ubnt

Hi guys, another quick tutorial for beginners.
Target species: SQUID.
 
As a fisherman this has been one of my fav species to target, tastes absolutely amazing and is in my opinion one of the best baits.
Before I write up my tutorial, I do want to add I am no expert and always learning new things, this is just what has worked for me in the past.
 
Where to find squid?
First and foremost, squid love clean water.
This means that upper reaches of rivers, brackish water etc will not hold any squid.
If there has been a massive down pour of rain, this will definitely shut down squid activity.
They are predatory species who hide amongst kelp beds waiting for prey to move past these kelp beds.
Therefore any areas with clean water, patches of kelp/weed beds on sand is the most ideal location.
Furthermore any areas with well lit up piers/jetties/etc (with clean water) should hold squid at night.
 
What rod, reel and line to use?
This will be determined by where you are fishing however for the most part it remains the same.
Most people tend to use lighter gear, 1000-3000 size reels with a nice graphite rod to suit.
Considering you will be continuously jigging for them, it is not recommended to use heavy rods.
I have been using a 2500 reel with a 7ft graphite rod to match.
You may look at using a longer rod depending on if you need to cast your jig further out to reach target area. (longer rod=further cast distance)
The varying factor for squid fishing is your line class, as squid tend to hold up in kelp/weed beds, you do tend to get snagged a bit.
I generally stick to my 8lb braid directly tied to leader that is a little heavier (anywhere from 10-20lb)
 
What jigs to use and when?
Your squid jig is the most important tool when it comes to catching squid and as such the correct colour and weight needs to be thought out.
Starting with the weight of the jig, on the smaller side we have jigs that are 1.5-1.8 and on the larger side 3-3.5.
The depth of water and the current will determine what weight jig you will use.
For example in shallow waters and water where the current isn't too strong, I stick to smaller jigs.
If the current is strong and/or deep water I use the larger jigs sometimes even multiple jigs (paternoster rig in deeper water).
 
When it comes to what colour jig to select, this is where things get more complicated with a lot more choice.
There are a few things to consider with colour choice, are you fishing day or night? Is it overcast or bright clear skies?
Generally if it is a nice sunny day with clear skies, I tend to lean towards natural looking jigs, such as a blue pilchard yamashita jig or something similar in colour to the bait around the location.
If I am squidding at night I tend to use bright colours like a pink and orange.
Further to this a lot of companies such as yamashita or yozuri make a large number of glow in the dark jigs which are designed for night fishing.
You can use a UV torch or your head lamp to charge up the glow.
 
Please note with squidding if you know the area holds squid and a particular colour is not working, don't continue to use the same colour.
Some sessions I find myself using a multitude of different colours and sizes.
To make my life easier, I use a jig clip at the end of the line and say everyone 10 or so casts I will swap out my jig.
There are many other things to consider when it comes to colour, including cloth colour, foil colour, cloth patterns etc.
 
There are plenty of jig colour charts you can find on the internet!
 
What technique do I use?
First and foremost as squid hold up in kelp/weed beds it is evident that they tend to be at the bottom.
Once you cast out your jig, pay attention to the line making sure it hits the bottom before jigging.
Once you have noticed that it is at the bottom, remove the slack in the line and commence jigging.
From here there is no one correct way, at different times different techniques will work.
To keep it simple for beginners, I generally do 1-3 whips/jigs with my rod, then reeling in the slack and letting it hit the bottom again.
Shallower water = less whips, deeper water you can do up to 4-5 jigs.
After this reel in the slack and let the jig hit the bottom again, rinse and repeat.
Sometimes if the activity is slow, I might do a slow reel in keeping my jig near the bottom.
Sometimes if I am squidding on the boat, I may cast out my jig, keep it near the bottom and let the rocking motion of the boat "jig" for me.
Mix it up and have go of different jigging techniques.
For reference I have included the video below, from the squid king himself.
 
Before I wrap up my guide, there is one thing that I want to address.
Many, MANY times I have heard people saying squid are only active during the night.
THIS IS FALSE! Although more common at night, I have had some bag out sessions during mid day.
 
GOOD LUCK AND TIGHT LINES!
 
 
 

Hey mate, both ways would probably work, but if your going to collect the bait yourself, you’d really want to look after them & keep them alive.

Hi all. 
Here's another quick report from yesterday's landbased lure session at Manly. 
Only had a few hours to fish so I micro jigged some plastics in the deeper water around the pylons in hopes of a trevally. 
Used small grub profile lures. The wind was horrendous and it would have been a very uncomfortable day if you were out in the bay; I had to switch from a 1/6th to a 1/8th just to cast 5 metres in front of me.    
It was blowing almost 19 knots and there was white caps all around. 
Fortunately the marina provided some shelter and it wasn't as bad as being out in the open. 
A kid next to me hooked up to a 35cm or so GT on similar profile plastics out from the pylons but dropped it at the surface. Apparently him and his mate had already caught a few little trevs on plastics and bream on bread baits before I arrived. 
Tried to get a cool photo of 30 or so BIG bream feeding on seaweed/oysters stuck around the marina pontoons but I could only pick them up with my polarized sunnies and they spooked easily after getting a cast in at them. 
Ended up switching spots and fished a beachy area. 
Managed a little trev on a slim swimz and oddly, 4 micro whiting. Casted in towards the boat hulls and hopped the lures back out. No size. 
 

 
 
 
 

Ed Falconer from Keely Rose charters caught this monster red during covid. He donated it to our lab for estimating its age and I was one of the scientists that counted the rings. At 33 years it’s not the oldest red we have seen (43 year old female is) but definitely the biggest!
Ed’s red

So big it almost looks fake !

Nice report Hamish. Hopefully you get onto some threadies soon. Good work on getting out, though. 
Nice Luderick in the cast net. 

Hi all
This week hasn't been the best for me for fishing, and I didn't go as much as I wanted, but at least I still got out for a fish. The first session was last Thursday arvo and the second session was at a new spot with @Thorbjorn Hale today. 
On Thursday arvo I got home after school and rode the 25 minutes or so to my spot. I arrived around half past four, and got straight to cast netting. It wasn't too successful, but I eventually got a mullet and bony bream to chuck out on my rod. It was low tide change, and I also gave a small soft vibe a bit of a flick around for nothing. There were plenty of small prawns flicking around, but annoyingly I could not manage anything on my livies. I fished until it got dark then I rode home, disappointed with my quick but unproductive arvo session (even more disappointed I had to go to school the next day, lol). It is worth mentioning though, that I did catch a small 25CM jew on a tiny prawn, though it didn't fight at all... hopefully some bigger ones this winter!
Stats of Trip:
Tide: 3:50PM, .3M, Low
Moon Phase: 2 days before full moon
Bait Caught and Used: Live mullet, bonies, ponyfish
Fish Caught: one 25cm jew
Tackle Used: Shimano Symetre 4000 on Shimano Sentire 5-9KG spinning rod, Shimano Baitrunner DC 8000 on Kmart rod, size 4 star sinkers, size 2 paternoster sinker, circle hooks, barrel swivels, 50 pound leader, Shimano Stradic 3000 on Raider with soft vibe. 
Air Pressure: 1009
Humidity: 42%
Overall Success Rate: 15% - beats homework
The next session was this Saturday with Thorbjorn at a new spot he suggested we try. We met at a nearby ferry terminal and had a castnet around the banks, where I caught a few silver biddies and Thorbjorn cleaned up on the winter whiting (enough for the session). This was good, although it was a shame we didn't manage any herring. We then made our way to the pier, which had no one else fishing at it. We deployed our lines, and it started off pretty quiet. We also tried cast netting off the pier, which brought a couple little herrings, and bait jigging, which didn't get us anywhere. 
The first fish of the day was a tiny tailor I caught, but a fair while later we heard the scream of Thorbjorn's baitrunner. He set the hook and it was a big fish - unluckily for us it managed to snap the knot shortly after. This was on the herring, and it seemed these would have been ideal baits for the days fishing if we could've caught a few more. We continued to fish with a bit more hope now, but the bite died again. As we tried to pass the time, I snagged my (very) new net quite badly on some rocks, ripping a couple holes in the net. I mentioned to Thorbjorn it felt like there was a fish in it as I was trying to get it free, and sure enough, as well as a couple of fat holes, a nice Brissy River Luderick emerged with my net. I think I know where I'll be trying for these next - 

First luderick, 40cm
After I stitched my net up, we continued fishing. I got some large mullet in the net, and seeing as though whiting and silver biddy wasn't getting much love I chucked a strip mullet bait out in hope of a fish. Thorbjorn live baited one, and after a while longer my rod was getting some toadfish like bites. Sure enough, I pulled in a rather large model, to our disgust. We continued persisting, and towards the end of our session I heard the screaming of my baitrunner. Annoyingly, the gang hooks didn't quiet stick, and I dropped what felt like a pretty good fish. Bugger. We headed home on the ferry and annoyingly I'm not allowed to go fishing tomorrow.  
Stats of Trip:
Tide: 4:30AM, .6M, Low, 10:00AM, 2.2M, High, 4:40PM, .4M, Low
Moon Phase: Full Moon, though there wasn't much run
Bait Caught and Used: Live winter whiting, silver biddies. Herring had most of the action. 
Fish Caught: Toadfish, tailor, luderick. 
Tackle Used: Mix of 3000-8000 spinning/baitrunner reels on relatively heavy spinning rods of varying length, 15-30 pound braid and 50 pound leader for me, size 4 star sinker, circle hooks. 
Air Pressure: 1013
Humidity: 82%
Overall Success Rate: 40% - good to suss out a new spot and tick off a new species from the river
Anyways, thanks for reading another pretty boring series of reports. Hopefully I can catch something decent soon before school gets too busy. Thanks for coming along for a fish too Thorbjorn, it was lots of fun. Hope you enjoyed reading,
Cheers Hamish

I agree.
I have swum over 3km in the bay when a forecast turned out to be a complete joke and a 4m quintex hornet was not the ideal vessel.
Not blaming the boat. It was built for a purpose. 10 knots (forecast) is very different to gusts of over 40... @mangajack is right.
Things can happen different to the forecast very quickly and you are responsible. 
That was a horrible day for me and the mate I had with me. We are lucky to still be here. I was the skipper and have to own the responsibility for the rest of my life. I will never forget it.
If you want to do the bay then save for a bit longer. It will give you that bit more peace of mind if you happen to experience mother nature letting bom know that they haven't quite got it 100% yet....
 

Anything over 4m is fine on the right days. Can get hairy in 10 to 15kn though. Cleveland point is known as the paddock. It gets choppy out there real quick. Good spot to water test imo. 
 
My magic number for smoother safer handling boat is 5.2m. 
That said, I also would not get a boat with forward controls under 5.2m.
Your back will hate you, and you'll end up hating the boat. They're for rivers only. 
Side consoles are okay. @ellicat has a 4.5 side console and seems to do okay, but do not get forward controls. Tiller steer all the way in smaller tinnies. 
 
And get yourself a good spray jacket. You'll need one of those as well, especially in winter. 
 
 
Edit.... On second thoughts, ellicats is a forward steer. He would be better to advise on these. 

I have learnt a lot reading the reports on here, so thought it's about time I contribute one. Also, I rarely have much to report, so this was a good change!
We spent the weekend camping at Moreton Island with the plan to do some fishing in the bay, and hopefully head out around the cape if the weather played the game.
Conditions were pretty nice Saturday morning heading across, and after setting up camp we spent some time trolling the beacons with a paravane.
It took a while to get it to swim right, but we did catch a 55cm school mackerel just before dusk, which was a very nice dinner. 
The grinners were also thicker than I have ever seen and were keen to take just about any lure.
After a leisurely breakfast on Sunday morning, we decided to head North, to explore new ground for us and maybe troll for a Spanish.
It was a bit sloppy around Comboyuro but once through there the conditions were perfect. Big swells but very clean. 
We spotted some birds working and started casting slugs. Not long after I hooked a decent sized Mack Tuna. 
Next my mate hooked one as well. We were pretty happy to have those two in the boat. These were bigger than any of the Mack Tuna I have caught in the bay.
After that schools seemed to be popping up everywhere, but were fairly easily spooked. My mate managed to catch another Mack Tuna. 
Then the fun started. I cast into a school but noticed I had a bit of a tangle in my line at the reel, so spent a little while sorting that.
I cranked the lure back in from under the school that were still boiling, and it got smashed.
The first run took me by surprise and I was quickly losing line. 
After a good fight I managed to get the fish near the boat and saw that it was a longtail. A species I have been hoping to catch for some time. 
The fish took one final run and managed to go around and under the boat. The line rubbed the side and snapped, which was pretty devastating. 
After retying we found another big school and I tried the same technique.
The lure got chomped again and the drag was screaming. I couldn't believe I managed to hook another Longie. 
This time we were ready and maneuvered the boat during the fight and managed to land it. Big smiles all round.
We headed back to camp very happy and the bay was glassed out. 
Heading home on Sunday was a different story with the bay pretty choppy with the westerly. 
All in all a great trip and cant wait to get amongst the longtails again. 
Got some amazing fillets off the Longtail, and contrary to popular opinion we also eat the Mack Tuna.
Usually in a curry or stir fry, and as long as the fish is bled well and the lateral line is removed we find them to be good eating.
Cheers, Lachlan
 

Being consistent catching jew off the breakwalls is not a thing.
Yes you do get them from the breakwalls but definitely not all the time.
Best results is when there is a big flush happening....run large hard bodies or soft plastics through the suds and shearlines. They tend to react better to constant walking pace retrieves during floods when the water is filthy.
Catching soapies like in the photo tend to be patchy....you need to be onto an actively feeding school....jew do not eat all the time and they mill about in schools for large parts of the day.
They tend to feed better towards a change of tide, dawn and dusk....smaller tides can see them feed at any time.
20lb main line is fine for anything up to about 1.2m...i would be using 40lb line for bigger models. leaders anywhere from 20lb to 80lb....30lb is my usual jew leader.

Happy fish and fisherman, win win!!

Hey fishos,
No expert here but just wanted to provide some tips/guidance for people new to fishing for the ghost of the estuary.
Some of this information might not be new to anyone but just want to discuss what has worked for me in the past.
 
Bait
LIVE>FRESH>FROZEN
 
My most successful baits have been yellow tail scad, tailor and squid (yakka).
 
Yakka and Tailor
Generally I pin the hook right above the "shoulder" or towards the upper middle of the bait, stay close to the upper fin of the bait.
If keeping yakka/tailor live is not an option, i tend to butterfly the bait.
Butterflying is when you fillet from tail uptowards the head and removing the skeletal structure.
Essentially the head should be attached to the two fillets, which looks like two wings.
 
Fresh squid (I have never caught a jew on frozen store bought bait unless it was fresh non packaged squid)
There are two main ways to use squid, if the squid is on the smaller side, use it whole on a snell rig (two hooks)
Pin one hook near the tip of the squid and the second hook near the bottom of the hood.
If the squid is large, remove the head (head is also amazing bait), cut the squid into triangular strips from tip of the hood to the bottom.
I generally cut small slits into the bottom of the strip to mimic the tentacles.
Again using a snell rig, pin towards the top of the hood and second hook to the bottom above the little slits.
 
Live mullets and herring, again very similar to what I do with the yakkas however I have never butterflied them and used them live and hole.
 
Live prawn, i generally pin the live prawn above the tail. 
Where the "armour" of the prawns meet, you will notice a small black dot, i generally pin them on the first dot after the tail.
 
**additional note**
When using larger live bait fish and needing to cast far, it may be hard to keep the bait on the hook.
Some fishos slide a toothpick right under the fin (running parallel) and pin the hook under the tooth pick (personally ive never tried this)
Please note that I have seen jews caught on servo frozen prawns, when they are hungry they are hungry.
However as mentioned earlier LIVE>FRESH>FROZEN.
 
RIG
Generally the rig remains the same besides single or double hook depending on the bait.
Braid to swivel to leader to hooks.
I generally run 30-40 pound braid, using a running sinker to match the current.
Below the sinker i use a small bead. There have been times where my sinker has damaged the braid knot enough to rip it.
From the swivel I run roughly a 1m of 40 pound leader to hooks varying from 5/0-7/0.
With the hook setup its really dependent on the bait and what you like to use.
Generally for live bait using fish, I use a single hook right above the "shoulder" or towards the upper middle of the bait, stay close to the upper fin of the bait.
Occasionally I will use a treble stinger towards the back of the bait fish, if the bait is larger in size.
 
Fishing locations
Deep holes, drop offs, structure, structure and more structure.
My experience has been that Jews like to congregate in holes, where the water drops of from say 1-2ms to depths of 4-5+ ms.
Bridge support beams also tend to be an awesome place to catch them.
We have had one night where we caught 13 odd school jew fish under one of the bridges to the mouth of the Georges River in Sydney. (still one of my best jew sessions and may not ever happen again)
Also gutters at the beach on a run in tide.
 
Tides
This is an odd one for me, I have caught jewfish on any time of the tide.
However towards the tide change seems to be the most rewarding times, 1.5-2 hours before and after the change of tide.
 
Fishing gear
This is dependent on the individual, I know people who love using heavier gear and people who will use 2000 size reels on 6-8 pound braid.
For me the sweet spot has been 4-6000 size reels with 20-30 pound braid.
Again this is something that is down to the individual.
I tend not to use anything over 40 pound, i just dont find it necessary as jewfish dont fight as hard as say a kingfish, tuna, shark etc.
 
As previously mentioned I am definitely no expert and can only advise of my experiences.
Hopefully this helps some of you land your first fish, as for seasoned vets please feel free to provide anymore information.

This evening I went to get my almost daily fish fix🤦‍♂️(I think I might actually be addicted- I can’t stop). I headed down to the jetty and firstly checked my crab pot, I was nicely surprised when I saw a legal buck appear in the pot which was addition to the nice blue swimmer I picked up on the way home from school today. 

(the one I picked up on the way home)

I gave the first throw of my the cast net and caught 3 or so large banana prawns- Which has been the case for the last 2-3 days( I’ve had 3 or 4 months of not catching any so I’m pretty pleased that they are showing up) I baited up the rods and sat back in my chair. After around an hour and few bait changes my reel finally screamed into action and I raced up to hook into it, I clicked over the live liner feature of my trusty 8500 spinfisher 6 and held on. The fish gave huge screaming runs and took about 10 minutes to surface even on a 37kg Penn prevail and 50lb line. I could tell this fish wasn’t a thready or Jew but it didn’t feel like a stingray and it didn’t feel like a shark, almost like both(you might guess it from this). It finally surfaced and up came the long rosterum and big tail of a shovelnose. After spending some time directing people to get it into my dilly it was finally on the jetty, it measured roughly 130-140( the brag mat ran out). After posing for a quick picture, I sent it back into the dilly and lowered it back into the water giving it a safe release. I sat back in my chair with my arms sore and left within an hour. In conclusion, it wasn’t trophy fish I was after but it was nice to get the reel spinning again.

PS : someone spent the whole night cast netting and gathered quite the feed of prawns for a landbased session.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Belated report.  My boys came up to cairns in January to visit. Weather was not looking that great so we head down to Mission Beach for a few days to find some better conditions.  
My mission should I accept it, was to “get my sons onto some firsts and improve their PBs”. We fished 2 days and a morning before heading home.  Conditions were ok but improved while we were there.  
 
First day we were a little lost and spent some time searching for ground and eventually got some location info off photo from a trip from the year before where we could start our search again. Found some awesome ground and some epic fish and of course some  bloody sharks. 
 
Great trip and well worth the drive and accommodation costs. It really is fishing paradise. 
 
Species caught - Red Emperor, Coral Trout, Large Mouthed Nannygai, Red Throat Emperor and other species. 

IMG_2928.MOV  
IMG_2893.MOV  
IMG_2892.MOV    
 

Hi all
Once again, the last couple of days I've been out in the river trying for something decent. It hasn't been the best fishing though, but I have seen a decent variety of fish caught. The first session was last Saturday, and was at a spot I hadn't been to in a while. After arriving at about 7:50AM in the morning, I met with Michael and we got straight to cast netting. It wasn't long before we had a few herring, and we got to fishing. Andrew arrived shortly after, but the tide was roaring out making fishing slightly difficult. 
An bit more than an hour had passed when Michael's rod got a decent hit and he was on. A fight full of headshakes saw a 34CM squire pulled up, the first I had seen in ages. Hopefully there are a few more of these getting around as it cools down. After about another 45 minutes or so, I saw my rod getting some bites. It wasn't long before I realized I was on, so I set my drag and began pulling in the fish. It wasn't big, and I presumed it was a toad. Annoyingly, a rather fat one surfaced, so after I got the hook out I threw it back into the river and chucked another bait out.
The bite was pretty patchy, but eventually after another hour or so Michael was on again. The fish was hardly fighting and gave a couple headshakes as it surfaced, so we were all pleased to see a baby thready of about 30CM. It was one of the smallest we'd ever seen, so it was released quick and thrown back into the water. After that, the bite went a bit quiet again, but it wasn't long before Andrew was hooked up to a fish. About half way through the fight, it jumped out of the water a couple times, and it was clear Andrew had a tailor on the end of the line. We eventually had it on the jetty, and it came in at 45CM. After fishing for about another hour and catching no more, we cooked up the fish and some lunch before I headed off for the arvo. 
Stats of Trip:
Tide: 5:50AM, 2.5M, High, 12:50PM, .7M, Low
Moon Phase: 31%, decreasing
Air Pressure: 1005
Humidity: 72%
Gear Used: I used a Shimano Baitrunner 8000 DC on a Kmart Rod, a Abu Garcia Ambassadeur on an Ugly Stik, 30 and 20 pound braid mainlines, 30 pound leader, size 4 star sinkers, barrel swivels, size 4/0 and 6/0 circle hooks. 
Bait Caught and Used: Herring, garfish
Fish Caught: I got a toady, others caught 1 x squire, 1 x thready, 1 x tailor
Overall Success Rate: 25% - a quiet day for me but a decent variety of fish caught
The next day (yesterday), I was busy in the morning, but decided to go out for one last session to finish my holidays. I went to a spot nearby my home, and arrived by about 2:45PM. I didn't waste any time and got straight to cast netting as I had no deadbait to use. It took a little while, but I eventually had a couple small silver biddies and prime size mullet, which were casted out onto my line. The tide was rising, and I was hopeful of a thready. 
It wasn't long before I was on the first fish of the day - a catfish. After getting rid of this I ended up getting snagged on one of my lines, so I rerigged this as well and casted out another bait. The tide was getting a bit higher now and I got a few more baitfish including some mullet and gar, which were casted out in no time after being caught. The tide was starting to get a bit higher, and although I had some good livies out the bites just weren't really there. I tried repositioning one of my rods to the top walkway of the jetty with a live mullet, but this brought no fish either. 
As it started to get later in the day it was looking like I was going to catch no fish. Fortunately, as the tide really started pumping, a few good sized banana prawns started drifting through off the front of the jetty (on any other tide other than low, it is a really low tide at this spot). I capitalized on this opportunity, and as well as about 12 river perch (from 10-30cm), a fair few bream, a small grunter, I got about 15 good prawns and lots of herring in a short time period. There were also some anchovies getting about, so hopefully with the good bait at this jetty I'll be able to get out for an after school fish here sometime. As the prawns slowed I started focusing on the fishing, and caught another catty. As it began to get dark, I lost another rig as a catfish pulled me into a snag, and I sent out an anchovy/prawn combo and the same mullet that had been out for the whole session. As my Dad arrived I caught another catty on the anchovy/prawn bait and let the mullet go after I got it off my hook. I left at about 6:30PM, disappointed with the lack of bites. At least I have some deadbait for next time now.
Stats of Trip:
Tide: 2:10pm, .4m, Low, 8:00PM, 2.0M, High
Moon Phase: Quite small, decreasing
Humidity: 74%
Air Pressure: 1004
Gear Used: I used a Shimano Symetre 4000 on a Shimano Sentire Rod, A Abu Garcia Ambassadeur on an Ugly Stik, a Shimano Baitrunner 8000DC on a Kmart Rod. 15-30 pound braid mainline, 30 pound leader, 4/o and 6/o circle hooks. Size 6 ball sinkers and 3 barrel sinkers. 
Bait Caught and Used: Live herring, mullet, prawns, anchovies, silver biddy
Fish Caught: Catfish x 3
Overall Success Rate: 25% - got some bait
Thanks for reading,
Cheers Hamish

You can see where some came from,they like their weed.

With winter on the way the bass are getting hungry. Managed 38 bass, 3 forkies and 3 spanglies, all on lures. Cant believe the mongrel forkies are still lingering on.Some of the bass were not much bigger than the lures and some were decent size. Lures used in the pics, most from trolling.
Dino

Hi all
Yesterday arvo/evening, Charlie (@TheCharliefisho) and myself were lucky enough to be invited out for a fish on Brian's (@ellicat) boat in the bay, targeting some Mud Island snapper. After launching a little after 1PM at Manly, we were jigging for pike by half past one in a calm Moreton Bay. I was on the baitjig first, and despite a couple of pretty promising shows on the sounder, all that I could manage on the jig were some small to just undersize Moses Perch and some unknown small reef fish. After jigging for a good half hour, the decision was made to start fishing. Whiting was the bait of choice for the heavy rods, and cuttlefish was what we used to start with on our light bottom fishing rods. The tide was still moving pretty fast, but it wasn't long until I had the first fish of the day on the boat - an undersize Moses Perch. I think Charlie and Brian also caught some undersize squire, and maybe a grassy and tusky or two at this spot as well (all undersize). It is worth noting Brian had a pilly floating out the back, but this remained untouched. Eventually, we decided to try for some pike again, and then reposition for the late arvo/dusk bite.
It had gotten a bit windier, but there still wasn't a heap of chop as the tide and wind were blowing the same direction. Charlie had a go on the bait jig now, and once again we found a lot of baitfish and pike on the sounder. Unfortunately, apart from some more unknown reef fish, there were no pike eating the jig. Charlie also hooked up to a fish on the jig which put up a bit of a fight, and we were all surprised to see a legal Painted Sweetlip surface, which was kept for dinner.

Painted Sweetlip
We tried jigging for bait for a bit longer, and saw a couple of bustups as well, but soon enough decided to go and anchor up at a slightly different spot for the high tide/dusk bite. After losing a bit of tackle to a snag (the group of us started to land a few little fish), I changed my rig to a tiny ball sinker with a 3/o or so hook on my light rod, and a 6/o circle hook with a 00 ball sinker on my heavier rod. As the sun began to creep down, the fish came on the bite, and it wasn't long before we began pulling in an assortment of squire and grassies, and I think even a couple of tuskies at one point too. Unluckily for us (lucky for the fish), all of the fish we landed were undersize, apart from a bream Brian got early on that would've been 30-35CM (released). 
During this period, there were plenty of bites, meaning it was a bit hard to keep track of exactly what happened when. A few highlights were when Charlie hooked up to something a bit bigger on his light rod which managed to reef him after a couple of runs, and myself hooking something pretty large on my heavy setup, which took a few rather fast runs before my braid snapped (or as others on the boat would attest to my FG knot gave way 🤣). I believe Brian was also busted off at least once by something alright as well. As it got dark, the bites were still very active, and after getting snagged another time on my heavy rod I chose to just fish with my light line. I was floating the bait out the back of the boat and trying to keep my reel in freespool, and although I missed some fish doing this, I did land about three squire and a couple grassies, all of which were a few centimeters undersize to barely undersize. 
At about 7:00PM, we decided to head back into the ramp. Overall, even though we didn't catch the biggest fish, it was a fun arvo/evening on the water with plenty of bites. Thanks heaps for taking us out Brian, hope you didn't mind having us along! 
Quick Stats:
Tide: High tide was sometime around 6PM. 
Moon Phase: 68%, there was a fair bit of run
Bait Caught and Used: Used whiting, cuttlefish, prawns, pillies. 
Tackle Used: I used a 3000 Shimano Stradic on a Shimano Raider Snapper 4-7KG, and a 4000 Shimano Symetre on a Ugly Stik Gold 2-4KG 8 foot rod. Both reels had 15 pound braid on them and leaders were 15 pound and 30 pound. I used circle hooks and ball sinkers from 00-3 ball. Brian and Charlie had similar rigs and setups. 
Other Notes: It got a bit windy mid way through the session but calmed off again back to great conditions later in the arvo and evening. 
Overall Success Rate: 41% - fun session on the bay, didn't land any monsters but plenty of bites. 
Thanks for reading,
Cheers Hamish 🙂 

Hit up Mud island today with an old banned member. We launched early at 5 and rustled up some livies, then headed on up. Pretty quiet start with only one legal grassie amongst a fair few pickers for the first hour or so. Eventually the rig for a bigger snapper went off, just as we were saying things were quiet. My mate hooked up to it, but 2 minutes in the hook pulled. Disappointed!
We persevered for some time with more unders and both dropped decent fish. After the tide turned, the fish came on the chew again and we managed to increase the tally to 4 grassies and 1 tuskie. Not a bad day, with conditions allowing a WOT for the ride home.
Cuttlefish doing most of the damage.

Hi all
This report will be about my last two sessions in the Brisbane River, on yesterday and today. The first session was at my local park, and was just a quick midday session to see if anything was getting around. The second session was at a new spot in the lower reaches of the river, targeting threadies and jew. Neither were particularly successful, but anyways:
I arrived at the park at about quarter past 12, and having no dead bait got straight to cast netting. The tide was low and rising, and after what felt like an eternity of casts (about 30 minutes of netting), I got three small scat. Sensing that it might be a slow day on the bait, I chucked one of these out on each rod. I got back to netting though, and after about another half hour, a few bait checks, and plenty of casts I caught a rather large bony bream. Because it was a bit big for a livie, I chopped it up and used it as two different baits.
After that, I gave the net a throw for a bit longer, but eventually my arms got tired and I just sat down and watched the baits. After several checks and repositionings, the bony bream remained untouched, and at about 2:15PM I decided to call it a day and get home to prep for the next days fishing.
Stats of Trip:
Tide: 11:00AM, .7M, Low, 4:45PM, 1.5M, High
Moon Phase: Third quarter, decreasing, not heaps of run. 
Bait Used: Live scat, half bony bream
Bait Caught: Bony bream, scat
Fish Caught: -
Tackle Used: Shimano Symetre 4000 on Shimano Sentire 5-9KG, Shimano Stradic 3000 on Shimano Raider 4-7KG, Shimano Baitrunner DC 8000 on Kmart Rod. Braid and mono mainlines used with 15 and 30 pound mono leaders. 6 and 3 ball sinkers, 4/o and 6/o suicide and circle hooks. 
Air Pressure: 998 - really low so could explain lack of fish activity
Humidity: 39%
Overall Success Rate: 15% - pretty dismal session
Today, I woke up early but decided I felt like a bit of a sleep in so settled for the 7:10AM ferry from Riverside. I made it easily, and was at my chosen spot for livies sometime a bit past eight. Luckily, even though the tide was already a bit low, I managed to get a mix of silver biddies, herring, and ponyfish, and one large mullet which I released. I then walked the ten or so minutes to my main fishing spot, which I had all to myself. The two combos I was using were my Shimano Aero baitrunner on a Penn surf rod, and a Shimano Baitrunner DC on a Kmart rod. I had one with a running star sinker rig and the other with a paternoster rig. Back to the session - I deployed my baits and by 9AM I was fishing and waiting for something big to come by. Apart from a heap of large sea mullet busting up, there was no fishy action to be seen, and I was starting to think it might just be a quiet day.
There isn't much to do at this spot as the bank is too rocky to risk cast netting, but there is a shade sail that makes it quite bearable to sit and wait for a bite. This is exactly what I did, and it wasn't long before one of the reels was screaming off into the depths of the river. I waited until the run slowed and set the hook, but shortly into the fight I figured I was onto a ray. My suspicions were confirmed, unfortunately, and a big ray of at least 1M width emerged from the blue water. Luckily, it was on the paternoster rig, and it managed to bite me off just at the hook. It was a better outcome than lifting the fish onto the rocks and trying to get the hook back from it's guts. I deployed another bait, and despite my best efforts, including downsizing the sinkers to a six ball and even smaller as the tide slowed, I could not muster up a bite from a decent fish. By about 11, a father and son rocked up for a quick fish, and the son promptly brought in a tiny tailor on his first cast. I continued to soak my livies though, and a little before midday my surf rod went screaming off again. I could tell it was another ray from early on in the fight, but that didn't stop me having a fun five or so minute fight, eventually ending when I locked the drag up and clambered down onto the rocks to set the stingray free. After that, I had lost all my baits and seeing as though I have something on this arvo/tonight I left. 
Stats of Trip:
Tide: 4:25AM, 2.5M, High, 11:30AM, .8M, Low.
Moon Phase: 39.5%, decreasing, not much run
Bait Caught and Used: Herring, biddies, ponyfish
Fish Caught: 2 x stingray
Tackle Used: Shimano Aero 6000 Baitrunner on Penn Surf Rod, 30 pound braid mainline and leader, Shimano Baitrunner DC 8000 on Kmart Rod, 30 pound mono straight through. Size 4 star sinkers, size 6 ball sinkers, size 2 teardrop sinkers, 4/o and 6/o circle hooks. 
Notes: Clearly it is the mullet run at the moment as there were mullet busting up from Teneriffe all the way downstream constantly for the time I was fishing. There was a massive school of at least 50 too, some of which would've been 50cm long, swimming around nearby while I was fishing. 
Air Pressure: 1003
Humidity: 57%
Overall Success Rate: 20% - tried a new spot at least.

5D3CBBF5-6FD7-41A5-8A6A-97FA304E2F65.MOV Short video of mullet. 
Thanks for reading, 
Cheers Hamish

Happy fish and fisherman, win win!!

Happy fish and fisherman, win win!!

Happy fish and fisherman, win win!!

Happy fish and fisherman, win win!!