Neil Stratford

Hello Kat , No I did it via copy/ paste a link . Did not try the sites photo attaching method . Pretty sure it’s still not working . Regards Neil

Took my brother for an exploratory Mackerel fish this morning . I usually don’t bother chasing them till after the Christmas holidays and the crowds die down, but with the new closures and bag limits in full force , We decided to make the most of the current situation whilst there was a decent weather window. Heaps of boats on the water for a mid week day ,tides and moon were all wrong but beggars cannt be choosers. My brother is still recovering from a recent operation , and wasn’t allowed to lift more than 3 kgs , so he was on driving duty for the morning and I was on the business end of the rods .He could not find any bait , only big schools of Batfish and Surgeon fish , feeding on the surface . We had plenty of old marks ,so just trolled over them looking for the odd fish. Missed the first hit after a very solid hookup - due to a bite off , I think another fish simply just sniped the swivel off - “Big time Bummer “- anyway we continued on and moved well away from the flotilla of boats , once we found some clear space ,it was then bang bang , two Spanish in the esky and off we went home , both freezers now stocked with some nice Spanish Fillets and some crab bait sorted for the next crab'n mission. regards Neil

Yes - worth it. Nice Thready. Have you done anything with your fishing log data.? You should graph out number of Threadfin vs Month and then number of threadfin vs stage of tide , and number of threadfin vs location . That might help you zero in on them . regards Neil

Well done Ray , that arm has been firing well for a while now. Regards Neil

Well done , those Bonito go hard on light gear. regards neil

Well done Ellicat , a few nice sessions on the water there. regards neil

Luckily you all got home in one piece!

All great fish , that’s a really good photo of you and the local fellow supporting the big arapima in the water , Well done , you can cross that one off the to do list now.

Some solid and chunky fish there. Bring on the trophy Arapima!!!

Some nice fish there, well done .

Thanks for taking me today Ray. I got my bass fix . Regards Neil

Yes there was a blue water Barra in Conn Creek , I’m pretty sure cyclone Yasi had her way with that enterprise though .I was there quite a few years after she hit the area and there was still areas of twisted decimated mangroves pushed over in that creek.

Very well done ! Looks like you man wrestled that fish out out the mud, Regards Neil

You certainly put in the effort Hamish . Change of season fishing is always a bit tough . Keep at it , that PB Thready or Jew is just around the corner! Regards Neil

Have a look at Lucky Strike Charters on the Gold Coast.

A few more photos

Ellicat - no ,I inserted the photos by using copy /paste of a link to the photos.Painful way to do it. Might try shrinking a photo to about 30% and trying that . - no that did not work . Hamish/ Greg - no , brought some live crabs to the island via a one way ticket from Brisbane and cooked them at the camp.

How’s this for a camp site feed!

Just got back from my annual Fraser Island Trip. The weather wasn’t the best for the first few days, with a lot of weed on the beach.The quantity of the fish in October was down versus August last year but we got some real quality fish. Biggest tailor was 720mm with a few more at between 640 to 690 mm. Beautiful clear nights . Had a huge feed of chilli mud crabs on nite 8 which was a highlight of the trip .Still finding it difficult to post photos , so will only put up a couple.

I think most people have hit that sand bar at the mouth of the Herbert River. I must admit I skimmed bottom the first time I went through there also. Speed is definitely your friend in that little area. I remember the fishing up in Conn creek was 1st class for Jacks , Barra and Cod , but but the spoiler was the sand fly fog at dawn and dust.The wind probably saved you from that experience. regards Neil

Bit of a late report , was waiting to see if the photo insert issue got resolved -but alas, Hence no photos of my whiting for you. Anyways , had a lazy trip last Tuesday , launched at Alberton opposite the ski park and cruised down the Logan River and out south down past the Power Lines down into the islands of Jumpinpin. Started off with 7 nice whiting on worms that I’d dug the day before, then pulled out a new soft plastic prawn by Rapala -‘The Imposter’ from the Crush City stable in a colour called Purple Haze. It pulled 6 Flatties and countless small bream in the next few hours - all tagged and released. I then anchored back up and got 4 more whiting before running out the worms and heading home to fillet up a nice plate of whiting fillets. I’m heading up to Fraser Island with 3 mates this Thursday for 10 days camping on the Eastern Beach in search of a few late season tailor . Hopefully the school holiday crowd has left some nice flat camp sites and a few decent fish for us to play with . I’m sure we’ll all be happy crappies ,so long as we don’t all end up making the News as dingo fodder. Regards Neil

That’s good , I hope your tying them high up , once the rain starts it might be a while before it gets this low again.

Well done Ray . Many Shrimp in the traps at Hinze ??? Regards Neil

No , young humpback misbehaving