Old Scaley

Sounds like a magic day out Mark. A pretty tasty bag of fillets as well. Thanks for sharing and making us all jealous (again)

Have a great trip Wayne. Looking forward to some epic reports. Stay safe and enjoy.

I should be around then @kjohnson and I live close to Southbank so unless you get a better offer, just post again when you are in Brisbane and let us know what times you have spare and we can work something out. I am definitely no guide and I can’t promise fish but I do understand the desire of a fisherman visiting another country to see how they fish there and to have a go. I remember doing a trip around the Thousand Islands over your way and just wishing I had a lure trailing out the back of the boat in the hope of nailing a big Muskie. Beautiful place. From memory, Robbie @Drop Bear took some visiting Canadians out for a sharking trip last year and they landed a good bullie. Might be a bit cold for them to be active in our area late July, but I am sure someone on here has a better idea about that than I do.

Those muskies can grow to a pretty impressive size. What days will you be in Brisbane and where are you staying. Maybe someone will be able to help you out with a trip somewhere.

Great, thanks Wayne. Order placed for all 3 colours. I am looking forward to trying them out soon.

Hi Wayne, if you can recommend a good model for Bay snapper I will order a couple of packets just so Julie keeps busy when you are away.

Let us know how you go. This is on my wish list as well, so details on price, how easy to fit etc would be useful.

Online tackle stores have them from $22 to $109.

Nice work @Allnighter. Welcome back. Keep those reports rolling in!

Hey @benno573, so they have the internet on the Northside now? Or did you pinch a bit of the boss’s time to make that post? Anyway, just for you, here is a quick wrap up. We headed to the oyster lease on the low tide so we could do the things we needed to do. Fantastic weather, no breeze and lots of sunshine. The guy that owns the neighbouring lease arrived while we were there and gave us lots of information about the history of oyster farming in Moreton Bay, and gave us a tour of an old man made oyster reef that was totally destroyed in 1999 during a very wet winter. Fascinating stuff! The plan was to cross the SPB once there was a bit of water from the run in. We stopped at Amity on the way over to look for live herring but only netted a few. @tugger had kindly set Robbie the marks for the live bait grounds, but we discovered that neither of us had packed bait jigs, so that was the end of that. Fortunately we had enough bait to keep an army of fishos going so we headed for the bar. Even though conditions were great, there was still enough swell and a bit of breeze against tide to make me a little nervous about my first crossing in an open tiller steer boat. But Captain Drop Bear handled it like a pro and we were soon zooming across the top of Straddie to the intended spot X. We anchored up in prime position and had the spot to ourselves, other than one other guy who was popping for Spaniards. He had a nice one in the esky but said that was the only fish he caught. Live baits were deployed under balloons and we waited anxiously for that first big run. We waited and we waited and we waited, but the live bait didn’t get a touch all day. Meanwhile we were tossing all sorts of bait and pulling in a few just under snapper. Robbie caught a small Trevally that he turned into live bait, and it was still swimming happily when we decided to call it a day. After a couple of hours with nothing in the ice box, the call was made to have a drift. The plan was to floatline, but the current was so slow that even with a small sinker the bait was hitting the bottom quickly. We did grab a couple of decent snaps each on the drift, and lost a couple of good ones. The sharks claimed a couple as well. Overall it was a quiet day for that spot, but we still managed a feed and had a brilliant day on the water. We crossed the bar late in the arvo and got back to the ramp at sunset, so perfect timing. I think we would have caught a lot more if the fish hadn’t been spooked by these big black things constantly slapping their tales all around us. Thanks for the day, Robbie. It was magic. Feel free to add your thoughts or any photos.

Very clever Brian.

Shame about the water level @ellicat, but did you find solitude? BTW, your video was making me dizzy so I turned it off.

A couple of years ago I caught a Tailor that had about 150mm of fishing line trailing out of its anus. When I filleted it later, there was no hook, but the knot that the hook would have been tied to was still intact so I guess that the hook had rusted away and the line was making its way out. Never seen a lure or a plastic inside a fish though, but it must happen sometimes.

Really nice work Robbie. Well done.

Hey @Drop Bear, the video in the top post says it is not available. The YouTube links in the report are working fine though.

Tuesday? We can talk before then.

@Drop Bear, Monday or Tuesday look good at this stage.

Yeah, Robbie, winter whiting are a bit of a PITA to fillet. Summers are nice and firm and easy to fillet and skin, but the winters are much softer and it is better to scale them. Still tasty though. Let’s get out next week if the weather settles?

Great stuff @Andrew_P. Very jealous. That should keep you and your neighbours in fillets for a while!

I don’t want to talk about it

Nice fish @fishingnut. Beer battered or crumbed? Either way, delicious.

Nice report @tugger and some good fish. Any whales out there?

So you might be ice fishing on this trip Brian. You are a braver man than me - once it drops below 20 Celsius around my place the fire goes on and tracky dacks come out. I have experienced many below zero nights visiting Canberra for work and could never figure out why anyone would choose to live there. Good luck mate, and don’t forget the thermals! If you were a drinking man I would recommend a good rum but you will have to make do with the thermos.

Still looking @benno573. Not much comes up at Brunswick Heads and the good properties are dear. I read the other day that Byron now has a higher median house price higher than Sydney and is officially the dearest housing in Australia.

Never @kmcrosby78, but usually I would have been using plastics or pilchards in that area. Since I was put onto a new bait supplier I have been trying different stuff. Getting hold of fresh bonito has been great.