ubnt

Happy fish and fisherman, win win!!

Hi all
Two Tuesday's ago, my family (except @Cavvy) headed up to Yeppoon for a holiday. After managing to get my rods through the airport, we arrived at Rocky and were at my grandmas by mid arvo. I rigged up two rods, one light one and one heavy one, in preparation for a session fishing the run through tide at Causeway Lake the next morning.
First Day Fishing - Wednesday
Morning Session:
I got the earliest bus I could to the Causeway Lake and was casting my net by about 6:40AM, where I could only manage a couple of mullet. This didn't matter though, and I deployed my heavy rod with one, casting out into the main current with an unweighted hook. It wasn't long before the bridge was pretty packed, and myself and one of my fishing mates from Brisbane who was also in Rocky/Yeppoon at the time went for a cast net. We could hardly catch anything, and the water in the lake was a dirty tea color which apparently isn't the best for fishing there. We eventually managed a few glassies, ponyfish, and maybe even a couple poddy mullet too - I deployed one of the smaller things we had caught on my light rod, and it wasn't long before I had caught my first fish of the trip, a little Moses Perch. I caught a couple more of these with the bait that we had caught, but no one was getting any big fish on the bridge. After another hour or so, Andrew and I chose to move spots as we had no bait left and there just didn't seem to be any big fish cruising around. We had a quick cast off a boat ramp where I caught a just legal bream (released) and then went to the harbor for a quick cast netting session, where we ended up with a couple herring but no fish. 
Arvo Session:
That arvo, I decided to go for a fish in Ross Creek targeting flatties on the low tide. I arrived about an hour before the low, and proceeded to start flicking my 4 inch grub around the opposite bank. I was mainly focusing my efforts on the narrow channel on the upstream side of the bridge, and I was a bit apprehensive about going up too far in case I got cut off by the tide. For a good while, I did not get a touch, before half way through one of my retrieves I hooked up. Unfortunately, it was no flatty, and a small longtom emerged. I released this and continued fishing, but with no more luck I called it an arvo after about 2 hours fishing. 

Longtom
Second Day Fishing - Thursday
Morning Session:
Once again, I was on the bus to try my luck at the Causeway, fishing the run through tide. I met with Andrew and we did some cast netting, but had a similar success rate to the previous day. Luckily, I had a bit of deadbait, and used this on my light rod while some better baits soaked on my heavy rod. That morning, I managed the normal myriad of pickers on my light line including perch and cod. After fishing for about an hour and a half though, I hooked a slightly more formidable opponent, which was playing out quite well on 8 pound line. A bit under a minute after the hookup and a few small runs, I had a little GT on the bridge, which I threw back after a photo as it was a bit small to eat. After fishing for a bit longer and getting no more bites, nor seeing any big fish landed except a couple 50CM barracudas, Andrew and I called it quits for the morning. 

Small Trev
Arvo Session: 
That arvo, I was back at Ross Creek fishing for flatties yet again. Based on some information I'd received the prior arvo, it turns out you could walk up a fair ways without having any risk of getting trapped by the tide, so that's what Andrew and I did. We walked up the creek until it was too muddy to keep going, and after a bad snag where I lost my lure and leader I was onto a 3 inch Holt Swimprawn. I flicked this around the opposite bank for about 20 minutes, and eventually I felt a hit and hooked up in the middle of the creek. After a few headshakes I got the first fish of the day, a small flatty that might've been legal. I didn't bother measuring it though, and flicked him back into the creek. We continued fishing our lures, and after I lost my Holt Prawn to another snag I put on a prerigged Squigdy paddletail. Eventually, after another hour or so of fishing, we ended up at the bridge, where I had a few more casts. On my last cast, I snagged up my lure, but managed to get it back and on the retrieve I hooked up to a longtom. It managed to get off just before I landed it but it was good to have some action on lures that arvo. 

Flatty
Third Day Fishing - Good Friday
Morning Session:
On Good Friday, I was planning to walk to the Causeway, but luckily I was up late enough that my Mum agreed to drive me. There was another run through and a fair few people there again, so Andrew and I left our gear on the bridge and went to catch livebait. After about 20 minutes of not much, Andrew got a few poddy mullet in his net, and we decided to start fishing. Initially, the bite was pretty slow, and after a baby cod and perch I was out of small deadbaits. A couple of our livies were snipped by barracudas, and on my first cast I had actually watched quite a large one (atleast 90cm) come and eat a small Moses Perch off my line as I pulled it in. We continued fishing though, and I managed to find a old ponyfish on the bridge which I casted out on my light rod. With this, I hooked up to another trevally, which was a bit bigger than yesterday. It gave a decent fight, and once I got it on the bridge I made a trade with the Causeway Legend Les for a couple live mullet. I ended up having a (likely) barracuda eating my livie, and it snipped me off. Bugger. I kept fishing for a bit longer, and watched a couple small barracudas get caught, as well as a decent 50cm or so queenie. When the run through finished though, I called it quits for the morning, heading home ready for another arvo session flicking lures.

Another trev
Arvo Session: 
There isn't much to say about my trip that arvo - I met up with Andrew again and we walked up to the same spot as the day before. Unfortunately, I couldn't escape the snags, and donated five different plastics to the creek, all for one hit on a 3.2inch Baitjunkie Minnow which I missed. There was plenty of bait floating around the creek as well as a few others fishing, but I didn't see any fish caught so maybe it was just one of those arvos... 
Fourth Day Fishing - Easter Saturday
Morning Session:
Late the prior night, my Dad had arrived in Yeppoon, so after I woke up at about 7:00AM and found him, we decided to go for a fish/cast net session at the Causeway. My Dad went to all his usual spots from the last trip for cast netting, but apart from a few small undesirables we were pretty unsuccessful. Luckily, back at the bridge, someone cleaned up on mullet (on their first cast, but with a drawstring net) and let me have a couple. This morning, there was actually no run through either, and the lake was just draining for the majority of the time I was fishing there. Regardless, I tried casting my mullet onto the ocean side of the lake for no luck, and I couldn't even manage a small fish on my light rod. It is also worth mentioning that it was blowing an absolute gale, the first time for the whole trip. Each day I had been up there, the weather had been very calm, in fact, basically flat each day. This day, however, I could hardly cast against the wind and it would've been gusting around 20-25 knots in the morning. It did calm off again to basically no wind later in the day though. Mid morning, I was fishing on the lake side again with my mullet, slowly hopping it through the rocks. It got belted, and something took off taking drag relatively easily. Annoyingly, it just missed my hook, and one of the locals said it might've been a jack based off the teeth marks. After a decent while longer, I called it quits with my first donut at the Causeway for the trip. Bugger. I didn't go fishing that arvo either - I was still too annoyed about my lost lures!
Fifth Day Fishing - Easter Sunday
On Easter Sunday, after eating plenty of chocolate in the morning (Happy Easter, by the way), my Uncle offered to take me out to his boat in the harbor. He had some work which he needed to do on it, so while he was doing that I could have a bit of a fish. It was a bit of a spur of the moment session, and I had just chucked some gear into my bag as well as some herring from a quick cast netting session the previous night in the harbour. 
After rigging up with a 00 ball sinker and small baitholder hook, I dropped down a small herring off the back of the boat. After five minutes for no nibbles, I tried off the side. It only took about ten seconds before I felt an odd surging on my line. Upon waiting for my rod to load up and pulling up the weight on the end of my line, I realized I had a crab on... And not just any crab - a big one! I called my Uncle who had just got to work on a job, and we realized the buckets on the deck weren't going to be big enough to get the crab in. We then remembered that there were some crab pots on the roof of the boat, so my uncle ran up and grabbed one of them. After a couple of close calls, we had the crab secured, tied up, and in a bucket of water ready for lunch the following day. Nice! It came in at a little over 2KG on my grandmas scales, and we boiled it in saltwater and had it in sandwiches (it was nice and full too based on the compression test I did).

My biggest ever muddy
After that, I was feeling pretty happy with myself, and had a cast off the back of the boat. I found casting next to the pylons instead of under the boat was a bit more effective, and letting the bait sink but keeping it moving was getting the bites. Although it wasn't anything immediate, I was getting a steady stream of undersize bream bites, and it wasn't long before I had caught and released three. Unfortunately for the fourth, it was badly gut hooked, and was cut free. I rerigged and dropped a small but whole herring down, maybe 2.5-3 inches long, threading the hook through the back and exposing it out near the head to make the bait sit straight. I dropped the bait down and after a few seconds the exciting noise of line peeling off my reel going under the boat next to us could be heard.
The fish kept running, and eventually I started turning it's head a little from under the opposite boat. It was slow going on my 2-4KG Veritas, but eventually, I had it around the back of the boat, where it darted back off under a bunch of ropes going the other direction. The entire fight I thought I had no chance landing it, but after a few minutes I was starting to lift it from the depths. I saw leader, and was about to see what it was. As I made the final cranks of my handle, a big cod surfaced from the depths, thrashing around and hooked just in the lip. Once again, my uncle grabbed the crab pot and managed to land the fish, and the both of us pulled it up into the boat. It came in at 65CM on the brag mat, and I let it go after the fight, stoked that I landed it.

New PB Cod - 65CM
Anyways, even though a cod isn't exactly a 'trophy' fish, I was still happy as to land it, especially on 8 pound mainline and 10 pound leader. My tiny baitholder hook didn't bend either which was a bonus, and after one more cast my uncle and I headed home for the day. That arvo my Dad and I cleaned and cooked the crab in preparation for lunch the next day. We planned to go for one last fish the next day, and I was very happy to finally get a good fish in!
Final Day Fishing - Monday
Morning Session: That morning, there was no run through at the Causeway, so my Dad and I decided to try an area where a guy had told me you can get Jacks at the day before. It was pretty shallow though and we were wading out a fair ways, but after an hour of fishing we ended up going home as it was too hot and it did not seem likely for bites. We were just fishing near the boat ramps near the caravan park, and I was using unweighted mullet whereas my Dad was flicking around a lure on my light rod. 
Arvo Session: For the final session of my Yeppoon trip my Dad and I decided to go fishing at Ross Creek. We walked up all the way and were flicking our lures at the snags, hopeful of a flatty or fish on the lures. It was really quiet though, and neither of us could manage a bite on the mix of plastics that we threw around. Despite the fact it looked fishy and we were fishing quite late in the arvo, we both ended up donutting. It was still a peaceful and fun way to spend an arvo, and upon getting back home I got my fishing gear ready for the drive home. 
Summation
Overall, it was a great trip with lots of fishing, and even though I didn't catch the most fish I got onto a few decent things which made the fishing worthwhile. The drive home was pretty uneventful, and next time I'm up hopefully I can get onto a jack or barra, or maybe some mackerel off the rocks! (or another big cod). Next time if we drive up, I think we will bring the kayak along too. Thanks a lot for reading this big write up, I hope you enjoyed.
Overall Success Rate of the Trip: 75% - caught some fish, had some bad sessions. New PB Cod!
Cheers, 
Hamish 

I whack 4 or 5 of them onto a #4 truturn hook.
 

That's quite true. I found the juvenile one under rocks and get bites very quickly. However you need very small hooks.

Anyone else go to the ultimate prawning night at Anaconda, Tingalpa last night?
It was my first visit to one of these store nights and I thought it was really well done, clearly a sales pitch for Drew and his cast nets (which look awesome regardless and I am sure worth the investment) and the guys from Garmin (which I dont mind as well as I have their gear as well).
However the content was really good and informative - actual video of the prawns behaviour generally for those of us less informed and also what they look like on sounder and Livescope and talking through the settings and interpretation (which is the key IMHO).
Cost me money as I ordered a Livescope for the new boat but the deal was too good to pass up.  Funny thing is I have all 3 of my planned transducers for a boat that hasn’t been completed.  
Team at Anaconda ran a good night So if you have not done one of these before I would say you should give it a go…also dont leave before they finish the prize draws….a few people missed out on some nice stuff.
 

I quite like drawstring too. The only drawback is it get snagged more often. However you don't have to cast as many as other net to collect baits.

I quite like drawstring too. The only drawback is it get snagged more often. However you don't have to cast as many as other net to collect baits.

That's quite true. I found the juvenile one under rocks and get bites very quickly. However you need very small hooks.

I didn't go to the do.
Having said that I get better catches from a drawstring cast net than any top pocket net....top pockets only snare what actually make it into the top pocket, A drawstring net snares everything. Far fewer casts for the same amount of catch.
I have 4 nets, 1 x 9' drawstring, 1 x 12' top pocket, 1 x 10' top and bottom net, and 1 x 8' bottom pocket. The drawstring is easier to cast and catched far more than the rest of the nets even though it is smaller than two of the nets.....it is sometimes more than double any of the other nets.    Plus fish don't tangle near as much in the drawstring nets.

That's quite true. I found the juvenile one under rocks and get bites very quickly. However you need very small hooks.

I should give these a go as bait at a spot I know where they're always around!

The small black juvenile soldier crabs are gun baits for whiting in the shallows.
The big blue ones make great berley to bring the whiting close together.

Bream love them. But I have found they get picked off easily with a lack of commitment to actually taking the whole thing.

While bait fish was no where to find, I saw this little blue creature waving to me. Hard to say no so I grab a handful and sent them out. They got picked quickly but did not catch anything. I wonder if they are good bait?
VID_20230412_192935296.mp4    

While bait fish was no where to find, I saw this little blue creature waving to me. Hard to say no so I grab a handful and sent them out. They got picked quickly but did not catch anything. I wonder if they are good bait?
VID_20230412_192935296.mp4    

While bait fish was no where to find, I saw this little blue creature waving to me. Hard to say no so I grab a handful and sent them out. They got picked quickly but did not catch anything. I wonder if they are good bait?
VID_20230412_192935296.mp4    

While bait fish was no where to find, I saw this little blue creature waving to me. Hard to say no so I grab a handful and sent them out. They got picked quickly but did not catch anything. I wonder if they are good bait?
VID_20230412_192935296.mp4    

The small ones are good whiting bait and the larger ones will get eaten by flathead and bream. They aren't the number one bait, but worthwhile if you can't get yabbies or worms.

Hi Kat , With a bit of ingenuity,I simply attach one of those super strong earth magnets to the lead hook of my mackerel rigs. 

I bounced the idea off our resident shark expert , Daryl McPee a few years ago  when we fished in the same fishing club together -at the time  he told me the idea had “ Merit “
I think  I put up a post on this forum showing these rigs a couple of years back , with photos of the actual rigs .if you search back into history you may find it. 

I’ve been using the rigs on and off since then and surprisingly I have only had one of the four or five I made  lost to a shark. (they are not 100% effective) . I’ve seen sharks come in on hooked spanish and then veer off at the very last second so  I’m pretty sure they work to some degree on sharks , but I’m not confident that the magnetic  field also may have an effect on the mackerel taking the baits in the first instance  .  I can only say yes they do catch  their share of mackerel , but do they catch as many - who  knows  , but they seem to discourage most sharks to give me a few more seconds to get the fish into the boat. 
regards
Neil

While bait fish was no where to find, I saw this little blue creature waving to me. Hard to say no so I grab a handful and sent them out. They got picked quickly but did not catch anything. I wonder if they are good bait?
VID_20230412_192935296.mp4    

I took advantage of a break in the strong  westerly winds this morning and snuck out for a fishin’mission. Forgot it was school holidays and their was a fair few boats out. 
Had a very effective fisheries Qld  visit  at about 9 am , they just pulled up along side in their rubber ducky and I didn’t even have to pull in my troll baits ,just kept trolling and they did their checks on the move .Life jackets  , Rego ,  flares etc  etc all passed . Strangely they didn’t want to see my Epirib because I was less than 2 km offshore , which I thought was a bit strange because next stop to the east would have been Fiji . Anyway it was friendly , well conducted and didn’t waste any of my time .
 
Had three hits for the morning  and got all three fish - 2 Spanish which were pretty much a pigeon pair at about 12 to 15kg  and  a big stinky Barracuda that was release to annoy someone else.

Hi all. Here’s a quick report from this afternoon’s session at Nudgee Beach
Set up a bait rod with a simple running sinker rig and soaked some prawns while flicking bream cranks and small plastics in the hopes of getting into a few flatties on the tide change. 
Managed no fish on lures except for some bream/whiting nibbles but managed a high 20s bream and little flounder on bait. 
Regardless of being a quiet session we still got a couple and it was a really nice afternoon wading the flats. 

Will cook up the flounder tomorrow 😃

@ubntSnapper Pt. The rocks area of Chain Valley Bay Central Coast NSW.
Cheers.

Thanks for kind words. Coming good it has been a bit of a rugged week. 6 hours waiting for ambo. merry go round between 3 hospitals, 4 days in ICU. Care levels from Ambos and in hospitals incredible. Bit like putting your car in for a service now have heart murmur, hardened arteries and half one lung not working to be followed up on. Hats off to the nurses at Redlands, Mater and QE2 you are doing an incredible job and still smile every day.

As a kid if I woke in the middle of the night I would crow like a rooster and set off all the other neighbourhood roosters and the occasional dog in the area. Worse thing was when the occasional fox got in the mongrel things would kill every chook just for  the sake of killing.