Yeppoon Holiday

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hi all

From New Year's Eve to the 6th of January, I stayed at Yeppoon for a holiday. The plan was to do a bit of fishing, and hopefully catch some fish too. After arriving on New Year's Eve and rigging a couple rods, I went to bed early in preparation for a session at the harbour the next morning. The plan was to fish with some live herring and target estuary cod and fingermark while also dropping some smaller baits for bream.

Day 1

My Dad and I arrived at the harbour some time around 5:30AM, and went to our usual wharf. A commercial fishing boat was moored at one side though, so we had half the normal fishing space. That was alright, and we gave the cast net a throw. There didn't seem to be too much bait about, but it wasn't long before my Dad hit a couple small schools of herring and we had enough bait to start fishing. I deployed a couple livies and a lighly weighted dead bait, and we got to fishing. To begin with, it was quiet on all fronts. We persisted for about an hour, but after no bites my Dad headed home. I continued fishing, but apart from a rather large flat salmon following my bait up as I wound it in (it made a big splash on the surface as my bait came out of the water but missed the hook, and looked to be around 50cm), I could hardly manage a bite. Eventually, after getting pickered a few times, I caught my first fish of the New Year - a tiny moses perch. I followed this up with an undersize bream, and after fishing for a bit longer with no bites I packed it up around 11:30AM. That arvo, I went to the Causeway Lake and had a flick with a few lures as well. I tried some hardbodies and a few different types of plastics, but could not manage a bite at all. Despite the quiet start to the year I decided the next morning I would go to the Causeway with some livies and fish the run in. 

Day 2

We left home at about twenty to six and got to the harbour to get some herring. We spent a little while trying to get a school or two, but after we did this we were off the the Causeway. It wasn't that busy, but there were about four people there already. They hadn't been there for long, from what I could see, and hadn't caught much yet either. I was fishing with decent sized sinkers and circle hooks, but after casting out my herring a few times and getting pickered almost immedialietely, I realised I was going to need a lot more bait! Lucky for me, my Dad felt like doing some more cast netting, and it wasn't long before he had a few more herring. We fished for a little longer but after no more bites and a lot more people on the bridge we decided to head back home. Once again that arvo, I went for a flick with some lures at the Causeway for a donut. So far, things weren't looking good

Day 3

On Tuesday, we had decided to go for a quick trip, for the first time ever, to Great Keppel Island. Our boat left at 10:30AM though, so I still had time to go for a quick fish in the morning at the Causeway. We left a bit earlier than the day before, and our herring gathering was far more successful. It wasn't long before I had a decent position on the bridge and was soaking some livebait. While I was doing this, Dad went and had a throw of the net at some spots at the Causeway, where I believe he got a few mullet, herring, and silver biddies. Mullet and biddies were supposed to be better bait than herring, according to my mate who I met that day. It was looking pretty quiet for me, but my mate chucked on a mullet he caught, and it wasn't long before he hooked something big. Although I didn't see it fully, a large barra apparently jumped before breaking him off. This was disapointting but it would've been let go regardless as it is close season. I also learnt that circle hooks and big sinkers were not the best way to fish here, instead using suicide hooks and small sinkers or even unweighted baits when there is no run is the best thing to do. As the run in intensified, the bite went a bit quiet and it became a little difficult to fish, especially with all the rods out. My mate, however, knew what to do, and before long he had a small mangrove jack on the bridge, followed by a couple little bream and cod. This was cool to see, although I was still on the donut so my main focus was catching a fish! I think I caught a couple tiddlers to finish the session, but definitely nothing worth mentioning. Here is the mangrove jack that my mate caught - 

Little jack

So, after I got back home, I packed some lunch, my rod, and a bit of tackle for the trip to Great Keppel Island. It was just my Dad, brother, and myself, so the plan was that I would fish for the day while they did a couple things around the island. We arrived at the harbour, and it was absolutely packed because of the fact it was a very calm day on Keppel Bay (if you've been to Rosslyn Bay Harbour before - both of the main carparks were jam pack full and cars were parked anywhere they could get to). My mum dropped us off, and we hopped on the ferry. It was a nice trip over to the island, and it wasn't long before I was walking up the pristine, white, sand of Putney Beach to my chosen fishing location - a rocky headland at the top of Putney Beach. I started off with a 4 inch Zman paddletail in Sexy Mullet, but after having no luck with this I switched to a smaller 3.2 inch paddletail. Apart from a few garfish darting around, this didn't bring any fish life my way, and I decided to switch my lure again. I'd been fishing for about an hour now, so I had a quick bite to eat before firing out a 20g microjig. I was getting some good distance casting this around, but unfortuantely that didn't equate to any fish. After about 1.5hrs of fishing, I decided I would begin walking to a headland at the other end of the beach. It was boiling hot though, and conveniently my Dad and brother had just finished up going on a lunchtime tour around the island, and were about to go on a glassboat looking at some reef. I decided seeing some fish was better than not catching any, so I spent the next 30 minutes or so looking at a few reef fish (morwong, stripeys, cod, and a few other things - most of which were quite sizeable). GKI also apparently has 17 different reefs surrounding it, which is good to hear. After that glassboat tour, we headed back home on the 2:30PM ferry. Overall, it was a very nice day with some great weather!

Great Keppel Island

Day 4

After the island trip, I was back at the Causeway the very next day. First on the agenda was catching livies, so my Dad had a walk around a few spots looking for some bait. Unfortunately, despite a very long time casting the net, the only thing that came about was a couple mullet and hardyheads. My Dad even drove all the way to the harbour in an effort to find some herring, and he got none! Luckily, I had some dead herring from previous sessions so I started off using that. After my Dad left and my mate from the day before came down as well as another fella, I went and had a cast in some spots I knew were snag free. This was pretty successful, and despite the fact I lost a few mullet due to the massive holes in my net which I have since repaired, I got one good one and a few herring. This was enough to get me started, so I dropped a herring down and pulled up a little cod, my first fish of the day. An old fella who was fishing there, who told me he had been fishing there since 1973 (so 50 years!), caught a couple mullet in his net. He was using a decent sized sinker, and caught two legal size cod, one which would've been pushiung fifty centimetres. This was good to see, and his mate who was down with him followed the cod up by hooking a large barracuda, that was around the metre mark. This was kept for crab bait, and providided some excitement jumping out and running around the bridge. After the cuda, the water stopped running in at such a high intensity. I deployed a large live mullet, and my rod went off while I was doing something. The fish didn't hook up, but someone nearby was sure it was a barra from the way the bait was scaled and the take. Bugger! I started catching a couple pickers, before I set the hook into something that felt a bit stronger. I was pleased to see a small jack come flying out of the water on my line, but annoyingly, the hook managed to fall out of it's mouth. Bugger! The water eventually stopped running through, and the three of us had a cast with some livies that were caught in some rock holes. Doing this, we caught some little bream, cod, and one of my mates who I was fishing with caught a little jack, which was cool to see. After that, we finished up fishing before leaving the bridge. 

Day 5

This was my last hope at catching something decent, as I had not yet hooked much big at all. We went straight to the Causeway a little past five, and I was the first on the bridge. I got a good position, and my dad and I did some cast netting. We got a few hardyheads, but my Dad decided to go for a walk while I started fishing. I started off poorly, with a couple of snags, but my mate from the previous days arrived. At the same time, my Dad came back with a bucket full of silver biddies, mullet, and herring. Great! My mate and I each chucked a couple of these out, and it wasn't long before my mate was on a big fish. After a few tense moments fighting this fish, with some big head shakes and strong runs, a big Mangrove Jack had been pulled up. He walked it over to the rocks and brought it up on the bridge, and we were all pretty happy to see such a good fish! After quickly measuring it and taking a photo, he let it go back into the lake. Nice!

My mate's very solid jack

After this, he followed up with a solid queenfish that would've been in the forties somewhere. I was still on the donut at this point, but had a cast behind a rock bar where I pulled in a few moses perch and small cod in quick succession. After this, it started to get pretty busy, and the bite went a bit quiet. We kept floating livies around the rocks for another couple of hours, but because of the fast tide and crowded bridge we still struggled to catch much more than a few little things. As the tide began to recede, we decided to walk to a nearby spot and have a quick cast. Here, I missed a good bite on a large live mullet, and my mate landed a nice cod which would've been around legal size. We casted some lures around after this but it was pretty hot and the fish weren't biting so we decided to call it a day. 

Here are some brief stats for anyone interested:

Quick Stats:

Tides Fished: I primarily fished the morning high run ins at Causeway Lake. For the tide to run in here, the water must be above 3.7M. 

Moon Phase: I fished the period between third quarter and full moon. 

Baits Used and Caught: Live herring, mullet, silver biddies, garfish. 

Fish Caught: I only caught small bream, moses perch, and cod. 

Tackle Used: I fished with a Shimano Stradic 3000FL on a 4-7Kg Raider, Abu Garcia Barra King baitcaster on an Ugly Stik, Shimano Aero Baitrunner on a 6-10KG rod, and a Shimano Curado K on a Shimano Cranx baitcast rod. I used mainlines ranging from 15-30 pound, and leaders around 10-30 pound. I used 4-8/o circle hooks, small sinkers up to a size 2 ball, suicide hooks in 4/o size, small baitholder hooks, and barrel swivels. 

Weather: Sunny most days, a couple bits of rain here and there. Not too windy. 

Notes: Apparently there was a lot of dirty water around when I was there, making fished significantly worse. Causeway bridge gets very crowded on a run through so best to be there early as possible. 

Overall Success Rate: 60% - a quiet trip for me but good to see some new species in person. 

Anyways, that's a wrap up of the trip. I know it was pretty quiet but I still learnt a lot from my mate and saw some good fish get caught. Big thanks to @Cavvy for waking up early with me and catching livies! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed,

Cheers Hamish  

[ellicat]

Thanks for the report, Hamish. Sounds like it was pretty tough going, but if you're not doing it you will catch less.

[Kat]

Pity about the lack of success Hamish but you would have to agree that the water and country up there is absolutely beautiful on those sunny days.

I can't wait to go offshore to Keppel islands again.

Thanks for the report.   

[Junky]

Good on ya Hamish. 

Good to see you not give up. You have to keep at it. 

 

I do hope you payed close attention to what your local friend was doing and the rigs he was using. 

 

 

P.s.

I scrolled for pics first and when I saw the jack, I thought it was yours.

I reckon I was more bummed than you were to find out it was his...

[Bretto77]

You gave it a red hot crack Hamish and bagged a whole lot more experience. The causeway bridge is inviting as there is so much structure and a physical barrier. I never fished the bridge but I fished the gutter that runs out to the ocean from there a few years ago. Only once however. It was on a late afternoon low and the beginning of the run in. I think I got a couple of small queenies and a reasonable flathead on live mullet. Not somewhere you want to be at night when the tide starts covering the flats though.... Oh, a very young Amber got her first big fight with rod and reel in that gutter... It was a large stingray but a six year old Amber landed it. Proud daddy She comes from great stingray catching pedigree. 

[Angry51]

Good report Hamish, good to see you sticking it out on 

the not so good days.

It'll all come together one day.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

2 hours ago, ellicat said:

Thanks for the report, Hamish. Sounds like it was pretty tough going, but if you're not doing it you will catch less.

Cheers Brian, always better than staying at home.

2 hours ago, Kat said:

Pity about the lack of success Hamish but you would have to agree that the water and country up there is absolutely beautiful on those sunny days.

I can't wait to go offshore to Keppel islands again.

Thanks for the report.   

Thanks Kat, it’s certainly nice up there.

1 hour ago, Junky said:

Good on ya Hamish. 

Good to see you not give up. You have to keep at it. 

 

I do hope you payed close attention to what your local friend was doing and the rigs he was using. 

 

 

P.s.

I scrolled for pics first and when I saw the jack, I thought it was yours.

I reckon I was more bummed than you were to find out it was his...

Thanks Junky, I definitely was. Now I will know a lot more for next time. 

And yep, you know it’s been a bit quiet if the report has someone else’s fish .

1 hour ago, Bretto77 said:

You gave it a red hot crack Hamish and bagged a whole lot more experience. The causeway bridge is inviting as there is so much structure and a physical barrier. I never fished the bridge but I fished the gutter that runs out to the ocean from there a few years ago. Only once however. It was on a late afternoon low and the beginning of the run in. I think I got a couple of small queenies and a reasonable flathead on live mullet. Not somewhere you want to be at night when the tide starts covering the flats though.... Oh, a very young Amber got her first big fight with rod and reel in that gutter... It was a large stingray but a six year old Amber landed it. Proud daddy She comes from great stingray catching pedigree. 

Thanks Brett, sounds like a bit of fun. There are apparently a fair few good flatties on the ocean side.

1 hour ago, Angry51 said:

Good report Hamish, good to see you sticking it out on 

the not so good days.

It'll all come together one day.

Thanks Angry, hopefully one of those days is soon.

Cheers Hamish 

[Bretto77]

2 hours ago, Kat said:

I can't wait to go offshore to Keppel islands again.

Thanks for the report.   

I am not staying inside the line of Keppel next time....

[charlie.hans.fishing]

This is a really good report Hamish. 

I enjoyed reading even though there wasn't too much action on the fish front.