PolyGF

only added advice I will offer on  KM's, and Drop Bear's is if you intend to set pots and leave them unattended for any period of time, hide/camoflauge your ropes and tag/float well....
most low life share farmers and their low life rellies, and mates are still on holidays with plenty of time to raid, and/or steal your pots.... sad, but active low life's are part and parcel of life these days
Hope you have rewarding efforts 🙂
 

Stainless all the way, including the shackles and cable clamps, the way I look at it a longer life span and maybe less chance of premature failure if you’re miles from home, just my 2c’s worth

Stainless all the way, including the shackles and cable clamps, the way I look at it a longer life span and maybe less chance of premature failure if you’re miles from home, just my 2c’s worth

I headed out yesterday to confirm or deny the prawns status In The southern bay. As mentioned earlier thought I’d selflessly leave the weekend for those who worked this week the only problem was there was 50 to 60 other selfless fishos on a Friday morning😂. I’m guessing there will be close to 100 boats there on the weekend. Rumours were confirmed though!!

Been months since I got out for a fish. So was more than happy to get an invite to head up north and launch from turkey beach to hunt down some reds and other big reefies. We left brissy on Monday night for the seven hour journey north. Arived at turkey beach at some ungodly hour and launched the boat for the 120km trip out to innamincka shoals. Got out there in good time  to drop our first baits not long after sunrise on Tuesday. Fishing was a bit slow at first but we were getting the usual small reefies such as parrot various cods and plenty of hussar which were kept for big fillet baits. We sounded around for about 40 mins to find some good isolated lumps to drop over sized baits on and from this point on the big fish started coming onboard quite consistently.
the sharks were up to there usual tricks but spent the day nailing some nice gold band snapper, red emporer and nannygai. In all my years of heading up here, this was by far the best weather I had experienced. 
 

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Day one saw four nannygai, five reds and over a dozen gold band hit the deck so the call was made to head south to broomfield reef and anchor up for the night then chase some trout in the shallows before heading home at lunch time on day two. 
 
woke up before the sun up and had a quick feed then commenced chasing trout. The trout weren’t really playing the game initially but after dropping down sinker sizes we managed to get six or seven coral trout and coronation trout on board and plenty of Maori cod too. By this point the sharks were really becoming a pain so the call was made to move 
After this we went out to the 60 metre line for a last attempt at some good red fish we ended up with two more nannygai and one more red so we were stoked. I even managed to nail my pb dolly and a not bad cobia aswell. 

with more than enough fish to last our families (and very select friends lol) for months we pointed the boat home for a smooth trip back to the ramp in glass conditions. All in all was one of the best trips I’d had up there, especially considering the last one was full of all sorts of engine and boat dramas.
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Aldi run a special a couple of times per year where you can pick one up for $49 (I think). Once you get one you will find lots of uses for it. I like the smokey bacon from the butcher at Tairo so buy a bulk pack if we are passing through and then cryovac it in meal portions for the freezer. You can make freezer bags for 6 pack Eskies. Possibilities are endless. I even cryovacced a spare primer bulb and fuel line for the outboard to keep out dust and water. You won’t look back.

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Hi all
I know it's a bit late but I'm going to put up three more reports. I didn't catch much in any of them, but all of them I had an OK time and at least I did not donut. The first one of these was from the 7th of July, and then the next few a bit closer. Sorry I've been slack, and also sorry that I'm doing another 3 in one, but now it's back to school I'll probably be back to only one or two sessions per weekend. 
So, I arrived for the first session earlier in the morning. Before seven. I did a couple throws of the cast net, for some live prawns, but the tide was still a bit high and fast. That was why I didn't get to many. They were deployed on the line, out in the deeper water, as well as the one in the cod/bream/flatty spot (if you haven't already, read session #37 - I got a good flatty in that one and it will give you more context in future reports). My line began to go off soon after, but it was not a normal strike. It was like the fish was just nudging the bait. I picked it up and set the hook though. At first, it was a dead weight, but then it took on OK run. After that, it was just more fun. Run, run, run! Heavy, heavy, heavy! While it was only a weird catfish in the end though, they sure do make good practise for fighter proper fish. I hope to get a few more of these buggers to fine tune my technique on fighting fish (if you've seen me, you'll notice when there's a biggun on, I'm often shaking in surprise/worryness, and then not playing the fish as well as I could be). I also noticed the weird white spots on the fish, which you can see if you look closely. 
In an older thread, I have heard about the red spots (a parasite) on catfish. Never the white ones. And also, the colouration on these fish is weird, also. A normal forktail catfish (salmon catfish) is silver, like many I catch. These ones seem to fight better, but look browny, and have bad spots on them. Anyone know what the go is with these? 

I might also say, solo netting is a hard job. First of all, I had to grab my net and walk him down to the jetty (involved a bit of 'oohing and arring' because I was stretching to reach it). Then, I had to bend under the railing to the jetty, to get to a spot to net him. Finally, he kept swimming under a branch stuck on the jetty. I eventually got him up though. LOL. 
Then everything went dead. I got a few more live prawns, but even they stopped. It wasn't looking good also, because, like always, my hands were freezing. I guess cotton gloves don't work when you use them for cast netting 😜. Luckily, a very kind lady gave me a plastic bag and told me to put it on my hand to keep them dry. It certainly worked, but my hands were by no means warm! My friend was coming down as well, so I didn't want to go home. The bite was quiet for the whole time I was waiting for him. No hits whatsoever. I mainly focused on keeping warm. I also noticed that we were beginning to run out of bait. I couldn't manage anything in the cast net, so I just kept one line out for extended fishing time.
This line got nothing the whole time. The most likely reason we were running out of bait was pickers, and since I only had some prawns left (I didn't really want to use them all but had too) I was preparing to go home. We ended up staying 'till a bit past eleven AM, but by then the bite was really shut down and nothing was happening. I went home, planning to go out the next day. 
Here are the stats of that trip (not very accurate as it was ten days ago) - 
Statistics of trip - 
Tide: 6:50AM, Low, .4M 12:20PM, 1.7M, high
Bait caught: Prawns
Bait used: Prawns, live and dead
Fish caught: Catfish
Tackle Used: 10lb, 14lb, and 30lb mainlines (braid), 20lb fluorocarbon leaders, 30lb fluorocarbon leader, 80lb mono trace, size 4/o suicide and circle hooks, large barrel swivel, size 6 and 3 ball sinkers. Size 1000 and 2500 Shimano Sienna and Nasci, size 650 Penn Reel, size 2500 Diawa Shinobi.  
Overall Success Rate: 
Now, to the next one. It was the following arvo, and this time there was a crowd. I brought my normal fishing mate, plus one from school, plus the previous report's one, and he brought two of his mates. I got down to the park with everyone a little bit past quarter past two, and within about 1 minute of having the first line in out deep I saw it getting pickered. I began to reel it in, and realised I was on. There was no fight whatsoever, but it was good to land one straight up. I was hoping we'd just pull in a bucket-load, but we only ended up getting that one. It was OK size, quite fat - 

When released, I called it for a floater, but he swam off eventually. It seems they don't have the strength to swim off opposed to barotrauma/trauma from handling. I'd assume that os why it is such a timid fight. 
My friend's line/reel wasn't in tip-top condition when we were at my home, so while I was there, I wiped the bucket tonne of sand out, gave it a quick oil, and straight-away, it worked better. It is only a Jarvis Walker combo, but as you'll see next, it stills catches! His line was just getting nibbles, so I informed him so. I was the only one who noticed, actually, as no one else was looking. He started the fight, and in about a minute I saw an eel... Hooked in the butt! It was fouled all over the line, and since I still hadn't gotten any livies, I just chucked it into the live-bait bucket. After I dispatched it (not very well, it kept alive!), we kept fishing. Here are some pics first though - 



I managed some live prawns after this. The bite was still very quiet though.. like it had been on the other sessions. My friends' friends headed off, seeing as though they were bored. The salmon line was still untouched, and when I checked, pickered. I kept waiting though, and in between the bait checks and cast netting throws, we still weren't to cold/exhausted. I gave the salmon line one more bait check, and I felt a bit of weight. It only took me a sec to realise I was on to a piece of crap, and I very quietly pulled up a catfish. It gave my friends a surprise when I got it. LOL. 

He was flicked back (my friend insisted of having a photo which he now uses for his profile piccy, I'll have to catch him something OK he can actually use), and I kept fishing. There were no more fish landed for the day, and while there were a few more prawns it became pretty dead quickly. Once it was dark (ish) we started to pack the gear up so it was an easy leave when we had to. We headed home shortly after and called it an OK day... Here are the statistics of the trip - 
Stats of trip - 
Tide: 1:00PM, 1.7M, high, 6:45PM, .4M, Low
Bait caught: Prawns
Fish caught: Catfish x 1, Eel x 1, Perch x 1
Bait used: Prawns, live and dead
Tackle used: 10lb, 14lb, and 30lb mainlines (braid), 20lb fluorocarbon leaders, 30lb fluorocarbon leader, 80lb mono trace, size 4/o suicide and circle hooks, large barrel swivel, size 6 and 3 ball sinkers. Size 1000 and 2500 Shimano Sienna and Nasci, size 650 Penn Reel, size 2500 Diawa Shinobi.  
Weather (general): Slightly cloudy, little wind
Overall Success Rate: 40%
The final report was about as exciting as getting bored to death! I arrived in the early arvo with a mate, and it was wet. I prefer this weather because it is nicer to be in, but rain generally isn't to good in my fishing experience. I got out a prawn and in about ten minutes the line was getting hits. I picked up and realised I was on. The small perch came up no problemos. It was released, but I was still hoping to catch something a bit bigger...

I kept fishing, and while I was getting a couple prawns, nothing was happening (except a bit of rain). It wasn't' the most boring thing ever, but I will say it certainly could have been more fun/exciting. The next couple hours, I just kept throwing the net/talking. It is kind of lonely when you seem to be the only one around, especially when the weather is so gloomy. There was a bit more isolated rain over the day, but later it stopped fully. 
I also kept having fun with the pickers right in the shallows. I would drop it down (hoping for something sizeable) but then get pickered like no tomorrow. I actually managed to pull a little toadfish up, which has a very distinctive vibration in the fight. It let go before I officially 'landed' it though. LOL. The day was over as quick as it started, and I left at dusk. It was a bit of an effort, but all these sessions were certainly worth it. 
Here are the stats of this trip, too - 
Stats of trip - 
Tide: High, 1.7M 1:40PM, Low, .4M, 7:30PM
Fish caught: Perch x 1
Bait caught: Prawns
Bait used: Prawns (live and dead)
Time fished: 2:00PM-5:15PM
Tackle Used: 10lb, 14lb, and 30lb mainlines (braid), 20lb fluorocarbon leaders, 30lb fluorocarbon leader, 80lb mono trace, size 4/o suicide and circle hooks, large barrel swivel, size 6 and 3 ball sinkers. Size 1000 and 2500 Shimano Sienna and Nasci, size 650 Penn Reel, size 2500 Diawa Shinobi.  
Overall Success Rate: 30% 
I hope you enjoyed these reports. I doubt I'll go out tomorrow if I'm still feeling bad. At least that eel will make some good bully baits in the Summer (can't wait, I'm going to try for a bully on my 1000 Sienna!). Thanks for reading. 
Cheers Hamish 

Anybody wants a feed of prawns, head to the pine, they were skipping across the water everywhere we went, I think the fish were full of them.

Atherton Tablelands after climate change has lifted the sea level.

Neighbour across the road from us up on his driveway as well, had the car radio on ABC and a bit of noise from a crow in the distance (no Maggie’s).

Neighbour across the road from us up on his driveway as well, had the car radio on ABC and a bit of noise from a crow in the distance (no Maggie’s).

Neighbour across the road from us up on his driveway as well, had the car radio on ABC and a bit of noise from a crow in the distance (no Maggie’s).

Neighbour across the road from us up on his driveway as well, had the car radio on ABC and a bit of noise from a crow in the distance (no Maggie’s).

I stepped outside this morning to pay my respects, it was good to see quite a few neighbors out in their driveways. Wife and I had several chats.
Dino

A few weeks back now, myself and a mate headed out into the bay in search of some Snapper, it was an early start that Monday morning and we were armed to the teeth with quality fillets of mullet, fresh squid, and fresh green king prawns that were probably too good to use for bait.
We fished the sunrise and weren’t doing too bad really, we managed a few undersized squire, and a couple of grassy’s, then my mate got a squire that went 37cm, so he was pretty happy. I decided to change tactics and rigged up a curl tail, second flick in, upon retrieval, got hit by a little school mackerel, nice, the little guy only went 45cm, he was quickly sent packing, the 3rd flick in, as I was hopping the plastic back to the boat, it got inhaled!, my mate knew straight away it was a quality fish, and quickly got his line in and assumed net duty, It fought quite hard and had a couple of good runs, but eventually surfaced and was guided toward the net, we were stoked!, a quality bay Snapper 
I snapped the pic with my trademark foot in the photo, and he was quickly dispatched, and put in the esky, alongside his smaller mate, he ended up weighing in at 6.1kg. What a morning!, I managed another hookup on an equally sizeable fish, but somehow dropped him during the fight, I’m still not sure what happened there, I didn’t have the drag locked up, so ruled out pulling it, I think he must have only just been hooked, and during his signiture head shakes managed to get free, oh well, you do get that, it was still a great day.
A week after that trip, the weather was good so decided on a little early morning solo run, I pulled up to a spot and rigged a floating pilly to send out the back, then began working the plastics, it wasn’t too long before I snared this little garbage truck who managed to find his way into my esky.
He measured 55cm, and unfortunately for him, I do enjoy their taste.
The action died down, and the bumps all but stopped, I reeled in the floater that had been out the back for a couple of hours to assess its condition, and it was unmarked, at that stage I decided to start a drift and sent the pilly back out, I continued working the plastic for quite sometime before I heard the floater screaming off at a rate of knots!, wooo hooo! mackerel time!, that’s what I thought at the start, but soon began second guessing my call whilst fighting this fish, you can only imagine my surprise when a very respectable Snapper came up alongside the boat.
He was around 82cm, I didn’t realise it at the time, but the arm of my sunglasses was in the pic, I do apologise for that, so after the pic I returned him to the water, swam him a bit, and he was back on his way. I ended up doing 1 more unproductive drift and then decided to make my way home, that Snapper turned a good trip into a great trip!
 

Hi all
Even though it may not be a big Easter lunch with your family (due to COVID-19), I hope you all have a great Easter. Hopefully the restrictions are eased soon. 
Stay safe and well,
Cheers Hamish 🙂