a-frame81

The only knot I know is the one on my speedo

I've tried the FG a few times from 6lb braid to 8lb mono leader, but kept getting slipping and the know undoing. Probably doing something wrong.
 
I mostly use the modified albright and it seems to work ok. Might have to try the FG again on my baitcaster with 20lb braid and 30lb leader....

Looks great mate enjoy. 

Took the yak out for the first time this morning. Just a paddle today. Hopefully it's warm tomorrow morning so I can head back out for a fish.
Seems pretty stable and paddles well as far as I can tell. I haven't paddled a kayak for 15 or so years.

Hey all
Today my dad and I decided that because there was no tennis on this morning, we would make the most of it and try and get our name on the board for a species in Suburbs of Origin. Our plan was quite simple; keep one rod with a plastic/lure, and catch some livies for the other two. We planned to drift to the first spot, then fish that for a bit, then fish Cobia Bridge for a bit more, then drift back up with the tide. 
We were awoken at about 4:30AM by the alarm, and I believe we were collecting bait at about 5:30AM. It only took four casts to get about 15-20 good sized prawns, and then we loaded the yak and left. We decided to ditch the drift idea, as we thought it'd be better to paddle down with the tide and come back up with the rise. We arrived at what we call 'Three Pylon Creek', as there are three pylons out the front,  and started fishing. I did my first cast out in the middle of the creek, then another one to a jetty nearby... Then to the mud bank. My soft plastic lure, a 3 inch motor oil grub (thanks @samsteele115, legend!), was twitched once. Then twice. Then I felt some weight and realised I was on. all hell broke loose shortly after, and this thing was running around as fast as a cheetah! It leapt out of the water at one point early in the fight, and I saw some silver so I thought it was a salmon. I had my drag as tight as I dared, so it wasn't taking any runs. My dad was quick to grab our kayak net, and just before this he had identified it as a flatty!
We got it in just after it took a good run, but once it was on the boat all hell broke loose...Again! It went crazy in my dads legs, and was clearly very unhappy to be on the boat! After some rowers had a good time watching us muck around, we got it on the measurer. My dad called it for 55cm, so I was pretty happy with that, especially  because it's only my second fish on a lure ever! Here is the fish just prior to being released 🙂 

 While it's no biggun, it's a respectable Brisbane River fish.
After that, my dad got a few nibbles and an OK hit on the salmon line, but they were all small by the looks. I had a sinker that was probably to big for shallower water but still used that so I didn't have to change it. After our adrenaline rush subsided, we decided to set sail to our next spot - Cobia Bridge! 😉 We got to the beach at about ten past seven, and did some cast netting briefly. My dad got nothing but some tiny prawns, which was unfortunate seeing as though the last time we were here we got mullet, biddies, and whiting in two throws! After some casting (only for a couple small hits), we hit the bridge pylons.
We put ourselves in the middle of two pylons which kept our yak from drifting. It was pretty cosy. I dropped the lighter line line down with bait, and after a couple minutes of nothing my dad did the same. It was very deep there, and I knew if I did hook a really big fish I'd probably get spooled because I didn't have much line. LOL. We stayed in this spot for a short while, (well about half an hour), and despite some small nibbles we still got squat all. My dad was really hoping this spot would produce, and I reckon it will too, we just need to fish it a bit more! It is nice under the shelter of the bridge but the bloody trains that go by every second minute are annoying.

Going under the bridge
The next spot is another small creek I pass, actually on my way to school. The tide had changed by now so it was ideal to drift back up towards it. There is actually a river walk project being built there, so there will soon be some EPIC structure for cod, salmon, bream, jacks, and god knows what in there. It'd only be fish able be boat/kayak, but there will be some spots you can fish from it land based when it's done at the end of 2021!  
https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/traffic-and-transport/roads-infrastructure-and-bikeways/bikeway-and-pathway-projects/indooroopilly-indooroopilly-riverwalk
I gave the pylons some good casts with my soft plastic grub, for unfortunately nothing. The actual creek was very shallow, though I still casted in there in hope of another lizard, or even bream. I have seen a big bream on the surface there on my way to school, as well as catfish swimming out. The structure is very promising, as there is a heap of rocks around and in the creek too. Despite my best efforts, and best skim-casts, this spot proved fish-less. "Oh Well!", we thought, "Next time for sure!". 
We then crossed the river and fished a bunch of the jetties. It would've been far more ideal if I had changed lure to a hard body, but I figured there was not much point as I could skim-cast and cast my soft plastic better. The slow roll and twitching retrieve wasn't working, and on some jetties we even trolled the lure along, so it was disappointing to not get anything. We eventually stopped fishing the jetties, and it is actually very lucky that my school is on the river and has a jetty! We pulled up there, and had a quick break - Basically, we got onto the jetty, and I casted my lines in straight away in hope of something like a good breambo. I tied the kayak up to the jetty with some rope I put in for this reason, and my dad and I ate some lollies and a PB sanga (well I ate the lollies and he got the sanga). The drifting we did before this was not very productive, with nothing but a snag and some deep rocky areas which could possibly hold fish.

Me looking very jolly like with the three finger salute
The tide was well and truly ripping in by now, so we paddled up back to Three Pylon Creek. My dad and I started the drift prior to the creek, and drifted down. There are a heap of ancient looking pylons there, so I'm wondering if it was an old wharf when they used to ferry logs and stuff like that up and down the river. We got to the creek which was far higher, and decided to actually go up it. I put the casts through the middle, in the snags, and on both banks, for nothing. We kept going up and up and up though, until we got to a bridge and the creek rocked out. It was also a bit stalemate and not much flow here, so we figured it was time to go back (that, it was getting hot, and we  were exhausted). 

Up Three Pylon Creek... With a Paddle!
The final paddle back was quite hot and tiring, though we eventually made it back to the jetty. After we unloaded the yak, had a quick snack, and packed up, we were off to home. The session was pretty fun overall, with the flatty and the good exploration trip. Some interesting things to note may be that there was a absolute truckload of  bait at Three Pylon creek (mainly mullet and herring), the flathead came out of about 20cm of water on a very muddy bottom, under Cobia Bridge there wasn't much bait and not many fish, and finally, around the new river walk project the pylons haven't been there for very long, maybe why the fish aren't there? 
That's the full session though, and here are the stats of the trip - 
Tide: 6:50AM, Low, .3M, 12:50PM, High, 1.7M
Moon Phase: 90% moon, so quite a bit of run
Bait used: Live prawns
Lures used: 3 inch Motor Oil Z-man Grubs on a 1/6th jig head
Bait caught: Prawns
Fish caught: 1 x Dusky Flathead, 55cm
Weather: Glass out, hot, slightly cloudy
Time fished: 5:30AM (or so) - 9:40AM
Tackle used: 12lb, 14lb, 30lb braid mainline, 20lb, 30lb fluorocarbon leader, 1/6th jig head on Z-man Motor Oil 3 inch grub, 4/o suicide and circle hooks, large barrel swivel, size 2 and 6 ball sinkers, size 2500 Shimano Nasci and Diawa Shinboi, size 650 Penn reel, 8 foot Ugly Stik rod, 6"6' Abu Garcia Venomat? rod, 2M Rogue Firepoint boat rod.
Air Pressure: 1020
Overall Success Rate: 80% - at least I got one good one!
OK, that's the report done everyone. Thanks for reading this session, I hope you guys at least somewhat enjoyed the report 🙂 
Stay safe with COVID-19! 
Cheers Hamish 🙂  

Some good bait prawns

Hey a-frame81
Nice one. Good to see the yak goes OK. 
Hope you can get some fish eventually.
Cheers Hamish

Took the yak out for the first time this morning. Just a paddle today. Hopefully it's warm tomorrow morning so I can head back out for a fish.
Seems pretty stable and paddles well as far as I can tell. I haven't paddled a kayak for 15 or so years.

Took the yak out for the first time this morning. Just a paddle today. Hopefully it's warm tomorrow morning so I can head back out for a fish.
Seems pretty stable and paddles well as far as I can tell. I haven't paddled a kayak for 15 or so years.

Hey a-frame81
Yep, you aren't really going to get soaked without plugs but they sure help! 🙂 
Kayaks are so handy for getting places were boats and people can't. Up a feeder creek, in the lillies, through the trees. You name it... 🙂 
Cheers Hamish

It's 3.9m long, I believe it's a Seak brand, similar to https://www.anacondastores.com/water/kayaks/seak-mako-kayak-39-m-blue-camouflage/BP90126776
 
Came with a paddle and seat as well, so a very good deal. It's missing the scupper plugs as they guy couldn't find them, but I figure they're not too expensive to replace but I'll see how wet I get without them first. I was glad to find a slightly longer kayak, as I will use it on some bays when I go down the coast and our lakes can get pretty choppy when the wind comes. We'll see how my back holds out lifting it on and off the roof.

Thanks Drop Bear. I'm hoping the nice weather holds out down here for the weekend so I can have a go without freezing.
I managed to off the roof part with no worries, resting the bow on the back of the car with an old windscreen shade under it to protect the paintwork. Only really lifting 15kg or so at a time that way. Should be all good.
Hope I can catch a heap more now I can get out around the reeds and weed that seems to line every lake down south.

Thanks Drop Bear. I'm hoping the nice weather holds out down here for the weekend so I can have a go without freezing.
I managed to off the roof part with no worries, resting the bow on the back of the car with an old windscreen shade under it to protect the paintwork. Only really lifting 15kg or so at a time that way. Should be all good.
Hope I can catch a heap more now I can get out around the reeds and weed that seems to line every lake down south.

Thanks Drop Bear. I'm hoping the nice weather holds out down here for the weekend so I can have a go without freezing.
I managed to off the roof part with no worries, resting the bow on the back of the car with an old windscreen shade under it to protect the paintwork. Only really lifting 15kg or so at a time that way. Should be all good.
Hope I can catch a heap more now I can get out around the reeds and weed that seems to line every lake down south.

Nice one mate. I look forward to seeing you smash a whole lot of fish in that. What a great buy! 
They can be heavy, I hope your back holds out. Glad you got the trolley. 

It's 3.9m long, I believe it's a Seak brand, similar to https://www.anacondastores.com/water/kayaks/seak-mako-kayak-39-m-blue-camouflage/BP90126776
 
Came with a paddle and seat as well, so a very good deal. It's missing the scupper plugs as they guy couldn't find them, but I figure they're not too expensive to replace but I'll see how wet I get without them first. I was glad to find a slightly longer kayak, as I will use it on some bays when I go down the coast and our lakes can get pretty choppy when the wind comes. We'll see how my back holds out lifting it on and off the roof.

So I now have a kayak!
Picked it up today - $250 including the trolley and kayak mounts for  roof racks. Pretty stomed. Hopefully get some nice weather to try it next week.

It's 3.9m long, I believe it's a Seak brand, similar to https://www.anacondastores.com/water/kayaks/seak-mako-kayak-39-m-blue-camouflage/BP90126776
 
Came with a paddle and seat as well, so a very good deal. It's missing the scupper plugs as they guy couldn't find them, but I figure they're not too expensive to replace but I'll see how wet I get without them first. I was glad to find a slightly longer kayak, as I will use it on some bays when I go down the coast and our lakes can get pretty choppy when the wind comes. We'll see how my back holds out lifting it on and off the roof.

Looks like a good deal. Nice size for the money.

Hey a-frame81
Yeww! That looks great. I sure hope you can smash some big ones on it. 
Cheers Hamish

Looks a good rig and great price - what make and length is it?

So I now have a kayak!
Picked it up today - $250 including the trolley and kayak mounts for  roof racks. Pretty stomed. Hopefully get some nice weather to try it next week.

So I now have a kayak!
Picked it up today - $250 including the trolley and kayak mounts for  roof racks. Pretty stomed. Hopefully get some nice weather to try it next week.

So I now have a kayak!
Picked it up today - $250 including the trolley and kayak mounts for  roof racks. Pretty stomed. Hopefully get some nice weather to try it next week.

So I now have a kayak!
Picked it up today - $250 including the trolley and kayak mounts for  roof racks. Pretty stomed. Hopefully get some nice weather to try it next week.

I would but I'll be up in the mountains 4WDing this weekend. Got to get my snow driving fix :-)