Huxstang

Short session under the Gateway this morning. Lots of debris from the rain but came across a nice school of small jew. 59cm Mulloway https://photos.app.goo.gl/LPb5x27NqyiWJEZV8 And also got my first fish live on the Livescope…actually watched my jig float across in front of this bream which couldnt help itself. 31cm Bream. https://photos.app.goo.gl/osQz9HHBrXe5u46JA

Texalium bargain. Heck id give you $30 for rhe rod by itself

Thanks that was really quite interesting. GIves an understanding why a true custom rod costs a bit with the labour in it - even though they dont make the blank

You can have the grid lines show or are you talking about the really bright lines (which are trees). We were right up amongst the timber which is a bit touch in a boat as big as mine (not exactly a 4.3 edge tracker ). Simple way of thinking of livescope is ultrasound. You move the beam around and it paints a picture. So you can see these really bright vertical lines which is the beam hitting the trees and then fainter lines fading in and out which is just trees a bit out of the beam. I think the fish can be seen quite clearly in the video? And Greg LVS34.

Try a full moon. We were on new moon which according to Almanac should be a good time….clearly not . Also from what I saw the better points are where northerlies are hitting whilst we had a SE wind. Still we found them just couldnt get a bite - so just hope you find them hungry.

I feel a lot more confident with the livescope after Monduran - like any marine electronics, time on water is the key thing. Watched every video known to mankind I think but it was a couple of solid days of use that really made the difference. Now its time to try it in some deeper salt water. Will see how it works around the Clara rock/boat passage reef which is only @ 10m but I guess quite disturbed from current or maybe if no cruise ships in, give it a good workout around the new terminal which is probably a better spot. Regardless I will be using it more now I feel more confident.

Tried everything in the box. Jackall 79’s, Zerek Flat shads, Molix 140’s, some of my old RMG and Halco’s, B52 deep, even tried a Zerek vibe and a Zman frog for surface. Mate even tried a curly tail to try and mix it up. Spoke to quite a few people at ramp and accomodation and no one was getting anything so just seems they were shut down and not feeding. Thing with the sounders you can see just how much bait is available, so unlike rivers where its more opportunistic. It was a great trip for me…so much time to spend on my electronics and really get a better feel for it. The LVS is definitely a great thing to actually see if fish are there and look forward to being more targetted with it around the river etc.

Hey Brian see if you can see this reel on Facebook mate? https://www.facebook.com/1276354345/posts/pfbid0LD2gdKbhY4REmXDaieFTUcizWLxq2srDcK1TTAzTQmdf9txB1LCQUZFF31QA4Lgjl/? Basically you can see we are in @ 6m of water and at around 1min you will see some fish moving across bottom right to left. Scale across and up are all in meters. I then used the screen zoom to look more closely and you can clearly see they are barra. The grids are 1m square so you can see just how big these fish are.

I will see how I can share it. Damn painful as wont upload into Google photos

No idea but it seemed shut down. Quite a few guys putting in long hours just like us and zero results. I have heard full moon is a good one. Will try again sometime soon.

Mate and I decided to try our hand at Monduran. It must be 20 years since I was last up there and the water level was much lower (currently only 1m below spill way) which may be why we had success 20 years ago with no sounder and no idea - there was definitely a lot of water and I am sure it spreads the fish out. So short hand version - saw plenty on the sidescan and even more on the Livescope. recorded the livescope and its quite interesting as you can actually measure the fish - had 3 fish that would have been the magic meter all within casting zone and could not get them interested. And that was it, 4 sessions, and not one strike - didnt feel too bad because everyone we spoke to was exactly the same…zero fish and worked hard for nothing. Dam was pure, did all my high school in Bundy and played junior golf comps at Gin Gin and have no recollection of it being so green. Really nice time to visit. Temps were quite mild with the SE wind. Still obviously summer but not ultra humid like Bris when we left. https://photos.app.goo.gl/8JYMxd3dJ4D41Kpt9 According the almanac it should have been excellent fishing conditions, but clearly fresh water barra cannot read. NE winds are apparently preferred but we still found plenty of fish just could not raise a bite. If I can find a storage solution I will share a screen recording of the livescope. It was my first chance to just work it really hard and play around with things to see what worked or not. Much easier than when you are getting bounced in the ocean or river to sit on the gunnell and tinker. So report is - saw lots, caught zero

G’day Steve….how good is this retirement caper eh!!! Similar story to yourself, finished up mid last year and finally got time to actually use a boat not just own one.

YGK Pentagram casts fine, as does Sufix 832. Will try the Sunline Castway this weekend up at Monduran. With a few practice casts the Sunline seems to be a bit firmer and may reduce risk of wind knots. On a spin reel the Varias PE8 casts nicely but I dont believe it is overly abrasion resistant. Not a fan of Nomad Panterra at all….could be the massive backlash I got flicking a jig with it

No idea where you are located but can I suggest you go into a proper tackleshop and chat to the staff. For me I think the guys at Tackle warehouse at Coorparoo are pretty good, they wont upsell you but try and get something you like within your budget. And if you buy an outfit they will give you a discount. Feel a few rods and what you like, talk through the options and go from there. I do buy from other places but when I go in they know me and I always get a discount on stuff. I think its worthwhile in getting a relationship with a proper tacklestore who you can lean on for advice. The TT Rods are pretty good value as are Samaki and others. I think like all sporting goods another 10% in quality/feel/satisfaction costs at least a couple of hundred % more and wont catch anymore fish.

Nice tusky…great to catch and great to eat. How good is that. And an early start for the southsiders

Mate of mine did a trip up to Pancake Creek and on way home drove into Monduran Dam reversed down the ramp. A guy was yelling at him about not having undone the straps…he laughed and said he was just flushing trailer and motor with fresh water. Not sure if its bad etiquette but its only around the corner from Turkey Beach relatively so you could always stop for a quick fresh water fish on the way home and run it with some fresh water.

If you are into Youtue have a look at Part 1 of the boat build on Greg’s Wicked Fishing (he is a bayside boy). He bought a 5m plate boat and had RipTide fabricate a new casting deck and other mods. Might give you some ideas at least as its a very different boat. And get into it. If you can fabricate and weld this will be a walk in the park.

Wow. How good was he at getting back on board though. I have never tried a bar crossing in a tiller steer is standing up normal to see out? A mate of mine’s dad who is a really experienced boaty (long term water police) had a bit of a turn and was thrown out of his tinny and got a head knock. Would have drowned except someone saw him and got him in time. Just reinforced that it can happen to any of us.

Man these camps must be fairly windy with all that braised steak and onion you guys eat. Personally a big fan of baked beans with cheese for a nuclear mouth burn. However for an epic jaffle, go plain tuna in springwater (drained), red onion, cheese and sliced jalapeno’s.

Fished Bribie when folks moved up there in 1990 through to @1998. We didnt bother much because as you say, catches were sporadic. Always got a great feed of diver whiting out on the cockle banks. Passage hold good memories though as got my PB flathead of 82cm on a little Nilsmaster on a Starlo 2-4kg baitcaster with a Quantum low profile (I still own that whole combo) was up the passage but land based at Mission Point in @ 1997.

Out of interest did a comparison between my Sustain 3000 and 5000 (same generation reels) and a Stradic 5000 (new model). The two 5000’s have minimal rock whilst the 3000 (and same on an earlier Sustain 3000) has a reasonable amount of rocking. If I recall correctly the larger size has a lower and upper drag stack so that would hold the spool much more from any lateral rocking. Hope that helps put your mind at ease.

Is spool fully seated on the spindle? Not sure on that model but if any of the metal drag washers didnt index properly on the spindle the spool may not be fully seated. Did you remove spool at all?

I am contemplating upping my rod one class….its a 7 foot, medium spin, 10-40gm cast weight Ocea Offshore. I didnt feel comfortable putting any more load on the rod - the reel had plenty of drag left in it IMHO. I know the bay holds some huge tuskies and they always hang around heavy structure and they definitely are pound for pound one the hardest pulling reefies around. But isnt it the great part of fishing that there is stuff down there that gets you wondering? Although I do wonder if it’s the fisherman’s lament or the fisherman’s joy.

Just sounded up the structure, although got it marked pretty well. Didnt bother spot locking on it as it was a really gentle drift. All I know is that the smoker gave me zero chance, I had the rod fully loaded and plenty of drag one the Saragossa 6000 and I made about 3 metres before it decided that the structure was more attractive than coming up and looking at me. Very similar take to the slatey. My 40lb leader came up with all the signs of loosing a fight with structure I did have the Livescope down for a while and nothing was reacting to artificials so threw down a dirty old bit of squid on a 7/0. That north side of Moreton was crazy alive with bait fish but only one small bust up of tuna once and nothing else. There was something hanging around on the surface - there was a floating stick and initially I thought dolphin fish but they were just sitting fin out and almost stationary. Only saw one close enough to say it wasnt a pelagic as it was a large flat sided looking fish. Not sure if anyone else has experienced this, we guessed bat fish or something like that.

I dont know if anyone here is from Perth - you can be our Perth expert in a year or so.