queensland brisbane river session #273-77

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hi all,

This report will be about my last couple of sessions in the river. Last Monday I had a day off, but on Tuesday I was fishing at a local spot targeting threadies. Bait was no worries as I stopped on my ride to catch some, but despite the fact I was fishing the low tide change (prime time for this spot in my opinion) the bites were slow. I got off the donut with a catty and throughout the day managed to pull in two sharks and some more catfish. So overall, a pretty miserable day and another threadyless session. 

Stats:

Tide: 9:00AM, .5M, Low

Moon Phase: 44%

Air Pressure: 1009

Humidity: 76%

Bait Used: Live mullet and bony bream

Fish Caught: Sharks and catties

Overall Success Rate: 20%

The next day I spent the day eel fishing at my local park, but unfortunately I didn't manage any. Hopefully I get some soon because I need them for shark bait. 

On Thursday, I was lucky enough that @Thorbjorn Hale offered to take me out in his boat again down at the POB. We launched at Colmslie and shot down to Bulimba Creek first, where we got some mullet, then the Poo Chute where we got a few herring. Armed with some nice livebait, we tried over near the Coal Wharfs for not a nibble, then at the pipeline for one catty, before a quick crack at the ends of the main docks. Here, I was snipped off by a shark, and after this, upon Thorbjorns advice, I sent a big 40cm or so piece of pike eel down on one of his rigs. Sure enough, my Penn Spinfisher 8500 began to scream after a little while, but by the time we had cleared all the other lines it had disappeared, leaving just a ten centimetre of so piece of eel on my hook. Bugger.

After this, we went back to the Poo Chute to get some more herring, which was successful. Upon reanchoring at the docks, I had a screaming run within minutes of sending my bait down. Over the next couple of hours, Thorbjorn and I had about 8 of these, all Dusky Whalers, six of which snipped us off and two of which we landed. One about 60cm by Thorbs and one around the 1.3M mark by myself. A bit before five we called it quits, and this was good because as we got back to the ramp it started to rain pretty hard. Thanks for the great day on the boat @Thorbjorn Hale, hopefully we can get the big sharks next time! 

By the way, we also watched someone catch a jewie/thready on a vibe a couple hundred meters away from us, so there were a couple fish around. 

Stats:

Tide: 4:30AM, 1.9M, High, 10:30AM, .8M, Low, 4:30PM, 2.1M, High. 

Moon Phase: 67%

Bait Caught: Herring and mullet

Air Pressure: 1005

Humidity: 84%

Fish Caught: Sharks and catties

Overall Success Rate: 80% - fun day out on the port, definitely beats landbased fishing!

 On Friday, I tried a local spot I hadn't fished at before, and only had deadbait as it is to high up to cast net. This meant all I could catch was a fat catty, and then no more bites. I left getting rained on and the train got delayed before my stop so I had to walk home from extra far away, what a crappy day. 

Stats:

Tide: 6:30AM, 2M, High, 12:40PM, .6M, Low

Moon Phase: 77%

Bait Used: Bony bream

Air Pressure: 1006

Humidity: 90%

Fish Caught: Catty

Overall Success Rate: 10%

On Saturday I had another day off, but then this morning my Dad and I were out chasing bass at a spot we hadn't been to for a while. It was pretty overgrown, but we managed to clamber down the steep track to the bank. First up we had a cast off a sandstone section, where there was plenty of surface action, but I could only manage one tiddler size bass on surface. 

Following that we repositioned slightly for no luck. My Dad continued bushbashing and after I caught another small bass I saw a massive splash in the middle of the river next to a snag. That was my Dad's lure, but unfortunately it only turned out to be a small bass (30-35cm) and I slipped along through the bushes for no reason. I was sort of rewarded for this trek though, because after switching to a seven gram Savage Gear spinnerbait, I hooked up. It was only a dirty tilly though, so after that was rehomed up the bank I fired another cast out. When my spinnerbait got close to the bank, I hooked a more formidable opponent that screamed off and reefed me in a stick. After a bit of convincing, I managed to get my Dad to jump into the river and have a swim to try and retrieve the fish. 

This was successful after much stress, but annoyingly, it was only a 37cm bass, not the big model we were hoping for! We had a few more casts around here for one more surface bust up and a bit more swimming to retrieve snagged lures, then we went to suss out a new spot which seemed promising but bought no fish. 

https://lensdump.com/i/3qozhM

My Dad and the Bass he recovered

Stats:

Air Pressure: 1002

Humidity: 88%

Fish Caught: Bass and tilapia 

Lures Used: Cicada surface lures, spinnerbaits. 

Overall Success Rate: 60% - fun morning

Thanks for reading, I'm going camping at the Sunny coast for a couple of nights now, so hopefully I have some more luck up there. 

Merry Christmas everyone,

Hamish

[ellicat]

Those damned sharks gave you guys a fair bit of fun, by the sounds of it. They certainly are not in short supply.

37 is a decent bass, but not sure it was worth a swim. haha

Good luck up the Coast. Chasing flatties ?

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

10 minutes ago, ellicat said:

Those damned sharks gave you guys a fair bit of fun, by the sounds of it. They certainly are not in short supply.

37 is a decent bass, but not sure it was worth a swim. haha

Good luck up the Coast. Chasing flatties ?

Thanks Brian, yep, but getting the lure back was probably worth a swim anyway.

We plan on chasing flatties and maybe a Jack if we’re lucky.

[Junky]

Great read as usual Hamish. 

Sharks are a great way of clean the cobwebs from reel drag systems. 

Bit of sweetwater thrown in as well. Good to see you're mixing up your fishing. It's amazing where bass get to in the creeks around SEQ. 

 

Got to say mate, your father is a dead set champion of a bloke. Fearless too. You'll learn lots from that man. 

[Old Scaley]

The most surprising part of that report is that you took a day off! Hope you get a jack up the coast. 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

13 hours ago, Junky said:

Great read as usual Hamish. 

Sharks are a great way of clean the cobwebs from reel drag systems. 

Bit of sweetwater thrown in as well. Good to see you're mixing up your fishing. It's amazing where bass get to in the creeks around SEQ. 

 

Got to say mate, your father is a dead set champion of a bloke. Fearless too. You'll learn lots from that man. 

Thanks Junky. Definitely good to mix up the sessions a bit. 
 

12 hours ago, Old Scaley said:

The most surprising part of that report is that you took a day off! Hope you get a jack up the coast. 

I was a bit disappointed I did but it was worth the rest, I’m hoping for the Jack too Steve.