AUS-BNE-FISHO

Thanks guys.

Good video Brian

https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/more-video-emerges-of-straddie-crocodile/video/438822fbfd73be6d0bfd4624d8bc29a4?nk=bf8fe243b74c0320da0aea452564b07f-1674188093 - looks like someone got it on video.

Hi all Today I was lucky enough to be invited to go out fishing at the Port of Brisbane with Steve ( @Old Scaley ) on his boat. Brian ( @ellicat ) was also joining us to fish out of his boat as well. We met at the ramp a little past 6 and headed out from a crowded Port of Brisbane boat ramp. First on the agenda was catching livebait, and even though I'd caught a few livies plus a bunch of herring the day before we decided some more wouldn't hurt. This effort was unsuccessful, but that was no thanks to my cast netting abilities . After that, we went and dropped Steve's crab pots. We baited up with a mixture of reef fish frames and scraps, and dropped a string of pots in an area we decided looked likely. After that, we went and joined Brian who was fishing at one of the wharves. We had a look on Steve's sounder but couldn't locate any fish, so decided to start off nearby the bait school Brian was fishing. We dropped a couple of livies down and got pickered quite quickly, including on a rather large mullet. We gave it about 30 minutes here but, after having no luck, we had a look out at the front rock all. We casted a mix of herring and squid around here for the best part of an hour, but apart from a few rays breaching and a couple little bites it was pretty slow here. We went back to Brian, who was still patiently flicking lures at the wharfs, and had a bit of a drift there before going upstream a bit and having another drift. After having no luck on this front, we headed off to give the pots the first check of the day. Anticipation was high, and we ended up with two sandies from four pots. Not much but better than nothing! We got back to fishing, and decided to go for a couple of drifts around a couple of Steve's spots which are normally quite reliable for squire. It was a little quiet on the first couple of drifts, apart from myself missing a good run/bite on a livie because the rod was in the holder and I didn't get it out quick enough, and Steve getting pickered a couple of times. We repeated our drift in a few different locations with Brian nearby, and eventually we decided to give the crab pots another check. This brought one more legal sandy, and after repositioning some pots we were back to fishing. Steve had a couple good bites and eventually hooked a undersize squire, but then it went quiet again. We kept fishing, and a little while later we heard a big WOOHOO from Brian's boat... We were feeling hopeful after seeing his catch (if you haven't already read his report A Trip to the Synagogue), so continued to persist with our drifting. We gave it another hour and a bit but eventually called it quits a bit before two when we hadn't landed another fish. I did finish up missing three good bites in a row, mainly because I had a hook slightly too small for my large herring. We collected the pots which didn't bring any more crabs and motored back to the ramp in the still calm conditions. Overall, it was a great day out on the water with some awesome weather. Big thanks to Steve for taking me out on his boat and for the fun days fishing, hope you didn't mind having me along! Sandies Hope you enjoyed reading, Here are some brief stats from the trip: Stats: Tide: High tide, 8:30AM. 2.4M, Low Tide, 3PM, .7M Moon Phase: About 8%, near New Moon, so a fair bit of run Bait Caught and Used: Bait used consisted of herring, squid, and a couple livies. Crab bait was mainly reef fish frames. Tackle and Lures Used: I used a Shimano Stradic 3000 on a Shimano Raider and an Abu Garcia Ambassadeur on an Ugly Stik with 15 and 20 pound braid and 30 pound leader, Steve used similiar spinning gear and leader. We used circle hooks and ball sinkers. We also flicked around a couple vibes and Steve through a slug around for some tailor which were busting up. Notes: Weather was great, wind picked up slightly as the day progressed. POB ramp very crowded and a fair few boats about. A few schools of tailor eating bait on the surface around lunch. Air Pressure: 1009 - quite low Overall Success Rate: 55% - a fun day on the Port, even though the fishing was a little quiet Cheers Hamish

My Abu Garcia Ambassador is probably one of my favourite reels, and in the 6500 size is big enough to use for heavier bait fishing but also could be used for flicking larger lures too.

Oh

Hope you have a speedy recovery Ray. Cheers Hamish

Good one Neil, those are some solid macks.

Good report Brian, and great jewie. It’s a shame we had no luck at the wharves on the lures but good you got that fish! It was a fun day on the port anyways and the conditions were mint too. Big thanks to Steve for taking me out! Cheers Hamish

You’d be pretty unlucky to get eaten by a croc anywhere in SEQ

Thanks Brian. Cheers Brett, will do Thanks @FishingCrazy, they’re sure better than nothing. Cheers Hamish

Hi all The last few days, I have been up on the Sunshine Coast. For two nights, I was staying with my mates at Coolum. We didn't do much fishing there, but straight after that I met up with my family, who were staying at Peregian Beach. I did a bit of surf fishing here, and although I didn't catch anything too good I had a couple of fun sessions as well as a bit of swimming and bodyboarding. The first session was with my mates in Stumers Creek at Coolum. We started off at a spot a mate had caught a jack at before, but after flicking plastics here for about 30 minutes for no luck we moved down towards the mouth. We fished here for about an hour in hope of a flatty but none of us could catch a fish, which was quite disapointting. For the remainder of the trip, we went swimming at the beach and watched some movies. When Sunday morning came around, it was time for me to go back to my family. I said bye to my mates, and after getting settled at the apartment my Dad and I went for a quick evening flick at the beach. My Dad was using my Alvey and I was using a light spinning reel, which I found quite enjoyable. The tide was quite high and running out though, and combined with the very choppy conditions and drizzle from the sky, fishing was tough. We found a couple small gutters and had a cast in these, but couldn't manage any fish. We eventually called it quits around dusk and walked back to the apartment. The next morning, my Dad and I woke up at about 5. Annoyingly, it was raining pretty heavily, the skies were dark, black, and the wind was howling. We waited until about 6 to see if the rain would clear, but it wasn't looking good... So we decided to go fishing anyways. We started off in a smaller gutter that was close by to the access track which we had fished the day before. After about 20 minutes with no success, we decided to head up the beach to a larger gutter we had briefly fished in that prior afternoon. The tide was beginning to rise but was decently low, and after about ten minutes of adjusting to the chop, wind, and sweep, my Dad and I each got pickered a couple times. We also shuffled out a couple of large pipis, which promptly got nibbled away by small fish. My Dad was first on the board though, with a little dart of about 25CM. Although these get pretty boring in the surf (especially at that size), it was nice to catch something off the beach - giving us some confidence. It was also the first fish on my Alvey, which we were pleased about. My Dad followed it up with another dart, on worm this time. It was about 8:30AM now, and seeing as though the bite wasn't particulalrly hot and my Dad had a couple of things to do he left the beach, just as the rain got really bad! Little dart I was starting to freeze, but after getting a couple more pipis and switching to a smaller baitholder hook to keep my bait on better, I felt some nibbles. Then a bite... And then I was on! It was only little, but I as pleased to catch my first fish of the trip, a small dat.(for some reason I felt fine after that ). Over the next hour, I caught some more of these as well as some pipis, which were plentiful enough but seemed to be a lot deeper than I was used to in the sand - about 30CM down. I eventually landed a larger dart at 31CM, which I decided to keep as fresh dart is normally pretty good in my experience. I fished until about 10:30AM when my Dad and siblings came down, and in total that morning I caught about 6 or 7 dart, so 8 or 9 between my Dad and I. Not bad. I cleaned the dart on the beach and cooked it that night, but unfortunately, after one more swim in the surf (and getting dumped a couple of times ), we had to leave the beach and come back home. Another little one It was a fun but quick trip, and despite swimming when it was cloudy, rainy and putting on loads of sunscreen I still got fried pretty well, lol. Thanks for reading the report, I hope you enjoyed. Here are the stats of the trip for anyone interested: Statistics of Trip: Tide: We fished both the rising and run out tide. We found the first part of the rising tide to be best for fishing and around the top of the tide to be the trickiest. Moon Phase: Around third quarter decreasing to New Moon, not heaps of tidal flow. The weather did make the beach very choppy and turbulent though. Bait Caught: Pipis Bait Used: Pipis, servo prawn and worm Fish Caught: 8/9 x dart Tackle Used: I used an Abu Garcia Veritas 2-4KG on a Diawa Tierra 2500 with 8 pound braid and a ten pound fluoro leader and trace. My Dad used an 11 foot Kmart surf rod on an Alvey 6 inch 60GT sidecast reel. This was spooled with 12 pound Maxima mono, and he used a ten pound trace. We both used small swivels, small longshank or baitholder hooks, and size 3 ball sinkers. When I fished in Stumers Creek I chucked a three inch Holt Prawn and 3.5 inch Zman grub around. Weather: The weather was rainy, cloudy, and windy for the duration of the trip. Other Notes: Surf conditions were very choppy making fishing and sometimes spotting gutters difficult. It paid to find a larger gutter opposed to the smallr ones running paralell with the beach. Conditions were quite cold and wet, which is maybe why the bite was quiet at times. Otherwise a nice trip! Overall Success Rate: 60%, caught some fish and had a fun time with my Dad Cheers Hamish

I normally pan fry my fish in oil or butter after coating it in flour or a mix of flour, egg, and breadcrumb. I find this quite simple and the fish normally tastes good providing it is a good eating fish.

Good tips!

Great session Dino!

Good one Ray, some solid bass there.

In my experience they definitely aren’t year round at Colmslie, generally they are there in numbers this time of year I have found but it is looking like they might start coming in a bit later, maybe February. I have caught them from about now-July in numbers and have caught a few in October too - though when they are on you will see plenty of Facebook posts about it.

They haven’t been around in the Brisbane River yet in numbers, maybe the next full or new moon they will be in. Have been getting a couple good bananas though.

Great fish, that’s a cracker!

Thanks for the guide Bob, I’ve been meaning to try fishing for some larger sharks so will try using these tips.

2023 Fishing Goals First Threadfin on a Lure New PB Threadfin 50cm plus squire landbased from the river - Done Decent flathead from the river - Done First mangrove Jack 1.5M Shark from the river Brisbane River Jewfish - Done 40cm+ Brisbane River Bass - Done What about everyone else???

Nice work guys, that’s a good feed of whiting!

Cheers Brian, always better than staying at home. Thanks Kat, it’s certainly nice up there. Thanks Junky, I definitely was. Now I will know a lot more for next time. And yep, you know it’s been a bit quiet if the report has someone else’s fish . Thanks Brett, sounds like a bit of fun. There are apparently a fair few good flatties on the ocean side. Thanks Angry, hopefully one of those days is soon. Cheers Hamish

Welcome to the forum, what’s your favourite fish to chase?

Hi all From New Year's Eve to the 6th of January, I stayed at Yeppoon for a holiday. The plan was to do a bit of fishing, and hopefully catch some fish too. After arriving on New Year's Eve and rigging a couple rods, I went to bed early in preparation for a session at the harbour the next morning. The plan was to fish with some live herring and target estuary cod and fingermark while also dropping some smaller baits for bream. Day 1 My Dad and I arrived at the harbour some time around 5:30AM, and went to our usual wharf. A commercial fishing boat was moored at one side though, so we had half the normal fishing space. That was alright, and we gave the cast net a throw. There didn't seem to be too much bait about, but it wasn't long before my Dad hit a couple small schools of herring and we had enough bait to start fishing. I deployed a couple livies and a lighly weighted dead bait, and we got to fishing. To begin with, it was quiet on all fronts. We persisted for about an hour, but after no bites my Dad headed home. I continued fishing, but apart from a rather large flat salmon following my bait up as I wound it in (it made a big splash on the surface as my bait came out of the water but missed the hook, and looked to be around 50cm), I could hardly manage a bite. Eventually, after getting pickered a few times, I caught my first fish of the New Year - a tiny moses perch. I followed this up with an undersize bream, and after fishing for a bit longer with no bites I packed it up around 11:30AM. That arvo, I went to the Causeway Lake and had a flick with a few lures as well. I tried some hardbodies and a few different types of plastics, but could not manage a bite at all. Despite the quiet start to the year I decided the next morning I would go to the Causeway with some livies and fish the run in. Day 2 We left home at about twenty to six and got to the harbour to get some herring. We spent a little while trying to get a school or two, but after we did this we were off the the Causeway. It wasn't that busy, but there were about four people there already. They hadn't been there for long, from what I could see, and hadn't caught much yet either. I was fishing with decent sized sinkers and circle hooks, but after casting out my herring a few times and getting pickered almost immedialietely, I realised I was going to need a lot more bait! Lucky for me, my Dad felt like doing some more cast netting, and it wasn't long before he had a few more herring. We fished for a little longer but after no more bites and a lot more people on the bridge we decided to head back home. Once again that arvo, I went for a flick with some lures at the Causeway for a donut. So far, things weren't looking good Day 3 On Tuesday, we had decided to go for a quick trip, for the first time ever, to Great Keppel Island. Our boat left at 10:30AM though, so I still had time to go for a quick fish in the morning at the Causeway. We left a bit earlier than the day before, and our herring gathering was far more successful. It wasn't long before I had a decent position on the bridge and was soaking some livebait. While I was doing this, Dad went and had a throw of the net at some spots at the Causeway, where I believe he got a few mullet, herring, and silver biddies. Mullet and biddies were supposed to be better bait than herring, according to my mate who I met that day. It was looking pretty quiet for me, but my mate chucked on a mullet he caught, and it wasn't long before he hooked something big. Although I didn't see it fully, a large barra apparently jumped before breaking him off. This was disapointting but it would've been let go regardless as it is close season. I also learnt that circle hooks and big sinkers were not the best way to fish here, instead using suicide hooks and small sinkers or even unweighted baits when there is no run is the best thing to do. As the run in intensified, the bite went a bit quiet and it became a little difficult to fish, especially with all the rods out. My mate, however, knew what to do, and before long he had a small mangrove jack on the bridge, followed by a couple little bream and cod. This was cool to see, although I was still on the donut so my main focus was catching a fish! I think I caught a couple tiddlers to finish the session, but definitely nothing worth mentioning. Here is the mangrove jack that my mate caught - Little jack So, after I got back home, I packed some lunch, my rod, and a bit of tackle for the trip to Great Keppel Island. It was just my Dad, brother, and myself, so the plan was that I would fish for the day while they did a couple things around the island. We arrived at the harbour, and it was absolutely packed because of the fact it was a very calm day on Keppel Bay (if you've been to Rosslyn Bay Harbour before - both of the main carparks were jam pack full and cars were parked anywhere they could get to). My mum dropped us off, and we hopped on the ferry. It was a nice trip over to the island, and it wasn't long before I was walking up the pristine, white, sand of Putney Beach to my chosen fishing location - a rocky headland at the top of Putney Beach. I started off with a 4 inch Zman paddletail in Sexy Mullet, but after having no luck with this I switched to a smaller 3.2 inch paddletail. Apart from a few garfish darting around, this didn't bring any fish life my way, and I decided to switch my lure again. I'd been fishing for about an hour now, so I had a quick bite to eat before firing out a 20g microjig. I was getting some good distance casting this around, but unfortuantely that didn't equate to any fish. After about 1.5hrs of fishing, I decided I would begin walking to a headland at the other end of the beach. It was boiling hot though, and conveniently my Dad and brother had just finished up going on a lunchtime tour around the island, and were about to go on a glassboat looking at some reef. I decided seeing some fish was better than not catching any, so I spent the next 30 minutes or so looking at a few reef fish (morwong, stripeys, cod, and a few other things - most of which were quite sizeable). GKI also apparently has 17 different reefs surrounding it, which is good to hear. After that glassboat tour, we headed back home on the 2:30PM ferry. Overall, it was a very nice day with some great weather! Great Keppel Island Day 4 After the island trip, I was back at the Causeway the very next day. First on the agenda was catching livies, so my Dad had a walk around a few spots looking for some bait. Unfortunately, despite a very long time casting the net, the only thing that came about was a couple mullet and hardyheads. My Dad even drove all the way to the harbour in an effort to find some herring, and he got none! Luckily, I had some dead herring from previous sessions so I started off using that. After my Dad left and my mate from the day before came down as well as another fella, I went and had a cast in some spots I knew were snag free. This was pretty successful, and despite the fact I lost a few mullet due to the massive holes in my net which I have since repaired, I got one good one and a few herring. This was enough to get me started, so I dropped a herring down and pulled up a little cod, my first fish of the day. An old fella who was fishing there, who told me he had been fishing there since 1973 (so 50 years!), caught a couple mullet in his net. He was using a decent sized sinker, and caught two legal size cod, one which would've been pushiung fifty centimetres. This was good to see, and his mate who was down with him followed the cod up by hooking a large barracuda, that was around the metre mark. This was kept for crab bait, and providided some excitement jumping out and running around the bridge. After the cuda, the water stopped running in at such a high intensity. I deployed a large live mullet, and my rod went off while I was doing something. The fish didn't hook up, but someone nearby was sure it was a barra from the way the bait was scaled and the take. Bugger! I started catching a couple pickers, before I set the hook into something that felt a bit stronger. I was pleased to see a small jack come flying out of the water on my line, but annoyingly, the hook managed to fall out of it's mouth. Bugger! The water eventually stopped running through, and the three of us had a cast with some livies that were caught in some rock holes. Doing this, we caught some little bream, cod, and one of my mates who I was fishing with caught a little jack, which was cool to see. After that, we finished up fishing before leaving the bridge. Day 5 This was my last hope at catching something decent, as I had not yet hooked much big at all. We went straight to the Causeway a little past five, and I was the first on the bridge. I got a good position, and my dad and I did some cast netting. We got a few hardyheads, but my Dad decided to go for a walk while I started fishing. I started off poorly, with a couple of snags, but my mate from the previous days arrived. At the same time, my Dad came back with a bucket full of silver biddies, mullet, and herring. Great! My mate and I each chucked a couple of these out, and it wasn't long before my mate was on a big fish. After a few tense moments fighting this fish, with some big head shakes and strong runs, a big Mangrove Jack had been pulled up. He walked it over to the rocks and brought it up on the bridge, and we were all pretty happy to see such a good fish! After quickly measuring it and taking a photo, he let it go back into the lake. Nice! My mate's very solid jack After this, he followed up with a solid queenfish that would've been in the forties somewhere. I was still on the donut at this point, but had a cast behind a rock bar where I pulled in a few moses perch and small cod in quick succession. After this, it started to get pretty busy, and the bite went a bit quiet. We kept floating livies around the rocks for another couple of hours, but because of the fast tide and crowded bridge we still struggled to catch much more than a few little things. As the tide began to recede, we decided to walk to a nearby spot and have a quick cast. Here, I missed a good bite on a large live mullet, and my mate landed a nice cod which would've been around legal size. We casted some lures around after this but it was pretty hot and the fish weren't biting so we decided to call it a day. Here are some brief stats for anyone interested: Quick Stats: Tides Fished: I primarily fished the morning high run ins at Causeway Lake. For the tide to run in here, the water must be above 3.7M. Moon Phase: I fished the period between third quarter and full moon. Baits Used and Caught: Live herring, mullet, silver biddies, garfish. Fish Caught: I only caught small bream, moses perch, and cod. Tackle Used: I fished with a Shimano Stradic 3000FL on a 4-7Kg Raider, Abu Garcia Barra King baitcaster on an Ugly Stik, Shimano Aero Baitrunner on a 6-10KG rod, and a Shimano Curado K on a Shimano Cranx baitcast rod. I used mainlines ranging from 15-30 pound, and leaders around 10-30 pound. I used 4-8/o circle hooks, small sinkers up to a size 2 ball, suicide hooks in 4/o size, small baitholder hooks, and barrel swivels. Weather: Sunny most days, a couple bits of rain here and there. Not too windy. Notes: Apparently there was a lot of dirty water around when I was there, making fished significantly worse. Causeway bridge gets very crowded on a run through so best to be there early as possible. Overall Success Rate: 60% - a quiet trip for me but good to see some new species in person. Anyways, that's a wrap up of the trip. I know it was pretty quiet but I still learnt a lot from my mate and saw some good fish get caught. Big thanks to @Cavvy for waking up early with me and catching livies! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed, Cheers Hamish