jon

Hi Legends!  
Last Friday afternoon Brett and I made a trip to the Gold Coast to fish Coombabah Creek.  The plan was to get there in time to pump yabbies, have a fish for some fat whiting, sleep on the boat the night (hoping the thunderstorm didn't eventuate!) and pick the kids up from the Coast in the morning and take them for a fish in the boat.
My fisho mate from Macleay had challenged me to a week-long whiting comp as he was staying in the Creek or the Coomera for the whole week.  Part of the reason for our trip.  We the previous Sunday from the bank and Tuesday afternoon/evening from the boat and it was almost dead – barely anything biting.  I think we might have caught one legal whiting combined both sessions.  With the view that the bite had to change sometime, we were hopeful it was going to be Friday night.  I phoned my mate on the way there, he asked if I was going past the bait shop.  He was supposed to be in the Coomera but had stayed because one of his mate's mates had bagged out on whiting that morning.  He asked me to pick him up some live blood worms – the story was that the blood worms were working and the yabbies weren’t.  I wasn't planning on spending money on bait but got worms for him and some for us.  We also pumped yabbies on arrival. 
We headed up to one of the more productive and well-known spots in the creek.  It wasn’t long before I had a fish on and landed a 33cm Spotted Grunter.  Released to the esky.  Brett got a legal Bream which I made him keep (sister likes Bream).  Over the next few hours Brett used yabbies and I used worms (while being accused of cheating on my beloved yabbies!).  It is hard to recall, but I think I got about 7 or 8 decent sized whiting, while Brett may have got 1.  It went quiet and we were both tired, so we headed down the creek to a spot where we got some nice fat whiting a couple of weeks ago.  This spot is rarely fished by other boats from my observations, it is out from the yabbie banks too far to cast from the land where I have fished numerous times but away from the channel.  We went to sleep pretty quickly. 
About 4am in the morning I was woken by another boat.  I sat up to see what was happening and they were going slowly down the channel looking for crab pots by the mangroves.  I strongly suspect that they were share farmers. I tried to get back to sleep for a while but eventually gave up about 5.15 am and put my line in the water – with one of the last worms– it should have been low tide well and truly, but it was still running out.  Brett started fishing shortly after me.  I hooked a decent whiting after about 15 minutes and was hopeful for more, but the bite was quite slow.  On this trip, for one of the first times, I was using the method that some of you legends had imparted to me – the rod in the holder facing straight down to the water or leaning on the back of the boat – with light drag – then when you see the rod bend – lift up gently etcetera.  That night I had to break the necks of almost all the whiting I had caught to retrieve my hook. 
Anyway – probably about 6am my line was being played with for quite a while, the rod tip bent a little, there was a short run and then nothing.  Eventually I thought I better check my bait and felt a little resistance, a few flaps and then gently lifted the rod out of the holder, I tightened the drag slightly and started winding in.  No resistance - thought I had missed the fish until the drag started peeling off and I could feel the weight, the fish did a few good runs with the drag even tighter – I called that it couldn’t be a whiting, too strong and heavy.  Brett said, while laughing, it is an elbow slapper. 
As I got the fish close to the boat I was both amazed and ecstatic – it was the biggest whiting I have ever laid eyes on.  I was scared I was going to lose it as I pulled it into the boat (didn’t even cross my mind to use the net as I was so excited).  I managed to get it safely into the boat and I still can’t believe how big it was  - measured 43cm on the brag mat (not 44 as in the photo).  Weighed 688 grams!
I am absolutely stoked – I could barely bring myself to fillet it and definitely didn’t break its neck at the time to retrieve my hook!
I went on to catch whiting all day but only a few at a time – 19 legal whiting in total – I think 15 were mine, 2 to Brett and 2 to Brett’s oldest.
Brett also switched to worms but could hardly land a fish all day.  I got quite a lot of very dirty looks.
I can only conclude the method works (Brett was generally holding his rod - fishing rod!).
A big thanks to everyone on AFO who has helped me achieve this – particularly @Daryl McPhee and @Neil Stratford for his PM last year on how to catch whiting.  If I have forgotten to mention anyone in particular please forgive me.
Can’t wait to try this again very very soon.
PICS:
 

Cracking way to finish the day after work!!

Hi guys,
Quick run after work which is great to be able to do after changing jobs recently and a much earlier finish time.
Grabbed the rods,the dog and a couple of beers and shot down to the Broadwater. 
Tried for some squid early which I've never really targeted so not surprising I donuted.
Had a troll for tailor on sunset and only got a couple of small ones. Lots of bait but I think I left it a bit late for them as the would have been well upstream by then. 
Looking good for the rest of the week and keen to work these squid out.
So relaxing and a good recharge after work. Hopefully back out tomorrow. 

Couldn't agree more - Lots of sessions to land my first jewie in the port of brisbane but combination of livey at night (from the poo shoot), drifting close into the shipping container lights (without getting told to move on) on a slack tide was what landed me my first jewie.

Keep trying, some people take years to nail their first big Jewie. Some people never get one so don’t be discouraged if it takes you a while to work out the big jewfish code. They can be a hard fish to work out. My best success has come from the deeper holes around the tide changes in the colder months at night time. Anchored up or land based with livies

Keep trying, some people take years to nail their first big Jewie. Some people never get one so don’t be discouraged if it takes you a while to work out the big jewfish code. They can be a hard fish to work out. My best success has come from the deeper holes around the tide changes in the colder months at night time. Anchored up or land based with livies

Keep trying, some people take years to nail their first big Jewie. Some people never get one so don’t be discouraged if it takes you a while to work out the big jewfish code. They can be a hard fish to work out. My best success has come from the deeper holes around the tide changes in the colder months at night time. Anchored up or land based with livies

Keep trying, some people take years to nail their first big Jewie. Some people never get one so don’t be discouraged if it takes you a while to work out the big jewfish code. They can be a hard fish to work out. My best success has come from the deeper holes around the tide changes in the colder months at night time. Anchored up or land based with livies

Keep trying, some people take years to nail their first big Jewie. Some people never get one so don’t be discouraged if it takes you a while to work out the big jewfish code. They can be a hard fish to work out. My best success has come from the deeper holes around the tide changes in the colder months at night time. Anchored up or land based with livies

I'm usually looking to drop the lure on or just in front of the sandbar length to target the predator fish trolling this front channel for dazed bait fish that have come over the sandbar into the front deeper channel.
If i can find where the sandbar breaks and where water is retreating (the rip) then i'm trying to land as far a cast as as I can and ripping the lure through this area.
 

Would not surprise me one bit if it was a recreational fishers pot not belonging to at least two of the three parties involved

My fishing spot at Yellow water in Kakadu 

Also on a positive that’s a great haul there guys sounds like an unreal session

Would not surprise me one bit if it was a recreational fishers pot not belonging to at least two of the three parties involved

Living the dream Tugger!! Good on yas 

Would not surprise me one bit if it was a recreational fishers pot not belonging to at least two of the three parties involved

Would not surprise me one bit if it was a recreational fishers pot not belonging to at least two of the three parties involved

Went for a trip down to the Jumpinpin area this morning with my brother.It was a cracker of a morning , with just a slight westerly blowing.
The flathead we’re on fire , we keep 3 nice eating sized ones , and would have released approx 30 others. Plenty of double hook ups , at one stage my brother got 5 in 5 casts and I managed 3 from 3 at the same time. Also brought home a nice  by catch feed of tailor that took a likely to our plastics. 
We just wedged the boat up against a tree on  the bank in about 6inches of water and picked them off basically one after the other on plastics as they moved down a tiny channel in front of us. 
Interestingly whilst we were parked up , we saw 3 different boats  check the same crab pot. 2 of them had yellow stickers on the sides. Don’t know who actually owned it , maybe none of them?…🙈
 

Been on a trip up into the Northern territory but on the way back the wife and I stopped back in Cairns. The weather was mint so I hit up my mate in town and went fishing.
Got my PB on 2 large mouth nanigi plus my mate caught a cracking gold spot cod. We also caught a good bag of coral trout to throw in the box.
I have fluked the good weather again like last year when I hit Cairns. About our touring in the caravan we have travelled 12000 km and had an incredible trip. Hooked one good barra in Kakadu with it jumping 3 or 4 times before a croc got it.
Until the next big trip here are some of the fishing trip photos.
 




 

Yeah plus for brekky creek, we used to drive all the way from Ipswich to fish that spot at night when we first got our drivers license. Saw and caught plenty of great salmon there! Saw a 75cm snapper landed next to me during times of drought and high salinity.

Yeah plus for brekky creek, we used to drive all the way from Ipswich to fish that spot at night when we first got our drivers license. Saw and caught plenty of great salmon there! Saw a 75cm snapper landed next to me during times of drought and high salinity.

Yeah plus for brekky creek, we used to drive all the way from Ipswich to fish that spot at night when we first got our drivers license. Saw and caught plenty of great salmon there! Saw a 75cm snapper landed next to me during times of drought and high salinity.

Great report mate some awesome photos too! 

Great report mate some awesome photos too! 

Hi all,
Decided to take the family over to Moreton for a bit of R&R.
 
Unfortunately, after booking everything and arranging the annual leave and all that... an East Coast Low popped up on the weather charts that looked determined to try and ruin our good time.  With this in the back of my mind, we jumped on the Micat and headed over.
 
After an easy run up the eastern beach and a challenging run up the hill behind cape cliff, we soon arrived at north point campground.  I was rather stoked to see my favourite and also the most sheltered spot in the whole campground was available.  To be fair, most sites were available, there was only 1 other camp set up.
 
After a speedy but thorough set up involving far more ropes, tarps and big sand pegs than usual, we headed off for a walk up the beach to north point for a look around.  I had a few flicks with a slug to see if I could find something for dinner, unfortunately no luck.
 
I was up early the next morning and up to the rocks where I found a very flat ocean with minimal wave action - not ideal conditions.  Had quite a few casts and managed to land a tailor at about 45cm and a gold spot trevally roughly the same size - not quite enough for the required 3 feeds of fish for the trip but certainly a good start.
 
Given the cracking weather, we decided to head over to what we call "secret beach".  It's not really a secret but it's not easy to get to and with a 2.5 yr old on your shoulders it makes it even more challenging.  It's a cracking little spot, quite sheltered, heaps of awesome rock pools and great rock fishing opportunities as well.  We were greeted by a pod of dolphins and a couple of whales all of 150m off the rocks which made the wee one rather excited.  I headed out to my favourite rock to try and grab a few more fillets for the fridge before the wind and swell meant I couldn't fish there for the remainder of the week.  I had the fish frames from the trevally and tailor to hack some baits off with plastics as a back up.  With minimal wave action, it was a bit like fishing in an aquarium, you could see large bream cruising around the rocks but they were too clever to take a bait.  After half an hour of no action, I finally got an enquiry and a spirited argument ensued with what turned out to be a 43cm white trevally.  he was despatched, and a new bait deployed.  within 2 minutes I was on again and the result was another white trevally, just slightly smaller.  Plenty of fish for 3 meals now, quick feed of oysters from the rocks and back to explore rock pools with the wee one.  We headed back towards the car and stopped on the headland to watch two whales travel past about 100m off the rocks.
 
tuesday morning the neighbours packed up leaving the campground all to us which was nice.  the wind was up a bit and we just played around on the beach in front of camp.  after lunch the wind really kicked up so we were a bit limited with where we could go but still managed to have a bit of fun on the beach.  I had a bit of a half-hearted flick in some gutters for one long tom and not a lot else.
 
wednesday the wind was up to about 30kn with some showers about so we went for a drive and took in the 5 hills lookout, and then went down to a nice sheltered corner of the beach and built some sandcastles and whatnot.  there was a heap of bait in around some coffee rocks but i couldn't get a touch so i didn't persist for very long.
 
Thursday was starting to get pretty ordinary, the swell was about 3m and 30kn+ SE with showers.  nothing else for it, had a very long, slow breakfast, added even more reinforcements to the structures, jumped in the car and headed over to bulwer for some hot chips and ice cream. We hung out on the western beach which was a bit more sheltered until a shower chased us back inside the car.  we checked the wind and saw it was gusting up to 48kn already and only set to get worse.  we had a break in the showers briefly on the way home so we stopped on the beach for a bit of a run around before the tide started pushing in and we had to head off.  we made it back to camp and i re-tensioned all ropes, hit the pegs a few more times with a bigger hammer and poured an extra strong drink to keep me warm.  a rather noisy and restless nights sleep was had by the big people in the tent, thankfully the wee one was tired out and slept through all the wind and showers.
 
Friday morning was still ef windy but not too bad on the rain front... until about 9:30.  We hopped back in the car and went for a drive down the eastern beach.  despite it being low tide, the huge swell was pushing the waves almost up to the dunes in places, leaving not a lot of space in places.  I drove past what I thought was a log - until it stuck its head up for a look.  I hit the anchors and backed up and we watched the australian fur seal go for a walk down the beach and back into the surf.  never seen one other than in WA/SA so that was pretty cool to see.  We went for a long, slow drive around and ended up back at camp where we shut ourselves into the tent and stayed there for the afternoon while the weather raged outside.  we had lightning and thunder, the whole works.  We got a brief reprieve in rain and managed to shower and cook dinner before it set in again.  another restless night followed.
 
saturday morning we woke to a still howling wind and intermittent showers, however, there was certainly signs things were improving.  by about 9am, there was even big patches of funny looking blue stuff above us!  We wasted no time getting down to the beach, just on foot as the swell was still pushing in and HARD.  We sat up on top of north point and watched the spectacle of the swell and wind for a good hour.  We then had some fun on a makeshift slippery dip down one of the sand cliffs carved out by the swell.  after lunch and a bit of a nap, the weather was really starting to come good so we headed down the beach for a bit of soccer and climbed to the top of yellowpatch to watch the sun set.
 
Sunday morning was still a bit windy but bright and sunny so we headed up to the beach around tailor bight where there is generally a complete lack of people and some nice gutters for flatties.  unfortunately no-one had told the flatties that day and after a bite off from a long tom i gave up.  with the tide nearing dead low, we decided to drive up to the rocks around north point for a bit of a play there.  The swell was still around 2.5-3m, however, on the low tide there was one safe rock i could stand on.  i only had my light 2-4kg rod matched up with 8lb line so i threw a 20g slug out into the wash.  the tailor were there, hungry and not small!  i shortly had three fish landed which was a real challenge on the light gear with the big swell.  unfortunately when fighting the fourth, it was all too much for my reel that snapped.  i tried hard to land the fish which was a big tailor, unfortunately one jump right at the rocks threw the hook.  I jumped in the car and went back to camp quickly and grabbed by more serious rock spinning outfit and raced back up to the rock before the tide came in and chased me off.  i was able to throw a 40g slug on this outfit and get a bit more distance.  what followed was one of the most insane tailor sessions I have had.  literally a fish a cast, all big fish over 50cm long.  i even managed to land a large dart and a queenfish in amongst it all.  i released most of the fish, but kept a few for a family who i had promised a couple to if they were still biting.  after that, we went back to camp, had some lunch, did some filleting and bubs went for a sleep.  i went for a walk again, no chance of getting anywhere near the rocks on the higher tide, i had a flick off the beach to no avail, i couldn't quite get the lure out to the back edge of the gutter.  that afternoon we went down to the beach to feed the pelicans some tailor frames which was a big hit with the wee one.  she then got bored with it and started off climbing up yellowpatch again, this shortly turned into a piggy back and a lot of puffing on my behalf (not as much as @ellicat walking from the couch to the fridge though).
 
monday was an absolute cracker, we loaded up the toys and headed over to tangalooma for a kayak and SUP around the wrecks.  i had shot down the beach early and landed a tailor which was destined to be cut up to use as fish food.  I actually landed 9 in 12 casts but released the rest.  we had a great morning cruising around the wrecks looking at the fish, crabs, birds etc, followed by hot chippies at bulwer and the obligatory ice cream as well.  we headed back to camp, i went for one final flick while bub napped, i landed one first cast and released it.  a guy then came over and asked if he could have one for dinner, next cast that request was sorted, an older couple asked the same and they got one each in the following two casts.  i could have stayed there all afternoon but time and tide was catching up so i had to head back to camp.
 
that's pretty much it - packed up and headed off on the 11am micat on tuesday morning.  we did pass a dead whale on the beach on the way which was pretty sad to see, not sure what the issue was but kind of glad i had the windows up
 
cheers for reading - this might even rival some of @AUS-BNE-FISHO reports for length! 
 
benno <'><