queensland yeppoon trip 7/01-12/01

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hi all, 

I headed up to Yeppoon a couple weeks ago to visit some family and go fishing. I flew up and arrived on Sunday arvo, so wasted no time and went for a quick session at the harbour. The first two casts of my net came up empty but on my third cast I got a few herring, so kept them live and moved spots. I dropped a couple livies down behind the boat and floated a small cube down as well. 

First cast I was on a small mackerel, which I released (undersize). Then, I think I found the fishing very quiet, and was struggling to connect to anything. A small grunter gave me some more hope and after a few bait changes my big rod eventually screamed off. I set the hook and a fun fight around some pylons started, where I eventually landed a solid 50-55cm cod. I probably should have kept this but decided to let it go to catch next time. 

The next day I got the bus to the Causeway to fish the run through tide. It was already busy when I got there but the first cast of my net I got a nice sized silver biddy. I floated this out into the run through unweighted, and although things were looking quiet plenty of trevally had already been caught so I was hopeful I would get one. 

Sure enough, my bait got smashed and a fun fight with a 51cm GT started. I landed it successfully and gave it away to someone else fishing. After that, I didn't get any more bites and headed off when the tide stopped running through.

At low tide that day, I went out to Double Heads spinning, but only picked up a few grinners despite the calm conditions. Then, I went to the harbour again in the arvo, but the only fish getting around were a couple of flat salmon. 

When I got home that night I rerigged my gear in preparation for fishing the next day. When I arrived at the Causeway a nice jack had already been caught, and I watched someone pull one in just as I casted out my first live biddy of the day. Things were a bit quiet for me for the first two casts, but with my bait still kicking I redeployed it and hooked up to a nice fish. After a few runs, I landed another nice 60cm GT, which I was pretty happy with. I gave it away to another fella who hadn't caught any fish that day, fished for a bit longer, and then headed home when it stopped running through. I put in 60 casts at Double Heads that arvo and I think I gave the harbour a miss, as I only caught more grinners and a wolf herring at Double Heads. 

The next morning I walked five k's to the Causeway and arrived at 4:45AM, and to my surprise the mozzies were very bad. Luckily, another fisho who arrived shortly after gave me some bug spray. He caught a small jack on plastics, and then when the run through started I couldn't catch much bait. I think I ended up getting off the donut with a small cod to end the session but it was definitely a quiet day. I went to Double Heads for a third time and only got more grinners, so I decided to give it a miss for the rest of the trip. I did go to Ross Creek for a quick flick as well but no luck. 

The next day I was back at the Causeway in the morning, hoping for a jack or trevally. Things were slow to start with (one small cod) but I did eventually hook up to another solid trev, which I pulled hooks on. Bugger. I kept fishing until the run through finished, very disappointed about the lost fish as it felt pretty big. That arvo, I had a flick down at Statue Bay at low tide with some shallow diving hardbodies and surface on sunset, but this brought no joy. I did find a big dead blue salmon in the rock wall which was unusual. 

I got the bus to the Causeway for my final session on Friday, hopeful today would be the day I caught a jack or barra. Unfortunately, I struggled to catch any bait but was eventually given some livies so sent them out. To my surprise, as the run through increased, two nice size barra (one maybe 60cm and one maybe 1m) were caught by some people fishing the edge of the run through, so I will definitely give this a try next time. Someone also caught a 60cm or so model on lures. I finished up when the run through stopped with a big fat donut, so hopefully next time I catch a good fish. I flew home that night, feeling pretty sad I didn't catch one of those barra!

Photos:

Yeppoon Trip 7/01-12/01 - Lensdump

Anyway, thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the report.

Cheers Hamish

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Forgot to say a local also taught me a lot about fly fishing, and I caught my first fish on a fly at the Causeway (only a little Trev).

[ellicat]

You're definitely getting more the more you go. Barra next time.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

On 27/01/2024 at 7:47 PM, ellicat said:

You're definitely getting more the more you go. Barra next time.

Fingers crossed

[MrWobbygong]

Sweet , sounds like a good trip man.. nice work , that grin in your pic says it all