Alex2505

Whatever is abundant in the area??? Macerated pilchards and  squid worked for me at times. 
Hired a houseboat in Cardwell year's ago before yasi. It had a macerating toilet... Soooo.... Stuff it, I'll give it a try... Fingermark and grunter😜👍

All,
Got the new boat on the water end of October 2023 and what a ride it's been, done plenty of trips to break her in, mainly chasing squid and chasing Tuskies which I loved doing in my teens with my Dad.
1st trip was on the tuskies was 2 weeks before I got my boat,  i headed out with a good mate in his boat to see if any of my old hunting grounds still held the elusive blackspot and wouldn't you know it 2nd drop with a rather large sleepy crab wich spells big trouble at this spot in some rather ordinary seas off Moreton Island I was on,  under locked drag, with 80lb braid and 120lb leader I was hooked up to a dinosaur of a blackspot Tuskfish that was running hard for the coffee rock ledge, after some very intense spool thumbing and some grunting I'd managed to to turn this fish and have it heading my way until it decided it wanted that rock some more ,  with a few ugly rod angles and a few more grunts I managed to get him boat side for netting and my 1st blackspot in 20 + yrs was on the floor of the boat and we was in absolute awe of the colours this fish went, ended weighing in at a modest 10.2kg after being bled. 
Enough rambling, I'll let everyone enjoy the pics
Cheers Josh <><
 

team south Tai Bui nice yella NPD 3/3/24

The new boat

Headed out with 'The Dentist' today. Up at 2.30am for a 5am launch from Mooloolaba.
Headed to the area where we've had success on the grassies in the past. I managed a grassie first cast and then again on the second cast. Not monsters but were big enough to not need to measure them - mid 30's. At the same time, The Dentist was getting snagged and busted off and was retying for most of the first part of the morning.
I thought it would be my day to out-fish him. Wrong. I didn't add a legal fish after those first two. Meanwhile the boat tally went to 8 grassies to low forties (Av size was down a bit this trip), 3 Spanish Flag and a Hussar. Only bothered by a few sharks, but nothing like the Bay. Towards stumps I landed three Red Throat Emperor which was cool to see. Undersized though.
A Wobbygong finished my day. On the way back to the ramp we came upon plenty of schools of Tuna busting up - both Long Tail and Mack.
Thanks for the day, mate.
 
No pics as we didn't have time at the end of the day, due to being delayed because of low discipline levels and having a few casts at the tuna.

Last trip to Moreton was quite interesting. Went to a spot I normally have good luck at. Been fishing the river lately so was really nice to go fish ocean for once. Water was very dirty which was expected, never seen the water that dirty around that area before so it was quite a change. 
Got to the spot early morning and was glassed out which is normally, conditions looking amazing and the hopes of something decent was high. Was planning to go for tuna and mackeral but I normally get tuna in winter, mackeral and maybe cobia was still an option though.
We managed to get some live herring which died pretty quickly so we put it out as dead bait and managed to get a few out live. Sadly only bream were out and something else that kept taking our bait, never know what it was but I doubt it was very big. By then we were fishing for about 3 hours and it was now 11am, decided to get some bream just to have some fun. My small rod was rigged up for lures as I was throwing lures so I decided to use my 7-15kg rod for bream in structure, maybe not the lightest rod but it definitely feels like a 4-8kg rod. I put small cut pieces of herring on a small hook and a small sinker and kept the bait between the shade and sun and managed a couple bream all between 25-32cm. 
I put out the rod with herring again and leader got clean bitten off which lifted by hopes up, mackeral were around. After no luck on the stickbait in the morning i decided to put on a 30g metal in a shiny green colour. After a bit of casting a decided to go for bream again. My mate went to practice his casting with the rod later that day around 1pm, 2nd cast mackeral. Wasnt big by any means maybe 35-40cm but still better than nothing. Put a 30g metal on his rod in a bright pink colour and started casting. Got a couple more after that but they were very scattered, not as many bust ups as usual as well.
 
Anyways that was my trip to Moretan last weekend
 
Tight lines

So I've recently bought an electric motor and starting enquiring about the plate being fabricated to the bow.. I'm keen to add some flat gunnell to the sides of the boat and extend the casting deck to fit a livewell/ more storage...
so I got to thinking...😬🤪
Being my first boat and also being an apprentice, why not have a crack myself?
I have never welded aluminium but weld stainless and carbon pipe regularly, have access to an AC/DC tig and can get enough materials to do all the jobs for a similar price it would cost to do just the bow mount...
I think I'm going to use this topic to document and record the progress, happy to hear any advice from people that fabricate or have any constructive recommendations to the build... 
To start, I'll give a bit of history on the boat.. I sold my Hobie PA14 when this boat came up. Pretty much a clean swap. It's a Horizon 2000ish 4.2m with a 30hp 2001 Honda 30hp on the back. Trailer was only 12 months old but I believe had been mistreated (along with the boat and motor, they lived on stradbroke)
the motor wasn't running so started with new fuel , fuel lines, filters, got it started but wouldn't get on the plane... 
Carbies next...
Bought a carby gasket set, thermostat, impeller service kit, new plugs and got stuck in. Pulled down the carburettors and took them to the local small motor mechanic to be ultrasonic cleaned, reassembled 
still wouldn't get on the plane.. 
Stripped down the carbies again, somehow there was gunk in the bowl so ultrasonic cleaned again then cleaned the jets by hand with oxy tip cleaners...
My first time on the plane, beautiful! Cruises around 20kts in good conditions, to date have not assessed l/km but it really isnt concerning. Have taken it for over 40km round trips up north. Just take some extra fuel ⛽️ 
the tilt mechanism was damaged and the tiller arm didnt move vertically at all, sorted those out with replacement parts. Was very hard to steer for the first couple months until I found a bolt that restricted movement in the steering, loosened that and greased the nipples. 😄 
In a perfect world, I would have a newer motor and a newer tinny but this is what I have to work with. She's not perfect or pretty but she's honest. 
I'll post photos and updates when things happen. if you got this far into the write up I commend you.
Hope I have this in the write sub category.. 
Also, in the meantime, I'm going to keep fishing, I'm keen to catch more fish on lures, if anyone is keen to come for a burn on the water and show me some things, let me know. (Really just want your GPS marks) 🤣 

Flathead 620mm, Bream 310mm,Cod 320mm, Grassys 390mm 370mm,380mm School Mac 720mm Spanish Mac 2x 1100mm
For Team South.
Regards
Neil





FF

Got out with my partner and daughter on Friday, just caught the top of the run in and spent some time exploring some of the drains . As the tide turned we started to fish.
I was focused on drifting around with lures, running motor oil coloured grubs , paddle tails and shrimp. Laser ayu double clutch when I though a flatty might be sitting in the shallows. 

I missed a couple of hits throughout the day (amateur hour) and spite our efforts neither of us landed any fish.
 
The next day we took out a frozen mullet I netted a while ago to target the same drains, this time fishing the top 2 hours of the run in. We both caught at least 8 legal bream , at least another 12 undersized. the largest just on 30cm, all released to fight another day.
all bream caught on a 1/0 circle on strips of mullet. 10lb leader.
 
It was my partners first time on the boat since April last year so there was no complaints until it was time to load the boat….
When approaching the ramp my partner threw the rope around the cleat but not secured and stupidly I jumped off onto the jetty , pushing the boat off and away to the abyss. My partner panicked as it had been some time since she operated the tiller . I was struggling not to laugh which later cost me some snarls and awkward words. 
 
I obviously take full responsibility as I should have secured the boat to the ramp myself or at least checked what she had done … a valuable lesson … 
🤪
Take-offs from the day:
-it’s a juggling act having a toddler on a boat , definitely need to find more ways to entertain her and also keep her cool, keeping her under an umbrella did okay but she was definitely too hot. 
-need to spend some more time training my partner in boat operations in case of an emergency. 
-need to train myself more to try and avoid said emergency.

Hi all,
I went out with @ellicat (Brian) for a session around Macleay and Peel Island last Friday. We launched at 6:30AM at Victoria Point and we were fishing before 7:00AM at one of Brian's spots at Macleay. It wasn't long before Brian had caught a legal snap, but unfortunately after this we got sharked several times (and landed a couple more undersize fish). We stayed here for a while longer but eventually decided to head to a spot at Peel Island. 
We said hi to @Another Wazza quickly before starting a drift with some plastics and vibes. The weather was pretty good and it was around tide change, but I only managed two grinners on a soft vibe. We repeated the same and different drifts a couple more times but it was to no avail. Additionally, the wind picked up slightly as well as the tide so we decided to go back to Macleay to try there again. 
The anchor was deployed and I chucked over a fresh strip of grinner. It wasn't long before I was on, but it was pretty obvious I was on a ray after a few fast runs. I actually got this one up to the boat, but seeing as though it was gut hooked we cut the line and got rid of it. I hooked another one shortly after but the bite was pretty quiet for the most part.
To finish up the day, we decided to do a couple of drifts around Macleay. This produced a few bites and one undersize snap for Brian, so a bit after 2 we headed back to the ramp and called it a day. Brian let me have the snapper and it tasted good.  Thanks again for taking me out on the boat Brian, it was lots of fun. 
Thanks for reading, 
Cheers Hamish

A couple more for team South .
Whiting 390mm , 365mm and 360mm.
Mulloway
 

I went out to Mud then the Port area today.
Managed a feed and a couple of entries for the snapper - 1 x 52 and 1 x 46. I didn't measure the rest.

Count me in for Team North

Take your own hose and get a four way brass tap key from Bunnings ,so you can access the council park water. I’m pretty sure there would be a tap in or near the public toilets or at the picnic shed, at the ramp park.Its always a good idea to flush the salt out of your motor asap -if you can.
Also good to give your trailer and boat a quick rinse as well.
Neil
 

Hi all
Snuck up to the Sunnycoast near Dunethin Rock on the Maroochy River with @charlie.hans.fishing on Boxing Day. Plan was to fish in Dunethin Lake and the surrounding area of the Maroochy River to try for a few flatties and maybe a jack if one came by. We arrived mid arvo on Boxing Day and went down for a fish around mid tide, flicking plastics off of the lake jetty.
I was off the donut first after we had each had a couple of missed hits with a little flatty. We continued flicking for another hour before it started to rain - just as this happened Charlie got a little flatty too. Decided to go to the beach for a swim that arvo but the next morning we were fishing again.
We started off canoeing around the lake a bit to no avail, so went had a cast around the opposite bank of the river to the mouth of the lake. I think Charlie got a spotted grunter here and one or two flathead (one that was legal sized). These put up a decent fight as he caught them casting in some shallow water near a snag. 
I got off the donut with a small flatty that liked my 2.75 inch Froff Bait paddle tail while we were drifting in the canoe (it was my first time using these lures, they're alright) but didn't manage to catch much more that day. I think we had another flick down at the lake jetty for nothing. It was very hot and unpleasant fishing, and with a lot of rain around the area recently too the mosquitos were very bad... It was nice going down to the beach again that arvo.
The next morning we had a quick flick around the bank opposite the mouth of the lake again. Here, Charlie got a bream on a plastic while we were drifting on the canoe along the bank. After a few more drifts and with a lot of tide/wind action making us drift very fast, we decided to go and have a cast at the deepest section of the lake. 
A ways into our first drift, Charlie hooked up to something decent. It was pretty heavy and quick, he hooked it in shallow water near the mangroves. Unfortunately, just as we were about to see it the hooks pulled. Bugger. I had another good hit on this drift, before later in the morning catching a flatty around the 40 mark. My Dad also had a cast on his canoe somewhere that morning and got an undersize barred grunter on a plastic.
We tried for a bit longer but the heat and mosquitos were pretty unbearable so we decided to go back to the campsite, pack up, and go home!
Thanks for reading, although the fishing was a bit quiet it was still good to get a few hookups. The next day I was sick and have just recovered enough to go fishing now so will try in the river tomorrow. 
Cheers Hamish

Count me in for Team North

Count me in for Team North

Reading the report by @Tuna are fish inspired me to write a report.
Headed out from the Port around 4.30am on Friday, with the plan to chase a spanish on trolled dead baits around cape moreton.
Was pretty choppy on the way out, but conditions improved throughout the morning. Within 10 minutes of getting the baits in the water we had a hit.
In came a 65cm yellowtail king. I had no idea of the size limit for these as I havent caught one before so it was returned. 
The next two hours were uneventful, until we came across a school of mack tuna feeding on the surface.
They were on the chew and we spent a while catching them nearly every cast, with the hope of a bigger longtail lurking beneath. 
This was not the case, and eventually we got back to trolling. Had one more hit and run without a hookup.
Time to head home, and about halfway across the bay I saw a large splash, with some birds heading for it.
Then I saw a huge longtail break the surface and excitement levels rose. 
First cast with a 40g slug and I was on. Longtails certainly do some incredible initial runs.
After a good fight we had the fish on board. Weighed it the next morning and it was 19kg. 
Plenty of meat shared around with friends and family so smiles all round. 
Sometimes the target fish doesn't work out, but there is always the chance of decent by-catch in the bay.
Cheers,
Lachlan

Hello again,
second post in a about a week, and its a good one.  went out fishing on friday, the plan was to hit the fads again, and shoot some mahi mahi, troll some skirts and bag out.  but it did not go to plan, woke up at 2:30 and was on the water at 4.  weather was looking good coming out of the passage able to cruise at 50km/h, got around the corner and it changed.  was probably only 1-1.5m swell but it was all chop and in a 4.8 tinny it was rough.  managed to push to moreton and get some cover and tried to jig up some livies at the beacon.  wasnt able to get anything except a large baitfish about 30cm.  started puching it out to the fad but before we got around the point of moreton, saw large schools of the biggest longtail tuna i have ever seen.  cast stickbaits at them for about 30min with no luck, so just started drifting in about 30m of water.  pulled up 3 nice snapper on pillies and the fish bin was looking good.  after the 3rd drift the reel with the live on took off.  had to pull in 4 lines and by the time i was on the rod i was nearly on backing, and had to gain back about 300m of line.  after a long 15-20min fight i got colour.  it was a large longtail.  we gutted and bled it on the boat and towed it backwards for about 15mins after gutting and bleeding it get all of the blood out.  started to leave and head home at about 6:30.  i packed the gut cavity with ice and lay wet towels over it.  on the way home got more ice and a large fish cooler bag to put it in.  weighed and meaured it when i got home, the final length was 128.5cm and over 18kg.  ended up getting more than 12kg of meat off it, probably could have got more out of it but dad and i have never filleted a fish like that, it wont go to waste tho as we will use it for crab bait.
cheers dan 

Rainbow Bee Eater?

Rainbow Bee Eater?

Hi all,
This report will be about my last couple of sessions in the river. Last Monday I had a day off, but on Tuesday I was fishing at a local spot targeting threadies. Bait was no worries as I stopped on my ride to catch some, but despite the fact I was fishing the low tide change (prime time for this spot in my opinion) the bites were slow. I got off the donut with a catty and throughout the day managed to pull in two sharks and some more catfish. So overall, a pretty miserable day and another threadyless session. 
Stats:
Tide: 9:00AM, .5M, Low
Moon Phase: 44%
Air Pressure: 1009
Humidity: 76%
Bait Used: Live mullet and bony bream
Fish Caught: Sharks and catties
Overall Success Rate: 20%
The next day I spent the day eel fishing at my local park, but unfortunately I didn't manage any. Hopefully I get some soon because I need them for shark bait. 
On Thursday, I was lucky enough that @Thorbjorn Hale offered to take me out in his boat again down at the POB. We launched at Colmslie and shot down to Bulimba Creek first, where we got some mullet, then the Poo Chute where we got a few herring. Armed with some nice livebait, we tried over near the Coal Wharfs for not a nibble, then at the pipeline for one catty, before a quick crack at the ends of the main docks. Here, I was snipped off by a shark, and after this, upon Thorbjorns advice, I sent a big 40cm or so piece of pike eel down on one of his rigs. Sure enough, my Penn Spinfisher 8500 began to scream after a little while, but by the time we had cleared all the other lines it had disappeared, leaving just a ten centimetre of so piece of eel on my hook. Bugger.
After this, we went back to the Poo Chute to get some more herring, which was successful. Upon reanchoring at the docks, I had a screaming run within minutes of sending my bait down. Over the next couple of hours, Thorbjorn and I had about 8 of these, all Dusky Whalers, six of which snipped us off and two of which we landed. One about 60cm by Thorbs and one around the 1.3M mark by myself. A bit before five we called it quits, and this was good because as we got back to the ramp it started to rain pretty hard. Thanks for the great day on the boat @Thorbjorn Hale, hopefully we can get the big sharks next time! 
By the way, we also watched someone catch a jewie/thready on a vibe a couple hundred meters away from us, so there were a couple fish around. 
Stats:
Tide: 4:30AM, 1.9M, High, 10:30AM, .8M, Low, 4:30PM, 2.1M, High. 
Moon Phase: 67%
Bait Caught: Herring and mullet
Air Pressure: 1005
Humidity: 84%
Fish Caught: Sharks and catties
Overall Success Rate: 80% - fun day out on the port, definitely beats landbased fishing!
 On Friday, I tried a local spot I hadn't fished at before, and only had deadbait as it is to high up to cast net. This meant all I could catch was a fat catty, and then no more bites. I left getting rained on and the train got delayed before my stop so I had to walk home from extra far away, what a crappy day. 
Stats:
Tide: 6:30AM, 2M, High, 12:40PM, .6M, Low
Moon Phase: 77%
Bait Used: Bony bream
Air Pressure: 1006
Humidity: 90%
Fish Caught: Catty
Overall Success Rate: 10%
On Saturday I had another day off, but then this morning my Dad and I were out chasing bass at a spot we hadn't been to for a while. It was pretty overgrown, but we managed to clamber down the steep track to the bank. First up we had a cast off a sandstone section, where there was plenty of surface action, but I could only manage one tiddler size bass on surface. 
Following that we repositioned slightly for no luck. My Dad continued bushbashing and after I caught another small bass I saw a massive splash in the middle of the river next to a snag. That was my Dad's lure, but unfortunately it only turned out to be a small bass (30-35cm) and I slipped along through the bushes for no reason. I was sort of rewarded for this trek though, because after switching to a seven gram Savage Gear spinnerbait, I hooked up. It was only a dirty tilly though, so after that was rehomed up the bank I fired another cast out. When my spinnerbait got close to the bank, I hooked a more formidable opponent that screamed off and reefed me in a stick. After a bit of convincing, I managed to get my Dad to jump into the river and have a swim to try and retrieve the fish. 
This was successful after much stress, but annoyingly, it was only a 37cm bass, not the big model we were hoping for! We had a few more casts around here for one more surface bust up and a bit more swimming to retrieve snagged lures, then we went to suss out a new spot which seemed promising but bought no fish. 
https://lensdump.com/i/3qozhM
My Dad and the Bass he recovered
Stats:
Air Pressure: 1002
Humidity: 88%
Fish Caught: Bass and tilapia 
Lures Used: Cicada surface lures, spinnerbaits. 
Overall Success Rate: 60% - fun morning
Thanks for reading, I'm going camping at the Sunny coast for a couple of nights now, so hopefully I have some more luck up there. 
Merry Christmas everyone,
Hamish

Went out with my 9yr old son on foot at Sun up to try our luck around the mighty  (but really low)  north pine dam. Alternating between live worms and poppers + hard body's + zerek prawns. In the last maybe half dozen times out there I've failed to get a bass, My only " joy " to be let down after the initial run on my line then sighting a fork tailed catfish. This morning though luckily the bass didn't get in the way and my boy landed more than a few big fat catties. The experience he got with changing the drag, fighting a largish fish on extremely light gear and the sheer thrill I saw in his eyes and on his face made it an unforgettable morning, never mentioning catfish traditionally rubbish fish. We were home by 0730 and he raced in to tell everyone about his epic fishing conquests. 
 Merry Xmas AFO 
Go Northside! 

Took my brother for an exploratory Mackerel fish this morning .
I usually don’t bother  chasing them till after the Christmas holidays and the crowds die down, but with the new closures and bag limits in full force , We decided to make the most of the current situation  whilst there was a decent weather window. Heaps of boats on the water for a mid week day ,tides and moon were all wrong but beggars cannt be choosers.
My brother is still recovering from a recent operation , and wasn’t allowed to lift more than 3 kgs , so he was on driving duty for the morning and I was on the business end of the rods .He could not find any bait , only big schools of Batfish and Surgeon fish , feeding on the surface . We had plenty of old marks  ,so just trolled over them looking for the odd fish.
Missed the first hit after a very solid hookup - due to a bite  off , I think another fish simply just sniped the swivel off - “Big time Bummer “- anyway we continued on and moved well away from the flotilla of boats , once we found some clear space ,it was then bang bang , two Spanish in the esky and off we went home , both freezers now stocked with some nice Spanish Fillets and some crab bait sorted for the next crab'n mission.
regards
Neil