Neil Stratford

Decided not to go Spanish fishing this morning ,might leave them fatten up till after the Christmas crowds settle down a bit. Settled on solo trip in the little tinnie. Left the Alberton ramp at 5.30am and ran down stream all the way to the Pin bar before I found some clear water. This little fellow gave me some curry on my 3kg soft plastic flathead gear in less than a metre of water. Giant Trevally 585mm for team South . Regards Neil

Hi Daryl , some nice whiting there. Good to see the kids catching a few. Merry Christmas Neil

Went for a troll this morning . Got 1 small fish. Spanish Mackerel 1100mm

Hinze dam today 1.Australian Bass 370mm 2.Australian Bass 410mm 3.Australian Bass 390mm regards neil

Launched at the Alberton Ramp just after first light this morning .The Logan River was the same colour as a Breaker Ice Coffee and the floods had deposited a few large trees in the channel on the way out. I didn’t even bother stopping till I got past the power lines down towards Russell Island . The fishing was fast and furious if you like catching undersized bream . Here’s a few fish I got between them for the Southsiders to kick off their score board. Ran out of worms at about 10am , it was quite hot , so I pulled up stumps and headed home . Regards Neil 1 Whiting . 390mm 2 Whiting . 310mm 3 Bream . 280mm 4.Bream. 280mm

Hi Kat , Just goggle what’sthatfish.com It’s free to join up . or Grant’s guide to fishes is a great publication to keep on a coffee table also available as an ebook. I dare say you’d be able to get a Grants Guide to fishes on facebooks market place or Gumtree at a reasonably cheap price if you kept an eye out. Neil

Yes I extended my ropes that time I pulled them all for repairs and a general clean up . Luckily I tied them as high as I could reach otherwise they would have gone under too. IMO SEQ should really be shutting down the desalination plant for awhile and pulling a heap of water out of Hinze to share with Brisbane . This would lower its level to contain further rains .It would also help preserve Wivenhoe’s level. It would be a waste of water to just let it all over flow down the river with the rain coming next week . If they do that, it won’t take long to bring it back down to 93% and expose your ropes. If you need a shrimp top up whilst down there , just help yourself to my pots .(I owe you a few thousand shrimp). Regards Neil

Took my dad down to Hinze Dam this morning to celebrate his 85th birthday. Got down there at just on 7am and we were greeted with and absolute glass out and crystal clear gin like water. Glorious conditions , but with no breeze and the high humidity, I’ve fished in far nicer conditions , it was hot! Fortunately we took an esky full of cold drinks ,some mars bar slice, water melon , and some fresh roast lamb rolls for morning tea . We knocked off at about 11am with 39bass and 1 Tandan.Biggest bass went 480mm Caught 1 tagged bass so 40 bass in total. Note for Ray K . , which will be totally cryptic to all other readers: 1.Got no bass at the green string on the SW corner of Ian’s island It was Barren. 2.Got few at the honey pot , but the bandies drove me insane , so we moved. 3. Moved over to your tree with the white paint , just east of my old coke can spot ~ jack pot here . 4 .My Pots were full of shrimp , ropes were only about 1 foot above the water line , so I retied them up another 3 odd feet , in preparation for the in coming tide.They’ll be probably too deep for now , but will be ok again once the tide goes out a bit. 5. Good luck on Sunday , at least you have a bit of reconnaissance done Regards Neil

Hi Kat , It’s the species of trevally that you’ve captured. The speckled spots on its flanks ,gives it the ‘tea leaf ‘ name. Sometimes they are confused with a GT (giant trevally).

Nice tea leaf , would have gone hard in shallow water. Well done ! Neil

My brother took me out in his boat this morning for a soft plastic session off Wellington Point. The morning didn’t start off well , with a bit of fine drizzly rain still happening. Got to the destination in about 3 minutes , and I scored 2 squire in two casts. After that rush of blood , things slowed considerably . We ended up coming in at 10am . Final Tally was 4 squire , 1 Grassy , 2 Flathead , 1 gold spot cod and a 600mm Barracuda . After all that rain ,the water was surprisingly clear . regards Neil

I thought about going Tuesday but piked out. You’re braver than me , well done. Yes those big dead trees will be a tad fragile for a while . Regards Neil

Hi Ray , Bet you were happy with a reset fix! Did you have to re learn the remote after the reset or did it still talk to the motor? Neil

Well done - snapper for dinner!

Yes ,all on plastics again . Neil

Went out in my brothers boat this morning . Put his boat in the water just after sunrise at 5.15am this morning and we were chucking plastics 2 minutes later. We had a nice feed each by 9.30 am and it was getting quite warm so headed back in on top of the tide and before any wind got up. Not a lot of bait or fish showing on the sounder but the Fish bit consistently all morning .Put a dozen tags in a mixed bag of undersized squire , grassys and bream , kept 6 Squire and 4 Grassys for a feed between us. Fish , salad and chips for dinner tonite. Regards Neil

Great day out Ray, but you failed to mention the traveller Cappuccino ready in the car for you at 5am lol. Thanks for supplying the shrimp this morning , that gesture always gets a trip off to a good start. I think you’ll agree , it was encouraging to see a half decent lot of shrimp come in from my traps, something the Hinze Dam doesn’t always give up easily.I’ll now be able to use the surplus shrimp to take my Dad down there next week for his birthday, but I’ll definitely be keeping him away from the newly re named spot -Tandan Point. Regards Neil

Most people use lures there , but I recon if you got some live herring from the boat ramp and carried them around there ,you’d do ok if there was any fish hanging around.

Sleep is for the weak - do both

Orr sorry I didn’t read your title properly ,if land based - go with 24kg braid so you can get your lines out easily , probably not so many sharks off the cat walk as is out on the major reef systems.

I use 15 to 24 kg rods with 20 to 24 kg mono line ,like many of our mackerel haunts these days , there’s always plenty of sharks lining up for an easy entree.I think if you go lighter gear you’ll get a little frustrated with the end results and just feed the problem.If you can hang on to 8 kg of drag after the fish has been turned after it’s initial run and wind fast , you’ll likely to see some results. I think if you go down to 15kg line most occasions you just won’t be able to get the fish in quick enough . Neil

Put me down as a Southsider. Neil

Good day Ray ! Hopefully we’ll do ok next week. regards Neil

Terminal gear used was 4inch Zman StreakZ CURLY TAIL Z in New Penny colour TT Headlock DemonZ 1/6 oz 2/0 HD jig head S factor scent Vanish flurocarbon carbon 12 lb leader 12 lb Ocea braid Major Craft Volkey vks70 L BL 4 to 8 lb rod Sustain 4000 fg reel

Went for a very quick flick with soft plastics this morning just off the leads off Wellington Point. Unfortunately I think the fan was left on all night and wind was definitely there at 5.30am blowing a solid 15knots from the ESE with a bit a wave action happening so conditions weren’t all that good . Fortunately ,the fish were on the bite from the very first cast.and ended up tagging 2 Squire , 2 bream,3 grasses , 1 Gold Spot Cod and a Flathead and brought home 3 Grassies , 2 squire and a very nice Sole for a feed tonight. There were a lot of squalls going over Moreton and Stradbroke all morning which just kept whipping up the wind so put my tail between my legs and called it quits at 9am . Regards BeastMaster