queensland Brisbane River Session #85 and #86 [The Fishing Gods Said No!]

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hi all

Well after catching some garfish in the last session, I decided the next morning I'd go and give them a test run for bait. I had in mind it would be the last time I went for a shark fish, so I hoped to get one. I got to the park after waking up early, and deployed the garfish (half). It was chucked out, as well as some other lines with little bits of prawn. Dad gave the net a throw but the tide was too high to get any good livies, and running a bit too hard. 

To be honest, I was doubting we'd get much after a while. The tide wasn't the best, I needed a bigger sinker, and the little lines were having no inquiries. After chatting with Dad for a while though, I saw the rod go right over on the jetty. I ran down hoping to be on a bully. It had big weight and was pulling pretty hard; wasn't running though. I thought I'd end up with a pup but after aching my arms for a little I got the mother of disgust. A giant catfish.

Yuk!

He was thrown back into the drink, and told not to come back. Hopefully I don't make a habit of catching catfish that can be mistaken for sharks . i redeployed the next half of the garfish after getting the 6/o hook out of his mouth, and kept fishing. At this point there'd still been no action on the little line, which made for a rather boring wait for the bigger line to go off.

I saw it go over but then nothing was on it after reeling it in and the bait was still in perfect shape - so little something I assume. Seems it may have been worth to throw a cube of gar out in hope for something instead of fish with prawns for the entire duration of the session. The water was nice and glassy too, like it is most mornings. It is certainly better like this before the wind picks up then in the arvo.

Glassy - you'd love this on the bay!

After that catfish, we kept fishing. It was really deadly quiet though, with not a nibble to be sensed in site. I kept persisting, and a fair bit past 6:00AM the rod with a bit of prawn got some action. The fight began, and I wound up another catty. At least it meant I wasn't donutting. 

Also - it had this weird red bit on the tail? Any ideas?

After that one was bidded farewell, the lines were deployed again. I was wanting to use most of the prawn I had to avoid wasting any, as well as the garfish. I had the new slab on the salmon line, which was a bit on the small side. After no hits for quite a considerable time, I put on a new half in case it might entice more fish.

It got some more enquires from smalluns, but no considerable hits. The cod line was moved, as the tide had started to go slack and changed. It didn't take long for a little bit of action on that one though, and my Dad predicted the exact moment the fish would bite. I cranked it up, but to my disgust a catfish came up.

 

Catfish + me don't mix!

That was the last of Dad for today, and he set off back home after that one. I kept fishing in hope of something more, so sat down watching the lines in the water. The shark line got yet another hit but no love whatsoever. Bummer! I had seen old mate yakker man go by now, and I thought he must've missed the tide change by a little. He went off though, for his routine paddle.

There were some more canoers that came down now, and they had kayaks, Canadian Canoes, and I think one was a yak like ours. Very interesting looking paddling club! They had theirs all near the jetty, but briefly before they had arrived I got a bigger hit on the shark line...

The rod was buckled, but as soon as the fight started I realised it was not too large. A short fight ensured another catty came up. The bigger ones seem to love the gar, as @natang mentioned!

Bad pic!

I let him go back in front of some folks sitting on the jetty, whom congratulated me (I said, "Thanks' with a slight hint of dismay in my voice ). The bite now went rather quiet on this line, and with one of the last pieces of gar I hoped for something OK. The cod line was deployed with more prawn, so I got back to my possy of watching the lines from the chair. I look a bit funny but it gives me a good vantage point.

Old mate yakker man had come in this point. He was very worked up about something though, and was pretty angry about something by the time he left. Hope it went all OK for him.

The cod line was rebaited, but soon it looked like it was getting some action. This fish wasn't running, but it was tugging the line. I picked it up and a hard fight with plenty of headshakes ensured me pulling up a nice eel. He was legal size, so I contemplated keeping him while he was in a bucket of water. I decided (after a phone call to Dad) that the Pike Eel would be fine, so it was this fellas lucky day. He was released to chase more bait under he jetty. Another main reason I released him is because I dehooked him.

Variety

After that, I fished for a while longer, but alas, no success was had. I loaded up the cart, gave the jetty a wash (wasn't that dirty anyways), and set off home to catch some ZZZ's. Here are some stats.

Stats of Trip - 

Tide: 12:25AM, .4M, Low, 7:15AM, 2.1M, High, 1:50PM, .7M, Low.

Moon Phase: Waning Crescent Phase

Bait Caught: -

Bait used: Prawns and Gar

Tackle Used: Diawa Shinobi 2500 Reel, Abu Garcia veritas Rod, 12LB braided mainline, 10LB leader, size 2 bean sinker, 4/o or 3/o suicide hook, Abu Garcia Barra King 650, 20LB braid, Ugly Stik rod, long trace, size 3/o circle hook, 30lb trace, 30lb leader, size 2 bean sinker, large barrel swivel, Penn 650 SSM, 30LB Braid, 80LB Mono trace and leader, 6/o circle hook, size 6 sinker, barrel swivel.

Fish Caught: Catfish x 4, Eel x 1

Time Fished: Around 5:00AM something - about a bit past ten

Overall Success Rate: 50% - better than being at home...

Alright, now to the next trip. This one was a bit more exciting, and after watching many videos of someone who goes by the name of BrisVegas Fishing getting threadies on lures at night in my area, I decided to try. The technique was to flick your lures around light pools, where they 'boof' them off the surface.

I had a prawn imitation lure, cheapy, so I didn't know if it would work, but I've bought two packs of 'Holt Productions' prawn lures in 'White Flash' which are supposed to be the top lures for prawn imitations (online store - Google 'Holt Productions Lures' if you're interested).

https://holtproductions.com.au/

I had all the rods rigged, the sounder ready, and all the gear ready to go. Dad found me lounging on the front lawn - probably trying to get some sleep. We dutifully set off at bit before seven though, after dinner. We got to the park and put the yak in to do the first test of the night - the sounder test. Dad will write a thread on some success we've had but tonight the sounder was not playing the game and had the white screen yet again - 

We had some reading

After that one, we were disappointed. Luckily for us, it was a low tide. You know what that meant! Bait! Or so we thought. Dad did throws all around for diddly squat (I found a prawn and scat in the net today though, who were buried in the garden under the mulch). It wasn't looking good for us, but how bad could it be? BAD

We were about to set off, and still being optimistic, we said, "No livies = more time to fish on lures". Well that lasted for about two seconds.

"Hamish... Where are the paddles?"

So I zoomed off home on foot to get them, while Dad was going to do some more netting. I got home and grabbed them (of course I'd gotten life jackets which were right next to them but not bloomin' paddles) and was quite disappointed to hear Dad had no success throwing on the way back. We set off, not taking the message from the fishing gods that tonight might not have been the night.

We paddled down past some possible spots, and kept going. We had a ten cast or so flick at the first jetty which looked good, with no avail. I also had a large hardbody with a huge wobble tied on. I figured that was all bases covered. We set off more though, and it was quite relaxing to be paddling.

Paddling

We gave the next jetty another go to, because it had lots of light. I wasn't flicking my lure into the light had first, more so, letting it drift on the edges and give it had flicks coming back to me. That way it kept darting around the mid-water column like a disorientated prawn would I suppose.

We gave a couple more jetties some flicks for no avail, and shot down to the last stretch before it was past the bridge. The tide was really ripping against us now, so not too ideal for being on a yak. It certainly didn't help when we needed to drift an opposite directions to the wind and tide!

We got to the final stretch and the wind was dismal here, but we made the slog under and past the bridge. The first series of jetties was a while off, so we also got to them. We drifted in, and I did what I'd been doing all the session. Nothing. I gave the hardbody a flick to, but annoyingly my bait caster decided it would like to do that annoying thing where it just stops half way through a side cast (and it's a bit tricky trying to do overhead casts when the light pole and another rod is all together).

We gave all three jetties a flick and were disappointed. An interesting note is that the whole time we were on the water it was seriously quiet, like not one bit of bait skipping, not one fish jumping, etc. We only saw one person in a ski-boat (Like @GregOug's boat actually) zoom by!

I was still flicking on some jetties, and had changed to a 4 inch Z-man in 'Pearl' colour in hope of a flatty. I didn't get anything, but I did get snagged and loose it all which was disappointing. At least I knew it was on the bottom.

We began the paddle back, and annoyingly the wind had changed direction. We kept going though, and flicked all the jetties we had on the way here. At one point, I decided I may as well troll my hardbody, so I let out 20 or so metres of line and trolled it behind the yak. It would've looked appetising for a biggun! We got back to the jetty and I practically fell asleep on it like last time. I will crack the Thready-On-A-Lure one day! (Replaced my 'Catch a Metre Thready' as it was done). We got everything though, and on the way home heard a metal something fall out. We had a good look but couldn't find anything. Consequently, yesterday after I cleaned the kayak and was helping Dad put it away, one of the pins holding the trolley was missing! Blast! Must've just rolled into the drink...

Thanks for reading those two reports, and I know they weren't the most exciting. Hope you enjoyed and here are the stats!

Statistics of Trip:

Tide: 

Moon Phase: Waxing Crescent - not too much run

Bait Caught: - (Well an unidentified prawn and scat until net cleaning, haha)

Bait Used: -

Lures Used: A large green deep diver, 4 inch Z-man soft plastic, some cheapo K-mart prawn lure.

Tackle Used: 2500 Diawa Shinobi on Abu Garcia Veritas 3-5KG, 12LB braided mainline, 30LB Black Magic Fluorocarbon leader, FG Knot, Diawa Magforce Reel, Shimano Cranx Baitcaster Rod 5-8KG, FG Knot, 30LB Black Magic Fluorocarbon Leader, Abu Garcia Barra King 650, 20LB Braid, 30LB Black Magic Fluorocarbon Leader, FG knot, 4/o circle hook (didn't use this)

Fish Caught: - 

Time Fished: A bit past 7:00PM-10:00PM

Overall success Rate: 60% - Fun

Thanks for reading.

Cheers Hamish

 

[Drop Bear]

Good on ya mate, 

Putting in the big hours. 

Sorry you lucked out this time. 

[The Mad Hughesy]

seems like the spot holds a lot of catfish! maybe try having the bait under a float instead? get it off the bottom where the catties tend to hang out. a lot of shark fisherman do it that way

[Hweebe]

Hopefully once the weather cools down and we are out of summer the catfish will be less active.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

8 hours ago, Drop Bear said:

Good on ya mate, 

Putting in the big hours. 

Sorry you lucked out this time. 

Thanks Robbie. Hopefully next time I’ll get something a bit better!

6 hours ago, christophagus said:

seems like the spot holds a lot of catfish! maybe try having the bait under a float instead? get it off the bottom where the catties tend to hang out. a lot of shark fisherman do it that way

Hi Chris

Well yes. You could say that, haha. 

I’ve tried float fishing at this spot before and the tide normally sweeps the float back in. I would think about it more if I was boat based. Thanks for the tip.

5 hours ago, Hweebe said:

Hopefully once the weather cools down and we are out of summer the catfish will be less active.

Hi Hweebe

Yep, that normally happens. The sharks go off the bite with them though.  

Cheers Hamish

[Brodie_S]

8 hours ago, christophagus said:

seems like the spot holds a lot of catfish! maybe try having the bait under a float instead? get it off the bottom where the catties tend to hang out. a lot of shark fisherman do it that way

Sounds like a excellent idea

[Brodie_S]

Yeah unfortunately some seshs are like that hamish hopefully you can get a few good ones in after these bad ones 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

2 hours ago, Breaming with bro said:

Yeah unfortunately some seshs are like that hamish hopefully you can get a few good ones in after these bad ones 

Thanks Bro. Yep, I'm hoping too.

[Cavvy]

Yes frustrating with the sounder bombing out after a good run with it the other week.  I was looking forward to finding out how deep it is under the Indro bridge.  We'll have it sorted for next trip..

No fish but plenty of km's paddling = great exercise 

Fun night

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

19 hours ago, Cavvy said:

Yes frustrating with the sounder bombing out after a good run with it the other week.  I was looking forward to finding out how deep it is under the Indro bridge.  We'll have it sorted for next trip..

No fish but plenty of km's paddling = great exercise 

Fun night

Yes, it was Dad. And you still need to post the thread with the fish pictures on the sounder! How many times have I told you!  

Thanks for giving away Cobia Bridge . The paddle would've been good exercise for both of us I suppose.

Cheers Hamish