AUS-BNE-FISHO

Hey Chris Yep, I reckon they'll be firing soon though. I'm going to try for one on my light gear this time - just a pup but should be fun, that's for sure. Bugger that you got none at Bribie... As for bully baits, I've found mullet superior to everything else (but haven't tried bream yet though). Cheers Hamish

Hey Drop Bear Thanks, happy you enjoyed. It was lucky for a bream or I would've just donutted! Cheers Hamish

Good one Dino, some nice bass in that bunch! Cheers Hamish

Hey ellicat Woohoo! Good one. That looks like super fun. I have never caught a proper bag of whiting like that so it is certainly something I want to do sometime! Good job to you and Old Scaley Cheers Hamish

Is that BCF Virginia?

Yep, I was just about to mention that. Bait runners would come in handy in this situation, or in reality you could use any reel. They are the perfect thing to have on your line that will be in the rod holder, just make sure you set a loose drag. Read the first post below for a funny/embarrassing story of mine when I failed to do so! Lol. Cheers Hamish

Hey Sneaky1 Wow - that's awesome. When I get my first tinny I hoped to be catching one that big, that's for sure! Cheers Hamish

Could possibly be a rock worm or crab, or maybe even an algae... I'm no expert on this... Maybe @Andrew P would have an OK idea as he works in this sort of field... I suppose if it was algae, it would eat the whole thing up.. Cheers Hamish

Well this is a hard one Kat, and you'll probably get a million different answers from people on the forum - but 99% of the time it's going to be a fish that you know lives in the area... The other 1% - well that's a surprise. For example, when I caught an 84cm thready, the whole time I thought it was a good shark, and then when I saw the bugger I nearly crapped myself! You can often tell from what structure you're fishing - if you're fishing right up against snags, you may have a cod or a jack, but if fishing along a sand bar a flatty is far more likely. After much more practise over time, which is probably the most valuable thing in knowing, you will get to know where you are fishing and figure out what species you may be catching/fighting - and then overall predict what you are catching. The same thing happens with hooking up, but generally you'll feel some nibbles, then the rod will load up.. This is the time to strike and try to set the hook into the fishes mouth - hope that's not to complex. Cheers Hamish

Come down to the local park GregOug. Let me fish with it, 1lb mono mainline, 80lb mono leader, the fattest live prawn you've ever seen, and wait for a salmon. I want to see if the drag holds up Or if the Stradic will burn to a crisp! Cheers Hamish

Well it makes sense. It's in his username! A species you will hear this for a lot is smaller bull sharks. If you ever target them (anyone), the main technique is to let it run for a minute or so, then set the hooks. I have done it like this many times and been successful... Got to wait until it warms up for some good sharks though! Cheers Hamish

Yeah, like hell it is Kat! It is certainly bringing up some debate with our resident reel experts (I am no expert so you know I'm not talking about myself). Cheers Hamish

There isn't anything wrong with them, especially for someone fishing with baits predominately. I don't often use the function on mine (just set the drag loose ) but if using lures you may want to just get a normal spinning reel... Lures can still be flicked on a bait-runner... It's just not what they're meant for. Cheers Hamish

I believe the style of reel Ed. is talking about is a baitrunner reel, Kat. These reels are very similar to spinning reels, but there is a switch you flick which makes the line just come out of the reel with no pressure. It is especially good for fishing when you have a rod stuck in a rod holder, and then the fish can run with no pressure on. By having the line coming out free, when you switch the baitrunner 'function' off, you will be put into normal drag (like Ed. explained well above) and start fighting the fish. I can show you a picture of one if it helps tomorrow, Kat (in fact, did that series of pics/vids I made in one of my above posts help at all?) Cheers Hamish

Any Penn spinning reel that is larger would be decent Kat - you just don't want to spool it with something like I did (30LB) as it will be too heavy for your needs. (I'd say 20LB would be plenty for larger species around GC estuaries, such as trevally, mangrove jack, and even mulloways). Cheers Hamish

Hi Andrew P Good one. It's awesome you've christened Yewgary already! Shame about the jennies/undersize bucks but at least yo ugot out. Cheers Hamish P.S. Scary about that snake! Wouldn't would be to caught in the water near that!

Thanks Old Scaley, looks like a nice little read. I might as well subscribe. Is it free? Cheers Hamish

Same. I will see how it is on the river as I'm going paddling this arvo though. Cheers Hamish

Yeah. Like hell it is. If I were to get into finesse bream fishing I probably wouldn't be able to see the line it's that thin! Cheers Hamish

Right - totally forgot about them. I even have some in my tackle box that need to be used! Cheers Hamish

Very well said benno573 - in fact, if I'm deadly honest (and a bit embarrassed about), I'm hardly comfortable using line that light! I reckon the 2500 certainly seems to be the most recommended. I'll be curious to what you get today Kat - hopefully it serves you well... And just a heads up @Kat, Shimano Australia and New Zealand Provide a ten year warranty on all reels. That's very handy when first choosing, because you can always replace if it ends up as a dud. https://www.shimanofish.com.au/content/fish/oceania/au/en/homepage/warranty.html Cheers Hamish

Yep, it could be something like that seeing as though they don't specify. But would that mean if you had one line out you could have six hooks on it? I bit weirdly worded I would say! Cheers Hamish

Hi all Here's the report for my last two sessions. None of them were particularly successful, but I still caught an OK fish Normally I would be out this morning, but the tides were completely out and I'd stayed up late watching a movie yesterday night. Luckily I'm going yakking THIS arvo, but not a serious fishing trip. My dad and my mate want me to try out the sit in kayak, so while my dad will be in the yak with my sister I'll be in the sit in. I'll make sure my dad has at least one rod, probably just rigged with a lure The first session took place at the Botanic Gardens on the river. I brought my telescopic rod along, in hope of some bream or cod. I have caught one bream there before, fishing hard up against structure with unweighted bread. I got left the alone with my brother for about 40 minutes as my mum needed to go and grab my car, as we were mainly doing some shopping in the city. (Parking ticket otherwise). I fished unweighted bread for about 20 minutes - I just let it naturally drift down in the current on both sides of the mangrove tree I was fished. The structure certainly looks fishy, and I'm sure there'd have to be some OK fish hanging around in it. Then again... I suppose it's in the middle of a very crowded place. Alright I look a bit creepy in that second photo Since bread wasn't working, I tried walking the rock wall with a hard vibe lure the Sam Steele gave to me. I knew I was going in the right spot, as I could feel my lure getting snagged/bumping along on the rocks. I certainly would've found it tempting if it fluttered over my head, that's for sure! I walked about 100M down the first time, then back, then 100M down the other way, so in total I would've done about 500M-700M of walking. Sigh! (I did it numerous times in case you're wondering how 100 + 100 = 500 ) Here are the stats of that short city sesh - Tide: High, 1:50PM, 2.1M, Low, 8:16PM, .5M Moon Phase: New Moon, so a bit of run Bait used: Bread Lure used: Ecogear small hard bream vibes Tackle Used: Shimano Telescopic Rod and reel combo, 10lb mainline, 20lb leader, small bait holder hooks Weather: Cloudy and windy Time fished: About 1:40PM-2:20PM Overall Success Rate: 30% - a newer spot fished Now, the second sesh took place yesterday arvo at the local park like usual. I rocked up at around 2:30PM, and just as I got there my mate arrived. Since it was a very high tide (still rising) I didn't bother throwing the cast net first up but instead got the left over prawns I had and baited up. A group of ladies had come down, who were quizzing me on everything I knew in the area (like what was the big building across from us, where this path went, blah, blah, ), but then the rod went off! I picked it up, and the fish had some go in it. While the fight wasn't very long, I still got some OK fun out of it, as it was darting around all over the shop. I saw a flash of silver, and low and behold up comes a solid bream. My mate held the rod while I bent over and netted it, which was quite easy seeing as though the tide was so high! I pulled him/her up, got a quick measure after some struggle de-hooking, and put the fish back. It was 30cm on the dot, but wasn't a very chunky fish (probably because it just spawned). Brag Mat Shot - BMS (no I did not break my scale) Nice piccy - almost worth chucking on the wall After that bream, I was a bit more eager to re-bait and got the line straight back out. I should mention I was trying for early season bullies today, so one of the lines I had out was rigged with two dead poddy mullet in hope that I could manage something. The salmon line was rigged with a dead herring, and the line that was normally out where the shark line was got dropped right into structure with two herring in hope for a cod. I gave the cast net a couple more throws (I was using the ten footer today), but to no avail. It is very annoying when I can't collect livies here, so what I may need to start doing is going to somewhere with my pushy where I can get livies, then coming back here to fish. That might have to wait 'till I fashion a (drumroll)... PUSHY FISHING CART! (OK that's a bad name Lol). The bite had gone really quiet, and for the next hour or so I literally got nothing - not even a single nibble (this was around tide change). I gave the net one throw just before the tide change though and got a small live prawn which was good size bream bait, so I put it back down. In about 2 minutes, that line went screaming off. I ran over, tightening the drag, but unfortunately the fish didn't get hooked. It went back for second, which was a rather big hit, but I didn't manage to hook up on this one either. Bugger! Once it was tide change, I was out of good fresh/live prawns, so I went to herring with this line too. It seems the pickers only move in when the tide is changing, so maybe fishing with a bit of run is better in the structure. I find it frustrating to be holding the rod, and not even be able to hook up to them because there mouths are to small for the hook (yes, I've even tried tiny whiting hooks for no result - my guess is either miniscule bream or tadpole toadies!). I got one glassy in the net around this time as well, which is better than no glassies... I placed it on the salmon line with low expectations, and fortunately for him he swum off at the end of the session fine. Bloody Pickers! In about another 45 minutes, my dad came down. He gave the net a quick throw, and by now it was about 5:15PM. Since the tide turned just about nothing had happened, except for the fact that another glassy was given to the salmon line. My dad and sister we getting killed by the midgies (and if I'm honest so was I), so we all decided to head off. I was somewhat happy with the session, with that decent bream. I mean, it's sure better than nothing! Here are the stats of the trip - Stats of Trip - Tide: 8:50AM, .3M, Low, 3:30PM, 2.1M, High, 10:10PM, .6M, Low Moon Phase: New Moon Weather: Little clouds, little wind Time fished: 2:30PM - 5:15PM Tackle Used: 12lb, 14lb, 30lb braid mainlines, 20lb, 30lb fluorocarbon leaders, 80lb mono trace, size 2 and 6 ball/bean sinkers, size 4/o circle and suicide hooks, large barrel swivel, 6"6' Abu Garcia Venotat (I think) rod, 8" Ugly Stik, 2M Rogue Firepoint Boat rod, and a lower quality Jarvis Walker type rod which I can never remember the name of, with size 2500 Shimano Nascis and Diawa Shinobis, Size 650 Penn reel, Size 5000 Jarvis Walker Sovereign reel Bait used: Live prawn, a couple live glassies, dead prawns, mullet, and herring Bait caught: Prawn (x1), Glassy (x2) Overall Success Rate: 50% - at least I got the breambo! Alright, that's the reports done. I hope you enjoyed, even though they aren't the most exciting ones in the world! Hopefully next time/sometime this school hols I can manage a salmon, that's for sure. Thanks for reading! Cheers Hamish P.S. Sorry for any spelling/grammatical/punctuational errors I'd eat that if I was a bully!

Hey Drop Bear Unfortunately in QLD tidal waters it is illegal to have ore than two hooks on one line. It states on the Fisheries website that 'up to three fishing lines are permitted with a total of six hooks'. That would mean two on each line as a maximum. Three hooks on one line would probably help though, especially when catching reefies and the likes of that on the paternoster rig. Go the triple header! (joking)! Here is the link (scroll down a bit to the 'Fishing Lines' section. https://www.qld.gov.au/recreation/activities/boating-fishing/rec-fishing/rules/equipment Cheers Hamish P.S. In freshwater it is one.

Thanks GregOug!!!