fatboy

My dear old Dad never used berley strictly speaking, but he always fished for snapper with cubed pieces of bullocks heart rolled in bran, to get it, it helped that he worked on the kill floor and in the boning room for Darling Downs when they operated at Murrarie, he caught some snodger squire and snapper in the late sixties early seventies, mostly fishing out the front of what was then Cornetts supermarket at Bribie, in an 11 foot aluminium dinghy held together with pop rivets.

Great rig, great fish, how do you cook em up

Nice tub Greg, looked at buying one myself but I was just on $210,000 short so settled for a 4.2mtr Renegade, also it would be somewhat of a problem getting too far up Ningi Ck, even on high tide, hope you catch plenty

Memories

Can't help you there snap, you will need a personal loan but!

Hi Bretto77 Mate what length is that barred javelin in your avatar, I caught one a few years ago that went 60cms, the one in your avatar looks over 70cms, great fish. fatboy

Thanks for putting that up Andrew, fascinating process to watch. My Dad used to make his own split cane rods back in the 60's totally by hand. fatboy

Should be a good prawn season, get the cast net out

Not good news ABF, you need to give the Brisbane River a good break, maybe 4 + weeks, if we don't get anymore rain, after good rain all but the vermin make their way down to the mouth of the rivers and creeks to get a bit of salinity in the water. You need locations that are getting a good tidal flush of salt water twice a day, maybe get your Dad to take you to Bribie if he has the time and fish maybe Woody Bay or Red Beach, both areas get a good flush every day regardless of the rain, if you and Dad like camping on the beach, make a trip of it and take a small tent, couple of sleeping bags and get some jaffles cooking over the coals, after reading this Mangajack might even cook em for ya, good areas for flathead, dart and whiting, be a bit of an adventure hey! Good fishing to you fatboy

Old Scaley thanks for supporting my response to @MrWobbygong, been a few deaths in the last 5 years for not doing exactly that, one of those was a very experienced fisherman on a SEQld dam. How lucky was that bloke, he was dead set kissed on the **** by a fairy, bet he had a drink after that.

Freshly caught and well bled tailor on toast for breakfast with a squeeze of lemon and a pinch of salt, when camping, cannot beat it

If any one is interested I have a couple of boxes of old fishing magazines in excellent condition. The internet is convenient, however anyone who likes to feel paper between their fingers may be interested. PM me if you are interested fatboy

Nice report MrW, you are obviously an aware and responsible person. You certainly can get distracted with young children in the boat, my young bloke could start the motor and steer the boat and kill the motor from when he was 5 years old, so it is handy for anyone you take fishing to understand the basics of starting and stopping an outboard motor. I have been surprised many times over the years when fishing with other people in their tiller steer tinnies that they never attach the kill switch lanyard to the motor and loop it around their wrist when underway, also unless you are a strong swimmer make sure you always wear a comfortable lightweight vest type lifejacket when underway, best quality you can afford for the young one. Also don't assume other boat operators know the rules of sea, some have never obtained a license, do not know the rules, and some have no idea which side of the beacons to navigate. Fishing and camping are one of lifes pleasures, enjoy it as often as you can and always expect the unexpected. Hope you catch plenty fatboy

ABF, your attention to detail in these reports is remarkable and I enjoy reading them, keep it going Hope you catch plenty fatboy

The memories of what you put in the jaffle iron, a can of kraft braised steak and onions for me, don't be to hard on yourself Tony work gets in the way of camping and fishing and jaffle irons.

That's a good lizard on that gear anyone would be proud of. Mission Pt is a great spot for camping and the odd XO barred javelin, I used to fish the bank out front of the campsites very early mornings midweek to avoid the boat traffic. Great sunsets over the Glasshouse Mtns when camping and sinking a coldie with a fire going in winter. Hope you catch plenty fatboy

Your 100% right, also as you can vouch for, a lot more people are fishing now, boat ramps are a nightmare these days, common courtesy and etiquette has gone out the window in a lot of easily accessible fishing spots, if I was a bit more capable I would invest in a kayak to fish the creeks to get away from the crowds but maybe next life time, hope I don't come back as a mud crab but.

Always value your opinion Tony I've always fished target species, tide and location specific Tony, much like you i reckon, my main targets are always yellow fin whiting, school jew and in the last 20 years javelin. I found the wet years always had a silver lining in as much that lots of rain equals lots of prawns equals school jew. In my opinion size limits particularly on flathead and school jew, catch and release, and no netting have improved my catches. I didn't fish the passage itself much, I mainly focused on Ningi, Elimbah and Glasshouse creeks. I am a real believer that if you spend time to understand your target species, just like you with your jacks, and you fish often you will accumulate knowledge and decrease the number of donuts trips. An example of this is yellowfin whiting more commonly known as summer whiting, people mostly fish for them in summer, however the best time to catch them is in fact in September, June and July, another is school jew, they hit the holes in the creeks when the prawns start running in April, provided we had good summer rain which encourages the prawns to emerge from the sediment and look for food and commence their life cycle, eventually spawning in the ocean before returning to the creeks to do it all over again. One species that you rarely caught in the passage and creeks in the nineties was javelin, I started catching them in the creeks from 2005 onwards, I personally believe an increase in water temperatures encouraged them to migrate further south. Some days their is so many of them undersize it can be hard to catch anything else. A barred javelin 40cm+ is great fun on light gear and they are excellent to eat. Anyway good fishing to everyone fatboy

Bit of a reminisce from an old fella I've been looking through some old fishing diaries i kept and photos of fish I caught in the passage in the early eighties and nineties, the fish got smaller over the decade and harder to catch, not like I remember as a kid fishing with my Dad in the sixties and seventies when the fish were plentiful and some really big suckers as well, I pretty much gave it away mid nineties as it was hard work catching a feed and my kids starting playing sport. The State Government banned all netting in the passage in October 1995 I think that's the date. I still fished and camped sporadically with my Son around Mission Pt though fishing was tough, I reckon it took a good 10 years before some real improvement started to happen, so with the kids grown up I invested in a new boat and started fishing again, tried all my old spots and slowly but surely catches improved. Had some great sessions in the creeks from 2005 to 2020 when I used to fish 3 times a week on average, gave it away couple of years ago and took up growing vegetables. The pros still rape and pillage the whiting around red beach in September, anything that resides around Cooks rocks several times a year, and the top end of the passage near Caloundra when the bream come in in June. Fishing in the passage could be sensational but for the pros, anyway it is what it is. Love to hear from anyone who fished the passage leading up to the banning of the pro netters. fatboy

One correction to my post to you, I am referring to spangled emperor at this spot not grassies, although you do catch them there but only to 35cm, minimum size for spangled emperor is 45cm so you don't want to make the mistake of keeping a spangled emperor thinking its a grassie good fishing fatboy

MrWobbygong , I used to catch them at the first green beacon heading south from the bribie bridge, fish there early morning first 2 hours of the run out tide, lot of rock on the bottom, I fished with a smallest ball sinker i could get away with directly on a 1/0 short shank hook with a turned down eye (towards the point of the hook) something like a mustad 542 double strength , no swivel, 6kg mono main line and trace, 2kg drag is usually enough hurt on them. Don't cast your line very far, keep the slack out of your line or you will lose a lot of terminal gear. I've never fished braid so if you do, you will have to tie a leader to the braid first off, I would make your leader at least 2 mtrs long to keep the braid off the rocks. You will catch your share of unders but you will also pick some up nudging 55cm, some good bycatch there as well, years gone by I have caught snapper to 3kg and on occasion tuskies to 2kg, also a good spot for tailor in winter on the first 2 hours of the run in floating pillies on ganged hooks. If I was still fishing I would have kept this spot quite, people put in a lot of miles when you don't have to. Hope you have some luck. fatboy

Hi @The Mad Hughesy Only joined the site recently but have camped at Mission Pt many times over the years, interested to know how your trip went and if you caught any fish fatboy

Great response @Huxstang, I understand a little about electrics and solar, but I need another drink

Welcome to the forum Wayne-o, can't help you on this one sorry, I'm a creek fisherman, someone will help you out I reckon Fatboy

@ GregOug you are 100% correct, I will give myself an uppercut, maybe I should have said "this is one of the rare forums where you can have an opinion or ask for advice without some smart arse taking the piss out of you, however, as is the way their are always a few exceptions". Hows that sound you reckon.