AUS-BNE-FISHO

Nice stuff! 

Good work 👍 

Went to NPD this morning with Craig. Neil and Hai. Weather was a bit dreich at first with the drizzle easing and the sun coming out to a perfect glassed out day.  The shrimp traps opposite the ramp were disappointing so we headed off to the first spot where we found a few bass and a couple of forkies at the first drop off before running out of bait. We then did the rest of our pots and pulled up on fad 2 and got stuck into some quality bass and the odd small forky, The fish slowed down after a couple of hours and we went to the floats where Craig caught a nice 45cm yella. We were told that there were some bass around FAD 0 but could not locate anything there so we called it a day with 6 forkies,1 yella and 41 bass with the majority of the bass being over 30cm and aprox half of them over 40cm with the largest 46cm

Been a while between "drinks" ...
 
Life has swamped me of late, losing hair faster than I'm losing money but still kicking so can't complain..
Ended up picking up a second hand ACDC tig and some Consumables off the wifes facebook marketplace for $500... has dual pulse inbuilt which is nice I suppose... 350A unit so plenty of heat when it's needed.. compliments my dedicated DC pipe welder nicely. Perfect to stay in the shed for little jobs...
Picked up the 4mm plate and SHS from the local metal supplier on a Saturday which was nice... $130 
Anyway, made up the trolling motor mount today, enjoyed welding the fresh ally, enjoyed everything but welding upside down tying the mount into the dirty aluminium. Got it on, it's solid... 
Have booked a site at mission point next weekend with the family to celebrate mothers day (and also run the pots and flick some lures about)
.... good to have some progress on the boat, definitely made me think about the mods I'm gonna do in the future and how I can make the welding as easy as possible. 

37 model in the mud. There's a few babies around at the moment. Great fun on light gear

Filled a seat  as a Deckie this morning in the fresh water.
Not that I did much deckieing . I just sat back an enjoyed the ride for most of the day.
Did manage to pull a few nice bass for team south though. 
Australian Bass 415mm 460mm and 420mm
Thanks for the invite Ray, much appreciated as always.
regards
Neil

I used to cast excessively heavy baits with light rods but one day I completely forgot how heavy my bait was, and how light my rod was, and the next thing I had snapped my rod at the butt when I went for a big cast. So be careful doing that.

Nice work Ray.

Nice work Ray.

Went to western arm with Rick and Joy. Shrimp traps a bit light on but good size. We were restricted to fishing in the bays due to the wind. Found one spot that was ok but as the boat was yawing a lot we kept on getting snagged besides feeding the prolific barred grunter. Found a couple pf trees where we were able to tie off fore and aft but the barred grunter still prolific to the delight of the eagle. We finished off early with a total of 26 bass ,one tandanus and a nice yella. All tagged and released,
 

I agree with Neil, different spots at different stages of the tide....
Incoming look for feeding banks about to get a few inches of water on them....they will be feeding hard there for about 30 minutes. Keep following the flooding banks as the water rises. You want to cast into about 6 inches of water roughly.
Once the bites have tapered off you need to find where they will wait for food to come to them....look for a sand bank that tapers down to the river bank along the river.....you can bet a years wages they will sit there until the top of the tide vacuuming up all the worms and small crabs and yabbies dislodged by the sand bank being disturbed.  You really should recon the river towards the last of the run out tide to learn where this high tide spot will be. Ideally the sand bank should be at least 1/2 the river wide and taper down to the bank on one side only on the upstream end.....the fish will be over the last 15 metres of that bank guaranteed. Google Earth Pro shows these sand banks quite well too....another way to plan your run.

The more run the better, we have found. 4 ball sinker.

I find the tide sizes don’t really affect it too much , you’ve just got to be prepared to move around and position yourself in the right spots during your session down there. It’s always about knowing how the puzzle works ie  how when why and where  you anchor your  boat and  present your baits. Whiting will move to where the food is., think like the fish .Sounds like you tried a few spots ,but  hey , not all was lost , at least you’ve found where they don’t bite on those tides. The next trip will  be better.
regards
neil

I have a broken smashed thumb from a ***** cow. 
this is what I have came up with…. Yet to go fishing with it, but I can cast and reel it..😆🎣
I should feel the bites ok 😂

Consider a Mooloolaba Pick anchor https://www.whitworths.com.au/mooloolaba-pick-anchor
Thats what all the boats have on the swains that I have been on.  
Shackle to the top then lay chain down the shaft and heavy zip ties to what you would normally attach to.  If its stuck you just pull back over the top and it snaps the zip ties and you then pull the anchor up from the head.
Mate bought a very expensive version of one (cannot remember the name) but it uses a sheer bolt to hold the fins in place and all you do it drive over the top and it sheers the pin and the fins collapse.  A guy up in Mackay makes them.  Very neat.

3 metres of 8mm will be sufficient.
I run that on a 4.7m ally runabout with a 4kg sand anchor or reef anchor. Never had any problems with the reef anchor pulling or the chain getting stuck. I wouldn't go rope to anchor, as rope has some buoyancy, so your anchor may not set properly. Also there is the risk of the rope wearing through on reef.
Anchor socks are great, but the drawback is they collect and hold sediment.

Good stuff Rebel, glad you're catching some at the moment. 🙂 

Good stuff Rebel, glad you're catching some at the moment. 🙂 

I'm happy landing anything. And getting on the leader board. Until Neil goes fishing again ...... 😂😂

We had a similar day yesterday. The only legal fish was dropped beside the boat. That's fishing.

Took the kayak out up castle hill way. Got this 42cm fella. That was the fruit of my efforts for the day. 0800 till 1400. Flicked a lot of plastic. Might take some bait next time.

Good stuff Rebel, glad you're catching some at the moment. 🙂 

Found a significant school  of Threadfin  and baby bull shark tailing   in 1.5 m of water this morning , right where they’ve been for weeks, so didn’t have to go looking for them. 
Helped myself to a couple before the wind started  to puff up a bit ,  then took off for home.
Had a double hookup on the second one , but it got off before I could attend to it , which was a bit of a bummer.
2 was enough  , so  left them feeding , for next time.
Beautiful clean fish off the sand , full of banana prawns , bled out and iced down well , they should taste good! 

A start for team south for May.
Threadfin 1010mm and 910mm.
 
 

School free day. End of their Holidays.
Arrived around sunrise. Top morning.
One of the easiest places to go rock fishing.
First up a nice drummer ( Released ) The boys caught 2 tailor.
I caught two nice snapper 45cm & 48cm.
The boys caught 2 flathead & another tailor. They were happy.
Enough for me for my return to the rocks.
I tried out my new rod. Storm Gomoku 13ft. Casts very well. I had a Penn SpinfisherV 6000 reel on it. Good combo.
Newport Arms for breakfast
Lots of laughs.
Cheers.

May secret signal is a pointing finger - 👉