A Day at the Port

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hi all

Today I was lucky enough to be invited to go out fishing at the Port of Brisbane with Steve ( @Old Scaley ) on his boat. Brian ( @ellicat ) was also joining us to fish out of his boat as well. We met at the ramp a little past 6 and headed out from a crowded Port of Brisbane boat ramp. First on the agenda was catching livebait, and even though I'd caught a few livies plus a bunch of herring the day before we decided some more wouldn't hurt. This effort was unsuccessful, but that was no thanks to my cast netting abilities . After that, we went and dropped Steve's crab pots. We baited up with a mixture of reef fish frames and scraps, and dropped a string of pots in an area we decided looked likely. 

After that, we went and joined Brian who was fishing at one of the wharves. We had a look on Steve's sounder but couldn't locate any fish, so decided to start off nearby the bait school Brian was fishing. We dropped a couple of livies down and got pickered quite quickly, including on a rather large mullet. We gave it about 30 minutes here but, after having no luck, we had a look out at the front rock all. We casted a mix of herring and squid around here for the best part of an hour, but apart from a few rays breaching and a couple little bites it was pretty slow here. We went back to Brian, who was still patiently flicking lures at the wharfs, and had a bit of a drift there before going upstream a bit and having another drift. After having no luck on this front, we headed off to give the pots the first check of the day.

Anticipation was high, and we ended up with two sandies from four pots. Not much but better than nothing! We got back to fishing, and decided to go for a couple of drifts around a couple of Steve's spots which are normally quite reliable for squire. It was a little quiet on the first couple of drifts, apart from myself missing a good run/bite on a livie because the rod was in the holder and I didn't get it out quick enough, and Steve getting pickered a couple of times. We repeated our drift in a few different locations with Brian nearby, and eventually we decided to give the crab pots another check. This brought one more legal sandy, and after repositioning some pots we were back to fishing. Steve had a couple good bites and eventually hooked a undersize squire, but then it went quiet again. We kept fishing, and a little while later we heard a big WOOHOO from Brian's boat... We were feeling hopeful after seeing his catch (if you haven't already read his report A Trip to the Synagogue), so continued to persist with our drifting. We gave it another hour and a bit but eventually called it quits a bit before two when we hadn't landed another fish. I did finish up missing three good bites in a row, mainly because I had a hook slightly too small for my large herring. We collected the pots which didn't bring any more crabs and motored back to the ramp in the still calm conditions. Overall, it was a great day out on the water with some awesome weather. Big thanks to Steve for taking me out on his boat and for the fun days fishing, hope you didn't mind having me along!

Sandies

Hope you enjoyed reading,

Here are some brief stats from the trip:

Stats:

Tide: High tide, 8:30AM. 2.4M, Low Tide, 3PM, .7M

Moon Phase: About 8%, near New Moon, so a fair bit of run

Bait Caught and Used: Bait used consisted of herring, squid, and a couple livies. Crab bait was mainly reef fish frames. 

Tackle and Lures Used: I used a Shimano Stradic 3000 on a Shimano Raider and an Abu Garcia Ambassadeur on an Ugly Stik with 15 and 20 pound braid and 30 pound leader, Steve used similiar spinning gear and leader. We used circle hooks and ball sinkers. We also flicked around a couple vibes and Steve through a slug around for some tailor which were busting up. 

Notes: Weather was great, wind picked up slightly as the day progressed. POB ramp very crowded and a fair few boats about. A few schools of tailor eating bait on the surface around lunch. 

Air Pressure: 1009 - quite low

Overall Success Rate: 55% - a fun day on the Port, even though the fishing was a little quiet

Cheers Hamish  

[ellicat]

It was certainly a nice day to be out there, Hamish. Bummer you missed the hits.

[Bretto77]

Sounds like a good day overall. You got some decent hits so you weren't far off. You know that the approach got some attention. Just a bit unlucky I suspect. I had some live baits "machine gunned" by small tailor (at least I think so anyway) on Sunday night... Frustrating. They were like piranhas....

[Old Scaley]

1 hour ago, Bretto77 said:

Sounds like a good day overall. You got some decent hits so you weren't far off. You know that the approach got some attention. Just a bit unlucky I suspect. I had some live baits "machine gunned" by small tailor (at least I think so anyway) on Sunday night... Frustrating. They were like piranhas....

At one point we did have tailor busting up on the surface around us but by the time I rigged a slug they were gone. Good to have you on board @AUS-BNE-FISHO.  We will get you on the fish next holidays. Fishing the Port can be feast or famine and unfortunately we went hungry yesterday (although the crabs were delicious).

[mangajack]

7 hours ago, Old Scaley said:

At one point we did have tailor busting up on the surface around us but by the time I rigged a slug they were gone. Good to have you on board @AUS-BNE-FISHO.  We will get you on the fish next holidays. Fishing the Port can be feast or famine and unfortunately we went hungry yesterday (although the crabs were delicious).

Last week some jumbo tailor were smashing mullet schools just down from Cement Australia wharf. I spent about an hour there catch and release of 6 to 8 jumbo tailor and 2 small macks...smallest about 45cm   largest 60 to 65cm....a lot larger than normal choppers.

[Old Scaley]

I think it was about a year ago, maybe longer?, that I came across a huge school of Mac tuna gorging on tiny whitebait in front of the coal handling wharf. They literally surrounded the boat and stayed in the same spot for about 15 minutes. Myself and a guy in another boat spent the whole time casting different slugs and plastics but neither of us got a touch. Very frustrating. I don’t think either of us had anything small enough to match the tiny bait they were feeding on. 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

21 hours ago, ellicat said:

It was certainly a nice day to be out there, Hamish. Bummer you missed the hits.

13 hours ago, Bretto77 said:

Sounds like a good day overall. You got some decent hits so you weren't far off. You know that the approach got some attention. Just a bit unlucky I suspect. I had some live baits "machine gunned" by small tailor (at least I think so anyway) on Sunday night... Frustrating. They were like piranhas....

11 hours ago, Old Scaley said:

At one point we did have tailor busting up on the surface around us but by the time I rigged a slug they were gone. Good to have you on board @AUS-BNE-FISHO.  We will get you on the fish next holidays. Fishing the Port can be feast or famine and unfortunately we went hungry yesterday (although the crabs were delicious).

Thanks guys. 

[kmcrosby78]

Good day out, just a shame the fish weren't more plentiful. Interesting that the ramp was very busy on a weekday (although I'd suspect Friday's are a bit more busier than other weekdays @Old Scaley?).

[ellicat]

I think it was the only decent day to get out there all week, so those fortunate enough to be able to go out went out.