queensland At NPD with Ray

[Do$tylz]

When Ray posted up that he needed a laptop to keep him busy while he's laid up post knee surgery, it was a no brainer to rebuild an old laptop of mine to give him for his browsing needs. While Ray and I were discussing logistics of getting the laptop to him, I thought I'd be cheeky and offer him a swap of the laptop for a seat on a trip to one of the dams. It has been ages since I've been on the water with Ray.

So yesterday it was a trip to NPD. One of Rays planned deckies wasn't able to make it and so he kindly offered it to my brother who was super excited to say yes.

Up at 3:40am, picked up my brother and headed off to meat Ray and Hai at the gates at 5:20. A quick chat and Ray reminded me that it may have been almost 10 years since I was last at NPD with him. Sheesh... where does time go?

How good is the classic BFO shirt?

We made our way along the waters taking in the beautiful sights. It really is magical being on the water with no sounds of a petrol engine in earshot.

For a man who sees this 2-3 times a week, you can tell he's happy to be on the water.

 

 

 

[Do$tylz]

First up - get the deckies to earn their keep Collecting shrimp and re-baiting for Rays next trip back. For anyone keen to make these very successful shrimp traps, don't forget there's a post from Ray on how to.

This pot hadn't been checked in a while and had some pre-cooked shrimp in there. Lucky they didn't stink too bad. Hai was having a laugh warning us about the smells of a dead water rat that you occasionally get in a red claw trap

Speaking of redclaw - we got a few little ones in amongst the shrimp. Even though they were small, you can't chuck them back. So my brother kept them to make an entree

But we ended up with a fair amount of shrimp. Probably somewhere between 100-150 once we had done our round. Here's 1 net load of a few being transferred from the collection bucket to the keeper esky.

 

[Do$tylz]

So with the shrimp collected, we moved our way to the first spot which was a fad and we were quickly on. I think it was the 2nd fish boated and I was onto a fat yella.

You can see the shrimp still inside its gob.

and it went a good 43cm. So not one of those epic footballs but went hard on 2lb flouro all the way through :)

 

[Do$tylz]

a few small bass were picked up

 

and then Ray stepped up with a whopper

Ray will have a better pic, but you can see it hit the 50 mark.

[Do$tylz]

The fad shutdown so we moved our way to the fishing water limits. Taking in the sights on the way there.

 

[Do$tylz]

We picked up a few Tandans, bass and yella's throughout the day. I think the tally ended up around 80-something fish landed.

 

 

We were off the water at around 1:15pm and hit Strathpine KFC by 1:45pm. It's like a ritual for my brother and I to have KFC after a fishing session.

Overall a great day. The fish were on, the views were amazing and the company was top notch and entertaining. Thank you again Ray for the deckie spots. I hope I get another chance soon to get on the water with you mate. Sometime before another decade passes

[Old Scaley]

Love that post, Henry. The pictures tell the story beautifully as usual. I don’t know where Ray gets his energy from.

[Angry51]

Looks like a good day on the water.

And some really good pics too.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Great report, Henry! Looks like you had an awesome day out with Ray!

That's a beauty bass, good yellas, and tandans too. 

Cheers Hamish

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

By the way, holly beejeezers! Two pound line! That would've been great fun!

[ellicat]

Good day on the water as usual. So many fish.

[rayke1938]

Should have dragged out my old BFO  shirt or even one of my Nordic stage ones. I was good to catch up again and reminisce about old times and some of the old characters on BFO/AFO and some of the stalwarts remaining. it was impressive seeing the nordic stage rods performing o well with the 2 lb line and some of the bigger fish, Only had one quadruple hook up but plenty of triples.

Spent the day setting up the pc ready for my enforced rest.

Will have to do it again soon.

Cheers and thanks.

[kmcrosby78]

Great photos Henry and Ray - love the close up of the tandan . I noted your comment about the redclaw - so is it illegal to throw them back? I bet you had fun on that silly string ....

[GregOug]

Redclaw are native aren’t they? Why would they not allow you to throw them back? 
 

Also, have you ever tried eating the shrimp?

[Luc53]

The redclaw's natural range includes the Gulf of Carpentaria Drainage Division and from the Jacky Jacky River basin south to the Normanby River basin on the east coast of Queensland. Within that range, there is a possession limit of 40 but no size limit.

Outside that range there is no size or possession limit as they are not considered "native".

 

 

[kmcrosby78]

8 hours ago, GregOug said:

Redclaw are native aren’t they? Why would they not allow you to throw them back? 
 

Not sure, hence the question .

8 hours ago, GregOug said:

Also, have you ever tried eating the shrimp?

I would be surprised if a notoriously ravenous @Drop Bear hasn’t..... perhaps he can give a critique .

[kmcrosby78]

7 hours ago, Luc53 said:

The redclaw's natural range includes the Gulf of Carpentaria Drainage Division and from the Jacky Jacky River basin south to the Normanby River basin on the east coast of Queensland. Within that range, there is a possession limit of 40 but no size limit.

Outside that range there is no size or possession limit as they are not considered "native".

 

 

Further to that, I just read on the DAF site that they cannot be returned to the water outside of their natural range as they are considered an introduced species, which applies to SEQ.

https://www.daf.qld.gov.au/fish-identification-information/fish-species-guide/fish-species-id-info/profile?fish-id=redclaw-crayfish-freshwater
 

I learnt something new .

[rayke1938]

Shrimp cook up ok you need more salt than cooking salt water prawns plus the shrink a lot.

Re not returning redclaw to water the same applies to barred grunter to the eagles delight.

[ellicat]

Redclaw are best when sent to the tongue and stomach.

[Do$tylz]

12 hours ago, kmcrosby78 said:

Further to that, I just read on the DAF site that they cannot be returned to the water outside of their natural range as they are considered an introduced species, which applies to SEQ.

https://www.daf.qld.gov.au/fish-identification-information/fish-species-guide/fish-species-id-info/profile?fish-id=redclaw-crayfish-freshwater
 

I learnt something new .

Yep. So no matter what size you get them at or how many you get, the only thing you can do is take them home and add butter and garlic to a saucepan and eat them :D

Doing it for nature. All selfless I swear.

[Do$tylz]

22 hours ago, kmcrosby78 said:

I bet you had fun on that silly string ....

Yeah mate. Honestly, that 2lb flouro was just the best way to fish in most of the NPD waters. I did end up tieing on 10lb leader to stop getting bitten/rubbed off when the bass would swallow the hook.

The 2lb was not ideal however around some of the fads and underwater logs etc.

Got dusted a few times but it was honestly super enjoyable. The bigger fish were a great fight and put the rod and reel to the test.

[Drop Bear]

On 26/01/2021 at 7:22 AM, kmcrosby78 said:

I would be surprised if a notoriously ravenous @Drop Bear hasn’t..... perhaps he can give a critique .

haha yes I have eaten the large ones called Cherabin. (Macrobrachium rosenbergii)

Delicious.  A lot like salt water prawns.