

I believe I'm forgetting something here, but I think the next session was when my dad and I went out for a yak session at night time. We loaded up the kayak, the sounder (which was newly mounted) and had high hopes for a salmon under Cobia Bridge or a flatty at Three Pylon Creek on a lure. The yak was ready by a bit past five, so we set off to the park. 

Yak

We had one rod with a vibe, one rod with a plastic, and one rod rigged for livies. We were at the park soon after we departed, and loaded the yak into the drink. I packed it up and my Dad started doing some netting. The first cast produced nothing - not looking good. After many pancakes of the net into many positions, Dad failed to get any more bait than 4 OK prawns. Things were urgent, so we made the call to head to the ramp, paddling against the tide, to catch some better bait. We got to the ramp after a very hard SLOG and dad started casting. We saw a little bit of bait busting up on the mudflats near the ramp, but unfortunately nothing was encountered in the ten or so casts done there (except a little prawn and a rotten snag). Dad and I walked over to the beaches but since it was a relatively low tide we couldn't get down anywhere near the water without going into some lovely, Brisbane River, ankle high mud!

Putting In

We set off now, very disappointed in ourselves for not getting that much bait. After a decent paddle, we got to Three Pylon Creek. We fished here for around 20 minutes, and all I was doing was casting up into the creek, casting around the bank of the creek, and other any other structure that looked fishy. I didn't get any fish for all the slow rolling and hopping I was doing, which was pretty disappointing. I did get one (or what I thought was) a 'hit' anyway. I felt a little brush, then the rod sort of loaded up (I missed striking) and then it was slack. Could've also been the lure bouncing over a snag.

Everything was all good, and the all round light was keeping us with some OK vision. It's worth mentioning as we were coming down, we saw someone tied up close to the bank seemingly playing a fish. The rod was pretty bendy, and the fella was going around and around the boat, then everything went all calm. So either he had a massive snag or a fair size fish! 

We got to Cobia Bridge after another slog, and we started a drift. At this point, the tide was still running out, but barely. I dropped down a nice live prawn (our best one got away, so I put on the next biggest one in hope of a thready), and the line was deployed. Dad lobbed out a soft vibe, and he was slowly hopping it back to us in hope of something big. I left the rod with a prawn in a holder, and sat down and waited.

As you can see - new cut!

After that, we started drifting. After maybe 2 minutes, the line got a little run. I picked it up and realised I was on. I could tell it was tiny, so I just skull dragged up another bloody forky. Stupid picker. He certainly was not happily excepted on the boat, so dad flicked him away with the pliers. 

Bad photos

After that catty, we rebaited and moved spots. Dad dropped down the vibe again. This time, it was about five minutes before another fish. There wasn't as much of a run this time, but I still dragged him up. It was another blasted catty! It seemed like we were on a whole school of these little tackers, so I decided with dad we would move to the other side of the bridge. The two better size prawns were gone now so we were running very low on any OK bait. 

(No pic)

I dropped down the bait and Dad dropped another vibe for no result. The bite was quiet for around fifteen minutes, which was rather annoying, so we kept persisting. The tide must've been around the change though because sooner or later we were deadly still. Maybe moving a tiny bit every time a tiny gust of wind got us. There was a little inquiry on the salmon line, but alas, this time there was no hook up.  . The next run came about another fifteen minutes later - we were all hoping for a decent fish, but on the last prawn, a tiny catty came up. What a dirty rotter!

 

We went to suss out the beach under Cobia Bridge, but there was too much mud for Dad to be bothered to give the net a throw. I didn't really mind though - it gave me the chance to work on my bait casting skills. I can throw it a good 20 metres if I flick it hard but it's a bit of an effort more than that. I'm not sure if it's my technique or the line lay (I've taken it off to make it straighter) but sometimes the reel stops casting when I do a side cast. I assume this is because the line won't run horizontally off the spool, and it's better vertically going off (like a normal overhead cast). 

I fished the light pools, around the pylons, the banks, and pretty much everything that might hold fish with the grub. I tried different retrieves and different retrieve speeds and was still given no love. After a while, I switched to a shallow diving hardbody. This didn't get any joy unfortunately, so I switched to a deep diver. By now, it was a little before ten, and starting to rain, so we trolled up a new walkway that had been built with the deep diver. We were right in the structure, but unfortunately, nothing was encountered.

Pretty Night

We then tried the mouth of a creek, but to our dismay it was shallow as (like, something CM deep). I still gave it a crack though for no fish. We finished trolling and started to go back in, mainly because it was raining! After a big slog back to the jetty we made it up. It was 10 past 10, and I was NAKKED. I practically fell asleep on the jetty (not joking). Dad and I unloaded the yak though, and then set off for our homecoming. 

Now, I have one more thing which is very important. The sounder in the yak (which is why you've seen no photos) was really weird. As in not working. I don't know if it's some way we mounted it, but this is the only screen that came up. Could anyone please help us? It'd be much appreciated. By the way, it's a Lowrance Hook 2. 

???

Thanks for reading that report, and if you're still here the next was the most successful. Here are the stats of that trip though - 

Stats of Trip - 

Tide: 1:05PM, 2.4M, High, 7:50PM, .5M, Low, 1:15AM, 1.7M, High

Moon Phase: Waning Gibbous, 89% Moon

Bait Caught: Prawns

Bait used: Live prawn

Fish Caught: Catfish x 3

Tackle Used: 15lb, 20lb, 30lb braid mainlines, 20lb and 30lb fluorocarbon leaders, size 3/8^th Jighead, 4 inch Pearl Placcy, Shallow Diving Lure (one of Dad's ancient ones), Mullet imitation lure, Zerek Soft Vibe in a pink colour, 80lb mono leader, 4/o circle hook/ large-ish barrel swivel, Shocker knot (and the one Benno showed me, don't know the name), size 5 ball sinker, Rogue Firepoint Boat rod, Size 650 Penn reel, Diawa Mag-Force baitcaster, Abu Garcia Barra King, Ugly Stik and Shimano Cranx Baitcaster rod. 

Weather: Cloudy and a bit of a shower

Time Fished: About 5:30PM - 9:45PM

Overall Success Rate: 50% - a relaxing night out

Alright, now to the next one. This one was just at the local park, and guess what? There were some absolute GRUBS there too. I'll go from the top though, seeing as though it wasn't a donut. I got there at the normal time, and deployed the lines with some leftover prawns from prior sessions. There wasn't any touches for the first while (and I'll let you in on a secret - the 'prawn' was actually a day old shrimp from the net which no one noticed! Lol), but then my mate arrived. Soon enough, the rod got pickered. I reeled it in, and the overhead still had plenty of bait left. This happened again and I presented the bait so it looked OK.

Then, as I was checking for the next time, I realised I was on. The fish hadn't even put up a fight, so I got it in no worries on the twenty pound outfit. I lifted up a respectable River Perch, which had engulfed my 3/o circle hook straight down it's gob. I chopped the line off and after a quick photo released him off the jetty. Luckily, he swum straight back down and didn't float up later. 

I wish they didn't gut hook themselves!

After that fish, which left us off the donut, I chucked out another prawn (for real now). It didn't take long for the rod to go off, and while I was throwing then net I heard the ratchet going, "ZZZZZZZ". This seemed OK, but I picked it up and realised once again it wasn't massive. I was hoping for a live catty as bully bait though, but unluckily this guy was a tad to big. My friend got some footage (I don't have it, sorry), but it's quite funny watching my commentary  

FoRkY!

After that one, it went a little quiet. Some other people (shirtless teenagers) rocked up on bikes. They were taking up the whole walkway, and the only thing that came out of their mouth was swearing (not to mention they were pretty much fighting each other with their rods!). I didn't say anything to them, so they were minding their own business embarrassing themselves while I kept fishing.

I believe the got on the grog sooner or later, because it sure looked like they were drinking beer. They started getting a bit more rowdy, and sooner or later caught my line and tangled it up. That happened a fair while after they got there, and I reckon they were so loud they spooked everything in sight. 

I had a prawn on, but that ran out. Fortunately, my dad came down and gave the net a throw. The tide was about half way up and roaring out, so he only managed one live bait size prawn. I chucked it on happily and tried to sit back and relax. Fast forward a lot more time with no hits or fish, I'd moved all my gear to the jetty. This was purely to get away from the people up on the wooden bit, as they were blocking the whole path, and at this point swearing at passers-by for no given reason. In fact, they took my spot after I left to go onto the jetty, and one lady who picked up their bag and asked, "Is this yours" was replied with the worst thing I could think of! What disgusting people. 

I had no touches on the prawn, which was still surprisingly on the hook and kicking alive. I casted him back out, and left my rod with herring in the structure out too. Now, I know this sounds stupid, but I kid you not, they tied a condom to their line and started throwing it at people, the water, and trees. Me and my mate were in between thinking they were absolutely stupid and should get eaten by a shark, and also hoping they didn't do too much damage. When my mate and I were finally ready to go, the line with a prawn came back in with no prawn, in trade some sinkers and old line. I keep catching rubbish like this, so it seems there's lots sadly. 

I departed a very weird day, which I'm glad about. Luckily, it seems they at least had the spirit to clean up after themselves. Oh, and I should mention they were about 16, which is why it was so bad they were drinking so much! Here are the stats of another trip - 

Stats of Trip - 

Tide: 2:30PM, High, 2.3M, 9:10PM, .5M, Low

Moon Phase: 71% Full Moon, fair bitta run!

Bait Caught: One Prawn

Bait Used: Prawns and Day Old Shrimp, Herring

Fish Caught: Catfish x 1, Perch x 1

Tackle Used: 10lb, 20lb, 30lb braid mainlines, 20lb, 30lb, 80lb, fluorocarbon, mono leaders, size 2 and 5 ball sinkers, large-ish barrel swivel, 4/o, 3/o circle and suicide hooks, Rogue Firepoint Boat Rod 2M, Ugly Stik 6"6', other Ugly Stik... Abu Garcia Barra King 65, Penn SSM 650, Shimano Sienna 1000

Weather: Sunny, some clouds

Time fished: Around 2:30-ish-5:30-ish (PM)

Overall Success Rate: 30% - Bogans

Alright, now... The final report!!! This one was a different one, and a bit more fun than usual. Today, since we were out of dead baits, that's what we were going to collect. I asked my friend to come along too, so I brought a smaller net for him to hopefully learn how to throw. We got to Colmslie Boat Ramp a bit past seven, and got netting. There wasn't much tide at first, so I scattered a fair bit of berley around (tuna oil, bread, chicken pellets). Dad was using the twelvy, I was using a tenner, and my mate was using the smallest net. 

The first casts brought nothing, but then we found the prawns. There were more off the side of the jetty. I was averaging a couple each throw, which was pretty good. At the beginning, we got more herring than prawns, so in total we had around ten herring by the time we got some OK prawns. Dad was averaging 2 a throw, with the best being about 4 or 5 for then. I was averaging similar, and my mate who was still learning to throw the net was averaging around none. He was getting better though, but as much as we told him the key thing he didn't get it down pat. What he was failing to do was have an OK backswing and flick the net. Instead, he sort of dropped it, giving a very twisted opening most of the time (which was unfortunate). 

Sooner or later, a boat which was moored about 30 metres out started playing this dreadful metal music which ruined the very peaceful vibe of the night. I think I'd listen to anything before that!

After about an hour and a bit of casting, we had a few herring together and an OK sandwich of prawns. Not all of them were of good size but at least we had some fair baits. I was walking past my Dad when he was pulling up his net. I decided to stay around and help him clean it out. Apart from some OK prawns in the top pocket, I heard some weird squelching noises too. I investigated, and to my shock, Dad had landed our first Brisbane River Squid!!! It was a real tiny bugger, but Dad insisted on keeping him for bait as he wanted to see how the would go. I wonder what I might encounter on him?!

It was getting late now, and after lots more bait, such as prawns, we had a fair haul after lots of fair work! There was one more place I wanted to try though - right now we were at the Colmslie Boat Ramp... The Murrarrie Recreation Hub was just down the road and I've seen a fair bit of action there so figured I could give it a crack. Dad only wanted to go tehre for a bit, so we left shortly after we found it (it's sort of hidden by a path). There was a big building playing loud music, which we didn't have any clue on, but at least it wasn't too bad. 

Leaving C

Dad did a couple throws off the front for some OK prawns, the same we were getting at C. We realised the big place was 'Brew Dog', the one you say is very good, @kmcrosby78. I asked if we could stop in, but my Dad said I'd have to be 18 before that happened . It is very big, so it looks like they might brew their drinks in there too... We left to go home with an OK haul of bait, and as it's tradition we stopped at 'The Foodairy' and got a 'Traveller Meat Pie' and "Ms Mac's Pie'. Tasty!

On arrival home, we counted the catch and bagged it in tens. 12 Herring (very depressing amount), but a bit more happy amount of prawns at around 65. Then there was the one squid. Pretty good going in my books I think! Thanks for reading this long stroy, and here are the stats of this trip. Hope you enjoyed!

Stats of trip - 

Tide: 2:15PM, 2.5M, High, 9:00PM, .6M, Low

Moon Phase: 61%, not too much run

Bait Caught: Herring x 12, Squid x 1

Crustacean Caught: About 65 Prawns

Gear Used: Homemade berley (recipe outlined in report #35, #36, and #37!), 12 foot top pocket Wilson net, 10 foot Bottom Pocket Wilson Net, 8 foot small net.

Weather: Cloudy

Overall Success Rate: 85% - solid

Cheers Hamish  

P.S. Sorry for any typos, and there might be a few things I missed. 

[Brodie_S]

I’ve been having the same problem lately with just dud sessions due to river being dirty from all this rain it is now the flooding stage lol so no fishing for me anytime soon

[Cavvy]

Phew that took some reading!  No wonder you were on the computer for so long today! Only a few typos @AUS-BNE-FISHO but good wrapup!

The sounder on the kayak was a real disappointment - I was looking forward to getting a read on the depth of the water in some of the places @AUS-BNE-FISHO fishes.  I mounted the sonar head in a similar fashion to a bloke I met a few weeks back - who had some tips from Hobie.  Silastic a small piece of rubber/thong on the bottom of the yak and then silastic the sonar head to the top of the thong being careful not to have any trapped air bubbles.

Visually it looked like his but clearly was far from working given the screenshot above.  I've had it out before just holding the sonar head and worked okay.  Anyway I've pulled it out and will check it in the pool before trying another method.  This time I will make  a snug well out of polystyrene, silastic that in then fill it with a little bit of water with the sonar head placed inside.  We'll see how that goes......  At least the battery mount worked fine .....

[Old Scaley]

8 hours ago, Cavvy said:

Phew that took some reading!  No wonder you were on the computer for so long today! Only a few typos @AUS-BNE-FISHO but good wrapup!

The sounder on the kayak was a real disappointment - I was looking forward to getting a read on the depth of the water in some of the places @AUS-BNE-FISHO fishes.  I mounted the sonar head in a similar fashion to a bloke I met a few weeks back - who had some tips from Hobie.  Silastic a small piece of rubber/thong on the bottom of the yak and then silastic the sonar head to the top of the thong being careful not to have any trapped air bubbles.

Visually it looked like his but clearly was far from working given the screenshot above.  I've had it out before just holding the sonar head and worked okay.  Anyway I've pulled it out and will check it in the pool before trying another method.  This time I will make  a snug well out of polystyrene, silastic that in then fill it with a little bit of water with the sonar head placed inside.  We'll see how that goes......  At least the battery mount worked fine .....

Does the battery have plenty of charge? I have seen sounders give those weird displays when the the battery is running low.

[GregOug]

I was going to suggest just holding the transducer in the water to see if it’s works first but you’ve already tried that. Is there any way of mounting it so it sits in the water in about the same position as when it worked just holding it? 
 

I would think you would be best trying to secure the transducer bracket to the kayak, rather than the transducer itself. That way you have a way of adjusting it. 

[Junky]

On 06/01/2021 at 11:07 PM, Cavvy said:

Phew that took some reading!  No wonder you were on the computer for so long today! Only a few typos @AUS-BNE-FISHO but good wrapup!

The sounder on the kayak was a real disappointment - I was looking forward to getting a read on the depth of the water in some of the places @AUS-BNE-FISHO fishes.  I mounted the sonar head in a similar fashion to a bloke I met a few weeks back - who had some tips from Hobie.  Silastic a small piece of rubber/thong on the bottom of the yak and then silastic the sonar head to the top of the thong being careful not to have any trapped air bubbles.

Visually it looked like his but clearly was far from working given the screenshot above.  I've had it out before just holding the sonar head and worked okay.  Anyway I've pulled it out and will check it in the pool before trying another method.  This time I will make  a snug well out of polystyrene, silastic that in then fill it with a little bit of water with the sonar head placed inside.  We'll see how that goes......  At least the battery mount worked fine .....

G'day Cavvy.

 

Throw up a few pics of the transducer placement. 

I take it you're setting it up for a shoot through design. 

[The Mad Hughesy]

I was warned against getting that sounder for my kayak for the exact reason that the screen plays up a lot. But I ignored the advice and paid the price. Everyone I know who has one of these units runs into this problem. I’ll be selling mine and buying something different soon.

[Cavvy]

Hi everyone, thanks for the comments/suggestions.  Seems we might have a dud ( @christophagus) but a few more checks in order:

- battery recharge.  Should have been good but certainly will charge up and run again as easy check.

- will do another water run in the pool this weekend to see if it gives a standard screen.  @AUS-BNE-FISHOcan be the underwater fish.....

- if it seems okay I'll try another mount.  I've attached a pic of last one. I'm not really sure what the thong/rubber mount was meant to do vs mount direct to bottom but Hobie mounting guy had noted it was their standard arrangement.  When I took it off I checked for air bubbles and actually seemed fine - both mount to bottom and mount to the thong @Junky 

I'll let you know how we go

Cheers

[ellicat]

On 06/01/2021 at 8:33 PM, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

My mate's grandfather then got snipped off, which seemed strange. I couldn't think of how that could've happened as a shark wouldn't of taken worm. Any ideas?

I think it was most likely a pike eel.

Hopefully all those bogans stop showing up after the holiday season finishes.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

10 minutes ago, ellicat said:

I think it was most likely a pike eel.

Hopefully all those bogans stop showing up after the holiday season finishes.

Thanks for the suggestion, Brian.

I think you will be right that they will stop showing up after holidays. I was out yesterday (gentleman’s hours for once) and met this very nice fella there. I’d seen him there a couple times before which were both good also.

Cheers Hamish

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

On 06/01/2021 at 9:52 PM, Breaming with bro said:

I’ve been having the same problem lately with just dud sessions due to river being dirty from all this rain it is now the flooding stage lol so no fishing for me anytime soon

Hi BwB

That’s a bugger, hey!!! Stay safe with the floodwater, and I hope it doesn’t affect you.

Thanks everyone who gave a good response for the sounder! It’s much appreciated and will probably be taken into consideration seeing as though we’re stuck in lockdown  

Cheers Hamish

[kmcrosby78]

Great read @AUS-BNE-FISHO you certainly don't die wondering, I bet you slept well after the big paddle night. Be careful around those bogans - sounds like those 16 year olds are an interesting bunch. I think you're right, once school starts they should settle down a bit (hopefully ....). 

@Cavvy I had the same problem happen with my kayak sounder. I bought a new battery and mine improved but from memory hasn't quite worked as well as it should since (have only used it a handful of times when we go to Noosa for holidays). Mine is also a Lowrance (Elite 3X from memory - it is under the house ...). 

[Junky]

12 hours ago, Cavvy said:

Hi everyone, thanks for the comments/suggestions.  Seems we might have a dud ( @christophagus) but a few more checks in order:

- battery recharge.  Should have been good but certainly will charge up and run again as easy check.

- will do another water run in the pool this weekend to see if it gives a standard screen.  @AUS-BNE-FISHOcan be the underwater fish.....

- if it seems okay I'll try another mount.  I've attached a pic of last one. I'm not really sure what the thong/rubber mount was meant to do vs mount direct to bottom but Hobie mounting guy had noted it was their standard arrangement.  When I took it off I checked for air bubbles and actually seemed fine - both mount to bottom and mount to the thong @Junky 

I'll let you know how we go

Cheers

Okay.

The screen shot above doesn't look good. 

I am not familiar with new lowrances. The numbers across the top look like repeating screens. The unit could be a dud, could be, but first try a dew things to be sure.  

 

 

Firstly, cut the transducer free from the thong and clean the sika off. 

Pour some water on a bench Top or table, glass works best, and create a small puddle. 

Power up the unit and hold the transducer in the puddle. You should hear it clicking away. If not, its toast. 

If it is clicking away, you will hear it easily, then go back to the pool and do a dry test by holding the transducer on the surface of the water. 

 

If it is reading clearly the next step I would take would be to slightly fill the hull of the yak with water, about 20 to 30mm deep.

Sit the transducer in the water, no sika, no thong, just loosely in the bottom of the hull submerged in the water the right way up.

Power up the unit. It should read clearly. If not, then there's a problem with shooting through the hull.  

If it's clear then you have a problem with the sika and thong method. 

If it's the same then I'd say the head unit has issues. 

It looks as though it's looping or something, as in trying to sound for a bit and then resetting. I only say this because of the numbers across the screen. 

 

 

Good luck. 

Keep us posted. 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

9 hours ago, kmcrosby78 said:

Great read @AUS-BNE-FISHO you certainly don't die wondering, I bet you slept well after the big paddle night. Be careful around those bogans - sounds like those 16 year olds are an interesting bunch. I think you're right, once school starts they should settle down a bit (hopefully ....). 

@Cavvy I had the same problem happen with my kayak sounder. I bought a new battery and mine improved but from memory hasn't quite worked as well as it should since (have only used it a handful of times when we go to Noosa for holidays). Mine is also a Lowrance (Elite 3X from memory - it is under the house ...). 

Thanks KM, sure did! Hopefully they stay away, not very pleasant being around them! Thanks for the tip with the sounder too. Dad and I did some more troubleshooting this arvo. 

Junky, thanks for that big write up above. Some great steps there. We don't have a dud as it works and reads accurately in the pool. Must be something to do with mounting I suppose.

Cheers Hamish

P.S. Is anyone going out this Friday? Weather looks OK... (Just wondering)

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

On 07/01/2021 at 8:10 PM, GregOug said:

I was going to suggest just holding the transducer in the water to see if it’s works first but you’ve already tried that. Is there any way of mounting it so it sits in the water in about the same position as when it worked just holding it? 
 

I would think you would be best trying to secure the transducer bracket to the kayak, rather than the transducer itself. That way you have a way of adjusting it. 

Hey Greg

It would be a good idea in theory, but with a yak a real pain in the behind. Every time you ground out you'd bash it up and you'd have to be a lot more delicate with putting the yak on the roof, etc.

Thanks, Hamish

[The Mad Hughesy]

My transducer clicks away fine, but it just really struggles to shoot through the hull. It might pay to use a railblaza side mount.