Cavvy

Great for all of us at home to see this one caught and Hamish finally staying home for a day or two!  Well done Hamish - a huge effort of early starts and long days!

Deja vu for me with the last big threadfin you caught Hamish - the call for help - "fish has gone belly up bring the esky".  Big difference this time was you looked after everything when we get home including all the filleting.  Hopefully will taste good as we've a fair bit to get through!

Any other tips from folk on how to keep these big ones alive?  Maybe the time you had to take getting it landed after it surfaced was an issue - being solo without a net.

Both fish did taste particularly good - and all I had to do was eat what was served up since Hamish cleaned and cooked them . A better start to the school holidays than usual!  Fingers crossed they keep biting!

Sounds a great day of fishing while I was falling asleep at the desk after the early early drive across town.  I should have taken the day off and joined you all!

Hey Hamish great job with the reports - not sure how you managed to remember them all!  Glad the last trip was a success!  Worth the early getup and drive for me!

Life is looking up - young fella comes homes with a fish, fillets it, cooks it up and serves it out on the table for dinner.  Delicious!  Big thanks to @Old Scaleyfor taking @AUS-BNE-FISHOout today and finishing off the holidays with a great trip!  

Good job Hamish.  Now you have your wheels sorted less driving for me!  

Hi everyone, thanks for the comments/suggestions.  Seems we might have a dud ( @christophagus) but a few more checks in order:

- battery recharge.  Should have been good but certainly will charge up and run again as easy check.

- will do another water run in the pool this weekend to see if it gives a standard screen.  @AUS-BNE-FISHOcan be the underwater fish.....

- if it seems okay I'll try another mount.  I've attached a pic of last one. I'm not really sure what the thong/rubber mount was meant to do vs mount direct to bottom but Hobie mounting guy had noted it was their standard arrangement.  When I took it off I checked for air bubbles and actually seemed fine - both mount to bottom and mount to the thong @Junky 

I'll let you know how we go

Cheers

59 minutes ago, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

Hey BwB

Thanks for that, it was the first time I've ever seen anything like it (out of all the bream I've ever caught) so I was quite surprised to say the last... And I'm keeping the name bobby too. Lol. 

It is good you got the flatty, it was a nice one, hey! Calling the cops would probably be my last resort, but I'll sure think about it if this happens again. My mate who normally fishes with me, well, he would be a different story - I think it would've ended along the lines of a certain finger and someone being told where to go. Haha. 

Hi Greg

Well, yes - there is always that issue. But normally there is someone walking by about every five minutes, and it is only about 800 metres away from my house, so it isn't to isolated. I guess it is about the chance that I will be alone and no one will walk past. My solution now is to make sure I always have one or more mates with me, so at least we have fair numbers if something goes wrong. 

Cheers Hamish

P.S. Sorry for responding a bit late.

Hi all rest assured I'm down there with him for the terrible 5am starts and any time it is getting dark and we check in regularly.  As Hamish said, during the day it is a very busy thoroughfare.  Cheers

Dave

7 hours ago, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

Well they’re on everyone - Lost one and got a seventy model in the space of half an hour. I’m going back for more when the storm buggers off (despite my best negotiating and arguing my dad made me come home when there was lightning and hail

Report later,

Cheers Hamish 

Lightning and fishing just don't mix......

7 hours ago, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

Hi all

Well, I've been slack in posting my reports of late so I'm going to do a four in one right now. To save you from reading three boring reports, if you want to read about last night's yak trip, fast forward to the last report. Otherwise, you can just read about my OTHER unsuccessful salmon trips. It's including a lot of different species, such as scat, bream, mullet, catfish, blah, blah, blah!

The first session was on the 13^th of September. It was another early morning session, targeting the iconic Brisbane River threadfin salmon. We got there a bit before six, mainly to catch livies. Now, it was the wrong tide, about half way up and rising. Normally at this spot you'll be able to get truckloads of baits, especially prawns, on a dead low, but on a high you'll get bugger all except stick-fish. That was happening with us today, so it was lucky we had some frozen prawns (from prior sessions) with us today. I baited up the lines, but we still needed a livie for the salmon line. We really couldn't get one, which was bloody annoying, but after a short time my Dad did hook up to a little catty. It put up an OK fight, and soon enough we landed it and got rid of it - 

With the temperature fast warming, I can expect to see more of these... I can also expect some bull sharks!  

After that catty, we still weren't getting any bait.  By about 7:00AM, my dad went back home and left me on my own. The tide was still wrong, but at least now it had changed to the run out making it easier to fish. I also baited up the salmon line with a chunk of the Aussie Farm Prawn, as I wanted at least a slim chance of enticing one. I gave my mates a text to see if I could get some company, but I thought that was unlikely as I'm the only one who can be bothered to get out of bed on my holidays!

After many picker attacks, and re-positioning of rods, my friend Sam came down. He didn't bring the good-luck with him though, so we mainly just sat around, bait checking the rods, and giving the cast net the odd throw to check if there was any bait about yet. At around 9:00AM (yes, the session was that bad that I've pretty much skipped two hours ), we saw something pretty remarkable. First, we heard what sounded like someone falling in the water... We turned around and saw what looked to be a bully trying to eat a catfish which was feeding off algae on the pylons. I didn't get a good enough look at the 'big' fish, but judging from size, fin shape, etc (or what little of it I saw), I'd call it for one of them. 

After that, the same catfish (about a forty centimetre fish) kept swimming around on the surface for about five minutes. I got some of it on video, which is pretty cool I reckon... The video is like 4 minutes long though, which makes it a pain to post as it is SO large. 

Swimming fish!  

The funny thing was, straight after I'd went to call my dad and tell him about it, a catfish/mullet of similar size floated by, half rotted, but with what looked like a BIG bite mark out of it. Maybe the warming temperatures are causing river sharks to become more active?

One really weird thing that happened today as well, that I can't possibly think an explanation up for. Whenever I reeled in my line, the fishing line would come back covered in mud. I had to pinch the line to stop it from going all over the reel. It was like there was a sediment suspended mid water making this happen. Anyone got an idea? 

We didn't get a rod ready in time for the catty, and shortly after, due to the lack of bites, we left the park. It was a pretty dud session overall, and I did donut, but I guess you'll always get those. Here are the stats of this report - 

Statistics of Trip - 

Tide: Low, .6M, 1:30AM, High, 7:10AM, 1.5M, Low, 1:09PM, .4M

Moon Phase: Waning Crescent Phase, so not much run

Weather: Slightly cloudy and breezey

Fish caught: Catfish x 1

Bait used: Prawn

Bait caught: Bugger all

Tackle Used: Same as always - 12, 14, 30 pound braid mainlines, 20-30lb leaders, 80lb mono trace, size 4/o suicide/circle hooks, large barrel swivel, size 2500 Shimano Nasci and Diawa Shinobi, 6"6 Venomat? rod, 8" Ugly Stik, Size 2M Rogue Firepoint boat rod, shocker and blood knots. 

Overall Success Rate: 30% - at least we saw something out of the usual...

Alright, here is the next report. This one took place on Saturday, and it was another arvo session. I'd actually gotten a new cast net for the yak and I planned to use that one to give it a test out. Once again, there really wasn't much bait around today, so I stuck to using Aussie Farm Prawns.

I had my lines in by about half past two, and I was also giving the net a test. It throws decently, but I'll need to give it a soaking in sugar-soap and water overnight so it goes nice and sift and not springy. When the net is springy, you'll often pancake it before it hits the water then it'll go smaller. It didn't take long before I got the first hit. I completely missed it though, so I re casted and kept cast netting. Not long after, I see the rod buckled over. I pull up the net as fast as I can, and begin to fight the fish. It had some OK weight about it, and while it didn't take any good runs still had some go in it! When I saw it, I realised it was a bream, to my surprise. Normally I pull these ones (especially up at that size) from structure, rarely from the middle of the river! 

The solo net job is still something I need to get better at, especially off the jetty. It took my a few minutes to walk him down and get him in the net, but after that I think it all went smoothly. I took him up to the brag mat (thinking the Suburbs of Origin comp leading bream was still @ellicat's at 31.5cm, not @Daryl McPhee's at 33.5cm... I think anyways), tipped some water on the mat (so he stayed calm), got the hook out with my hands, then took a pic and put him back . He swum off fine, so that just shows that hopefully there'll be an OK population of bigger bream in the river. I'd love to get a trophy bream out of the Brisbane River. 

My three fingers for SOO and, I think I'm mastering the one handed breambo selfie!

After that bream, which got some hope into me, I rebaited, and kept throwing the net. There was still no bait around and to much tide to throw the net, so I had a sit down with the rods. For the next hour and a bit, nothing happened at all, except the fact my mate came down. I briefly summarized the day so far, which wasn't much, and we kept fishing. 

The salmon line was still baited with some dead prawn, but luckily my dad came down. He did one pancake of the ten footer, and got 7 poddy mullet! I chucked one out (well two actually as one went flying off the hook), and left the livie out. This fella lasted for ages. I gave him about three bait checks and he was still as lively as anything. The rod which had caught my bream also had a live prawn on the end. I think my dad (see, I don't fully remember) got a juvenile bream in the net at one point, which was safely released as well. I think it is great to see that bream are thriving around and in the river. I guess it can be expected as they have just bred though. 

Small Bream 

After that one, my dad headed off. It was around five now, and I was still doing some cast netting. In one of my throws, I felt a good tug. I was hoping for a mullet, but the second I saw the bugger I knew what it was. A dirty old scat. You will not get me to change my mind ever. These are one of the most annoying bloody things to get into your net. The barely come out, spiky everywhere... That's a recipe for disaster. I got mine out after about 5 minutes, and after a quick picture put him back into the water. The funny thing was he got sucked straight back down by a whirlpool made by the current. Funny to watch, that is  

30cm of Yuk!'

After that scat, it was nearly half past five. The salmon line was untouched, and apart from some small hits the other line was too. I was disappointed that I couldn't get a salmon, but at least this session was no donut. Here are the stats of this report - 

Statistics of report - 

Tide: 12:11PM, High, 2.15M, 6:30PM, Low, .1M

Moon Phase: New Moon, so quite a bit of run!

Fish caught: Scat x 1, Bream x 2

Bait caught: Poddy Mullet and prawn

Bait used: Dead and live prawn, live poddy mullet

Tackle Used:  12, 14, 30 pound braid mainlines, 20-30lb leaders, 80lb mono trace, size 4/o suicide/circle hooks, large barrel swivel, size 2500 Shimano Nasci and Diawa Shinobi, 6"6 Venomat? rod, 8" Ugly Stik, Size 2M Rogue Firepoint boat rod, shocker and blood knots. 

Weather: Cloudy, light sprinkles of rain

Overall Success Rate: 40% - a good bream

Okey-dokey, now to the last session that took place at the local park. This one was in the early morning, mainly because one of my friends wanted to come down. We got to the park a little before six, and he got there a little before seven. My dad and I started cast netting first up... He got a couple good bait prawns in the first cast, but I got nothing. On my dad's second cast though, up came two bream. Both tiny ones, but still an OK start to the morning. The certainly gave a good tug in the net, and they were safely released. 

Two bream, just about legal (or maybe a tad over)

That was a good start, and as well as them my dad and I had manged about 5 poddy mullet soon after. Yippee. That was our cod and salmon bait sorted for the day. Not long before my friend got there, my dad manged to get a solid 33cm mullet which will most likely become crab pot bait. It gave him another good pull too. He was getting all the good ones and what was I stuck with? Glassies!.. 

My Dad's 33cm Mullet

The mullet and bream were a good way to start the day, but it was still not what we can there for - a thready! My dad found out about the scats too, as he got a bigger one as well (I still had to remove it). I hope they don't start becoming common here, but then again if they did they'd become crab bait! 

Scat number 2

After he was put back, the netting went quiet. The lines hadn't even been touched this whole time, so I was starting to think this might be a donut session for me. It kept this way for another hour or so, until the tide changed. The same thing with the mud on the reels happened (like I said in the above post), and it was most annoying. Seeing as though it only happened on the rising in tide, I'm thinking there may be a lot of dirt stirred up on the tide change causing this to happen? 

The bite still stayed quiet, and for the rest of the morning I couldn't manage a fish. I tried my best, by re-positioning rods, but it still didn't work. I kept bait checking the lines, and eventually I was onto the cooked prawns I had. These certainly didn't help the bite rate, and it seems the fish completely stay away from them. I've read that they make a great bait in lots of old threads but I haven't been able to prove that true at all. Both the live mullet were still going strong, but I didn't end up getting a fish on either of them.

At about 10:00AM, I left the park and called the session. At least I've got some more crab bait now. A couple more and it'll be POB crabbing time! Here are the stats of the trip - 

Statistics of Trip - 

Tide: High, 12:25AM, 2.3M, Low, 7:00AM, .1M, High, 1:00PM, 2.2M

Moon Phase: New Moon so a bit of run!

Weather: Cloudy, cool-ish

Fish caught: 2 x Bream, 1 x Scat, 1 x Mullet

Bait caught: Poddy Mullet (and a couple prawns)

Bait used: Live and dead prawns, poddy mullet

Tackle used: 12, 14, 30 pound braid mainlines, 20-30lb leaders, 80lb mono trace, size 4/o suicide/circle hooks, large barrel swivel, size 2500 Shimano Nasci and Diawa Shinobi, 6"6 Venomat? rod, 8" Ugly Stik, Size 2M Rogue Firepoint boat rod, shocker and blood knots. 

Overall Success Rate: 30% - crab bait!

OK, so here is the spot you want to be if you are only reading the yakking trip, but otherwise, good job in keeping up! This was a night time session at Dutton Park around Green Bridge, which while is heavily fished, still seems to hold fish (or it did the last time I was there). We got there at around 6:30PM to catch livies and set off. 

After getting numerous herring, poddy mullet, and a couple prawns (as well as glassies and scat), we launched in the kayak. Collecting bait was quite fun, with me getting the odd school of (small) herring, and my dad getting the same. I got most of the good mullet though. Another fella fishing there gave us some bigger herring as he must've heard me say, "These buggers are bloody small!", and gave me a hand. He was trying for early season sharks, which I don't think he was too successful on. 

We got out, and decided to drift the last of the rise up towards a red marker buoy. I deployed a good live mullet, and my dad chucked on a small winter whiting which I'd caught. I sent the baits down though, and we hoped the first drift could bring some big fish! 

 

Deploying a livie (mullet) down to the depth below

It was very deep, and since we didn't have time to put on the sounder before we left we simply estimated it to be between 20-25M. My bait was on the bottom first, and it was clearly going crazy. It was bending the rod, and felt like a bloomin' fish! Surely if this went over a salmon's head it would be smashed! We drifted about 150M from the middle of the river to the red buoy, and did the same thing again. It was very serene out on the river being the only thing there, and the only way to make it better (or we thought) would be for a fish. 

Before the second drift, we checked our livies. Mine was still kicking stronger (than usual, Lol), but it had gotten into the worst tangle I'd ever seen. We almost drifted back to the jetty it took that long to un-tangle it. I guess problems like that are just problems you'll always encounter when live baiting.  We started the second drift though, and proceeded along bottom bashing. When we finished that drift, we made the call to fish some of the pylons and hopefully entice something hanging around structure. We sat around and in the eddies made by the pylons, to no avail whatsoever. My dad was disappointed alright, as he though the pylons would be the spot to catch 'em on. 

We hit the pylon on the UQ size first, then did another drift through the middle of the river. It was nearing 8:00PM now, but I was still going strong (like my livie). 

                  

Oops. You can see my dad's very ugly feet in this one!

We finished that drift, and even though it seemed like there wasn't any ground below us (just mud), I still thought this area would hold fish. I guess I was wrong, that's for sure. It was getting a bit later, and we thought the Dutton Park side pylon would hold something. We fished all around the pylon for about 15 minutes, and apart from getting snagged, it was deadly quiet. For the final half an hour or so before my dad succumbed to the 'not-having-a-chair-to-support-my-back' issue, we fished about 50 metres away from the jetty. It must've been right on tide change here, as we were barely moving at all. Then, we got back to the jetty by 9:00PM - a different group of people had moved in since the last time we were there, but luckily there was space for one of my rods. I kept it out until about 9:30PM, and then reluctantly wound it back in and departed Dutton Park...

Boy, was it disappointing to not catch a salmon on the last night of Suburbs of Origin.. Oh well! Here are the stats of the trip. 

Statistics of Trip -

Tide: 6:45PM, .2M, Low, 12:30AM, 2.1M, high

Moon Phase: New Moon, lots of run

Fish caught: - Sigh

Bait caught: Herring, Mullet, Prawns, Winter Whiting, Glassies, Scat

Bait used: Herring, Mullet, Winter Whiting

Tackle used: 12, 14, 30 pound braid mainlines, 20-30lb leaders, 80lb mono trace, 30lb fluorocarbon trace, size 4/o suicide/circle hooks, large barrel swivel, size 2500 Shimano Nasci and Diawa Shinobi, 6"6 Venomat? rod, 8" Ugly Stik, Size 2M Rogue Firepoint boat rod, shocker and blood knots. 

Weather: Windy, cloudy, cool

Time fished: Approx. 7:00PM - 9:30PM

Location: Dutton Park/Green Bridge 

Overall Success Rate: 20% - Pretty Dud!

Alright, thanks for reading everyone. I hope you all enjoyed this report marathon, that's for sure. Sorry for not getting that thready, Southside! Maybe if I kept my lines in for a minute more I would've . Stay safe  Sorry for any spelling errors/errors in this report as well. @GregOug, I'm sure you'll find something wrong with the punctuation . 

Cheers Hamish

Great report Hamish - must have taken some time to write. Lucky you're on holidays.  It was certainly peaceful out there and even though we caught nothing and I felt stiff as a board getting out it was a fun night.  A couple of things you missed though.....

- how you got me there on a Sunday night after getting me up at 5am to help catch some live bait.  "Apparently" some one on north side had entered a whole lot of fish and it was now 6 all with only one day remaining - a threadfin salmon could ensure South side wins!  What a sucker - clearly I need to read more posts.  Hamish filled me in on the way home that actually south side had it well won.

- who was unloading post trip at 10:00pm and who was off snoozing in bed?

Anyway can't complain as all I need to do is show up with all the gear prepared for me and all the rods and reels being cleaned the following day.  A bit like a charter!

A great morning even though Hamish got me out of bed at 5am - actually I lie, I got him out of bed because his alarm woke most people in the house except him!

Thanks for igniting a passion in Hamish for lures @samsteele115 .  We've been live bait mainly because of a poor strike rate with lures in the river but was great to hook a good flattie.  We'll certainly have one rod on the yak with a lure on it going forward.

Feeling a bit sore today with two days on the water paddling. Maybe I'll have to look at the electric motor someone has been pressing for......