Bretto77

Thanks, and no worries, it was a fun trip. 
Thanks Brian, it was good to catch a couple.
Umm, ask nicely? 🤩

You two are certainly dedicated. Well done! I could use tips on how to get someone else to fillet your fish for you if you have any?

A plan was made to to get some beach worms and try for some whiting. The "Frozen Fillets" section of the freezer was quite depressing. Particularly after one had gone away, then come back later to check again and still found it completely devoid of preferred options.
The kids were due back at their mum's place Wednesday evening 28/12, so it was off to main beach beforehand.  The girls could play and have a splash around, while @Kat and I tried for worms. No danger of returning them to their mother's place all sandy, as any remaining sand would surely be deposited in my car.
After arriving at the beach $17 lighter and armed with worming pliers, I quickly proceeded to demonstrate that I was no more proficient (if not less) at catching worms than before. Self awareness kicked in and I reminded myself that any tool is only as good as the one using it. So back in the pocket for the pliers it was. Fingers were the go, at least I couldn't hurl them into the sea in a fit of frustration.
With both of us trying to keep an eye on the kids (more so kat as she was doing the bag waving and facing the sea), we managed a meagre few worms in an embarrassingly long time. It wasn't for lack of opportunities either as there were plenty of worms there. We had some interested bystanders and luckily I managed a couple more so at least they could see what we were trying to achieve with all the antics.
Eventually a gentleman further up the beach took pitty on us and sent his wife and young daughter down with an offering of a worm he had caught with just a pipi.
Many cussings and just a couple more worms later, the whole situation got a bit tense. A surfer lost his board and was in trouble as things really were very messy out there. Another surfer came over to him but they were both getting churned up and dragged further out. We tried to keep an eye on them and sent the girls for a sprint to get a life guard.
The life guard returned and and set out. She reached them but shortly afterwards lost her board in the chaos as well. She was still managing to get them closer however. A by stander (another surfer who had not been planning on going out that day) took the life guards board back to her after it washed ashore. Eventually they all made it back, albeit very short of breath.
A couple more worms and we had to go and get the girls home. Some praise for their quick sprint and a little chat about just how quickly things can get very serious in or on the water ensued. It was a very eventful afternoon for them. Quite the mixture of fun and drama, with a squabble over who would get to tell mum at the end of it all.
We ended up with about 10 reasonable worms and I can safely say that I am quite the amateur wormer.

I will be fishing the bank down at my sons placeback of canungra, they have the odd tick down there.

Good trip with plenty of fish, fellas. Sounds like you would have caught a few more had the tides been a bit better for you.
Congratulations on the new PB, Charlie. Did you take a picture with something green ? 😉
 
 

Additionally, be sure to switch that "3x flatty" for me to "4x". 😉
(micro one at the wheel dropoff, 43 or so after that, 53 later that same arvo, and then the 42 on the last morning. 😅
 

Hi all
On Boxing Day, my family headed up to Maroochy to do some camping near Lake Dunethin. Along with us was Charlie ( @TheCharliefisho ) - and the two of us planned to do some fishing. After arriving at our campsite and setting up tents, we grabbed a Canadian Canoe and went for a paddle in the lake. It was a pretty low tide, so we paddled to a fishy looking area and started to cast our lures. We had been down there previously that day to suss the area out and someone had caught a nice flatty of about 60CM, so we were hopeful for some fish. 
It wasn't long before Charlie was onto something, and a small bream surfaced with his small plastic in its mouth. We gave it a while longer in the lake after this fish but eventually paddled out into the river and tied up to the bank opposite the lake mouth, where we continued flicking. Here, Charlie hooked up to another fish, which was a small spotted grunter. I had a couple small bites but remained on the donut for the duration of the session. We headed off a bit before dark and got a fire going, had some dinner, and got our gear ready for the next mornings fishing. 

Bream and Grunter
We woke up at 4:30AM but didn't make it to the water until a bit past 5:00AM. We decided to try fishing for jacks, so I brought my Stradic 3000 with a 4 inch Zman plastic rigged weedless along. We drifted along the bank of the river initially, but after no luck except a stingray splashing around in the shallows we continued paddling downstream. While doing this, we tied off at plenty of likely looking snags, and with the tide relatively low we could fling our lures right into the sticks. Unsurpringsingly, we had no luck on the jack front prompting us to switch back to light gear at about 7:30AM. The wind had got up a bit, but paddling was still nice. We didn't end up going too far before deciding to head back, and at that point both of us were fishless (except Charlie who jagged a catfish on his plastic at one of the spots we visisted). Despite stopping at a few more spots, including a bank that looked good for flatties with two poles to tie up to, we ended up across from the inlet entrance. I was flicking a three inch Holt Prawn smothered in S-factor, and at about 8:30AM I hooked up in the shallows. It was a little flatty, which was undersize so went back. Fortunately, the next cast I hooked a slightly larger one that was legal. We had been tasked with bringing home some fish so this was kept, and even though we kept fishing for about another hour here we had no more luck that session.

Donut Saver
That arvo, we headed out in the canoe again. My dad had picked up a small sand anchor for 15 bucks from BCF, so we also decided we would give this a test too. We started off tieing up at various parts of the inlet, and testing the anchor. It held the canoe in place well, which was pleasing. Annoyingly, we didn't have any luck in the lake, so we paddled to the opposite bank to have a flick for some flatties. It was looking pretty quiet, and after getting through a couple of snags and moving location slightly Charlie hooked a fish. It was a decent bream, which went about 27CM - so we decided to keep this too. We fished until sundown but after getting no more bites we headed back to the lake jetty where we finished up and walked back to the campsite. Here, we cleaned the fish and prepped our gear for paddling the next morning though we decided we would sleep in. 

Legal bream
We ended up on the water at about 7:00AM, and decided to go for a paddle to look at some spots we had fished the prior day. After not having much luck close to the inlet, we went down a hundred metres or so. Here, we found a nice shady spot to have a cast, but after 30 minutes or so here we didn't have any bites so we went a little ways down again to a new spot. It was looking pretty quiet here again, but after about 30 minutes I hooked a little flatty which was safely released. We gave it a bit longer here but didn't manage anything more so went down to the bank with the two poles from the day prior. Apart from a couple of snags it remained quiet here, so we went on our way back to the inlet where Charlie stopped to have a flick at a couple of spots (I didn't bother rerigging my line). Once we arrived back at the jetty, I went to go and grab the canoe wheels. While I was gone, Charlie pulled in a tiny flatty, and once I was back he followed it up with a legal model that was somewhere in the low 40's. Another guy came down as well, who caught one that was just on 40. It was pretty hot so I went for a quick swim before rerigging - we fished about 30 minutes longer there before calling it quits as it seemed the fish had gone off the chew.

Flatty
Happy with our session, we went back to the camp, cleaned and cooked our fish, before getting driven downstream to The Cod Hole where we fished with some deadbait. I caught one small bream here but missed some good bites, and we left after 1.5hrs. After regrouping back at camp, we went back down to the lake. The jetty was pretty crowded, but after a couple of missed hits Charlie managed to hook something good. After a nice fight with a couple of runs, he had a good flatty next to the jetty. There were a few tense moments landing the fish as we had no net, but I managed to grab it and get it up. We gave it a quick measure and it came in at 53CM, Charlie's new PB. It was safely released, and we headed off after another 40 minutes or so of flicking our lure with no fish. Definitely a worthwhile arvo session! 

Solid flatty
That night, we went out for dinner at the Yandina Hotel, the oldest pub on the Sunshine Coast. The food and drinks were nice, and we left satisfied with our meals. At about 8:15PM, my Dad, Charlie, and I all headed down to the jetty for a flick. We casted our lures for about 45 minutes, but despite lots of bust ups we couldn't manage anything. The tide was low though, which was not ideal for this spot. 
Then, this morning/the final morning, we went for our last flick. We decided to not bother taking the canoe out, and it was pretty windy anyways so this probably wasn't a bad decision. We got down to the jetty after hearing reports some trevs had been caught there on livies the day before, and I netted some mullet, bonies, and herring. We casted these out on our bait rods, and got to work fishing. It was quiet at first, and with the tide quite low the fishing was going to be difficult. We persisted though, and after the best part of two hours flicking Charlie took my rod for a cast. On his first cast, he managed to hook a fish in the shallows, which was a surprise for both of us. A short fight ensued and I netted a nice little flatty, about 42CM long. This was released, and although we kept fishing we didn't manage any more fish.

Last Flatty
The drive home was considerably quicker than the drive there, when we were stuck in traffic for a good part of the trip. I had lots of fun paddling and fishing - and thanks for coming along @TheCharliefisho . It was good to improve my abiltities lure fishing but I'm going to have to try a bit harder for a jack! Thanks for reading everyone, I hope you enjoyed. Here are some quicks stats for anyone interested. 
Quick Stats:
Tide: High tide was best landbased whereas low tide was best from the canoe
Moon Phase: Increasing from around 35-40% to Third Quarter Phase each night
Bait Used: Live bait below
Bait Caught: Herring, bony bream, silver biddies, mullet, herring
Fish Caught: Me - 3 x flatty, Charlie - 2 x bream, 1 x grunter, 4 x flatty
Tackle Used: I primarily fished with a Shimano Stradic FL 3000 on a 4-7KG Raider with 15 pound braid and 20 pound leader, and a Abu Garcia Veritas 2-4KG with a Diawa Tierra 2500 with 8 pound braid and 10 pound leader. Charlie used a 1000 Shimano Nexave on an Abu Garcia Salty Elite Rod and a 2500 Diawa Legalis on an Exceller Rod. The standout lures were Holt Production Swimprawns in Whitespot or Zman Slim Swimz in Motor Oil. Bait fishing gear was small circle hooks and sinkers.
Overall Success Rate: 70% - a fun trip with some fishing action
Cheers Hamish 🙂 

With the original plan of escaping Christmas day formalities and going fishing earning a big fat "Access Denied", the scramble was on  was on to include fishing amidst other commitments.
 Myself and @Kat launched from horizon shores and headed to Macleay island for Christmas on  Friday morning around the high tide. We needed high tide access to drop off all the unimportant things at her mother's place, (clothes Christmas ham, presents and other groceries), that were inhibiting the potential of Kat's boat.
 A few short greetings later we were free and Kat popped on her "Verminator" hat. 
 The account for the day opened with Kat hooking a solid fish within minutes of anchoring at our first spot. My spirits sank and bad "ju ju" tried to engulf my being at precisely the moment a fork tailed catfish around 55cm appeared by the boat. 
 Many hours and stingrays by kat later and after many non committal taps, I managed to land a decent whiting (36cm). Something, finally. 
 I was hoping that more than one whiting would be open to a dinner invite, but a number of under sized bream and a Kat sharking was all that followed.
 A quick pit stop to maintain hydration and the stroll back down the hill to the Macleay ferry terminal had me feeling much lighter than when I went up despite carrying supplies down. Kat landed a (36cm) bream in the ten minutes I was gone.
 It was almost high tide again and time to get back to where we would be leaving the boat on the beach at a friend's place.  We decided to try one last time for some whiting very close to where the boat would be tied up.  Two stingrays later and it was time for bed. One whiting and one bream would not  provide a feed for everyone, so I vowed to try again in the morning.
 I woke before 5am the following morning and wandered down to check on the boat. It was still high and dry so I grabbed the yabby pump out and set off to collect some more bait before the tide covered the flats again.  
 After getting bait and a delicate operation to extract kat from the family we set off again at about 8:30am hoping again to find some whiting. After a few under sized bream at our first spot for the morning I managed a 32cm whiting and hopes were high. Then it was back to bream, stingrays and sharks so we moved. 
 After a few promising runs that somehow didn't hook up Kat landed a small grunter which wasn't quite eligible for dinner. Then the sharks started again. Time to go back to the beach and tie the boat off again. We tried briefly for whiting there before anchoring and securing the boat. Two more stingrays and a shovel nose.... 
The final keep tally was five bream, two whiting and a shovel nose. Personally I think that the only worthy keepers were the whiting. The shovel nose cooked up ok. I ate the whiting. I have been known to label packaged bream fillets for Kat's sister as "Plebian scourge of the sea"
Plenty of good laughs though and as always much better than being at work.
Merry Christmas to all👍

With the original plan of escaping Christmas day formalities and going fishing earning a big fat "Access Denied", the scramble was on  was on to include fishing amidst other commitments.
 Myself and @Kat launched from horizon shores and headed to Macleay island for Christmas on  Friday morning around the high tide. We needed high tide access to drop off all the unimportant things at her mother's place, (clothes Christmas ham, presents and other groceries), that were inhibiting the potential of Kat's boat.
 A few short greetings later we were free and Kat popped on her "Verminator" hat. 
 The account for the day opened with Kat hooking a solid fish within minutes of anchoring at our first spot. My spirits sank and bad "ju ju" tried to engulf my being at precisely the moment a fork tailed catfish around 55cm appeared by the boat. 
 Many hours and stingrays by kat later and after many non committal taps, I managed to land a decent whiting (36cm). Something, finally. 
 I was hoping that more than one whiting would be open to a dinner invite, but a number of under sized bream and a Kat sharking was all that followed.
 A quick pit stop to maintain hydration and the stroll back down the hill to the Macleay ferry terminal had me feeling much lighter than when I went up despite carrying supplies down. Kat landed a (36cm) bream in the ten minutes I was gone.
 It was almost high tide again and time to get back to where we would be leaving the boat on the beach at a friend's place.  We decided to try one last time for some whiting very close to where the boat would be tied up.  Two stingrays later and it was time for bed. One whiting and one bream would not  provide a feed for everyone, so I vowed to try again in the morning.
 I woke before 5am the following morning and wandered down to check on the boat. It was still high and dry so I grabbed the yabby pump out and set off to collect some more bait before the tide covered the flats again.  
 After getting bait and a delicate operation to extract kat from the family we set off again at about 8:30am hoping again to find some whiting. After a few under sized bream at our first spot for the morning I managed a 32cm whiting and hopes were high. Then it was back to bream, stingrays and sharks so we moved. 
 After a few promising runs that somehow didn't hook up Kat landed a small grunter which wasn't quite eligible for dinner. Then the sharks started again. Time to go back to the beach and tie the boat off again. We tried briefly for whiting there before anchoring and securing the boat. Two more stingrays and a shovel nose.... 
The final keep tally was five bream, two whiting and a shovel nose. Personally I think that the only worthy keepers were the whiting. The shovel nose cooked up ok. I ate the whiting. I have been known to label packaged bream fillets for Kat's sister as "Plebian scourge of the sea"
Plenty of good laughs though and as always much better than being at work.
Merry Christmas to all👍

Yes, agreed. I try and throw plenty of casts a head of where I'm going to be walking, nothing more frustrating than wading across a bank and seeing an 80cm+ flatty take off a few meters in front of you.

Let us know if you found any new ones, expletives that is.🤣
Could come in handy one day.😂

I couldn't grab a single worm with the pliers... At least I could feel the worms slip out of my fingers after I had grabbed them when I put the pliers away.
And yes the expletives abounded...

I couldn't grab a single worm with the pliers... At least I could feel the worms slip out of my fingers after I had grabbed them when I put the pliers away.
And yes the expletives abounded...

When you say stripped, is it the drag washers? If so, they could be felt washers - easily replaceable and even upgradeable to carbon fibre. CF will be less smooth but certainly won't flog out. 
 
Check whether Anaconda have the gear you want as well. They're often not the cheapest which is why they're so good 🙂 Use them for their 10% price beat guarantee.

I bought a BG last year. And then I bought another one. Both 4000. Plenty of solid drag. I've tightened it up and scull dragged fish to beat the sharks without problem when I've had to. Can't say I've worried too much about salt water ingress as that's not an issue for me, but getting a drenching from freshwater has had no effect.
Make sure you have a look online at Freddy's Online and Davo's Tackle - they are usually very competitively priced. Freddy's is free postage when you spend more than $89, not sure about Davo's.

Thanks, I'll check them out, Stradic FL was on my list but haven't seen the Daiwa BG.
Was just looking at the Shimano Ultegra 4000, seems solid, 10-year warranty, seems well sealed from the salt. 

I don’t fish for jacks but I reckon a Shimano Stradic FL or Diawa BG would work well for your application. They are both around 250 dollars, and I like using my stradic a lot.
Cheers Hamish 

I have only heard worming pliers being useful to prevent bites, good luck if you do buy them! 

Pliers didn't help me... I've never been able to even see the V's though. haha

He got the pliers but they might be thrown in the surf in the next couple of hours 🙂

Fingers......and a shovel. 
It's a 2 person job but you get about 10cm of every worm. 

Hello people.
Born in Gladstone QLD. Did primary and one year of high school there. Did years 9-12 at a boarding school in Cairns.
Fished hard as a kid with some success and some failure. 
Did some university study (aquatic resource management), straight after high school. Got the poo poos with studying my life away and got a job growing prawns. Moved to Cardwell for a while and then to Mossman for a while longer within the prawn farming industry. Never was my lifestyle/ fishing balance better than then. Mainly chasing Barra, jacks and mudcrabs, but I also used to love chasing jungle perch and sooties in the freshwater.
I was also pretty competent on the archerfish in Tinaroo dam as a kid. Won a few prizes in local comps on archerfish.
Had some questions about things sometime in my 20's and moved to Brisbane to study again (engineering and science). Met a chick and the study ended up going by the wayside. I ended up mowing lawns and doing handyman type work. I didn't much appreciate her handyman work and we parted ways.
Got some TA and store work in the steel fabrication and building industry. Got some more skills and progressed a bit. 
I did fish a little in seq in this time but not much.  I ended up being based here but working away in north Queensland a lot and there I rekindled the passion for fishing.
Some great sessions on grunter and whiting around Mackay in particular.
Blah blah blah....
Changed companies within the building and construction game a few times. Ended up working with three diesel fitters as part of a small unique team.
That's me in a nutshell, sorry for rambling.
One day a few years later, I was fishing at one of "MY" favorite spots when something made me look over my shoulder.  I saw a woman striding confidently over the flats with a yabby pump on her shoulder... I was impressed. 
Enter @Kat and that was that thus far.

Good to see you guys got out had a crack and had some fun. I once caught a catfish in the freshwater on a popper in 4m of water. That surprised me.

Well.... It's been a bit of a bonus 😉 I still do it sometimes 😜

Hello people.
Born in Gladstone QLD. Did primary and one year of high school there. Did years 9-12 at a boarding school in Cairns.
Fished hard as a kid with some success and some failure. 
Did some university study (aquatic resource management), straight after high school. Got the poo poos with studying my life away and got a job growing prawns. Moved to Cardwell for a while and then to Mossman for a while longer within the prawn farming industry. Never was my lifestyle/ fishing balance better than then. Mainly chasing Barra, jacks and mudcrabs, but I also used to love chasing jungle perch and sooties in the freshwater.
I was also pretty competent on the archerfish in Tinaroo dam as a kid. Won a few prizes in local comps on archerfish.
Had some questions about things sometime in my 20's and moved to Brisbane to study again (engineering and science). Met a chick and the study ended up going by the wayside. I ended up mowing lawns and doing handyman type work. I didn't much appreciate her handyman work and we parted ways.
Got some TA and store work in the steel fabrication and building industry. Got some more skills and progressed a bit. 
I did fish a little in seq in this time but not much.  I ended up being based here but working away in north Queensland a lot and there I rekindled the passion for fishing.
Some great sessions on grunter and whiting around Mackay in particular.
Blah blah blah....
Changed companies within the building and construction game a few times. Ended up working with three diesel fitters as part of a small unique team.
That's me in a nutshell, sorry for rambling.
One day a few years later, I was fishing at one of "MY" favorite spots when something made me look over my shoulder.  I saw a woman striding confidently over the flats with a yabby pump on her shoulder... I was impressed. 
Enter @Kat and that was that thus far.