AUS-BNE-FISHO

Wow! Great job Steve!!! It's a shame it wasn't 5CM longer! Awesome fish! Cheers Hamish

No. Definitely not . I agree with you Steve - I really hope Ash Barty wins this grand slam though! It was a great game to be watching Ray. Cheers Hamish

Welcome to the forum Mick. What fish do you plan to be chasing? Cheers Hamish

Hey @longhairedwahoo I agree with Breaming with Bro. Most telescopic rods are low quality and often aren't sensitive, and the weight is unbalanced. In saying that, I have a $70 rod and reel combo (telescopic) that comes with me whenever I go hiking or camping, and it has held up well over 4 or 5 years. Another option is a three piece (or even four piece) rod. I own a three piece which I use as well as my telescopic. While I prefer the telescopic for chucking lure (light lures though, not what you'd typically use offshore) I can still cast around 25 metres with the three piece, and it's a bit of a cheapy. I'd imagine if you looked around you'd be able to find a good quality one for a reasonable price. Cheers Hamish

So who here watches the tennis? Which player is everyone going for in the AO? Hopefully Kyrgios wins this round in straight sets! Hamish

Good work Ray, it is a shame there weren't more fish biting. Cheers Hamish

Hi Myles Your leader sounds good, although you could go slightly heavier. I am not sure what colour people use for jacks, but I know the new range in the 120mm size is popular for larger trevally and jacks. I see a lot of fish coming off gold, purple, and pink lures. Like ellicat said assist hooks aren't necessary, and MMD lures come with trebles already. Holt Production Swim Prawns are also popular lures for mangrove jacks if you're looking for plastics. Any rock bar or type of structure will hold jacks. You just need to cast a lot. Cheers Hamish

Hi Dino Great work. That’s a nice amount of fish! Shame about the rod though. Cheers Hamish

Great work Oscar. 78cm is a horse. The only lure I have caught flatties on is 2.5 inch zman grubs with about a 1-6th jighead. Cheers Hamish

Hi Oscar I do not fish the Noosa River a lot although I know many people have success fishing from boats around the edge of sand bars, mangrove forests, and rock bars. Cheers Hamish

Thanks KM, it was great with no sun. Cheers Drop Bear

Great job Chris. That's still quite the session in my books! Cheers Hamish

Hi Dennis In Winter they can be targeted towards the mouth of the Brisbane River, ideally using oily strip baits or small livies. Cheers Hamish

I think the only Tsunami in AUS was in Exmouth, and was a 6 metre high wave. I find it hard to believe we could get a big one! Good luck tomorrow KM! Cheeers Hamish

Thanks Brian. There were a few tense moments when he swung out of the boat, haha. Hopefully next time the tides make it easier to access the spot. It would be good for a kayak. Thanks Wazza. I was planning on turning them into a couple of muddies. Thanks Kat! Hopefully you can figure out the way into that spot soon. It looked very fishy. Hopefully you'll be able to be back out fishing on your boat soon. Cheers Hamish

Interesting to hear Steve. Though I imagine it wouldn't of tasted as nice if it was from up the river. Maybe it is to do with water quality? Cheers Hamish

Good work Dino. Glad you've been getting a couple. Do you mainly troll to find fish or mark them on your sounder? Cheers Hamish

Great work @Drop Bear. That's a ripper haul! Cheers Hamish

Hi Myles I think those are for deeper water. A Hollow Core Flasher from Suncoast Skutes is popular for a lot of varied reef fish, including snapper. You don't need to post the same thing twice - it doesn't disappear! Cheers Hamish

Hi all Last night I was lucky enough to be invited aboard Ellicatch with Brian ( @ellicat ) for an afternoon and night mission chasing Nerang River whiting. I met Brian at about 1:30PM at his, and we drove to the ramp of choice. On the way there we picked up some live sand worms, as well as a few snacks for the trip. We launched the boat a tiny bit after 3:00PM and were on our way to the first spot. We slowly motored through the somewhat dirty waters of the Nerang River into a crowded Broadwater, to suss out a spot that had been recommended to us. The boat glided over the sandy bottom, and it seemed that it was imperative to keep an eye out for the everlasting trails of wake from larger boats. Bright white dots littered the sides of the river - though it was speculated that there wouldn't be too many crabs in them! After cutting over a sand bar through some shallow water, and piloting the boat to avoid becoming beached, Brian had gotten us to our first spot. We anchored up in a couple meters of water and deployed the baits, in hope of some sand whiting. Soon after casting in, there was some action. After a short fight, Brian brought up a rather uncommon fish to be caught in the Broadwater. The only problem was, we needed it to be 15x bigger! Snapper...no... Squire...no... Pinky? After that capture, the decision was made to head off to a new spot. It was good to scout out a new location, but this spot seemed like a high tide only spot. The sun was ever so slowly creeping down, and we were happy to set anchor after the rather long boat trip back from the new spot. There were some people fishing landbased nearby who were using lures, but they didn't appear to catch any until they left. I cast my lines towards the bank, and Brian cast his out towards the middle of the river. Our hopes were high, but after 15 minutes here it was looking a bit quiet. I noticed a bit of commotion on the tip of my rod and it turned out to be a small tarwhine, which was good (because it meant we were both off the donut). We gave it a little while longer at this spot, but as the sun sunk beneath the horizon, the decision was made to pull the anchor and try a spot further upstream. Off the donut Once we got to the spot, there was a plentiful amount of bait busting up around the boat. I assumed it was herring, and I imagine that something would've been chasing it I also saw a couple of larger mullet leaping out. Maybe a bull shark was in the area. At this spot, it was quiet for around the first fifteen minutes, and then the boat slowly began to turn with the tide. Brian was telling me that the run out is prime time for Nerang River whiting at night time, so it was only fitting for him to hook the first keeper of the night, which came in at around 27CM. It put up a decent fight, and we were both happy to see some silver in the esky. After that one, Brian landed another keeper of similar size! I was getting flogged! 3-1! Elbow Slapper After we were both pickered one or two times, I checked a rod I had casted directly upstream. Surprisingly, this line had a whiting of about 30CM sitting on the end, not doing anything! It wasn't until he got right under the boat he pulled a little bit of drag, and even then the fight was lousy! With three fish in the esky, hopes were high for a couple more good ones to come along! It was getting a little later now, and the whiting had become extra finicky. They were often nibbling the baits straight off the hooks, and I dropped a decent one which spat the hook beneath the boat. Around this time, Brian hooked up to something which was pulling a bit harder, but unfortunately, only a small stingray was revealed. He got away on the gunnel of the boat, which was lucky for him as I was going to keep him for bait. Around this time Brian also caught an undersize whiting. My first whiting of the night After that, we cut up another sand worm or two, and got them back out on our lines. Brian hooked another alright whiting, which was quickly released into the esky, but also another small ray, which was dispatched quickly for some shark bait. At this point, it was a little past 9:00PM, and the esky had a healthy population of whiting. I chose to fish with two rods, and just after Brian had finished giving a speech on how you end up having bites on both then loosing both fish, it happened! But of course, Brian set the hooks into a fish, whereas I missed mine. Lol. The fight was on, and the 8 foot Ugly Stik was getting a workout. Brian was generous enough to let me fight the fish for the final moments, and we were all happy when a respectable 36CM whiting was swung in and out and in to the boat! Technically Brian's fish! After that, we were both stoked, but the bite went a bit quiet. We were going to give it about 20 more minutes, and we decided that we may go for a drift for the last part of the trip. We ditched this plan when Brian hooked a respectable low 30's whiting as the last fish of the trip. With no more bites we decided to motor back to the ramp, where someone took about 15 minutes (no clue what they were doing though, lol). Anyway, despite the fact Brian flogged me (four or five whiting (though one was undersize), two stingrays, one little pinky) 8-3, I still had an awesome night on the water. I went to bed a bit past midnight and cleaned the fish this morning, which I think I did alright at . Thanks for taking me out Brian, I hope you didn't mind having me along! The final haul, which was delicious! 25cm fish vs 36cm fish Here are the stats of the trip for anyone interested - Stats of Trip: Tide: 8:30AM, 1.2M, High, 3:50PM, .4M, Low, 8:00PM, .7M, High, 2:30AM, .1M, Low Moon Phase: Waxing Gibbous. It was supposed to be 83% although looked less. Location: Nerang River, Gold Coast Tackle Used: I was using a 6 foot 6 and 8 foot Ugly Stik Gold rod, both in the 2-5KG size. One had a Diawa Shinobi 2500 and the other had a Shimano Sienna 1000. Brian was using similoar, although his rods were around 6 foot 6. I was fishing with 6 and 10 pound leaders, as was Brian. We both used around a size 4 ball sinker, with a medium sized barrel swivel, and small long shank hooks. I conducted an experiment to see if red tubing would make a difference - the 36cm model was on red tubing. Bait Used: Live Sand Worms Bait Caught: - Fish Caught: Whiting x 7 (one undersize), Stingray x 2, Tarwhine x 1, Pinky x 1 Air Pressure: 1011 Humidity: 62-68% Weather: Slightly windy, sunny with a few ominous clouds nearby Temperature: 24-28 degrees Celcius Overall Success Rate: 80% - a great day/night on the water Thanks for reading! Cheers Hamish

Have fun Chris! Good luck!

Hopefully we can get some! And great session Neil! Those are some stonkers.

That looks like great fun. Thanks for posting the videos Neil.

Great trip Benno! Looks like you had an amazing time!

Hi Flopper The other thing to be careful about is leaving your leader in the sun. I find this can significantly weaken it. Cheers Hamish