GregOug

And no offence taken. Lol. It doesn’t look as big in the photos as it really is. I’m still coming to terms with all the information the smart gauges can supply however I imagine there is an actual fuel usage there somewhere. And, I’m very happy with the consumption so far, although I didn’t like the near $1.80 per litre service stations were charging yesterday!

Very impressive boat @GregOug.  What a great way to get around the Bay.  Just need to tow a tender for prawning and crabbing trips😀. Re the fuel price, have a look at the 7-Eleven Fuel app. It lets you lock in the lowest price in your area for a week and if you can time it so you lock in at the bottom of the cycle you can save heaps when the price jumps. For example I am currently locked in at $1.12 so if the bowser price is $1.80 when I next fill up I will save 68 cents per litre. So if I put in 60 litres the saving would be around $40.

And no offence taken. Lol. It doesn’t look as big in the photos as it really is. I’m still coming to terms with all the information the smart gauges can supply however I imagine there is an actual fuel usage there somewhere. And, I’m very happy with the consumption so far, although I didn’t like the near $1.80 per litre service stations were charging yesterday!

And no offence taken. Lol. It doesn’t look as big in the photos as it really is. I’m still coming to terms with all the information the smart gauges can supply however I imagine there is an actual fuel usage there somewhere. And, I’m very happy with the consumption so far, although I didn’t like the near $1.80 per litre service stations were charging yesterday!

Sorry i have been busy lately with school. But anyway im gonna make this short and sweet . The cruise went well but we weren’t allowed in vanatu waters so we went to new zealand and eden instead btw i didn’t know woollies in New Zealand is called countdown for some reason the best part about the crusie was the teens club lol and mostly the hot girls in the teens club which i couldn’t resist and got their snapchats and are in touch now . I even kissed one and she didn’t hate it   . Food and customer service was excellent .Edit sorry i was busy doing stuff on the ship and didn’t get any photos or videos besides hanging out with my friends i meet  on  the ship but im not showing them as I don’t want to get banned from the forum for inappropriate content 

Hi Ellicat,
The 64 litres quoted was what it took to refill after the trip, so was the fuel used. Although, having said that I just checked the Mercury smart gauges and it says I actually used 61 litres and travelled 50.1 miles. And I’ll have to beg to differ on it not being a big boat. It is 21 feet long, weighs around 2 tonnes on the trailer and is close to the maximum allowable size without requiring a special permit to tow. It’s rated maximum carrying capacity is 8 persons which is more than almost all trailer boats.
cheers
Greg

Hi all
It was decided we would do a session at the river on the kayak today, so today we put that idea into action. It was a nice session on the river - a bit hot - and some surprises. 
Yesterday I had put in some shrimp traps so after we departed (at about 5:30AM) I pulled them up. I was hoping for some livies, but all I got was vermin. I think it was the fact we were using cooked chicken (it was off) instead of the raw, normal stuff. Despite that fact, the trap had 3 big catfish and a muddy - 
 

3 Forktails and a baby muddy filling up on my shrimp! Sorry it's not the best photo.
After that disappointment, we set sail on the water. Our first task was to collect some livies. We paddled for about 15 minutes, quite quickly as we were with the tide, to the first stop. Well, the tide was still a bit to low and my Dad wasn't letting me go onto the mud at first. We looked around and saw the perfect pontoon, so we had a quick throw. Turns out the current was ripping through there and way to much current means no bait 😞. Our next spot was then to a rocky ledge. It was quite slippery and we did not see much (in terms of bait, fish busting up). Despite this, I had a throw but it turned out it was still to much in the current, and it was snaggy. We then moved  to the opposite mud banks, which were, well, muddy. I was pretty dirty by the end but it was worth every throw as I got a mix of river shrimp and banana prawns into the live bait tank. I was throwing a bit until I found where the bait was, and as well as this I got a big hole in my net that was un-stichable. I am still going to give it a crack though, and hopefully it still throws.


Our final destination to collect bait was the Fig Tree Pocket boat ramp (the park had the beaches we casted off). It was probably the most productive space, I found most bait was pushed up right against the wall. I had no photos of this one, but one thing I have noticed with all the prawns I have been getting was that they aren't big by any means (that doesn't mean they aren't good bait), but I might try and find a spot where they are a bit more consistent. I am still working on my techniques for livies in this part of the river, I will hopefully crack the code soon. 
Now, to the fishing scene. It was very quite overall but we still had a catch 🙂 After paddling to the boat ramp, we went to the opposite bend to do some bottom bashing and have a flick for bream. The largest live shrimp was put on a paternoster rig. The idea behind using this is that it will keep the vermin (i.e. catfish and pike) away from the bait as it is a bit higher in the water column. I also had the standard running sinker going as well. We drifted in the deep holes for about 45 minutes all up and in that time we had no luck. It was quite unfortunate as well, maybe due to the high tide the fish and bait were in the mangroves. 
It was only on the way back towards the next location we pulled up the line for a check. To my surprise, my Dad's line had a catfish on it. It didn't fight one bit though, and in fact, we barely noticed it on the retrieve. It was only a small one at about 30cm but I still got a photo.

It took a live prawn, and was released boat side.
After that, we went to a mud bank where I have caught a thready before. I assume it was because of the huge tide again, but there were no hits whatsoever. We drifted right down until we were about 45 degrees from the park, and then we started to paddle. The drift was probably the hottest part of the trip, as there wasn't any shade of that side of the river. I'm somewhat regretting not going on the other side as it was shaded. I reckon there might've been a bit more fish activity there.
We then paddled back to the park across the river, trolling out baits behind us. Nothing touched them, and we arrived back at the jetty. We then proceeded to unload the kayak, and the jetty was a bit more crowded than usual. Then, my Dad got a call from my mum saying she was sick so he left me down there for about another 45 minutes. In this time, apart from baking, I had a few touches. Otherwise, the later morning was a fish less session. 

The session I was fishing in on the pontoon was decent though. I must've flicked the bream lures for a good portion of the time, right in the snags. Next time I think we will certainly come back there, but we will know where to go and what to do.The day ended on pulling up the shrimp trap with a couple in it, but they were released as they were to small for any good bait. Here are the stats of the trip for anyone's reference - 
Statistics of the Trip:
Tide: Rising since 4:00AM, high at 9:30AM
Moon Phase: Waning Crescent Phase - growing smaller until the new moon.
Time fished: On the water at about 5:50AM
Rain in recent times: In the past week, there has been 0mm. In the past fortnight, there has been 15mm.
Bait caught: Banana Prawns and River Shrimp
Bait used: Live banana prawns and river shrimp
Fish caught: Catfish x 4, mud crab x 1
Tackle Used: 1000 size Shimano sienna, 14lb braid, 20lb leader, size 2 bean sinker, 2/o, 4/o, 6/o circle hooks, 30lb fluorocarbon leader, size 5 ball sinker, 650 Penn reel with 30lb braid, Rogue Firepoint 6'6" boat rod, Jarvis walker setup. 
Overall Success Rating: 60% - Found good spots for bait and learnt a bit about the river but no good fish came in 😞 
Hope you enjoyed reading the report 🙂 
Cheers Hamish
 
 

Hi Hamish,
Pinkenba is a fairly isolated ramp, 2 lanes and fairly steep and a bit slippery at lower tides. Not sure of its fishability sorry. Never tried but it’s not far to the main channel, probably 150 metres. There are fish cleaning and picnic tables there so might not be a bad option for your family.
cheers
Greg

Hi GregOug
One word - AWESOME!!! 🙂 
It looks like great fun and the photo is a beauty. Must have been a great day out.
One question about Pinkenba ramp though, how did it look fish wise? I am thinking of launching there instead of the POB ramp next time I go and wanted to know some more (on our kayak). 
Cheers Hamish 🙂 

Finally had my first run out on the water in my new boat today. Put her in at Pinkenba boat ramp on the Brisbane River and motored out through the shipping channel and eventually over to the Sandhills on Moreton. What can I say? Absolutely blistering acceleration! Even when you’re already doing 30 or so mph. Hull handled everything well. It was calmer over at Moreton than it was in the river coming back, which for some reason had a rather nasty chop on top of around a metre swell. 
Now these figures aren’t exact, and given that I haven't had a trailer boat for a number of years not even sure how to get accurate figures, but here goes. In total we motored for 3.4 hours (from the instruments). Some of this was at trolling speed (we saw a huge pod of dolphins and mucked around for a while watching them, and also some tuna schools chasing bait so trolled a couple of lures for 15 mins or so). The rest of the time was mainly between around 20 and 50 mph, as I was running it in. I filled the tank before leaving and when we got back and it had used 64 litres. That was with five large guys on board and a full tank of fuel.  I have no idea if this is good, bad or indifferent but I’m sure there’s someone on here who is much more knowledgable than me and might be able to give me an opinion.
Oh. And I’d forgotten how lovely and clear the water is once you get away from civilisation a bit.
Cheers
Greg

Finally had my first run out on the water in my new boat today. Put her in at Pinkenba boat ramp on the Brisbane River and motored out through the shipping channel and eventually over to the Sandhills on Moreton. What can I say? Absolutely blistering acceleration! Even when you’re already doing 30 or so mph. Hull handled everything well. It was calmer over at Moreton than it was in the river coming back, which for some reason had a rather nasty chop on top of around a metre swell. 
Now these figures aren’t exact, and given that I haven't had a trailer boat for a number of years not even sure how to get accurate figures, but here goes. In total we motored for 3.4 hours (from the instruments). Some of this was at trolling speed (we saw a huge pod of dolphins and mucked around for a while watching them, and also some tuna schools chasing bait so trolled a couple of lures for 15 mins or so). The rest of the time was mainly between around 20 and 50 mph, as I was running it in. I filled the tank before leaving and when we got back and it had used 64 litres. That was with five large guys on board and a full tank of fuel.  I have no idea if this is good, bad or indifferent but I’m sure there’s someone on here who is much more knowledgable than me and might be able to give me an opinion.
Oh. And I’d forgotten how lovely and clear the water is once you get away from civilisation a bit.
Cheers
Greg

Welcome Gluggy

Welcome Gluggy

Finally ! Haha. Good to see.
Now the adventures begin.

Finally had my first run out on the water in my new boat today. Put her in at Pinkenba boat ramp on the Brisbane River and motored out through the shipping channel and eventually over to the Sandhills on Moreton. What can I say? Absolutely blistering acceleration! Even when you’re already doing 30 or so mph. Hull handled everything well. It was calmer over at Moreton than it was in the river coming back, which for some reason had a rather nasty chop on top of around a metre swell. 
Now these figures aren’t exact, and given that I haven't had a trailer boat for a number of years not even sure how to get accurate figures, but here goes. In total we motored for 3.4 hours (from the instruments). Some of this was at trolling speed (we saw a huge pod of dolphins and mucked around for a while watching them, and also some tuna schools chasing bait so trolled a couple of lures for 15 mins or so). The rest of the time was mainly between around 20 and 50 mph, as I was running it in. I filled the tank before leaving and when we got back and it had used 64 litres. That was with five large guys on board and a full tank of fuel.  I have no idea if this is good, bad or indifferent but I’m sure there’s someone on here who is much more knowledgable than me and might be able to give me an opinion.
Oh. And I’d forgotten how lovely and clear the water is once you get away from civilisation a bit.
Cheers
Greg

Hi all this is my first post on the forum excluding my introduction post. I've moved to Brisbane from Hobart about six weeks ago and I've been doing as much fishing as time allows because I'm very keen to get onto some species we don't have down south.  The missus moved us up here because of work and we've done a bit of traveling around because of that. 
Mostly just fishing with an 8ft general purpose rod 15lb braid 20lb leader and Paternoster rig or running sinker rig depending. Then while baits are soaking I like to have a cast with my 6ft spin 10lb braid 10lb leader with a variety of lures depending. Squidgies biotough flickbaits are my favorite. Then there's my shark rod 5ft Penn warfare with a Penn spinfisher 850 with 30lb braid 50lb leader and a wire trace. Live baits or large mullet pieces. 
So to begin with we were staying at redcliffe. I did a bit of bait fishing from the jetty for a few sessions but after only a couple undersized bream I decided it wasn't a spot for me. I wandered north a little and fished off queens beach a few evenings. During these sessions I got a couple grassy sweetlips, few large bream and a small snapper. Lost a few decent fish. One afternoon I had a go off the rock wall at the entrance to Scarborough marina. I got a decent sized catfish. I saw some birds working about 100 yards out into the bay so I banged a wobbler on my spinner in case they came closer. They didn't but shortly after I saw a large wake and swirl slowly moving against the grain of the water heading straight up into the marina. I thought it must have been the turtle I had seen getting about earlier but then I saw a narrow dorsal fin poke out. Excitedly I cast the wobbler across it and it did a big blowup but missed my lure. Two more casts for nought then on the fourth cast he had it and I was on. Apparently this fish was much bigger than I thought it was going to be because it screamed straight into the marina at high speed totally unstoppable headed for the boats. I stressed and put on as much pressure as I could without breaking anything and my lure popped out of his mouth. I guess he wasn't hooked real well because everything was intact. I was devastated and my hands were shakey for half an hour. Anyone have any ideas what it might have been?  I did see him again later (or one of his mates) but way out of casting range. I don't think my gear could have handled him anyway. 
Then we went up to bundaberg for a few days. I was surf fishing just a little north of Elliot heads. That was great I got a large slatey bream, couple of Moses perch, three or four swallowtail dart and a GT.  fished a little bit with the missus at Burnett heads and got a heap of little fish. Javelin fish, whiting,  estuary cod, crescent perch and tiny baby Spanish mackerel. Got smoked by a big ray or something unstoppable. 
Since then we've been staying at Petrie. I got my first bass from kurwongbah and I've been doing a lot of fishing in the north pine river around dohles rocks. I've caught some big bream and catfish there but mostly I've been targeting sharks because on my first attempt there I later out the shark rod with a big ol mullet head for bait and I hooked up only to be bitten off. Mangled my wire leader.  I've had a bunch of sessions there over the last couple weeks but no shark yet.  I had a legal size bream on for live bait one night and I had a wicked run. Shark took the head half of my bream without getting hooked. Another night I was using small live catfish and something was yanking them off my hooks with short hard runs but again no hookup. I don't know if it was sharks or maybe something else?  I've been using multiple hooks per bait since but no luck yet.  
I've also had a couple gos at woody point and deep-water bend. Just bream and a whiting and a few weird little aquarium looking fish and a couple small shovel noses. 
If anyone based north Brisbane wants a fishing buddy I'd love some company. I'd also love to get out on the water if anyone with a boat needs someone to pull the anchor! Beers and fuel on me. Haha.  
I'd also appreciate any advice 
Cheers thanks for reading 

Well hello my dear friend Steve, I have just for some reason remembered that I still haven't got around to returning that little packet of fishing hooks you leant me, let me know if you're around tomorrow, it would be absolutely no hassle for me to drop it off at your house ........... 😜
Well done fellas, great feed between the three of you. My recurring neck/shoulder problem has struck again this week - hoping it will continue to improve and I can sneak out for a fish on Sunday given the weather forecast. And then hopefully right to attack these prawns myself soon.

Hi tugger
Alright, was the herring made into bait or released?
Hi Old Scaley
That is good there was no arguing, and that everyone is getting along. Nice job on the prawns as well 🙂 
Cheers Hamish 🙂 

Thanks for posting @tugger. It was an awesome day on the water and I learned a lot about prawning from you and @Drop Bear. I still need more practice casting but I was happy with the results (so was Mrs Scaley). I weighed the prawns as I cooked or froze them and I ended up with just over 5kg, which is a pretty healthy total in my opinion. It was good to see the friendly approach and comraderie among the boats in the scrum. Especially given how close together everyone is, there were no harsh words just healthy banter. 
Looking forward to doing it again sometime soon.

Went prawning with Robbie and Steve yesterday we left redland bay ramp finding the boats and finding the prawns. Some of our 1st casts had great numbers of prawns in the top pocket of our nets.
We worked around the area with Robbie the skipper putting us on the good shows. Some casts had 20 to 30 prawns which brought big smiles and the odd YOU BEAUTY.
I think we did really well and had the other boats following us. I tried telling others nothing to see here no prawns here but they were onto us. 
I must thank Robbie and Steve for their patience as I had to cancel the morning session as work got in the way. The midday session ended by 2pm with our bag limit of 2 bucket of prawns.
My share of prawns I cooked 2 kg in sea water with a good squeeze of honey and will peel the rest for prawn meals like curried or chilly prawns with rice. No need to line up in shops to get a feed here mmmmmmmm tasty prawns.

Gday Callum drinking and fishing we don't panic at all 

Hi tugger
Yes, that would be good if no-one panicked. If they didn't, supermarkets might still have some toilet paper left. 😉 LOL. 
Cheers Hamish

Hi tugger
Sounds very exciting, I would love to be able to ditch school and go over there for a few days 🙂 
Can't wait to see the report. Good luck on the macs and any other fish you target.
Cheers Hamish

Going camping and fishing again on South Stradbroke island on the last weekend of this month. Will be good to get away do some fishing and sit around a camp fire.
Hope the weather plays nice and I can chase some mackies on the close reefs they have been thick of late. This is a great camp site and is well protected from the weather and big boat wakes. 
It's time to get away from the big smoke and have some sand between the toes.

Hi all
I'm not sure how many of you celebrate/acknowledge Saint Patrick's Day, but I hope you have had a good one today. 🙂 
I s'pose it was not celebrated as much as usual though because of Coronavirus 😞 
Happy Saint Patrick's!     
 

LOL, I tried my first ever GIF 😜 
Cheers Hamish