GregN70

Very nice Barred Javelin (Aka Grunter), one of my favorite table fish. Yum

Thanks Neil, the Smiths look pretty good on Navionics, Qld Globe & Bathmaps. As for Bait, around this Yeppoon area where i Normally fish, I have spot where I catch Watsons Bonito pretty easy and in the past I get a few at the start of my trip, keep them alive and troll them live, with a nose bridle and stinger hook in the tail. Sometimes up near the surface, and often off a downrigger too, depending what the sounder is telling me. But it would seem they don't like live Bonito, I might have to do a few bait runs and put some in the freezer and rig them as dead troll baits. Cheers

These are big Boys, rather than girls.

Thing is it’s not the Fitzroy. It’s an adjacent system. Cheers

Yeah mate, feeling good. My PB Threadfin. Also good to target a specific time, location & fish, get there get it done. I was home at 10:30am.

The lure is from Yamba Bait & Tackle in NSW. The owner makes a heap of his own lures & sells them in his store. Don’t know what this I called. But it works good.

Well I hit a couple of creek mouths around the bottom of the tide. Marked a few good Threadfin on one and after about 20mins hooked this one. 116cm. Great fight on 20lb braid. Tried to release it but was too spent, so fish for dinner. IMG_0592.MOV

Everything is that far up here. The furthest i've been on a day trip was to try some deeper shoals ESE of Douglas, which was about 123km east from the boat ramp at Yeppoon, so a 250km round tip. Yet still only got 4 small fish. Trout, Red Throat x 2 & a Maori Cod.

Not all crabs are safe to eatand a few can carry lethal doses of toxins. Most of the toxic crabs belong to the family Xanthidae https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xanthidae which is the most diverse family of crabs in Australia and notable for their black tipped claws. So far, only a small number of species of this family are known to be toxic, but it is a good idea to avoid eating them regardless. These crabs are not truly poisonous and the crabs do not produce the toxins themselves. Some species are not always toxic, so it is likely that the toxins are obtained through the crab’s diet or possibly by a symbiotic bacteria relationship. Crabs have no mechanism for delivering these toxins, such as through a bite or poisonous spines, so poisoning only occurs when people eat the crabs. These xanthid crabs can accumulate two of the most lethal natural substances known - saxitoxin and tetrodotoxin - in their muscles and egg masses. Both saxitoxin and tretrodotoxin are so incredibly toxic, that as little as half of a milligram is capable of killing an average sized adult. The toxins are also heat stable and will persist in the tissues despite being cooked. Saxitoxin is the primary toxin involved in paralytic shellfish poisoning, which is often caused by people eating mussels or oysters that have consumed toxic algae. Intriguingly, saxitoxin is listed as a grade one chemical weapon under the UN Chemical Weapons Convention and was reputedly used by the CIA in suicide pills. Tetrodotoxin on the other hand is famously found in the Japanese puffer fish, a delicacy known as “fugu” which only the most skilled chefs are licensed to prepare. Both chemicals are neurotoxins, affecting the nervous system, resulting in paralysis by shutting down the nerve cells’ ability to transmit information. There are a number of known Australian species that may be toxic if eaten, and while some do reach good sizes most are relatively small. While care should be taken for the preparation of all seafood, if you’re not sure what the species is, then the best possible advice is to not eat it.

So with australia day Just around the corner, I'm again thinking of my fishing options around CQ. Light winds in the morning, small tides. I'm thinking creeks estuary. The first option i'm thinking of is chasing King Threadfin around the Port Alma area in my 4m Hornet. It's just after the neaps so water quality/visibility should be decent. The idea would be to target deeper holes, drop offs and drains at the mouth of creeks coming into the main passage on the dropping tide, low at 9:45am.. Using soft vibes & a variety of other soft plastics especially prawn imitations as there are a lot of prawns about at the moment. Might even net a few to use live if the lures don't work. Option 2 is later that day, fish large baits such as Mullet fillet, big prawns at the mouth of Coorooman Creek on the run in tide in the hope of a Grunter that come into the creeks to feed on the flood tides. But the smaller tide worries me a little. I think they like a bit more run, and night is better than day there. Any thoughts?

Would have to be 30-40km from the mouth of the Fitzroy as that entire area is currently almost freshwater at the moment & has been since November

Maybe a long weekend. But it’s 6hrs drive from Yeppoon to Mooloolaba so it takes a decent effort to do the round trip.

Well I had my Holiday down the Sunshine Coast area, but sadly the weather gods were unkind, so I only got outside once and it was still very rough so fishing was almost impossible. Thanks mostly Ex Cyclone Seth. Anyway, my dreams of catching a Spanish mackerel will have to wait another year until I can get back down the sunshine coast again.. Cheers

Great little creek, It was once home to both Bass & Eastern Cod in it's freshwater reaches.

The Diawa is the smoother and better feeling reel in the hand,

Really nice catch. Tasty buggers t oo. After leaving Brisbane to move to Yeppoon, one of the things i miss the most is chasing these guys around the beacons in the bay.

If you break rods often, try an ugly stick, shimano Tiapan or Abu Muscle Tip. Unsophisticated and heavy but extremely good at taking boat abuse and high-sticking

My 4000 exist & a box of Barra lures.

I've mainly stuck to 20lb braid for most of my Barra fishing, going up to 30lb when chasing some of those big Male Barras you find in the dams as they are more likely to be caught in some pretty tough country that requires more "come here power". But the outfit you describe will do most things ok.

No still to catch anything around Yeppoon. I just started heading down around Gladstone & Turkey Beach it’s so much better there

Nice Spotted Grunter, Similar to the bigger brother the Barred Javelin Fish. You can tell it's a spotted grunter due to the spots on the membrane between the dorsal spines. My PB on Barred Javelin Fish is 805mm (attached), poor pic i know. I get them from time to time down around gladstone on soft plastics, especially prawn imitations, as well as fingermark, Here's a couple from a recent trip to Colloseum inlet near gladstone. In estuaries they tend to move into them with a rising tide, and disappear as soon as the tide turns. Night works better than day. Large prawns, fresh flesh baits like mullet go good. They are probably the best eating fish you can get in the estuaries, as good as most reef fish in my opinion, equal to fingermark & jacks if not superior.

I hope so. 1 whiting didn’t go far between 4 people though . If the weather is good might do a river trip this weekend.

Nice ones, And the jew is currently a NO-TAKE species. I got one whiting on the weekend off the beach. First legal fish in ages.

Only if you are unlucky. And fishing is 97% luck

I live at yeppoon, and I find it very difficult to find any fish around there. I've started to travel either North or South to fish, I seldom fish around Yeppoon anymore, its just not very good in my opinion. As for the bay, no really swell. But like the others have said, it chops up, especially with an afternoon NE sea Breeze like we get in Spring, the closer you get to the coast the choppier it gets.