queensland Brisbane River Session #83

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hi all

I decided that Sunday would be my fish for the week, so I dutifully got the bike buggy ready, rigged the rods, and put the alarm on for a morning session at the local park. After waking up and arrived at around 5:00AM with Dad (very nice when no one is out at that time of morning), I rigged up the rods with prawn and Dad began cast netting.

He did a few throws at first for one prawn, and then got a couple. Just at that moment though, he heard the rod screaming and yelled at me to get it. I got everything set and the fight was on. It took one run with a loose drag but then the rest of the fight was headshakes and weight. I pulled him up after he went for structure a couple times, and a rotten catfish came up. I got him up and dehooked him, then sent him on his way.

40CM odd

After that one, the line was deployed again. By the time the bait and rod were put back into resting posy, Dad had gotten a good amount of live prawns so we needed the aerator (and they were all sizeable too!). I looked all throughout the buggy, and after a quick search, we concluded that I'd forgotten the aerator! Bugger!

Dad kept throwing, and he probably would've had 15-20 good prawns ready to use for bait. Seeing as though the eel hadn't been touched, I put out the biggest live prawn. This was given a soak for around twenty minutes for no love whatsoever. In this time, the other rod had no luck, and I'd only given the rod with a plastic a few flicks. 

As Dad was heading off, the line with a bit of dead prawn on went off. It wasn't a very good fight (in fact I could hardly tell it was on) but I cranked up a solid BR Perch regardless (actually, a tiny BR Perch!).

Perch

He was dehooked and speared back into the water, and then I kept fishing. The tide was still on the last of the run, so I kept flicking my lures around and about. I mainly focused on the jetty, with casts peppered all over. I then saw a carboard box, which I went down on the jetty to try and get with the line. After a couple failed attempts, the shark line, which had been switched back to eel after loosing the prawn, buckled over.

I ran over, tightened the drag, and the fight was on. The drag was quite loose compared to usual, so he took a bit of a run at first. Then, I got some line on him, and got him a bit closer. The bully made a bit of a splash on the surface, and I got a positive ID on him here. Then, he went for the pylons. I wasn't going to let that happen though, and after some nervous moments and heavy winding he was jetty-side. I went to grab the net and then he took off again. It was a good couple of minutes before he got in the right spot for me to net him, and then I lifted him up. he made a last ditch attempt of escape but I got him back in the net and took him up to deal with him. 

The bully flicked the hook out itself, which was lucky for it. I put him on the brag mat, and he went around the 85CM mark. An alright one, in my books anyways. Dad came down just at the right moment for him to photograph me, and after that I went to release him. I swum him for a little and then he kicked straight off. It was at that moment I realised I'd forgotten the circle - Bugger!

Solid

After that one, the prawns started becoming a bit more lively with the aerator, and Dad went on his way. It didn't take long for another nibble after the rebaiting and rerigging of the shark line, though. Once again, it was on the rod cast out deep, and it seemed to be just getting taps. I started reeling and and realised I was probably on a Perch, and it came in nice and easy after that. I got him up, took a quick photo, and let him back. The Perch seem to swim off OK if they are speared back into the water, but in general they seem to be terrible fighters and not too good for release either. 

Goldy

After that one, the next fish pretty much bit immediately. I heard a little bit of line come off the spool, then I saw jogged over, picked it up, and slowly pulled the hook. I find opposed to the strike with a circle hook, giving the rod a slow pull sets the hook as well as not pulling the hook straight out of the fishes mouth. It was an OK fight, and he was shortly released after. Regardless, I can see how sugar bags of these were filled back in the day when they were thick. 

Goodun

After that fish, I deployed the bait back out. It was a pretty low tide, so I started to give the cast net some throws. I just figured this would ensure I had some live bait for more fishing. I did about 10 throws, and each throw I would get livies which was great. They were deployed on the cod line, and the shark line still had eel on (bait checked).

That Perch had floated for a bit then kicked down luckily, but the next one I pulled up wasn't as quick. It was a good fish and I landed him around 7:15AM, and since he was a bit bigger figured I'd put him in off the jetty. Back he went, and floated in circle for about 5 minutes. I netted him up and speared him again, but luckily he went away. I figure he swum off because I threw the cast net straight after for more prawns and no perch. Haha.

Perch

I did some more throws with the net, but by then there was not too many prawns to be caught! Seems the bigguns were really firing on the last on the run out, but then stopped on the first bit of rise. The tide had changed, and it was sure rushing in! I tried casting the overhead and left it in the normal drag setting, and there was so much tide the line came out like a fish had taken it. Wow!

Everything went a bit quiet now, so I sat down. I tied a plastic on my line, with 10LB leader. I had a 3/8^th jighead, which had a 4 inch plastic on it too. This may seem wrong, and I'm no expert, but they go quiet nicely for me and it allowed me to flick in deeper parts anyways. I sat down and flicked towards the mangroves, under the jetty, and everywhere for nothing! Bugger! One day I'll crack the Brisbane River lure code. Lol. The line went off again though, and unluckily for me this was the last time. I began fighting him and pulled up the fifth perch for the session, and then released him back to the river. 

Perch

The sun was coming up now, so I kept persisting, except with gloves, shoes, trousers, shirt, and sun buff all on. It was about 8:30AM now, and I'd still had no hits on the plastics. It was looking dire, so I began packing up. I persisted until around 9:00AM or past that, and then rode home keeping my live baits in tact. I bucketed the jetty down too, and left it in a nice condition.

The next part of the trip was to meet my friend and go to my other spot. We had arranged to meet at the busiest part of town, (stupid of me as the train station is just up the road), and my friend made it. We were riding away to the spot at a bit before 11, and got there sometime soon after. The first stop was to see if we could try and get some more livies, so I just got the net out and began throwing. I didn't get anything in about the first 7 throws, except a Passionfruit Bundaberg soft drink out of the esky. I took a couple sips of that then gave it another throw. I pulled it up and heard some clicking, and to my surprise, a TIGER prawn was in the net! "Woohoo!" I thought. That's only the second one I've ever caught in the river!

Tiger Prawn

After that one, it gave me a bit more motivation to keep going. I gave it about another five throws, and low and behold, up came another one. I got him out, and walked him up the jetty walkway (which had holes going into the water) into my bucket. Lucky for him, he gave me the slip and clicked out of my hands, back into the water. Bugger! I gave it about five more throws here, before decided it was worth moving on.

The short ride to the next jetty along was nice and easy, and to my surprise there were some others fishing there too. They were nice enough, and had some rods and hand reels. I said hello and deployed the first line, with a live prawn. Hopes were high for something big, and we sat back and waited. I had a chat to the lady, who seemed to be mad keen. I recently google mapped the whole river in my area and now I have around twenty spots to try out. She mentioned one, which was around an 8KM ride, which she said has HEAPS of bait always swimming at it. Maybe I'll have to make the trek over! 

I kept fishing, and then, to my surprise, they pulled in a little pike eel. I was quick to intercept them before it was released, and ask if I could keep him for bait. They were A-OK with it, so after some decided I donged him with the pliers and got him into the esky. First, I chopped off a bit for the shark line, which was deployed on the other part of the jetty. 

Their Pike Eel

After that one, I was quite happy, because @Old Scaley's eel (which he gave to me) had run out from the morning's bully. Now, I'll be testing how PIKE eel goes opposed to the Freshwater Eel. I kept fishing, now with two lines out. Since everything was ready, I gave a plastic a flick. I flicked it off the left hand side of the jetty many times for no bites, the best cast I could do under the jetty walkway, and many, many casts in the little eddy made by the jetty walkway and jetty. Unfortunately, no flatties, cod, or anything wanted to eat my bait, so after a bit more casting a switched to a little bream lure. I kept my ten pound leader on as I wasn't sure what I could catch - a cod on anything lighter than ten pound would be interesting!

I persisted with this lure and flicked it everywhere I could. I made a big effort to have it go under the jetty by cutting corners as well. I figured there'd have to be something around there! Obviously not  . The other people pulled up another catch though, but it was a bit more interesting! They actually had hooked a catfish and perch on the same hook in one go! Wow!

Double Trouble!

After that was dehooked by them (and both released), they got another Pike Eel! Man, they were having some fun while me and my friend were getting bugger all!! This one was also donged and released to my esky. Interestingly, they caught it on it's own kind! Cannibal alert!

They departed soon after this, so I said goodbye and then put the rods back down in their spot. I had thrown the cast net a bit before, and apart from some little prawns, I had gotten one big herring which I deployed immediately, as they had proven fruitful last time. I also got one small herring in the net which was there for reserve bait. The aerator was doing a good job keeping most things alive, too. 

Dad called me up and asked me to do some work at the Scout Den (working bee on) and it was decided 2:30PM would be the departure time. We kept soaking the live baits, and both remained untouched for the duration of the session. It was quite disappointing, as I was really hoping for some alright here! We had some showers for the most part of the session, so that was alright as it kept us cool. 

Not what you want to be yakking in

After that, another person came down. He was about 30, and set up on the jetty a bit up from us. I was packing up the gear by now, so I bucketed down the jetty, cleaned up some old line people had discarded there, and then rode off with all the gear. The overall amount of bait was very good, amount a bag full! Silly me, but this is also punishment for wearing crappy K-mart shoes for one hour to long - 

Blisters 

Heaps!

I began the ride home, and stopped by at the Scout Den. Dad saw my blisters and sent me home, so after I said hi to a couple people I headed there. The bait was bagged up, everything was washed and packed away, and then that was the session. Not particularly successful, but better than school (really shouldn't be writing this report, should be sleeping! At least I did my homework!).

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed. It was a nice way to spend the day. Sorry for any typos, and hopefully I've remembered everything!

 Statistics of Trip - 

Tide: 

          First Spot: 12:20AM, 1.9M, High, 6:30AM, .2M, Low, 12:50PM, 2.5M, High.

          Second Spot: 6:00AM, .2M, Low, 12:20PM, 2.5M, High

Moon Phase: Illumination was 91% - Lots of Run!

Bait Used: Live Prawns, Dead Prawns, Eel (Pike and Freshwater), Live Herring

Bait Caught: Herring, Prawns

Fish Caught: Bull Shark x 1, Perch x 5, Catfish x 1

Tackle Used: 10LB, 30LB, 80LB, Fluorocarbon, Mono leaders, 12LB, 20LB, 30LB, Braided Mainlines, 3/o, 6/o, circle hooks, 4/o hook, 3/o suicide hook, large swivels, size 4-6 ball sinkers, Abu Garcia Veritas Rod, 3-5KG, 6"6', Diawa Shinobi 2500 Reel, Ugly Stik Rod, Abu Garcia Barra King 650, Rogue Firepoint Boat Rod 5-8KG 2M, Penn SSM 650.

Air Pressure: 1012.2

Humidity: 75%

Weather: Showers on and off, cloudy, sunny

Temp: 26^oC High, 21^oC Low

Time Fished:

          First Session: Around 5:00AM-9:00AM

          Second Session: Around Noon - 2:45PM

Overall Success Rate: 50% - good fun

Bike Shot

[jon]

Nice work mate good result on the bull shark too

[ellicat]

A busy entertaining session. Well done on landing the bully.

[The Mad Hughesy]

Nice one Hamish

one for the comp?

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

17 hours ago, jon said:

Nice work mate good result on the bull shark too

Thanks jon. Yes, nice to have some success on that front.

1 hour ago, ellicat said:

A busy entertaining session. Well done on landing the bully.

Cheers Brian. At least I got some fish!

25 minutes ago, christophagus said:

Nice one Hamish

one for the comp?

Thank you Chris. Yes, I will submit it into the comp right now!

Cheers Hamish