AFO

Sorry for the late reply Kat but it seems like you struck the jackpot congratulations on landing the beast of a fish unfortunately I don’t know the proper name for the speices so I don’t know what the actual fish is but great job landing it Im sure it will taste great

Well done Kat! That’s a brown sweetlip Plectorhincus gibbosus. Also known as (one of many) mother in law fish. The story goes they are not the best eating so you give them to your mother in law
https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/455

brown sweetlips, also known as a brown morwong or brown blubber lips.  referred to as a blubber-lip bream locally in central qld. 
not the most common capture but they show up from time to time around the southern bay/jumpinpin as @Old Scaley would know.  they are OK eating as long as you bleed them and get them straight on ice but will not compare to whiting, flathead etc, much stronger flavour.  They actually grow to nearly three times the size of yours @Kat, up to about 14-15kg.  Often targetted by spearos chasing jacks etc around snags in estuaries.
Both of the ones I have caught and @Old Scaley's one all came on yabbies and whiting gear as well!
 
and quick but satisfying... that's @ellicat's moto... 😆

Ha ha.  I am no expert but it is what Doug Burt said it was when I sent him the photo as a friend suggested I should.  And before I was told by him my brother in law picked the same fish from a poster on my wall.  I thought it was a blubberlip Bream.  I will take a better photo tomorrow and post it for the experts to weigh in...

Hi All 
I almost got an invite out to fish in a boat tomorrow but had some appointments, thought seriously about cancelling them but in the end did the right thing and turned down the offer.  Karma you might say visited me today.  I decided to go fish the last of the run out tide in the local creek again.  Sunday saw a guy catch a pretty decent 38cm whiting and a flathead so I went for a fish yesterday about the same tide and met up with him again came home with a legal whiting and first legal sized Tarwhine but caught 4 stingray. 
They were good practice for when I hooked a big fish sometime.  Anyway after turning down a beautiful fishing day on a boat tomorrow I had to cheer myself up.  Got to the creek about 3pm.  Set off with yabby pump and about an hour later put my rod in the water.  The same fisho, Will, was there again along with another couple.  We had some chats and Will caught a whiting so I changed my leader from 15 pound to the lightest I have left, 10 pound and I had run out of my normal long shank hook so used a number 10 longshank I had purchased for Garfish.  I looked in my bucket for the smallest yabbie I could find to match the hook and put my line out.  The tide had almost stopped running and not much was happening so I put my rod in the holder to put a lure on my second rod.  I heard a noise behind me and turned around to see my rod lying on the ground half on the sand half in the water.  I quickly reached out to pick it up and just in time as the reel began to scream and the fish took a big run.  It stopped and felt like it dug itself in and then I managed to gain some line back.  Cursing to the others that I had got another stingray.  Well the couple fishing wanted to know how I dealt with the stingrays I caught yesterday so she started filming.  I gained line and then it would take another big run, then I gained some more and another run.  Well you get the picture.  I brought it about a metre from the bank a couple of times and on the second time Will and I both saw fins thrashing out of the water.  Will said that is not a stingray!  The fins were big. No was excited and now scared I was going to lose it.  With a bit of coaching, Will telling me to tire it out, I brought it to the bank a third time and Will had the gaff ready and helped me land it.  
After I stopped jumping up and down and yelling (Ellicat knows what that is like) it was hard to get excited about fishing again so I left shortly after to come home and write the report.
I am going to enter the photo in my fishing club comp!
I am told by Doug Burt's that my catch is a Sombre Swéetlip.
If my mates really old rusty scales are right it is about 9.6 pounds and measures 62cm long.  It feels heavier to me but I haven't got kitchen scales big enough.

Back to NPD with Hai and Shaun this morning.
See the pelicans have started to roost on the ramp so bring a peg.
Lots of floating hyacinth and salvinia in the launch bay and Koala straight and hyacinth on the edges in all areas that we visited See SEQ water had contractors spraying the edges in an effort to stop the hyacinth becoming established. Do not know if they were also spraying the salvinia as they can control it with beetles.
Most of our shrimp pots that we had close to the edges had dead shrimp n them as it has been a week since we checked them ad low oxygen levels from the rotting weed caused them to die.
Took a while to find some fish but we found a school on Andrews drop off and when they slowed down we went over to fad 2 where we found more bass and a couple of yellas.
It was a bit uncomfortable with the boat yawing from the westerly so we went for an explore in a couple of spots and along the second rock wall but to no avail. We ended up with 2 yellas and 36 bass and no forkies ( poor percy went hungry)so quite happy for the day.
I had a personal bonus as I was able to walk down to the ramp and back up to the car park with no pain in my knee. I cannot remember the last time that happened.
Cheers Ray

All the closer islands around the keppels are pretty much flogged clean. Wider is Barren Is which is good for Spanish Macks at times early in the morning and late afternoon, but getting one to the boat is hard due to the sharks. Further to the North is Flat and Perforated Is. They are very heavily fished too but being much further away most can russel up a feed there in a day usually. Otherwise to do real good you have to  head out 80+ kms and find new ground. The further you go the better. Red Emperor, Trout, Red Throat etc.
 
There have been some spanish macks in an area between Barren Is and Outer Rock called Greasy Alley recently/ and Man & Wife Rocks.
Starter marks will get you there, but watch for green zones in those areas. http://www.fishntales.com/gpsmarks/qld/yeppoon.htm
As for the Trevs look for current lines and water collisions off the end off the points and islands

The furtherest Keppel island is less than 20 nautical miles away so not too far, but if you wanted to go out to the Barrier reef islands than you would be more than double that, and Gladstone could be closer to them. I can't tell you where to fish as it has been nearly 5 decades since I was there, I actually took my boat up there  a few years ago to fish the Keppels  but my motor's CPU module died 50m from the fuel dock so that killed that idea.

Hey guys,
Just booked a weeks trip up to yeppoon next month. Have never been and am so excited!
Plan on doing most of my fishing from my boat around the islands, popping for trevally around rocky areas and flicking plastics around reef edges in hope for my first coral trout. The Mrs will be using bait, while I try and fit in using some lures in between re-baiting her hooks 🤪 
Does anyone have any experience in the area / know of where to start sounding around? There's so many islands so I think it will be overwhelming on where to go - I'll be like a kid in a lolly shop!
Have a big fuel tank with 250 litres of fuel, so can travel out to more remote islands.
Thanks!
 
 

Army training area north Rocky.

Hey Folks,
Hope everyone is well today.

Looking to head up to Five Rocks in the coming weeks due to some very welcomed and unexpected time off work coming about for a mate and I.
Will be towing my 4.5 centre console tinnie, brand new motor on the back, with my mates GQ Patrol.

Always been keen to get up there and check out the area myself but wondering if anyone has any pointers?
Can suggest accomodation?
Tackle advice?
Any suitable reefs to chase that aren't to wide?
How hectic are the 4wd tracks this time of year?
And of course how many beers to take along! 

Cheers in advance! 

- Dos

Was reading that article this morning. Makes me feel ill thinking about it.
I hope for a miracle here too.
This is a timely reminder for everyone about boating safety. Sounds like he is a seasoned fisherman and goes to show accidents can happen to anyone.
 
Safety lanyard/deadmans switch at all times when under motor and a lifejacket at all times when fishing solo.
 
Please don't let this happen to you and your loved ones. I hope we never have an AFO member on the news for an incident like this.

Tonight the conditions look alright for a fish so I grabbed a few rods.
setup 1 shimano stradic FL 1000 10lb Gliss 6lb FC leader matched with light short telescopic rod 
setup 2 shimano stradic ci4+FB 2500 12lb braid 14lb fc leader matched with daiwa Td nero 2-4kg rod
Setup 3 shimano sedona 5000C 19kg/42lb gliss 70lb mono leader matched with vintage Jarvis walker delux short stiff fibreglass rod 
So I grabbed a few rods and headed to a Bay Area that is surrounded by 2 breakwalls leaving the name of the location out as i don’t want everyone to know the spot .
anyway got to the spot first thing I notice when I walk along the jettie a school of yellow tail first thing I do is rig up setup 3 then grab setup 1 and bait a small hook with bread not long the bread is eaten by a yellowtail and I got a live bait for setup 3 I cast setup 3 out and wait . I try fishing with bread for a bit on setup 1 (note not near the yellowtail school ) and all I’m getting is my bait nipped by small butter bream and stripys so I try casting slightly under the jettie as I watch my unweighted bread slowly sink down I see a big quick silver flash come up from nowhere and it literally made my bread vanish 1 second later my line is flying off my spool into the water and I flip my bail and set the hook .after a decent fight My dad manages to land the fish . A nice quality bream was landed and after a few photos was brain spiked and bleed out .can’t remember if it was 33 or 34cm . Anyway no more decent size bream were around I got 1 small bream afterwards but nothing legal I grab setup 2 and put on a cheap metal vibe I got from eBay ages ago after some casting around I keep catching these things me and @AUS-BNE-FISHO. Think they may be a type of pony fish or something along those lines after I catch props 3-4 of these things I stop using the vibe and tie on a squid jig unfortunately no squid or cuttlefish takes the squid jig . I rig up a simple bait rig and put a little piece of mullet on setup 2 intended for flathead or bream after I do that I check setup 3 . Setup 3 had a liveie on it for over a hour now so I assumed the liveie either died or got nipped at . I bring it up and the liveie is in the same condition as it was before I caught it for live bait it was alive as anything I release the liveie back into the water and it swims off fine I then rig up a mullet fillet on setup 3 and cast it out hoping for a bully or a big Jew .time goes by and I decide to grab setup 1 again and see if anything wants to take the bread the same fish I was catching on the vibes kept smashing the bread left right and Center I ended up keeping 4 of these fish for crab pot bait . After that I decided to call it a night and pack up as I bring setup 3 in notice there is barely any bait left just the skin so something definitely had a good go at my bait just don’t know what .
Basic conditions 
Last 2 hours of the run out tide 
time 6:30-9:00PM
moon waning crescent 7 days till new moon 
temp 20 degrees 
medium wind level 
 
 

. Note I’ve made the change to fishing sessions instead of river sessions as I don’t always fish my local river and I don’t always fish rivers 

when under the influence of more than one red wine! I’ll never be able to post now! 

Hi All,
The site has not become corrupted and no details have been breached.
What has happened is that a member signed up and then sent multiple PM messages to quite a few members. This member has since been banned.
If you received an email, that was because you had notifications set to ON to email you when you receive a personal message on AFO. The banned member did not have access to your email address or other details, the email was generated by AFO because of your notification settings.
 
In response, we have made some changes to AFO to restrict new members (<30 days) to only be able to post posts and topics to 10 a day and also all members to only be able to send 15 PM's a day and this is restricted to 5 recipients to each PM. 
As well as this, we have restricted further IP's and also blocked more problematic (spamming) countries from accessing AFO.
We can adjust these limits down the track if members feel they are too restrictive, but for the time being we are clamping down so that members aren't spammed and everyone can enjoy AFO without these issues.

AFO has also increased our spam protection and also implemented further automatic content moderation of new members so that going forward there is less ability for spammers to post so hopefully this combats this so that it doesn't happen again. If there is a spam message, please click the Report function and it will ensure the spam and the offending members is dealt with.

I like the find the fish before the birds. See which way there are swimming then drive upwind current and have the sun in a way so it doesnt blind the fish. Then cut the outboard and wait for a bit then place a cast at the leading fish and retrieve as fast as you can aslong as the lure stays in the water. If you place a perfect cast you should get a eat as soon as it hits the water

First cast on a 105 sinking stickbait in fusilier colour. So much fun chasing these fish around the bay

Yeah they have a dingo box and couple of tables, that's about all. I don't think they  let the kayaks on the barge. $10 return just to walk on from inskip though. All about timing the tides and the winds, current goes hard through there but time it right and use it to your advantage. Easter Friday and a bout a month after looks promising. Its got me hooked how accessible it is, i look at tide tables months ahead and pick my possible dates. 

Hi all
Wanted to share a bit about my first solo overnight fraser trip. Decided against the kayak, as was sure I'd make it over but unsure about getting back on Saturday if forecasted winds picked up. Not wanting to waste my opportunity, day booked off work and site booked, I walked on the barge and jumped off at hook point. What a slog, carting my 50ish kg of gear about 3km up the beach to coolooloi creek through the sand. Was worth it once I was there though. Set up camp, cast net some live bait and the fun began. Mackerel came through periodically, caught a few schoolies touch under size, then could see the tuna jumping after them. After a thousand casts with slugs and poppers could not tempt them though. Numerous big runs and bust ups, all from shore, had me thinking the remnants from the old jetty were causing me grief. Was hoping for squid for dinner, settled on crumbed bream. After a quiet beer and a good night's sleep had a quiet few hours early morning soaking bait then packed up camp to head home. Whilst walking back to barge realised I couldve comfortably kayaked it. All in all, an awesome day and a bit, and I'm already planning the next 1! Definatley taking the kayak!

Can we please also place a restriction on @GregOug posting when under the influence of more than one red wine?
i didn’t get an email but looking forward to the reports from @Old Scaley and @rayke1938 after their experiences. Unless they don’t want to talk about it after... 😂

We believe all spam messages should now be deleted from your inboxes.
Also all content from the banned members should also have been removed.
 
Please let us know if you still have a spam PM in your inbox or have any other concerns. Cheers 

As mentioned, there is no privacy issue here to any members. All that happened was that a member spammed through Private Messages on AFO. No personal information, email addresses or data etc was accessed, it was just a one way communication from the spammer to other members on the AFO website. Any emails sent were just notifications from AFO to alert members they had a new message on AFO to read.
Measures have now been put in place to stop this from happening again. Thanks everyone for your understanding.

We believe all spam messages should now be deleted from your inboxes.
Also all content from the banned members should also have been removed.
 
Please let us know if you still have a spam PM in your inbox or have any other concerns. Cheers 

As mentioned, there is no privacy issue here to any members. All that happened was that a member spammed through Private Messages on AFO. No personal information, email addresses or data etc was accessed, it was just a one way communication from the spammer to other members on the AFO website. Any emails sent were just notifications from AFO to alert members they had a new message on AFO to read.
Measures have now been put in place to stop this from happening again. Thanks everyone for your understanding.