queensland brisbane river session #84 [my type of party!]

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hi all

After doing tennis in the morning today, it was my sister's birthday party. I tried catching up on some sleep but Dad got me and before I knew it, it was time to go. He told me the spot we were going to was on the river, so I excitedly packed my telescopic rod, a little bit of gear, some bread and lures, and some water into the bag and we set off. I was thinking the spot I would get to would be tidal, and maybe even a jetty of some description if I was lucky. WRONG!

After the short drive, we arrived in the Kholo Botanic Gardens. We sat around, my sisters and her friends did all the party stuff (and I ate junk food), and sooner or later they had left. I'd had  quick squiz at the river, and it seemed like it might all just be reads down to the river.

Dad and I went down a path, called the 'Brisbane River Trail' and past a pond. It had lots of little fish in it, probably baby Tilapia or Garfish, but one thing that caught mine and Dad's eye was a floating lure. I quickly hopped in and grabbed it, and, "Hey, Bingo!", I had myself a new lure. It needed new hooks, but I was pretty happy with it. Our theory was it had been washed down in some sort of flood, as we didn't think anyone would use a lure this big here.

Free Lure

After that, I pointed out a path to Dad. It was nice and shady, and also going down in the direction of the river. We decided to go down, so after a nice walk we saw water. The first spot I could've tried was sitting on a log at the mouth of a little drain, which probably would've been OK for a bass, but then we found a nice little park area, so we decided to go there.

Down we go

New Spot

After a quick look in the water, we saw garfish swimming around. I knew this was good, and I saw some eating the plant that was growing in the water. I threw out of a bit of bread after putting on my smallest hook, and it came off straight away, which was disheartening. We saw something swim away which was shortly identified as a huge mullet. I'm sure that thinking would've tugged hard if we landed him! I was sure excited, as I've wanted to catch garfish for some time now.

I was going to walk out to get some of the plant for bait, but figured I may as well give the bread a proper try first. I threw a couple little bits in, and moulded some on my hook. Then, the went into a feeding frenzy, snapping them off the surface. Tension was building, and in no time a gar had taken my hook. I brought up my first garfish, and was quite happy to say the least!

This continued, and I wasn't casting my line out one bit. We were thinking I'd need to put on a little sinker to cast but there was no need. I just fed out some line, and I was placing it in. A big 'ball' of gar fish were holding next to the shade, and maybe 2 metres out from the bank. I'd lob my bait in and get nibbles, nibbles, and the bait taken! 

IMG_7927 (1).MOV

I have more vids, but they were to big to send in file size  

They got finickier as the fishing went on, and after a while I only had a 50% success rate. We had to experiment with size of bread and how we were hooking them, so after a little while the technique was letting a fair bit of line out (instead of about 50CM, 2M) and really letting them chew on the bait, and simply pinning the hook through once to keep the bread in tact.

A couple highlights were when I caught one on a bare hook, and when I had to dive on one in an attempt to stop it from getting away. Dad had a crack as well, and he pulled up another couple garfish. They were really fun, and it was great sight casting them. We saw another big mullet swimming out deeper, so it looked like it was minding it's own business and not interested in our offerings.

In the shade, there seemed to be some little fish, maybe baby garfish or mullet. They were vicious though, and you had to be careful not to get your bait in there or it would be off before you know it. We kept fishing, and there seemed to be more gar and less caught. It was fun, but we ended up loosing track off time. Before we knew it, it was later than anticipated so we had to go. Dad got up me at the end for having one last cast, so we legged it. The bait was put in a slurry at home, and I tried butterflying one. Lets just say that looks easier one YouTube. Lol. 

The haul

Garfish stomach = YUCK

Alright; so this is the lure I went and retrieved. Anyone know what it is? I had a couple people tell me it was a Kato one of some sort, but I really don't know. It was about 11CM.

I froze up the gar for bait, and I'm going to try them for a bully tomorrow. Hopefully with some success! A couple questions though, does anyone have any opinions on bread or dough? I know dough would've been far more durable, but is bread the best bait? And, what is the most likely species for garfish? I know about tailor, mackerel, and some reefies like them, so is that about it? Thanks for reading the report if you're still here, and I hope you enjoyed. Here are the stats of the trip -

Statistics of Trip:

Location: Kholo - but I'm pretty sure you can get them anywhere on the Upper Brisbane!

Weather: Sunny, hot, slightly cloudy

Tackle Used: 10LB braid mainline, 20LB leader, I know it was way to heavy but was working! Tiny long shank hook too. Shimano 4000 R reel and Telescopic rod combo

Bait Used: Bread - crusty and stale

Fish Caught: Garfish x 15-18

Time Fished: Midday

Air Pressure: 1005.5

Temp: High, 31^oC, Low, 21^oC

Humidity: 74%

Overall Success Rate: 75% - good day for a spur of the moment fish

Thanks for reading, apologies for any errors. I will add more photos or videos if possible.

Cheers Hamish

[Angry51]

Sounds like you had a good day Hamish.

[rayke1938]

Stub nosed gar look it up in your grants. Best burley for gar is bread crumbs. Look up the lure in the other book .

[Old Scaley]

Nice day out, Hamish.

[Brodie_S]

Seems like a fun day out . I normally use 4lb if I’m going after gar with small hook size 8-10 short shank fine worm hooks work amazingly for gar cover the whole hook in a tiny piece bread and leave the hook point exposed slightly once the gar are eating you’re bait wait 3-4 seconds then set the hook . That’s how I do it anyway lose drags are important to cause the bigger ones are prone to pulling hooks 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

16 hours ago, Angry51 said:

Sounds like you had a good day Hamish.

Thanks Angry. Was great fun pulling them up.

10 hours ago, rayke1938 said:

Stub nosed gar look it up in your grants. Best burley for gar is bread crumbs. Look up the lure in the other book .

Thank you for the tips Ray, will look both of them up now.  

5 hours ago, Old Scaley said:

Nice day out, Hamish.

Cheers Steve

5 hours ago, Breaming with bro said:

Seems like a fun day out . I normally use 4lb if I’m going after gar with small hook size 8-10 short shank fine worm hooks work amazingly for gar cover the whole hook in a tiny piece bread and leave the hook point exposed slightly once the gar are eating you’re bait wait 3-4 seconds then set the hook . That’s how I do it anyway lose drags are important to cause the bigger ones are prone to pulling hooks 

Thanks Bro, it was. Yeah, I probably could've gone much lighter, but they were biting and like I said, it was a spur of the moment fish so wasn't to phased about what was and wasn't working. I found leaving a bit of slack, and watching and letting them eat it was key, then flicking them out quick enough so they didn't get the hook out!

Cheers Hamish

[ellicat]

As well as bread you can use little bits of cooked prawn. It stays on the hook a bit longer.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

1 hour ago, ellicat said:

As well as bread you can use little bits of cooked prawn. It stays on the hook a bit longer.

Thanks for the tip Brian - all I encountered on the gar today were large catfish (biggest 57CM, a new PB) but I'm not going to give up with them yet.

Cheers Hamish

[ellicat]

Last thing I saw caught on a gar was an 88cm flathead up at Caloundra off Military Jetty last year.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

4 minutes ago, ellicat said:

Last thing I saw caught on a gar was an 88cm flathead up at Caloundra off Military Jetty last year.

Nice! So they do work! An 88CM flatty is sure on my bucket list  

[GregOug]

Now Hamish, this sounds like the exact place you needed the cast net, and didn’t have it! You could have cleaned up!

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

1 minute ago, GregOug said:

Now Hamish, this sounds like the exact place you needed the cast net, and didn’t have it! You could have cleaned up!

Hey Greg

Haha, I wish. Only problem is cast nets are illegal in freshwater in QLD   

Cheers Hamish

[GregOug]

5 minutes ago, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

Hey Greg

Haha, I wish. Only problem is cast nets are illegal in freshwater in QLD   

Cheers Hamish

Yeah. Details. 

[GregOug]

6 minutes ago, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

Hey Greg

Haha, I wish. Only problem is cast nets are illegal in freshwater in QLD   

Cheers Hamish

You could say you were carrying it, it dropped as you passed by the gar and when you retrieved it, all the gar were caught in it. Hold on though, aren’t Gar salt water only?

[Cavvy]

It was a fun little session.  Not sure what was best - pulling up a couple or watching Hamish's smile as he kept whipping them in a short space of time (we were on a time leash......)

[ellicat]

7 hours ago, GregOug said:

aren’t Gar salt water only?

No, you get them in the fresh also.

[natang]

On 06/02/2021 at 8:36 PM, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

Hi all

After doing tennis in the morning today, it was my sister's birthday party. I tried catching up on some sleep but Dad got me and before I knew it, it was time to go. He told me the spot we were going to was on the river, so I excitedly packed my telescopic rod, a little bit of gear, some bread and lures, and some water into the bag and we set off. I was thinking the spot I would get to would be tidal, and maybe even a jetty of some description if I was lucky. WRONG!

After the short drive, we arrived in the Kholo Botanic Gardens. We sat around, my sisters and her friends did all the party stuff (and I ate junk food), and sooner or later they had left. I'd had  quick squiz at the river, and it seemed like it might all just be reads down to the river.

Dad and I went down a path, called the 'Brisbane River Trail' and past a pond. It had lots of little fish in it, probably baby Tilapia or Garfish, but one thing that caught mine and Dad's eye was a floating lure. I quickly hopped in and grabbed it, and, "Hey, Bingo!", I had myself a new lure. It needed new hooks, but I was pretty happy with it. Our theory was it had been washed down in some sort of flood, as we didn't think anyone would use a lure this big here.

Free Lure

After that, I pointed out a path to Dad. It was nice and shady, and also going down in the direction of the river. We decided to go down, so after a nice walk we saw water. The first spot I could've tried was sitting on a log at the mouth of a little drain, which probably would've been OK for a bass, but then we found a nice little park area, so we decided to go there.

Down we go

New Spot

After a quick look in the water, we saw garfish swimming around. I knew this was good, and I saw some eating the plant that was growing in the water. I threw out of a bit of bread after putting on my smallest hook, and it came off straight away, which was disheartening. We saw something swim away which was shortly identified as a huge mullet. I'm sure that thinking would've tugged hard if we landed him! I was sure excited, as I've wanted to catch garfish for some time now.

I was going to walk out to get some of the plant for bait, but figured I may as well give the bread a proper try first. I threw a couple little bits in, and moulded some on my hook. Then, the went into a feeding frenzy, snapping them off the surface. Tension was building, and in no time a gar had taken my hook. I brought up my first garfish, and was quite happy to say the least!

This continued, and I wasn't casting my line out one bit. We were thinking I'd need to put on a little sinker to cast but there was no need. I just fed out some line, and I was placing it in. A big 'ball' of gar fish were holding next to the shade, and maybe 2 metres out from the bank. I'd lob my bait in and get nibbles, nibbles, and the bait taken! 

IMG_7927 (1).MOV 16.87 MB · 5 downloads

I have more vids, but they were to big to send in file size  

They got finickier as the fishing went on, and after a while I only had a 50% success rate. We had to experiment with size of bread and how we were hooking them, so after a little while the technique was letting a fair bit of line out (instead of about 50CM, 2M) and really letting them chew on the bait, and simply pinning the hook through once to keep the bread in tact.

A couple highlights were when I caught one on a bare hook, and when I had to dive on one in an attempt to stop it from getting away. Dad had a crack as well, and he pulled up another couple garfish. They were really fun, and it was great sight casting them. We saw another big mullet swimming out deeper, so it looked like it was minding it's own business and not interested in our offerings.

In the shade, there seemed to be some little fish, maybe baby garfish or mullet. They were vicious though, and you had to be careful not to get your bait in there or it would be off before you know it. We kept fishing, and there seemed to be more gar and less caught. It was fun, but we ended up loosing track off time. Before we knew it, it was later than anticipated so we had to go. Dad got up me at the end for having one last cast, so we legged it. The bait was put in a slurry at home, and I tried butterflying one. Lets just say that looks easier one YouTube. Lol. 

The haul

Garfish stomach = YUCK

Alright; so this is the lure I went and retrieved. Anyone know what it is? I had a couple people tell me it was a Kato one of some sort, but I really don't know. It was about 11CM.

I froze up the gar for bait, and I'm going to try them for a bully tomorrow. Hopefully with some success! A couple questions though, does anyone have any opinions on bread or dough? I know dough would've been far more durable, but is bread the best bait? And, what is the most likely species for garfish? I know about tailor, mackerel, and some reefies like them, so is that about it? Thanks for reading the report if you're still here, and I hope you enjoyed. Here are the stats of the trip -

Statistics of Trip:

Location: Kholo - but I'm pretty sure you can get them anywhere on the Upper Brisbane!

Weather: Sunny, hot, slightly cloudy

Tackle Used: 10LB braid mainline, 20LB leader, I know it was way to heavy but was working! Tiny long shank hook too. Shimano 4000 R reel and Telescopic rod combo

Bait Used: Bread - crusty and stale

Fish Caught: Garfish x 15-18

Time Fished: Midday

Air Pressure: 1005.5

Temp: High, 31^oC, Low, 21^oC

Humidity: 74%

Overall Success Rate: 75% - good day for a spur of the moment fish

Thanks for reading, apologies for any errors. I will add more photos or videos if possible.

Cheers Hamish

Hey Hamish I used to be a local there and grew up fishing there and the junction. If you keep fishing where you were you can catch massive catfish between 50-80cm. Use the gar as bait but in chunks or strips like you lilies for flatty. We used to use 2/0 hook with a chunk on it with about a 45cm trace with a small sinker and swivel. There are bull sharks where you were too. Used to live at Kholo fished in that area loads. You should also get stripped grunter and eels. 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

6 hours ago, natang said:

Hey Hamish I used to be a local there and grew up fishing there and the junction. If you keep fishing where you were you can catch massive catfish between 50-80cm. Use the gar as bait but in chunks or strips like you lilies for flatty. We used to use 2/0 hook with a chunk on it with about a 45cm trace with a small sinker and swivel. There are bull sharks where you were too. Used to live at Kholo fished in that area loads. You should also get stripped grunter and eels. 

Hey natang

Thanks for the great tips! Yesterday now I went to the local park and caught a 57CM catty on one - I guess they like the gar! Much appreciated,

Cheers Hamish

[Ed.]

When I lived in WA I used to fish off the South Fremantle Moles for Herring and Garfish about every second day or so, there would be huge schools of them,  the Garfish there were much longer than the ones you caught (at least double the size) but I used to use a mixture of bread crumbs which had water, fish oil and a drop or two of aniseed oil, that mixture was pressed into a small wire cage, a trace of 6lb line (50-60cm) with a tiny suicide hook with a bit of cut prawn for the bait and attached to the cage, which was then attached to the 10lb mono mainline, that was in the days when I fished light line.

As the cage hit the water the bread crumbs would drift out from the cage attracting the Herring and Garfish and the prawn was quickly swallowed.  If I didn't have prawns I would just use a bit of the mixture to press on to the hook, but it had to be the right consistency. You need to put the water in first, mix it up then add the oils, if I did it right then it would just press into a little sticky bread ball which would last long enough for the fish to grab it amongst the small cloud of crumbs coming out of the cage. Usually from the time the cage hit the water  it took only about 5 seconds for a fish to hook up.

If there were small Trevally around then I used a weighted cage and a bit larger hook and heavier trace, the mixture would get to the bottom and would create my own little burley slick attracting the fish.

Used to catch heaps of them, took about 2-3 home for lunch and a few more for bait for the night time session fishing for Mullaway, either threw the others back or just gave them away to the nearest fisho to me if they weren't catching any, did that for a while till I got tired of eating the same fish over and over again.

[kmcrosby78]

Fun session there Hamish and some good bait for future sessions. Alot of species will eat garfish - bream, flathead and I would imagine jacks, amongst others. They stay on the hook well which is always handy.

[Hweebe]

7 minutes ago, kmcrosby78 said:

Fun session there Hamish and some good bait for future sessions. Alot of species will eat garfish - bream, flathead and I would imagine jacks, amongst others. They stay on the hook well which is always handy.

Definitely a gun bait, and looks like you @AUS-BNE-FISHO caught the perfect bait size for some bigger predators.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

10 hours ago, Ed. said:

When I lived in WA I used to fish off the South Fremantle Moles for Herring and Garfish about every second day or so, there would be huge schools of them,  the Garfish there were much longer than the ones you caught (at least double the size) but I used to use a mixture of bread crumbs which had water, fish oil and a drop or two of aniseed oil, that mixture was pressed into a small wire cage, a trace of 6lb line (50-60cm) with a tiny suicide hook with a bit of cut prawn for the bait and attached to the cage, which was then attached to the 10lb mono mainline, that was in the days when I fished light line.

As the cage hit the water the bread crumbs would drift out from the cage attracting the Herring and Garfish and the prawn was quickly swallowed.  If I didn't have prawns I would just use a bit of the mixture to press on to the hook, but it had to be the right consistency. You need to put the water in first, mix it up then add the oils, if I did it right then it would just press into a little sticky bread ball which would last long enough for the fish to grab it amongst the small cloud of crumbs coming out of the cage. Usually from the time the cage hit the water  it took only about 5 seconds for a fish to hook up.

If there were small Trevally around then I used a weighted cage and a bit larger hook and heavier trace, the mixture would get to the bottom and would create my own little burley slick attracting the fish.

Used to catch heaps of them, took about 2-3 home for lunch and a few more for bait for the night time session fishing for Mullaway, either threw the others back or just gave them away to the nearest fisho to me if they weren't catching any, did that for a while till I got tired of eating the same fish over and over again.

Great story/write up there Ed. Very good to read. Great tips too.

A Mulloway on a gar would be tops!

27 minutes ago, kmcrosby78 said:

Fun session there Hamish and some good bait for future sessions. Alot of species will eat garfish - bream, flathead and I would imagine jacks, amongst others. They stay on the hook well which is always handy.

He KM

Yes, that's what I found in my last session too (been slack in posting a report ). They weren't budging, and very picker resistant.

18 minutes ago, Hweebe said:

Definitely a gun bait, and looks like you @AUS-BNE-FISHO caught the perfect bait size for some bigger predators.

Hi Hweebe

Yep. Hopefully some bigguns to come.

Cheers Hamish

[Drop Bear]

Nice one mate. You gotta love a free stick bait. 

I have never caught a fresh water gar... plenty of the salt water ones. 

YOu should have eaten them

 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

1 hour ago, Drop Bear said:

Nice one mate. You gotta love a free stick bait. 

I have never caught a fresh water gar... plenty of the salt water ones. 

YOu should have eaten them

 

Thanks @Drop Bear. They were sure good fun.

I would've eaten them if I could've butterflied them.

Cheers Hamish

[Drop Bear]

16 hours ago, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

Thanks @Drop Bear. They were sure good fun.

I would've eaten them if I could've butterflied them.

Cheers Hamish

Lets go whiting fishing one time and I will show you how to butterfly. 

If you just fillet the Gar they are good too. 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

53 minutes ago, Drop Bear said:

Lets go whiting fishing one time and I will show you how to butterfly. 

If you just fillet the Gar they are good too. 

I hate to admit it, but my PB whiting is 26CM. A bit embarrassing... So certainly something I need to work on, haha!

I'd love to learn to butterfly fillet  

Cheers Hamish

[Drop Bear]

18 hours ago, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

I hate to admit it, but my PB whiting is 26CM. A bit embarrassing... So certainly something I need to work on, haha!

I'd love to learn to butterfly fillet  

Cheers Hamish

I don't butterfly the big ones. It is more for the small diver whiting. You get a lot more meat from each one by butterflying them. 

For the bigger ones I just fillet them normally. 

We will have to do a Jacobs Well trip asap and get you an upgrade. 

 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hi @Drop Bear

That would be great! I certainly hope my PB will upgrade a little one day!

Cheers Hamish