queensland brisbane river session #229, #230, and #231 [slow going, but got there]

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hi all

This report will be about my last three sessions in the Brisbane River fishing and prawning. They were each relatively successful, and I will start off with my session on Saturday. 

I got to the spot at about 5:30AM and after setting up started cast netting. I was pleased to catch a good amount of nice sized prawns first up, which were deployed on the lines. I also caught someone's car keys, but the first catch on line for the day was a stingray (unusual catch for this spot). By about 8:00AM, the prawns disappeared, so it was lucky I already had a bucketful for the days fishing. Also, around this time, I had a screaming run on one of my reels baited with a live prawn and live herring combo, but unfortunately it didn't hook up. Michael arrived shortly after, and we continued fishing in anticipation.

Bait

Unfortunately, apart from a few fast runs on Michael's rod that for some reason did not hook up, and a couple of inquiries on mine including one decent hook up which shook the hook, it was a quiet day. A few catties were caught, but there was hardly any bait around for the majority of the day's fishing. We called it quits at about 1:00PM, after going through lunch without any bites. 

Stats of Trip: KF

Tide: 3:15AM, .5M, Low, 8:40AM, 1.5M, High, 2:35Pm, .3M, Low

Moon Phase: 7%, New Moon 

Bait Caught and Used: Live prawns, mullet, bony bream, herring

Fish Caught: Catfish, stingray

Tackle Used: I used a Shimano Baitrunner DC on Kmart rod with 30 pound braid, 50 pound leader, size 2 snapper sinker, 6/o circle hook, Shimano Symetre 4000 on Sentire rod combo, same rig, Shimano Sedona 6000 with 30 pound braid and Abu Garcia Nexus rod, same rig as above. 

Air Pressure: 1019

Humidity: 83%

Overall Success Rate: 40% - fun session with some good prawns

That night, I was back at it again with Dad trying our luck for some prawns. The first spot we went to was a new one, and there were already a couple people there. Unluckily for us, the prawns didn't get the memo, but we eventually found a spot we were getting 1-2 a cast. We probably could've kept them for ourselves here but gave them to another guy having no luck, as we were mainly there to suss the place out and then move on to a different spot. I think he must have felt like the luckiest guy ever, two strangers came down and started catching prawns for him.

The next spot was a bit more lively, and we ended up with a bit more than half a kilo after a short period of time. Being quite tired, we headed home at about 9:30PM. I packaged the prawns up in bags, and decided to use these ones as bait as there hasn't been a whole lot of bait in the river recently. 

Stats of Trip: RD, KP

Tide: 9:00PM, 2.3M, High

Moon Phase: New Moon

Bait Caught and Used: Prawns

Air Pressure: 1019

Humidity: 86%

Overall Success Rate: 70% - got some

I gave the fishing a miss on Sunday, but luckily today I had a pupil free day from school. This could only have meant one thing, so I loaded up some gear and got the train and ferry to a spot I haven't visited for a while.

Story Bridge before sunrise (this is Riverside ferry terminal)

There was no one else at the spot when I got there, and I was set up a little after half past six. I chucked some of the prawns out from the previous night, and got to cast netting. Bait was really slow at first, and apart from a couple herring and silver biddies it wasn't looking good. Likewise, the fishing action didn't seem too promising, with a rather large jenny sand crab coming in first, followed by a dead seagull that had been caught in someone's snagged fishing line (seagull and line was binned, not good to see). 

Luckily, at about 9:00AM, having caught no fish and only getting a couple of picks, I managed to get a couple schools of prime size poddy mullet in the net. These would prove to be a bit of a lifesaver, and I lobbed a lollipop size one out on one of my rods. Now feeling a bit more hopeful, I sat down and had a bite to eat. Unfortunately, my mullet came back in scaled and barely alive, so a bit before ten it was lobbed out again ready to be munched. Sure enough, fifteen minutes later I saw my rod getting a subtle bite, and I was pleased to hook up to a decent opponent. A few strong headshakes later and one fast run under the jetty, a very solid Brisbane River flatty (about 65CM) was sitting in the bottom of my dilly. Nice!

Flatty

I've been seeing a lot of these caught lately, so was pleased to nab a decent one for myself. Despite my best efforts, the fish was quite badly gut hooked, which made getting the hook out difficult. By the time I did get it out (I wasn't too keen on releasing the fish with the hook in its throat as it was a rather large one that wouldn't rust quickly), it must've been too late, because I swum the flatty for twenty minutes and it wasn't going anywhere. 

A little later, another guy rocked up. We both got our lines in, but there was still no bait or real bite activity. After a couple hours, we were pleased to see a school of tailor come through, which chomped two of my livies before I landed a 45CM model, which came in with some solid aerobatics. This was kept, and shortly after, the other guy fishing managed to land a 55CM model, which put up a great fight. I ended up not being able to catch any more livies after having a legal buck sandcrab eat my last mullet and drop off as I was pulling it up, so called it quits shortly before two. 

Tailor

Stats of Trip: B

Tide: 4:15AM, .7M, Low, 9:40AM, 1.8M, High, 3:30PM, .5M, Low

Moon Phase: .7%, New Moon

Bait Used and Caught: Live mullet, biddies, herring, dead prawns, herring, anchovy

Tackle Used: Shimano Baitrunner DC 8000 on Kmart rod, Okuma Coronado 55 on Silstar Crystal Powertip 6-8KG, Shimano Sedona 6000 on Abu Garcia Nexus 6-10KG, all had 30 pound braid, 50 pound trace, size 4 star sinker, 6/o circle hook, barrel swivels. 

Air Pressure: 1020

Humidity: 77%

Fish Caught: Flathead x 1, Tailor x 2, Sand crab x 2

Overall Success Rate: 90% - I told my dad I wanted to catch a decent flatty today and got one!  

Anyway, thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed. It was good to catch a couple of fish on the last day of the weekend after a couple of uneventful sessions. Probably need to start getting used to wearing the buff again after getting burnt decently today as well. 

Cheers Hamish

[charlie.hans.fishing]

Nice report Hamish, glad you ended up with that nice flatty on your last session. Thanks for the fish fillets, btw.

[Bretto77]

Well done Hamish

[Old Scaley]

Great fish Hamish!

[Angry51]

Couple of good fish Hamish.

Good report, thanks.

[Thorbjorn Hale]

nice fishing hamish, I feel like everyone has been catching stuff at bulimba but me recently, I was getting really good results for a month or two but these past 2 weeks  have been really uneventful for me, its good to see someone catching some good fish though.

[Rebel]

Top report.

Great photos.

Well done.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

5 hours ago, TheCharliefisho said:

Nice report Hamish, glad you ended up with that nice flatty on your last session. Thanks for the fish fillets, btw.

3 hours ago, Bretto77 said:

Well done Hamish

3 hours ago, Old Scaley said:

Great fish Hamish!

2 hours ago, Angry51 said:

Couple of good fish Hamish.

Good report, thanks.

50 minutes ago, Rebel said:

Top report.

Great photos.

Well done.

Thanks guys. 

1 hour ago, Thorbjorn Hale said:

nice fishing hamish, I feel like everyone has been catching stuff at bulimba but me recently, I was getting really good results for a month or two but these past 2 weeks  have been really uneventful for me, its good to see someone catching some good fish though.

Cheers Thorbjorn, I'm sure you'll get some soon. I got mine casting out diagonally left from the left corner. 

[Thorbjorn Hale]

19 minutes ago, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

Thanks guys. 

Cheers Thorbjorn, I'm sure you'll get some soon. I got mine casting out diagonally left from the left corner. 

yeah that corner seems to hold alot of the fish, there must be hole there or something

 

[Doughnuts]

Good report and great read, thanks Hamish.!

[ellicat]

Success. Nice flatty and good to see some decent tailor in the river.

[jimee]

Excellent read. Thanks for taking the time to share your adventures.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

14 hours ago, Doughnuts said:

Good report and great read, thanks Hamish.!

Thanks Doughnuts. 

9 hours ago, ellicat said:

Success. Nice flatty and good to see some decent tailor in the river.

Cheers Brian. 

1 hour ago, jimee said:

Excellent read. Thanks for taking the time to share your adventures.

Thanks Jimee, and no worries. 

[Junky]

Nice lizard Hamish. 

 

 

I was standing on that jetty a couple of nights ago. Had tea at the Brazilian restaurant just above it. Top feed for those interested. 

 

Caught the river cat around to new farm park. 

There's a decent sized jetty there as well, just out the front of the power house. Saw a 72cm jew pulled in, and I stood close to make sure it went back. 

Dunno if you've fished that jetty but it may be worth a look. 

 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

1 hour ago, Junky said:

Nice lizard Hamish. 

 

 

I was standing on that jetty a couple of nights ago. Had tea at the Brazilian restaurant just above it. Top feed for those interested. 

 

Caught the river cat around to new farm park. 

There's a decent sized jetty there as well, just out the front of the power house. Saw a 72cm jew pulled in, and I stood close to make sure it went back. 

Dunno if you've fished that jetty but it may be worth a look. 

 

Thanks Damo. I've fished at Newfarm a lot and caught some alright threadies there. It's also good for prawns when they're on. Good to hear about the jew.

Cheers Hamish