G'day

[Coconutdog]

Hi, Im Matt. I am in the process of retiring from Defence after having worked for them since 1997, 25 years is a long time. LSL until 30th June 2023. We bought a house in Yeppoon back in January and moved my daughter in back in November once the tennants moved out. She's a pharmacist in Rockhampton. First came to Yeppoon in 2017 when she moved up here to do her internship and fell in love with the place. We have just sold our house in Wodonga (Socialist Republic of Victoria) and will be moving permanently to Yeppoon at the end of January 2023.

I'm looking forward to spending my time fishing and learning about it more in depth. I want to eventually buy a small tinny and try estuary fishing. Hoping I can pick up a few tips from more knowlegeable people on this forum.

Cheers.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Welcome to the forum Matt, Yeppoon is a good spot for fishing so I hope to hear some good stories from you.  

Cheers Hamish

[Coconutdog]

Thanks Hamish, I'm looking forward to dropping a line. I haven't been fishing for years as I'm not into river/dam fishing. I read in a couple of your posts about some good fishing spots, will have to try them.

[Kat]

Hi Matt.  My partner's parents live in Rocky and we fished offshore in Yeppoon for my Birthday in may.  While we were there we fished a local creek a fair amount.  We had some success there especially for being non-local - I don't mind sending you a personal message with a few marks (presuming I can find them in the sounder again ).  

Like Hamish said we would love to see some reports so hopefully you get out on the Jetty etc before you manage to buy the tinny!

Good luck

Cheers Kat

[Coconutdog]

Hi Kat, the locations would be great. Any tips would be most welcome.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

It would be a good idea to get yourself a cast net and learn to throw it, I've had my best success of the land on live bait there opposed to dead stuff. 

[Angry51]

Welcome to the forum Matt.

Done 7 years in Rocky, fished all that country mostly army training area

you could drive all up ther in the 70's.Was no roads then only bush tracks

Used to take most of the day to get from byfield to 5 Rocks and winch most of that.

All changed now, I'd get lost there now.

Look forward to your reports.

[ellicat]

Hi Matt, Welcome to the AFO forum. Sounds like you will have plenty of fishing time on your hands very soon. Don't be afraid to ask away with any questions, everyone here is happy to help.

[Coconutdog]

Thanks ellicat, will be asking many questions. I'm a bit of a newbie and haven't been fishing for many years. My rod is ancient but I bought a new reel recently at a BCF sale. Still need to get line and tackle though. I'm not too sure what I'll need in this department. Some of the talk of lures etc on here and other places is a bit cryptic but I'm sure I'll pick it up with reading & research. Couldn't be worse than some of the acronyms that Defence comes up with.

[Kat]

What is the new reel?

[Coconutdog]

I think it was a Prymil Zephyr 4000. On special at BCF. It's packed away in a box ready for the move. Only a basic reel but should be good for starters. I've also got a Sportfisher BoatRiot FPS-20 rod which someone gave me about twenty years ago. There have been plenty of for sales on the Yeppoon/Rocky FaceBuy site so I'll keep my eyes open there.

Can you suggest a line & lure setup for flathead?

Matt.

[ellicat]

6 hours ago, Coconutdog said:

Can you suggest a line & lure setup for flathead?

Ideally you'd set yourself up with a 12 - 15 lb mainline and leader on a 3 - 5 kg rod.

There are a thousand lure options, but for soft plastics, it's hard to go past a ZMan paddle-tail in Opening Night colour.

[Coconutdog]

Thanks mate. Certainly have some wierd names for fishing gear. 

https://www.bcf.com.au/p/zman-minnowz-soft-plastic-lure-3in-6-pack-opening-night/286186.html

[ellicat]

Yep. I have no idea where they get some of the names but someone probably gets a bonus for them.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hi Matt

For flatties, try a 2500 or 3000 size reel (which ever you prefer based on size), personally I would go with a 2500 reel as it is small enough to be comfortable to fish with but big enough to put some good force on the fish. Something from Shimano like a Sedona, Sienna, or Sahara, or from Diawa you could get an Aird. Obviously you can upgrade the reel or look for a better quality reel, but to begin with a reel like them would be ample. As for rods, something in the 2-4KG to 3-6KG range would work well, from experience I like an Abu Garcia Veritas, but an Atomic Arrowz rod is also supposed to be good. Spool it with about 10 pound braid and buy some ten and fourteen pound leader, some plastics, jigheads, and deep divers and you’re in with a good chance of a flatty! 
Cheers Hamish

[Coconutdog]

Thanks Hamish, I'll look them up on the BCF website. There have been lots of for sales on Facebook Yeppoon recently and some look like good bargains. A bloke at Kinka Beach had a massive garage sale this weekend, looked like he was selling an entire fishing shop. My daughter went there and bought me a whirlybird roof ventilator brand new for $10. I'll have a closer look when we're up there permanently later this month. 25 days to go.

Matt.