14 minutes ago, Rick Ludd said:

Yes, first one is a “Yellow Banded Wirrah”   That’s really cool BrodieS

Second one is a “Eastern Wirrah”

Third is a “Eastern Red Scorpionfish” or more commonly called Red Rock Cod and yes they have poisonous dorsal spines. They won’t kill you but they bloody hurt.

Certainly an array of different species mate.

Yeah cheers thanks 

yeah catch a lot of different species off the rocks we also hooked up to a big stingray and big wobbegong both released and a big tailor that bite through my leader as I brought up the rocks and feel back into the water was bummed about that but overall had a good day. Always losing grouper and other species as well might have to use heavier mainline 

Caught the first fish on fresh yellowtail off the rocks never seen or caught a fish like this in my life decent sized but not massive put it back to grow bigger and was unsure of eating quality ( after some research I believe this fish is a yellowbanded Wirrah or Acanthistius cinctus )

also caught a scorpion fish I believe but wasn’t certain and also heard they are venomous and didn’t wanna risk getting an injury trying to fillet it so I put it back. Looks small in photo but was quite decently sized caught on yellowtail off the rocks as well

On 23/6/2023 at 10:26 PM, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

Hi all

I'll try and keep this short - this report will be about fishing the last week in the river. Now that I'm into holidays I've been making best use of my time, and although I haven't really done anything else - 6 sessions in 6 days is decent going. 

The first session I'll talk about was with @Thorbjorn Hale at one of our spots. We got the earliest ferry we could and started off by gathering bait on a jetty. Although it wasn't plentiful, we eventually got a decent amount of biddies and herring - enough to start fishing. It is also worth noting I caught a 25CM or so school mackerel in the net, which was a cool catch for the river (upstream of the Gateway Bridge). 

Mackerel

We eventually arrived at our spot, and deployed some livies. It was pretty quiet at first, but I netted a bunch more biddies, and also hooked the first fish of the day - a decent river tailor somewhere in the forties. Hopeful a few more of these would be getting around, baits were redeployed to the middle of the river.

Tailor

Sure enough, I hooked another slightly more formidable model, which I believe provided some aerobatics for us. If I remember correctly, this one was the largest of the day at 52CM, and was also released as we had just started fishing.

Largest

I got a few more baits in the cast net but after catching a copious amount of ponyfish in the net (if you don't know, these are one of the worst pests - they are slimy, spiky, garbage bait, school up, and get stuck in your net) I gave it a rest. This didn't stop the tailor, and I got my third and final fish for the day. This one was another forties model, and seeing as though Thorbjorn had some tags we decided to tag it. I'll be excited to hear if anyone ever catches it again. 

Last One

The bite went quiet now, and even though things were looking promising we could not really manage anymore fish. I was even fishing with some of the prawns I cast netted the other night which were getting no love at all. Around midday, Thorbjorn hooked up to something on his heavy rod. We were pleased to see a quality breambo surface, which was a nice capture for this spot.  

Thorb's Bream

I ended up staying until about 6:00PM (yes, I was desperate for a fish), but only caught one catfish on a ponyfish. The bait was really dead, and even though there were lights there were no prawns on dark. Here are the stats of the trip:

Stats:

Tide: 4:30AM, .7M, Low, 9:45AM, 1.9M, High, 3:43PM, .5M, Low

Moon Phase: New Moon

Bait Caught and Used: Silver biddies, herrings, ponyfish, prawns

Air Pressure: 1013

Humidity: 84%

Tackle Used: I used a Shimano Baitrunner DC on Kmart Rod, Okuma Coronado CDX on Silstar Crystal Powertip rod, Abu Garcia Nexus on Shimano Sedona 6000, each with 30 pound braid, 50 pound trace, a size four star sinker and a 6/o circle hook. Thorbjorn used similar weight rated Penn gear. 

Overall Success Rate: 60% - good to catch up with a mate and catch some fish

The next day was Monday, and my first real day of holidays. Charlie and I met up and decided to hit a spot we hadn't been to in a while. He did the report for this session, which is worth the read!  

Stats of Trip:

Tide: 10:30AM, 1.8M, High

Moon Phase: New Moon

Bait Caught and Used: Live herring

Fish Caught: 3 x Jewfish 

Air Pressure: 1011

Humidity: 61%

Tackle Used: I used a Shimano Baitrunner DC on Kmart Rod, Okuma Coronado CDX on Silstar Crystal Powertip rod, Abu Garcia Nexus on Shimano Sedona 6000, each with 30 pound braid, 50 pound trace, a size four star sinker and a 6/o circle hook. 

Notes: Good day for the jewies. I also got busted off by one because I was using 30 pound. 

Overall Success Rate: 90% - great day for the jewies, good to see Charlie got his first. 

On Tuesday, it was just me, so I went back to the spot the jewies had been caught the day before. The tide was gushing in, and I was the only one on the jetty when I got there. It wasn't long before I had a fair few herring in my bucket and was fishing, watching my rods like an eagle, brimming with anticipation.

An older fella came down for about an hour who I had a good chat with, but disappointingly, the only thing I managed was a couple catties. By about 10AM, things were looking grim. It definitely cheered me up to see Thorbjorn and Steve coming down on the jetty, who proceeded to get some herring and their lines out. I also met another nice fella named Mick. 

We were all fishing, and it was pretty crowded at this point. Despite the lines out, it was not meant to be, and it took ages before the first decent fish of the day was landed. Luckily, it was just what we needed, as bait was running low, and Thorbjorn had the perfect idea to strip bait his tailor for us. This resulted in a bunch of fish including catties, pike eels, and a small flounder for me. I left a little past three, and no one caught any big ones for the day. 

Tide: 11:00AM, 1.8M, High

Moon Phase: New Moon

Bait Caught and Used: Live herring, tailor strips

Fish Caught: Flounder, catfish, pike eel

Air Pressure: 1012

Humidity: 47%

Tackle Used: 

Notes: I used a Shimano Baitrunner DC on Kmart Rod, Okuma Coronado CDX on Silstar Crystal Powertip rod, Abu Garcia Nexus on Shimano Sedona 6000, each with 30 pound braid, 30/50 pound trace, a size four star sinker and a 6/o circle hook. 

Overall Success Rate: 30% - still a fun day on the jetty

That Wednesday, Charlie and I hatched a plan to give a spot we hadn't tried for ages a crack. We were there before sunrise, and even though it was freezing, I got to cast netting. The first cast brought a rather large sea mullet, which we kept for bait, but after that I struggled to get livies to start fishing. By about 7:30AM, we were so cold (hands numb, feet numb, freezing cold) we were about to call it quits. Luckily, the sun came out and we started to feel better. 

When we did get our lines out, the bite was slow. The first set back of the day was when a Citycat hooked one of my lines, dumping my whole spool in a few seconds. Luckily I ran back from cast netting and cut it off before all my line was lost, and seeing as though I salvaged about 50 metres of line I locked my drag up and casted a bait back out there.

While netting, I caught a decent size flounder, which caught me by surprise. Small flatties have been a common catch recently and it seems these are getting thicker too - this one Charlie kept for a feed. Also, one of my rods had a big run while netting, but annoyingly it didn't hook up. 

Flounder

Eventually, I got a nice size school of poddy mullet and called it quits for the cast netting for the day. Charlie and I enjoyed ourselves while I made sure all the ferry drivers knew I had lines out, and sure enough about an hour later one of my lines was getting the tell tale jewie 'nibbles'. The first half of the fight was me just pulling in the dead weight, but before long, the vicious headshakes started. Then, it was onto the first run. The rod which hooked up was actually the rod which only had 50 metres of line left from the ferry, so the drag was locked up. This fish stripped line like it was nothing. Hopes were high - would we finally crack a monster from the river?

It wasn't meant to be. When we were mere seconds away from seeing the size of whatever fish was on the end of my line when it took one last bid for freedom right under the jetty, snipping my line off in seconds. Whatever it was, I hope my hook is out of it's mouth by now, and that I'll catch it again soon!

After that explosive bust off, the bite went quiet. We gave it until we ran out of livies but decided to call it quits by about 2:30PM. 

Stats:

Tide: 6:30AM, .6M, Low, 12:00PM, 1.6M, High, 5:40Pm, .4M, Low

Moon Phase: 8.5%, just off New Moon

Bait Caught and Used: Live mullet, winter whiting, silver biddies

Fish Caught: Zilch

Tackle Used: I used a Shimano Baitrunner DC on Kmart Rod, Okuma Coronado CDX on Silstar Crystal Powertip rod, Abu Garcia Nexus on Shimano Sedona 6000, each with 30 pound braid, 30/50 pound trace, a size four star sinker and a 6/o circle hook. Charlie also used similar gear. 

Air Pressure: 1016

Humidity: 64%

Notes: Need to fish heavier and be quicker with getting fish in when around structure. Live mullet and whiting best bait at this spot. 

Overall Success Rate: 50% - at least we had a bite

The next day, I decided to go back to this spot with some mates from school. They aren't serious fisherman, so the aim of the game was to pull in at least one nice fish and teach them the basics. We got there by 10:00AM and after catching a few livebaits, we were set to start fishing.

The bite was slow, but to sum up a pretty relaxed day I ended up pulling in one squire. I noticed a large amount of slack line, and thinking a fish had taken the bait and swam up current I wound in and discretely struck. That's how I ended up getting in a 43CM squire without anyone noticing . Also, I ended up keeping this guy for a feed for once.  

Squire

Stats:

Tide: 12:15PM, 1.6M, High

Moon Phase: 15%

Bait Caught and Used: Mullet, winter whiting, silver biddies

Fish Caught: Squire x 1

Tackle Used: I used a Shimano Baitrunner DC on Kmart Rod, Okuma Coronado CDX on Silstar Crystal Powertip rod, Abu Garcia Nexus on Shimano Sedona 6000, each with 30 pound braid, 30/50 pound trace, a size four star sinker and a 6/o circle hook

Air Pressure: 1015

Humidity: 74%

Overall Success Rate: 80% - fun day with the boys

Anyways, the final session of this report was another solo one. It was back at the same spot as the previous two sessions, and I decided to sleep in a bit so ended up getting the 7:24AM train. I was there by about 8:45AM though, but to my disgust, some grubs had been there the last night and left so much mud all throughout the walkway you castnet off it would have been wrong not to spend half an hour cleaning it up. 

After I had done that, I got some bait of my own. It was slow going at first, but I eventually got some solid mullet - about half a dozen. It was looking like it was going to rain, but luckily the storm cell avoided me. The river was really busy though, and with some nearby bridge construction, regular ferry services, and prawn trawlers going back and forth, it was very hectic. It is worth noting the prawn trawlers were killing it, doing multiple runs and getting what looked like a great amount of prawns and minimal bycatch in their nets. If you're buying Moreton Bay prawns at the moment, I'd say there's a good chance they're coming from upstream of the Story Bridge. 

Personally, although it may make the quantity of bites go away, I think a lot of large boats stirring up the river also stirs up the bite for predators. It was quiet at first though, and after about an hour and a half of fishing and dodging boats, an absolutely massive barge came through. It was powered by a couple of tugboats (Pt. Mary and a couple others, I think), and just about took up the whole river. I am unsure what it was for, but I wound in my lines and casted out shortly after it passed.

Another hour or two ticked by, and having eaten my only food early on I was feeling hungry. Luckily, a fish finally was too, and I saw my rod getting tell tale bites. I let the fish eat for a minute, before putting the reel in gear and checking if I was on. Sure enough, the weight of a decent fish loaded up my line, and I started cranking it in. A few seconds into the fight, the headshakes started. Drag clicked off, and I made my best effort to keep tension.

Then, the fish woke up. The reel screamed into life, with line flying off like a rocket. I continued to fight the fish though, and as it got closer I realized it was pretty much identical to the fight of the big bust off a couple days ago. Anticipation was higher than ever, and with a big crowd watching me now the pressure was on. As the fish got closer to the pylons I held the spool to slow him down, and boy, was I stoked when I saw the silver scales of a 88CM Brissy River Jewfish surface. 

Happy days!

The dilly was lowered down into the river, and after a few gut wrenching moments he was on the jetty. High fives were had all round, and although I tried venting and swimming him for a while he wasn't interested in swimming off so unfortunately I had to keep it. I bled the fish on the jetty and bagged him up, ready to go straight home on the ferry and train. I made sure to clean the jetty down before heading home, where I filleted the fish. It wasn't the best filleting job ever but I got two nice fillets off, so I hope it tastes nice. I was going to put some crab pots in tonight/go prawning but was far too knackered so just chucked all my old fish frames away and packed/cleaned up my gear for the week.

Stats of Trip:

Tide: 7:40AM, .6M, Low, 1:15Pm, 1.6M, High

Moon Phase: 22.3%

Bait Caught and Used: Live mullet, silver biddies, whiting

Fish Caught: Jewfish x 1

Air Pressure: 1009

Humidity: 87%

Tackle Used:  I used a Shimano Baitrunner DC on Kmart Rod, Okuma Coronado CDX on Silstar Crystal Powertip rod, Abu Garcia Nexus on Shimano Sedona 6000, each with 30 pound braid, 30/50 pound trace, a size four star sinker and a 6/o circle hook

Overall Success Rate: 100% - target species acquired

Thanks for reading if you've made it this far. I hope you enjoyed the report. I won't be fishing over the next couple of days as I'm getting ready for a trip to Yeppoon, where I'll hopefully be able to get some landbased flatties, trevs, and mackerel. A couple things I've noticed about the jew fishing are (as I realize I've encountered a few in these sessions, but been busted off) that they seem to bite best on lively live baits with a long trace around high tide change. Hopefully this will be the first of many jewies I catch in the river, not the first and last...

Cheers Hamish  

You’ve Been catching a lot of good fish as of late and that jewfish is no exception absolute beauty of a fish good job on catching and landing him.  
 

those tailor would be good fun to been getting onto a few myself recently. Your reports now are definitely better than the reports from last year you get that with experience and trying new spots I guess. Great work Hamish.

Stopped fishing for awhile because of work/school and everything else.Now my mates have their Ps and soon myself. Started fishing pretty regularly. Fortunately i haven't lost any knowledge or skill and have been getting onto some good fish while teaching my mates.Tried beach and rock fishing for the first time yesterday with a new bait rod setup 8 foot fiberglass rod matched with a 750 Penn reel spooled with roughly 400m of 20lb mono and landed some solid fish. 

caught these two a bit back and was looking for an offical species name rather then just calling them Rock cod or Trevally. 

PS. Good to see this forum hasn't died as its very useful and everyones pretty good. 

finally had a good sesh yesterday gonna write a report tonight 

unfortunately for me mullet aren't on the leaderboard and the biggest bream I got was the exact same measurement as the best 32cm . I put something blue next to the mullet cause I forgot the species list  and wondered if it would be valid clearly after looking I found out it was not a valid species .and I didn't bother doing the same for the bream cause it was the same size as the best on the leaderboard