Miller 197

Hi all,
 
Was hoping to wait until the photo issue was rectified but some of you may enjoy the story regardless.
 
On 7th Dec with a very fully loaded car and trailer we jumped on the morning MiCat to Moreton Island with 21 nights of relaxation in my favourite place to look forward to.  I let the tyres down as far as I dare with the load on, had the obligatory smiley pie and coffee and soon we were on the beach at Tangalooma.  After a bit of a challenge getting to the top of middle road, we had a beautiful run up the eastern beach towards cape moreton.  Unfortunately, I was pretty much run off the road by a peanut coming down the hill from the lighthouse and the trailer then developed a mind of its own when trying to reverse out and I ended up needing to deploy the recovery boards to get me back on the straight and narrow and have another crack at the hill.  No dramas the second time and we were soon picking out a site at North Point campground.  A few hours of work followed and soon we had a camp set  up that would survive anything but the worst weather in a fairly shady and sheltered corner of the campground.
 
Next morning I was up at early AM and went for a bit of a walk around to check the gutters on the beach and all that, had a cast but wasn't successful.  After breakfast we headed off down the beach with the kids to some beautiful little low tide gutters that were about knee deep and calm.  While playing around, I noticed some birds circling in the surf break and then saw some fishy-shapes chasing bait in the waves.  I grabbed the only rod I had with me (the 2-4kg flick stick with 10lb) and threw a 20g halco twisty on.  Second cast I was away.  After a very good argument on the light gear, I had the first fish tacos of the trip sorted with a 53cm tailor.  About an hour later he was sizzling away in a frypan back at camp.
 
Next few days were a bit tough on the fishing front.  Early morning starts up the rocks spinning were mildly successful, however, I did work out I could put the little fella in his backpack carrier and take him along with me.  And the best part was he absolutely loved it... well.... for the first 90 minutes or so anyway. But was still pretty cool hanging out with him and managing to catch a couple of fish along the way. 
 
Morning 4 was a complete bust on the fishing front, could not get a hit on a slug or a plastic anywhere so I was walking back across kind of a swampy section near camp and my morning took a massive turn - for the good!  There at my feet was my lunch, now if I could just get hold of him with all 10 fingers still in tact...  A few interesting moments and near misses later and eventually I had my prize - a 1.7kg full as buck muddie.  Even the young fella appreciated this - I held it up to show him which was met with a "Wooooowwwwww" from him.  Glad I had strapped him in to the backpack well though.  A crab wrap for lunch was a very unexpected but welcome addition to the menu that's for sure.  After the crab wrap, during the midday nap period, I went for a walk down to the rocks given the swell was picking up a bit and landed 3 mid 40's tailor in the first three casts.  Then a surfer paddled right over where the fish were sitting, sat there was a minute and then paddled off again.  Needless to say, the fish disappeared thereafter.  Maybe the surfer was a vegan or something and that was his idea of a protest.  Still, three tailor was ample for dinner.
 
Next day I had collected some pippies and headed over to a favourite rock fishing spot of mine, however, it was very quiet but I managed to pull three nice dart out, the best one going 43cm.  There's another dinner sorted!
 
After 7 days, the outlaws headed home and were replaced by @ellicat and my mum.  After a new false starts, ECat and I finally found where the flathead were hiding.  I was first on the board with a lovely 63cm model.  While it was only 1 or 2 each time we tried the spot, they were all quality fish in the mid 50's.
 
The weather finally became good enough for me to try a kayak trip which saw me throw the tub in early and head on out.  It took me a while to to find them but I managed 3 snapper 43-49cm, one just legal spangled and a 38cm grassy.  I then hooked something huge that had me scrambling to get on top of it to try and pull it out of the rocky rubbly bottom.  A good battle ensued and a stud 53cm grassy surfaced, much to ECat's distain as he is yet to crack the 50cm mark on a grassy and I have now 4 times in his presence.  Sorry mate - oh wait, no I'm not... 😛   I headed back in and watched ECat land a legal flatty from the beach as I was coming back in.
 
All too soon, ECat had to head home - hope you had a good trip mate.  Glad you got to witness the might BT50 recovering a brand spanking 300 series jsut before getting on the barge - that was a bit of fun. 😉
The day after he left, it was forecast to be 20kn+ northerlies but they never showed up and the ocean completely glassed out around lunch time.  I grabbed the kayak and headed out, not knowing the carnage that was about to unfold.
 
Things started slowly, it took me a good 1/2 hr before I got my first decent hit - and what a hit it was.  Ripped 20lb line off the reel under fairly heavy drag and ended up busting me off on the rubbly bottom about 100m away, my best guess was a GT or a kingy - or so i thought... maybe another culprit was to blame as will soon be revealed. I soon after I found a patch with some nice snapper, and put three 40-48cm models and a bonus grassy into the box.  I tried a different area and first cast hooked the 3:14 express from central that had me chasing after it flat out while it peeled line from the reel.  Surely this couldn't be a shark, I would have been busted off ages ago... what could this be?  After about 10 minutes I got sight of the fish and about 10 minutes after that I had 85cm of cobia doing it's best to escape from under my legs on the kayak.  A very quick brain spike and bleed and a louder than necessary yahoo and then a minute to recover, check leader, plastic etc and we were back into it.  Next cast a 43cm grassy came to play.  Followed shortly after by a cracking 55cm snapper that gave me a real run around and completed my bag out.  I decided that was enough and just one more cast... wholly hell.  Seconds after the lure hitting the water two things happened.  A manta ray surfaced just near where my lure landed and my rod was just about ripped out of my hands.  For a second I thought I had hooked the manta but it zigged and whatever i had zagged.  Knowing cobia love hanging around mantas i quickly worked my way out over sand and settled in for the battle.  This one was far heavier and more stubborn than the first one and was slugging it out down deep, I would make a metre of line and he would take 2 back.  This went on and on.  About 1/2 hour later I finally had the fish yakside - now how the hell do I land this thing?  I ended up tailing it and lifting by the line as well and got it on my lap.  A quick spike and bleed and a rather nose heavy and slimy, bloody kayak headed back to the beach.  The big cobia went 110cm - not huge by cobia standards sure but everything seems bigger on a floating bit of plastic.  It also meant a double bag out for the first time ever on the yak.
 
At this point I will mention that ECat had been kind enough to loan me his 60L freezer which was a very welcome item in the campsite after such a trip - on top of my 80L fridge/freezer.  approx 11kg of fillets were recovered from the days captures - a day of kayak fishing I will not forget in a hurry.
 
Other than that day, a few more nice flatties found their way into the box but the fishing effort was rather half hearted - I was happy to finish on a high.
 
Roast turkey and potato bake made for an awesome Xmas dinner, plenty of time spent with the small people at the beach.  Luckily, we only copped one storm on Xmas eve with a fair bit of wind and 57mm of rain in 1/2 hour, got the edge of a few others but nothing too bad.  Everything stayed standing and dry on the inside at least.
 
All too soon - even after such an extended stay - we were packing up and heading back to the MiCat for the trip home.  Middle road had washouts about 1/2m deep in some spots from the storms the previous two days which was pretty crazy to see.
 
I will attempt to add some photos when the site is fixed if people are interested, I didn't take heaps but there's a few that people might like.
 
Hope you enjoyed the read, I tried not to make it too long.
 
Cheers,
Benno <'><
 
 
 
 
 
 

Hi guys, I haven't posted a session report in a while so i thought I would do my latest session and a few highlights from these past months of fishing. The fishing these past few months started off well, with lots of jewies about and a bunch of good size snapper. These 2 past months have been very slow for getting bait during the day and I think i've only caught one herring on a sabiki since. 
I rocked up to the local around 8:30pm for a small session. There were 3 blokes fishing, all with frowns on their faces i'm guessing they were not enjoying their fishing trip. They told me there was no bait around and they had begun packing their equipment up. I gave the net about 10 throws before I gave up and waited for the tide to run again- about 15 minutes. By that time the blokes had gone home and I had the jetty to myself, I gave the net a throw and the prawns had completely turned on and I was getting about 2 or 3 per cast. I casted these out on all 3 rods and cracked open a solo. About 20 minutes and a bait change later, a family who I have met previously came to the jetty to see if i had caught any fish or prawns. They were mesmerised by the prawns and were talking to me about if i had caught any fish when I heard the bell on the tip of my rod start ringing, i ran over the to the rod and it started screaming. I picked it up and clicked the bait runner into gear, the fish must have turned around because I thought it might be a small jewfish or a snapper. Th e fish charged the jetty and it was only when I saw it surface that I realised it was massive. As soon as I caught a glimpse of it it took off, peeling probably 30 metres of line from my reel. It started heading for the jetty which I had to quickly put a stop to. After 3 or 4 more smaller runs and a terrifying run in with a pylon and a crab pot rope I pulled it into the safety of the dilly which I promptly lifted up onto the jetty. It was a massive thready, it looked like a new PB

. I quickly snapped a few photos, gave it a measure and a tag and then ran with it my arms down to the rocks at the bottom of the jetty. I was wading waist deep in the river trying to revive it but it had swallowed the hook, lost a few scales and had pretty severe barotrauma so it wasn't looking good for her. I swam her for 10 minutes but after a failed release attempt and an unsuccessful venting job using a tagger I knew it was going to come home for dinner. 
It was sad not being able to release it but I knew that they tasted great so I wasn't too sad. I stayed fishing for about an hour longer and managed to pickup a new PB bream of 37cm and a really fat catty.

I was supposed to be home by 1130  but I ended up getting home at 1140 and my parents were not too happy with me going out to the servo to get ice haha. Overall it was a really enjoyable nights fishing and it made some very tasty sashimi the next day. 
All the fish were caught on live prawns, the tide was the bottom of the incoming, the moon phase was 60% waning gibbous, the water was reasonably clear

I will leave some highlights of the past few months of fishing at the bottom

 

Took advantage of the perfect conditions this afternoon .
Headed out at 2pm. The fish were on the chew from the first drop.
Whaler sharks were on the job too. I recon they setup camp right under the boat for two hours.
Got some quality fish this time , biggest one was a male fish a tad over 700mm .
Put the boat back on the trailer at 7pm and headed home .
regards
neil
 
 
 

pb jew from a passage mission with dad. went 76
 

History Repeats.  Love that.

Well done mate.

History Repeats.  Love that.

Well done mate.

History Repeats.  Love that.

Well done mate.

Hey Mick,

To answer your question about fighting fish from the boat... Just make sure the gear your using suits the size fish you're targeting and have the drag set correctly.
If you have a few lines out when you hook a big fish best practice is to have a mate wind the other lines in to avoid a tangled mess when the fish gets close.  If you are losing alot of line or have other boats close by you can always use the boat to close in on the fish
 
Always better to be safe than sorry when it comes to fisheries and bag limits  

Hey Mick,

To answer your question about fighting fish from the boat... Just make sure the gear your using suits the size fish you're targeting and have the drag set correctly.
If you have a few lines out when you hook a big fish best practice is to have a mate wind the other lines in to avoid a tangled mess when the fish gets close.  If you are losing alot of line or have other boats close by you can always use the boat to close in on the fish
 
Always better to be safe than sorry when it comes to fisheries and bag limits  

Hey Mick,

To answer your question about fighting fish from the boat... Just make sure the gear your using suits the size fish you're targeting and have the drag set correctly.
If you have a few lines out when you hook a big fish best practice is to have a mate wind the other lines in to avoid a tangled mess when the fish gets close.  If you are losing alot of line or have other boats close by you can always use the boat to close in on the fish
 
Always better to be safe than sorry when it comes to fisheries and bag limits  

Hey Mick,

To answer your question about fighting fish from the boat... Just make sure the gear your using suits the size fish you're targeting and have the drag set correctly.
If you have a few lines out when you hook a big fish best practice is to have a mate wind the other lines in to avoid a tangled mess when the fish gets close.  If you are losing alot of line or have other boats close by you can always use the boat to close in on the fish
 
Always better to be safe than sorry when it comes to fisheries and bag limits  

Hey guys i had a little seaway session very early and a couple days ago i removed my casting deck and just kept my e motor and battery in my boat we tried to get some yakka on the pipe but it did not work we kept on trying but it did not work realised after when i was home that you can use pike as bait and you can get them from the mouth at loders on 2.5" grubz. in the last hour we decided to chase some bigeyes on the wall that we saw on the sounder it was so good bagging out at 14 nice sized fish some being 50cm it was great just using a set of old soft plastics we used ecogear grass minnow ms and they were so good wondering if anybody had a newer upgraded better version with the same deisgn? Looking to hit up the seaway and the broadwater more.  Im also going to traul the broadwater canals like paradise point and tha tbig island just north of pehraim with some pointers and a evergreen grand searcher. Also gonna try to flick the pipe with some microjigs and 5" and 7" plastics.

Hey guys sorry that i do not upload my catches lots I have been moving into boarding for a while and have only been home for 3 weekends this month did not go for jacks but did explore the seaway more had a little session first weekend when i had my grandparents over and managed to get a big flatty in the arvo did not fish anymore that weekend then i went out and went for a flick landbased next weekend right on sunday night also did not fish much had to be home collecting extras but on the 3rd weekend we had a hour seaway session inside the walls and got tons of bigeyes pretty fun. Gonna have a jack session soon hoping for this one to be the one number 8 is a lucky number 🙂 I have a 200hg curado on a bass raider 3-6kg which i use for plastics and topwater and a 4000 with 30lb on it on a 5-10kg rod for livies like some smaller mullet and a big 5000 reel on a 10-15kg rod with 40lb for big mullet gonna just go landbased at a secret spot and see how it goes. Have not gotten into the hard body and jerkbait game yet lookin to get into it when i upgrade my boat gonna get a new minn kota riptide and a better, lighter casting deck for my tinny thinking about getting a dobyns fury 10-17lb rod with a bait caster on it Im looking for a reel around the under 400$ mark I know the curado just looking for a more optimal reel for fishing hard bodies in the canals

Don't go with them, dodgy as, lying operator.  I booked last year whole boat in october had to cancel due to weather that was fine no stress. Re booked for Nov got cancelled on because was having boat troubles. Next day vids posted at Tangalooma. Asked for money back this time as we moved up north.  Nothing, he stopped replying and gave sob story about why I couldn't have it back. Fast forward to today he won't reply to me and I've only received back 600 of the 1150 I paid. Even went out of my way to wait at a servo on the side of the highway for him as he said he'd meet there and give me cash. Meeting time came nothing, wouldn't pick up phone, hour later nothing. Left after 2 hrs waiting past time and he gets back to me immediately after I post on fb a review that he deleted immediately. 

Well we can't take a trick, another holiday has been trashed. Missus and I left yesterday to go north. Stayed overnight in Rockhampton and continued North to stay at  Airlie Beach for a week, it was to be followed by 2 nights at Mission beach and a week in Cairns with a couple of fishing charters booked out of Port Douglas and a snorkelling trip to McKay Cay. Just before we got to Mackay we stopped for a coffee, when we got back to the car there were several litres of coolant under our car.
Managed to get to a Jeep dealer in Mackay who checked our car and said that they were booked out for 2 weeks and also the parts were not readily available. We managed to hire a RAV4, and transferred all our gear to it, we now staying overnight in Mackay and heading home early morning to unload. We then have to drive back to Mackay on Sunday with the wifes car following as well  to return the hire car, then return home again in the wifes car.
Followed by a repeat performance and to pick up the repaired car a few weeks later. So we have lost the money on the accommodation, the hire car, fuel and several thousands on the repairs. To say that I am cheesed off would be an understatement.
I am investigating the possibility of catching  a train back on Sunday night which would save my wife from driving all the way to Mackay and back in her car which would be better. Anyway, it is what it is so just have to accept it. This will be the third anniversary holiday in a row that we have had to cancel.🤬🤬🤬
 
 

OK team so I went and tested the idea - it worked ok.  Caught, landed and released a large stingray and caught this 50cm grunter with the rig as advertised.  However after this I did notice the braid was rubbed- so I chickened out and reverted to having the sinker run on the long leader as usual.  
I am happy with the idea of 100% biodegradable sinkers so will continue to make them to suit.
Thanks

Easy Brian,
Light one up and see where they come running from 🙂

took the tinnie me and the grandkids wone a few years back at the ozfish wynnum  fishing classic ,its been a while fishing for me as the wife hasnt been too well but she is on the mend now witch is good,got a few flattie took 2 for a feed and left them on the chew there were 2 boats around throwing plastics they seem to do well also, jax got the biggest flathead around the 68ish mark,i saw his lure on the surface as we were trolling i told him to flick the weed of it and as he got up to get it out of the holder boof something came up and smashed   it on the surface i thought a cod but it was the flattie. good morning out

Not a fan of rec fishing licences. Feeling a bit jaded so I'm going to have a spray.
Rec licences deny most of us a birth right to harvest common property. (in NSW aborigines are exempt from licences but that's another story). No compensation is offered for denying rec fishers this right. Compare that with commercial fishers who have to have their licences bought out as compensation.
Funds raised don't always go towards rec fishery improvement. eg in NSW they were used for mulloway re-stocking. The funny thing about fish is that swim. Now this may have been an OK idea in a freshwater impoundment, but there's nothing stopping a rec-funded mulloway swimming in to a pro fisherman's net.
I would insist that all funds raised be used only for the buy out of commercial fishing licences.
Operational costs of Fisheries operations, education as well as compliance and admin should never be funded by rec licences. 
Fisheries departments don't have a great track record in fisheries management. In NSW Fisheries Dept research vessels sought and identified new fisheries for commercial fishermen to exploit, which they did enthusiastically! Not really management is it?
One eye opening experience for me was when training (mid 1990s) a senior NSW Fisheries bureaucrat was asked by one of us about the (then) fish kills in the Menindee Lakes that were a  result of low water levels. It was suggested to him that perhaps the Fisheries Dept (which was trying to limit fish  deaths)should liaise with the NSW dept of  Land & Water to increase the flows so that they survived. The reply was that this had been suggested but that the head of Dept of Land & Water advised his opposite number in Fisheries that he "didnt care about fish as fish occupy space that could be filled by water". 
No wonder the joke at the time was "What do you get when you Land to Water"/ Answer "Mud"!
NSW Fisheries role is to manage our fisheries, yet when a fishery struggles or collapses, no minister or official stands up to say that they are responsible for the failure and offer their resignation.
The science for minimum sizes is rubbery.
eg abalone. These grow at different rates in different places according to the nutrient content of their environment, so a small specimen in a nutrient-poor location may be older and have reproduced before a larger specimen elsewhere in a nutrient-rich location. Yet, it is an offence to take that smaller (but mature) specimen.
Similarly a study of (I think it was tailor) found that commercial harvesting in WA resulted in populations that were mature at earlier ages. (Specimens that were genetically prone to mature at a smaller size were favoured because they were returned on capture while others were not).
As an ex-NSW Fisheries Officer I could not reconcile the need to issue infringement notices to someone possessing an undersize fish (because they should be allowed to grow and spawn, right?) while allowing commercial fishermen to target and harvest entire spawning migrations.
Commercial fishermen's lobby groups had more influence than the rec and the role of the Department seemed to be maintaining the status quo.
A fellow officer told me about a beach haul operation that harvested migrating schools of mullet, removed the roes for export and bulldozed the remains into the beach.
One ineffective knee jerk response to appear to be 'managing' fish stocks was to decrease the bag limit. A joke really because so few people actually reach the limit and the effect is negligible.  
Qld (and belatedly NSW) finally adopted sensible management policies such as closed seasons (eg to allow barra to spawn), and limits on taking larger fish that have managed to survive to maturity and spawn. (fish produce so many eggs because so few of them will manage to get to maturity, so the rationale for returning undersized fish while taking the bigger ones was always crazy).
 

I'd want to read to fine print before I agree to anything that expects fisho's to dish out more revenue.  
I shell out enough money yearly to the government. They make huge amounts of money off fisherman as it stands (gst). 
 
Once it's introduced it never gets withdrawn so reading the fine print, and holding bureaucrats to their word is important. 
I will not pay an annual fee just so public servants can fill their back pocket. There is enough of this culture happening already. 
 
 
 

I'd only support a licence if there is a guarantee the revenue raised is 100% invested into improvements for rec fishers - e.g. better ramps, artificial reefs, fish restocking etc. I don't think it should be used to pay for research that is or should be undertaken by existing departments like DAF or EPA etc. Otherwise it would risk funds being directed to Green groups for their own self-serving surveys...blah blah blah.
I believe in a user pays system like the SIPS also..

Hi all
Since my tennis match was cancelled yesterday arvo, I decided to go out for a session on the river. It was supposed to storm pretty bad again, but I made the call to head down anyways and try for something. I loaded up the cart with all my gear and was soon off, arrived at a bit past 2:00PM. It was really muggy at first, and I was actually boiling in my raincoat which I had on just in case it got a bit too wet. I baited the lines with mullet, and prawn, and began some cast netting.
On my second throw, I had a really good prawn which got out. Then again, on my forth throw - that was darn frustrating as no more prawns were caught for the rest of the day (by me at least anyway). The sky started looking really threatening, and I was hearing some fairly loud thunder and lightning. Just as it was about to rain, and about 15-20 minutes after the salmon line was deployed, I saw it hunched over going off. I got down to the jetty as quick as possible and started the fight. After tightening the drag, I began pulling it in. It wasn't taking massive runs, but it had very solid head shakes and was seemingly trying to shake/spit the bait. Shortly into the fight (well not really, I was just about to see the bugger), it took it's first and only run. I kept pumping, but then heartbreakingly, the line went slack. It had spat my bait 😞. I cranked the mullet up, and even though I had my money on a little bully, I realised it was a catfish (or most likely) as the line was slimed up. 
 
Slime and chewed bait
After about 2 minutes of losing that fish, the wind and rain picked up. Like last time, I stayed under shelter in the mangrove tree overhanging the boardwalk. I saw a bigger splash eventually, (bust up???), but then I realised what the white stuff falling from the sky was - hail! It was a bit hectic in this part, and as well as just losing a rig to a snag (and some newspaper floating in it's plastic bag), I was getting colder and colder. None of the hail stones were particularly big, but it's the first time I've seen good hail in AGES. 

Lucky it didn't hit me!
With my hands over my head, just in case a big chunk of ice decided to fall on me, I went to check the lines. They all had no action, except the rod I had put out deep which seemed to be nibbled away. I re-casted it, and got back to sheltering from the storm. It was still raining and hailing, and my dad called me and told me I needed to go home. Since they seemed to be biting, and it was raining too hard or anything like that, I didn't. My dad said he was on the way now, so we could get home before the next big storm hit. Part of me wanted to go home (well a really, really small bit), but the majority of me wanted to keep fishing. My dad got down and after a lot of negotiating I was eventually made go home. While we were waiting for the hail to pass though, I noticed that the rod that had mullet out on it was bending. Luckily the majority of it had passed now, so we got down there and the fight started. 
It wasn't an excellent fight, but it wasn't dragging along the bottom - it was in the middle/top of the water column. After some good head shakes, obviously the shark trying to get away, I saw the shape. It was a shark alright, and despite the bad tangles my dad still netted it up fine. Yeww! That's the first for the season!

70 odd?

I'm all good at holding 'em now

Jaw shot
After I put that shark back (he wasn't tired at all and kicked off practically before I put him in the water), I packed up the cart and set off again. At home, I re-rigged all the lines I needed and waited out the storm. It was a pretty miserable hour or so, but soon enough I was back down with some more bait. I deployed a lighter line with 12lb and eel to try for a shark on that one as it would be good fun, and put the other line out as well. Special Guest water Dragon made an appearance too.

Clearly sheltering from the storm
I was doing some cast netting now, and even though I wasn't getting much I did get this breambo. It looked like it had either had a chunk taken out of it by a toothier predator, or it cross bread with a snapper. Lol. It gave a good tug in the cast net and I was actually hoping it was a bony bream, not a yellowfin, so I could make it into shark baits, but it was released after a quick measure - 

Weird bream

Close up
It didn't take long for me to get my first nudge on the eel, but it was only a nudge. It seemed the shark was only toying around with it, and soon after the bait was dropped. I reeled then line in, and casted back out. I was still giving the other lines the odd check, but surprisingly the salmon line with the mullet did not want to go off. The lighter line was hit yet again, this time the shark seemed to just play with the bait for a while. It wasn't taking it, so I kept a really loose drag ready for it to swim off with my bait. The fish dropped it, and I'm starting to wonder whether using eel makes the fish far more apprehensive than, say, a poddy mullet. 
After some more bait checking, the light rod went off, again. This time, the shark was running with it. I thought I gave it enough time to scoff down the bait, and I didn't want to get spooled seeing as this reel doesn't have the most line on it. It was running for about 10-20 seconds, but when I tightened up the drag and started fighting it seemed as though I was on. I got three pumps in, and either it spat the hook or I pulled the hook, but the line went slack. Back came some eel (shows how tough it is) and my rig. Sigh.
My dad was down quite quickly after this, and apart from the shark, it was a really quiet day. Like he always does, he gave the cast net a go. In the first few throws he was getting some mullet, and herring, which are now in my freezer, but on one of the throws he got something pretty good! He felt some tugging, and knew it wasn't normal. I thought they were just glassies, but when he saw what was in the bottom pocket he yelled at me to get down there! To my shock, it was a humongous mullet! I was planning on keeping it, and after a measure I was bringing it up for a shot. Unfortunately this mullet made up it's mind - *Slip, Slip! Bang, Bong, Flip! Splash, Splash!!!*. By, Mr Crab Pot bait 😞 

Solid Mully

50cm - my dad's new PB
The mullet was released to become crab pot bait later, and my dad headed off after getting some more herring. While dealing with the mullet, the salmon line was buckled over, but unluckily the hooks did not connect and this fish was not landed. It was a lot better hit than all the others though, which is a minor pity. 
I packed up and left shortly after that, and overall was pretty satisfied with that session. Hail, rain, lightning, sharks - pretty good going! 😉 Here are the stats of the trip for anyone interested. Oh, and I should mention - there were a group of crazy teenagers doing somersaults of the back of the jetty to clean up after running around in the mud. Bit risky if you ask me!
Stats of trip - 
Tide: 10:41AM, 2.1M, High, 5:00PM, .4M, Low, 10:45PM, 1.9M, High
Moon Phase: Waxing Gibbous, so not too much run (but a fair bit)
Tackled Used: 12lb, 14lb, 30lb braid mainlines, 20lb, 30lb, 80lb mono/fluorocarbon trace, 4/o suicide hooks, size 6 and 2 ball sinkers, large-ish barrel swivel, size 2500 Diawa Shinobi and Shimano Nasci, Size 5000 Jarvis Walker Sovereign, 8'8" Ugly Stik, 6'6" Abu Garcia Veritas, Size 2M Rogue Firepoint boat rod.
Bait used: Mullet, herring, little bits of prawn for a little while
Bait caught: Herring, mullet, glassy
Fish caught: Bull Shark x 1
Humidity: 96%
Rain: The fresh was around, with many arvo's of storm and hail on the day. So lots. 
Overall Success Rate: 75% - good fun
Hope you enjoyed - now to the next one (a real disaster even though I got some fish)...
I had a 'Halloween' party of at the neighbours first up, which was really just a get together, but it was good fun, so I set off a bit later today at about 3:00PM. I got to the park, deployed the lines the same as yesterday, and got fishing. It was pretty hot, so I was drinking quite a bit - only going to get worse the further we go into Summer though. The lines were deployed and for about the first 20 minutes nothing happened - then the unthinkable.
I saw a tinny, with a full family, speeding down the river (Two bubs, mother, and father). They were going at speed, and they went alarmingly close to the jetty (not slowing down). About 1.5M away from crashing and some serious damage, they swerve away from the pylons. Then the bloody idiots catch my line, which they can clearly seeing, in there prop. I start yelling at them at the top of my lungs ("OI!!! THAT'S MY LINE!!!") and about 100-200 metres away from the jetty, they stop, and the clown driving the thing unwrapped my line from the prop. The bait was gone, but my rig was left, luckily.  I think it's very lucky these clowns didn't get hurt. Seriously, going max speed with little kids in - I'd like to ask him if he even had his boaters license???
After about 20 minutes or so from that drama, just when I was about to start cast netting, I saw the salmon line bend. I ran down, in question if it was still on, but when I picked it up... Well... The fight was on! The shark was once again in the middle-top of the water column, and this one had some more go in it. I was pulling him in, but then he went for the structure. I got him out though, and a man and his family walking past kindly brought down the net and did the honours. It was about the same size as the one I got yesterday, and since it swallowed the hook I still had to cut the line. It went off into the drink fine after a brief swim, for me to catch next time 🙂 

De-hooking

You can't see my ugly mug in this one but you can see my toothy friends' mug!
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Released soon after
After the shark was released, the bite went quiet. I was talking to the odd person, but then this guy walks up to me (maybe 25) and asks where my parents are. I'm still angry about this event but won't rant about it too much... (it involves greenies). He says that you can't fish here, hurts the fish, etc. Then as he's walking away, he picks up my cast net and goes! What the hell!
I start yelling, very angry, and then he comes back. I tell him if he gives back my net I'll leave (might've been a bit more game than that if I had a mate but he was muscly and tall, so could probably just smash someone like me in a second if he felt like it), so he makes me go, pack up, and then I just got kicked out of my favourite fishing spot by some dumb, idiotic, uneducated greenie! That was my session ended, with one very PEEVED Hamish. Now, I'm going to email the council about this.. And well, see what I can do. Of course there was more, but no need to go into what the worthless crap they were saying was. 
I slowly trudged home, about as annoyed as possible, hoping that they would fall into an endless pit (Lol). I ended up getting home as one very sad boy, and have not been doing to much this arvo. I wish the greenies would actually do something that is helpful, like, maybe, tell those who keep undersize fish!
Well that's the rant over, and otherwise I hope you enjoy the report. Thanks for reading, here are the stats - 
Stats of trip -
Tide: 11:15AM, 2.2M, High, 5:34PM, .4M, Low
Moon Phase: Pretty much Full - a fair bit of run
Bait caught: -
Bait used: Poddy mullet, herring
Fish caught: Bull Shark x 1
Air pressure: Around 1016
Tackle Used: 12lb, 14lb, 30lb braid mainlines, 20lb, 30lb, 80lb mono/fluorocarbon trace, 4/o suicide hooks, size 6 and 2 ball sinkers, large-ish barrel swivel, size 2500 Diawa Shinobi and Shimano Nasci, Size 5000 Jarvis Walker Sovereign, 8'8" Ugly Stik, 6'6" Abu Garcia Veritas, Size 2M Rogue Firepoint boat rod.
Humidity: 60%
Rainfall: Not much, but still a fair bit of fresh around
Weather: Nice blue sky, mildly cloudy
Overall Success Rate: 20% - would be higher if it weren't for those greenies
Cheers Hamish

Hi all
On Saturday afternoon I decided to go down to the local park on the river and see if I could hook up to a shark. The rig was what I normally use for sharks there, 80lb Halco wire trace (20in), 6/o circle hook, size one star sinker and 30lb braid mainline. It was a rising tide, just about to get to high. Unfortunately, no sharks were caught today, which makes it a somewhat uninteresting report. Though, I did have my size 1000 sienna out just for fun, and hooked a small river perch on that. I'm assuming the rain gave most things a flush down the river a bit, and I find early morning is the time for sharks. Overall, it was a nice afternoon despite the fact not many fish were caught. Hope this entertained you 🙂
Cheers Hamish