queensland worth it? [brisbane river session #250-#261]

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hi all

NOTE: Pictures are attached to the Lensdump link at the bottom of the report. 

I finished school at the end of last week and since then I've been fishing a heap for a couple decent catches. The first session was two Thursdays ago, at a local jetty targeting threadfin and sharks. I arrived while the tide was high early in the morning, and the first cast of the net produced enough bony bream and mullet for the session. I deployed livies, including one unweighted bait out the side of the jetty, and waited for a bite. 

It wasn't long before the unweighted bait, which had a live prawn, screamed off, but unluckily no hook up. I continued to fish after this and apart from a couple of nibbles the bite remained quiet. Then, at about 8:00AM, my rod out the side of the jetty, baited with a fresh dead prawn, had a few bites. I wound it in and sure enough I was on - one run later I had a solid 55CM flatty on the jetty. 

This gave me a bit of hope for the rest of the day, but I continued to fish until 12:00PM and it was very quiet. I did manage a 30CM bream on a live bony bream, but apart from that I had no bites for the rest of the session - even more surprisingly no signs of bullies either. I left at 12 when some annoying bogan kids came down and I also had to get to work. 

Stats: 

Tide: 1:00AM, .3M, Low, 7:00AM, 1.9M, High, 1:00PM, .5M, Low. 

Moon Phase: 86%

Bait Caught/Used: Live prawns, mullet, herring. 

Fish Caught: Flathead x 1, Bream x 1, lost a good run

Tackle Used: Shimano Stradic 3000 on Shimano Raider 4-7KG, Penn Liveliner 6500 on 8 foot Ugly Stik 6-10KG, Shimano Baitrunner 8000 on Kmart Rod, Okuma Coronada CDX on Silstar Crystal Powertip rod. 

Air Pressure: 1013

Humidity: 79%

Overall Success Rate: 50% - can't complain with a flatty and bream. 

The next day was Friday, so me and a few other mates decided to go fishing before school for the last day. We went at a spot near school I knew we could catch decent bream at with unweighted dead prawns, and sure enough, first drop with the handline I pulled in a bream. After that, my mate Nicu and I caught some catfish, before Nicu was busted off by something that was pulling line very fast off the handline, and the same happened to me shortly after. Oh well, but I'll definitely be back here when I catch enough prawns for a session!

Stats: 

Tide: 8:00AM, 2.1M, High. 

Moon Phase: 93%

Bait Caught/Used: Dead prawns

Fish Caught: Bream and catties, two big bust offs

Tackle Used: Light line handlines, small hooks and 00 ball sinkers

Air Pressure: 1012

Humidity: 77%

Overall Success Rate: 70% - target goal of catching something before school was achieved 

That arvo I went for a session at my local park - armed with minimum deadbait I attempted to catch some livies first up, which went relatively well as I got some mullet and bony bream. Baits were deployed, but the bite seemed quiet, and with the tide rising it wasn't looking like I was going to catch any more live bait. I had plenty of casts around the place, and annoyingly someone had left a sunken crab pot in one of my favourite castnetting spots making it difficult to catch more bait. 

I got off the donut with a couple of fat catties, but there were no sharks to be seen. One of the catties took a bony bream that was about 25CM long, the catty was only about 40CM long itself. 

Stats: 

Tide: 2:10PM, .4M, Low, 8:00PM, 2M, High. 

Moon Phase: 93%

Bait Caught/Used: Bony bream and poddy mullet alive and dead

Fish Caught: Catfish

Tackle Used: Shimano Stradic 3000 on 4-7KG Shimano Raider, Shimano Baitrunner with Kmart Rod, Shimano Sentire 5-9KG on Shimano Symetre 4000. 15, 20, and 30 pound braid mainlines, snapper and ball sinkers, circle hooks, 20/30/80 pound leader/trace. 

Air Pressure: 1010

Humidity: 62%

Overall Success Rate: 40% - good way to spend the arvo

That Saturday, I slept in, but in the arvo I was back out at the local park trying my luck. Once again, I got a few bony bream in the net and sent these out live, in hopes of enticing a bull shark or threadfin onto the end of my line. I don't really have much to say about this afternoon, apart from that my baits got chomped several times by rather large catties, none of which were particularly fun to bring in as they all fought like a wet sock. 

By six, I called it quits - I plan to give my local park a couple more cracks but because the council still hasn't even started jetty repair works I predict it will be a while before I can manage a good fish here. 

Stats: 

Tide: 3:10PM, .4M, Low, 9PM, 1.9M, High. 

Moon Phase: 98%

Bait Caught/Used: Live bonies. 

Fish Caught: Several catfish

Tackle Used: Shimano Stradic 3000 on 4-7KG Shimano Raider, Shimano Baitrunner with Kmart Rod, Shimano Sentire 5-9KG on Shimano Symetre 4000. 15, 20, and 30 pound braid mainlines, snapper and ball sinkers, circle hooks, 20/30/80 pound leader/trace. 

Air Pressure: 1007

Humidity: 75%

Overall Success Rate: 30% - no donut

On Sunday, I planned a trip with @Thorbjorn Hale to spot in the river. We hadn't fished together for a while so it was good to catch up, but once we arrived at the spot (after a pretty hot walk from the ferry terminal), we were both disappointed to see a lack of bait hanging around. Fortunately, Thorbjorn did get one herring in the first cast of his net, which he promptly turned into a 20 kilo stingray that was a bit of an effort to get up in our dillies.

For the next couple of hours, we casted our nets relentlessly for hardly any bait. Thorbjorn even walked about a K away to a nearby spot that I knew normally held bait, but this was a waste of time because he didn't end up finding any baitfish at all. Luckily for us, I had brought some soft drink, lollies, and chips (plus a normal lunch), so this kept us fishing for a bit longer.

Later in the arvo, closer to the low tide, I was having a go with my net, and hit a Christmas Tree of herring. This was very good, and we got our livies out so we were within a chance of a fish. I dropped two decent fish after this, one which had a lot of headshakes and I pulled hooks on, and the other which I saw the colour of but shook the hooks just as I was about to get a positive ID. This one was either a flatty or catty. 

For the rest of the arvo, Thorbjorn and I had a bit of fun pulling in several large stingrays, ranging from 10-20KG, with most around the 20KG mark. I would say that the smallest, which was around 10-15KG, was definitely the least effort to get in, and Thorbjorn decided to keep this one for a feed (apparently it tasted alright but not as good as a smaller model). At about 4 we headed home, disappointed we didn't catch anything big but still happy enough that we didn't donut. 

Stats: 

Tide: 2:45AM, .3M, Low, 9:00AM, 2.3M, High, 3:30PM, .6M, Low

Moon Phase: Full Moon

Bait Caught/Used: Live herring

Fish Caught: Stingrays

Tackle Used: I used three eight foot fibreglass rods with baitrunner reels, 30 pound braid, 50 pound trace, size four star sinkers, and 6/o circle hooks. 

Air Pressure: 1007-1010

Humidity: 75%-91%

Overall Success Rate: 50% - a few bites

Monday morning came around, and I was out of the house a bit after 4 on my bike going to a spot to try for some threadfin or bullies again. I arrived at low tide, which was ideal, but what was not ideal was the complete lack of baitfish hanging around. I didn't have any dead bait, and after ages cast netting, plus a massive hole in my net, I finally had a couple poddy mullet and bony bream that could be used (including one large bony I cut in half for shark bait). 

Annoyingly, the bite stayed very quiet all the way up until the high tide change, where a couple of my baits had some action. These only proved to be rather large pike eels, both of which were cut off and released back to the water. 

I continued to fish and net into the arvo, eventually running out of livebait. By now, Charlie came down for a fish as well, but apart from two herring that didn't last long on the hooks in the pumping tide and a heap of toadfish, I didn't catch any more baitfish to deploy on my lines. This was especially disappointing, and after a 12.5 hour session I was hoping I would be rewarded with a half-decent fish. 

Stats: 

Tide: 3:50AM, .1M, Low, 10:15AM, 2.4M, High, 4:50Pm, .4M, Low. 

Moon Phase: Full Moon

Bait Caught/Used: Not much, but herring, poddy mullet, and bony bream. 

Fish Caught: 2 x pike eels

Tackle Used: 4000 Shimano Symetre on Shimano Sentire rod, 3000 Stradic on Raider rod, Shimano Baitrunner on Kmart rod, Penn Spinfisher Liveliner 6500 on Ugly Stik. 15, 20, 30 pound braid mainlines, 50 pound trace, 4/o and 6/o circle hooks, size 1-3 snapper sinkers, barrel swivels. 

Air Pressure: 1007

Humidity: 71%

Overall Success Rate: 5% - terrible day

Then on Tuesday, I was back at a spot in the lower reaches of the river, fishing with Thorbjorn, Charlie, and a couple other guys in hope of a decent bite or three. I was at the jetty first, and a slow bait situation to start off did not inspire confidence. A council worker then came down needing to wash the jetty, as I had to move my stuff for that, but after he was done Thorbjorn and I got back to fishing. 

A couple live herring and prawn later we had some catfish on the jetty, one of which was kept for bait. The situation just kept getting worse and worse, and by the time Charlie arrived it was also quite hot. Then, the tide began to change, and apart from a few odd baitfish bait had been slow for everyone. I finally managed a Chrissy Tree just as the tide started to pick up, which was good as I was completely exhausted. 

Baits were deployed, and as the skies began to spit down on us, it actually became quite cold. This seemed to stop the fish from biting, and although everyone caught a catty or two there wasn't anything big getting around. Charlie also had a good fight with a 8KG or so ray, which would have been fun to pull in. 

The cold weather didn't stop us all going for a swim, which was probably the highlight of the day. It did mean we left freezing and with no more bites Charlie and I called it quits at about 3:30PM. 

Stats: 

Tide: 4:00AM, .3M, Low, 10:30AM, 2.7M, High, 5:00PM, .6M, Low. 

Moon Phase: Full Moon

Bait Caught/Used: Herring, mullet

Fish Caught: Cattie, eels, stingrays

Tackle Used: I used three eight foot fibreglass rods with baitrunner reels, 30 pound braid, 50 pound trace, size four star sinkers, and 6/o circle hooks, plus an extra 7 foot rod with a Shimano Sedona 6000 (30 pound braid, 50 pound trace). 

Air Pressure: 1006

Humidity: 90%

Overall Success Rate: 30% - fun day but not much fishing action and very cold

The following day I hit a spot I hadn't been to in a few months - next time I will probably give a spot in the vicinity recommended to me by @Old Scaley a shot, as the ferries are currently cutting in super close due to a new bridge being constructed making fishing slightly difficult. 

Anyway, I got the 6:00AM ferry across the river and arrived shortly after. First measure of business was collecting livebait, which there didn't seem to be a lot of. First cast of the net I pulled in a 50CM or so thready and a couple small prawns, if I had a lure or lighter rod I would've been tempted to drop a bait in around here. I eventually coerced an assortment of mullet, herring, prawn, and whiting into my net, after also landing a random luderick. 

These were deployed, and the bites seemed pretty active, and being the last part of the rising tide that was no surprise. Despite this, there was nothing more than catfish and pike eel bites and hookups, despite having some rather large mullet out in hope of a jewie (although this vermin could be expected due to the dirty water).

As the tide continued to rise the water cleared and eventually I had a more formidable opponent on the end of my line, a rather large stingray. Although not much fun to bring in it was still some decent practise for fighting a big fish. I eventually ran out of bait, so had a bit more of a cast around for some prawns and herring, which got smashed by catties. One last cast around for about 30 minutes brought an anchovy, so I sent this out (no fish) as I packed up, just on the start of the run out. "Another quiet day, oh well", I thought to myself.  

Stats: 

Tide: 4:45AM, .2M, Low, 11:15AM, 2.4M, High

Moon Phase: 97%

Bait Caught/Used: Live mullet, prawn, herring, whiting, and anchovies

Fish Caught: Stingray, catfish

Tackle Used: I used three eight foot fibreglass rods with baitrunner reels, 30 pound braid, 50 pound trace, size four star sinkers, and 6/o circle hooks

Air Pressure: 1002

Humidity: 91%

Overall Success Rate: 30% - quiet day

By Thursday, I was at a bit of a loss as to where to go, as it seemed most ends of the river had been quiet for bait. Knowing this, I decided to go to a local jetty that normally had bait but wasn't great for fishing, catch the bait, and ride to a nearby rockwall and try my luck there. I was at said jetty by about 4:45AM Thursday morning, but the action just wasn't there, and after about 20 casts for lots of toadies and a rather big bullrout I decided to cross the rockwall plan off the list and hit a different local jetty.

This proved to be a good decision, because despite the fact the jetty was a terrible mess there was a mix of herring, bony bream, and anchovies around on the last part of the run out. After I deployed all lines, including an unweighted bait again, I cleaned up the jetty, which took ages. This did bring an entire new spool of Diawa J-Thread 20 pound leader, just what I needed for my trip to the Port the next day. 

As the tide changed, I managed to nab a few more bonies and some poddy mullet - the herring and anchovies disappeared. This was no problem though, and because I wasn't planning on fishing for ages I decided I would pack my net away and just wait for some bites (so far, one catty and one run on the unweighted bait, which I switched to a soft vibe). 

The tide was well and truly running in by now, and as I was transferring some livies from one bucket to another I heard the not-so-familiar sound of my new Penn Spinfisher Liveliner having line peeled off by a fish. Based off of the initial take I knew it was decent, and this was affirmed by the first couple of runs when the fish went screaming around the jetty. Despite a massive tangle with my second rod, I still managed to get the fish closer and closer to the bank, and despite a desperate bid for freedom being taken under the pontoon I successfully netted a nice size 108cm Threadfin. Beauty!

I continued fishing after this, and it was a great day, with a perfect blue sky, some relatively clean water around high tide, and a nice bit of breeze to keep me cool. Additionally, another council worker had also come down to wash the jetty with a pressure washer, which was great as it meant the jetty was now clean again after the people who were there last night left prawn smooshed all over the place. I caught one more catfish before running out of bait, and some other fisherman came down but they didn't catch any while I was there. 

Stats: 

Tide: 5:35AM, .3M, Low, 12:15PM, 2.3M, High. 

Moon Phase: 93%

Bait Caught/Used: Live anchovies, herring, mullet, and bony bream

Fish Caught: Threadfin salmon x 1, catfish x 2

Tackle Used: Shimano Stradic 3000 on Shimano Raider, Shimano Symetre 4000 on Shimano Sentire, Penn Liveliner on Ugly Stik, 15, 20, 30 pound braid mainlines, 50 pound leaders, 4/o/6/o circle hooks, varying sinkers, barrel swivels. 

Air Pressure: 999

Humidity: 42%

Overall Success Rate: 100% - threadfin and good release

Then, on Saturday, @Cavvy, Charlie, and I went for a flick in the freshwater reaches of the river. It was a successful session, and Charlie did the report (have a read!):

 

Stats: 

Tide: 9:00AM low tide of .5M

Moon Phase: 80%

Lures used: Cicada topwater lures

Fish Caught: Several bass

Tackle Used: I used a Diawa Tierra 2500 with 8 pound braid on an Abu Garcia Veritas 7 foot 2-4KG rod, ten pound leader, Jackall Cicada. My Dad used a 4-7Kg Shimano Raider, 3000 Shimano Stradic, 15 pound braid and ten pound leader, and Duo Realis Cicada. 

Air Pressure: 1002

Humidity: 60%

Overall Success Rate: 80% - can't complain about catching bass

The final session of this report was this morning, at another local spot targeting shark and threadfin again. I'm still yet to catch a shark this Summer which is very surprising. Anyway, I got there at about 5:30AM and had a bit of a cast with the net. Bait was slow but eventually my mate and I got a few poddies that we sent out on the lines. Now, we could relax...

It wasn't long before my mates rod had some interest. A few minutes later he had a 95CM bully landed, which is quite a solid size for the river pups around here in my experience. This was on a rather large live mullet, so after rerigging he deployed another one. The bite went quiet again, and apart from the occasional peck our mullets remained untouched. That was until, his rod went off again, and he brought in a smaller model closer to the 80CM mark. This was still good to see, and after giving it another hour I packed up and rode home (had something on). He reckons he had a bit more action as the tide continued to rise but no landed fish. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get into some sharks.  

Stats: 

Tide: 8:15AM, .6M, Low. 

Moon Phase: 70%

Bait Caught/Used: Live poddy mullet

Fish Caught: I got zilch, mate got some bullies and a catty

Tackle Used: I used a Okuma Coronado CDX baitrunner on a Silstar rod, and a Shimano Symetre 4000 on a Shimano Sentire rod. 30 and 20 lb braid, 50 pound trace, size 3 snapper sinkers, 6/o circle hooks, barrel swivels. 

Air Pressure: 1005

Humidity: 56%

Overall Success Rate: 50% - good to see some shark action. 

So, to answer the question in the title, yes it was worth putting in those fifty or so hours for the one threadfin, because a bad days fishing beats a good day at school. 

Pictures: https://lensdump.com/a/KvaCo

Hopefully I'll be able to catch a couple more good fish this year. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed.

Cheers Hamish . 

[Neil Stratford]

Yes - worth it. 
Nice Thready.

Have you done anything with your fishing log data.?
You should graph out number of Threadfin vs Month and then number of threadfin vs stage of tide , and number of threadfin vs location . That might help you zero in on them .

regards

Neil

[ellicat]

Just reward for all that well spent time, Hamish.

[Old Scaley]

Wow. Monster fishing effort, Hamish, and a monster report to boot! Hope the summer holidays are good to you. 

[Huxstang]

Well done, I tip my hat to your dedication.  No way I could do that many mornings so early….I am enjoying my post work life by not getting up so early too often 

[Rebel]

Great stories.

I got tied out reading them

Well done.

[charlie.hans.fishing]

Great effort Hamish. 

Your thready was for sure a reward for your efforts. 

[Bretto77]

Well done Hamish

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

On 3/12/2023 at 6:41 PM, Neil Stratford said:

Yes - worth it. 
Nice Thready.

Have you done anything with your fishing log data.?
You should graph out number of Threadfin vs Month and then number of threadfin vs stage of tide , and number of threadfin vs location . That might help you zero in on them .

regards

Neil

Thanks Neil, yep I should make a graph with the data, good idea.

On 3/12/2023 at 7:34 PM, ellicat said:

Just reward for all that well spent time, Hamish.

 

On 4/12/2023 at 8:39 AM, Old Scaley said:

Wow. Monster fishing effort, Hamish, and a monster report to boot! Hope the summer holidays are good to you. 

 

On 4/12/2023 at 9:15 AM, Huxstang said:

Well done, I tip my hat to your dedication.  No way I could do that many mornings so early….I am enjoying my post work life by not getting up so early too often 

 

On 4/12/2023 at 10:33 AM, Rebel said:

Great stories.

I got tied out reading them

Well done.

 

On 4/12/2023 at 8:29 PM, charlie.hans.fishing said:

Great effort Hamish. 

Your thready was for sure a reward for your efforts. 

 

21 hours ago, Bretto77 said:

Well done Hamish

Thanks guys.