Rocket75

Went to hinze western arm yesterday as observer with Rick and Joy. First fish I caught was a 46cm bass which gave my shoulder a real workout. Had to get Joy to net it as i could not manage the weight of the net. I only managed 4 fish and Rick and Joy 20. The shrimp and bass were scarce and we lost a lot of fish as they were only to be found right in the middle of the submerged timber.

Finally north east winds started today after 10 months of south easterlies, so the beach is going to fire in the next few days. Hit the beach late afternoon with live mullet and managed a new PB at 116cm. My wife took the video; its a bit too long and  gets boring sorry!
Was released healthy.


WhatsApp Video 2019-10-08 at 6.56.10 PM.mp4 WhatsApp Video 2019-10-08 at 6.54.03 PM.mp4

Finally got an answer re location of defined boundarys.
Cheers Ray
The boundaries for the new closed waters to protect Mary River cod are below. These closures apply now.
New waters closed to line fishing (or possession of a fishing line) to protect Mary River cod during spawning from 1 August to 31 October in the following locations:
Coomera River and tributaries upstream from the junction of Guanaba Creek and Coomera River (includes Guanaba Creek)
Albert River and tributaries upstream from the junction of Canungra Creek and Albert River (includes Canungra Creek)
Stanley River and tributaries upstream of the Somerset Dam Full Supply Level (above Neurum Creek and Stanley River junction)
Running Creek and tributaries (top of the Logan River Catchment)
Christmas Creek and tributaries (top of the Logan River Catchment)
Mary River and tributaries upstream from the junction of Six Mile Creek and Mary River, including Six Mile Creek and excluding Baroon Pocket Dam, Borumba Dam and Lake MacDonald (from dam walls to full supply level for each).
Other changes specific to freshwater fishing include:
Australian bass possession limit in SIPS impoundments increased from 2 to 5
Mary River cod possession limit of 1 in stocked impoundments expanded to include Wyaralong Dam, Ewen Maddock Dam, Caboolture River Weir, Robina Lakes, Lake Kurwongbah, Enoggera Reservoir and Lake Manchester
Murray cod and Mary River cod size limit simplified to minimum 60 cm with no maximum
Tinana Creek and its tributaries upstream of Teddington Weir wall closed to all forms of fishing to protect Mary river cod
Murray cod seasonal closure changed to 1 August to 31 October each year
 
As discussed just now the closure maps will be available soon on the Fisheries App so you can see where they apply.

Well with a friday off work and with a wet and windy weekend coming, i pondered the thought of heading to Mud for a quick solo session. 
Checked the radar, didnt look too bad and besides the weather bureau always seem too early in their predictions. Lol
So hooked the tinny up, grabbed the rain coat and headed out.
ZERO trailers at the boat ramp, yep its official i'm the only mad idiot.
Conditions ended up being not too bad  across to Mud's western side.
Arrived at spot x, hit spot lock on the minny and enjoyed the serenity while looking back at brissy's ominous weather.
Anyways, landed a couple of good eating size snaps around the 65 cm range.
Headed home before dusk, made it safely back and happy i went afterall.
I should add that although wet, the forecast was only for 10-15 easterlies.
 

Having been away for 3 weeks I was pretty keen to scratch the itch and get back on the water, so I was super keen to get a call from “the dentist” (he can’t be identified because he was on a day off work with industrial diarrhoea) suggesting that we head down the Pin area chasing muddies and whiting on Thursday.
We needed to be on the water at high tide so we could get the pots up some skinny water to spot X, and then needed to stay on the water until the next high at about 6.30pm to get back to the pots. So it was a long day, but quite comfortable with overcast sky as long as we could dodge the persistent northerlies. We flicked some hard bodies and plastics while we waited for yabbie banks to be exposed, but no flat fish were playing the game. We loaded up with yabbies and went to a favourite whiting spot.  Pretty soon the dentist had a 35cm whiting over the side and we thought “game on”. They were a bit hit and miss and we tried a few different spots as the tide moved and the wind blew.  Lots of bream around and we kept a few of the bigger ones as well as 8 good whiting. The dentist landed a spotted grunter so we had at least hit 2 of the target species.
At our last spot before heading off to get the pots, I had an unusual bite, then fish on. Nah, it’s a snag. No wait, the snag just moved. A minute later and up popped my first stargazer, one of the dentist’s favourites. So a new fish for me and hence a PB. Happy days. Not long after I had another unusual bite.  After the initial hook up, the fish seemed to anchor itself on the bottom so we called it for a ray.  I thought this was a pretty big Ray for the area as we often catch the small blue spots around the Pin area and this was a lot heavier and had a lot more go in it. After a prolonged battle where I wasn’t being too careful, we finally got a glimpse of the “ray” near the boat. The dentist called it for a brown Morwong and it was a big fish!  That made me sit up and take notice. All of a sudden I was very very happy that I had changed the braid on this reel the day before and had brand new 6lb with 10lb leader. But were  my knots up to the task, and would that size 4 whiting hook that was already bent do the job? The fish came close to the surface a number of times before I could get his head up so the dentist could slip the net under and drag it into the boat and I was one happy little fisherman.
We bled it immediately and checked the weight on my boga  grips - right on 10 lb in the old money so a pretty good fish for the estuary. Shortly after we headed off to grab the pots.  No legal muddies but a few that were only a mm shy of being in the esky, so they will live to be caught another day. Got back to the ramp at about 7.15 where we were greeted by the Fisheries boys.  Good to see them out and about at odd times.
Overall, a successful day with a good esky of fresh fish and 4 sand crab for our troubles. Last heard, the dentist was recovering well and expects to return to work on Monday when any hint of sunburn has gone.

Been having a bit of trouble with the wrists winding in these NPD brutes. So I got myself a new baitcaster rod, a 8ft with a long but I can stick under my arm. I can also cast it a mile using both hands and dont have to worry about backlashes as I have a SLX  DC Shimano reel fitted to it. I managed a 50cm bass for the first fish on it, when I got a double hookup trolling spinnerbaits between spots.
Managed 41bass with most on spinnerbaits and a few on hardbodies.
Dino

G’day All,
Took the yak out for a run this morning for the first time in two years.  The tides were all wrong, but took advantage of a quiet morning and launched from the port boat ramp.
I dropped two fish, but landed this nice little 56cm lizard on a Damiki Armor Shad in ox blood.
Looking forward to getting out again, once the back recovers from getting the hobie on and off the roof!
Cheers,
Ryan.

With all these spare parts you are fitting I hope you get a good discount at Repco mate 😋

With all these spare parts you are fitting I hope you get a good discount at Repco mate 😋

With all these spare parts you are fitting I hope you get a good discount at Repco mate 😋

Hi All, 
Its been a while since my last fishing post and a long time since I last had a fish to be honest I think Australia Day was my last fish . Headed out with a mate from Tasmania who has not ever caught a decent shallow water bay snapper before , So the pressure was on . Lucky me,  with literally months off the water and know knowledge of fish on the chew any where the search was on. 
Headed out for a quick  bay snapper session Saturday arvo leaving Clontarf around just after 1pm to grab some live baits and then find some nice hard rubble bottom to anchor up on and burley in hope of a July snapper,
After spending a couple of hours searching for live baits and finding some nice rubble bottom with a little drop off we anchored up about 3.45pm and started to burley up , send some baits back hoping some fish would come on the chew, 
After waiting close to 1hr (5pm),  the 1st rod got lit up and the decky was into a nice fish with good head shakes,  few tense moment as the fish ran for drop off with great intent ,  but some nice rod work and Ben had his head turned and coming to the boat nicely,   few more small runs and  I slid the net under a great fish , as we were dehooking this fish and getting ready for a few happy snaps - the other bait-runner went off hard , so I set the hook with it still in the rod holder - struggling to get this one out of the holder,  I was now onto another nice fish which I felt running hard along the bottom almost straight away.,  after some back and forth action I slowly had nice snapper in the net and on the deck of the boat 🙂 yay me,  trip successful,  So we quickly rest the baits and went about a few photos,  after getting a shot of Ben holding both fish , both rods went off again with a big double hook up on 2 more cracking snapper at 75 & 78cm  - which went back - I went checked the esky had a quick measure and with a 81cm & 84cm in the ice box I realized we where wasting out time.  Ben had set another 2 baits out and whilst holding my Snapper for a photo we had another double hook up,  Ill put the photo up of myself looking away at the back of the boat holding my fish with a concerned look of holy geeeeezzzzz.  😆.  
We had another crazy 20minutes with about 5 more fish hooked and released totaling 11 for the session and taking the 1st 2 home for a feed, 
Both fish weight 6.0kg & 6.1Kg  . 
 
Hope you all enjoy the read 🙂
Cheers Josh <><

Well after 8 agonizing weeks through pain in my knee and pain of not holding my rod, I finally made it out to the dam for a fish this morning.Young Luke volunteered to assist me, thankyou again Luke, the fresh air (most of the time ) was very rewarding.Whish we could say the same for the fishing.Water was gin clear and you could see the bottom in 15ft. Although it was good to see turtles,tilapia, lungies etc moving about the bottom, not to many other fish or baitfish were spotted.
Trolling resulted in very few and casting wasnt much better.Thank goodness Luke had to be home early and we threw the towel in around 9.30am (didnt start till nearly 7am) and I never complained one bit.I was asleep in minutes of arriving home after my first day out.
Dino

Went out yesterday with Robbie (drop bear) and a friend of his from Germany. We headed out early and crossed south passage bar at 1st light then stopped at the bait grounds. Then once enough live bait was collected we anchored up off point lookout nth stradie.
Conditions were a bit lumpy but smoothed off a bit behind the rock in and around the whirlpools made by the current. The snapper were patchy at 1st but got thicker as we got closer to the top of the tide. Then a shark took a liking to our live bait and Stefan played with this beast for 15 minutes or so before breaking him off.
The next live bait didn't last long before a Spanish mackerel made the reel scream but again the fish won its freedom. The 3rd slimie mackerel again was out for only a couple of minutes before another Spanaird took off.
Stefan was a bit seasick but it was not stopping him from fighting this fish. After a few blistering runs the mackerel doggedly went deep and used it's mass to slow the fisherman. Soon colour could be seen down deep and I called it for a Spanaird. Once I sunk the gaff and lifted it aboard Stefan high fives us both and I even got a cuddle from a very happy German.

The snapper kept coming in just pan size from 38cm to 45cm with lots of little fish in between. Then at the top of the tide we caught a couple of snapper over 50cm to finish off the bag. 
The weather was getting betting through the morning so we got a great trip home. The run around peel island and over to Cleveland was like glass then a few beers went down while we cleaned the fish to top the day off. Thanks for crewing Robbie and I bet your friend will have a good fishing story to take back home.

Another good day with the 2 Michaels and Mark.Couple of trophy sized bass and plenty in the high 40s. Mark will have to come again as once again he kept on catching 49 and 49,5 cm bass just cannot reach the elusive 50+ trophy.
Final score 120 bass and 2 tandans and a good feed of redclaw for Michael H. The tandans will be redclaw bait for next trip on wednesday
6 tagged bass caught today.
Finiahing off a perfect day with a Bruichladdich dram accompanied with oat cakes.

Hello all,
Long time no post! I've been through a couple of years fishing hiatus, life hiatus really, due to health problems. I've lost the obsessive nature and passion I used to have with fishing but I'm happy to be involving myself every month or two in a fishing trip! And enjoying it which is the main thing. 
Unlike other sports such as golf I was pleased to discover that I haven't 'lost it'. It was great to find that fishing is an activity once you learn it you can't unlearn it, maybe just brush up on the basics and wrack the memory and you're good to pick up where you left off. 
Last month with a mate in his boat (I am now boatless and only have 2 rods and reels and hardly any lures! The true minimalist fisho) we headed out into the bay in search of tuna. From past years, the first of the westerly winds brings them in close to the western bay shore. And sure enough we found them within 5 minutes of looking. 
Successful day hooking up to 6 and boating 3 or 4, I can't remember. I don't really bother with photos much anymore but here's a couple of little cuties around 1m from a double hookup.

I literally own 2 types of plastics and 1 stickbait which has actually made it a cool experience. I used to be so caught up wondering which of my 7836 lures to put on next and wasting time doing so. In the end sticking with something that has been proven in the past and keeping it in the water is what caught the fish. Funny that. 
This morning myself and Murray (same mate) went out in search of snapper in the shallows which was a bucket list item for him. Conditions were too still but I'm really glad he got one at 47cm, he has massive hands haha. 
That was about it aside from a couple of squid.
Thanks guys! And hello to all of you I know and those of you I don't, I hope everyone is going well 🙂

Alright alright you have me climbing the walls.

After some negotiation with the owner of Gobblers Lures, my wife and I have purchased the small business.
We will be taking it over in early July and manufacturing from home. (Just in time for me to make a few lures for the Kimberly trip coming up in end of July). 🙂
It will take a few months to find our feet and then hopefully we can start making some small changes to improve the Gobbler experience.
Predominantly my Julie will be manufacturing the lures while I be doing marketing, development etc.
I'm sure there will a special for AFO members when we are sorted.😉
This is why I have been quite on the forum for a little while.

Took the wife and two boys out fishing after Liam's soccer game on Saturday morning, heading straight to our usual haunt at Green Island. The boys love it because we always catch plenty and yesterday was no exception, with the first hour resulting in small squire one after the other - I reckon they would have caught close to 15 in the first hour and there my partly rigged rod (to put a floater bait out the back) lay to prove it ....... (nothing changes - perhaps I should start planning ahead and rigging it up at home ......).  We had a very large green sea toadfish on Georges rod (I fought that one for him), Liam got a just undersized tusky plus a small grassie and a nice big bar-tailed flattie but unfortunately a big grinner (@Old Scaley the boys could give you a run for your money ..... 🙂) had put a whole in the silicone net (right - no more grinners going in this net!!) and the flathead went straight through it. Turned out it was still on the line but unfortunately in attempt number two it threw the hook and won it's freedom (much to Liam's displeasure - not a happy chappy!!).
Dropped the family back to the ramp about 2:30pm (they lasted a bit longer than I was planning .......) and then back out to do some trolling for mackerel. Got one not far from Green Island and kept heading towards the Hope Banks, marking a couple of decent shows of bait along the way. Got a Watson's Leaping Bonito close to the Hope Banks then decided to go back to where I had marked the shows of bait earlier (was then hoping to head to the eastern side of St Helena Island outside of the Green Zone to find some new fishing spots but didn't get there - next time ... 🙂) and bingo, the sounder was impressive!!

Trolled the area back and forth a few times picking up three more bonito and another mackerel. By this stage it was about 5:15pm so decided to anchor up and fish with pillies to see if I could add to the esky. The pillies were getting picked apart by the baitfish so I put out a whole squid on ganged hooks and then also plucked a couple of whole yakkas out of the esky. Had three sharks on in about a half hour period which was a lot of fun - the first one broke me off when it dove back down beside the boat so I upped the leader size and had a good fight with the next one, with it jumping and thrashing around on the surface a couple of times a fair distance from the boat. Got it beside the boat and it was dark by now and my headlamp was in need of new batteries - much around trying to tail it and also trying to gaff it before it eventually busted me off as I was messing around. Grr!!! 
Caught and landed the next one after again mucking around trying to land it - good fun solo in the dark!!  Busy back at the ramp with about a 15/16ft tinny towing about a 20ft fibreglass boat in. After I retrieved mine  a guy came over to ask if I had a detachable winch handle as his had bounced off in transit - I didn't but luckily he only had a 15ft tinny and a couple of guys to help so seemed to be in control.
My boys were excited to see the catch when I eventually got out of bed this morning .... 🙂 

 

Beautiful colour in the Golden’s. 

Headed up to Maleny this morning to fish Baroon.First couple of schools I found were mongrel spanglies, they were of good size and fooled me on the sounder as I thought they were bass.Fished a few spots with some producing and some not. Tally was growing on shrimp so I decided to try a few back alleys casting spinnerbaits,While I was doing this I had a couple of baits over the side in case a bass showed up. All of a sudden one of the rods buckled over and I first thought you ripper my first 50 up here for awhile, it was very heavy and I was expecting to see a bass wrapped around a branch surface. Well my eyes opened up when I seen a nice approx 70cm Mary come up.I didnt measure it was in a hurry to get it back in the water, so one pic out of water while removing the hook and a quick one in the water.It was caught on the smallest of shrimp I had.
I kept casting in the back waters until I finally got a bass on spinnerbait. All up 78 bass and one MRC. Last time up there I couldnt see a foot in front of me the fog was that thick, this morning I was greeted by the fog in the middle of the first pic.
Dino

Mental health day on Friday
Tried a few spots around Mud early morning but only to be plagued by Pike so went to Harries/Tiwi Pearl for a look as I'd never never been before.  Used the pike as strip bait but only got pickers. This bait game is still a bit new to me.
Picked up a mackerel on the slow troll, some sandies and a few squids on way back home. Magic day to be out on the water alone 🙂  Mothers day was beer battered Mackerel 🙂🙂
 

I have been using up the last of my long service leave on the way to retirement and to any fishos out there who are close to the end of their working lives, I can thoroughly recommend tossing it in as soon as you can afford. No more sitting in boring meetings on those days when you know the Bay will be glassed out, just wishing you could be anywhere on the water.
Last Thursday was one of those perfect Brisbane weather days so I knew I had to take advantage of it. Contacted a few potential deckies but no one available so I was all set up for a solo effort. I do like the solo trip but also appreciate the company on other occasions. Anyway, at 5am @ellicat sent me a message to say he was recovering from his man flu and was keen to join me so I arranged to pick him up on the way through to the ramp at the port. The plan was to get to Mud around the turn of the tide and hope that a couple of bigger snapper may have been patrolling the area before too many boats moved in.
The ramp was relatively quiet (ah, the joys of the work day fish) and we put in just as the sun was coming up.  By the way if you are looking for a good bait shop around the Bayside try Mr Bait in Violet Street at Hemmant.  Good stuff at good prices. I lost my marks for Mud a while ago when I did a factory reset of the sounder so we sounded around until we found a nice drop off. Baits we’re deployed and I had a a plastic working as well. The baits were being attacked regularly but only pickers.  @ellicat was on a mission to show @jon how to wrangle a big tusky and it wasn’t long before he was battling his own pb. I have no idea why I can’t insert photos where I want them anymore but there is a pic below of the man himself with his monster from the deep.
Over the next couple of hours we landed babies of a heap of species including snapper, grassies, tuskies, lancer, bream, stripies and more, but nothing near a keeper. We decided to move to the front rock wall at the port where I had some success a couple of weeks ago.  Stopped at a favourite flathead spot on the way but no touches on bait or plastics.  The wall was a bit more productive with a few bigger but still not legal snaps.  We did get busted off a couple of times and lost connection with a few better fish. I managed a 41cm snap for a baked dinner but that was it for the day.  No crabs either.  Al in all, a very enjoyable day in perfect conditions despite the lack of keepers.  Not the most exciting reportbut then reports have been scarce the last few days.
 

Hi all,
 
just a warning - this is a post about hunting/shooting so if that’s not your thing please don’t read on. To all others - enjoy!
 
i have a good mate who lives in Palmerston North, about 2 hours drive north of Wellington. He is a mad keen hunter of many of NZ’s delicious feral animals - deer, ducks, goats, turkeys etc as well as a keen fisho. Each year, I have been traveling over for the opening of duck hunting season which is the first Saturday in May.  Owing to flight specials, this year I was lucky enough to have a week and then a long weekend trip over chasing ducks.
 
after a bit of set up and organizing on the Friday, we were up and away at stupid am to be in position ready to go for the 6:30am start. We didn’t have the best of opening days mostly owing to the weather - fine, sunny and still - meaning the ducks once airborne were happy to cruise around at 5000ft and laugh at us. We bagged 9 birds for opening day.
 
sunday we tried a few different things and managed to grab 8 more but generally a bit quiet all round. A bit of exploring in the afternoon saw us at a lake, then a few ponds, down on a river, trying to find where birds may be hanging out.
 
on Monday after a mostly unsuccessful morning our luck changed. We were driving along and saw about 60 ducks sitting in a crop paddock - the farmer was close by so after a polite conversation we were granted access to all his land including crop paddocks, a few ponds and a 2 km stretch of river. We didn’t bother the birds right then but hatched a plan for the next day.
 
our plan was to shoot out of lay-out blinds - kind of like a swag that you cover in grass and lie inside and then pop out and surprise the ducks as they land in your decoy spread. A new thing for both my mate and I. Owing to a time constraint, we only had a 2 hr window to do this - man what a way to spend two hours. Ducks constantly came in, often landing within 10m of the end of the shottie. We knocked I think 11 ducks down in 2 hrs, definitely will revisit this game.
 
wednesday we were again quite time limited but managed to hit a few ponds and a river and drop about 6 birds.  Then had to jump back on a plane home on Thursday.
 
following Wednesday I was back on a plane with the plan to shoot out of layout blinds on Thursday morning. After about 3 hrs sleep we were off and again had a mad fun morning with 7 birds hitting the ground and many laughs had. Only problem after 3 hrs sleep and constantly lying down was staying awake in between flights of birds! Some interesting duck calling was heard from one blind in particular - the rarely seen snoring puddle duck. We jump shot a river on the way home and dropped 3 more birds making 10 for the day.
 
Friday was a very frustrating day, again clear and still with very few birds moving around. We tried about 5 different spots but only managed 3 birds for the day. With a similar forecast for Saturday, we hatched a different plan to head about 2hrs out of town to his mates farm with all of the guns (3 x shotties, a .243, a .308 and a 7mm rem mag) to target ducks, turkeys, goats, geese, deer, pigs... whatever we could find! We had a really fun day, bit of walking, some target practice with the long arms, stalked in on some ponds and dropped some ducks and chased a huge mob of turkeys around and eventually got the jump on them and had a mad bomb up close range with the shotties on those too. Finished the day very satisfied with 4 ducks and I think 8 turkeys - anyway, it was a lot of turkey breast meat at the end.
 
we got a call that night from a mate who had a mate who knew a guy who had a turkey problem on his property and would love for us to come and sort it out. Phone call made, plan hatched and away we went.  Farmer Duncan was happy for us to knock over any ducks we saw as well, even told us what ponds they usually sit on! We drove around the property looking for turkeys with none seen and just as we were heading towards the biggest pond to harass the ducks I saw a turkey head sticking out over the crest of a hill. Being the main reason we were granted access, ducks became a secondary concern and shotties were loaded with heavy shot and a .243 added to the arsenal if we couldn’t stalk in. Very tough stalk, no cover to speak of but we managed to knock 5 birds down, 4 with shotties and one at 260m with the long arm - my first crack with that gun too! Unfortunately when the first shot went off 32 mallards took off from the pond we were heading towards - and went “elsewhere”. 
we headed off around the farm again and saw some ducks loafing in a small stream as we drove past. Super easy stalk up and all 3 met their demise in short order. We then bumped into the farmer who put us into another mob of turkeys, huge stalk in including wading up a stream to stay hidden but the buggers spooked anyway. I unloaded from about 50m with the shottie and soon had 3 birds tumbling down the bank they were trying to flee up. Definitely the longest shots I’ve ever nailed with a shottie. Ninja dog's first wet retrieve of a turkey was funny to watch - only a bit heavier and harder to carry than a duck. 
 
and that was it... home, shower and back to Welly to get the flight home. Awesome coupla trips, look forward to next year, only 349 sleeps to go!
 
posting a link to a vid my mate made - he posts all sorts of hunting vids on his channel so if that’s your thing give it a look. Few photos to follow as well.


ninja dog doing his second favorite thing after fetching ducks - sucking up for belly rubs

tooled up to the max!




make shift maimai (hide) that netted us a coupla birds



 
awesome view of Moreton on the way in too.
 
cheers for reading
benno <‘>< 🦆🦃🔫
 
 

I thought I had retired, but I had to work real hard to get a few fish this morning.I was only up to 17 bass and a yella fishing the edges and had to get some more bait fishing to bring the tally up to 33 bass and one yella.It seems to be getting harder each day.Bring on winter.
Dino

Have to get in a few sessions as having a new knee on the 3rd of june so no fishing for june and july, l will be going crazy.Or driving the wife crazy.