AUS-BNE-FISHO

Thanks Ray. Thankyou Angry. Thanks Benno. So the main difference between the two is the colouration? I was planning to try a couple more spots on the trip, like that one, but I ended up running out of time. I will definitely give it a crack the next time I’m up there though. Cheers Hamish

Hi all Last Tuesday I packed up some fishing gear and clothes to go to my Grandmas at Yeppoon. We left on Tuesday and after a gruelling 9.5 hour drive (stopped at Childers, Gin Gin, and Mount Larcom) we were there. As we flew along the Bruce Highway I eagerly awaited the sight of the Calliope, Mary, Boyne Rivers, etc, as I always find it interesting to look at them. I would love to give them a crack fishing one day as they all look like they would have something in them. On arrival, I played a couple games of pool and rigged up a light rod in preparation to go for a session in the morning. Session #1 It was low tide, so my plan was to fish for flathead and cast net at a nearby creek. The tides were very small though, so, unlike previous holidays where there has only been a small channel of water (often holds big mullet), there was still a lot of water on dead low tide. I started off by flicking my prawn lure (1/4 jighead for casting distance) around for about 25 minutes, but after no hits I figured I'd try my luck for some bait while it wasn't too sunny. 20 minutes later I had caught one or two undersize flatties, some Crescent Perch, and Glassies. I went back to flicking my lure, and after ten more minutes of no luck I switched my lure to a Baitjunkie Grub with a 1/8 jighead (maybe the lighter weight would help, I hoped). 30 minutes later I had still managed nothing, so I decided to try cast netting a bit longer. I threw the net for ten minutes for a couple more undersize flatties (all swum off well luckily) and I gave the plastic a few final flicks. The tide was rising fast now so I finished netting when I got 15 glassies in one throw and scampered up the rock wall. "Ahhh, yet another crappy session at Ross Creek," I thought to myself as I walked away with mud all over me. Quick Stats: Tide: Low Tide, I fished about 45 minutes either side of the tide change Moon Phase: 34%, increasing Fish Caught: - Lures Used: Holt Production 4inch Swimprawn in White spot and Diawa Baitjunkie 4 inch Grub Tackle Used: Abu Garcia Veritas 3-5KG, 10 pound braid mainline, Diawa Shinobi 2500, 6 pound leader. 1/4 and 1/8 jigheads. Session #2 I spent a little while rigging up another rod with a tiny ball sinker and a baitholder hook in preparation for a session that arvo. I arrived at the chosen location and beforehand picked up a bag of prawns from the nearby servo. Normally I would make a better effort to catch bait but the bait at this servo is all good, large prawns (I think they must get them off the trawlers then freeze them themselves). Anyways, there were a couple of folk fishing on the wharf I intended to, so for the first few minutes I casted into the shallows/near the rock wall. Luckily for me it seemed they were packing up at the perfect time so I scampered into position. After getting debaited and pickered a couple of times with a baitholder hook, I made the switch to a size #4 long shank hook. It didn't take long before I pulled up two undersize bream (23CM), one of which fought decently as it was foul hooked. The wind was terrible so I set up so none of my stuff would blow away. I was struggling to feel small bites because the wind was often blowing too much line out. My third fish I hooked was a bit better though, but inevitably, it wrapped me around one of the pylons. This happened 3 or 4 more times that day - though I believe they were all small bream and cod, and the reason they busted me off was because I was dropping 5cm from the pylon. It was a fair time before I caught the next fish but I did manage to end up getting two little butter bream. Eventually I pulled in a couple more tiny cod, but at about 5:30PM I called it quits. Interestingly, I saw someone throwing a cast net. I never thought there was much bait in the harbour but that changed when I saw him pull up enough herring for a session in one cast. Butter Bream Quick Stats: Tide: 12:40PM, 2.9M, High, 6:20PM, 1.9M, Low Moon Phase: Increasing, 34% Bait Used: Prawn cubes Fish Caught: Butter bream, Bream, Cod Tackle Used: Shimano Stradic 3000, 15 pound braid and leader, Shimano Raider 4-7KG. Size 00 ball sinker and #4 longshank Session #3 The next session was the following morning, at the same spot again. I arrived a little after six, and was the first fisherman at the harbour. A large charter boat (going to Swains Reef, I presume) was unloading/departing, but I can't say that I felt like I wanted to be on that boat. It was so windy I was practically getting blown away! My Dad and I gave the net a few casts off the first wharf for a couple of lancers and one extremely unlucky grinner (kept for strip bait). We then decided to move locations to the wharf I would be fishing off. It only took a couple of throws before we had gotten a good amount of herring and bony bream (as well as a couple other undesirables). I got to fishing, and my Dad headed off. After a good while standing in the wind, I finally landed the first fish of the day. I think it was a little bream or cod (can't remember). This continued and I got pickered a lot, but to pass the time I continued cast netting. I ended up netting a small GT, so I flicked my soft plastic around for a little while in hope of enticing one. Nothing was interested, so I got back to bait fishing. Trev I was struggling to feel any bites and because of the wind my 00 ball sinker was being blown out of the water before it sunk and got into the strike zone of larger fish (enticing lots of crescent perch, my new archenemy). I was excited when I heard a short, sharp run on my overhead outfit. I picked it up but after a short fight I was disappointed to see an undersize cod, which engulfed a bait bigger than it's mouth. I got a few more runs, one which led to the head of a bait going missing, one which led to another small cod, and a third, much more interesting one. At first I thought I was simply snagged, but upon tugging my line I realised I was making some headway. 3 minutes later I had some cutting in my hands from the braid, a huge, rusty boat propeller, and another undersize cod wharfside! Lol. The propeller cod I fished for a fair bit more after that but eventually had to go home so packed up with some fresh bait and high hopes for my next session. Quick Stats: Tide: 1:30AM, 3.5M, High, 8:20AM, 2.4M, Low, 2:00PM, 2.6M, High Moon Phase: 43%, increasing Bait Used: Prawns and live herring/bony bream Fish Caught: A few cod, bream, and other pickers. Tackle Used: 15 and 20 pound braid mainlines, 15 and 30 pound mono/fluorocarbon leaders, size 00 and 2 ball/bean sinkers, barrel swivels/albright knots, size #4 longshank and 4/o circle hooks, Shimano Stradic 3000 on Shimano Raider 4-7KG, Abu Garcia Barra King 650 on Ugly Stik. Session #4 I rerigged my rods after the morning session in preparation for more fishing. I was dropped off at the harbour and walked over to my chosen location with my three rods. There was one other kid fishing (maybe 11) and from the looks of it he wasn't having any luck. One throw of the cast net got me around 25 small herring, so I figured I wouldn't bother catching any more for a while. Unfortunately, only around ten lived, which was annoying. I deployed my heavy rod with three livies bunched on the hook and put my lighter combo down with a light weight and whole herring. It didn't take long before I was on the board with a small cod - these seem to enjoy munching on herring much more than bream, which seem to like prawn. I continued to get pickered and alternated between grinner fillets (I had some success with small bream on these in the prior session), herring, and prawn cubes. To keep me occupied my overhead would scream off regularly, but they were only small cod gobbling my herring. When I ran out of live herring I decided to throw the cast net again. One throw brought me about thirty small herring this time. Although it was very tempting I decided to stop throwing the net as I had no use for so many herring. I redeployed live baits and continued feeding fish on my light line. While I was waiting I flicked around my 3.2 inch plastic, and jigged it around pylons to no avail. I caught a couple more small cod but eventually I ran out of livebait, so I rigged up a small dead herring and lobbed it out into some water away from the structure. At around quarter past five, my overhead was hit hard. Line was flying off, and I was quick to set the hooks. I did one wind and could feel that this fish was very big. I was struggling to gain line, and after some thumping headshakes I was questioning whether my already chaffed 30 pound leader would hold up. I had about 6/7KG of drag on this fish, but it was still taking some big runs. I was jumping around up the wharf fighting to keep this fish from busting me off, and eventually I could see my leader. The fish made one final bid to win it's freedom by thrashing about beneath the jetty. Somehow it did not cut me off on the oyster encrusted pylons, and I could now see the sinker. One more crank allowed me to lay eyes on the large, silver, fingermark. Woohoo! I never expected I would see one of those! The battle was not just over though, and I needed to enlist the help of the boy fishing to land it for me. We both scuttled down the rock wall to a concrete slab we could stand on, and while I held the rod the boy held the fish in the gills and brought it up to the wharf. I must admit, I certainly wouldn't have done that in fear of getting cuts in the gills. Seeing as though it was my first good fish of the trip, and I have never tried Fingermark, I decided to keep it. I doubt it would've lived anyways as it was quite exhausted and held up by the gills for a long time period too. I bled him out, and a bit after 5:30PM I very happily departed the jetty with my catch. I gave some of my herring away to a newbie father/son fishing team as well, so they could try with some fresh bait (and so I could get rid of a little bit). Happy days! I filleted the fish up back at my Grandmas, and it was frozen in preparation for dinner a couple nights later. Statistics of Trip: Tide: 2:00PM, 2.6M, High, 8:00PM, 2.1M, Low (hardly any run) Moon Phase: 43%, Increasing Air Pressure: 1013 Humidity: 75% Bait Caught: Live herring Bait Used: Live herring, dead herring, prawn cubes, grinner fillets Fish Caught: Tackle Used: 10, 15, 20 pound braid mainlines. 6, 15, 30 pound fluorocarbon leaders. Size 2 and 00 ball sinkers, 1/8th jigheads (size #2 hook), size #4 longshank hooks, size 4/o Gamakatsu circle hook, large barrel swivels, Shimano Stradic 3000 + Shimano Raider 4-7KG, Ugly Stik on Abu Garcia Barra King, Abu Garcia Veritas 3-5KG on Diawa Shinobi 2500. Overall Success Rate: 90% - fun session! Session #5 After my successful trip the day prior I had eagerly prepared my gear to fish at the harbour yet again. I was very happy when my uncle offered to take me out on his boat for a couple of hours, as I have always done well off there. Unfortunately, a large rain cell had been reaching Yeppoon, so it was a wet, very windy day to go fishing. We got to the boat and set up out of the wind. We were immediately getting small bites, but there was nothing large nibbling. My uncle somehow hooked a ponyfish which I decided to drop down as a livebait. I didn't hold high hopes as I have never caught anything good on a ponyfish but I figured I may have some luck. My uncle was trying with prawn and grinner strips, and I was sticking to herring. My uncle caught the second fish, a small bream. 2-0! Eventually, after many picker attacks and hit and run incidents (crescent perch), something much better had a go at my bait. It took two speedy runs, but in the end I did not set the hook. I think the #4 longshanks are a bit small for whole herring anyways. After that I caught three small bream, but my uncle caught two more fish, ultimately giving him the win, 4-3. We went hope wet from the rain, annoyed we did not get any keepers. Quick Stats: Tide: Low, 2.0M, 11:00AM, High, 4:15Pm, 2.7M Moon Phase: 52%, increasing Bait Used: Prawns, grinner strips, herring Tackle Used: 15 and 30 pound braid mainlines, 15 and 20 pound leaders, size 00 ball sinkers and #4 longshank hooks. Shimano Aero Baitrunner + Rogue Firepoint Boat Rod and Shimano Stradic 3000 on Raider rod. Fish Caught: Bream, Ponyfish Session #6 For a brief period that arvo the sun had come out, so I decided to walk to Statue Bay and flick a plastic around for a flatty. I rigged up my Shimano Cranx overhead rod on my baitcaster, and tied on a 1/4 jighead for casting distance with a clear coloured Ecogear 4 inch Flickbait. Eventually I arrived, and I could not believe my eyes! It was completely packed, at every spot I could possibly fish. It's probably one of the crappier/worse fishing locations in Yeppoon, as there is only a small sandy section (the rest is rocks, just go at low tide to look). Obviously, seeing as though I was there, I had a few casts. I was pleased with the distance I was getting (25m). After ten uneventful minutes of casting, I got badly snagged. I decided I would attempt to find my lure the next time I was free on low tide, so I left, disheartened. A badly rigged plastic I found buried in the sand. I also saw some people cleaning a mudcrab they had obviously caught somewhere else there. Quick Stats: Tide: 4:20PM, 2.7M, High Moon Phase: 52%, increasing Tackle Used: Shimano Cranx on Diawa Baitcaster Reel, 15 pound mono leader, 1/4 jighead, 4 inch Ecogear Jerkbait Fish Caught: - Session #7 After that rather dismal session, I decided I would go back to the harbour the next morning. I rigged my rods up, and arrived at the harbour before any other fisherman by a mile. My Dad did a few throws of the cast net to begin with, and nailed some sizeable herring and a bony bream. We also caught our first ever 'Happy Moment', which we cautiously nudged back into the water. I deployed my baits and my Dad headed off. Before this, the wind had briefly abated enough for me to have good contact with my bait. In the prior moments, Dad had caught a Flat Salmon in the cast net, which was released. The same fish quite possibly produced those weird bites, and after some brief aerobatics (a noobs queenfish, haha) I had a badly gut hooked slab of bait on the wharf. I chopped him up and kept him for strip bait. The weather was still pretty dismal, and on top of the extremely strong wind there was still a fair bit of rain. I started off the session by doing the normal 'drop the bait 5cm from the pylon and get pickered before it sinks', which lasted for a fair while. I was waiting for the big rod to go off though, and after landing a couple of tiddlers (one of which was a toadfish which ended up dying as a result of having the longshank hook so deep down it's guts ) I was feeling down. The flat salmon strips had also produced some small cod. Upon checking the big rod in the mist of a shower I realized that a large fish or ray had been sitting on the bait. After about 5 seconds the biggun started shaking it's head a lot, which confirmed to me it wasn't a stingray. Annoyingly, it spat my live herring bait soon after! That was enough for me to confirm that I was likely hooked up to a big cod. I was running low on livies so I casted a sizeable ponyfish back into the general area and began fishing with my light line again. Between rebaiting, bending over, and ensuring my bait was sinking, or not getting blown away, I had neglected to check the heavy line. After pulling in a couple pickers (cod if I remember right) I was pleased to hear my ratchet clicking madly. I waited until the long, slow run ended before I clicked my baitrunner into normal drag. I would've had about 7-8KG of drag on this fish, but I wasn't making any progress. It went towards the shore, so I maximised my chances by cranking line in really fast. Unluckily for me this fish clearly knew what to do, and began swimming towards pylons in front of the wharf. After a brief tug of war the fish began to strip line quite fast. It would've taken around 20 metres with my line wrapped around the pylon (somehow didn't snap straight away) before I got busted off. Arghhh! I fished for a couple more hours but could not entice anything sizeable. I got picked up for lunch, wet and chilly, and rerigged in preparation for an arvo sesh. It is also worth noting the prior arvo I left my sunscreen tub on the wharf, and it was still there the next day. Yay! Quick Stats: Tide: 4:30AM, 3.5M, High, 11:40AM, 1.8M, Low Moon Phase: 62%, increasing Bait Used: Live herring, ponyfish, prawn cubes Tackle Used: 15 and 20 pound braid mainlines, 15 and 30 pound fluoro/mono leaders, size #4 longshank and 4/o circle hooks, large barrel swivels, 00 and 2 ball/bean sinkers, Abu Garcia overhead on Ugly Stik and Shimano Stradic 3000 on Raider. Fish Caught: Tiddlers, Two bustoffs/lost fish Session #8 I arrived back at the harbour keen to go fishing. There was no one fishing on the the wharf I like going off to my delight, so I scampered over with my gear and set up. My dad couldn't help himself with the cast net, and gave it a few throws. It was very sunny, and this proved to be good for a couple of garfish and bony bream. I sent these out on two live bait rods, this time, and continued netting. I caught a sizeable mullet in the net as well, so when one of the garfish carked it, and got pickered as a dead bait, I sent him out. I also caught my first ever Sicklefish, which was tiny. (released) These are supposedly tasty when big It was terribly windy and there were a few fast moving storms hitting/just missing the harbour, so I had my poncho ready. I dropped my leader to ten pound after a while as nothing was happening, and I was immediately rewarded. It wasn't amazing but was nice to get a healthy bream out of the pylons (maybe 23-26cm). I continued changing baits (not the mullet, but herring, bonies, etc) when they got pickered, and I tried casting in many different locations. It seemed the big fish were not chewing one bit, and I can't imagine that the wind helped that one bit. It began to get crowded in the harbour, but I stayed to try and get a fish. There were others cast netting in preparation for a night session, families showing kids how to fish, and some float fishing (maybe for garfish??? it didn't look like it though). I headed off a bit after 5:30PM, sad that on my last fishing sesh of the harbour I got none. I released the mullet and my dad gave the cast net a couple more throws for some herring - he couldn't help it . Quick Stats: Tide: 11:35AM, 1.8M, Low, 5:45Pm, 3.0M, High Moon Phase: 62%, increasing Bait Used: Livies, prawn cubes Fish Caught: - Session #9 For my final session of my trip to Yeppoon, I decided to try a spot, known as Causeway Lake, which was recommended to me by a helpful/nice fella. I woke Dad up in the morning, and we drove to the harbour to catch our live herrings. The first cast brought a school of scat, which were released/fed to seagulls, but the second cast brought a Chrissy Tree of sizeable herring. We filled up the bucket and drove to the Causeway Bridge. It gets very crowded here, so I was pleased that I could select the best spot on the bridge as I was first in. The Causeway Lake has been built so it is cut off from the ocean on any tide that is lower than 3.7M. The good thing about this is that it means that, when the lake is cut off, it doesn't go down lower and lower, therefore meaning there is always some water. The bad thing is that fish from the ocean (barra, trevs, etc) cannot make their way into the lake. There are supposedly resident fish in the lake though, so I figured I would give it a crack. After I deployed my livie rods, I dropped a lightly weighted prawn cube down into the water. It began getting nibbled by toadfish and baby bream, so I left it down in the water for ten or so seconds, but it didn't seem like anything big was coming. Just as I lifted my bait out of the water, a GIANT cod surfaced and gulped down some of the fish!!! Wow! It was easily 80CM, and it had a giant, thick head. I am glad I didn't hook it as I would've just left a hook in it's mouth, though I am sure it is a resident cod to the lake and it wouldn't of mattered too much anyways. While this happened, two blokes flicked lures at various access points around the bridge for ten minutes, though caught nothing and left. Weird. Maybe they were just sussing a spot out. At around 6:30AM, another fella came by. He was flicking lightly weighted baits, and started his day off with a Moses Perch. Shortly before this, I caught my first ever fish in Causeway Lake, a tiny cod - Shortly after that, the bite went a bit quiet, and some other people rocked up. They were nice enough, but seemed like they wanted to mind their own business/a little bit funny. After a couple tangles due to their lousy casting, and a bit of a cast netting display from the other fishers, I hooked up to my next fish. I was hopeful for a little Mangrove Jack when I saw a flicker of red, but I wasn't complaining when I pulled up another Fingermark (28cm?). Not even two minutes later my other rod went off with a little Estuary Cod. It definitely seemed the fish here came on the bite for short periods, or maybe it was just luck. I decided to photograph some fish this session After that, I kept fishing. I was beginning to run out of live herring, so I started trying to make a dent in my huge amount of deadbait I had accumulated from previous sessions. The fella on the rocks caught a small queenie about now, and my Dad finally headed off (after generously picking me up a big milkshake for brekky, seeing as though I hadn't had any as I had been fishing instead for the past few days ). The bite was quite slow, and 9:00AM came quickly. I think I had caught a couple of little breambos, and lost a lot of hooks by then. The snags were bad, so I was slowly figuring out where not to cast. Baits that had so far worked were live herring, dead herring, hardyheads (netted at the harbour), and prawns, but flat salmon was not proving to be any good. The little bream I was hooking were feisty enough to keep me entertained, and on a 4/o suicide hook they were greedy to be eating the bait. At one point the bites were immediate but I was only getting pickered, opposed to hooking anything. Greedy I continued fishing but now that there was a good amount of pickers hassling me I focused on dropping my baits straight down with a light sinker more. I had a slightly oversized baitholder hook on my Stradic for this fishing, but that did not stop me from landing another small bream or two and a colourful wrasse (which somehow survived despite being hooked it in neck). Too many photos! After those pickers, I ended up getting so wound up with all the snags I switched to a shallow diving lure (as it was quite shallow around the areas I was fishing). My overhead had been broken off (snag) so I stopped fishing with that as well, because I really couldn't be bothered to re rig for the fifth (or more) time. I decided to drop my heavier line straight down on top of a ledge too - I knew there would be some cod in there and my assumption proved to be correct. After the other two that had been on the bridge left (their only notably catch was a small grassy), I had I the bridge to myself. I casted my lure numerous times, and was overly cautious when I saw something large and brown come out from the depth as I thought it was a bird that had gone swimming for fish. "Why oh why didn't I pay attention and realise the diving bird was on the other side of the bridge!" I thought to myself - Because I think what came up and had a go at my lure was that big cod from before! Two others rocked up on the bridge at around 11:30AM (a bloke and his girlfriend, maybe 19), so I figured I wouldn't hassle them too much. The lure had proven fruitless so I checked my bait rod. To my surprise, it had a small cod on it. I managed to use the remainder of the dead bait winching in small cod, which would hit hard but give up too easy (3 or 4). Cod At around 12PM I packed up my gear, and called my last fishing session in Yeppoon quits. Although I didn't catch anything worth telling my Grandma, I was still happy with the session. Quick Stats: Tide: 5:35AM, 3.7M, High (tide would've just made it over the into the lake), 12:20PM, 1.5M, Low. Tide was only running from about 5:30AM-6:15AM, from what I found. Moon Phase: 71%, increasing Bait Used: Live herring, dead herring, flat salmon, prawns, hardyheads. Tackle Used: 15, 20, 30 pound braid mainlines. 15, and 20 pound leaders, Size 3/o baitholder and 4/o circle hooks/ Size 00 and 2 sinkers. Barrel swivels. Abu Garcia Veritas on Diawa Shinobi 2500, Shimano Stradic 3000 on Shimano Raider, Shimano Aero on Rogue Firepoint Boat Rod (this combo caught all the cod). Fish Caught: About 10 undersize/little cod/fingermark/bream/wrasse Other Anyways, apart from those 9 fishing sessions (9 in 5 days, not too shabby), we did a few other things. The Bluff Rock walk (2.3KM's or thereabouts, a nice and easy walk) was fun, and there were a couple of great viewpoints/lookouts. I beat my Dad in pool for the first time ever (proud moment ), and the Fingermark was deep fried and tasted delicious. I think I ate about 15 prawns and 6 big pieces of fish! The drive on the way home felt a lot quicker but it still ended up taking the same time, 9.5 hours (possibly because of a longer stop to get lunch). I had a great time - and I figure it was a great way to spend some of my school holidays. Thanks heaps for reading this report, I hope you enjoyed. Cheers Hamish Ironpot/AKA Bluff Rock Happy to be first at the spot Fingermark Gob Shot P.S. Sorry for the bad report title - I was struggling with inspiration lol.

Hi Nick Welcome to the forum. I have not done any fishing in Sydney bar a little bit in the harbour so I would not be much help on location. For a light setup, I would recommend a spinning rod around 6'6", and probably rated around 2-4KG or 3-6KG. You won't want to go to light as it can be a bit finicky but if you go much heavier than 3-6KG your setup may not be entirely ideal for small estuary fish (obviously a couple kilos more wouldn't make a significant difference, but a 5-8KG rod wouldn't be ideal, for instance). For a reel, I would recommend to begin with a Shimano Sienna, Sahara, or Sedona. You could also look at a Diawa AirD reel (all spinning reels). I would look at reels in the 1000-3000 size. Ugly Stik Gold, Abu Garcia Veritas, and Atomic Arrowz are all good rods/brands that may be worth a look at. As for line, anywhere around 10 pound line would be ideal. You could go lighter or heavier if you wanted but light line is often painful to learn knots with and heavy line isn't really necessary for small stuff. Some longshank, baitholder/suicide, and circle hooks would probably be ideal for most fishing situations. I would not start with anything bigger than a 4/o if you just plan to fish for estuary species, though. I don't know where you will fish and what the current will be like, but generally some size 0, 2, and 6 ball sinkers cover every fishing option suitably. Small barrel swivels would also be ideal for bream, whiting, flathead, etc. Mono or fluorocarbon leader will work, also around the 10 pound mark. It is always worth having a look to see if you can find any tackle packs put together. Normally the hooks are a bit crappy but fine for estuary fish, and it has a coupel handy extras (i.e. red tubing, lumo beads). Over time, if you want to look at a heavier rod for bait fishing, any cheap fibreglass rod will be ample (they are often quite heavy so not entirely ideal for casting lures for long periods). I would look at a 5-8KG rod at a similar length, maybe slightly longer if you want casting distance. A Penn Spinfisher SSM is a good reel to start out with. They have good line capacity and a smooth drag. Tackle stores like BCF and Anaconda are generally good to get started, though if you can find a smaller business near you they are generally better (mainly because the shopkeepers have a better idea of stock and are more trained to fishing specifically). In saying that, you can still get plenty of good advice from workers in chain stores, and they generally have a wider range of items. A couple other bits of gear worth investing in are pliers, knifes (bait knife and filleting knife), fish measurer, braid scissors to cut fishing line, and a couple of small trays (can be bought at K-mart, BigW, etc) so you don't have to take your entire tackle box everywhere. Frozen bait from tackle stores will get you started but it is worth figuring out where and how to catch your own bait. In NSW I think baitjigs are only allowed, but as well as that I think you can still shuffle in the surf for pippies or attempt to catch beach worms (also in the surf, by holding a scented bait and waiting for them to come up). Sorry for the long post, Cheers Hamish

Top job, those are some massive bream!

Good work KM, I’m glad you guys have been getting onto some good fish! Cheers Hamish

Top job Jono, I’m glad you’ve been getting onto some good fish (and redclaw). Cheers Hamish

Hi FadKing I had this issue when I had my Penn SSM 650. Like ellicat, it only happened after a lot of use. I couldn’t be quite sure but I think the issue with mine was just a faulty bail arm spring. Cheers Hamish

Good job Dino, that’s a big spangly!

Nice one Ray! I’m glad you got some fish. Cheers Hamish

Good job Dino - those are some quality bass.

Hi Myles Electric motors supposedly help a lot when in tight spaces, in particular casting lures. If you’re doing a lot of lure fishing in canals and small creeks it may be worthwhile. Cheers Hamish

Good job Dino, that’s good going.

Great work tiotony. That’s a stonka thready! I definitely think the bigger fish are very delicate. Even when they are from shallow water they still seem to not swim off that well. Cheers Hamish

Great work Brian and Steve - I’m glad you guys had some fun today and got some good fish. It’s a shame about the tuna Steve but it sounds like you had a good time fighting them! Cheers Hamish

Thanks Steve Sorry Brian. I won't post an editted pic again. I didn't know. It certainly would've been go to land the last fish - it would've made the prior 5 hours fishing more worth it. Hamish

Good job Ray, I’m glad you got onto some fish.

That whiting is a horse! Nice work Allnighter. Cheers Hamish

Hi all Yesterday arvo I organised a fishing trip with a mate to a spot on the Brisbane River. I was keen as to get out, and between floods, covid, and school I hadn't been fishing for 6 weeks! I rigged up my rods and packed the fishing cart in anticipation for the session. After a good nights sleep I played tennis in the morning and arrived at the jetty at around 9. There was one fella at the jetty with three rods, so I baited up on the other side of the jetty and wasted no time getting to cast netting. My initial throws were not fruitful but as soon as I dispersed some berley (sand, tuna oil/tuna, old veges, weetbix, bread, old biscuits) I started catching some prawns. To my dismay there were quite a few glassies swarming to the baits as well, but I kept going. After about 10 throws I had 12 or so prawns/baitfish, so I got my landing net and swooped a couple net fulls of foam/bottles out of the river. The flooding has left a tonne of Styrofoam in the river which I think would easily be the worst affect. Even when the larger chunks are removed the small pieces get everywhere. I kept casting and soon my mate arrived at the jetty. It was quite crowded now but we each had room for two rods. We baited up with livies and decided to try our luck casting on the slack tide, as it seemed there were a lot of good baits about. We got a few more prawns then came back to our seats on the jetty. I baitchecked my lines and to my dismay, a 20cm catfish had hooked itself on my 6/o circle hook. I chucked him out live in hope of a shark and we decided to go back to netting. Our attempts were futile and we soon retreated to our seats in an effort to cool down. It was then I noticed my Abu Garcia overhead was getting some small taps. I dismissed it as a bream, as Michael had gotten similar nibbles. I sat back down and then I heard the great sound of line speeding off my reel. I untied the rod from the bollard and set the hook when the fish slowed. It had plenty of weight and a short but fun fight ensued. The fish took a couple of speedy, decent length runs early on, and I continued to try and turn him away from structure. He attempted to dive below the jetty, and hopes were high. We were pleased to see a nice little thready surface after the fun fight. He netted him up and kept him in the water so he would release well, and wet the brag mat. He was barely hooked, just like the last one I lost. We wet the brag mat and measured the thready. He came in at a couple centimetres over 80 - a nice way to open my account for the school holidays. Michael vented the thready and after a quick swim he gave a strong kick off back to the depths. Woohoo! Sorry for the crappy editing job guys. I am happy to send (PM) the photo to any member on AFO - I just do not want this spot being shown to any random person on the Internet, as the photo is quite location revealing. I will try and master the sky shot to avoid having to do this next time! Anyways, after he swam off, hopes were high. I re rigged my 30 pound trace and 4/o hook and fired my bait straight back out. Things seemed to be going quiet though, so after eagerly anticipating any action we got back to cast netting. We gathered around 10 more good baits (maybe a few more), and then another fella (not a fisherman) came down who we chatted with for a half hour or so. He was on holiday from a place where he catches Murray Cod (can't remember where), but it seemed like he like to fish. After he left we kept waiting for any bites, but the tide began to move faster. It seems at this spot high tide at mid-early morning is ideal, or when there is no boat traffic. There were a few more little nibbles, but apart from getting pickered a few times we were having no success. We had gathered some big mullet and herring while cast netting too, so I chucked out a herring (catfish replacement) and Michael put on a mullet. The bite had definitely gone quiet, and the tide was starting to pick up. A fish of some sort was pulling on Michael's bait a lot, but it seemed to not want to hookup. After a prolonged period of time it eventually ate the bait, but after a short-lived fight a rotten pike eel surfaced. I decided I would keep this one for crab bait, so I thought I would dong it. Ten minutes later, and after at least 30 whacks with my pliers, the pike eel was still alive and kicking. Arrgrghh! It began getting slower and slower, and the tight was really picking up pace now. It would've been sometime around midday, and another fella rocked up. I fished with him before at the same spot, but he didn't bother bringing rods this time and just came down for a chat. Another group of fisherman did rock up shortly after though, and the jetty was getting packed. We could barely fit our lines off the jetty, and this is when a bit of chaos began. The guys who had just arrived had tiny sinkers, which meant they tangled with us miserably. I gave them a larger sinker, but their lines were still tangling up. "Oh well", I thought... I kept cast netting, and it was good to have a chat on the jetty. There were plenty of clouds, and that meant that I wasn't going to get too sunburnt (or so I thought - even though I had my buff + sunnies on I still came home looking a little bit cooked ). We got a few more livies, and lines were deployed yet again. I nearly had my herring ran over by a Go-boat, so I wound it in nice and close to the jetty. The people who had came along had also brought their dog. It was having a fun time with another dog, who jumped in the water. The first time it was OK, as it was in an area where the current wasn't that bad. The second time the mischievous dog leapt in, it soon realised it had bitten of something a bit too big - the main current of the Brisbane River! I lent over the jetty - trying to net it did not result in anything. Luckily, I managed to grab it by the collar just in time. It's owner retrieved it from the water. He didn't go swimming again, lol. Then, the other dog promptly scuttled up to my landing net and took a wee, right on it! Ewwww!!! We kept fishing, and decided to sit back down on the jetty. Everything was relaxing, and upon bait checking my lines (the original large herring had come off, I replaced it with a smaller one) another pike eel came up. This one luckily spat the hooks, which was good as I didn't want to deal with it. I kept fishing, but it had really gone quiet. The fish just weren't nibbling, and with ever increasing boating activity (a 48.5 foot luxury yacht had come in to pick up guests for a Hen's party), bites were not looking likely. We all kept fishing, and eventually Andrew headed off. I decided to try my luck with the Abu Garcia Nexus rod Greg O very kindly gave to me a while ago, as I haven't had much luck on it yet. Michael and I kept casting our nets, and we were getting a few prawns. It was close to three now so we decided to give the cast netting a rest for the day. We were sitting down and chatting when a bit of line came off Michael's reel. The same thing happened a second time, but upon inspection it was revealed to be a catty (due to the presence of slime). I assumed it would be the same thing when line came off the Nexus dropped next to the pylons, but I picked it up and realised a good fish was on the line. It had me wrapped around a pylon from the start of the fight, and it became tense when a scorching run happened down into the depths. I was trying my hardest to extract this fish, but after another large run it managed to reef me in something and bite/rub me off. Ughhh! I re-rigged with 50 pound line but my hopes were not high. I put a 6/o hook with a heap of livies threaded on it. Michael headed off soon after, and the other two guys on the jetty caught a little catty (which I kept for crab bait) and a perch. The old fella who had been at the jetty before me had only left a short time period ago for one catty - I felt bad for him! Bait I was picked up a 4:15PM as the ferries are down at the moment, and I was pleased with the day. Here are the trip stats: Stats of TRip: Tide: 4:3AM, Low, .4M, 10:40AM, High, 2.4M, 4:50PM, Low, .5M Moon Phase: New Moon/29% Bait Caught: Pike eel, catfish, prawns, herring, mullet, glassies, silver biddies Bait Used: Live herring, prawns, glassies, dead herring Fish Caught: Threadfin x 1, Pike eel x 2, Catfish x 1 Tackle Used: I used a Shimano Aero Baitrunner (from ellicat) on a Rogue Firepoint Boat Rod, A Abu Garcia Nanotech Nexus from Greg O on a just-held-together-by-a-biro Spinfisher, and an Abu Garcia Barra King + Ugly Stik. 20 + 30 pound braid mainlines. 30 and 50 pound fluoro leaders. 4/o and 6/o circle/suicide hooks. Size 4 star sinkers. Large barrel swivels. Air Pressure: 1013 Humidity: 81% Weather: hot, cloudy Overall Success rate: 80% fun 7 hours! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed Cheers Hamish

Hi Ken Welcome to the forum. Admittedly, I have never used bullet sinkers, or even heard of them. I am sure they would work though. The main types of sinkers used in OZ are ball, bean, barrel, star/teardrop/snapper, and many more various sinker types. You could look at buying some online if you wanted them. The gate may have been closed because the dam wasn't open or because it got flooded - but I wouldn't be to sure. There are bass and saratogas in Hinze Dam. Good luck, Hamish

There’s still a good amount of bait around - I was out today for a successful session. Water quality was pretty bad though.

Nice job Dino, I’m glad you got some.

Great session! Nice work jon.

Hey riceoppa I'm not hearing many reports lately, but there has been some decent fish caught downstream from Toowoong after the floods - though if I was you I'd try and find a freshwater spot and target bass, tilapia, etc, opposed to saltwater fish. Cheers Hamish

How'd you go? Any luck?

Haha, I love the AFO comps. The main reason I want to find another fishing comp is so I have a good excuse for Dad to take me fishing somewhere new .