rayke1938

Woke up at usual time of 3am and thought that the dog was being unusually friendly and found out why when I put in my hearing aids and heard the thunder. Headed off at around 5 with a spectacular lightening display accompanied with rain that had all cleared by the time we arrived at the dam. We had some shrimp left over from last trip so we headed into the honey tree on Ians Island to find someone tied up about 20 feet away from our favourite tree. By 7am we had ran out of shrimp with 19 rat bass on the counter. After going downstream and checking our shrimp traps we then tried our usual spots for only 7 bass so back to the tip of Ians island for a donut . Back to the honey tree where we increased the tally to 38 bass and a few barred grunter which are back with the warmer weather. Best bass was 42cm with the majority under 30cm. All tagged and released. Cheers Ray

This is one that Rick Tagged also went same route. They survived the very long drop from the spillway then all the way down the Mary and up over a weir in Tinana Creek. It is only possible when the weir in Tinana is in flood. Rick has had a few recaptures in the Mary but this is first one in Tinana.

Funny sort of a day today with a fair bit of wind forecast we headed over to the eastern side of Ians island where we caught some bass last time. The bass were there but all only small. Around 8oclock the barred grunter moved in and commenced destroying our live shrimp. We moved around a bit and still only small stuff so up to bass bay where we did our shrimp traps that have been untouched since before the floods/ Got heaps of redclaw and replentished our live shrimp eskys, We only found a couple of small bass and as the wind was not too bad we decided to head down to near the dam wall. By the time we got near Ians island the wind had picked up and i did not like the prospect of punching into it on the way back to the ramp so we tried a few places in the trees on the eastern side for more undersized bass so we went back to our first spot on ians island where found more small bass with a couple of larger ones. The eagle had a good feed of barred grunter and one bass that did not survive the release. Our final tally was 47 bass with only 4 or 5 over 35cm and one tandanus. 3 of the bass were tagged as well as the tandanus.

/Bass caught by Mark Thompson hinze dam southside.

Thought I had a winner with the fork tailed tandanus and just found they are not listed in the eligible species. Still waiting for Mark to get his finger out send me a photo of his 52 cm bass.

Note fork tailed tandan.

Went to the Hinze western arm this morning for a sausage sizzle. After doing the shrimp pots we headed downstream to the usual spots. On the way Tai, assisted by Mark cooked up brunch. After eating our fill and dripping tomato sauce and bits of onion over ourselves we tried to find some bass. All we could find were plenty of unders so we headed back upstream trying in amongst the trees for more unders until we struck a school deep in amongst the trees on Ians Island. It was tough going having to extract the bass from the submerged branches. Final tally was 42 bass and one tandan . Best bass 52cm.

Slowish day today for Murray and myself. After doing the shrimp traps we went to usual spot opposite the white post and could only find small bass around 20cm. We headed into the bay before the post and fished a few of the trees. The bass were a better size but still slow. Was interesting trying to pull some of the bass as they were sitting hard up to the trees and we had to make the decision whether to break them off or try and wait for the fish to swim out. We ended up with only 27 bass with the best fish around 43cm

Could not really enter any fish in crate of oranges comp as i did not measure and photograph correctly

I nearly did not go considering the forecast but thought I may get an hour or so before the wind and storms arrived. First hour was a glass out and then the clouds rolled in with some wind but nothing serious. Tried all the usual spots for a donut apart from losing an unseen monster at the fad and seriously looking at a donut day by 9am. We ran upon Ander who was having a bit of fun reducing the tilapia population on the floats. We hung around for a while for a couple of small bass and decided to explore elsewhere where I picked up a reasonable bass and a couple of small bass between the islands. As a final act of desperation we returned to where Andrew was still reducing the tilapia population. We found plenty of undersized bass plus a few yellas. We knocked off at around 11.30 with a tally of 3 yellas and 20 bass with only around 5 bass being legal. I was very impressed with Andrews new geo spot watersnake. It was holding position much better than my old minnkota.

4 of us to the western arm this morning. Fish were hard to find and small. I caught what looked like a tagged bass but when I reported it to suntag it actually was a barra that was tagged in Trinity inlet. Ended up with only 46 bass with largest 42cm.

We were a bit late starting because I attended the local flea market and held up a bit more due to a decky no show no phone call no email .Uncertain what I will do if he wants another trip. Either tell him to get stuffed or maybe make an appointment for a trip to NPD and then go to hinze. We did our shrimp pots and made certain that they were all marked correctly pending visit from fisheries. Could not find a fish anywhere until we came across Mark at the floats. He said that there were a few bass around so we moved off a bit and hit the spotlock and got into them. Most of the bass were under or just legal but a bass is a bass. Finished up with 68 bass,5 yellas and one tandan.

Great to see it all come together

Sorry 150

Four of us had another good say at the western arm today until we ran out of bait. Some of the bass had red spot disease which according to Bill at suntag is a result of poor water quality or a sudden influx or cold water. A few others were missing parts of their dorsal fin.

was wondering how the cold snap would affect the fishing .any trolling?

https://www.seqwater.com.au/alert/catch-and-release-only-hinze-dam It is around 10 years since tests were done. We had some great weekend AFO winter camps years ago with Steve wilkes and the bass from hinze were the best fresh water native fish that I have eaten. The tests conducted were not very accurate in that they did not give the number, size and age of the fish tested. Would be interesting to see if things have changed over the ensuing years. Lots of people still eat them as the mercury levels are very low

We launched at 6am and after doing our shrimp traps we arrived at our usual spot opposite the white post near the old quarry at around 7am. My first fish was a respectable 50+ bass so I said lets go home as it cannot get any better. It was a hot bite with us running out of shrimp at 10.30 with 127 bass on the tally. Rick was happy with second prize with another bass over 50cm. Cheers Ray

Could just be a matter of bow heavy my clark abalone is a pig on auto pilot when i have 2 people in the bow and only one in the stern The bow seems to dig in and the auto pilot over compensates. Try shifting weight to the stern or even a few buckets of water in the stern and see if that helps. Other thought could be the sensor compass magnet in the motor head. Have a yarn to haswing they can be a little hard to get on to if they are out and about but will return your call and are very helpfull.

Could not entice a decky so I went on me Pat Malone. Launched at 5.30 and first off to a couple of spots on Ians Island for zilch and then headed up to bass bay area for the same result. Whilst I was up there I checked some shrimp pots that have been there untouched for at least 2 months. They were all manky and 2 had rusted out but the other couple were full of huge shrimp. I then headed downstream stopping on a couple of spots on the way and still on a donut. At 9.15 I arrived at our usual spot opposite the white post with nothing showing on the sounder but at least I got off the mark with a 28cm bass. I moved 30 feet and I got rather busy catching 40 bass by 11 am when I ran out of bait.

Up to 3 decky spots avail this sunday. 6 am start or leaving redland bay 4.45 am western arm bait fishing only with live shrimp ( supplied). No smoking if under 12 years old byo life vest. 0403072325

Went to NPD today as Hinze still closed. Slow day today with only 5 bass and one yella. water murky to as far as the fig tree and Rick described " too thick to drink and too thin to plow" Fish were scattered but all caught at 18 ft depth in scattered locations. Plenty of swans and dragon flies.

Back to the western arm this morning. No wind but quite a bit of drizzle but we kept dry with the umbrellas. We started fishing at around 8am after doing our shrimp pots. First spot was in 24ft of water in front of the white post followed by trying spots around 43 ft in the same area. When it got a bit quiet ( Aprox 40 bass caught) we moved into the bay around the first tree where we increased the tally to 77 bass knocking off at 11.30 and back to the ramp by midday. All caught on live shrimp, tagged and released. Best bass 45cm with the majority in the high 30'S. Rick recaptured a bass that he tagged a fortnight ago.

Rick and I went to the Hinze Dam today and participated in a tour of the dam conducted by SEQ water. It was very interesting and informative and included the history of the dam, its operation and the operation of the fish lift where fish wishing to proceed back into the dam are captured in a cage and sorted . Any noxious species such as tilapia and barred grunter are euthanised and bass,mullet, yellowbelly ,eeltailed, catfish,and saratoga are transported up over the dam wall and released. Took the opportunity to have a good yarn with the 2 rangers about different aspects of the dam. Also found that the rangers monitor the different forums to keep them up to date on what is happening on the dams. Sorry no description of the photos. P1030581.MP4

soggy wet one