AUS-BNE-FISHO

I find there’s lots of flathead in the Brisbane River in winter months but I think this coincides with breeding.

Sounds like you did quite well considering the crowds @mangajack, good stuff. 

I find there’s lots of flathead in the Brisbane River in winter months but I think this coincides with breeding.

Dohles was ok...Deckie dropped me off at the pontoon, I reversed down without waiting and deckie drove on and we were off the ramp in under a minute.
There were 4 boats being tied down and about 6 boats arrived at the ramp just after I pulled out....it would have been busier then.
Dohles ramp is pretty good being 3 lanes.....trailer parking is limited to about 30 trailers i guess...sorry 25 trailer parks....i just checked on google earth pro.  Best thing about it is there is a cafe that does great coffee at the ramp that opens at 5.30am every day.

I came into the Shorncliffe foreshore to try for a squid or two on the way back from Reddy....PEOPLE!!! geez....there was at least 500ppl on the jetty, probably closer to 800 than 500. Absolutely crazy at about 9.30am.

Good day out, but played with fire and got burnt - that's not what the doctor ordered. haha
 

Good stuff Ray, sounds like an excellent session. Shame the pie shop was closed. 

Sounds like you did quite well considering the crowds @mangajack, good stuff. 

Couple more whiting for team south
390mm and another 350mm

We have been trying to get up to Baroon Pocket dam for a while and been thwarted either due to availability or the dam closed due to rainfall. We finally made it this morning to find the visibility near zero due to a heavy fog that did not lift until around 8am. We used the gps to find one of out usual spots and found the bass hungry . We pulled around 40 before they went quiet so we went upstream and could not find any bass so we went downstream and found another school where we ran out of shrimp . Final tally was 62 bass and one tandan. Largest bass went 42cm and the tandan 58cm. Only disappointment was that Bucks pies were closed due to anzac day. 2 fish kept for the table others all tagged and released.
 

Redcliffe was loaded with boats....like a regatta....hundreds of boats everywhere.....pine was the heaviest i have ever seen it too.
2 small snaps, 1 decent flounder, more than 6 tailor up to 60cm.....went into the pine for a look...found a pile of fish near the slabs with two big jew under them.....i pinned 1 jew on 8lb line.....that finished as soon as it found out it was hooked. Raef got done by something decent on the rock shelf.....boated several brassy trevally and small jew.....got about 2 litres of prawns for lunch.
All fish released....

My rod was the first prototype GatorTail graphite weave/fibreglass weave blend rod Snyder made...remarkably good rods for their time....long way surpassed now.
The advantage is the rod had the all out toughness of glass, the sensitivity of glass and 1/2 the weight of glass....with about double the bottom end power in the rod.
I used it for decades busting GT's and macks off the rocks, making tuna submit in the bay, a lot of snapper were tamed and a few barra were mastered with the rod.....originally built overhead...ten years ago it started sporting stradics as fishing techniques changed.
I am pretty sure that Snyders GT's were dropped from production when Wilsons Live Fibre hit the market.....always thought there was a connection there. Snyder continued either full glass or full carbon after that.
I still have maybe 8 snyders in the shed.

Should be a great trip, Kelvin. Taking the boys? I have seen a few YT videos of the barge they use. Great idea. When you said the island is closed for pest eradication I immediately thought they might be getting rid of grinners, in which case they could have waited for you to take care of that for them. 😂 I can’t talk, though. All my recent fishing trips have been dominated by grinners and sharks! Enjoy the planning!

Haven't worked any details out yet - first job is for one of us to call the ferry company and get an idea of cost and ferry timetable so we can work out how long we should stay. I'd guess 7-10 days to make it worthwhile, both from a cost (I don't think the ferry will be 'cheap') and effort perspective. That will also determine our plan as far as keeping things cold/frozen - I think it will be a combination of eskies, probably with dry ice (none of us have used it before) and 12v fridges, batteries and solar.
They load the boats and trailers onto the ferry using a forklift - looks like they can fit about 5 boats from the videos I've seen, possibly more. Then when you arrive they lower the ramp, secure the towball of the trailer to some sort of hook point and you launch your boat from the ramp (ie. off the trailer). The've got large storage 'boxes' (from the videos, I'd guess maybe 2m high, 2-3m long and 1m deep, something like that) that you can load other gear into for travel on the ferry, plus you can have some stuff in your boat. On top of that they have drums of fuel and water and I think can provide ice - there seems to be large 'fridge trolleys' that you can use on the island to pull them up above the shoreline.
Lots of logistics to work out - I think once we do one we'll do it a few times. One of my brothers noticed the island is closed this June for a while (til Sep from memory) for pest eradication - seems there's alot of mice on the island so hopefully they get rid of plenty ..... 🤪.

Good report @mangajack, sorry to hear about the loss of your favorite rod, at least you still got a few bites. 

Aaaannnndddd my brothers and I have decided to look into going next June/July or Sept/Oct holidays 🙂. 30 years later I'm hopefully going to get there 🙂.

Welcome to the forum.
Never been there, but I'd be packing some larger poppers for the GTs.
It's getting up north a bit so suit up for stingers if diving.
Would love to see a report from there when you get back.

Hi, I am heading up to North West Island, QLD from Moruya Heads on the South Coast of NSW. We are spending around 16 days on the island with family and taking a 455 Quintrex with 60HP Yamaha. Keen to do a bit of fishing/spearing while out there. If anyone has any suggestions on gear, lures, recommended shoals/reefs/spots to check out or gear to bring to the island any insight would be appreciated. 1st time to this area and super keen to get onto some Reds and possibly a few big GT's, Doggies and Spanish Mackeral. Thanks in advance for any advice. Look forward to posting some pics of my adventure in the near future.
Cheers Glenn

Have a great trip mate, would love to get there one day. I was meant to go there on a school biology trip/camp in 1995 but we missed out after some high school students from Brisbane killed a heap of mutton birds earlier that year so I feel I have unfinished business there ........ 😞 

Good report @mangajack, sorry to hear about the loss of your favorite rod, at least you still got a few bites. 

Good report @mangajack, sorry to hear about the loss of your favorite rod, at least you still got a few bites. 

Good report @mangajack, sorry to hear about the loss of your favorite rod, at least you still got a few bites. 

Update: Seasickness makes sense now - I’ve got full blown gastro !

Thanks for sharing. 🤢🤮
haha

Fun read, but such a frustrating day. Plenty of time to reflect in the traffic.
Those grinners seem to be in big numbers all around the bay lately. 🤬 🥴