Brisbane River Session #213 and #214

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hi all

This report will be about my two sessions from this weekend, neither of which were too successful. I think I will be giving the fishing a rest for a little while after this, so hopefully they are biting when I'm back at it. 

The first session was a quick morning session on Saturday as I had something to do in the arvo. I woke up at 4 but didn't get out of the house until 5 to 6, which was a bit annoying as it meant I missed the high tide. I was first on the jetty after my ride to get there though, but struggled to catch bait for the first hour apart from a baby barracuda which brought me no fish. Eventually, at about 8AM, my dad came down to the rescue with some deadbait. He also caught a couple of mullet and bonies in the cast net, which I casted out (I got a healthy amount after this too). 

It was a fair way into the runout now, and I think I eventually got off the donut with a catfish. I wasn't too excited about this, and shortly after had a good hit on my surf rod but the hooks didn't sink, bugger. I continued to fish in hope of anything though, and at about 10:30AM heard the sound of my overheads ratchet clicking away. I got to my rod, and having just wound in every other line to baitcheck I was confident I would land this fish. It was big, and it had some very strong headshakes straight up. Unfortunately, my 30 pound leader wasn't up to the task to hold against the thready (pretty confident that's what it was), and it frayed through the leader. Lucky fish!

I continued fishing until 1PM but then really had to get going so got home and did the job I needed to, still pretty sore about the lost fish. I finished with a 1M pike eel which wasn't too nice at all, so I just cut it off before landing. 

Stats of Trip:

Tide: High, 1.9M, 5:43AM, 1:00PM, .7M, Low

Moon Phase: First quarter

Bait Caught and Used: Mullet, prawns, bony bream

Fish Caught: Nothing that counts. 

Tackle Used: 15-30 pound braid mainlines, 30 and 50 pound FC Rock leaders, 3000-6000 spinning and overhead combos, 7-12 foot rods, 5/o circle hooks, 6 ball star sinkers.

Air Pressure: 1006

Humidity: 85%

Overall Success Rate: 35% - at least I hooked one. 

The next session was the following arvo, and I arrived by about 2:00PM at the same spot. It took me a while to get set up, and I had a chat to a father and son who caught a solid bream on bread (they didn't stay for long either). I started off by having a cast with the net, and by the time I got my lines out and had a couple livies it was about 3:00PM. I continued netting until I had a fair few mullet, bonies, and a couple prawns, and got into some lunch. The bite was pretty quiet though, and I was hardly losing a bait. I continued to fish, and eventually got out a good size mullet as well as a mix of bonies, smaller mullet, and prawn. 

As I continued to fish, another guy came down to net some bait. He got a few bonies, but didn't stay for long. The fish really weren't chewing though, and it wasn't until the sun started to creep below the horizon I heard the singing of one of my baitrunners. Annoyingly, the short lived but fast run didn't quite stick, and I retrieved my mullet with a massive gash through the middle (I'm thinking jewie?). Basically straight after, a smaller mullet got attacked as well, but it wasn't that big. As the jetty started to get crowded with the weekend night crowd, I headed off and got back home by 6:30PM. 

Stats of Trip:

Tide: 1:30PM, .6M, Low, 7:30PM, 1.7M, High

Moon Phase: Just after first quarter

Bait Caught and Used: Mullet, prawns, biddies, bonies

Fish Caught: -

Tackle Used: 15-30 pound braid mainlines, 30 and 50 pound FC Rock leaders, 3000-6000 spinning and overhead combos, 7-12 foot rods, 5/o circle hooks, 6 ball star sinkers.

Air Pressure: 1005

Humidity: 81%

Overall Success Rate: 20%

Anyways, thanks for reading. I was meant to go fishing this arvo with my dad but apparently I'd already been enough so we didn't end up going.   I hope no one believed what I said in the first line, I'll be back at it tomorrow arvo, lol. Hopefully I will catch some fish though!

Cheers Hamish

[Junky]

I'm glad you cleared up that joke at the start. 

I didn't believe you, however I did have a slight worry that you won't, and we won't get to read your reports. 

 

Keep at it mate. 

That meter thread will be back on your line again soon enough. 

 

Cheers 

Damo. 

[Angry51]

Never mind Hamish, everyone has days like that, makes you want to take a break,

you just need to look to the next session.

You're only as good as your next fish, ha ha.

Good report thanks.

[mangajack]

Good report Hamish.

I don't back my drag off fishing with circle hooks, they rely on the hook being pulled from the mouth of the fish to set the hook. You never strike the fish to set the hook with circles.

Step your circles up to 7/0 for baits over 13cm long.

Do not pin your livies deeply onto the hook...3mm of flesh over the hook is more than enough. You need to hook to pull free of the bait and catch in the corner of the jaw as it is leaving the fish's mouth. Usually the shank of the hook will be outside the mouth using circle hooks correctly.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

38 minutes ago, Junky said:

I'm glad you cleared up that joke at the start. 

I didn't believe you, however I did have a slight worry that you won't, and we won't get to read your reports. 

 

Keep at it mate. 

That meter thread will be back on your line again soon enough. 

 

Cheers 

Damo. 

Thanks Damo, hopefully I can get one soon. 

37 minutes ago, Angry51 said:

Never mind Hamish, everyone has days like that, makes you want to take a break,

you just need to look to the next session.

You're only as good as your next fish, ha ha.

Good report thanks.

Thanks Angry. 

3 minutes ago, mangajack said:

Good report Hamish.

I don't back my drag off fishing with circle hooks, they rely on the hook being pulled from the mouth of the fish to set the hook. You never strike the fish to set the hook with circles.

Step your circles up to 7/0 for baits over 13cm long.

Do not pin your livies deeply onto the hook...3mm of flesh over the hook is more than enough. You need to hook to pull free of the bait and catch in the corner of the jaw as it is leaving the fish's mouth. Usually the shank of the hook will be outside the mouth using circle hooks correctly.

Thanks for the tips @mangajack, I use 6/o's normally but I have a couple of 8/o's in my bag so next time I'm using a large livie I'll try them. I normally pin herring and mullet near the top at the dorsal fin but next time I'll make sure there's lots of hook exposure.

Cheers Hamish

[ellicat]

At least you had the excitement of the decent hookups/runs. Last two sessions I haven't had that excitement, except for one legal whiting and some bait sized stuff. haha

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

50 minutes ago, ellicat said:

At least you had the excitement of the decent hookups/runs. Last two sessions I haven't had that excitement, except for one legal whiting and some bait sized stuff. haha

Thanks Brian, hopefully you get a few soon. 

[Doughnuts]

Nice report Hamish, just remember the average days make the good days even better. I just had about 100 casts for doughnuts on the squid hahaha

[Bretto77]

I can assure you Hamish that you did a lot better than me yesterday afternoon/ evening... Wasn't a particularly focused effort, but definitely a failure for me. @ellicat's "legal whiting and bait sized stuff" puts a good perspective on the nothingness that I experienced . It happens. 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

15 hours ago, Doughnuts said:

Nice report Hamish, just remember the average days make the good days even better. I just had about 100 casts for doughnuts on the squid hahaha

13 hours ago, Bretto77 said:

I can assure you Hamish that you did a lot better than me yesterday afternoon/ evening... Wasn't a particularly focused effort, but definitely a failure for me. @ellicat's "legal whiting and bait sized stuff" puts a good perspective on the nothingness that I experienced . It happens. 

Thanks guys.