Brisbane River Session #168

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hi all

A couple of days ago I decided I would start get the train then the ferry to my fishing spots instead of getting driven. I tried this out yesterday and it went well. The session was successful enough although there weren't any big fish getting around. I met my mate @Samra at about quarter to eight at one of our local stations then we went to Roma Street, South bank, then got the nearest ferry and walked to our location. I created a smaller cart out of an old shopping trolley (the ones you tow along behind your back) with some rod holders, and it worked well enough bar being slightly embarrassing to pull along.    

We arrived at the location a bit past nine and were disappointed to see another angler had beat us there by a matter of minutes (to the best part of the area). Since it was a rising tide, it was a couple or so casts before I had about 50 herring - enough for the days fishing. We deployed our lines with the livies and one with dead bait, and sat back and waited.   

While we were checking baits, the other fisherman hooked up to what seemed to be a decent fish. It wasn't until it got closer to the jetty it started playing up like a typical stingray. It was definitely the biggest I have seen caught, though, and it did put up quite a fun fight for the guy. We tried cast netting at a different part of the spot where there can be prawns or other baitfish when they're around, but annoyingly the only thing that happened here was a big mullet or small soapy falling out of the bottom of the net (possible soapy because there was a purple flash in the fish).  

After that, we checked our baits a couple of times, and apart from some picks, we hadn't seen any real fish yet. The other fella hooked up again, and this time it was fighting like a slightly better fish. Some short runs and quick head shakes saw a 50cm grunter landed, which he was pleased about. Around then, one of our lines went off. It was a good fish, and had taken the bait like a squire (although it was very heavy and felt a fair bit bigger than a 40cm squire). Annoyingly, after the fish started to come in, it managed to rub us off on some structure.    

While Jake was re-rigging, the baitrunner went off. I decided to take this fish, but from pretty early on I could tell it was another stingray. After a decent fight, with some little runs and runs under the jetty, I pulled it up and the other guy fishing landed it for us. We got the hook out and chucked it back in the drink, . Throughout this time the other fella caught a couple of sea toads but it did go slightly quiet after this. Eventually, the other fella headed off so after saying bye we moved our lines all up the jetty. We had periodically been pickered but neither pilchard or live herring was proving to work better at this point. 

After we had lunch, we still had not managed to land a better fish. We had a couple of picks on our rods, and we decided to start dropping one straight down as I was nearly out of star sinkers (kept getting snagged). This eventually got smacked but the fish ran into a snag before one of us got to the rod. At about 2, one of our rods went off. It had a bite like a squire, and the head shakes were far stronger then a bream. We were both pretty happy when a 42CM model was landed, and after some pics we released it as we both had fish at home already. 

Squire

Just before that, another rod went off, but we didn't hook the fish. We were hopeful we'd start catching some more squire now, but seeing as though it was half way through the outgoing and the water was only getting dirtier this was unlikely. We fished for about another hour, and ended up using all but two herring. In the last couple minutes of our session, a rod which I'd left for a while went off. We were hopeful it may be a thready after a strong first run but we ended up disappointed when another stingray surfaced (slightly smaller than the one I caught). We packed up our gear and got the ferry and train home, which took the best part of two hours. At least it was a fun session with one decent fish!  

Stats of Trip:

Tide: 10:40AM, 2.3M, High, 5PM, .4M, Low

Moon Phase: New Moon, although there was more run than last time it wasn't very strong

Bait Caught: Herring, also had a decent fish fall out of the net

Bait Used: Herring, pilchards

Tackle Used: 20 and 30 pound braid mainlines, 30 pound fluoro leaders, 4/o and 6/o circle hooks, size 4 star sinkers, large barrel swivels, Shimano Sedona 6000 on Abu Garcia Nexus Nanotech, Shimano Aero Baitrunner on Kmart rod, Abu Garcia Ambassedeur on Ugly Stik. 

Fish Caught: Stingray x 2, Squire x 1, one other fella got some toads, a stingray, and a grunter

Air Pressure:1005-1008

Humidity: 68-76%

Weather: Sunny, high 20's, not much wind

Other Notes: Not many boats around, not many other fisherman. Rising tide best for herring. Still no prawns around. Dropping straight down led to smaller fish whereas casting out led to bigger fish. Paternoster rig had squire but running sinker had stingray. 

Overall Success Rate: 60% - fun day with a nice squire

Hope you enjoyed,

Cheers Hamish

[Angry51]

Good report Hamish.

Being independent get the tram/train.

Dad wont know what to do with all the spare

time he'll have now.

[ellicat]

1 hour ago, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

I created a smaller cart out of an old shopping trolley (the ones you tow along behind your back) with some rod holders, and it worked well enough bar being slightly embarrassing to pull along.

Haha. Good to be practical though.

Welcome to the forum @Samra.

Sounding like a good spot with the chance of some good fish.

[Kat]

Welcome @Samra.  Fishing hook in the finger? Lol.

Hamish I can't believe you didn't keep the snapper - one of, if not my all time favourite eating fish!  How much fish could you possibly have in the freezer to release it?

[Junky]

Onya boys. 

Welcome @Samra

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

1 hour ago, Angry51 said:

Good report Hamish.

Being independent get the tram/train.

Dad wont know what to do with all the spare

time he'll have now.

Thanks Angry, maybe he will come fishing for once!

51 minutes ago, ellicat said:

Haha. Good to be practical though.

Welcome to the forum @Samra.

Sounding like a good spot with the chance of some good fish.

Thanks Brian, I'm hoping Ithere'll be some good threadies there this Summer. 

46 minutes ago, Kat said:

Welcome @Samra.  Fishing hook in the finger? Lol.

Hamish I can't believe you didn't keep the snapper - one of, if not my all time favourite eating fish!  How much fish could you possibly have in the freezer to release it?

I love them too Kat, but I have mackerel, grunter, and one fillet of squire to eat so I have plenty!

6 minutes ago, Junky said:

Onya boys. 

Welcome @Samra

Thanks Junky.

[charlie.hans.fishing]

3 hours ago, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

Hi all

A couple of days ago I decided I would start get the train then the ferry to my fishing spots instead of getting driven. I tried this out yesterday and it went well. The session was successful enough although there weren't any big fish getting around. I met my mate @Samra at about quarter to eight at one of our local stations then we went to Roma Street, South bank, then got the nearest ferry and walked to our location. I created a smaller cart out of an old shopping trolley (the ones you tow along behind your back) with some rod holders, and it worked well enough bar being slightly embarrassing to pull along.    

We arrived at the location a bit past nine and were disappointed to see another angler had beat us there by a matter of minutes (to the best part of the area). Since it was a rising tide, it was a couple or so casts before I had about 50 herring - enough for the days fishing. We deployed our lines with the livies and one with dead bait, and sat back and waited.   

While we were checking baits, the other fisherman hooked up to what seemed to be a decent fish. It wasn't until it got closer to the jetty it started playing up like a typical stingray. It was definitely the biggest I have seen caught, though, and it did put up quite a fun fight for the guy. We tried cast netting at a different part of the spot where there can be prawns or other baitfish when they're around, but annoyingly the only thing that happened here was a big mullet or small soapy falling out of the bottom of the net (possible soapy because there was a purple flash in the fish).  

After that, we checked our baits a couple of times, and apart from some picks, we hadn't seen any real fish yet. The other fella hooked up again, and this time it was fighting like a slightly better fish. Some short runs and quick head shakes saw a 50cm grunter landed, which he was pleased about. Around then, one of our lines went off. It was a good fish, and had taken the bait like a squire (although it was very heavy and felt a fair bit bigger than a 40cm squire). Annoyingly, after the fish started to come in, it managed to rub us off on some structure.    

While Jake was re-rigging, the baitrunner went off. I decided to take this fish, but from pretty early on I could tell it was another stingray. After a decent fight, with some little runs and runs under the jetty, I pulled it up and the other guy fishing landed it for us. We got the hook out and chucked it back in the drink, . Throughout this time the other fella caught a couple of sea toads but it did go slightly quiet after this. Eventually, the other fella headed off so after saying bye we moved our lines all up the jetty. We had periodically been pickered but neither pilchard or live herring was proving to work better at this point. 

After we had lunch, we still had not managed to land a better fish. We had a couple of picks on our rods, and we decided to start dropping one straight down as I was nearly out of star sinkers (kept getting snagged). This eventually got smacked but the fish ran into a snag before one of us got to the rod. At about 2, one of our rods went off. It had a bite like a squire, and the head shakes were far stronger then a bream. We were both pretty happy when a 42CM model was landed, and after some pics we released it as we both had fish at home already. 

Squire

Just before that, another rod went off, but we didn't hook the fish. We were hopeful we'd start catching some more squire now, but seeing as though it was half way through the outgoing and the water was only getting dirtier this was unlikely. We fished for about another hour, and ended up using all but two herring. In the last couple minutes of our session, a rod which I'd left for a while went off. We were hopeful it may be a thready after a strong first run but we ended up disappointed when another stingray surfaced (slightly smaller than the one I caught). We packed up our gear and got the ferry and train home, which took the best part of two hours. At least it was a fun session with one decent fish!  

Stats of Trip:

Tide: 10:40AM, 2.3M, High, 5PM, .4M, Low

Moon Phase: New Moon, although there was more run than last time it wasn't very strong

Bait Caught: Herring, also had a decent fish fall out of the net

Bait Used: Herring, pilchards

Tackle Used: 20 and 30 pound braid mainlines, 30 pound fluoro leaders, 4/o and 6/o circle hooks, size 4 star sinkers, large barrel swivels, Shimano Sedona 6000 on Abu Garcia Nexus Nanotech, Shimano Aero Baitrunner on Kmart rod, Abu Garcia Ambassedeur on Ugly Stik. 

Fish Caught: Stingray x 2, Squire x 1, one other fella got some toads, a stingray, and a grunter

Air Pressure:1005-1008

Humidity: 68-76%

Weather: Sunny, high 20's, not much wind

Other Notes: Not many boats around, not many other fisherman. Rising tide best for herring. Still no prawns around. Dropping straight down led to smaller fish whereas casting out led to bigger fish. Paternoster rig had squire but running sinker had stingray. 

Overall Success Rate: 60% - fun day with a nice squire

Hope you enjoyed,

Cheers Hamish

Nice report Hamish. 

Too bad i couldnt join you but the beach was fun instead. 

A nice squire for samra, was he happy? 

- Charlie

[kmcrosby78]

Great work getting there independently Hamish and @Samra and glad to see you were rewarded with a nice river squire. Sounds like a great spot with abundant bait and grunter and squire - will be interesting to see what patterns you notice fishing there as the months/seasons/rainfall change.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

On 28/09/2022 at 8:34 PM, TheCharliefisho said:

Nice report Hamish. 

Too bad i couldnt join you but the beach was fun instead. 

A nice squire for samra, was he happy? 

- Charlie

Thanks Charlie, he was. 

22 hours ago, kmcrosby78 said:

Great work getting there independently Hamish and @Samra and glad to see you were rewarded with a nice river squire. Sounds like a great spot with abundant bait and grunter and squire - will be interesting to see what patterns you notice fishing there as the months/seasons/rainfall change.

Cheers KM, hopefully some threadies will show up soon. 

[Samra]

 Thanks everyone it was a fun session