Alex2505

Had a morning at Baroon yesterday, which will be hard to beat.Bass were hitting lures all over the place, I got them in backwaters where only a few weeks a go there was nothing on the sounder. Managed 81 bass all up with at least 50 of them on lures. I was trolling in the timber and I would get 2 on the way in and 2 on the way out,they were sitting 15ft down in 80ft of water.Some more come from trolling close to the edges, some on spinnerbaits and some on MDM plastic shrimp with some scent on.Picked up a couple of pies on way home for lunch, wife was very pleased.
Dino

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With the weather looking outstanding for Friday and Saturday it was a no-brainer to get out there while it was good.
Friday
Headed out with @Allnighter in pursuit of spotties, then back to Mud Island for some snapper. Wind was up a bit on the forecast with a solid 10 knots until it almost glassed out about 11am.
We started trolling from the M8 beacon and headed over to the Four Beacons with nothing to show. Darren threw a slug at a few beacons, but no luck. We'd put a couple of hours on the motor, when we decided to troll down to Shark Spit before giving up and heading to Mud. Up came a grinner on the trolling board with 3 inch spoon. It was kept for later.
We continued on, getting closer to the destination when both rods went off. Darren's with a 2.5 metre/120mm Laser Pro in Qantas and mine with the 5 metre trolling board with the 3 inch gold spoon. Shortly into the fight Darren's let go/pulled hooks. I got mine boatside and Darren went to swing it in when the leader snapped. The spottie, guesstimated to be about 75, won it's freedom as well as a gold spoon award.
We circled around to find them again but could not track them back down. We headed for Mud, initially trolling without interest. At Mud we jigged up a bit of bait then headed for one of my marks. Plenty of bait showing on the sounder got the anticipation level up a bit. Baits were deployed. First enquiry was on mine. Turned out to be a shark. Surprise, surprise. He was released after a harsh talking to. We hooked up to five more before calling it a day. Back to ramp at 1pm, defeated.
We put in a fair effort but didn't get the reward/s. Still, a good day out with good company. Thanks for coming along, Darren.
 
Saturday
Benno gave me a call earlier in the week after noticing the Saturday forecast would enable a run to Caloundra. Required approvals were sought and granted. Up at 2.20 this morning saw us launch by 4.30 and make our way in pretty good conditions. They had the forecast right ! Yay.
We arrived at our first mark. I deployed some cuttlefish head, whilst @benno573 dropped down a live hardihead with a hard head. I caught a little squire that flipped off before I had to deal with it. Nothing was too interested in the hardihead, so it was changed for a snack sized live diver whiting. Bang ! First good grassie of the day discovered the ills of snackfood and was soon in the esky after a quick measure. I can't recall what that was, but it was well legal.
Enthused by the catch, I rigged up my heavier trolling outfit for a live diver whiting (meal-sized). Dropped it down and went back to fishing with my cuttlefish rod. Things were pretty quiet until my livie rod went off. Good fish ! Reefed me. Tried to maneuver the boat at different angles to no avail. I could still feel the fish on the end when I busted off. Somewhat disappointed, but the day was still young.
Things went a bit quiet and we moved a couple of times for one more quality grassie. The decision was made to go for a troll, hoping to come across a spottie or three or four. Heaps of bustups going on from smaller longtails (from what we saw close enough) and birds everywhere. Hopes were high again. Just before Raper's Shoal we hooked up on the trolling board rod. In came a schoolie, going 52 on the lie detector. Went 'round again without luck, so we decided to head to a grassie mark. Benno found some good ground on the way with a nice bait ball with fish sitting beneath. "Spotlock!" was the call.
Benno had two rods out, 1 with a floating pillie. I had the trusted cuttlefish head. The floating pillie went off. Expecting a mack of some sort, the run wasn't up to speed. In came another good grassie. Delicious ! My rod went off and in came another that didn't need to be measured. Then Benno was on again while I was fixing the net. Then both the other rods went off. Benno lifted his fish in - another good grassie, while I wrangled with a bl00dy shark. I can't remember what happened on Benno's second rod. Unfortunately, our leave pass time had expired, so we had to leave a hot bite. Certainly a mark that will be tested again.
All in all a good day, with 5 quality grassies from 37 to 48 (if I remember correctly) and conditions that let us open up the throttle (and surf the occasional swell haha) on the way home.
Good morning session, Benno. Thanks for coming along.



 
 

Got my mackerel bait  all sorted , they’re all cryovaced , and frozen down ready for the reopening of the Spanish Mackerel season . Let the count down begin!

Went to Baroon Pocket this morning with Rick, Joy and Andrew. 2 mongrells,1 tandan,15 bass and numerous 3 inch spangled perch. Good to catch up with Andrew. Really makes you feel old when your son retires.
Cheers Ray

Thursday caught the biddest eeltail catfish I have seen on an ice jig at Baroon. This morning a new PB forktail catfish on a spinnerbait, 8kg, its head was nearly 20cm across. Also managed 58 bass from a few schools, some onspinnerbaits and some on shrimp.First 6 pics apply,rest need to be removed.
Dino

I started off the session yesterday arvo by packing my shark fishing gear and a selection of shark bait with the intent of catching …whiting. I Walked down to the jetty and set out my shark rod first And began cast netting. It wasn’t long before I could see big schools of herring splashing around the end of the jetty, I cast my net and caught about twenty. I cast out my spare old rod with a herring just to keep me from being bored. I started tidying my cart up when I heard the slow tick of my herring rod, I turned around and my reel started to scream . I hooked into it and whatever it was took a big run. Halfway through the fight it managed to wrap me around something but I managed to get it out, it started to tire and after one last dash for the jetty i got it to the surface and I saw the huge silver bat they call a mulloway. After a tense moment trying to get him in the dilly he was safe on the jetty
Sadly he had the usual barotrauma and also swallowed the hook. So I quickly dispatched him and took it home for quite a few dinners.
Cheers Thorbjörn 

Took the day off to go fishing with my brother. Due to a number of reasons he is the proud new owner of a little tinny named Yewgary! 
 
We headed off the sunny coast looking for a summer snapper. First drift I hooked what I thought was a good snapper with determined runs and a few headshakes only for a 50+ grassy to pop up! We threw plastics around a few spots but only managed a couple more small grassies and a small bonito.  
 
With the sun blistering down we decided to go for a look for Brian and Steve’s spotties. We found some singular birds and a couple of flighty schools of bonito and Mack tuna but couldn’t get near them to get a cast in. Then the wind started to pick up from the N so we decided to run in and call it a day. On the way back to the ramp we saw a few slashes amid the whitecaps, with half a dozen birds circling in on the action. An hour of cat and mouse later and we had hookups, lost fish, bite offs and 5 nice spotties in the esky. I won’t say the fishing was as hot as the temperature but it sure was good to finally land a few speedsters in Yewgary with its new owner!
A couple of pics attached. 

@Old Scaley and I launched at Manly at 7 this morning and headed to Mud. Plan was to have a go at a snapper or two on the runout and tide change, then head up inside Moreton to troll for some spotties.
Mud was a bit quiet but managed to put a keeper grassie and tusky in the esky. For the first time in ages we were able to rustle up some livies too. A few undersize fish and a couple of grinners saw us through until 12.30ish. We then decided to go for a troll.
We headed up to a beacon with the plan to troll from there over to Moreton then down to Shark Spit. Steve had on a 3 inch spoon behind a 5M deep trolling board and I had on a Laser Pro 2.5M diver in Qantas. About 500 metres from the beacon Steve's rod went off, I hit the waypoint button and in came a spottie that played up deluxe beside the boat - ripping the line through Steve's hand 3 or 4 times. Finally he got it onboard, going 83cm.

 
I quickly changed my lure to a 190mm 6M diver Laser Pro in Qantas while Steve cleared the mess on his line. Back in the water we passed back through the mark and on a bit when Steve's rod went off again. This time it was an undersize schoolie that flipped off boatside. We did a circle or two for a bonito, before deciding to head back to the beacon and then turn for home, as the wind had sprung up a bit.
On the way to the beacon my rod went off, reel screaming at pace. By the time I'd throttled back, turned and got off my chair and got to the rod the lure was bitten off. Either a big spottie or maybe a Spanish or even a longtail. Who knows ? Whatever it was it won its freedom and I got the booby prize. (Not that I've got anything against boobies.)
We trolled for another five or ten minutes on the way to Mud with no further action, so wound them in and headed for home.
Thanks for coming along, Steve. That macky made the day.

Went to the western arm caravan park this morning. ( Bloody victorians and a Jeep driver to boot so probably could not expect anything else) Winge over plenty of small bass upstream no size to them. 62 bass between 25cm and 42 cm and one tandanus all on live shrimp. Barred grunter forced us to move at most locations we would get 6 or so bass and then the grunter moved in and although we could see bass on the sounder the grunter would attack the shrimp before the bass could get it.

Hi all
This report will be about the last few trips of mine in the Brisbane River. I've fished a heap recently for not much so hopefully I'll start catching a few again soon. The first session in this report was at the end of November 2022, and it was a wet, miserable day. I got to my spot after getting the ferry and train and it wasn't long before I was soaking wet and freezing. Herring were tough to find but I managed enough to start fishing. Things started off poorly with a seatoad and it wasn't long before I needed to catch more herring. After a couple hours of waiting, I eventually hooked something large on my overhead. It was very fast, and showed no signs of stopping after the 30-40 second run it took before I (somewhat accidentally) busted it off with my thumb because I wasn't paying attention to how much pressure I was putting on it. You never know, maybe it was just a stingray or maybe it was a 1.2M jewie 😄. 
Stats of Trip:
Tide: 8:30AM, .7M, Low, 3:20PM, 2.5M, High
Moon Phase: First quarter, not much run
Air Pressure: 1014 down to 1012
Fish Caught: A toady and a fat bust off
Humidity: 72%
Tackle Used: Abu Garcia Ambassadeur Barra King on Ugly Stik with 20 pound braid and 30 pound leader, Shimano Aero Baitrunner on 8 foot Kmart Rod with 30 pound braid and leader. Size 4 star sinker, large barrel swivels, 4/o and 6/o circle hooks, FG knots. 
Bait Caught and Used: Live herring
Notes: Wet, cold, pretty confident I was the only person fishing the river that day 🤣
Overall Success Rate: 20% - came home soaking and freezing cold!
The following session, which was on a Friday (can't remember where I went fishing that Thursday so won't include it) was with @TheCharliefisho at our bream spot at Northshore. We got a ferry there in the mid morning with plans to fish the rising tide, and found a spot that wasn't too wet. We were still getting pummeled by the wind though, and the gloomy weather showed no sign of letting up. We chucked a bit of berley in and got to fishing with our lightly weighted baits. I felt a couple of taps on my line but that was the extent of our success for the day. We tried for some livies as well but couldn't manage any before that, and we soaked a rather large piece of mullet for a cod for no luck either. Oh well, next time!
Quick stats:
Tide: We fished the rising tide and called it quits early in the arvo. 
Moon Phase: About 60% - the run wasn't that bad
Tackle Used: I fished with a 2500 Diawa Tierra spinning reel on a 2-4KG Abu Garcia Veritas with 8 pound braid, ten pound leader, a 00 ball sinker and small baitholder hook. For our cod line we used a baitrunner on a short Shimano 6-10KG rod with 30 pound braid and leader, a 6/o circle hook and teardrop sinker. 
Bait Used: Herring, bony bream, mullet
Overall Success Rate: 10% - crap trip 
The next day, I was up at Yeppoon for a family matter. I had a quick flick in the harbor with a few lures up here, but I only managed to have a couple tails bitten off by toadfish and miss a couple of hits. It was a nice day anyway, and was good to try somewhere different for a change. I was back in Brisbane at around midnight on Monday, so that Tuesday I went down to my local park to have a cast with my net for some bonies. Surprisingly, it was a complete donut, and I only managed some mud and sticks in the net. I gave it up after about 30 minutes, and even though it was low tide it seemed dead.
Quick Stats:
Tide: Low
Conditions: Sunny, hot, muddy
Net Used: 10 foot Wilson bottom pocket cast net
That Wednesday, I was back at it at one of my usual spots. I believe I managed to cast net a few herring, and it wasn't long before I had a bream of about 32cm on the jetty. I got a quick pic for the comp but let it go shortly after, hopeful that a bigger fish would come along. Despite having plenty of livebait, I don't think I managed anything else that whole day except vermin fish, and maybe a couple snip offs from toadies as well. It was a pretty hot day and despite my persistence, I packed it in sometime arvo mid-late arvo and got home by dinnertime. 

😕 
Stats of Trip:
Tide: 9:20AM, 2.6M, High, 4:00PM, .7M, Low
Moon Phase: Just before full moon, lots of run
Bait Caught and Used: Herring, live and dead
Fish Caught: Bream x 1 and a couple of trash fish
Air Pressure: 1008
Humidity: 69%
Tackle Used: Abu Garcia Ambassadeur Barra King on Ugly Stik with 20 pound braid and 30 pound leader, Shimano Aero Baitrunner on 8 foot Kmart Rod with 30 pound braid and leader. Size 4 star sinker, large barrel swivels, 4/o and 6/o circle hooks, FG knots. 
Overall Success Rate: 30% - got something I could submit into the comp, but no real fish 😉 
After that, I decided to have a bit of a rest and sleep in. I packed my gear into my cart and got ready for a session at the local park. I had a fair bit of bait in the freezer so I decided to target some bullies and whatever else I could catch. I arrived at about 2:30PM, and deployed a large herring on a circle hook for a shark. My first hookup of the arvo was in relative quick succession to deploying my bait, and I was hoping I was on a bully already. To my disgust, a catfish emerged from the murky water. They seemed to be very thick that arvo, especially the small ones, as a couple hours later and few more catfish I had one on an 8/o circle hook having a go at a herring no bigger than the fish itself. Lol. I gave it 'till a bit before sundown before deciding to pack it in. Oh well, not every sessions a good one!


Yuck
Quick Stats:
Tide: 11:00AM, 2.3M, High, 4:40Pm, .5M, Low - my favorite tides for this spot 
Moon Phase: Full moon, a fair bit of run. 
Bait Caught and Used: Dead herring, bony bream, and mullet
Gear/Tackle Used: Shimano Aero Baitrunner on 8 foot Kmart rod, Abu Garcia Veritas with Diawa Tierra 2500 with 8 pound braid and ten pound leader. Shark rod had 30 pound braid, 30 pound leader, and 80 pound mono trace. Small baitholder or 6/o circle hooks used with 2 and 6 ball sinkers. 
Overall Success Rate: 15% - pretty bad session
After that, Charlie and I decided to go bream fishing the next day. We got to our spot for high tide at about 10 if I remember correctly, and started casting our hardbody lures about off the rockwall. As we made our way into some deeper water, I eventually got a hit, but that was it for that retrieve as I missed the bite. Annoyingly, I got snagged shortly after, so had to go for a quick swim to about chest high water to get my lure back. Lucky it was a hot day. We continued making our way up the path, and it wasn't long before I was snagged again. This one needed another swim but I successfully retrieved my lure which was the main thing. We ended up fishing for about another 45 minutes but with the tide fast running out and no more bites we decided to call it quits, so we headed back home feeling a bit disheartened with our results. Lol. 
Quick Stats:
Tide: High tide, 10:30AM, 2.6M
Moon Phase: Just after full moon, so the tide was pumping. We primarily fished the slack period though. 
Tackle Used: I used an Abu Garcia Veritas 2-4KG rod with a Diawa Tierra 2500 spinning reel with 8 pound braid and ten pound FC Rock leader. I flicked a variety of small hardbodies around. Charlie tried a couple of plastics too. 
Overall Success Rate: 30% - quiet day
The next day was a Saturday, and I decided to have a fish with some livies at a spot which had been firing judging from recent Facebook reports (Dutton Park). I hadn't fished there in over a year, so it was nice to give it a go again. My Dad came down with me for the first while of the session, and managed a few good bonies, herring, and mullet in the net. These were a welcome catch as livies, and I deployed two salmon rods and one small rod with a cube of herring off the side of the jetty. Things were starting out quiet, and my Dad headed off shortly after. I kept persisting, and this resulted in my first hookup of the day - a fish on my 1000 Sienna. It was pretty large, and although the fight was only short lived before I was busted/rubbed off I could tell it wasn't a shark. With some higher hopes now, I deployed another herring out the side on my 1000 and it wasn't long before this screamed off. This time, it seemed I had a better hookset, and the fish was taking some long, powerful runs. I couldn't do much though, apart from attempt to maneuver whatever it was away from the pylons with my floppy 2-5KG Ugly Stik Gold. Unfortunately, things weren't meant to be and after another very fast run my ten pound was frayed around a snag or the fishes mouth. That experience reminded me how useless 1000 spinning reels can be, lol. I was hopeful I would get at least a bully but the bites were very few and far between, throughout the whole day. I think my only run was from a catfish on a singular live prawn I came across and apart from a few other nibbles I had no encounters with any large fish. I called it quits mid arvo, and I had certainly given it a good crack as I had been there since a little after five. 
Statistics of Trip:
Tide: 5:00AM, .3M, Low, 11:35AM, 2.3M, High, 6:15Pm, .6M, Low
Moon Phase: Around 97%, Full Moon decreasing to third quarter, so the tide was going at a decent rate
Air Pressure: 1015
Humidity: 67%
Bait Caught and Used: Herring, bony bream, prawns, live and dead
Fish Caught: -, though a couple of bust offs
Notes: Very quiet day on the bites, could hardly lose a bait. Caught plenty of bull shark baits though.
Overall Success Rate: 10% - very quiet, and got busted off. And saw lots of photos of people cleaning up the previous nights. 
Not getting deterred by the previous days fishing, I was back at it with some mates the next day. Michael and Andrew, as well as someone I hadn't met before called Mick, were down at the jetty, so after 45 minutes or so of riding my bike I arrived. I had some deadbait and a handline, as well as a bit of fishing gear. I was going to try for a fish on the handline, as it had been ages since I caught anything on one. Like the previous day, there seemed to be a fair bit of bait about, as the others had a few livies when I arrived. I caught a couple baitfish in one of their nets too, so after having no luck on the dead herring I put out a livie. The bite was very quiet again though, and we ended up giving it until about 11 if I remember correctly for nothing at all. Some other fishers came down and we gave them the livies and headed off, feeling pretty disappointed with our session. 
Stats of Trip:
Tide: 5:30AM, .3M, Low, 12:10Pm, 2.3M, High
Moon Phase: About 94%, decreasing from full moon so there was plenty of run
Bait Caught and Used: Bony bream and mullet primarily
Fish Caught: None
Air Pressure: 1016
Humidity: 64%
Tackle Used: I used a handline with 30 pound mono, a 6/o circle hook, size 6 ball sinker on a paternoster rig. The others had more suitable spinning gear with similar rigs. 
Notes: Very quiet day - I think this spot is a nighttime spot
Overall Success Rate: 20% - nice to get out of the house
Anyways, the next two days I'm sure I went fishing (the 12th and 13th), but I can't remember where and what for, so I guess there's no point counting these days as a session. I was out on the bay on the 14th, but on the 15th I was back at it going for sharks at one of my normal spots. I was also going with one of my mates who hadn't gone fishing since Grade 6, so basically a first timer. I arrived at the jetty relatively late after a quick ride, and I was pleased to find it deserted. I got some baits in the water and got to cast netting, but to my disappointment there were absolutely no livies bouncing about. It's always tough here on a low tide, so I was glad I packed lots of dead bait. A little before eight, I had my first hook up of the day. This was on my overhead, and after feeding a bit of line out on free spool I set the hooks into something. A few headshakes and other telltale signs revealed a bully, and although it was only a little fella I was still glad there were a couple around for my mate. Over the next two hours I caught about 7 and lost that many too, and they were chewing so much I ran out of bait before my mate got there. A quick phone call had a heap more bait coming down, including herring, bonies, and pike (Thanks Mum).


Sharks
My mate Nicu eventually arrived, and I greeted him holding a shark. After showing him some basics, one of my combos was going off. He got the hang of fighting the fish in no time and a solid first bully showed itself jettyside after a few minutes. Annoyingly, it got the better of us and snipped us off. This happened again, and a couple more times to me when he didn't want to fight a fish, so we were both praying that he'd land one. To finish his day, my 3000 Stradic was hooked up without us knowing. He picked it up and pulled it in himself, and I managed to slip the net under a nice pup. It was good to get him on a solid bully, and by now Michael had come down too. Nicu decided to head off after that shark, and after saying bye Michael got some more livies as the tide was quite high now. Simon and Vish also came down, and I caught one more bully which almost bit me but that was the end of the bites for the day, as by four the fish were completely off. I rode home feeling pleased with my day, as we would've landed 8-10 bullies and lost that many too. Nice!
Stats of Trip:
Tide: 8:20AM, .6M, Low, 3:00PM, 2.0M, High - low tide change is ideal at this spot and that's what I fished
Moon Phase: 65%, not too much run. Decreasing to Third Quarter
Air Pressure: 1007
Humidity: 57%
Fish Caught: Heaps of sharks and that was it!
Tackle Used: The three combos I used were an Abu Garcia Amabassadeur Barra King on an Ugly Stik with 20 pound Braid, a Shimano Stradic 3000 on a Shimano Raider Snapper 4-7KG, and an Shimano Aero on a 8 foot 5-10KG Kmart rod. I used 15 and 30 pound leaders to start with and 4/o circle hooks with 2 and 6 ball sinkers but switched to 30 pound leaders and 80 pound traces when I realized it was going to be a bully session. 
Bait Caught and Used: Bony bream and mullet, though the standout bait was dead herring from a previous session. 
Notes: Sunny day, it was pretty warm on the jetty. The sharks were on heaps that day, I assume because of the optimal tide and bite period around the morning. 
Overall Success Rate: 75% - fun session with a mate
Once again, on the 16th and 17th I'm sure I went fishing but cannot remember where. Pretty sure I went in the river with livies but I won't count them as sessions because I can't remember. The next session was doing something different though, and it was with my Dad early in the morning. We took the 50 minute drive to our new bass spot in the freshwater reaches of the river, and arrived a bit after 6. Some kayakers were launching there, and we started off having a chat to them. They had apparently caught bass and yellas around the part of the river we were in. It really is a completely different world in the freshwater reaches, as it is quite narrow, peaceful, and bushy. We started off coming into close contact with a big roo (about 6 feet tall) - it was a big black one and it wasn't too shy. We watched one of the kayakers in the distance pull in a large catty, and we were hopeful we may catch something. My Dad was flicking around a gold TT spinnerbait, and I had a lipless crankbait on (sinking) which I was hoping off the bottom. We tried a couple different vantage points, but ended up at the main spot a bit before 7. The fishing was so far quiet, and after I spotted a huge carp (70cm) swimming right near the bank and failing to hook it, my Dad said,
"Let the pro have a go".
He proceeded to cast out his spinnerbait around a snag and hookup, yanking a little bass out of the river. Although it was only about 25cm, we were still happy as it was the first one we had caught out of the river. My Dad then missed a decent bite, but lucky for me I got off the donut with a bass as well. It flicked off at the bank before we could get a photo, but it was only a baby as well. We walked off to some rocks after this, and my Dad tried a diving hardbody. He snagged this though, and went swimming to get it which was a funny sight. After having no luck at the rocks we had another flick at the main spot where I hooked up but dropped the fish, before we headed off to have a look at the Lowood bend. It was pretty quiet here, and although there would be fish it was a pretty accessible spot so lots of other anglers could go here. We found a dead yella on the bank and a forky too, and cleaned up a mangled cast net off a tree. It was a pretty successful mission for us, and even though we only got two tiny fish each it was good to get our first bass from the river on lure. 


Roo and bass
Quick Stats:
Lures Used: Dark gold TT Spinnerbait, lipless crankbait, deep divers, chatterbaits
Conditions: Sunny, not too hot in the morning, foggy when we got there, nice water, a few bust ups - pleasant day overall. 
Tackle Used: My Dad used my Stradic 3000 on a Shimano Raider 4-7KG with 15 pound braid, I used a Abu Garcia Veritas 2-4KG on a Diawa Tierra 2500 reel with 8 pound braid. We used 15 and 10 pound leader. 
Fish Caught: Two bass, dropped two, almost hooked 70cm carp. 
Overall Success Rate: 70% - first bass!
Once again, I'm pretty sure I went fishing the next day but can't remember where. I did go livebaiting in the river on the 20th, where a guy named John was down fishing with me too. I was at the jetty alone until about midday though, and in this time I got a few herring for livebait, but didn't manage too hook anything too big. That was until my cod line, which I was dropping straight under the jetty for a change, got smacked. Annoyingly, my drag was a bit too loose and the fish got into a snag before I could get it into the safe zone. I do know it was alright size because it smacked a 6/o hook with three herring before reefing me. When John came down, we continued to fish. Two others guys came down who weren't from the area, and after flicking plastics around and then switching back to bait they caught a just legal bream which came home for dinner. John and I fished into the arvo, but after having nothing to show for our efforts we decided to call it quits.
Stats of Trip:
Tide: 7:20AM, 2.3M, High, 1:40Pm, .8M, Low
Moon Phase: 16%, nearing New Moon. There was a fair bit of run. 
Air Pressure: 1017 dropping to 1015
Humidity: 52%
Fish Caught: -, maybe a couple vermin fish
Bait Used and Caught: Herring, live and dead
Tackle Used: Abu Garcia Ambassadeur Barra King on Ugly Stik with 20 pound braid and 30 pound leader, Shimano Aero Baitrunner on 8 foot Kmart Rod with 30 pound braid and leader. Size 4 star sinker, large barrel swivels, 4/o and 6/o circle hooks, FG knots. 
Overall Success Rate: 30%, quiet day
The day after this, I was feeling a little crook, so decided to go for a bait collecting session at a spot I don't bother fishing too much. There were a couple other kids there who had been having some success for threadies, although they were paddling their baits out to the drop off which is out at the mouth of this creek. I cast netted a few livies, and a few baits to take home as well. I deployed my Stradic 3000 with a live mullet and got to waiting, but it was quiet. Very quiet. After about 2 hours for no bites and a few more bonies I eventually got my first little run. This happened about 3 more times and each time the culprit was clear - a big fat slimeball catty. I gave it up a bit before 6 after the other guys left - some other kids came down but didn't catch anything either. 
Quick stats:
Tide: 8:40AM, 2.2M, High, 3:10Pm, .5M, Low
Moon Phase: 8%, basically New Moon. There was a fair bit of run. 
Bait Caught and Used: Bonies and mullet. 
Tackle Used: Shimano Stradic 3000 on Shimano Raider Snapper 4-7Kg with 15 pound braid and 20 pound leader, 4/o circle hook and 6 ball sinker. Large barrel swivel. 
Overall Success Rate: 15% - got some bait
The next day, I was completely exhausted and feeling a bit sick so decided to give fishing a miss. With my luck, a couple of the guys I fish with went out and got a thready and multiple jew, all in the space of an hour long bite period. I should've gone fishing then, lol! The next day (23rd), my Dad offered to give me a lift to this spot, so I got there a bit after five and started fishing. I found a few herring and deployed these, and it wasn't long before my baitrunner was buckled over. I set the hook, and the fish took a couple of fast runs to begin with getting my hope up. Sadly for me, the fish started displaying more and more symptoms of being a shovelnose or ray, and it was just that - a dirty common shovel at about 1.2M. It was a decent tussle around the pylons, but I could tell it wasn't a good fish when I was struggling to pull it from the bottom. The other fella I was fishing with, Bernado, had been there most of the night into the morning, and hadn't caught much although he was going for sharks. It wasn't long before he left the jetty to go home, and then John came down for a fish as well. Herring were proving a bit tough to find but eventually I got a couple Christmas trees - plenty for our fishing. Unfortunately, the days fishing was proving very tough. I got pickered several times on my overhead by small bream, which kept picking up the bait and dropping it, and I also lost something decent due to a tangle on my overhead, although I think it might've been a ray. John and I persisted the entire day for a toady and catty, and the fishing was seriously bad. Another fella named Zeke eventually came down as well, who I had seen once or twice before, and was hopeful of some action that night. John and I headed off at similar times disappointed with our days fishing. Next time, we thought!
Stats of Trip:
Tide: 3:50AM, .1M, low, 10:20AM, 2.5M, High, 5:00Pm, .4M, Low
Moon Phase: New Moon, there was a fair bit of run
Air Pressure: 1015
Humidity: 60%
Bait Caught and Used: Live herring, dead herring
Fish Caught: Toady and catty
Notes: Caught a moses perch and a 50cm mullet in the cast net
Tackle Used: Abu Garcia Ambassadeur Barra King on Ugly Stik with 20 pound braid and 30 pound leader, Shimano Aero Baitrunner on 8 foot Kmart Rod with 30 pound braid and leader. Size 4 star sinker, large barrel swivels, 4/o and 6/o circle hooks, FG knots.  
Overall Success Rate: 20% - very poor session
The next day was Christmas Eve, so I had to stay home to help out around the house. On Christmas, I managed to sneak out for a quick arvo flick at a spot I don't frequent too much, but decided to try as one of my Dad's work colleague's father had caught a couple good threadies there in recent times. I was the only person there, and fished for about two hours in the arvo. It was a good choice for me to bring a pack of herring down, because I couldn't net a single live bait the entire time. Each herring got pickered or scavenged from my hook in quick succession from casting, and I had a brief hookup to finish the session before dropping it - probably just a baby catfish anyways. Oh well, no better way to spend Christmas Day than going for a fish!
Quick stats:
Tide: Midday High, 7:10PM, .3M, Low
Moon Phase: 5%, still a fair bit of run
Tackle Used: 30 pound mainline and leader, size 6 ball sinker, 6/o circle hook, barrel swivel, about 70cm of 30 pound trace, Shimano Aero baitrunner on 8 foot Kmart rod. 
Bait Caught and Used: Dead herring
Overall Success Rate: 10% - Good Christmas Present from the river 🙄
The day after that, I was up on the Sunnycoast for three days with Charlie, then following that I was in Yeppoon for a week. I arrived back in Brisbane on the 6th and had a rest day on the 7th, but on the 8th of January I was back at a spot I hadn't been to for a while with Michael and Andrew. We got there at about 7, and started off going for some herring. I found a few in one of the normal spots, and we all deployed them in the rippy current hoping for a salmon. Andrew was first on the board with a tailor, which was a bit of a surprise for this spot and time of year. It gave a decent account of itself with some headshakes, and it was kept for eating. We got our baits back out hopeful of some more action, but it went really quiet after this capture. The tide was still coming in fast though, so we were hopeful there would be some action on the slack high tide. Despite, in my experience, this being the best time to fish this spot, we were rewarded with nothing except pickers for our efforts. Michael eventually had a hookup, but we figured out it was a seatoad after he got the tip of his hook bitten clean off (through the metal) - only a toady could do that with it's beak. We persisted into the day and despite our best efforts we could not get the fish to chew. We had multiple baits out as well, including large mullet, which only resulted in a messy tangle between three lines.  We ended the day by cooking the tailor on a nearby barbeque, which was very nice, and definitely made the session a bit more worthwhile. I got the ferry back to Guyatt Park where I got picked up and headed home. 

Andrew's tailor
Statistics of Trip:
Tide: 4:20AM, .5M, Low, 11:00AM, 2.6M, High, 5:40Pm, .7M, Low
Moon Phase: Full moon - the tide was pumping. 
Bait Used and Caught: Herring and mullet, live
Fish Caught: I donutted. 
Tackle Used: I used a Shimano Aero on A 8 foot Kmart rod with 30 pound braid and leader, and an Abu Garcia Ambassadeur on an Ugly Stik with 20 pound braid and 30 pound leader. Size 4 star sinkers, 6/o circle hooks, barrel swivels. 
Air Pressure: 1010
Humidity: 64%
Overall Success Rate: 40% - fun day out, quiet fishing
The next session was at my local park fishing for bullies, with a couple of mates I hadn't seen in a while. There were two other people fishing there, but they didn't have much clue as to what they were doing so after having a bit of a chat they ended up heading off because they had already been there for a while. I deployed some baits and it wasn't long before the first rod went off. Annoyingly, a fat catty came up, which had engulfed my herring. The catfish were definitely thick that day, and I had about five bites and missed hookups as my baitholder hook was a bit small on my light rod for the size of bait I was using. We ended up fishing until about 5:30PM, but the bite was uncharacteristically dead, so we made the call to head home and call it quits for the day. Bugger!
Quick Stats: 
Tide: 12:20PM, 2.3M, High, 7:00PM, .2M, Low - ideal time to be fishing this spot - last half of the run out, shame we didn't get any
Moon Phase: Decreasing from full moon to third quarter, a fair bit of run
Bait Caught and Used: Not much caught, used dead herring
Tackle Used: For sharks, a Shimano Aero on an 8 foot Kmart rod with 30 pound braid, leader, and 80 pound trace. For the light stuff, an Abu Garcia Veritas on a Diawa Tierra 2500 with 8 pound braid and ten pound leader. Circle hooks and ball sinkers used. 
Overall Success Rate: 40% - good to catch up with some mates
The following day, I had the bike buggy up and running again after a flat tire on my Dads bike. I started nice and early and arrived at the chosen jetty a bit before six, which is pretty good going on the bike. I had four rods as I had two mates coming down, Charlie and another fella called Sam. I was hopeful the sharks would be on the chew like last time, and although it started off very quiet I eventually hooked my first shark for the day on my overhead before my mates were there - it would've been about 80cm. 

Shark
Charlie eventually arrived and some other kids from a previous session came down, also fishing for bullies. The bite went very quiet though, and apart from an explosive run on my Stradic 3000 leading to a bust off just as Charlie was setting up we had hardly heard the drag click. Luckily, it didn't stay that way for too long. Charlie hooked a bully on my baitrunner, but annoyingly it snipped him off after only a couple of seconds of fighting. This was uncommon, as I don't normally get snipped when fishing 80 pound for the sharks. We rerigged and got another bait out there. Things were looking quiet and the other fellas eventually decided to call it quits - they did spot us a couple of livies though, which Charlie rocketed out on the baitrunner. It wasn't long before this screamed off, and Charlie set the hooks into a decent shark. It was playing up, and taking a couple of strong runs. Annoyingly, it managed to snip the leader just as we were about to get a look at it. Noo! That was about all the action we had for the day, and we headed off shortly after that bust off. 
Stats of Trip:
Tide: 6:20AM, .3M, Low, 1:00PM, 2.3M, High
Moon Phase: 94%, fair bit of run still
Humidity: 64%
Air Pressure: 1011
Bait Caught and Used: Bony bream, herring, mullet
Tackle Used: Shimano Aero on 8 foot Kmart Rod, Shimano Stradic 3000 on Shimano Raider Snapper 4-7KG, Abu Garcia Veritas 2-4KG on Diawa Tierra 2500, Abu Garcia Ambassadeur on Ugly Stik, 8-30 pound mainlines, 10-30 pound leaders, 80 pound traces, 6/o circle hooks, 6 ball sinkers, barrel swivels. 
Fish Caught: 1 x bully and a catty
Overall Success Rate: 30% - disappointing bust offs
The next session I decided to try something different and go and chase bream with a new mate I made at the jetty the day before. We met up and eventually found our way to the City Botanic Gardens, where we flicked along the rockwall for about 40 minutes. We gave the rec hub a brief crack too, but after no luck there tried at Southbank. The fishing was quiet and despite the fact it was high tide we were having no luck at all. Bugger, sometimes it's like that though!
Quick Stats:
Tide: High tide
Lures Used:  Diving Hardbodies and small plastics
Tackle Used: I used an Abu Garcia Veritas 2-4KG with a Diawa Tierra 2500, 8 pound braid and 10 pound leader. 
The next day, I went up to Coolum/Peregian for a few nights. We were back by the 17th though, and then on the 18th I went out to try and collect some livies for fishing at the port the next day. This wasn't too successful, as I only managed some herring which I couldn't keep alive and about 6 other livies. I had a quick fish with some of the herring at two of my usual spots though, and they came back both times untouched. The 19th was when I went fishing at the port with Steve and Brian, and the 20th I had a rest day. I figured out a new spot for some bream fishing though, because coincidentally as I was coming home at one of the ferry terminals I spotted a big school of bream feeding off the side of it, and I reckon I could easily catch a few with bread or small plastics!
Quick stats:
Bait Caught: Herring, mullet, bony bream, silver biddies
Gear Used: I used a Shimano Aero baitrunner with 30 pound braid and leader with a paternoster rig, 6/o circle hook, and size 4 star sinker
Conditions: Sunny, quite hot, a few clouds, lots of wind
Tide: Run out
The 21st, which was a Saturday, saw me waking up early to get to a spot I hadn't been to for ages to have a fish. Michael and Andrew were also going, and we were hopeful that we would get something good. We started off by throwing our nets for some herring, which were quite plentiful that day. I had some herring I had brought along for deadbait incase we couldn't manage any livies, so I was glad to just use these as berley and hopefully attract something decent. It wasn't long before Andrew was on a fish, and a chunky 34cm bream emerged from the depths. We decided to cook this one up for lunch, which went well with some bacon and eggs later in the day. Andrew also pulled in a couple of large catfish shortly after, leaving Michael and I on the donut. We continued to persist as it got sunnier and warmed up, but luckily this spot has very good shade. The bite was definitely quiet though, and we were going through our live herring at a pretty slow pace. Eventually, I had some inquiries that weren't nibbles. Instead, they were surging bites. Unfortunately, I got snipped off, so I think it was probably just a sea toad. That was about as much action as I got for the day, and we all decided to call it quits a bit before three after we couldn't catch much more than what we got in the morning. 
Stats of Trip:
Tide: 3:00AM, .2M, Low, 10:00AM, 2.5M, High, 4:40Pm, .3M
Moon Phase: New Moon, lots of run.. and it was fast!
Air Pressure: 1013
Humidity: 60%
Tackle Used: I used a Shimano Stradic 3000 with a running ball sinker rig on a Shimano Raider for cod, and a Shimano Aero baitrunner on 8 foot Kmart rod for livebaiting. 
Bait Caught and Used: Live herring, dead herring
Fish Caught: I got nothing, Andrew got a good bream and some catties
Overall Success Rate: 50% - good to check up on a spot I haven't been to in a while
The next day I gave fishing a miss as I needed to get ready to go back to school, and I didn't go on Monday either as I was completely exhausted from fishing so much. Luckily, we had Australia Day this Thursday, and seeing as though it was looking like a nice day I decided to go fishing. I arrived at my chosen location a bit before six, and a couple people who had been fishing late night/early morning for nothing were just finishing up. It took me a while before I found the herring, and even after this I still didn't have many at all. While I was cast netting on dead low tide (not optimal for this spot), one of my rods with a livie got pickered a few times. This was happening almost immediately in relation to when it hit the bottom, so I watched it for a couple of casts. Eventually, it hooked up, and a short but enthusiastic fight revealed a half-decent 36cm breambo on the end of my line. I lifted it up and grabbed a quick pic, and managed to get the hook out despite it being quite deep. 

Bream
After that, I was hopeful of a larger fish  to come by and eat one of my baits. I kept cast netting though, because I wasn't going to catch anything without bait. I managed a pike, silver biddy, and a few scattered herring, all of which were deployed and pickered in a short period of time. I eventually caught the larger fish I'd been looking for, although it was in the cast net and in frame form - 

What the!
After seeing this I was more hopeful I would bump into a thready. I deployed my herring and watched my rods, eager for any bites to occur. Sometime in the mid morning, Andrew and Michael came down, which was good. We got a few more livies and deployed a few rods, hopeful of any big fish. About an hour after he arrived, Andrew hooked up to something big. It took a good starting run, but then became somewhat slow like a ray or shovelnose shark. It was providing a bit of a battle though, and running around and into all the pylons around the jetty. After another run, the fish was getting closer and closer - and it sure was a good fish. A huge thready revealed itself from the depths, and we were all shocked but happy to see the thready based on how it fought. After walking it down to a good position to land it Andrew lifted it up onto a wet brag mat. It came in at 119CM, and was Andrew's PB thready. We vented the fish, and after a couple photos, let it go back to the river where it kicked away strongly. Nice! (sorry I don't have any photos). 
I deployed a live herring shortly after this and hooked up as well. It was pretty heavy, and was shaking it's head alright. After pulling the fish out of the pylons, I was very disappointed to see a bullshark pup. I think I've caught enough around the 80CM mark for Summer, that's for sure. After that, the bite slowed down, and we got back to cast netting. Bait was definitely pretty scarce, so we decided to use what we had until we needed to catch more. Some large anchovies were also caught on the bait jig, and I got one in the net as well. The bites had definitely slowed, and Charlie also came down now for a quick flick. After about an hour of him getting there, my baitrunner went off. After a short fight, he pulled in a fat catfish, which wasn't too welcome. We kept persisting throughout the day, but despite tangles, lots of throws with the cast net, and plenty of casts we could not manage any fish. Charlie eventually headed off around 3, and the rest of us decided to give it until we ran out of bait. I got about 15 more herring in the cast net, so we deployed these. The pickers were out and about though, but it wasn't long before Michael hooked a tailor. A few aerobatics in the fight gave us a bit of excitement, and it was about 45CM so solid for the river off the land. He hooked another one but it shook the hook before we could land it, and after we finished with all our bait we called it quits. I got the ferry and train home and got ready for school the next day. Even though it was a quiet session for me, it was good to see a big thready caught as well as a couple of tailor. 
Stats of Trip:
Tide: 7:00AM, .5M, Low, 1:30Pm, 2.6M, High, 8:10Pm, .5M, Low
Moon Phase: 25%, there wasn't a heap of run but it was still pretty strong
Bait Caught and Used: Herring, pike, silver biddies, mullet
Tackle Used: Abu Garcia Ambassadeur Barra King on Ugly Stik with 20 pound braid and 30 pound leader, Shimano Aero Baitrunner on 8 foot Kmart Rod with 30 pound braid and leader. Size 4 star sinker, large barrel swivels, 4/o and 6/o circle hooks, FG knots.
Fish Caught: I got a couple vermin fish and a decent bream, Andrew got a big thready and Michael got some tailor
Air Pressure: 1014
Humidity: 78%
Notes: Very hot, bite was quiet for the majority of the day. Threadfin looked a bit like a typical port fishing being silver in color with some slight fin rot. 
Overall Success Rate: 60% - good to see some nice fish come from the river 
Anyways, sorry this report has been so long but I figured I may as well do it now. Hopefully next holidays I'll be able to fit in a few more sessions to catch a good fish. I won't get out over this weekend but hopefully next weekend school won't be too busy and I'll be able to catch myself a nice threadfin or jew. Thanks for reading if you got this far, I hope you enjoyed. I know my fishing hasn't been the best lately but it can only improve from here, haha!
Cheers Hamish

Can finally answer this question, as i am now working for anaconda.  The youngest they hire is 14 years but you are unlikely to be hired until you are 16ish or if you know someone who can put in a good word for you.  But just a heads up, not everyone will take you seriously because of your young age but most people just know what their looking for and are nice as.

I headed out with Leo on Australia Day. We went up to Caloundra to chase grassies and Venus tuskies. A 1.30am rise saw us first at the ramp, which was a win on a day I expected to be busy on the water. A few boats passed us, heading offshore but we didn't see too many heading our way. It was a pleasant surprise to pretty much have the place to ourselves, apart from the odd boat stopping in briefly.
They must have known something, as the fishing was very tough. I managed just one legal grassie at 38cm, a few sharks around 70cm and some undersized specimens. Leo was saved from the dreaded donut with an undersize grassie late in the session, before we headed for home.
A good day on the water and even better to have avoided the expected crowds.
 
Wednesday night @Another Wazza sent me a message to see if I'd be keen to join him on a mission to target some tuskies. Not just any tuskies, but the brutes of the ocean tuskies - Black Spot tuskfish aka bluebone or blueys. Knowing I'd be tired after the big Australia Day mission, I manned up and accepted the challenge anyway.
Yesterday afternoon came and so did the tiredness and I had fleeting thoughts of pulling out. Someone once told me that sleeping was for dead people, so I recommitted myself to today's cause. Wazza was also kind by putting the launch time back to 5am. Unusual for a night before fishing, but I slept through until my alarm went off at 3.20am.
We first headed to a spot and did some drifts trying to entice a snapper on plastic. Pretty quiet there, with me landing a token squire about 15cm. Time was called to go to some bluey grounds. We motored up to a spot, near the turn of the tide and deployed our baits that Wazza had judiciously collected the night before. We had a few nibbles and touches, enough to see us churning through the bait at a steady pace.
Wazza was throwing a plastic around to fill in time as we waited with much anticipation. Managing 2 grinners much to our disgust, he hadn't given up when his bluey rod went off at a hundred miles an hour. Quickly putting down his plastic rod and grabbing the buckled rod from the holder, Wazza was disappointed to be reefed in a flash. These things are quick and powerful and it left Wazza with no terminal tackle and a leader scuffed up to a centimetre from the braid. Meanwhile I had remained patient, watching my rod tip and keeping a finger on the line to detect any pickers.
Eventually my rod had a good hit and the rod started to bend. I excitedly ripped it out of the rod holder thinking it was my turn. Alas, I went too early and missed the hookup. Not to worry, there would be more.
And there were. Eventually my rod buckled and with locked drag I tried to negate his run for cover. Thumping and changing direction at its want, he had me under the boat. The moment of truth had arrived. Out he came and into the boat I lifted my first bluey. At 34cm you wouldn't think it was that exciting, but the power of these fish is incredible. It was easily up there with a 60 or better snapper I reckon. The effort to keep them from bricking you straight away is next level.

Next it was Wazza's turn again. His rod had a backbone test, but the hook failed to set and he came in empty. Bugger, but it's an accepted part of targeting them that you will lose battles. The bait supply was looking pretty thin with only one left in the bucket.
Wazza got hit again. Holding his rod high and trying to get some winds on the fish, it all went pear shaped as the tusky wrapped the line around some reef. Line was let loose to see if it would come out. Yeah Right ! haha We gave it some time and tried motoring at different angles all to no avail. Wazza threaded the last crab on and I wound in an empty hook. It was time to call it a day and I felt like the winner.
Really looking forward to the next opportunity to target these brutes.
Cheers again for day the Wazza. 👍
I won't be fishing again now, until Monday.

Hi all, been a while.  Just purchased a new rod and reel from work (Vanford 1000 and Zodias 3 - 6 ld spooled with 6 pound nomad braid)

Did my last mackerel trip this morning  till the southern Qld closure finishes on 21 st of March. There is a week gap from 21 st Feb till the 1 st of March but I suspect it will be like the opening of duck season and very crowded that week .I’ll leave them alone now till the  end of March and target other fish for awhile.
For those brave enough to go near a boat ramp over the Australia Day weekend , there’s still plenty of Spanish out there ,and I suspect a lot will get caught  if people have the skill to get them past the sharks .
Got a ok pair of small fish today in pretty good conditions. The bait was a bit scarce where I was   , but found a few fish without having to look too far.As usual , you’ll see My best fish got taxed .
For those interested ,  I’ve attached a sounder photo of what I fished this morning.
regards
Neil

Hello everyone.
Here's a report which will highlight all my recent fishing sessions in salt & freshwater environments over the past few weeks. 
To say the least it was very quiet on the fishing front..
 
Condamine Trip
This was a small trip with a friend where we stayed in a town called Killarney,which the Condamine River ran through. 
I figured it would be well worth while giving it a shot here to catch my first Murray Cod or yellowbelly. (thank you to those on the forum who gave me helpful pointers regarding this)
For the first session we clambered our way down a steep grassy bank, near a bridge. This was a well renowned cod hole to the locals and recently, a 60+ cod was caught here.

 
We fished for roughly 2.5 hours, with locally bought live worms and tasty cheese.
Additionally, I used my newly purchase baitcaster setup with a olive-coloured spinnerbait purchased at the servo.
Here, they sold a variety of fishing gear, including handmade hardbodies from Dave's lures - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057184071213, bait, setups, terminal gear, etc.
 
We waited eagerly to see some interest on the worm rod, which soon buckled over.
After a good 5 or so seconds of fight 😅, the presumed cod or yellowbelly ran right into the snaggy bend of the system and bricked me. Bugger!
The remainder of the session had no action. Bummer. 
 
As we were doing other activities such as hiking into Bald Rock national park and Girraween National park, as well as observing Brown's falls, I only fit in 1 other session.
The most convenient spot was the bridge again, so we headed over and soaked some lines, using the same baits on 2 different setups as the 1st session. 
Unfortunately, only after 50 odd minutes we were interrupted by heavy rainfall and were forced to head back, with no fish. 😢
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gear and stats:
Setups:
Daiwa Legalis lt2500d + Daiwa Exceler 2-6kg w/ 10lb jbraid 4x. (Worm Rod)
5/0 baitholder and 4/0 circle hooks used, live worms. 
14lb leader and trace.
2&3 ball sinkers used. 
==============================
Abu garcia salty stage krx 1-3kg, 1000 shimano nexave. (bream and light spinning setup so not necessarily suitable for cod fishing but its just something i wanted to bring along)
5/0 baitholder hooks used, tasty cheese blocks. 
14lb leader and trace. 
2&3 ball sinkers used. 
==============================
samaki zing 17-20lb baitcaster rod, daiwa fuego ct 100hs w/ 20lb 4x j braid. 
20lb fluorocarbon leader.
tsunami spinnerbait in olive ayu colour. 
 
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Coolum/Sunshine Coast Trip with Family and friends. 
 
For a couple of nights my friends and I including @AUS-BNE-FISHO stayed up the coast.
This was just a little mates trip but with Hamish and I being into fishing we of course had to bring some rods haha. 
Like, what else are we meant to do?
Anyway,
We only fished a couple sessions in stumers creek from memory, using only lures.
We had no luck, it seemed pretty quiet about for others too.
It's good to mention someone on facebook caught a decent jack on bait here recently though, further up from the mouth of Stumers. 
 
For my family it's a traditional thing to stay at Coolum Beach for at least a week every Christmas holidays.
Unlike most years, this years fishing was abysmal.
Usually we catch whiting, flathead, and bream in decent numbers and size at various spots in and around the noosa, maroochy, and coolum area.
This year was not it, though. 
 
For our first session my dad and I went beach fishing.
I used my newly bought surf rod from @Tuna are fish (cheers) and my dad was using a 7ft shimano sonic rod. 
At the local bait shop on David Low Way we purchased enough bait to set us up for the trip, which we would learn later was not necessary. 
We bought beach worms, small and large prawns, and some whole squid. 
 
The afternoon we arrived is when we set out, and we found a gutter and started fishing.
The weather was unfortunately quite bad this year as well, with it being quite overcast, rainy, and windy. 
We fished for a couple hours before dark.
My dad was getting plenty of bites which were either pickers or just missing the hook, and I hooked up to what was thought to be a decent dart or whiting but unfortunately pulled hooks. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Average Arvo
 
@AUS-BNE-FISHO was coincidentally staying in the same area as me at the same time, and the next day he set out and i believed caught 8 dart.
The morning after this, I went again with my dad and brother further up the beach at a better looking gutter.
We managed a few bites but otherwise had no luck. 
Bugger 2x.
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Gear and stats:

Setups:
Jarvis Walker 12ft white tail 5-10kg surf rod, 4000ax shimano reel.
15lb braid, 10lb fluoro leader.
Mustad long shank hooks.
3 ball sinkers.
==============================
Daiwa legalis 2500 reel, shimano 7ft sonic snapper, 4-8kg.
10lb braid, 10lb fluoro leader. 
Mustad long shank hooks.
3 ball sinkers.
==============================
(brother's combo)
Jarvis walker 6'6 rod 2-5kg (cheap but good bait rod), 2500 shimano fx. 
10lb braid, 10lb fluoro leader. 
Mustad long shank hooks.
3 ball sinkers.
==============================
Bait
Beach worms and servo prawns. 
==============================
Tides and Moon
1st beach session - 4:30pm outgoing tide, 1.2m. 
Moon - 35% full 
2nd beach session - 5:20am, outgoing tide, 1.5m.
Moon - 25% full 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noosa Spit Session
As something to do I decided to head down to the Noosa Spit area near the dog beach and river mouth one afternoon with my family. 

We fished with bait and lures. 
I was using one of my light setups with a slim swimz, and I had some nibbles and a follow up from an ok sized bream but no luck. 
My brother (who's only 6 so this is fun for him) was catching a variety of little species such as some tropical things like scat or mosies, and a 25cm or so bream, on bait.
 

Smallllll bream. 
A guy fishing right next to us got lucky and managed a few whiting which he took home for a feed.
Once again we used long shanks and baitholders with basic servo prawns. 
 
Hire Boat Day.
On our second last day of the trip we hired a BBQ pontoon boat from one of the noosa river hire places. 
It was a really nice day as the sun had come out. 
 
We left around 9AM and left the marina at around 10. 
 
Our first destination was a little inlet off the main river. 
There was sandy banks on either side and a deeper dropoff in the middle where some boats were anchored. 
I casted around some soft plastics for flatties and then some deeper diving cranks in hopes for bream around the boats but I had no luck. 
My dad, mum, and brother were using bait and had a few bites here and there but had no hookups. 
 
We then zoomed off and headed to the Noosa spit near the mouth of the main river, had a swim, as well as cooked up a lunch of burgers and grilled corn.
We fished for whiting on the flats as i changed the rigs onto some lighter leaders and smaller hooks, sinkers, etc. 
A family next to us caught a very undersize flathead on bait however we had no luck.. 
There was a lot of disturbance from swimmers, jetskis, other boats, etc, so the fish on the flats were probably quite spooked. 
 
For the remaining part of the day (3 hours) we headed back into the upper reaches of the river past all the hire company shop fronts.
I jigged for some bait using a sabiki jig but I couldnt get onto any despite the nice deep water. Also, none of these hire companies provide sounders of course so fishing can be a little tricky off of them. 
The best thing we could do was try scout out any bait around or just pull up to a random spot, drop the anchor, throw some lures, and drown some baits. 
Fortunately for my brother, he hooked onto a little leatherjacket 🤣😁. Little kid's luck, I guess. Not that it's much to brag about, bro. 

We've always found that we will have our lines out for a while and then pass them onto my brother and he instantly gets fish. Lol.
After fishing the remaining time to no avail, we decided to call it a day and drive back to the hire place. 
Oh well. 
Tides: 10AM - 0.9m, outgoing, 4:40PM, 0.6. 
Moon: 8% full.   
==============================
Daiwa exceler and daiwa legalis, Shimano sonic and shimano ax, Abu salty stage and shimano nexave, telescopic shimano maikuro II baitjig rod, Jarvis walker rampage and shimano ax, Samaki zing gen 3 baitcast and daiwa fuego
==============================
Circle hooks, baitholders, longshanks. 
6, 10, 14, and 20lb leaders. 
2.5' minnows, zerek live shrimp, barra buster hardbodies, little crankbaits, 3.5 inch baitjunkies.  
Squid and prawn used as bait. 

 
Final Session
 
In the past, I've caught some flatties on lures on the Gympie terrace esplanade, on the shallow sandy banks. 
On my last day of the trip, my dad and I headed here and casted around 2.5 inch soft plastics in different colours in conjunction with S-factor. We covered all the ground which was best of about 1.3km. 
Not a single flathead or fish. 
I guess that's just how it is sometimes. 
 

 
Cheers to everyone for reading. 
Apologies if this report isn't well formatted, it was a fairly rushed one as I wanted to get it out of the way haha. 
Hope you enjoyed,
 
Charlie. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A plan was hatched with @Old Scaley, @AUS-BNE-FISHO and myself to head to the Port today to chase threadies and jew. I've been watching plenty of Youtube videos of people throwing plastics and vibes at the wharves with some good success. So I rigged up 3 rods, with a soft plastic on one, a Flick Prawn on another and a FishTrap soft vibe on the third.
We met at the busy Port ramp at 6.15 and launched. Steve and Hamish threw the castnet for some livies and then deployed their crab pots. Meanwhile I had sounded down the wharves to about 2/3 of the way to the end. Couldn't find any fish but stopped at a place where there was a show of bait and some were skipping out of the water. A likely spot I thought and plenty of boats for company...maybe they knew something.
I threw all 3 rods (at different times 😜 ) for 3 hours and 10 minutes. Not a bump. Nothing. With fitness levels low I decided to drift and dead-stick the plastic and prawn. Occasionally bait jumped, so I threw the vibe into the school and held on.
Nothing.
Steve and Hamish returned from the rock wall and did a drift as well, without any luck. Eventually I had had enough so went up to Clara Rock to drift downstream with some cuttlefish head out on one rod and again dead-sticking the prawn on the other. I landed a 40cm spikey jew (aka cattie) to get me off the donut...just. Towards the end of the first drift I was sitting back having a bite to eat when I had two good hits on the cuttlefish rod, with no hookup. I ran the drift again and had a small enquiry but nothing to show for it.
The third drift was just about over when the cuttlefish rod had some interest. I stood ready beside it in the rod holder. Then it loaded up. I was on and it felt like a decent fish giving a fair bit of grief early, then allowing me to get some line back then a bit more aggression. Finally, I saw colour as it was trying to tie me up on the motor. A flash of silver. Yes !! A jew. I held the rod one handed while the fish flapped about and I setup the landing net with the other (Steve, you would have been impressed haha).
This was my first legal jew. Years ago I used to head out most Friday nights with old mate Jayson, the late @chubbstar, chasing them and threadies with no luck. So this was a long time coming.
I slipped the net under it and hoicked it into the boat. Not a huge one, going 80cm on the measure. I accidentally slit its throat and released it to the esky. Many people have told me they are good eating so this one is destined for the plate. I'm praying there are no worms, @Allnighter. 😬🤢



 
I did two more drifts but had no action. Steve and Hamish had been drifting as well. They went to get their pots and some crabs, I believe. I called it a day, well pleased.
I didn't see any other boats get any action along the wharves nor at the Cruise Terminal.

Hi all
The last few days, I have been up on the Sunshine Coast. For two nights, I was staying with my mates at Coolum. We didn't do much fishing there, but straight after that I met up with my family, who were staying at Peregian Beach. I did a bit of surf fishing here, and although I didn't catch anything too good I had a couple of fun sessions as well as a bit of swimming and bodyboarding.
The first session was with my mates in Stumers Creek at Coolum. We started off at a spot a mate had caught a jack at before, but after flicking plastics here for about 30 minutes for no luck we moved down towards the mouth. We fished here for about an hour in hope of a flatty but none of us could catch a fish, which was quite disapointting. For the remainder of the trip, we went swimming at the beach and watched some movies. When Sunday morning came around, it was time for me to go back to my family. I said bye to my mates, and after getting settled at the apartment my Dad and I went for a quick evening flick at the beach. My Dad was using my Alvey and I was using a light spinning reel, which I found quite enjoyable. The tide was quite high and running out though, and combined with the very choppy conditions and drizzle from the sky, fishing was tough. We found a couple small gutters and had a cast in these, but couldn't manage any fish. We eventually called it quits around dusk and walked back to the apartment.  
The next morning, my Dad and I woke up at about 5. Annoyingly, it was raining pretty heavily, the skies were dark, black, and the wind was howling. We waited until about 6 to see if the rain would clear, but it wasn't looking good... So we decided to go fishing anyways. We started off in a smaller gutter that was close by to the access track which we had fished the day before. After about 20 minutes with no success, we decided to head up the beach to a larger gutter we had briefly fished in that prior afternoon. The tide was beginning to rise but was decently low, and after about ten minutes of adjusting to the chop, wind, and sweep, my Dad and I each got pickered a couple times. We also shuffled out a couple of large pipis, which promptly got nibbled away by small fish. My Dad was first on the board though, with a little dart of about 25CM. Although these get pretty boring in the surf (especially at that size), it was nice to catch something off the beach - giving us some confidence. It was also the first fish on my Alvey, which we were pleased about. My Dad followed it up with another dart, on worm this time. It was about 8:30AM now, and seeing as though the bite wasn't particulalrly hot and my Dad had a couple of things to do he left the beach, just as the rain got really bad! 

Little dart
I was starting to freeze, but after getting a couple more pipis and switching to a smaller baitholder hook to keep my bait on better, I felt some nibbles. Then a bite... And then I was on! It was only little, but I as pleased to catch my first fish of the trip, a small dat.(for some reason I felt fine after that 😄). Over the next hour, I caught some more of these as well as some pipis, which were plentiful enough but seemed to be a lot deeper than I was used to in the sand - about 30CM down. I eventually landed a larger dart at 31CM, which I decided to keep as fresh dart is normally pretty good in my experience. I fished until about 10:30AM when my Dad and siblings came down, and in total that morning I caught about 6 or 7 dart, so 8 or 9 between my Dad and I. Not bad. I cleaned the dart on the beach and cooked it that night, but unfortunately, after one more swim in the surf (and getting dumped a couple of times 😕 ), we had to leave the beach and come back home. 

Another little one
It was a fun but quick trip, and despite swimming when it was cloudy, rainy and putting on loads of sunscreen I still got fried pretty well, lol. Thanks for reading the report, I hope you enjoyed.
Here are the stats of the trip for anyone interested:
Statistics of Trip:
Tide: We fished both the rising and run out tide. We found the first part of the rising tide to be best for fishing and around the top of the tide to be the trickiest. 
Moon Phase: Around third quarter decreasing to New Moon, not heaps of tidal flow. The weather did make the beach very choppy and turbulent though. 
Bait Caught: Pipis
Bait Used: Pipis, servo prawn and worm
Fish Caught: 8/9 x dart
Tackle Used: I used an Abu Garcia Veritas 2-4KG on a Diawa Tierra 2500 with 8 pound braid and a ten pound fluoro leader and trace. My Dad used an 11 foot Kmart surf rod on an Alvey 6 inch 60GT sidecast reel. This was spooled with 12 pound Maxima mono, and he used a ten pound trace. We both used small swivels, small longshank or baitholder hooks, and size 3 ball sinkers. When I fished in Stumers Creek I chucked a three inch Holt Prawn and 3.5 inch Zman grub around. 
Weather: The weather was rainy, cloudy, and windy for the duration of the trip. 
Other Notes: Surf conditions were very choppy making fishing and sometimes spotting gutters difficult. It paid to find a larger gutter opposed to the smallr ones running paralell with the beach. Conditions were quite cold and wet, which is maybe why the bite was quiet at times. Otherwise a nice trip!
Overall Success Rate: 60%, caught some fish and had a fun time with my Dad
Cheers Hamish 🙂 

38 cm tailor Old Scaley Team South

Paradise point was the ramp of choice 5/1/23. Having dropped @ARKS2011 back to her mother's beforehand the crew was down to @Kat and myself. We launched about 4pm and headed up Coombabah creek to get yabbies. We had been watching a couple of storm cells on the radar and it looked as though we might just escape the worst where we were heading.
The yabbies were not in great numbers and it took much longer than usual to collect what we thought we would need. Yet another little snippet that makes me feel like something is going a bit pear shaped in this creek system. Or perhaps I am trying to read too much into normal seasonal cycles and have not put the dots together properly yet. Likely the latter.
Anyway we got our yabbies and checked the radar again. It still looked as though where we were was about as safe as it would be in the next hour or so. 
It was very calm at this point and the tide was just beginning to flood, so we were able to achieve a steady drift a little bit further up the creek.
 This yielded nothing more than a small bream or two and some Moses perch. It would have been nice to do some more drifts over the same ground as the tide flooded further (perhaps intercept a school of whiting moving up with the tide?), but things started looking a little ominous and the wind picked up. It was out with the anchor. Another radar check indicated that we might just get the very northern edge of a cell.
Lines were still in the water and mine screamed off. After a lap of the boat a small trevally was landed and Kat kept it for a raw fish salad. I would have sent it back to swim and do it's thing. Kat food...😜
My next bait wasn't out for very long at all when my reel received the stingray kiss. It was well over five minutes before ensuring that only a hook had to be replaced. A new catch for me in the creek however with an Australian whipray (Himantura australis) presenting as the hook thief.
Some very light rain, an intermittent light show and a little more wind saw us reaching for the rain jackets. All electronic devices were stashed undercover inside water proof boxes. We hunkered down... Nothing more than some light rain and a stiffer gust every so often...? We barely even heard a rumble...?
After about 10 minutes I dug out my phone and checked the radar. We could not have been more fortunate. I momentarily wondered if @Kat had some devine powers that I was unaware of, but quickly concluded that I would have seen them demonstrated by now for leader board purposes. The northern edge of a significant storm cell actually parted around the blue dot that was us sitting in a creek in an aluminum boat. I wish I could have taken some sort of rolling screen shot.
We started heading for the seaway. There would be limited places to shelter from the forecast wind but we had to try something different.  Our old faithful creek had provided a place to experience a parting storm but the series of letdowns had become too much. 
Though it wasn't sheltered from the wind we first tried a location on the western side of wavebreak island. Some small bream and Moses perch were landed very quickly but it wasn't comfortable fishing and I wasn't comfortable feeding pickers.
The northern side of wavebreak island was about as sheltered as it was going to get. So we poked around there for a while amongst much larger vessels with the same idea. We found a likely spot and it was here we stayed for the night. A legal whiting was the first fish on board and they continued to come steadily in the next few hours. There was very "little"in the way of vermin but Kat did  land a stingray about the size of a tea saucer. Even though it was a stingray it was almost cute 😂. 
Things went a little quiet for a few minutes but then Kat's reel screamed. At first we thought stingray and then not. Close though. After quite a battle on the whiting gear (Kat did an awesome job👍), a shovelnose that probably just nudged the meter mark was released at the side of the boat. Kat retired for the night after this.
I fished on for perhaps another 45 minutes and landed a couple more legal whiting, then retired myself.  
Kat was up before me and the tide was high. I remember her remarking about dolphins and a school of whiting on the surface hugging the boat, but I was still slumber prone. Soon enough I was ordered to get up and we pretty much started heading for home as it was very windy. 
We headed to the northern end of Crab island and drifted all the way back to sovereign island. Another legal whiting, two legal bream and one tarwhine were kept from this drift.
The final keep tally was 17 whiting. 2 bream, 1 tarwhine and a small trevally. No great size amongst the whiting but we had a good feed in the esky.
It is with a heavy heart and after much procrastination that I post this. It is likely the last trip for a while as I have had to return to the daily grind. A big thanks to @ellicat for enquiring about where I was planning on going at 04:44hrs on Monday morning 😉

Hi all, 
I’ve just noticed that I’m sitting on 99 days won. So in an egotistical attempt to reach the magic hundred, I’m seeking your votes to get me over the line. Please just like anything I’ve posted, no matter how crap it is, and we should get over this hump together.
cheers
Greg

Got over my Dose of Covid prior to Xmas , then got some flu thing just after Xmas Finally felt well enough on the weekend to do a decent fishing trip .  Left home at 4am this morning ,fished the bottom first up on the rising tide  and got 6 nice Grassy Sweetlip and an assortment of other  colourful ooglies , then on top of the tide put out a couple of troll baits   and got 3 nice Spanish then headed in . Unfortunately  when I photographed the biggest Spanish for the summer comp I didn’t notice the Green ID tag slipped under the fish , so could only enter the two small fish . Major Bummer! As it was probably a 25kg fish. Bit of wind early but it glassed out to a beautiful day. 

I have been trying, (to no avail), to get @ARKS2011 to put this one together. It looks as though dad is flying solo on the post fishing activities again. 
 Myself, @Kat and @ARKS2011 launched from cabbage tree point 3/1/23 a little after first light. We headed to the northern end of Macleay island. The boating equivalent of a Westfield carpark just before Christmas soon unfolded. The place was packed out.
 We had some of Kat's beloved yabbies that I had kept alive since our last trip. The loose plan was to try and get some live squid around the top of the tide close by, perhaps entice a snapper on the run out,  then later target whiting. 
 I couldn't raise any squid and yabbies were achieving only pickers. The first fish into the boat was a toadfish courtesy of Amber. It was promptly doted over and named "Puffy".  Many under sized fish abounded. Squire, bream, Moses perch, stripey and even a spotted grunter. Not surprising however, given the inappropriate nature of our approach due to me quickly giving up on the live squid.
 We headed for whiting county on the western side of the island and Kat saw a familiar vessel. A quick hello to @GregOug and confirmation of similar degrees of success for the day thus far. Into the shallows we went.
True to recent form, we were quickly onto another great patch of stingrays, but a single miniscule whiting was found on Kat's hook at some point in time. I latched onto something solid which wasn't a stingray and my spirit soared. My hopes of a good sized flathead were promptly dashed by a gummy shark around 90cm. A keeper bream by me and some running, (very crude😬), cast net repairs later, I netted some mullet and gar. I was beginning to worry that the stingrays would swarm the boat and overthrow the crew, so we high tailed it out of there. 
A show of fish in some deeper water produced a few keeper bream and one just under legal snapper. Unfortunately the snapper didn't release well and probably made a very easy meal for one of the folks that @ellicat has been appreciating so much recently. Things went quiet not too long after that and we moved to check an isolated bit of structure we had marked many trips ago. 
I got one really good run into the structure and very quickly lost the lot. Bugger. I think another legal bream was kept from this spot. There were three turtles hanging around in the area which Amber found fascinating. I was not so appreciative when one swam through my line and I lost another rig.
We headed down towards Karagarra to collect fresh yabbies and stumbled upon a situation which helped me to put our limited catch into perspective. Someone in a much larger boat than Kat's had decided that the Chanel markers weren't for them and parked it up high and dry for a tide cycle or two. It certainly didn't look like somewhere you would usually leave a boat like that anyway.
We may only have been sporting a few meagre bream, but at least we still had opportunity.
The gathering of fresh yabbies provided fantastic amusement with Amber playing "Master of the soldier crabs". Herding them like cattle, she all but had them in a single group when a lack of attention to where she was going saw her bogged and seeking our assistance. She managed to free herself, but not before her upright function failed and we had a very muddy child. A quick dip for Amber before we headed off to another spot where we had caught good whiting in the past.
Again, nothing but bream were to be had initially. At least there were a couple of keepers amongst them. Then I picked up a legal spotted grunter which lifted my spirits. I hoped that more than one of those would make it aboard, but no, back to the bream.
It was a pretty warm day and the ladie's "Whingeometer" had been indicating an impending meltdown, so it was around to Karagarra for them to have a swim. 
After their swim we met a couple of gentleman who spoke of similar experiences to @GregOug at north west island, a report that Kat has urged me to read. They were very friendly retired fellows with plenty of stories to share. Though it made me acutely aware of my imminent return to work, it was great to see some long time mates catching up for a quiet afternoon ale by the beach.
 Last spot for the day and Kat was pretty grumpy about having contributed a donut to the keep tally thus far. I started catching more bream and Amber was busy signing up to AFO. With an unattended line in the water Amber still managed to land a couple of bream. Kat was still flying the donut flag with great disdain and blaming her position in the boat. Amber finished her sign up and Kat pulled rank in her own boat. With a nonchalant and abiding "OK", Amber assumed her new position and almost instantly proceeded to land a keeper bream. Two more followed shortly after. The bream bite was hot. Amber and I couldn't miss and were releasing legal fish. Poor Kat was seething. Eventually Kat lowered the donut flag by putting a keeper bream in the esky. We had enough fish, but were all on a donut when it came to keeper whiting.
 Amber snapped some pictures of building storm clouds silhouetted by the late afternoon sun and we headed for home. The final keep tally was 10 bream and 1 grunter. A complete fail on the target species, but quality time together trumps that in my mind.

They do exist! A genuine SEQ barramundi. Caught today on a gulp 4” drop shot minnow in watermelon pearl. Not quite the legal size of 58cm and closed season so released for another time. Only other notable catch for the morning was one good flathead at 64.5cm.
 
all in all a good morning on the yak - save for a broken rod and a red bellied black trying to join me on the kayak!
 
cheers,
benno <‘><