Brissy River Bassing [Brisbane River Session #200!]

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hi all

As school is getting pretty busy now @Cavvy and I decided to go for a quick fish this morning off the yak. It had been a while since we'd been bass fishing in the river and even longer since we had gone kayaking, so we were hopeful that we would get a couple decent ones. We rigged up three rods, one with a Zman FroggerZ Jnr spinnerbait, one with a small grub with a jig spinner, and one with a little Jackall Pompadour surface lure. Our chosen location was Kookaburra Park, which, at the moment is mostly freshwater although still tidal. We woke up at about 4:30AM and by 4:45AM we were on the road to our spot. It took a pretty long time to get there, but by 5:45AM we were paddling away from the boat ramp on a glassy Brisbane River high tide. There was one other tinny just setting out when we got there but otherwise we were all alone at the ramp. First up, we paddled upstream a hundred metres or so and began fishing the opposite bank. I was casting the surface lure and my Dad was using the spinnerbait. We were casting our lures parallel to the bank, and it started off pretty quiet. My Dad got a follow from a fish up to the surface, but I couldn't catch anything. After about 20 minutes flicking here we continued upstream to a couple likely looking snags and had a cast. 

Starting Out

Because the tide was running out we were paddling past the snag then slowly drifting back and fishing it. This let us get a few casts in different positions. On our second or third snag, things were starting to look a little quiet. We had fished several overhanging branches, a small feeder creek mouth, and some submerged logs in deeper sections of the river. The river was about 4 metres deepest in the section we were in, with most being 1-3 metres deep. It was just past 7am, and I chucked my plastic with a jig spinner around the sticks. On my fifth or sixth cast for the snag, I decided to cast straight over the branches and wind the lure on the surface. I was feeling hopeful... And just like that, a baby bass rocketed up and smacked my lure on the surface, making a couple splashes before wrapping itself in some sticks. We paddled over and I muscled the fish out, which was only about 27CM. Even though it was only little I was happy with the first fish of the day, and to watch the lure get eaten made the fight exciting. 

Little bass

We gave that snag a few more casts, but continued making our way up the river. It was still nice and flat, so we were averaging about 6KM/h, which is pretty good going against the tide. We gave several more likely looking snags a flick and switched the surface lure we had on to a plastic with a jig spinner, but could not get another fish. Eventually, after paddling up another kilometer or so, we needed to change the water stopping air bubbles where our transducer was mounted, so while my Dad was fiddling with that I had a few casts between a couple of snags and caught the smallest bass I've ever seen - it was keen to have a go at the lure I was using. 

Tiny Bass (10cm)

My Dad and I got to paddling after this and continued up the river. About 1.5KM's up from Kookaburra Park, the river transitions from having lots of plants and trees on the bank (and having a dirt bank) to primarily gravel and steep rocks. This looked very fishy but the majority of the river on the left hand side was below 1 metre deep, and although the right hand side had a couple holes going up to five metres we could not manage any fish casting along this bank. We continued going up the river, and saw the tinny which had launched before us. They reported that they had caught a couple of bass, the same as us. I assume a bit bigger though. We eventually made it up to an area with some very large rocks on the side of the bank, and apparently there is a section of the river around here known as 'White Rock', so maybe that was it.

Quick Pic

The hole in front of these was about 7 metres deep though, and we were hopeful we would catch some bass in it. Casting plastics and a spinnerbait didn't bring us any luck though, so we began to make our way back down towards the park. On the way back, we fished at several more likely looking snags ranging from 1-5 metres of water including multiple submerged trees we could not see on high tide, all which brought nothing despite looking quite fishy. We did see the people in the tinny land one or two small bass on the troll though, which boosted our confidence. Eventually, we were back at the snag which I had caught the first fish of the day on. We gave it a few casts, and sure enough, after a tangle between my Dad and I, I was on another small bass. This one was a fun little fight with some headshakes in the deeper water, and was chucked back shortly before we had our last casts of the day and finished up the session. 

It was a hot morning! 

It was a nice way to spend my 200th session on the river since the beginning of 2020, and it was even better to catch some fish and explore a new section of the river. Seeing as though I don't have enough time free to fish many full days now I think a few short morning or arvo kayak sessions may be a bit more common, especially if a couple fish are biting. We wrapped the session up by about 9:30AM so for three and a quarter hours fishing it wasn't too bad. We did 5.5KM's paddling and got a couple of pies from Karana Krusty Kitchen, which were great eating. Thanks for reading the report and I hope you enjoyed, here are some quick stats for anyone interested. 

Quick Stats:

Tide: 4:00AM, 1.9M, High, 10:30AM, .6M, Low

Moon Phase: About 80% and increasing, there was a decent amount of run. 

Tackle and Lures Used: The three combos we used were an Abu Garcia Veritas 2-4KG on a Diawa Tierra 2500 with 8 pound braid, ten pound leader and a Jackall Pompadour, A Shimano Chromica 100B on a Shakespeare overhead rod with 15 pound braid and leader and a Zman FrogerZ Jnr Spinnerbait, and a Shimano Stradic FL 3000 on a Shimano Raider 4-7KG Snapper rod with 15 pound braid and leader and a Zman 3.5 inch grub with a 1/8th jighead and jig spinner. 

Notes on Weather: Humidity - 58%

Fish Caught: 3 x bass for me, my Dad donutted. 

Notes: Water was fresh and clear, river was very calm until about 8:30AM. Sun was out and it was quite hot. River becomes shallow/unnavigable in certain parts. 

Overall Success Rate: 60% - a fun way to spend the morning with a couple of fish

Cheers Hamish

[Angry51]

Good report Hamish, getting a haul of fish is'nt as important as just getting

out there, and with Dad, even better.

At least you got a pie.

And your 200th session, congrats.

[Another Wazza]

Nice work Hamish, and nice scenery too, irrespective of size you acquired the target species, like you said, a fun way to spend a couple of hours 

[ellicat]

Good to see you get a few bass on lures, Hamish.

Next time you'll have to pass over a hooked fish to @Cavvy to wind in, or he might lose interest.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

4 hours ago, Angry51 said:

Good report Hamish, getting a haul of fish is'nt as important as just getting

out there, and with Dad, even better.

At least you got a pie.

And your 200th session, congrats.

Thanks Angry, it was good to go for a fish with Dad.

34 minutes ago, Another Wazza said:

Nice work Hamish, and nice scenery too, irrespective of size you acquired the target species, like you said, a fun way to spend a couple of hours 

Yep, it was definitely better than staying at home! 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

10 minutes ago, ellicat said:

Good to see you get a few bass on lures, Hamish.

Next time you'll have to pass over a hooked fish to @Cavvy to wind in, or he might lose interest.

Thanks Brian.

I’m sure I’ll think of doing that just as I’ve landed the next fish. Haha

[Bretto77]

Good job getting out and landing a few. I have never even seen that part of the river. A pie that is not a letdown is an added bonus .

[charlie.hans.fishing]

Nice job Hamish

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

19 hours ago, Bretto77 said:

Good job getting out and landing a few. I have never even seen that part of the river. A pie that is not a letdown is an added bonus .

Thanks Brett.

10 hours ago, TheCharliefisho said:

Nice job Hamish

Thanks Charlie

[Neil Stratford]

Well done Hamish . You have to work a lot harder to catch the wild bass vs the impoundment ones.

I used to have a bit of success using a little purple coloured hard body called an Ecogear sx40 (colour no 349.) Might be worth trying one,  next time you go. 
regards

Neil

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

3 minutes ago, Neil Stratford said:

Well done Hamish . You have to work a lot harder to catch the wild bass vs the impoundment ones.

I used to have a bit of success using a little purple coloured hard body called an Ecogear sx40 (colour no 349.) Might be worth trying one,  next time you go. 
regards

Neil

Thanks Neil, I'll give one a try the next time I'm out fishing.