Alex2505

Is anyone else getting this message when you try and use the search function, or go to forum activity (as well as a few other things?)
I can still see topics through Browse, and then Forum.

Cheers Hamish

Nice reel , have  a look at Wilson’s Blade N Tails 7 ft 1 piece 6 to 12 lb  . It’s  a light and pretty fast tapered rod with a fair amount of pulling power.
regards
neil

Hi All,
With a couple good weather windows this weekend I decided to go for a fish. Unfortunately I couldn't get out in the bay so I decided to go for a stroll down the local flicking plastics for flatties. At the beginning the fish were very timid, but after hitting every drain n ledge I could find, the fish started to play the game with a couple surprises chucked in. I started to get a couple of very small flatties which i like to call encouragement awards, but then I found a few slightly larger models. Ended up with 10 Flathead with six of them ranging between 47cm up to 62cm and this was all in about 3 hours. In between the commotion of the flatties I hooked something that hit harder and was fighting a bit different, to my surprise it ended up being a giant (little) herring which went 52cm. Pretty stoked with that as it was my first one. I was just about to leave and on my last cast I felt weight but it wasn't really fighting. When I got it to the surface, it turned out to be a rather large sandy which I dragged up the bank and popped straight into the esky. As I explained to my mate it takes someone with extreme skill to feel a hit on a plastic from a sandy and even greater skill to hook and land it. He promptly responded with it takes someone who is extremely full of...  (u can fill in the blank) to jag a crab on a plastic. As this is my first report, I hope you all enjoy.!

Still had a dozen or so small Bonito in the freezer , so took my brother out for a late in the season troll for Spanish  last Tuesday morning. Conditions were a bit how’s your father with about 15 to 18 knots of south west creating a bit of wind chop, this combined with a chunky 1.5 m swell swayed us to stay  in very close to shore.Put the baits out and got a fish in less than 5 minutes , then dropped another one probably less then 30 seconds  later. Was hoping for the bigger winter fish but beggars can’t be choosers so we settled for the school size fish . We got a feed very easily and left early , washed the boat and dressed the fish out at the ramps facilities, only to get caught in a traffic jam from hell just north of the Caloundra turn off. Better than watching the grass grow I suppose and a least  got to test my new home made gaff out. I tried to post a video but it got rejected , must have been too big , so I’ve just put up a couple of photos.
 

Headed out with @Old Scaley to Macleay at gentleman's hours yesterday, not able to resist the forecast.
Started off with a just legal that was too close to keep. Then Steve got onto a 39 model. Then it's a bit of a blur with some good fish coming aboard. Peak time was about 10.30 with the tide change period not quite over. Along with some unders, a grinner, a catfish and the obligatory shark (that would have been 7+ feet) doing a jump and spin out of the water to gain its freedom, we managed to put together a bag of 7. Would have been 8 but we released a 36.5 thinking we could do better.
Cuttlefish was the bait of choice. But the best fish of the day came on a diver whiting tail.
After a couple of very quiet sessions at The Pin and Broadwater/Nerang it was great to get onto a few at last.
Steve's first decent one at 50.

Steve's best at 52cm

Tease pic part way through that was sent to he who works.

This was the worst of conditions. Looking towards Peel. If you look close you may see a ripple.

The bag - 1.

 
Top day out Steve. They aren't always like that. Thanks for coming along. 🙂

I have learnt a lot reading the reports on here, so thought it's about time I contribute one. Also, I rarely have much to report, so this was a good change!
We spent the weekend camping at Moreton Island with the plan to do some fishing in the bay, and hopefully head out around the cape if the weather played the game.
Conditions were pretty nice Saturday morning heading across, and after setting up camp we spent some time trolling the beacons with a paravane.
It took a while to get it to swim right, but we did catch a 55cm school mackerel just before dusk, which was a very nice dinner. 
The grinners were also thicker than I have ever seen and were keen to take just about any lure.
After a leisurely breakfast on Sunday morning, we decided to head North, to explore new ground for us and maybe troll for a Spanish.
It was a bit sloppy around Comboyuro but once through there the conditions were perfect. Big swells but very clean. 
We spotted some birds working and started casting slugs. Not long after I hooked a decent sized Mack Tuna. 
Next my mate hooked one as well. We were pretty happy to have those two in the boat. These were bigger than any of the Mack Tuna I have caught in the bay.
After that schools seemed to be popping up everywhere, but were fairly easily spooked. My mate managed to catch another Mack Tuna. 
Then the fun started. I cast into a school but noticed I had a bit of a tangle in my line at the reel, so spent a little while sorting that.
I cranked the lure back in from under the school that were still boiling, and it got smashed.
The first run took me by surprise and I was quickly losing line. 
After a good fight I managed to get the fish near the boat and saw that it was a longtail. A species I have been hoping to catch for some time. 
The fish took one final run and managed to go around and under the boat. The line rubbed the side and snapped, which was pretty devastating. 
After retying we found another big school and I tried the same technique.
The lure got chomped again and the drag was screaming. I couldn't believe I managed to hook another Longie. 
This time we were ready and maneuvered the boat during the fight and managed to land it. Big smiles all round.
We headed back to camp very happy and the bay was glassed out. 
Heading home on Sunday was a different story with the bay pretty choppy with the westerly. 
All in all a great trip and cant wait to get amongst the longtails again. 
Got some amazing fillets off the Longtail, and contrary to popular opinion we also eat the Mack Tuna.
Usually in a curry or stir fry, and as long as the fish is bled well and the lateral line is removed we find them to be good eating.
Cheers, Lachlan
 

Hi all. 
Here's another quick report from yesterday's landbased lure session at Manly. 
Only had a few hours to fish so I micro jigged some plastics in the deeper water around the pylons in hopes of a trevally. 
Used small grub profile lures. The wind was horrendous and it would have been a very uncomfortable day if you were out in the bay; I had to switch from a 1/6th to a 1/8th just to cast 5 metres in front of me.    
It was blowing almost 19 knots and there was white caps all around. 
Fortunately the marina provided some shelter and it wasn't as bad as being out in the open. 
A kid next to me hooked up to a 35cm or so GT on similar profile plastics out from the pylons but dropped it at the surface. Apparently him and his mate had already caught a few little trevs on plastics and bream on bread baits before I arrived. 
Tried to get a cool photo of 30 or so BIG bream feeding on seaweed/oysters stuck around the marina pontoons but I could only pick them up with my polarized sunnies and they spooked easily after getting a cast in at them. 
Ended up switching spots and fished a beachy area. 
Managed a little trev on a slim swimz and oddly, 4 micro whiting. Casted in towards the boat hulls and hopped the lures back out. No size. 
 

 
 
 
 

When my boys were up in January we tried our hands at Jungle Perch fishing.  To be honest, if we did not catch anything,the walk in the rainforest and wading the cool clear streams was enough in itself.  We managed a couple, on most of the trips. No size though.  

When Declan flew home I did another trip with Jacob and we seemed to have worked it out better, picking up a few small fish on every reach of the stream.  So Great you can pop around the corner and experience these things. “Paradise” 
 

IMG_2854.MOV  
IMG_2858.MOV  
IMG_2978.MOV    
 

Belated report.  My boys came up to cairns in January to visit. Weather was not looking that great so we head down to Mission Beach for a few days to find some better conditions.  
My mission should I accept it, was to “get my sons onto some firsts and improve their PBs”. We fished 2 days and a morning before heading home.  Conditions were ok but improved while we were there.  
 
First day we were a little lost and spent some time searching for ground and eventually got some location info off photo from a trip from the year before where we could start our search again. Found some awesome ground and some epic fish and of course some  bloody sharks. 
 
Great trip and well worth the drive and accommodation costs. It really is fishing paradise. 
 
Species caught - Red Emperor, Coral Trout, Large Mouthed Nannygai, Red Throat Emperor and other species. 

IMG_2928.MOV  
IMG_2893.MOV  
IMG_2892.MOV    
 

Hit up Mud island today with an old banned member. We launched early at 5 and rustled up some livies, then headed on up. Pretty quiet start with only one legal grassie amongst a fair few pickers for the first hour or so. Eventually the rig for a bigger snapper went off, just as we were saying things were quiet. My mate hooked up to it, but 2 minutes in the hook pulled. Disappointed!
We persevered for some time with more unders and both dropped decent fish. After the tide turned, the fish came on the chew again and we managed to increase the tally to 4 grassies and 1 tuskie. Not a bad day, with conditions allowing a WOT for the ride home.
Cuttlefish doing most of the damage.

Just had to smile at this, if it turns out.

Hi all
Two Tuesday's ago, my family (except @Cavvy) headed up to Yeppoon for a holiday. After managing to get my rods through the airport, we arrived at Rocky and were at my grandmas by mid arvo. I rigged up two rods, one light one and one heavy one, in preparation for a session fishing the run through tide at Causeway Lake the next morning.
First Day Fishing - Wednesday
Morning Session:
I got the earliest bus I could to the Causeway Lake and was casting my net by about 6:40AM, where I could only manage a couple of mullet. This didn't matter though, and I deployed my heavy rod with one, casting out into the main current with an unweighted hook. It wasn't long before the bridge was pretty packed, and myself and one of my fishing mates from Brisbane who was also in Rocky/Yeppoon at the time went for a cast net. We could hardly catch anything, and the water in the lake was a dirty tea color which apparently isn't the best for fishing there. We eventually managed a few glassies, ponyfish, and maybe even a couple poddy mullet too - I deployed one of the smaller things we had caught on my light rod, and it wasn't long before I had caught my first fish of the trip, a little Moses Perch. I caught a couple more of these with the bait that we had caught, but no one was getting any big fish on the bridge. After another hour or so, Andrew and I chose to move spots as we had no bait left and there just didn't seem to be any big fish cruising around. We had a quick cast off a boat ramp where I caught a just legal bream (released) and then went to the harbor for a quick cast netting session, where we ended up with a couple herring but no fish. 
Arvo Session:
That arvo, I decided to go for a fish in Ross Creek targeting flatties on the low tide. I arrived about an hour before the low, and proceeded to start flicking my 4 inch grub around the opposite bank. I was mainly focusing my efforts on the narrow channel on the upstream side of the bridge, and I was a bit apprehensive about going up too far in case I got cut off by the tide. For a good while, I did not get a touch, before half way through one of my retrieves I hooked up. Unfortunately, it was no flatty, and a small longtom emerged. I released this and continued fishing, but with no more luck I called it an arvo after about 2 hours fishing. 

Longtom
Second Day Fishing - Thursday
Morning Session:
Once again, I was on the bus to try my luck at the Causeway, fishing the run through tide. I met with Andrew and we did some cast netting, but had a similar success rate to the previous day. Luckily, I had a bit of deadbait, and used this on my light rod while some better baits soaked on my heavy rod. That morning, I managed the normal myriad of pickers on my light line including perch and cod. After fishing for about an hour and a half though, I hooked a slightly more formidable opponent, which was playing out quite well on 8 pound line. A bit under a minute after the hookup and a few small runs, I had a little GT on the bridge, which I threw back after a photo as it was a bit small to eat. After fishing for a bit longer and getting no more bites, nor seeing any big fish landed except a couple 50CM barracudas, Andrew and I called it quits for the morning. 

Small Trev
Arvo Session: 
That arvo, I was back at Ross Creek fishing for flatties yet again. Based on some information I'd received the prior arvo, it turns out you could walk up a fair ways without having any risk of getting trapped by the tide, so that's what Andrew and I did. We walked up the creek until it was too muddy to keep going, and after a bad snag where I lost my lure and leader I was onto a 3 inch Holt Swimprawn. I flicked this around the opposite bank for about 20 minutes, and eventually I felt a hit and hooked up in the middle of the creek. After a few headshakes I got the first fish of the day, a small flatty that might've been legal. I didn't bother measuring it though, and flicked him back into the creek. We continued fishing our lures, and after I lost my Holt Prawn to another snag I put on a prerigged Squigdy paddletail. Eventually, after another hour or so of fishing, we ended up at the bridge, where I had a few more casts. On my last cast, I snagged up my lure, but managed to get it back and on the retrieve I hooked up to a longtom. It managed to get off just before I landed it but it was good to have some action on lures that arvo. 

Flatty
Third Day Fishing - Good Friday
Morning Session:
On Good Friday, I was planning to walk to the Causeway, but luckily I was up late enough that my Mum agreed to drive me. There was another run through and a fair few people there again, so Andrew and I left our gear on the bridge and went to catch livebait. After about 20 minutes of not much, Andrew got a few poddy mullet in his net, and we decided to start fishing. Initially, the bite was pretty slow, and after a baby cod and perch I was out of small deadbaits. A couple of our livies were snipped by barracudas, and on my first cast I had actually watched quite a large one (atleast 90cm) come and eat a small Moses Perch off my line as I pulled it in. We continued fishing though, and I managed to find a old ponyfish on the bridge which I casted out on my light rod. With this, I hooked up to another trevally, which was a bit bigger than yesterday. It gave a decent fight, and once I got it on the bridge I made a trade with the Causeway Legend Les for a couple live mullet. I ended up having a (likely) barracuda eating my livie, and it snipped me off. Bugger. I kept fishing for a bit longer, and watched a couple small barracudas get caught, as well as a decent 50cm or so queenie. When the run through finished though, I called it quits for the morning, heading home ready for another arvo session flicking lures.

Another trev
Arvo Session: 
There isn't much to say about my trip that arvo - I met up with Andrew again and we walked up to the same spot as the day before. Unfortunately, I couldn't escape the snags, and donated five different plastics to the creek, all for one hit on a 3.2inch Baitjunkie Minnow which I missed. There was plenty of bait floating around the creek as well as a few others fishing, but I didn't see any fish caught so maybe it was just one of those arvos... 
Fourth Day Fishing - Easter Saturday
Morning Session:
Late the prior night, my Dad had arrived in Yeppoon, so after I woke up at about 7:00AM and found him, we decided to go for a fish/cast net session at the Causeway. My Dad went to all his usual spots from the last trip for cast netting, but apart from a few small undesirables we were pretty unsuccessful. Luckily, back at the bridge, someone cleaned up on mullet (on their first cast, but with a drawstring net) and let me have a couple. This morning, there was actually no run through either, and the lake was just draining for the majority of the time I was fishing there. Regardless, I tried casting my mullet onto the ocean side of the lake for no luck, and I couldn't even manage a small fish on my light rod. It is also worth mentioning that it was blowing an absolute gale, the first time for the whole trip. Each day I had been up there, the weather had been very calm, in fact, basically flat each day. This day, however, I could hardly cast against the wind and it would've been gusting around 20-25 knots in the morning. It did calm off again to basically no wind later in the day though. Mid morning, I was fishing on the lake side again with my mullet, slowly hopping it through the rocks. It got belted, and something took off taking drag relatively easily. Annoyingly, it just missed my hook, and one of the locals said it might've been a jack based off the teeth marks. After a decent while longer, I called it quits with my first donut at the Causeway for the trip. Bugger. I didn't go fishing that arvo either - I was still too annoyed about my lost lures!
Fifth Day Fishing - Easter Sunday
On Easter Sunday, after eating plenty of chocolate in the morning (Happy Easter, by the way), my Uncle offered to take me out to his boat in the harbor. He had some work which he needed to do on it, so while he was doing that I could have a bit of a fish. It was a bit of a spur of the moment session, and I had just chucked some gear into my bag as well as some herring from a quick cast netting session the previous night in the harbour. 
After rigging up with a 00 ball sinker and small baitholder hook, I dropped down a small herring off the back of the boat. After five minutes for no nibbles, I tried off the side. It only took about ten seconds before I felt an odd surging on my line. Upon waiting for my rod to load up and pulling up the weight on the end of my line, I realized I had a crab on... And not just any crab - a big one! I called my Uncle who had just got to work on a job, and we realized the buckets on the deck weren't going to be big enough to get the crab in. We then remembered that there were some crab pots on the roof of the boat, so my uncle ran up and grabbed one of them. After a couple of close calls, we had the crab secured, tied up, and in a bucket of water ready for lunch the following day. Nice! It came in at a little over 2KG on my grandmas scales, and we boiled it in saltwater and had it in sandwiches (it was nice and full too based on the compression test I did).

My biggest ever muddy
After that, I was feeling pretty happy with myself, and had a cast off the back of the boat. I found casting next to the pylons instead of under the boat was a bit more effective, and letting the bait sink but keeping it moving was getting the bites. Although it wasn't anything immediate, I was getting a steady stream of undersize bream bites, and it wasn't long before I had caught and released three. Unfortunately for the fourth, it was badly gut hooked, and was cut free. I rerigged and dropped a small but whole herring down, maybe 2.5-3 inches long, threading the hook through the back and exposing it out near the head to make the bait sit straight. I dropped the bait down and after a few seconds the exciting noise of line peeling off my reel going under the boat next to us could be heard.
The fish kept running, and eventually I started turning it's head a little from under the opposite boat. It was slow going on my 2-4KG Veritas, but eventually, I had it around the back of the boat, where it darted back off under a bunch of ropes going the other direction. The entire fight I thought I had no chance landing it, but after a few minutes I was starting to lift it from the depths. I saw leader, and was about to see what it was. As I made the final cranks of my handle, a big cod surfaced from the depths, thrashing around and hooked just in the lip. Once again, my uncle grabbed the crab pot and managed to land the fish, and the both of us pulled it up into the boat. It came in at 65CM on the brag mat, and I let it go after the fight, stoked that I landed it.

New PB Cod - 65CM
Anyways, even though a cod isn't exactly a 'trophy' fish, I was still happy as to land it, especially on 8 pound mainline and 10 pound leader. My tiny baitholder hook didn't bend either which was a bonus, and after one more cast my uncle and I headed home for the day. That arvo my Dad and I cleaned and cooked the crab in preparation for lunch the next day. We planned to go for one last fish the next day, and I was very happy to finally get a good fish in!
Final Day Fishing - Monday
Morning Session: That morning, there was no run through at the Causeway, so my Dad and I decided to try an area where a guy had told me you can get Jacks at the day before. It was pretty shallow though and we were wading out a fair ways, but after an hour of fishing we ended up going home as it was too hot and it did not seem likely for bites. We were just fishing near the boat ramps near the caravan park, and I was using unweighted mullet whereas my Dad was flicking around a lure on my light rod. 
Arvo Session: For the final session of my Yeppoon trip my Dad and I decided to go fishing at Ross Creek. We walked up all the way and were flicking our lures at the snags, hopeful of a flatty or fish on the lures. It was really quiet though, and neither of us could manage a bite on the mix of plastics that we threw around. Despite the fact it looked fishy and we were fishing quite late in the arvo, we both ended up donutting. It was still a peaceful and fun way to spend an arvo, and upon getting back home I got my fishing gear ready for the drive home. 
Summation
Overall, it was a great trip with lots of fishing, and even though I didn't catch the most fish I got onto a few decent things which made the fishing worthwhile. The drive home was pretty uneventful, and next time I'm up hopefully I can get onto a jack or barra, or maybe some mackerel off the rocks! (or another big cod). Next time if we drive up, I think we will bring the kayak along too. Thanks a lot for reading this big write up, I hope you enjoyed.
Overall Success Rate of the Trip: 75% - caught some fish, had some bad sessions. New PB Cod!
Cheers, 
Hamish 

Hi all
This report will be about my last two sessions in the Brisbane River, on yesterday and today. The first session was at my local park, and was just a quick midday session to see if anything was getting around. The second session was at a new spot in the lower reaches of the river, targeting threadies and jew. Neither were particularly successful, but anyways:
I arrived at the park at about quarter past 12, and having no dead bait got straight to cast netting. The tide was low and rising, and after what felt like an eternity of casts (about 30 minutes of netting), I got three small scat. Sensing that it might be a slow day on the bait, I chucked one of these out on each rod. I got back to netting though, and after about another half hour, a few bait checks, and plenty of casts I caught a rather large bony bream. Because it was a bit big for a livie, I chopped it up and used it as two different baits.
After that, I gave the net a throw for a bit longer, but eventually my arms got tired and I just sat down and watched the baits. After several checks and repositionings, the bony bream remained untouched, and at about 2:15PM I decided to call it a day and get home to prep for the next days fishing.
Stats of Trip:
Tide: 11:00AM, .7M, Low, 4:45PM, 1.5M, High
Moon Phase: Third quarter, decreasing, not heaps of run. 
Bait Used: Live scat, half bony bream
Bait Caught: Bony bream, scat
Fish Caught: -
Tackle Used: Shimano Symetre 4000 on Shimano Sentire 5-9KG, Shimano Stradic 3000 on Shimano Raider 4-7KG, Shimano Baitrunner DC 8000 on Kmart Rod. Braid and mono mainlines used with 15 and 30 pound mono leaders. 6 and 3 ball sinkers, 4/o and 6/o suicide and circle hooks. 
Air Pressure: 998 - really low so could explain lack of fish activity
Humidity: 39%
Overall Success Rate: 15% - pretty dismal session
Today, I woke up early but decided I felt like a bit of a sleep in so settled for the 7:10AM ferry from Riverside. I made it easily, and was at my chosen spot for livies sometime a bit past eight. Luckily, even though the tide was already a bit low, I managed to get a mix of silver biddies, herring, and ponyfish, and one large mullet which I released. I then walked the ten or so minutes to my main fishing spot, which I had all to myself. The two combos I was using were my Shimano Aero baitrunner on a Penn surf rod, and a Shimano Baitrunner DC on a Kmart rod. I had one with a running star sinker rig and the other with a paternoster rig. Back to the session - I deployed my baits and by 9AM I was fishing and waiting for something big to come by. Apart from a heap of large sea mullet busting up, there was no fishy action to be seen, and I was starting to think it might just be a quiet day.
There isn't much to do at this spot as the bank is too rocky to risk cast netting, but there is a shade sail that makes it quite bearable to sit and wait for a bite. This is exactly what I did, and it wasn't long before one of the reels was screaming off into the depths of the river. I waited until the run slowed and set the hook, but shortly into the fight I figured I was onto a ray. My suspicions were confirmed, unfortunately, and a big ray of at least 1M width emerged from the blue water. Luckily, it was on the paternoster rig, and it managed to bite me off just at the hook. It was a better outcome than lifting the fish onto the rocks and trying to get the hook back from it's guts. I deployed another bait, and despite my best efforts, including downsizing the sinkers to a six ball and even smaller as the tide slowed, I could not muster up a bite from a decent fish. By about 11, a father and son rocked up for a quick fish, and the son promptly brought in a tiny tailor on his first cast. I continued to soak my livies though, and a little before midday my surf rod went screaming off again. I could tell it was another ray from early on in the fight, but that didn't stop me having a fun five or so minute fight, eventually ending when I locked the drag up and clambered down onto the rocks to set the stingray free. After that, I had lost all my baits and seeing as though I have something on this arvo/tonight I left. 
Stats of Trip:
Tide: 4:25AM, 2.5M, High, 11:30AM, .8M, Low.
Moon Phase: 39.5%, decreasing, not much run
Bait Caught and Used: Herring, biddies, ponyfish
Fish Caught: 2 x stingray
Tackle Used: Shimano Aero 6000 Baitrunner on Penn Surf Rod, 30 pound braid mainline and leader, Shimano Baitrunner DC 8000 on Kmart Rod, 30 pound mono straight through. Size 4 star sinkers, size 6 ball sinkers, size 2 teardrop sinkers, 4/o and 6/o circle hooks. 
Notes: Clearly it is the mullet run at the moment as there were mullet busting up from Teneriffe all the way downstream constantly for the time I was fishing. There was a massive school of at least 50 too, some of which would've been 50cm long, swimming around nearby while I was fishing. 
Air Pressure: 1003
Humidity: 57%
Overall Success Rate: 20% - tried a new spot at least.

5D3CBBF5-6FD7-41A5-8A6A-97FA304E2F65.MOV Short video of mullet. 
Thanks for reading, 
Cheers Hamish

Hi all
Yesterday arvo/evening, Charlie (@TheCharliefisho) and myself were lucky enough to be invited out for a fish on Brian's (@ellicat) boat in the bay, targeting some Mud Island snapper. After launching a little after 1PM at Manly, we were jigging for pike by half past one in a calm Moreton Bay. I was on the baitjig first, and despite a couple of pretty promising shows on the sounder, all that I could manage on the jig were some small to just undersize Moses Perch and some unknown small reef fish. After jigging for a good half hour, the decision was made to start fishing. Whiting was the bait of choice for the heavy rods, and cuttlefish was what we used to start with on our light bottom fishing rods. The tide was still moving pretty fast, but it wasn't long until I had the first fish of the day on the boat - an undersize Moses Perch. I think Charlie and Brian also caught some undersize squire, and maybe a grassy and tusky or two at this spot as well (all undersize). It is worth noting Brian had a pilly floating out the back, but this remained untouched. Eventually, we decided to try for some pike again, and then reposition for the late arvo/dusk bite.
It had gotten a bit windier, but there still wasn't a heap of chop as the tide and wind were blowing the same direction. Charlie had a go on the bait jig now, and once again we found a lot of baitfish and pike on the sounder. Unfortunately, apart from some more unknown reef fish, there were no pike eating the jig. Charlie also hooked up to a fish on the jig which put up a bit of a fight, and we were all surprised to see a legal Painted Sweetlip surface, which was kept for dinner.

Painted Sweetlip
We tried jigging for bait for a bit longer, and saw a couple of bustups as well, but soon enough decided to go and anchor up at a slightly different spot for the high tide/dusk bite. After losing a bit of tackle to a snag (the group of us started to land a few little fish), I changed my rig to a tiny ball sinker with a 3/o or so hook on my light rod, and a 6/o circle hook with a 00 ball sinker on my heavier rod. As the sun began to creep down, the fish came on the bite, and it wasn't long before we began pulling in an assortment of squire and grassies, and I think even a couple of tuskies at one point too. Unluckily for us (lucky for the fish), all of the fish we landed were undersize, apart from a bream Brian got early on that would've been 30-35CM (released). 
During this period, there were plenty of bites, meaning it was a bit hard to keep track of exactly what happened when. A few highlights were when Charlie hooked up to something a bit bigger on his light rod which managed to reef him after a couple of runs, and myself hooking something pretty large on my heavy setup, which took a few rather fast runs before my braid snapped (or as others on the boat would attest to my FG knot gave way 🤣). I believe Brian was also busted off at least once by something alright as well. As it got dark, the bites were still very active, and after getting snagged another time on my heavy rod I chose to just fish with my light line. I was floating the bait out the back of the boat and trying to keep my reel in freespool, and although I missed some fish doing this, I did land about three squire and a couple grassies, all of which were a few centimeters undersize to barely undersize. 
At about 7:00PM, we decided to head back into the ramp. Overall, even though we didn't catch the biggest fish, it was a fun arvo/evening on the water with plenty of bites. Thanks heaps for taking us out Brian, hope you didn't mind having us along! 
Quick Stats:
Tide: High tide was sometime around 6PM. 
Moon Phase: 68%, there was a fair bit of run
Bait Caught and Used: Used whiting, cuttlefish, prawns, pillies. 
Tackle Used: I used a 3000 Shimano Stradic on a Shimano Raider Snapper 4-7KG, and a 4000 Shimano Symetre on a Ugly Stik Gold 2-4KG 8 foot rod. Both reels had 15 pound braid on them and leaders were 15 pound and 30 pound. I used circle hooks and ball sinkers from 00-3 ball. Brian and Charlie had similar rigs and setups. 
Other Notes: It got a bit windy mid way through the session but calmed off again back to great conditions later in the arvo and evening. 
Overall Success Rate: 41% - fun session on the bay, didn't land any monsters but plenty of bites. 
Thanks for reading,
Cheers Hamish 🙂 

Those cheeky bass up at Baroon where I have been getting them were hiding. I had to troll around until I found a good school,lucky the bass were hungry for lures of all kinds, so I rewarded them with a heap of shrimp I didnt use. Baroon was fogged out until 7am, lucky I knew my way around.Good part was I didnt have to worry about anyone seeing me have a pidal. 88 Bass so pic heavy,managed 4  50s.
Dino

Hi Kat , With a bit of ingenuity,I simply attach one of those super strong earth magnets to the lead hook of my mackerel rigs. 

I bounced the idea off our resident shark expert , Daryl McPee a few years ago  when we fished in the same fishing club together -at the time  he told me the idea had “ Merit “
I think  I put up a post on this forum showing these rigs a couple of years back , with photos of the actual rigs .if you search back into history you may find it. 

I’ve been using the rigs on and off since then and surprisingly I have only had one of the four or five I made  lost to a shark. (they are not 100% effective) . I’ve seen sharks come in on hooked spanish and then veer off at the very last second so  I’m pretty sure they work to some degree on sharks , but I’m not confident that the magnetic  field also may have an effect on the mackerel taking the baits in the first instance  .  I can only say yes they do catch  their share of mackerel , but do they catch as many - who  knows  , but they seem to discourage most sharks to give me a few more seconds to get the fish into the boat. 
regards
Neil

I took advantage of a break in the strong  westerly winds this morning and snuck out for a fishin’mission. Forgot it was school holidays and their was a fair few boats out. 
Had a very effective fisheries Qld  visit  at about 9 am , they just pulled up along side in their rubber ducky and I didn’t even have to pull in my troll baits ,just kept trolling and they did their checks on the move .Life jackets  , Rego ,  flares etc  etc all passed . Strangely they didn’t want to see my Epirib because I was less than 2 km offshore , which I thought was a bit strange because next stop to the east would have been Fiji . Anyway it was friendly , well conducted and didn’t waste any of my time .
 
Had three hits for the morning  and got all three fish - 2 Spanish which were pretty much a pigeon pair at about 12 to 15kg  and  a big stinky Barracuda that was release to annoy someone else.

Hi all. Here’s a quick report from this afternoon’s session at Nudgee Beach
Set up a bait rod with a simple running sinker rig and soaked some prawns while flicking bream cranks and small plastics in the hopes of getting into a few flatties on the tide change. 
Managed no fish on lures except for some bream/whiting nibbles but managed a high 20s bream and little flounder on bait. 
Regardless of being a quiet session we still got a couple and it was a really nice afternoon wading the flats. 

Will cook up the flounder tomorrow 😃

Looks great, I’ve heard tasline x8 is pretty good braid. 

https://www.fishingworld.com.au/news/nsw-introduces-flathead-slot-limit?fbclid=IwAR12Nnk_z53xduzRrFRyNSsGJgt1yHteTojl5dcLKy85s0dwYDgKuoes3io
NSW now has introduced 36 to 70cm on Flathead just like QLD has had for a while now. 
I have not been privy to the science but if it makes it a healthier fishery and we all get to eat flatties I am all for it. Many years ago, before the slot limits and before I knew about flathead changing sex, I caught and ate a 97cm version. Full of roe.... Skin was tough as nails and the meat was hard and not very tasty. I have eaten large whiting (45cm) and it was similarly not very delicious. I don't do this now. 
Anyone got info/opinion on the breeding of big female flatties and if slot limits are doing their job?
@Daryl McPhee

Headed offshore at first light on Sat morning with my dad, two of my brothers and one nephew. Crossed the flat South Passage Bar about 5:30am and headed straight to a ledge my brother found last year that has produced pearlies and snapper. On the way I saw a couple of tuna breach just outside the bar, plenty of birds flying around and my brother driving the boat thinks he saw a marlin. Interesting 😎.
 
Opted against potentially wasting time gathering livies to optimise the early bite - sadly this plan failed as the current was very strong (even with a sea anchor out) and we drew a blank. 

The wind was stronger than forecast (constant 15knots from the south east) so instead of going to the Cathedrals area next (were also worried about the current) we opted to check out the Sevens Reef (pretty sure we haven’t fished it before). 
 
Quite a few other boats had the same idea so we did some short drifts and were impressed by the amount of structure- definitely worth some more exploration. I changed from my 50lb braid floatlining rig to a @tugger special 25lb mono floatlining rig with a strip of mullet and two hooks. Got busy/distracted (eating from memory) and all of a sudden my reel is screaming. The fish did two screaming runs before I got to it and I was concerned the 25lb line wouldn’t be up to the task. Luckily it was and soon enough up popped a large fish that at first I thought was a snapper before we realised it was a 71cm spangled emperor (pretty sure it’s a first for me).
We didmy get any more runs so decided to head back inside the bay to try for some mackerel but on the way to the bar we found some tuna so had fun with them for an hour or so with huge schools popping up everywhere and nowhere near as flighty as they are inside the bay. We caught about ten tuna, with at a guess 6 skipjacks and 4 Mack tuna (my vagueness is due to rushing home to get ready for the Broncos game - @ellicat, great game …. 🤣). Saw a few large splashes that indicated some larger predators were in the area (no surprise there) and I also caught a large long tom that engulfed my metal slug as soon as it landed - angry little bugger ….  We put my nephew into quite a few and he fought them well mostly and also got lucky with two being tail-wrapped which made for an easy fight. 
 
Good day on the water (and start to school holidays for me and the kids 😎) and plenty of fillets. We had some of the skipjacks as sashimi which was ok - we didn’t have wasabi which would be a nice addition. Had the spanglie just fried in a pan and taste was nice. Quite a meaty fish (tougher texture probably partly due to size) but I certainly wouldn’t throw them back. Dad is going to smoke the back tunas and I will do some of the skipjacks in or with a stir fry.  
 
Almost forgot to add that the bar was as flat as on the way back in so we circled around the Rufus King wreck to check it out. Also came across two tuna schools in the Rous Channel but couldn’t tempt them.
Thanks for reading 👍😎.

As some of you may know i am mainly a land based fisho. except for an old SIB that isn’t really that fishable. My dad and I recently acquired a 4.3m brooker tinny it needs some paint and some new flooring but structurally it’s sound. It’s a fairly flat hull, so it’s stable but is only stable inshore. It came with an old Johnson trolling motor and a Lowrance hook reveal which we already have on the SIB. It should be a fishing weapon when we get a side scan transducer from whitworths - hopefully today. We have already taken it out to the port to try get a threadie on vibes with no success, but the boat performed well. I hope you enjoy the pictures 
Cheers Thorbjörn.

Should have said you were looking for an overweight chain smoker that will bring plenty of beer along. 😉
That sounds like most fishermen I know anyway. 😂

Had a cracking day today after a slow week last week. 
It was supposed to rain all day and I had to get up early to take the wife to the train station. 
I was up, had the gear in the car and no sign of rain so I thought I would see what was happening at the river. 
Turns out the fish were on the chew hard, really hard. In two hours I caught 8 yellow belly and one cod. 
I kept the 4 biggest yellows and the cod which all up put 12.5kg of fish in the freezer, the wife it turned out took every fish in the freezer down to her friends to eat while they they were spending a few days together. 
So it's good to have a load back in the freezer.