queensland brisbane river session #232 and #233 [if only]

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

...If only it wasn't snapper closure!

Hi all,

This report will be about my last two sessions this weekend fishing landbased on the Brisbane River. Both were relatively successful. The first session I hit up a spot I had not been to for a while - it takes a long time to get there so I was pleased to catch a bucket full of herring and biddies quickly at the bait spot. From what I've heard, bait has been quite slow in the river recently, so I was pleased to get a few. 

Once I arrived at the fishing spot and set up, I got some more biddies and herring. With plenty of bait to start fishing, I deployed my baits and began the waiting game. Apart from a rather large buck sandy that dropped off before I could land it, the bite was quiet, and it stayed that way until just before high tide. I had a dead prawn out (I bring a couple each session for deadbaits/starter bait while I catch livies) and it screamed off into the distance. I was pretty certain it was a ray based on the nibbles, and a fun fight around some structure with some fast runs and tight drag ensued. Sure enough, I got a look at it and it was a rather large shovelly. Then, the best outcome occurred. The fish took one more run and the hook pulled (the spot I was fishing is about five meters above the water and the shovel would've been too big for the dilly). 

Shortly after on a live herring, I hooked up to a fish. A few headshakes later and some unwanted bycatch surfaced, a decent snapper around 45CM. It was gut hooked so I cut the line and sent him on his way. 

Snap

About five minutes later, I had another hookup on live herring, which resulted in me dropping something alright just as I was about to see it. If I had to guess, I'd say flatty, but we'll never know for sure. There was a large concert going on nearby and my Dad was at his work, also nearby, so he offered to pick me up. I finished a little past one happy enough with the day. 

Stats of Trip: HN

Tide: 7:00AM, .7M, Low, 12:30PM, 1.9M, High (high tide was prime bite time)

Moon Phase: 17%, and there wasn't lots of tide

Humidity: 66%

Air Pressure: 1012

Tackle Used: Shimano Sedona 6000 on Abu Garcia Nexus, Shimano Baitrunner DC on Kmart rod, Okuma Coronado CDX on Silstar Crystal Powertip. 30 pound braid mainlines, 50 pound trace, size 4 star sinker, barrel swivels, 6/o circle hook. 

Bait Used and Caught: Live herring, silver biddy, prawns

Fish Caught: Squire x 1, shovelnose x 1. Potential flatty hookup. 

Overall Success Rate: 40% - quiet day

The next session was this morning, and was at a brand new spot I'd never fished before. I was pretty sure that I wouldn't be able to get bait there easily though, and I was right, so it was very lucky my Dad agreed to drive me to a spot that always produces livies (about five minutes away from the fishing spot). The first cast I did, I got a nice school of about 15 herrings, which all went in the bucket. I saw some mullet action in some shallower water a few metres away, and got about 15 mullet in that cast. In amongst them were some silver biddies and ponyfish as well. Nice, that's bait sorted. 

I was at the spot with lines in the water by 6:30AM. The tide was gushing out, and it was actually looking a little quiet. Luckily, I persisted and by 7:30AM one of my lines with a live herring bait was attacked. Line was peeling off my spool, so I set the hook and started the fight. It felt snappery, and a couple of fast runs and very solid headshakes later I had a 57CM beauty on the riverwalk. If only it wasn't close season!

New PB

Feeling pretty happy about myself, I sent some more livies out. My bait bucket was a bit overpopulated though, and a couple of herring were dying. After a while, I sent out a dead herring fingered up around the tail, so it swayed in the current. Michael and Andrew arrived, and shortly after this, that dead herring was belted by another fish. Straight away, it felt a lot like a snapper, and after a fun fight with some decent runs and an good dilly job by Andrew, we had a nice 54CM model up on the jetty... If only it wasn't close season!

Another

After that, we all sent out some baits, and were hopeful a jew or threadfin would move through. Mick and Steve also arrived, but it was a very quiet day, because for the duration of the rising tide no one got anything, except Steve, who caught a small pike eel. Based on that session, I'll be back for a couple more tries at the spot. Next weekend I may try another new spot or go fishing with some mates, but hopefully some fish other than snapper turn up. One negative was that both the snapper were gut hooked, I probably would've kept them normally as I don't like releasing fish with a large circle hook down it's mouth. 

Stats of Trip: BS

Tide: 7:30AM, .7M, Low, 1:15PM, 1.9M, High

Moon Phase: 25%, there was a decent amount of tide

Bait Caught and Used: Live herring, mullet, silver biddies. Dead prawn. 

Humidity: 69%

Air Pressure: 1013

Fish Caught: Snapper x 2

Tackle Used: Shimano Sedona 6000 on Abu Garcia Nexus, Shimano Baitrunner DC on Kmart rod, Okuma Coronado CDX on Silstar Crystal Powertip. 30 pound braid mainlines, 50 pound trace, size 4 star sinker, barrel swivels, 6/o circle hook. 

Overall Success Rate: 80% - not too often you get 50CM plus river snapper 

Thanks for reading,

Cheers Hamish

[Angry51]

That's a good weekend Hamish out and about caught a couple of really good fish.

Shame about the closed season but that's the breaks.

Good write up thanks.

[ellicat]

Good one, Hamish. There'll be more than just me that are a little bit envious.

[Bretto77]

Nice fish Hamish . Yes the closed season is a bummer but it's there for a reason. I often wonder about how many fish survive being released. If they are released with some trauma that they may ultimately overcome, does it impact on their willingness/ ability to participate in spawning activities??? 

The only way to make sure that there is no question about that is to not fish at all... Which is not a pallatable option really . Who wants to not go fishing???

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

3 hours ago, Angry51 said:

That's a good weekend Hamish out and about caught a couple of really good fish.

Shame about the closed season but that's the breaks.

Good write up thanks.

Thanks Angry. Hopefully I’ll be able to get them next time when they’re bigger.

2 hours ago, ellicat said:

Good one, Hamish. There'll be more than just me that are a little bit envious.

Thanks Brian. 

1 hour ago, Bretto77 said:

Nice fish Hamish . Yes the closed season is a bummer but it's there for a reason. I often wonder about how many fish survive being released. If they are released with some trauma that they may ultimately overcome, does it impact on their willingness/ ability to participate in spawning activities??? 

The only way to make sure that there is no question about that is to not fish at all... Which is not a pallatable option really . Who wants to not go fishing???

Thanks Brett. I have no issue with the closed season, in fact if it weren’t there I probably wouldn’t have as much success on the squire in the river. It’s just a shame they are a common bycatch of threadfin and Jew fishing during the closure.

Cheers Hamish 

[Junky]

12 hours ago, Bretto77 said:

Who wants to not go fishing???

Pick me. 

This is a new PB for me. 

Would be g good 18mths since I've had a proper run. 

 

 

Good fish Hamish. 

Well done. 

[mangajack]

Good sessions there Hamish....if it wasn't closed season would have made these trips golden.

What is the code for your Stats of Trip: BS & HN?

I presume that is location?

[Neil Stratford]

Well done on the snapper. You just need to get the timing right on when to catch them. 
Neil

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

1 hour ago, Junky said:

Pick me. 

This is a new PB for me. 

Would be g good 18mths since I've had a proper run. 

 

 

Good fish Hamish. 

Well done. 

Thanks Damo, hope you can get out fishing soon. 

50 minutes ago, mangajack said:

Good sessions there Hamish....if it wasn't closed season would have made these trips golden.

What is the code for your Stats of Trip: BS & HN?

I presume that is location?

Thanks manga, they are the locations of the trip. I'm going to start adding them now so I can remember each spot. 

17 minutes ago, Neil Stratford said:

Well done on the snapper. You just need to get the timing right on when to catch them. 
Neil

Cheers Neil, hopefully I can get some big ones when it's not close season. 

[Bretto77]

1 hour ago, Junky said:

Pick me. 

This is a new PB for me. 

Would be g good 18mths since I've had a proper run. 

 

 

Good fish Hamish. 

Well done. 

That's a terrible state of affairs. Almost worthy of medical intervention...

[Another Wazza]

10 hours ago, mangajack said:

 

What is the code for your Stats of Trip: BS 

I thought I had that one figured out?, Ive been dealing with plenty of BS at work lately, hahaha.

 

11 hours ago, Junky said:

 

This is a new PB for me. 

Would be g good 18mths since I've had a proper run. 

Damo, 18 months is sacrilege!, at least have the decency to take a hand line into a pet shop and work their tanks over, hahaha, I'm with @Bretto77 on this one, an intervention is most likely required

[Bretto77]

10 minutes ago, Another Wazza said:

Damo, 18 months is sacrilege!, at least have the decency to take a hand line into a pet shop and work their tanks over, hahaha, I'm with @Bretto77 on this one, an intervention is most likely required

We can't hijack @AUS-BNE-FISHO's post, but this does appear to be the emergence of a serious issue. @ellicat there may need to be a"medicinal/ health and wellbeing" section for the site?

[charlie.hans.fishing]

Nice work Hamish those are some great snapper for the river.