Brodie_S

16 hours ago, Mylesfisher said:

Hey guys its me myles ive realised after a few weeks of live bait fishing that i generally catch more jacks on lures so id like to buy a baitcaster for jacks and trevs i saw my lure box use a shimano curador 200 for skip casting but generally most peoples choices in rods and reels vary would any of you reccomend a baitcaster rod and reel for jacks and trevally

In my opinion baitcasters aren’t necessary for jack/trevally fishing even when casting is tricky. Personally I’ve found if you practice enough you can get just as much casting accuracy with a spinning setup you can also do skip casting with a spinning setup it’s just harder to learn. For me accurate casting near mangroves and snags is second nature with a spinning setup . It did take a lot of time and practice on the water but it was worth it for me anyway the cons of using a bait caster to in that situation is generally the drag system on baitcasting reels isn’t as good as spinning reels/overheads 

not saying bait casting setups are a waste of time they are definitely useful and have their time and place I just think for jack and trevally fishing you don’t need another setup for them if you already have a medium weight lure fishing spinning setup 

42 minutes ago, longhairedwahoo said:

Hi guys,

Recently upgraded from a viking nemo 2 man to their profish 45 to trawl and bottom bash off pt Lookout in hopes of pelagics and large demersals. The profish unlike some other kayaks (stealths) doesn't have a big enough internal storage to store your typical 6ft boat rods while landing in the surf and so was wondering if you guys knew of any good compact options (collapse to about 80cm). I was hoping there was some heavy duty telescopic that would be heavy duty enough to bring in a decent pelagic. If this happens to exist it would be ideal because the rods could be rigged up before heading out, whereas a three piece would have to be rigged on the ocean which I have learnt can be painful or at least slow. Would love to hear what you guys run and will update if I find anything that seems good in search.

Cheers

Unfortunately I’m not sure if decent/high quality  telescopic rods exist. I’ve used small light ones for bream fishing and a heavy duty shimano one with beach fishing but that’s about it . Most of them have horrible feeling blanks and dodgy rod guides. My advice would be to look for a decent small 2pc rod maybe around 5,3-6 at full size 

42 minutes ago, Drop Bear said:

Nice one mate. I would like to know that one. Do you have a link? I find the FG takes too long on light line so I only use it on heavier line and want an alternative to the uni to uni. 

Yeah sure . Before I was using just the standard Alberto and I kept Experiencing issues with it. Such as if I got snagged and absolutely needed to snap the line and was using 6 braid and 6lb leader the knot would snap and I’d have to tie a new leader . Now 95 percent of time when the same thing happens even with heavier leader the. The line will snap not far from the end of the rig and I’ll still have plenty of leader left . I use this Alberto variation for all my light tackle stuff but for my heavier gear I use the FG. It’s only a small adjustment to the standard Alberto but man it makes a massive difference of the strength in the knot 

On 14/1/22 at 5:18 PM, Drop Bear said:

FYI

 

The Alberto I tie is just as strong as the FG the normal Alberto sucks I use a variation. I’ve tested it myself and the FG and the Alberto variation Is pretty much the same in terms of strength 

On 12/1/22 at 9:47 AM, Flopper said:

Threw my new glasses away got out my old specs .

Used  a bit of Moisture 

Problem solved 

Thanks for the input

If you have any issues with the double uni i highly recommend trying out alberto knot variations or FG knot variations but double uni should be good I’ve just found certain braids don’t like it 

11 hours ago, ellicat said:

Shame about the stickbait - always sucks to lose a lure.

Sounds like a fun session all the same.

4 hours ago, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

Nice work Bro. Better than my first session of the New Years.

Cheers Hamish

yeah thanks guys could have been worse at least it wasn't a donut hopefully next time im out there I can hook into some more decent fish!

6 minutes ago, TheCharliefisho said:

Thanks for that appreciated. I'll try pick up some different colours and sizes in the nearing future. 

all good. if you have any questions me or any of the members on this website are happy to answer them . you could also ask the staff at tackle shops or a tackle world/bcf they usually fish themselves and know a thing or 2 about fishing in the area . 

33 minutes ago, TheCharliefisho said:

 Hey mate.

Thanks for the advice. 

I see what you mean - although the baitjunkies are not advertised to have the Z-man's famous "ten 10x tough" technology, they are still a really strong plastic with great action and a good stretch. The packaging has that sort of double shell clam style which for sure ensures the lure's scent is kept fresh and that they do not dry out. 

When it comes to jig heads, I use the same as you (ttlures headhunters). I use a 1/16th ounce weight with a size 2 hook. 

They definitely seem to be a great plastic. As both brands of lures are of similar prices (depending on the size and style) I'll probably stick with the baitjunkies then. 

What colours would you recommend in the baitjunkies? Particularly in both the grub and minnow styles. I've heard motor oil and mud blood are great natural colours for estuaries and freshwater?

Cheers, Charlie. 

 

yeah as for colours i mainly try to get at least 3 different colours . 

1 motor oil / a natural brown olive colour 

2 a whitebait/mullet colour

3 a bright/unnatural colour like bright green or pink

this covers most of my plastic fishing ill have 3 small curly tails with 3 different colours 3 small minnows with different colours and 3 bigger minnows with 3 different colours this pretty much covers everything . i have 3 styles of plastics with 3 different colours for each one . hope that helps

had issues with the photos not sure why. video came through of the dolphins I seen inside the bay 

yep sounds like a great setup for jacks and trevs maybe even the odd jewie if your lucky 

2 hours ago, kmcrosby78 said:

Some good variety there, well done and keep the reports coming .

Thanks and will do

17 minutes ago, Kat said:

Glad to see you have been fishing.  The weather here is making me stir crazy.  Are they snub nosed gar?  How were you catching them ?@Breaming with bro

Yes they are garfish not sure on speices but they aren’t the sea ones as those garfish were caught in pretty much freshwater. I caught them at one of my local spots a bridge. 2km walk from my house .caught them with my friend using light bream setups using tiny hooks no weight just a tiny bit of bread we just watched them eat the bait on top of the water then we just drag them up to the top of bridge. 

On 31/12/21 at 9:15 AM, Mylesfisher said:

For my mangrove jack setup ill use a shimano vanford 4000 and a daiwa supercasta 5-10kg rod with 20lb braid as my main line and 30lb flourocarbon as my leader hope to catch some jacks today

 

cheers, myles

I’d stay away from the vanford as the vanford is not much different to the Stradic FL the main diffidence is that it’s lighter has a extra bearing in the handle and the price. Other than that it sounds like a great setup . Vanford is a great reel but with money in mind I think the Stradic FL would better suited without sacrificing quality. Hope that helps. And as others mentioned 30lb braid would more then likely be better 

58 minutes ago, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

Hi all

This is going to have a lot of reports included, so I will limit all of them so they are short. There's not really that much I can remember of anything, anyways. I also went for some other trips in between these sessions at different locations which do not warrant their own report, so they will be crammed in here somewhere. There was one success story behind these, so - 

*Read the LAST report for the best story, if you don't want to read through everything else*

Anyways, to the first report - 

This took place at the end of August, and was a brief kayak session mounting the depth sounder and fishing for bream. One of them was successful. We launched around midday, with one rod and the sounder. The kayak was slid into the water, and then there was the moment of triumph. Would it work?

YES! Woohoo!

Our sounder

With a far more functional fishing kayak, hopes were high for some bream. Despite marking many solid looking fish on the depth sounder, after about an hour of fishing a lot of structure and jetties, I could not manage a single fish. It wasn't looking good and we had to get back home for my tennis game, so we started paddling home. It was quite sad there were no fish but good the sounder was working. 

Bream spot

Quick Stats - 

Tide: 8:20AM, .4M, Low, 2:30PM, 1.8M, High

Moon Phase: 67%, Waning Gibbous

Tackle Used: 12LB mainline, 6LB FC Leader, Abu Garcia Veritas 3-5KG Rod, Diawa Shinobi 2500 reel, small hardbody lure

Fish Caught: -

Overall Success Rate: 60% - sounder was great news.

The second session happened a couple of days later, and it was at my local park. It was a morning session, and being at the start of September, it was still quite chilly. I rocked up with my cart at my normal starting time (a bit before 6), and got the lines out. I knew it was going to be a tough days fishing as the tide was roaring in on the top half of the tide, which is my least favourite condition for fishing there. My mate was coming down as well, so I had some pressure to catch some good fish. After not having a nibble for an hour and a half, my mate rocked up at about 7:30AM. I figured I could land some catfish if I through my lines off the back of the jetty, which always produced catfish for me when I was younger.

Fast forward another two hours - the tide was very high, the bait esky was very low, and the fish tally was zilch apart from a bream I caught in the cast net. Time to head home!!!

Tiny

Quick Stats - 

Tide: 2:40AM, .6M, Low, 8:00AM, 1.5M, High

Moon Phase: Waning Crescent, 14%

Tackle Used: 12LB, 20LB, 30LB Braid Mainlines, 15, 20 and 80 pound leaders, 3/o suicide and 6/o circle hooks, size 2 and 6 ball sinkers, large swivels, Abu Garcia Verittas 3-5KG, Diawa Shinobi 2500, Ugly Stik Rod, Abu Garcia Barra King 650, Penn Spinfisher 650, Rogue Firepoint Boat Rod. 

Fish Caught: -

Bait Used: Garfish and Mullet

Bait Caught: -

Overall Success Rate: 10% - should've slept in that morning

The third session was slightly more eventful, though nothing much did happen. It was an afternoon session, and I was fishing solo. I baited the salmon line up with a mullet about 15cm long, and the other two lines up with herring, if I remember correctly. The tide was running out, and I was throwing the cast net around a fair bit to try for some livies (to no avail). It was quite crowded at the park that afternoon, and there were a lot of walkers passing by. 

After about an hour and a half of no action whatsoever, a large group of people went down onto the jetty. As they went down, I saw my rod, baited with a large mullet, buckled over. I jogged down, and as soon as I set the hooks the fish took off on a big run. Just at this moment, a large boat came about a metre from the jetty, like they were going to moor up. The boat spooked the fish though, and it ran down deeper and faster and rubbed through my 80LB leader. Undoubtedly it was a big shark, so I was quite disappointed when I lost it. The worst part of all was that the boat didn't even moor up - so it had just cost me a big fish for no reason. After that bust off, the rest of the session was very quiet, and no more fish were caught. Bugger!

Nice arvo anyways

Quick Stats - 

Tide: 11:00AM, 1.9M, High, 5:51PM, .2M, Low

Moon Phase: Waning Gibbous

Bait Caught: -

Bait Used: Mullet, herring

Fish Caught: -

Overall Success Rate: 40%

Tackle Used: 12LB, 30LB, 20LB Braid Mainlines, 15LB Mono Leaders, 80LB Mono Leaders, Size 4/o circle and 6/o circle hooks, large swivel, size 2 and 6 ball sinkers, Abu Garcia Veritas 3-5KG, Ugly Stik, Rogue Firepoint Boat Rod 5-8KG, Diawa Shinobi 2500, Abu Garcia Barra King 650 Penn Spinfisher 650. 

The next session, which was a couple of days later, was with two of my mates, and was slightly downriver. We rode our bikes to the spot, which I hadn't been to for a number of sessions, and my Dad cast netted us some live mullet (in about three throws) then headed off. We got our lines out and waited. Two other fellas  rocked up, but since there was a large grassy strip for river access it was all good. For the first hour, it was very quiet, with only a couple nibbles on a smaller live mullet. It was approaching high tide and we all had our fingers crossed for a good fish.

Eventually, after not catching anything for another hour, my mates decided to go and get some food. They rode off to the nearest store and in about 20 minutes came back with some hot chips. We ate them quite quickly then got back to fishing. For the next hour or so, we caught absolutely nothing, before the tide became to low to fish and we decided that it was time to head back. On the way home I'm sure my mates were considering why they bothered coming, lol. The one thing of note was a baby tailor in the cast net, which was released. 

Lunch

Tailor

Quick Stats:

Tide: 5:49AM, .2M, LOw, 11:45AM, 2M, High

Moon Phase: Waning Gibbous, 94%

Tackle Used: Varied braid mainlines with 30LB leader for threadies, two rods with 80lb mono leader for sharks. Shimano Stradic, Shimano Raider 4-7KG, Penn Spinfisher, Rogue Firepoint Boat Rod 5-8KG, Ugly Stik, Abu Garcia Barra King. Size 4/o and 6/o circle hooks, size 2 and 6 ball sinkers. 

Fish Caught: -

Bait Used: livies (mullet, mainly)

Overall Success Rate: 30%

The next session wasn't in the river, but was fishing for tilapia. It was with one of my mates, and on the same day as the prior report (one above). We got to the park with some bread, and began sight casting tilapia. For some reason, they are very spooky in this pond. I've been putting in a lot of effort trying to catch them lately to no avail, despite some very good tips. The first hook-up was mine, and despite letting it run for a while the fish still spat my hook before it could get hooked up. I only had 6lb leader, which is very light, so i was being careful not to be too ambitious with my fishing. After about another hour had passed of no successful hook-ups, I was presented with a missed opportunity. A large tilly was feeding in the shallows next to the bank, and I missed scooping it up with my net. It got away. Blast! My third and final opportunity at a fish came when a tilly at my bait, ran with it, was hooked, and then bit through my 6lb leader. To make matters worse, I see him regularly with my hook still in his mouth!

The next time I went fishing was a few days later, and was not actually in the Brisbane River - instead in a small creek running into it. It was with my friend, and since his house is near the creek I told him he should give it a go.  We both decided to try it, so early one morning I cast netted some live mullet (and one big one) and rode to his house, then the creek spot. Someone had set up some rod holders, so we got set up there and tried our luck. We fished for about an hour and then decided to move to a nearby jetty. After picking up some lunch we rode to the jetty and began flicking our baits. There were already some people there, who had caught some good bream on prawns, which we didn't have. We still tried our hardest, but after a couple hours of fishing we only had a few catfish to show. We decided to head off, so I gave my mate the leftover mullet and rode home. 

The Spot

Good mullet

Quick Stats:

Tide: 7:40AM, .4M, Low, 2:20PM, 1.9M, High

Moon Phase: 65%, Waning Gibbous

Bait Used/Caught: Mullet

Fish Caught: Catfish

Tackle Used: 12 and 15 pound braid mainlines, 10 pound leaders, small sinkers and suicide hooks. Shimano Stradic and Raider combo, Diawa Shinobi and Abu Garcia Veritas combo. 

Overall Success Rate: 50% - a fun fish

I decided that it was time I gave a spot I was meaning to try for ages a crack - my friend had caught some very good fish there, including numerous jewies and threadies. It was in the city, and I wasn't to prepared to fish it, as it was off quite a high pier. I improvised by making a landing net with rope tied to it to land any fish I caught, and I rigged up my rods with the biggest sinker I had. I met my mate at his house at about 9:00AM, and after a brief drive in we had our rods in the water a smidge before ten. I had netted live mullets at the crack of dawn that morning, and had about 15 mullet ranging from 12cm-20cm in size. Perfect!

To cut a long and boring story short, after 3 or 4 hours of fishing, we had only gotten a small hit from a pike eel (assumed), a bait mauled by a bream, a lot of wind, sun, and threatening storm clouds, and a couple snags. Not good!!! The day wasn't quite over when we wound in our rods though; we still had to get the ferry back to Guyatt Park to get picked up. I cut the hooks off and to my surprise the ferry staff actually let me and my mate on, with the fishing cart. We got back to Guyatt Park and had some pizza, and then the day was over. 

Donut

Quick Stats: 

Tide: 8:50AM, .6M, Low, 3:00PM, 1.8M, High

Moon Phase: Waxing Gibbous, 95%

Bait Used: Live Mullet

Tackle Used: 20 and 30 pound braid mainlines, 30 and 80lb mono/fluorocarbon leader, size 4/o and 6/o circle hooks, size 6 ball sinkers, large swivels, Penn SSM 650 on Rogue Firepoint Boat Rod, Abu Garcia Barra King on Ugly Stik. 

Overall Success Rate: 30% - better than sitting at home

After this, my family went to Caloundra for a quick day trip. We spent more time in traffic than on the beach, but I whipped out my telescopic rod and through a lure around to no avail. I eventually just had a chat with a local about fishing there who told me about all the good fish that could be caught along there. It was interesting enough, even though I didn't hook anything. 

The next session was also a bit different, and we were fishing for bream with lures. I rigged up my rod with 6 pound leader and a small hardbody, and organised with my mates to meet at UQ ferry terminal. We all met up and got on a ferry heading downstream, not entirely sure where to go. We decided to get off at Regatta, because the rock wall going along near the ferry looked fishy. None of us got anything except a snag, so we decided to move on. We walked along the rock wall there until we got to some mangroves, which we also had no luck at. We found a small but shallow creek covered by a bridge as well, but there were no fish willing to eat our lure here, either. It wasn't looking good!

Bream spot

We went on the next ferry and fished around Southbank for a bit, and stopped on a pier. My mates went and grabbed lunch, and I minded the rods. The tide was roaring through here so I didn't bother fishing too much, except for seeing if anything would eat unweighted bread. We had no luck, so decided to get the ferry down to Tenneriffe, where we fished the rock wall along there. We still caught no fish, even after trying numerous lures. Overall, it was a bit of a dud session, but fun to get out.

Does anyone have any tips for landbased lure bream?

Quick Stats:

Tide: tide varied based on spots - it started about half/one-quarter up and ended high

Moon Phase: Waxing Gibbous, 80%

Lures Used: small hardbodies, z-man grubz, diawa baitjunkies. 

Tackle Used: 10lb braid mainline, 6lb fluorocarbon leader, Abu Garcia Veritas with Diawa Shinobi reel. 

Overall Success Rate: 15% - boring day

The next session was back at one of the spots I had no success at before, and I had high hopes for one fish. I took a different mate who I needed to catch up with, and got fishing. The arvo prior was a low tide at the local park, and I managed to net some solid live mullet there (although they weren't very sizeable). I packed them all into the live bait bucket and hoped that they would get smashed the next day. 

Little

Yuck

I met my friend and my mum drove us in the spot, which was lucky. We got the lines out, and seeing as though there was already someone on the deeper jetty, we casted out on a shallower jetty. There was no action whatsoever, apart from the fella on the deeper jetty getting a catfish. I was throwing the net around and went up to them, and I introduced myself to them. One of the fellas didn't speak English at all that well, and was just sitting down minding his own business, but the other fella was quite nice. He allowed me to bring a rod up, which I was happy to do. He was even kind enough to give me a bigger sinker, because he reckoned they were essential at this spot. Legend!

After quite a while of chatting, he eventually headed off, as did the other fella, so it was just my mate and I. We didn't have that much longer, but I casted all rods out. It didn't take long to hear the iconic sound of a fishing reel having line ripped off it... After setting the hook and briefly fighting an alright fish, a nice breambo surfaced. Not too bad! I was most shocked that I got it on a half garfish, though. We headed home soon after this though, as my mate and I needed to be back home to do assignments. We got the ferry back to Guyatt Park, had some lunch, and were picked up and driven home. 

Nice! 33cm

Quick Stats:

Tide: 8:00AM, 1.8M, High, 2:00PM, .4M, L0w

Moon Phase: New Moon (or pretty much)

Bait Caught: Live mullet

Bait Used: Live mullet, garfish, pillies, prawns (the fella who left gave me a heap of assorted bait)

Fish Caught: Yellowfin Bream x 1

Tackle Used: 15, 20, and 30 pound braid mainlines, 30 and 80 pound mono/fluorocarbon leaders, 2/o, 4/o, 6/o circle hooks, size 6 and 4 ball/star sinkers, large swivels, Shimano Stradic and Raider combo, Penn SSM 650 and Rogue Firepoint Boat Rod combo, ABu Garcia Barra King and Ugly Stik COmbo. 

Overall Success Rate: 40% - not a donut, for once. 

The next time I was on the water was a crabbing trip, getting rid of some old bait (or that's how we convinced mum to let us go). It began with the typical loading of the kayak one night, with two pots stacked up, a light stick, and rod. We launched at the local park and began paddling to the first destination. It was closer in to the park than last time, so we weren't sure if we'd get much. We had a quick flick but then got back home to wake up early to collect them, which was going to be tiring. 

Loaded Up

We woke up early, and because we were a bit before the tide change, we flicked a 3 inch plastic around for a little while. We thought there'd be too much fresh around for any good fish anyways, and apart from a couple mullet jumping there wasn't any surface commotion either. It was time to pull the pots, and disappointingly, the first had a little bream in it. The second, was also depressing to look at, but at least it had some crabs. Only problem was they were 7cm undersize and female.  

Nice view

Quick Stats:

Tide: Left for low, high, low

Moon Phase: Waning Gibbous, 93%

Bait Used: winter and summer whiting frames, pretty sure there were some bream frames too

Crabs Caught: -

Overall Success Rate: 10% - should've stayed at home

After this, I had a huge weekend. It was my Mum's fiftieth birthday, so we were in Mount Tamborine one night, then I had a 32KM scout hike, so I hiked a section of the Sunshine Coast Great Walk (over two nights). It was great, and we saw plenty of animals, mostly goannas, but caught no fish.

A goanna got up close to us

This is how the jetty was left a day before the next session. I got rid of all the catfish too.

The next session was a bit later, and an early morning bike session. I woke up a bit before 4:30AM, but for some reason Mum didn't want me to go fishing before then, so I ended up leaving at about quarter to five. I got to my chosen location for catching live bait at about 5:10AM, and got to throwing the cast net. It wasn't looking good for me after about 20 minutes - all I had was a sizeable prawn and a couple baby mullet that I through back. I kept throwing with the net though, until I had three good sized live prawns. I ended up leaving when someone came and told me off for casting on the jetty. I didn't mind anyways, I was heading off as it was. 

Livies

At the second spot, I deployed lines with live and dead baits, in hope of a fish. The tide was rising, and despite rain in the last couple of days prior to this trip the water was quite clean. I noticed my light rod, baited with dead mullet, was getting some action, so I had a look. I wound it in and rebaited, this time with frogmouth pilchard, and kept fishing. My big rod had a small run from a catfish, which I failed to hook with a 6/o hook. What a waste of a prawn!

The one rod I hadn't checked yet was my 20lb overhead outfit. Both lines had been rebaited and recasted, but as I picked this one up there was some action. The fish was slowly swimming out to deeper water, and I set the hooks. I knew whatever this was it was big, as it was a huge weight. I was struggling to move it, but eventually began coaxing it closer to me. It began taking a couple small runs, and I was getting it close to the jetty. I thought the battle may be over, but to my shock the fish took the fastest run I have ever had in my life!!! It was with a tight drag - the only problem was, the fish was running for the jetty pylons about 20 metres away from the jetty I was fishing off. 

I knew it wasn't going to end well, and when the fish stopped running after about 40 seconds, I was bricked. I tried getting it out but it only took a couple tail whacks of whatever it was to break through my 30 pound leader. Damit!!! For the rest of the day, the catfish were not biting, and I was quite devastated. I fished with dead baits until the tide was high enough to throw the cast net, where I caught some mullet and herring. I was back in business, but the tide had changed to the run out and a lot of scum was coming down. A fella in a tinny was throwing a lure, and just as he drifted past I hooked up to a shark. I picked up the 70cm bully and, I don't reckon I've ever seen someone turn on their motor and get out of the vicinity that quick! I guess old mate didn't like sharks. . 

Pup

I kept fishing for a little bit longer but it was very hot and my mum wanted me to be home. I was disappointed with my lost fish but happy that I tussled with a biggun at the same time. The last live herring I had put out came back mauled to death. I guess the pickers in the river come out when the sun rises.

Dumb pickers

Stats of Trip - 

Tide: 1:00AM, .4M, Low, 7:00AM, 1.7M, High, 1:00PM, .5M, Low

Moon Phase: Waxing Gibbous, 79%

Bait Caught: Live Prawns, Herring, Mullet

Bait Used: Live Prawns, Live and Dead Herring and Mullet

Fish Caught: Bull Shark x 1

Tackle Used: 15, 20, 30LB Braid Mainlines. 15LB, 30LB, 80LB Fluorocarbon Leaders. Size 2/o, 4/o, 6/o circle hooks. Size 2 and 6 ball and bean sinkers. Large barrel swivels. Shimano Stradic and Raider Combo, Penn SSM and Rogue Firepoint Boat Rod Combo, Abu Garcia Barra King and Ugly Stik combo. 

Air Pressure: 1013

Humidity: 37%

Weather: Sunny

Notes: Thready was taken on a rising tide, shark was taken with a patch of freshwater on the falling tide. 

Overall Success Rate: 50% - wish I caught that fish. 

Because I was running low on bait, I convinced my Dad yo take me prawning. There had been some rain, and I had seen some solid catches of prawns in the river. We drove to Colmslie Boat Ramp and arrived a bit after sundown, to a couple others there. After asking around it was found no one was getting any prawns, so as well as throwing, I had a chat to some other people. One fella was about 20 and was quite knowledgeable on fishing, especially chasing jacks on the Goldy, so I spent most of my time chatting to him, and my Dad was chatting to a different fella with a tinny. After about 2 hours of netting, with one prawn (a cheer of joy was heard from the ramp when this was caught) and a few frogmouth pilchards and herring, my Dad and I drove over to Murrarie Recreation Hub. It was the same there, and apart from a few herring we caught nothing. We had a pie from the servo on the way home and decided that we would be back sooner or later on a quest for more prawns. 

Bird, Moon, Bait

Statistics of Trip:

Tide: 4:15Pm, .6M, Low, 9:45PM, 2M, High

Moon Phase: 100% - this was the blood man or eclipse night (or something like that)

Bait Caught: one prawn, about 25 herring/frogmouth pilchards

Gear Used: 12 and 10 foot BCF cast nets

Air Pressure: 75%

Humidity: 1016

Rainfall (prior week): Around 45mm

Overall Success Rate: 30% - no prawns

The next session was also a bait collecting session, and was marginally more successful. It was the at the same location, and when we got to the jetty there was no one there. Not a good sign. Towards the start, one fella came down for about 15 minutes, but he didn't get any. We weren't getting much more than the odd herring, which was annoying. There was an abundance of greasy's around, and in total we kept about 30. After a couple hours throwing at Colsmlie, and chatting to a couple keen kayakers about fishing the POB area, our grand total was three big banana prawns. After bucketing down the boat ramp at Colmslie, we drove over to Murrarie to quickly try our luck. We only got herring and prawns there, which was disappointing, and some people fishing there got an undersize bream. Overall, it was another dud night bait collecting. 

Bait

Statistics of Trip - 

Tide: 3:15PM, 2.2M, High, 10:11PM, .8M, Low

Moon Phase: Waxing Gibbous, 92%

Bait Caught: 3 banana prawns, about 25 herring/frogmouth pilchards

Gear Used: 10 and 12 foot BCF cast nets (bottom pocket)

Humidity: 77%

Air Pressure: 1014

Rainfall (prior week): 125mm

Overall Success Rate: 30% - pretty dismal

The next session was with two of my mates, and my hopes weren't high due to all the rain that had been happening recently. I met up with them anyways, and we got our rods out. We were targeting bullies and also fishing for anything else interested in taking our baits. After about an hour and a half of not getting anything, things were looking down. We heard the sound of a rod going off, and my mate picked it up. He wound very quickly, but because the drag was loose a lot of line came off, and the fish got some slack. He handed it to me and I tightened the drag, and I could tell it was big. Unfortunately, the fish spat the hook, which was disappointing because it felt like a thready. This happened again, but unluckily for us that was the only action of the day.

Quick Stats:

Tide: 10:25AM, .6M, Low, 5:00PM, 2.0M, High

Moon Phase: Waning Crescent, 40%

Bait Used: Prawns, Mullet, Frogmouth Pilchards

Fish Caught: Nothin

Tackle Used: 12LB, 20LB, 30LB Braid Mainlines. 15LB, 20LB, 80LB Mono and Fluorocarbon leaders. Size 2 and 6 ball sinkers. Large barrel swivel. 2500 DIawa Shinobi, Abu Garcia Veritas. Abu Garcia Barra King and Ugly Stik. Penn SSM and Rogue Firepoint Boat Rod. 

Overall Success Rate: 40% - at least it was fun with my friends

There was so much rain that the ponds at the local park had overflown. I went riding and found a dead tilly high and dry. Lol.

Silly fish

After this, the next session was another bait fishing session. It was after one of the recent downpours, and I didn't think I would get much due to all the rain. I was right, and despite waking up very early and cast netting at my favourite bait spot, all I could manage was a bullrout . Lucky I packed deadbait!

Not Good!

I rode to the next spot and got my lines out. One baited with a large dead prawn, one with a cube of mullet, and the other with a herring... although I got there, the water was absolutely full of debris, sticks, and vegetation, making it very hard to fish. It wasn't looking good, and I kept myself entertained for the first couple of hours by netting bottles and rubbish out of the river.

Yuck

Believe it or not, this was the same sot 2 hours later

The scum eventually began to clear, and I began getting a couple runs on my whole prawn. I decided to cut my losses fishing for something decent and chucked out some prawn chunks on my lightest reel, which I caught 4 catfish on in about 25 minutes. I ran out of prawns eventually, so I switched my bait to a cube of frogmouth pilchard - on two rods. After about 15 minutes, I heard the loud noise of drag going off. I looked at my rod, then saw it sliding across the jetty. I barrelled towards it and in the nick of time picked it up. I'd forgotten to set the drag. I fought this fish briefly, for around a minute, but then it cut through my 30 pound leader. A lot of the line was frayed, so I believe it was probably just a bull shark. I had two last baits out now, and after a little inquiry on my Stradic combo I realized I had been snipped. Weird. Pike eel?

The biggest catch, haha

Got four this size

I ended up finishing shortly after and, in very hot weather, pedalled myself home. 

Quick Stats:

Tide: 2:40AM, .2M, Low, 8:40AM, 2.2M, High, 3:00PM, .4M, Low

Moon Phase: Waning Crescent, 5%

Bait Used: Dead prawns, frogmouth pilchards, and herring

Fish Caught: Catfish x 4

Tackle Used: 15, 20, 30LB Braid Mainlines. 15, 30, 80LB Fluorocarbon and Mono Leaders. Size 2/o, 4/o, 6/o circle hooks. Size 2 and 6 ball/bean sinkers/ Large barrel swivels. Shimano Stradic and Raider combo, Penn SSM and Rogue Firepoint Boat Rod combo, Abu Garcia Barra King and Ugly Stik Rod. 

Overall Success Rate: 25% - lame session

After that session, I decided to give the river a couple of days to clean up. In this time I did a lot of research about my spots and more people than I would've thought have caught good fish at them (over a period of years, lol). The next session was actually a crabbing session, and I got rid of pretty much all old fish scraps out of my freezer. I packed the pots full and we launched the yak a bit after dark, with a rod, our lightpost, and the pots. We dropped one about 300 metres from the jetty (a bit closer than where we've had prior success) and we dropped a second pot where we have had some luck with rain before. It was quite deep, but we were hoping that this would mean the crabs would be there. I've heard when there's rain the crabs hang in the deeper water, where it is more salty. I flicked a surface lure around a bright jetty for a bit, but there was no action.

The next morning we went back to the pots on a low tide. To our dismay, only one of them was there! After pulling it up to see no crabs, we dropped it back down. We had a quick look for our other pot but, it seemed to have been taken away by vegetation. The next morning, when we went to check our pots, we had none left! We waited about 30 minutes, found someone else's pot stuck half in some mud, but not ours. Damn! The final theory was that one got taken away by vegetation, and the one we lost on the second day was nicked (Saturday, all day). 

Bream and the last of my crab pots

Do you need a longer rope in a situation like this (to prevent them drifting away with vegetation), tie them off somewhere, or not put them out after a lot of rain?

Statistics of Trip:

Tide: Left for numerous full tide cycles

Moon Phase: 4th was a New Moon, so not much run.

Rainfall (prior week): around 40mm

Crabs caught: - 

Gear Used: Two BCF large crab pots - one orange, one blue. 

Bait Used: varied from chicken to mullet

Overall Success Rate: 10% - lost our crab pots  

The next time I went fishing was a couple days after this - last Tuesday. It was just at the local park, and I was aiming to catch anything. I brought down some prawns, and some herring. It was quite hot, and I let that fool me that there wouldn't be any freshwater in the river... There was heaps, and there were so many reeds it was almost unfishable. After loosing many baits and having to wind in my rods many times to get them off, I finally hooked up. After a brief fight, I brought up an eel that measured about 60cm from the river. I decided to let him go as I already had some eel in my freezer at home. I chopped him off at the side of the jetty, and after about half and hour more of fishing, called it quits because I couldn't get away from the weed in the water. 

High Tide and Eel slithering away

Quick Stats:

Tide: 2.5M, 12:30PM, High, 7:45PM, .4M, LOw

Moon Phase: Around first quarter

Bait Used: prawns, herring

Fish Caught: Freshwater eel x 1

Tackle Used: 12LB, 20LB, 30LB braid mainlines, 15LB and 80LB mono leaders, size 4/o and 6/o circle and suicide hooks, size 2 and 6 ball sinkers, large swivels. Abu Garcia and Ugly Stik combo, Diawa Shinobi and Abu Garcia Veritas combo, Rogue Firepoint Boat Rod and Penn SSM Reel. 

Overall Success Rate: 30% - bad fishing

The below report is the best one! 

OK, so this is the final report in this report marathon. It happened yesterday, and was a morning session. I organized with two mates to meet up there. One of my mates slept over at mine the night before, which gave us time to pick up snacks, and the other was meeting us at the jetty. The chosen location was more downstream than I usually fish, and I knew there was still going to be plenty of fresh about. Despite this, I was mad keen to have a fish, and the clock was set for 4:45AM. After a short drive we arrived at the jetty by 5:25AM, armed with some dead baits and a cast net.

My dad had a go with the cast net to begin with. The stringy white net was flicked from his hands and made contact with the murky, chocolate coloured water in a shape that resembled a circle. The bullets of lead were quickly consumed by the Brisbane River, quickly sinking towards the bottom of the river. Some small herring became trapped in the net, and were pulled up in the bottom pockets. Within a couple throws of the cast net, a much larger fish become snared in the net. The frail mono was put to it's test with this fish, but somehow it held. Upon revealing the fish, it was identified as a blubberlip bream. It was about 35CM, and we decided to just let it go. The fish had made a huge whole in the bottom pocket of the net, which was very annoying. 

New species for my Dad, even if it was in a cast net

After this blubberlip bream, our hopes were a lot higher. There was a steady inflow of sizeable herring coming from the net into the live bait bucket, and we were also catching a heap of tiny prawns (all let go). My Dad had headed off by now, and my mate and I had deployed all our lines with suitable sized baits, based on the hook. We were starting to feel slightly hungry, so got out the trangia and some bacon and began cooking it up. My mate was cooking the bacon and I was cast netting, and we were getting quite a few herring. This was good, because I really didn't think there'd be much around with all the freshwater! Three rods were deployed with herring. One casted out as far as I could go, one casted out about 15 metres, and one dropped straight down. While the bacon was sizzling, my friend noticed a bit of action on one of the rods. He picked it up, and after a couple of seconds wound it in. It was snipped clean off. At first we were baffled to what it could be, but then we figured it must've been a pike eel. 

After re-tying the line, and eating our bacon, AND catching some more herring, some other people rocked up. They were fishing with deadbaits, and neither of us were having any luck. While we were both sitting down in the shade, a rod went off. I gave it to my mate, and it was pretty obvious that the live herring was down something's gob. After a bit of fighting, but no runs, it was pretty obvious we had an infamous Brisbane River pike eel on. We were about to cut him off, because it was quite large, but then a women from the other group ran up to me. She wanted it for a soup, so I said it's all yours. I gave it to them, and they kindly got the hook back, then chopped him up for eating. 

 

Hate these

After that pike eel, I got back to cast netting. I was getting a couple of herring, so eventually all of our rods were baited with livies. I had felt something large in the cast net twice, and both times it had escaped. Not this time, I thought. I slowly tugged the fish up through the murky river. I was very happy when I caught my own blubberlip bream, at about 35CM. Whether or not it was the same fish, is beyond me. After a quick photo, he was released.

 

Good one

As we were walking back up the jetty, we heard the sound of drag on my Stradic 3000. We bolted over the railing and ran to the jetty. It was my turn to wind in the fish, so my mate gave me the rod. I tightened the drag and began fighting the fish. I could tell it wasn't massive, but a decent fish. I was fast cranking in line, and then the fish ran towards the surface..

A silver salmon zipped out from the filthy water, and it would've leapt about 1.5M high and 2m long. Yells of joy could be heard coming from the jetty as the fish glided off on a run under the jetty. The adrenaline levels were high as my friend slid the net under the thready and it made one more desperate attempt for freedom. It almost made it out of the net but my friend kept it in them. We brought him on the jetty and he made many escape attempts before we could get him on the measurer. At 61CM it was only a 'rat' sized fish, but I was still very happy with the capture. It was a special fish for me, mainly because of the fight, but also because it broke my longest thready drought. My first since Janurary. Woohoo!!!

Nothing huge

After releasing that fish to the shock of the others on the jetty (undersized, which I told them), I got the lines out again. It had gone quiet, and I didn't seem to be catching any more fish. A bit after 9:00AM,a rod with a whole prawn was checked for bait. As I wound it in, I realised that there was a fish on. I handed it to my mate, and after about 30 seconds he wound in a small pike eel. I needed some more bait in the freezer at home, so I donged this one to death and wrapped him up in the esky. I caught a small bream in the cast net too, which was released - 

Midget

After that, my other fishing mate came down. It was good to catch up, because I hadn't seen him since the last time I was at this jetty. There was absolutely no bait around now, which was annoying, and there wasn't much action on deadbait. One of the rods got pickered constantly by a presumed pike eel, but apart from that there were no fish chewing. We kept throwing the cast nets, and eventually Michael got two River Perch, which he was kind enough to share with me. He sent one out live, then we filleted the other one. Michael caught another perch, which was also filleted up. The pike eel had chewed up the last of my thirty pound leader, and eventually the whole rig was lost to a snag. I baited up with a river perch fillet, and apart from the pike eel constantly mauling a herring, it was quiet. Suddenly, Michael was hooked up to a good fish. The first part of the fight was slow - the fish was a dead weight. Then, it took a fast run Unfortunately, it spat the hook soon after. We were all sad about this, but then I saw my big rod, with river perch fillet, go off. It was a good fish, and it took a good run. I gave the rod to my mate and it continued to run, until it snipped clean through 20 pound leader. It was to fast for a pike eel, so the verdict was a snapper or jewfish. The one that got away!

Anyways, I fished for a bit longer and Michael got an undersized crab. We didn't get any more good bites and had to head off, so said bye to Michael and got the ferry back to where we got picked up. Overall, it was a good day and me and my mate had fun. 

Stats of Trip:

Tide: 2:30AM, 1.8M, High, 8:10AM, .7M, Low, 3:00PM, 2.4M, High

Moon Phase: 52%, so a bit of run

Bait Caught: Herring, small prawns

Bait Used: Herring, live and dead, Prawns, live and dead, mullet, bony bream, frogmouth pilchards, river perch

Fish Caught: Threadfin Salmon x 1, Pike eel x 2, Blubberlip Bream x 2, Yellowfin Bream x 1. 

Tackle Used: 15, 20, 30LB Braid Mainlines. 20LB, 30LB, 80LB Mono/Fluorocarbon Leaders, 2/o, 4/o, 6/o circle hooks, size 2 and 6 ball sinkers, large barrel swivels. Abu Garcia Barra King on Ugly Stik, Shimano 3000 Stradic on Shimano Raider, Rogue Firepoint Boat Rod, Penn SSM 650. 

Air Pressure: 75%

Rainfall on the day: 20mm about

Humidity: 1008

Weather: Clouds with sun

Overall Success Rate: 90% - a great day out with some bust offs

Overall, I think I still have a lot to learn about prawning. It seems my best captures have been when the moon was smaller. Maybe I need to take more focus on that. With hotter weather I might be lucky and manage a bream on a lure. It's about time I start to try for that more. The freshwater hasn't helped with my Suburbs of Origin run, so hopefully it all cleans up quickly. The thready was great to catch. A shame it wasn't today, when SOO opened.  

Thanks for reading the huge report everyone. I hope you enjoyed.

Cheers Hamish

Some great fishing sessions in there some not so great and unfortunately some donuts was worth the read regardless. Great job on shark and the more recently threadie. You gotta get a big threadie now for the suburbs of origin fishing comp! 

On 2/12/21 at 3:18 PM, Kat said:

With the fantastic weather we have all been having lately it isn't surprising that there have been very few fishing reports posted recently.  So thought I would give you something to read.

I have been having major fishing withdrawal symptoms.  I had an appointment on the gold coast on Monday that finished about low tide so decided I would pump some yabbies and try and find a bit of water with the least "fresh" content.  Land Based.

After seeking a friend's advice I decided to pump some yabbies at a location on the Nerang that I have not fished or pumped before.  The contours on Google maps looked promising and I headed there as fast as I could so as not to miss the low tide (cast net as a back up plan).

Well obviously my mate had not pumped yabbies there for a very long time or his memory was mistaken.  I walked the whole beach finding a very small Yabby bed and after alot of pumping and sweat running into my eyes I managed probably about 15 yabbies.  Not too bad as long as there weren't too many pickers about. 

The tide was already on its way in and as I was walking up and down the beach trying to find Yabby holes I was surveying the shallows for bait fish etc.  Every minute or so bait fish would be darting toward me, rather than away.  Seemed as if something was spooking them so I walked about 30 metres back to my rod and holder and was just threading on the first Yabby when right in front of me about five metre out there was a bust up on the surface.  I got a little excited and cast out behind the bust up.  Left the Yabby to waft around on the bottom for maybe 30 seconds and then slowly started to wind and "hop" it in toward me.  After about the third hop it was slammed and my line was peeling off the reel. Little by little I gained some line and tightened the drag.  

I have to admit that it is usually this stage where I lose the fish because the drag is tightened to quickly and the leader or knots fail or the hook pulls, but luckily this time, after a few fast runs I landed my first Trevally, 45cm and destined for sashimi or raw fish salad.

I had my trusty Nasci 2500 with 10lb braid and 10lb fluro leader and a no. 4 long baitholder hook - for whiting - he was hooked perfectly in the corner of the mouth.

Unfortunately I only landed a few smaller Bream after that but the bite was definitely on despite the huge amount of fresh water and the brackish colour of the river.

I took a pic on the beach and then a brag mat when I got to my mates place.

Awesome job Kat. Trevally go pretty hard on light gear I’m sure it won’t be your last trevally on light gear . Good job!

Can’t forget about the suburbs of origin AFO comp sign me up for team south! 

On 1/12/21 at 2:43 PM, Old Scaley said:

I think they call them red snapper. Over there jacks are what we call trevally. 

Yea jack crevalle are a type of trevally found in America . Americans also call their tailor bluefish . Quite confusing lmao

On 1/12/21 at 1:50 PM, ellicat said:

I think we had this discussion earlier in the year and I have forgotten the answer. haha @Breaming with bro will know.

They are called mangrove snapper they look almost exactly like mangrove jack 

7 hours ago, Old Scaley said:

Lots of people will have their favourite brand or model of rod, but that doesn’t mean it is the best one for you. Your best bet would be to take your reel to your local tackle shop, tell the sales dude what sort of fishing you do and what your budget is and let him or her select a few from the huge range that is available these days. Put your reel on each one and see how it feels. Most of these guys do know a bit about fishing and they are not generally out to rip you off.  BCF has a reasonable range but other than their advertised specials, I don’t think they are any cheaper than other tackle shops and the advise varies depending on which store you are in.  Yours may be a good one, but it doesn’t hurt to shop around. You should get a pretty good rod in your price range, but make sure you are happy with it before you commit to buying.

7 hours ago, ellicat said:

$180 should get you a decent rod for what you want it for.

%100 agree with Ellicat and old Scaley 

Everyone has their own preferences and brands . Some prefer daiwa reels some prefer shimano some prefer 6,6 rods for estuary fishing some prefer 7 foot and over. many will argue one is better then the other but at the end of the day you gotta use what feels best for you . I’d recommend doing what old Scaley mentioned go into a tackle shop and ask the people there . and $180 is plenty for a rod and reel although my banking history would disagree 

Just incase your still looking and or haven’t decided or just not sure yet . Another good rod to check out .Atomic arrows bream surface rod has plenty of whip and is great for bait and lure fishing . It’s a 1.5-3.5kg rod and it’s perfect for whiting bream and flathead. Mine is matched up with a shimano Stradic 1000 spooled with 6lb braid . It’s 7 foot so perfect for both landbased and non landbased fishing. There are some other good rods people have mentioned on this thread but I think the arrows bream surface would make top 3 best mentioned. Especially considering if your mainly going for whiting and maybe the odd flathead and also for both landbased and non landbased . Rods over 7 foot can be a bit of a hassle on boats. The rod comes in a 1 piece and 2 piece model . Match’s 1000 size Shimano reels and daiwa 2000 size reels.

15lb braid . daiwa j braid x8 $35 from BCF 150m spool should be enough for average size murry cod and snapper