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Hi all I know it's a bit late but I'm going to put up three more reports. I didn't catch much in any of them, but all of them I had an OK time and at least I did not donut. The first one of these was from the 7th of July, and then the next few a bit closer. Sorry I've been slack, and also sorry that I'm doing another 3 in one, but now it's back to school I'll probably be back to only one or two sessions per weekend. So, I arrived for the first session earlier in the morning. Before seven. I did a couple throws of the cast net, for some live prawns, but the tide was still a bit high and fast. That was why I didn't get to many. They were deployed on the line, out in the deeper water, as well as the one in the cod/bream/flatty spot (if you haven't already, read session #37 - I got a good flatty in that one and it will give you more context in future reports). My line began to go off soon after, but it was not a normal strike. It was like the fish was just nudging the bait. I picked it up and set the hook though. At first, it was a dead weight, but then it took on OK run. After that, it was just more fun. Run, run, run! Heavy, heavy, heavy! While it was only a weird catfish in the end though, they sure do make good practise for fighter proper fish. I hope to get a few more of these buggers to fine tune my technique on fighting fish (if you've seen me, you'll notice when there's a biggun on, I'm often shaking in surprise/worryness, and then not playing the fish as well as I could be). I also noticed the weird white spots on the fish, which you can see if you look closely. In an older thread, I have heard about the red spots (a parasite) on catfish. Never the white ones. And also, the colouration on these fish is weird, also. A normal forktail catfish (salmon catfish) is silver, like many I catch. These ones seem to fight better, but look browny, and have bad spots on them. Anyone know what the go is with these? I might also say, solo netting is a hard job. First of all, I had to grab my net and walk him down to the jetty (involved a bit of 'oohing and arring' because I was stretching to reach it). Then, I had to bend under the railing to the jetty, to get to a spot to net him. Finally, he kept swimming under a branch stuck on the jetty. I eventually got him up though. LOL. Then everything went dead. I got a few more live prawns, but even they stopped. It wasn't looking good also, because, like always, my hands were freezing. I guess cotton gloves don't work when you use them for cast netting . Luckily, a very kind lady gave me a plastic bag and told me to put it on my hand to keep them dry. It certainly worked, but my hands were by no means warm! My friend was coming down as well, so I didn't want to go home. The bite was quiet for the whole time I was waiting for him. No hits whatsoever. I mainly focused on keeping warm. I also noticed that we were beginning to run out of bait. I couldn't manage anything in the cast net, so I just kept one line out for extended fishing time. This line got nothing the whole time. The most likely reason we were running out of bait was pickers, and since I only had some prawns left (I didn't really want to use them all but had too) I was preparing to go home. We ended up staying 'till a bit past eleven AM, but by then the bite was really shut down and nothing was happening. I went home, planning to go out the next day. Here are the stats of that trip (not very accurate as it was ten days ago) - Statistics of trip - Tide: 6:50AM, Low, .4M 12:20PM, 1.7M, high Bait caught: Prawns Bait used: Prawns, live and dead Fish caught: Catfish Tackle Used: 10lb, 14lb, and 30lb mainlines (braid), 20lb fluorocarbon leaders, 30lb fluorocarbon leader, 80lb mono trace, size 4/o suicide and circle hooks, large barrel swivel, size 6 and 3 ball sinkers. Size 1000 and 2500 Shimano Sienna and Nasci, size 650 Penn Reel, size 2500 Diawa Shinobi. Overall Success Rate: Now, to the next one. It was the following arvo, and this time there was a crowd. I brought my normal fishing mate, plus one from school, plus the previous report's one, and he brought two of his mates. I got down to the park with everyone a little bit past quarter past two, and within about 1 minute of having the first line in out deep I saw it getting pickered. I began to reel it in, and realised I was on. There was no fight whatsoever, but it was good to land one straight up. I was hoping we'd just pull in a bucket-load, but we only ended up getting that one. It was OK size, quite fat - When released, I called it for a floater, but he swam off eventually. It seems they don't have the strength to swim off opposed to barotrauma/trauma from handling. I'd assume that os why it is such a timid fight. My friend's line/reel wasn't in tip-top condition when we were at my home, so while I was there, I wiped the bucket tonne of sand out, gave it a quick oil, and straight-away, it worked better. It is only a Jarvis Walker combo, but as you'll see next, it stills catches! His line was just getting nibbles, so I informed him so. I was the only one who noticed, actually, as no one else was looking. He started the fight, and in about a minute I saw an eel... Hooked in the butt! It was fouled all over the line, and since I still hadn't gotten any livies, I just chucked it into the live-bait bucket. After I dispatched it (not very well, it kept alive!), we kept fishing. Here are some pics first though - I managed some live prawns after this. The bite was still very quiet though.. like it had been on the other sessions. My friends' friends headed off, seeing as though they were bored. The salmon line was still untouched, and when I checked, pickered. I kept waiting though, and in between the bait checks and cast netting throws, we still weren't to cold/exhausted. I gave the salmon line one more bait check, and I felt a bit of weight. It only took me a sec to realise I was on to a piece of crap, and I very quietly pulled up a catfish. It gave my friends a surprise when I got it. LOL. He was flicked back (my friend insisted of having a photo which he now uses for his profile piccy, I'll have to catch him something OK he can actually use), and I kept fishing. There were no more fish landed for the day, and while there were a few more prawns it became pretty dead quickly. Once it was dark (ish) we started to pack the gear up so it was an easy leave when we had to. We headed home shortly after and called it an OK day... Here are the statistics of the trip - Stats of trip - Tide: 1:00PM, 1.7M, high, 6:45PM, .4M, Low Bait caught: Prawns Fish caught: Catfish x 1, Eel x 1, Perch x 1 Bait used: Prawns, live and dead Tackle used: 10lb, 14lb, and 30lb mainlines (braid), 20lb fluorocarbon leaders, 30lb fluorocarbon leader, 80lb mono trace, size 4/o suicide and circle hooks, large barrel swivel, size 6 and 3 ball sinkers. Size 1000 and 2500 Shimano Sienna and Nasci, size 650 Penn Reel, size 2500 Diawa Shinobi. Weather (general): Slightly cloudy, little wind Overall Success Rate: 40% The final report was about as exciting as getting bored to death! I arrived in the early arvo with a mate, and it was wet. I prefer this weather because it is nicer to be in, but rain generally isn't to good in my fishing experience. I got out a prawn and in about ten minutes the line was getting hits. I picked up and realised I was on. The small perch came up no problemos. It was released, but I was still hoping to catch something a bit bigger... I kept fishing, and while I was getting a couple prawns, nothing was happening (except a bit of rain). It wasn't' the most boring thing ever, but I will say it certainly could have been more fun/exciting. The next couple hours, I just kept throwing the net/talking. It is kind of lonely when you seem to be the only one around, especially when the weather is so gloomy. There was a bit more isolated rain over the day, but later it stopped fully. I also kept having fun with the pickers right in the shallows. I would drop it down (hoping for something sizeable) but then get pickered like no tomorrow. I actually managed to pull a little toadfish up, which has a very distinctive vibration in the fight. It let go before I officially 'landed' it though. LOL. The day was over as quick as it started, and I left at dusk. It was a bit of an effort, but all these sessions were certainly worth it. Here are the stats of this trip, too - Stats of trip - Tide: High, 1.7M 1:40PM, Low, .4M, 7:30PM Fish caught: Perch x 1 Bait caught: Prawns Bait used: Prawns (live and dead) Time fished: 2:00PM-5:15PM Tackle Used: 10lb, 14lb, and 30lb mainlines (braid), 20lb fluorocarbon leaders, 30lb fluorocarbon leader, 80lb mono trace, size 4/o suicide and circle hooks, large barrel swivel, size 6 and 3 ball sinkers. Size 1000 and 2500 Shimano Sienna and Nasci, size 650 Penn Reel, size 2500 Diawa Shinobi. Overall Success Rate: 30% I hope you enjoyed these reports. I doubt I'll go out tomorrow if I'm still feeling bad. At least that eel will make some good bully baits in the Summer (can't wait, I'm going to try for a bully on my 1000 Sienna!). Thanks for reading. Cheers Hamish

Hi all I'm putting up the report from my last few days fishing at the local park. This is from Thursday until today. Some sessions were certainly more exciting than others, and hopefully you're all not bored to death by another series of reports! I got down to the local park and had the lines in at about quarter past two. I had the lines in first off baited with dead prawn from last session. To catch bait this time though, I'd done something different - made burley. The mix was very simple, but I'll do a quick walk through of it as well. You will need the following - 1. Breadcrumbs - 2. Chicken Pellets/other pellets 3. Tuna oil (one of the stinkiest things on earth in my opinion) - First off, layer the bottom of your container (for the purpose of this I used an ice cream tub) with breadcrumbs. You can also just buy a cheap $1 loaf of bread from Woolies and rip it up into small bits. Once you have a layer of this, do the same, but with your pellets. Continue to do this until you have the amount of berley you want. Make sure you are giving it a good mix so both of the things are well dispersed into one another. When you're done, get your tuna oil. (DISGUSTING ALERT!!!). Give the mix a generous splash of this. That is the recipe done. Easy peasy. I found this worked excellent on baits, but it also attracted some undesirables, like glassies. Back to the report. I chucked a bit of this in the water (get yourself something to scoop/deploy it with as it stinks you up if you hold it), gave it a couple minutes, and then threw the net in the general vicinity. As well as a bunch of bloody glassies, up came a couple prawns. I put them on the lighter lines, as these weren't to big, and then kept casting. It actually didn't take long for a lighter line to go off, as I saw a couple nibbles, then a big strike... I ran up, but unfortunately, whatever it was it didn't hook up. On one of the first throws, I felt a big more weight in the net than usual. I was hoping for a mullet, or at least a school of something, but up came another baby bream. I think it's very good there are juvenile ones around here, because it means that they are being bred into the river, and, where there's small ones there's normally bigguns, or so I think... Here it is - Juvenile Yellowfin Bream - roughly 20cm After that, it all went a bit quiet. I was still getting lots of prawns and glassies (more of the latter), and the glassies would almost always be stuck right in the net and take a couple minutes to come out. So annoying. I kept berleying, and they kept coming up in the net. I found the best way to get them out was to just give them a big flick, which therefore flinged them back into the water. The prawns on the heavy line just kept getting pickered, and since these glassies were so hardy, I decided to see how the went as bait. I pinned two through the area just below the fins, and they swum as hard as a biddy. The next catch did not come until later... I decided to give the line out deep a check. It had been pushed towards the pylons, and as I pulled it up there was a lot of weight with it. I thought it may be a catfish, or an eel even, but when I got it up I realised it must just be some log/wood. On closer inspection, I realised it was a bunch of line and sinker from the ground. I wonder who's it may be... Mine? I was quite curious. How much of this would be in the whole, entire, ocean, polluting many areas??? My glassies were still going strong, but unfortunately nothing else was biting. What does that mean? Cast netting, of course! I started throwing the net to top up on the prawns. More glassies and less prawns, though. As I went for another throw, I saw the glassy line buckle over. I pulled up the net as fast as I could, and picked up the other line. I knew it wasn't big after about 5 seconds into the fight, and in about a minutes I had an OK catfish up. No photo for this one, I actually flicked him off the hook so quickly I forgot The day was very quiet after the catfish, and after more relentless picking attacks I got the final haul of prawns out of the live bait tank (not too many but some were Ok size) and chucked them in the esky. I was also fishing with someone else, whom could pancake my net very well. he was fishing for big sharks/cod, but it was very quiet for him. No hits or anything except pickers. I think it also is worth a mention how low the tide was when I got there, which initially helped with the berleying and bait catching - That is the first report done for now, here are the stats of the trip - Statistics of trip - Tide: Moon Phase: Fish caught: Yellowfin bream x 1, catfish x 1 Bait caught: Prawns and glassies Bait used: Live prawns and glassies Tackle Used: 10lb, 14lb, and 30lb braided mainlines, 20lb and 30lb fluorocarbon leader, 80lb trace, size 2 and six ball/bean sinkers, size 4/o circle and suicide hooks, large-ish barrel swivel. Size 1000 and 2500 Shimano Sienna and Nasci, Size 650 Penn Reel, 6"6' and 8" Ugly Stik rod, 2M Rogue Firepoint boat rod, Size 2500 Daiwa Shinobi reel Weather: Sunny, slightly cloudy Overall Success Rate: 40% - Like the other sesh, at least it wasn't a donut!!! OK, now to the next report. This time I was fishing with my mate, Hayden, and he wanted to come down at 1:30PM. I met him there a little bit after that, and we got fishing. It was a dead low tide as I got there, which is normally a good tide here. Today was no exception. On the first throw, I got a few prawns, so the lines were thrown out with livies. That continued, and I also continued berleying up the water for bait. More prawns, as well as some glassies. Unfortunately, the pickers would not leave us alone. The prawns just kept getting eaten and eaten! I decided to throw a line in off the jetty to try and get my friend a fish, so with a little live prawn on, I gave him the line to hold. It wasn't long before he got picked to bits. This happened a couple more times, but then when he was getting some nibbles he handed to me. I felt the nibbles, and then felt the rod load up, and then I was on!!! Briefly... The fish dropped the bait as quick as it took it, so that was mildly disappointing. With this , we put the line next to the jetty pylons to see if any fish would eat it there. It was very quiet for the next part of the session, apart from more live prawns and more pickers... As I was doing a quick check of the line, not much was happening on it. I walked back down onto the jetty to do more cast netting, but as I went down I saw the rod next to the pylons get some nibbles, and then I heard the reel squeaking. I tightened the drag, and I was on! Woohoo. It was only a small cat, but both my mate and I had some fun free spooling the line, then pulling it back up again for more 'fight time'. Here it is - Dirty Catfish I de-hooked him, and grabbed him by the tail throwing him back into the drink. It was then more quiet-ness, and my dad eventually came down. He said I had/should go home soon, and my mate wanted me to come back with him so I began packing up at about 5 to five. As I was reeling in the salmon line though, it was a lot heavier than usual. I was still reeling very quickly, and drag was actually coming out. To my surprise, a river perch came up. No fight to it at all... And it clearly explains what's been picking me - those dirty, old, perch! Hopefully these pickers bugger off! That was the end of the session, except for me taking home 5 or so prawns, as I didn't have that many more in the bait tank in the first place! I packed up the cart and got home. A nice, warm, shower certainly helped with the cold temperature outside. Here are the stats of this report - Statistics of trip - Tide: 9:00AM, 1.8M, high, 3:20PM, .2M, Low, 9:50PM, 2.4M, high Fish caught:River perch x 1, Catfish x 1 Bait caught: Prawns Bait used:Live and dead prawns Tackle used: 10lb, 14lb, and 30lb braided mainlines, 20lb and 30lb fluorocarbon leader, 80lb trace, size 2 and six ball/bean sinkers, size 4/o circle and suicide hooks, large-ish barrel swivel. Size 1000 and 2500 Shimano Sienna and Nasci, Size 650 Penn Reel, 6"6' and 8" Ugly Stik rod, 2M Rogue Firepoint boat rod, Size 2500 Daiwa Shinobi reel Weather: Nice, not to hot or cold, mild winds Overall Success Rate: 55% - At least it wasn't a donut OK, if you're still reading, this is a bit embarrassing. I went out yesterday morning, for a session. I thought it would be a good one, as I have always done good on the +5 +11 session logic/pattern (probably a bit more of an religious thing than truth). It was freezing cold, and even though I was in my thermals, I needed to throw the cast net. On my first throw, I got a butter bream, all the way up the river. This interested me very much, and I was curious to see why. It then became evident my hands and feet were very cold, and, well, that's why I left in about 30 minutes of getting there. LOL. Cool - that's a first - Brisbane River Butter Bream! OK, so here is the final report. The most exciting one too. I'm hoping you haven't lost interest and you're still with me. I got to the park at about 2:15PM today, and the tide was still about half way up, running out. Not quite ideal, but the run out was (it was the tide height that wasn't). I had a hard time gathering bait first off, with only occasional prawns in my first casts. Once I got enough though, each line was out (I had four lines, as a mate was there too). One of them didn't last that long though, as it got snagged, and would not come off even with a heap of pulling and yanking from all angles with our hands. My friend cut it with the knife, and that line was not re-rigged all day. Prawns were by no means plentiful, but I was starting to get a couple. The salmon line was pickered, numerous times (I witnessed this while cast netting), and I wasn't having much success with throwing the net. It seems the pickers first rip off the prawns legs, then eyes, then head, and then the body (somehow miraculously missing my hook!). More cast netting, after cast netting, and then a bait check, was basically what I was doing... I eventually got a school of glassies, so as last resort I live baited a couple of the buggers and sent them out, hopefully for something golden. My friend head off soon after, at about 4:30PM. The first run of the day was again, soon after this. I was cast netting, and heard my little Sienna screaming. I pulled up the net, and hastily got up there. Unfortunately, the fish had dropped the bait. I believe it was a small catfish, anyways. They are actually a speedy little fish. I stayed up at the top of the jetty, with the two lighter lines, while the salmon line and glassies soaked. The line in the cod spot got pickered, so I dropped it down with another live prawn (I'd also caught some more live shrimp, river shrimp, in the cast net). It didn't take long for a peck-peck, and then the rod to load up. I thought it was just a picker, but before I knew it the line was screaming off the reel, as fast as a cheater! I started trying to get this fish to the surface, as it was beyond me what it could be. Bream? Cod? After about two minutes of screaming runs, up came a big lizard (I believe it was a blue-spot flathead, because the tail was blue). There were some nervous moments, as when I began walking it down to the jetty it nearly ran into the pylons and did me in, and then again as we were netting it (some passersby did the honours). He/she was landed. Relief! Sadly, it was hooked right down it's gob, so I cut the line. I hope it spits the hook quickly. It's battle wasn't over, either. It went crazy the second I lipped it, and before it was trying to slither back into the drink. I grabbed the photo real quickly though, and got it back into the drink. With one big splash this biggun was off! Woohoo. A solid 60cm Brisbane River lizard. How's that?! Another man had also came down with a rod and reel, and a lire. He had a quick flick, but annoyingly for him he got snagged on his second cast. Bugger! We then had a chat, and i found out he was actually just on holidays, and he found a fishing rod in the house he was staying in. "Why not?" he said. He said he also came from Cairns, where he is a bit (lot) more serious. He catches big queenfish trolling lures on a handline off the back of his surfski. Pretty cool if you ask me. His real target was mackerel, where he's only hooked (and been busted off) by one. While we were having a chinwag, my line, with live shrimp, went off, and after a short fight, up came a little catfish - At about quarter past five, Dad told me to come home, so we said goodby to one another and then I packed up, and was on my way. I was extremely happy with the flatty today's session, as it is my first 60cm flatty with a pic (I got one with a mate in Marcoola in the surf a few years ago, but chose to release so no photo. It was estimated 60cm - odd). I was home, happier than ever. Here are the stats of this trip - Statistics of trip - Tide: 11:35AM, 1.7M, High, 5:30PM, .3M, Low Moon Phase: Waning Gibbous phase, 98% full moon, so a lot of run Fish caught: Bluespot flathead x 1, Catfish x 1 Bait caught: Banana Prawns and River Shrimp Bait used: Live and dead prawns and river shrimp Air Pressure: 1024 Tackle Used: 10lb, 14lb, and 30lb braided mainlines, 20lb and 30lb fluorocarbon leader, 80lb trace, size 2 and six ball/bean sinkers, size 4/o circle and suicide hooks, large-ish barrel swivel. Size 1000 and 2500 Shimano Sienna and Nasci, Size 650 Penn Reel, 6"6' and 8" Ugly Stik rod, 2M Rogue Firepoint boat rod, Size 2500 Daiwa Shinobi reel Weather: Nice cool weather - minimum wind Time fished: 2:15PM - 5:10PM Overall Success Rate: 85% - While it wasn't the target species, it was bloody solid! Thanks for reading guys, I know it was a bit or a report-marathon. Hope you all enjoyed. Cheers Hamish

Hey all I'm going to put up the report from Thursday arvo/night, where I was at the normal haunt (local park). I'll say it straight up - it was a donut. It was also pretty cold, and despite putting in my best effort I could not catch one at all. I'll go from the start though, and try to make this a not so long report I arrived at about 2:45PM, and got the lines out. The two smaller lines were baited with good dead prawn, and I needed to get some livies for the bigger line. It wasn't the best tide, about 3/4 full, but I decided it didn't matter to much. The first cast I got a small prawn, and in about 3 more casts I got a couple more. These were then baited on the lines. I kept getting a consistent amount of prawns, around 1 or 2 a cast. The first take was a while away, where the line went off. I was too slow to set the hook and whatever it was, it was just a small one as it didn't pick up/take the full bait. This happened about five more times over the session. I was doing a bit of cast netting in this time, and I got a good silver biddy. It was immediately deployed, and I hoped for the best. Eventually, after many more prawns and some missed strikes, it was getting dark. My mate was still yet to come down, so I'd decided I'd do something I haven't down in a while - a night session. I put everything back into the cart except the rods, so it would be easier to leave when we did. The line in the cod spot was baited with a live frogmouth pilchard, the heavy salmon one with the biddy, and the lighter one with a prawn. "We're all set", I thought. My friend came down soon after and we were set. While I was a bit chilly, he was all set, with a puffer jacket (lucky). The first action came about 15 minutes in, with a run on the lighter line. I'd assume it would just be another perch/picker, but I'll never know, seeing as we didn't hook up. The next hour or so was fun, we just sat there and waited. Nothing. At. All. At the end, when my dad came down, we reeled in the salmon line. The biddy was still lively and swimming, which was really quite annoying. I would've thought it would make the perfect bait, but obviously not. Here are the statistics of that 'short' report. LOL. Statistics of trip - Tide: High tide, 1:40PM, 1.7M, Low tide, .4M. 7:50PM Moon Phase: First quarter Weather: Cold, slightly windy Tackle used: 14lb mainline, 30lb mainline (both braid), 15lb fluorocarbon leader, 30lb fluorocarbon leader, 80lb trace, size 4/o suicide and circle hooks, size 1000 and 2500 Shimano Sienna and Nasci, Size 650 Penn reel, size 2 and six ball/bean sinkers, large barrel swivel, 6"6' and 8" Ugly Stik, 2M Rogue Firepoint boat rod. Bait used: Live prawns and silver biddy Fish caught: - Bait caught: Prawns and biddy Overall Success Rate: 30% - A nice fish That's that one done, which, I admit, was quite boring . Here is the next one, which thankfully wasn't a donut. I woke up at 5:40AM after going to bed early and setting an alarm. I ended up departing at about 6, and had the lines in at about 6:15AM. My dad was down for the first part to do some cast netting (and he also didn't let me go by myself when it was still dark). The first cast he got some prawns and a good sized frogmouth pilchard, which I live baited straight away. We now had all the lines in, with a mix of live prawn and frogmouth pilchard. Dad kept getting good prawns, but while this was happening, nothing was (happening) on the lines. By about 10 past seven, Dad had gotten plenty of prawns, and he headed off. In about five minutes, I saw some nibbles on the line. It was while I was cast netting, so I quickly pulled the net up and ran up. The rod was now going off, and line was screaming off the reel. I picked it up and striked. Realising it was a perch, I was surprised - it actually had ran pretty fast. This prompts me to think whatever was taking baits from the report above must've been small perch. I landed him, de-hooked him with a couple pulls with my hands, and then got a photo. I noticed he was bleeding, so I thought he might not swim off. Fortunately, after a proper swim off the jetty, he swam off fine. Here it is - After the perch, everything went quiet again. There was one more run, and the cod line was repeatedly pickered to bits. It seemed I was just wasting prawns on this, but I kept going because I wanted to see if I could entice anything with size. I also just kept getting prawns, which was good. My dad had caught a big prawn when he was throwing, and after a couple bait checks the frogmouth pilly seemed a bit, well, dead, so I put it on. I will say it looked great, with the prawn clicking around like no tomorrow. It was fired out, and after I caught a few more prawns off the end of the jetty (as well as one herring which found its way to the top of the net), I saw the salmon line go over, but then come straight back up. "Pickers!" I thought. I was right, as the prawns eyes and legs had been ripped off obviously killing it. I threw it back out, hoping a salmon might like an extra fresh bait. No fish wanted it though, so I let the prawn join the frogmouth pilchard in the esky and put on the live herring. It was fired out and left in the holder (a hole in the jetty which my rod fits very snuggly into). After numerous picker attacks in the cod hole (only one real strike), the line there got snagged. Luckily I had a fourth rod ready, but instead of putting it in the cod spot I put it on the other side of the wooden part. This meant that the current would be pushing it under the jetty, so I thought it might be good for a bream or cod. When I went down to the cast net next, this thing fell out. It just so happens that when reading old threads on this forum about the park, an ID thread came up with this fish. I couldn't remember the name then, but now I know it is a Butis Butis, or Crazyfish. Here it is (it looks and acts very much like a stick) - I threw it back, and it swam off. I caught some more prawns, and for the next twenty odd minutes I spent my time doing this (one time I got a few glassies which were annoying, but only one of them ended up as berley ). Then, I looked up. The rod positioned next to the pylons was going off. I yanked my net up as quick as I could and ran up to the rod. Luckily, it was still on. The fight began. I first got it out of the pylon area, so now I had a clean fight. When it surfaced, I realised I had an OK bream on. It ran around for a good couple minutes, and once I got it on the surface I waited a few more for some people to pass me my landing net. They netted him up for me, and then I took it from there. The photo of me wth it is dodgy because I needed to take a selfie. Here he is (a tad over 32cm and very fat). Solid! a nice BR Breambo! (I also just realised he is a bit further back than the start, so it might've been a 33cm model). It was just starting to rain, and despite being soaked, I wasn't cold at all because I remembered the thermals. It was another half an hour before my friend came down, and in this time I had basically caught a few more prawns. After my mate came down, I held the rod in the cod spot. It was getting relentlessly pickered. A couple times the rod would load up, like it would with any other fish, but then whatever it was the fish would drop it. This happened until about 11:30AM, and then it was time to go. In the time, the only exciting thing that happened was that I watched a catfish (about 30cm) come right up into about 10-20cm of water, to the edge of the river, and have a go at something... And I finally figured out what was pickering me in the shallows. Baby bream (or so I think). I managed to get one to the surface, and it was having a go at a prawn the size of its body! That was a waste of time! Here is a shot of the esky at the end of the day - On the way home, I managed to loose my landing net without me noticing so I called down my dad when I noticed (just about to leave the park, which is about a 700 metre walk away from the spot) and he came riding down. It took all of 3 minutes for him to find it, and then we walked home together. I was pretty satisfied with the session, so yes, that is this report done. Thanks for reading everyone, I hope you all enjoyed! Here are the stats - Statistics of trip - Tide: 2.2M High, 3:50AM, .4M Low, 10:40AM - I fished the run out and then the change Moon Phase: First quarter moon Weather: Rainy, overcast, and cool Water Temp: Quite cool - not very humid and rainy, miserable day Bait caught: Lots of prawns, frogmouth pilchards, herring Fish caught: Yellowfin Bream x 1, River Perch x 1 Bait used: Live prawns, frogmouth pilchards, and herring Tackle Used: 14lb mainline, 30lb mainline (both braid), 15lb fluorocarbon leader, 30lb fluorocarbon leader, 80lb trace, size 4/o suicide and circle hooks, size 1000 and 2500 Shimano Sienna and Nasci, Size 650 Penn reel, size 2 and six ball/bean sinkers, large barrel swivel, 6"6' and 8" Ugly Stik, 2M Rogue Firepoint boat rod. Overall Success Rate: 60% - Some good fish Cheers Hamish

Evening all I went out for another arvo session at the park today, even though it was a bit drizzly. I might start from the start of the day though, so you all have some context in the story. After I'd woken up, I was told tennis wasn't on, which was annoying because if I'd known the night before I would've been going for a morning session today. I just slept in this morning though, which was nice and relaxing. By about 10:00AM though, I had decided I would be going out this arvo. The first thing to do was give all the gear a bit of maintenance, which involved me oiling the reels and other gear. Once that was done, I decided I would make a short length or rope for the floats for our crab pots, so we didn't have to gin around with them as much when pulling them up. I simply cut about one metre of rope, tied a loop in the end of it, and then tied the other end to two milk bottles, as our floats. I also had to burn the ends of the rope so they wouldn't frey. Since I was quite chilly, I went and got some wood shavings from when I did a little bit of whittling, and since it was so damp and cold outside, I decided to cheat... . I went and got a little bit of metho and tipped it on. The flame lit up nicely, and I quickly did the ends of the rope. As I was pulling one out though, it was still on fire. I gave it a shake to put it out, but silly me, ofcourse, also didn't notice the bloody hot wax still on it. Long story short, I ended up with a slightly burnt finger for the rest of the day . Once it was 1:30PM I got ready to go fishing. By about 2:00PM, I was out the door going down to the park. The lines would've been in by about 2:15PM. After I baited them, with dead fresh prawn, I got to cast netting. The first cast brang a few prawns, as I found the prawns first try. I got about 5, so I could bait the lines with some good bait. The salmon line was given quite a few prawns, and the other one that was casted out into the middle of the river was too. On the second cast with my net, I felt some OK tugging as I pulled it up. To my surprise, a little breambo was in the net. I untangled him, grabbed a quick pic, and sent him on his way. Here he is - aw After that, I put up my umbrella up over the cart and shifted everything that couldn't get wet under it, as it had started to spit. This last for about ten more minutes, and then the rain subsided. In this time, I got a few more prawns in the cast net. My lines were still getting picked by something small, so I was going through quite a few prawns. Luckily, I was catching more than I was using. Each cast off the end of the jetty would get my five or so small prawns, maybe a couple less. I would throw the net off the end and let it drift around and in front of the pylon, then pull it up from the other side. It seemed with the combination of a running out tide and the structure, a lot more bait was here than just on the end of the jetty. This trend continued for about another hour, but a bit before this (maybe at three) my mate came down. He was giving me a hand with the cast netting, and watching The lines. The pickers were truly relentless. We must've given them a good feed. I am thinking smaller hooks may be the go but I don't want bigger fish to swallow them straight down their gobs, LOL. While I was standing up on the wooden part of the boardwalk, the rod out in the middle went off. Unfortunately, it didn't hook up. I was about to spit the dummy at the pickers, which probably wouldn't be possible until I landed one, but then my dad called. It started like this, "Hey mate, ya caught any?". I replied by saying I'd caught bugger all, and then my dad said (very disgraceful), "Well, maybe it's time you come home mate, it's getting a bit late" (not that it was). I hung up, and decided I would catch a fish today! I was back on the jetty when I saw the rod (which I pulled out of the drink that time in session #4) going off. I ran up, and to my delight it was still on when I set the hook. It was right under though, but luckily it didn't go running off. I was thinking it may be a pike eel, but after some fun fighting I saw it. At first I just thought it was a catfish, but then I realised what it was. Yes, it was a thready! While it was not that big, I was still stoked as I consider them quite 'prestigious'. I told my friend to get the net, an he jogged down onto the jetty while I walked it down. He scooped it up perfectly, and we then got to work. I measured it hastiy and got a brag mat photo, de-hooked it (well, the hook came out itself) and took a quick photo. Here it is - While in no stretch of the imagination is it big, it is still a threadfin! I then got him back to the water, where he swam off strong. It probably could've done with a longer swim but it took one big splash and it was off. Here is a quick release shot we took - After we let him go, the next five minutes was high fives and cheers! Then, I re-gathered all our scattered gear and re-baited the lines, with live prawns, and kept fishing! There weren't anymore bites for the next half an hour or so, and while we were waiting, the only things I had managed were snags (I need to re-spool a couple of reels but they are well overdue for that anyways) and a few more prawns (not to mention a bloomin glassy). The next cast I did felt no different, and when I pulled up the top of the net there were still prawns. But I got a big surprise when I pulled up the bottom. A big fish, which I initially thought was a catfish, was there. On closer examination, I realised it was a big mullet. "Hooray", I thought. I told my mate to come down and then I dealt with the mullet. It was very squirmy, and I needed a very tight grip on it. Once I got it up, I put it in the esky. It will either feature as crab bait in our next POB trip, or become a strip bait. Since it kept flopping around, I slit it's throat and took a quick picture. Here I am with my '50cm' mullet. A true monster - The oldest trick in the book... It was only 33cm. After him, I was quite satisfied with the day. A salmon and a new PB mullet. Yippee. I think I should learn how to brain spike fish though, as I got a lot of blood on my bait board. I think it is also a bit more humane. Maybe a screwdriver will work next time? Any tips anyone? It was now nearing five, and the tide was changing. The rod out in the channel, which I had just re-rigged with a live prawn, then took off. I set the hook, tighten the drag, and then handed over to my friend to pull it in. Up came an OK river perch, skull dragged from the depths . I de-hooked it, and gave him a quick release. I thought it swam off very nicely, but I may have been wrong... The next perch came practically back to back to that one, and on the next one, which my mate said I could have, had an audience. An Asian family watched me pull it up, and then they all cheered when I got it. This seems to be a normal thing here, but, I'm not complaining . Unfortunately the photo on his one wasn't very good, as we were rushed trying to get it back in and wanted to see him swim off. My friends filter and the focus of his lenses must've clashed. Here it is (I think you can still see that shape of the fish, LOL). We were just about to begin packing up, and my mum was down there as well, but then we saw a poor little perch on the side of the bank. At first I thought it was dead, but then I realised it must've been one of the ones I let go. I was a bit confused, as both of the fish swam off well, but I guess one of them actually didn't. I tried tipping some buckets of water on it, so it might get a bit of energy back, but that didn't work. I didn't manage to scoop it up and give it a proper swim off anyway. "Oh well", I thought. It is a shame, but (from what I have been taught off here ) the fish will go back into the ecosystem, and be recycled by the environment. On the way home, we lost a couple of the tubes from the cart, which fell off, so I will re-do them tomorrow, most likely anyways. I;m going to a mates tomorrow though, and then have school mountain biking on, so I'm not going to manage a fish . I hope you enjoyed the report everyone, I know it is a more memorable one for me... And just another thing which I find funny: there has been a pattern with my better sessions. +5 and then +11. For example, my first good session, or report, was session #5. After that, 11 sessions later, in session #16, was my next good one. #21 was another five session after that, and this one, #32, is 11 sessions after session #21 - funny, ey! Here are the stats of the report - Statistics of trip - Tide: 10:00AM, 1.7M, high, .2M, 4:15PM, Low Moon Phase: The moon is 95.5% full! Air Pressure: 1022 Weather: 13-21 degrees Celsius weather, overcast, and a tad of rain. Tackle Used: Ugly Stik 6"6' and 8", Rogue Firepoint Boat Rod, 2M, Penn 650, 14lb and 30lb braid mainlines, 15lb, 20lb and 30lb fluorocarbon leaders, 80lb mono trace, 4/o circle and suicide hooks, size 2 and six ball sinkers, largish barrel swivel, size 1000 and 2500 Shimano Sienna and Nasci, Size 2500 Diawa Shinobi. Bait used: Live prawns Time fished: 2:15PM-5:15PM Bait caught: Prawns Overall Success Rate: 100% - Target species caught, as well as some welcome by-catch Cheers Hamish

Hi all Here are the two reports from my weekend, and while not much happened they were still somewhat eventful. I am hoping you will not find this boring, but here goes! Once the lines were in, baited with fresh, dead banana prawn, I set the gear up, got the net out, filled the bucket up with water, and threw the net. The first cast resulted in nothing, but in the next four casts I had two solid prawns in the bait tank. I chucked the salmon line out then, and began my long wait. While this was happening, I was talking to two people about a couple years older than me. One of them recognized me from the tennis competition I play in, so we had a chat (I think I've played him once or twice). He said he owns a house on the water, and he told me he'd caught a few bream, a few catties, and one thready. This was just in the duration he lived there I believe, as he said he didn't fish that much. I also told him what I'd caught there, but the thing I find funny is that the species list is becoming too long to remember. They then left, so I gave the lines a quick bait check. They were all pickered, so I rebaited them all. I chucked them back out and set the drag. I then started to cast net a bit more, and to my surprise a whiting came up in the net. After a quick look at it, I noticed it was a Winter Whiting, so into the live bait tank he went. Here he is prior to being deployed - He stayed in the bait tank for another uneventful 20 minutes, and then I checked my line. The prawn was off it, so I pinned him through the mouth like you would with a mullet and chucked him out. He seemed to stay put, so I did a bit more netting. I didn't really get much, but the prawns on the other line were still on. I then just sat around the top to have a bit of a relax and waited. The fishing was very quiet, with no bites. Since it had been about another 20 minutes, I went down to the jetty to check on the whiting. I reeled it in, and to my surprise when I pulled him up, well, he/she was a mess. To give you an idea, look at the above and below images as a before and after Done! I am not sure what it might've been, but my initial thought was a little shark, as I have heard sharks will hit their baits from the tail first, not head first, like other fish do. From second thoughts, I realised it very well could've been a crab feasting on my live bait, or it even could've been baby breamv or something of the likes of that. I guess, unfortunately, I will never know, so I will just have to guess and hypothesize. After that whiting, another live prawn was deployed. It would've been close to dark by now (around 5) so I starting tipping water on the jetty to get mud and gunk from the net off, and put the gear in the cart so it was ready to go. I made sure to keep the rods in though, just for good measure. In another few minutes of pacing around, the rods seemed like they could use a bait check. The two rods were pickerred, and I decided to keep the bottom one out so I had better chance. I re baited and re casted, and hoped something would take my bait in the last few minutes... Well, that never happened and it looked like I was going to finish up with another doughnut. I sadly did, and then I trudged all the way home, dragging my fishing cart along. This was not before I decided to take a quick sunset snap of the relatively gloomy day, so at least the report had some pictures - That is it done and dusted, or the first one anyways, so here are the statistics of the trip - Statistics of the trip - Tide: Low, 11:30AM, .5M, High, 5:15PM, 1.7M Moon Phase: First quarter moon, so not that much run Air Pressure: 1019.8 - a bit lower than my better days have been Weather: Quite cloudy, light winds, gloomy Tackle used: 14lb and 30lb mainlines, braid, 30lb, 15lb fluorocarbon leaders, 80lb trace, size 2 and 6 ball sinkers, 4/0 circle and suicide hooks, large barrel swivel. Bait used: Prawn, live and dead, and live winter whiting Bait caught: Winter whiting and banana prawns Fish caught: - Overall success rate: 40% - Not to bad of a day out OK, that is the report done. I hope you enjoyed reading, and hopefully you aren't bored out and can't read the next. I hope QLD's COVID-19 cases stay at a minimum as well, and I hope everyone can get out for a fish soon. OK, so here is report two. It was a bit more exciting than the first, and I had three of my mates with me, two who had never really fished before. I met them at the train station at half past one, and we would've had our lines in the drink by about 2:00PM. The first cast I did I got zilch, but on the first cast I did on the jetty bait started rolling in. In about 5 casts, I had three solid mullet and about a dozen prawns, which I happily live baited on the lines. My mates were pretty happy with that, and then we could just sit and wait for a bit. Since there was no action in about ten minutes, and one of them kept bugging me to show him how to throw the net, I showed him. Giving him the best instructions I could, he only managed a figure of eight on the first throw, LOL. The second was a slight improvement, but then he decided to put the net down and fish for a bit. I gave the lines a bait check then as well, the mullet was still very lively and the prawns were actually still on, much to my surprise. They were deployed again, and this time the wait was a bit longer. To keep myself from tiring out, I kept catching some prawns in the net. The best throw was three bigs ones, and, boy, they certainly make the net vibrate and pull A LOT for their size. By now, it was about 3:15PM, and with nothing happening, I was starting to think we might doughnut again. Luckily, the fish liked the live prawns and I saw the rod out in the middle of the river (or that area) getting pecks. I figured it was a perch, so I set the hook and told one of my mates they could pull it in. I suspected it was a perch, and I turned out to be right. A tiny one - I de hooked him, got my mate a quick pic (he's only caught a few fish in his life as he doesn't fish often) and then I chucked him back. He kicked off straight down, so another that was another successful release. Once he had dealt with that, everyone wasn't so bred again so I did some cast netting. Since the tide was absolutely rushing in, the net was a big effort. I also wasn't getting any bait, so I decided to give that a break for a few minutes. In that time though, one of the rods went off. To be specific, to cod rod did (no rhyming intended but it does ). I picked it up with haste but to my disappointment it had bricked us pretty good under/around the pylons. At the start, he was right stuck in there but with some rod maneuvering he started to come out. Then, whatever it was, took a run for structure... That had us done, and I could tell we weren't landing that fish, after about a ten minute wait, I started pulling the line out and eventually the braid snapped. That was a pity, because the fish (most likely a cod) felt pretty good. After the liens were re rigged, I had a throw of the net off the jetty. I felt some vibrating in the net, so I thought I might have some prawns. When I pulled the net up though, I realised I had a little perch in it. After a quick photo (sorry it's not to good) I chucked it back in the drink and off he went. Here it is - After that, they were really shut down, or maybe we were just missing them. I know that the lines weren't getting pickered, because when I did bait checks there was still bait. My friends had to go now though, as it was pretty much four thirty (they wanted to be home before it got dark). I said goodbye, but just before this, my other mate (who normally comes fishing with me) said the rod I had positioned in the channel just went off. There wasn't a fish when we reeled it up though, just a headless prawn. Whatever it was (most likely a small perch) had completely missed the hook. This was probably the last event to occur, as it was very quiet for the rest of the duration of my fishing. By about 5, it was getting a bit darker, so I knew it would be wise to load up the cart ready to go. Once this was loaded, I went down to check on the jetty rod. It seemed to be getting picked/pecked, so I picked it up and reeled it in. I assume the culprit was a bream, but both the mullet and the prawn which I had put on were gone. I guess some fish got an OK feed, but not me. I casted it out again, with the last big prawn and hoped. To sum it up, nothing more happened. I left in the dark, miserable that I hadn't gotten anything good. I am also quite tired today as I went out mountain biking this morning (that is the reason I wasn't out this morning). Here are the statistics of the trip - Stats of Trip - Tide: 12:15PM, .4M, Low, 6:20PM, 1.8M, High. I fished the rising tide. Moon Phase: First quarter, so not that much run. Air Pressure: 1019.9. Just realised I got today's air pressure for yesterday's fishing session, so you'll have to do without an accurate one for that one. Weather: Wind, 3Km'h, Humidity 90% (not sure how accurate that is but that's what the weather forecast is saying), and partly cloudy. Fish caught: River Perch x 2 Bait caught: About two dozen prawns, Mullet x 3 Bait used: Live mullet and prawns, dead prawns Time fished: 2:00PM-5:20PM or so Tackle Used: 14lb and 30lb braid mainlines, 80lb mono trace, 30lb and 15lb fluorocarbon leader, large-ish barrel swivel, 4/o circle and suicide hooks, size 2 and size ball/bean sinkers, size 1000 Shimano Sienna, Size 2500 Shimano Nasci, Size 2500 Diawa Shinobi, Size 650 Penn reel, 6'6" Ugly Stik and Rogue Firepoint rod, 8' Ugly Stik Rod. Overall Success rate: 60% - A nice afternoon. OK, that is the double report done. I hope you all enjoyed reading, despite the fact it wasn't the most exciting session at all. I hope you can all stay safe with the virus. Sorry for any spelling errors either. Cheers Hamish

Hi all Since school is back tomorrow I decided to go back out for one last session before I'll have to do a bit more work. I set the timer up for 5:30AM this morning but when I woke up I wasn't feeling to flash so had a rest for another 50 minutes or so. By 6:45AM, I had the lines in and I had cracked the cast net out. The lines, baited with dead prawn, were up on the top of the jetty. I walked down to the jetty to see someone had a crab pot in (with paracord for some reason, tangled around the front of the jetty and a milk bottle float) and started throwing the cast net. I threw the net and could feel a couple clicks in it, so I pulled it up eagerly to see some prawns (good size too). One went out on the salmon line, and the others went into the bucket. Just as I was going for the second throw though, I saw the rod at the top getting pecks, and then buckled over. I jogged up the jetty to set the hook and land the fish. First thing after I tighten the drag were some really timid head shakes, but quick ones. This indicated to me it was a River Perch, and after the short fight, I landed him. I lifted him up in one action with the rod, de hooked him, and photographed him. Here is a picture - Decent River Perch After that perch, I chucked out another dead prawn (from Friday) and got back to cast netting. The throws were a bit hit and miss, with one or two prawns per cast. After about 5 minutes though, I saw the rod up on the wooden part getting pecks. I hastily got up there to land whatever it was, and I picked it up. At first I was on, and I thought I would be proceeding to bring up my next perch. About half way through the fight though, the line went slack and I realised the fish mustn't of been hooked properly. Disappointed, I reeled the line in and got it back out. By now, it was a bit past seven and I was still doing some more cast netting. Apart from some prawns in my net, it was going a bit quiet... But once again, I saw some picks and pecks on the rod up on the wooden part. I ran up, to try and land this fish (most likely a perch). This time, I didn't even get close to landing it, because it dropped the bait by the time I was up there. I re baited, and got back to cast netting. This time, I felt some OK weight and something swimming around in the net. OK, I thought... Maybe a big mullet. I left it for a bit before pulling it up, only to see the tail of a catfish swimming off as I lifted it. By now, I had enough livies to sit down and fish (about 8, give or take). The salmon line was given a bait check and casted out again, and so were the other lines (this time with small live prawns). Just about then though, I started feeling a pain in my tummy, and one thing turned into another, I'm feeling sick I was then faced with a dilemma. I told myself if I was going to catch a salmon today, vomiting into the drink would be worth it. Unfortunately, that didn't seem to be the case and while I was half stumbling around looking like I was drunk, I decided that I might need someone to come down because I was now really not feeling it. I asked the passer by to call up my Dad (my phone is yet to have a sim card meaning it's literally a brick outside my home ) and in about 10 minutes he was down. I then had to go, but I made sure to force him to give the net one throw. One prawn was the result, then the rods were reeled up and I was leaving by about quarter past eight. I even beat the old man in his kayak there who pddles every day, I think he was very surprised I left that early. We said "Good morning" briefly, and got back home. I have just been resting today and getting ready to go back to school tomorrow, but here are the statistics of the trip - Stats of Trip - Tide: Low tide 6:10AM, .5M, High tide, 11:40AM, 1.8M. I fished the rise Moon Phase: New Moon, so lots of run Time Fished: 6:45AM-815AM - Had to cut the session short because of sickness Air Pressure: 1012 (Not 1021, which is what I've had most success in before) Weather: 15c, 60% Humidity, 16Km/h winds - Certainly not the best weather Bait used: Live and dead banana prawns Bait caught: Prawns Fish caught: River Perch x 1 Tackle Used: 14lb and 30lb braid mainlines, 30lb, 15lb, 20lb, fluorocarbon leaders, 80lb trace, size 2 and 6 ball and bean sinkers, large barrel swivel, 4/o circle and suicide hooks, 6"6' Ugly Stik, 8" Ugly Stik, 2M Rogue Firepoint boat rod, size 1000 Shimano Sienna, Size 2500 Shimano Nasci, Size 650 Penn reel, blood knots, shocker knots, albright knot. Overall Success Rate: 50% - Fish caught but sick and bad weather OK, those are the stats done. Hopefully everyone enjoyed this read, even though it wasn't the most exciting read. Hopefully we can all stay safe with COVID-19 and hopefully Australia soon has no cases, because I know Queensland only has one apparently. Hopefully the restrictions are eased more as well! Sorry for any spelling errors either, hopefully any mistake is understandable. Cheers Hamish

Hi all Here is my report from yesterday's' arvo session and today's early morning session. The first is quite average, but the second was way more exciting. I have a good clip in here, and I think this will be quite a long read because it's two in one, but I'm going to write it anyway. So, yesterday afternoon I went down to the park again with my mate. He brought his mate along this time, so the pressure was on me to catch fish. I chucked the lines out first up with dead prawn and frog mouth pilchard and got to work with the cast net. The first cast resulted in about 7 frogmouth pillies, so at least I had some salmon livies. I then re reeled the salmon line in and chucked them out, hoping for the best. After a while, it was evident to me the bait was either falling off or just getting picked up while I waited... While the others were watching my rods, I kept trying to catch some livies. From time to time I was getting a small live prawn and that would always go onto a rod. After about an hour now, we had nothing. I told my friend to maybe move the rods on the end of the jetty, and he started to get little nibbles. While this was happening, I was still throwing the net. After relentless throwing though, up came a surprise. I saw the head shape and thought it may be a whiting and it actually was. This was the only real catch of the day. Here it is - I suppose it is so salty that they have been coming up here. After that surprise, it just got quieter and quieter. It was about 4:30PM and I knew all I could do was wait. The lines were out but apparently today the fish weren't, LOL. In about an hours time we still had nothing and I still didn't have any good livies. This was most surprising as well, because if this kept up I might donut. I cannot remember the last time I've caught zilch at this location, so I guess that is saying something. In saying that, I see plenty of people come down fishing with worms and floats, wrong baits, etc and not getting results so I guess it is about having the right rig and using the right gear. While we were fishing, it was also starting to get pretty threatening. It was quite blowy, and I was still feeling a bit chilly with my three layers on. The clouds in the sky were also looking like they might pour down on us at any given moment. This wouldn't be to good because one of my mates didn't have a raincoat. Luckily though, the skies didn't rain, and we got out of there dry. Sorry that that was a pretty average report, and that I didn't get much to report about. The next report should be a lot more exciting, I actually did pretty well in it. Here are the statistics of this trip though - Stats of Trip Tide: Low at 1:00PM, .5M, High at 7:00PM, 1.7M. I fished the rising tide. Moon Phase: Third Quarter, so not the most run Weather: 21c, 52% humidity, 14Km/h winds, partly cloudy Bait caught: Few frogmouth pilchards, whiting, prawns Bait used: Prawns, frogmouth pilchards, live and dead Fish caught: - (First time I've dougnutted here in yonks) Tackle Used: 14lb mainlines, 30lb mainline, 15lb, 30lb leaders, 80lb trace (fluro and mono), 4/o circle and suicide hooks, large-ish barrel swivel, size 2 and 6 bean and ball sinkers, size 1000 and 2500 Shimano Sienna and Nasci, Size 650 Penn reel, 6"6' and 8" Ugly Stiks, 2M Rogue Firepoint boat rod Overall Success Rate: 30% - A donut but I caught a whiting which is a surprise That is that one done everyone, here is Session #23 (If you are still reading ). OK, so last night I made sure to go to bed at a decent hour and I put the timer on for 5:10AM this morning. Well when I got up I decided against creeping around the house and leaving because I could sneak in an extra hour of sleep . I got up again at about 10 past six and got ready. By 25 past I was at the jetty and I got the lines out. Once the lines were out, I got to cast netting. The first few throws were not what I was looking for - nothing. After a couple throws though, I got a little live prawn. This went straight out on one of the lines, and in about five minutes this line went off. I didn't think it was big at all, and I was right. I was quite happy though because it meant I didn't donut. It was a little perch, this one a nice silvery colour - A silvery perch taken on a small live prawn. He was actually barely hooked, so I got the hook out no problemo and gave him a quick release. It swum off well and I re baited and re casted. By now, I was running very low on prawns, dead and alive. Just as I was thinking this, I got another small one in the net. This went on the rod next to the pylons, targeting bream and cod. Nearly instantaneously, it was taken. I run over and to my dismay there was no bait. I then just looked down and to my shock the rod was going off. Yes! I ran down and picked up the rod, which was buckled over. Before I even felt the fish though, it spat the hook. I reeled it in to find a mangled frogmouth pilly, which may very well have been from the doing of a bully. By now, some others had rocked up and were fishing off the jetty. I talked to one of the guys for a bit, told them what I'd caught etc. The person dropped a line down just before my next hook up and pulled up a tiny catfish which would've been a good shark livie size if in Summer. The rod, which now had a prawn head on it though, then went off. I ran over, and when I picked it up it was still on! The fish was taking some really speedy runs and was putting up a good fight on the size 1000 reel. It was getting right up onto the retaining rock wall thingo (I don't know the name LOL), and just kept running like crazy. When the passers by saw, it surfaced and I identified it to be a big cod. He grabbed the net to land it for me, and with some good maneuvering we got it up. He looked a lot bigger than he was, but I lipped him, measured him and took a photo. Here he is - Nice Brisbane River cod He looked a lot bigger than what he was, but the lie detector doesn't tell lies . It was 37cm, and was considerably heavy. I gave him a quick release and he swam off back down to terrorise more prawns and bait. I think this shows how healthy the ecosystem around the Brisbane River is, because the amount of people passing me with a surprised look on their face when I tell them I've caught something half decent is amazing. Soon after the cod, the bite went quiet. I caught one more small prawn in the net, and then the tide picked up. The lines were still being manned, and much to my dismay I missed something on the rod out in the river (very suspicious that it was a perch). The next half an hour was very quiet, with no bait caught and no nibbles. I was really hoping to get a livie for the big rod, but I didn't get one then. The other people eventually pulled up a tiny bream (15cm) and it flopped off the hook before they could do anything with it. I still needed some more live bait, and I really wanted to get my line out there in case there was another big take. Well, after a couple scat and small herring I hit a jackpot. Two good size mullet in the one cast. I immediately fired up the aerator and they were very lively. I then went down to the jetty to reel in the line and re bait. After I pinned the mullet through the jaw I gave him a big chuck out and left the rod. I then went back up to the jetty to check on the other rods, which both required re baiting. After about 15 more minutes, I gave the other rod a bait check. Mullet, lively and swimming. after this was thrown back out, the cod/bream line started getting picked. I didn't manage to hook whatever it was, but my guess is either a tiny perch or bream which was eating my cod livies. To fix this up, I decided to try and put a live mullet on. I thought if there was a big cod there, it wouldn't shy away... After another bait check and re cast on the big rod (which also resulted in a bad tangle involving me cutting the line to clean it up and re tying my two lines) my Dad came down. We were just talking about what I'd caught (I showed him the pics) and then he practically yells "Hamish, is that your rod?!". I turn down to see my rod buckled over going out. I sprint down hoping for the best. When I struck I realised I was on and began fighting it. At first I am pulling up a dead weight, and I thought it might be a bully. Then, it took a little run. After that, I think it realised it was hooked. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ! That is what it sounded like for the next twenty-thirty seconds anyway. I do have a little film clip, so here it is. I would also like to warn everyone there isn't very good language in it (Sorry, I was pretty nervous I'd lose it) and my voice is squeky as heck so that's why I sound like that. To summarise what I've said in it, here are the definition of the following - "It's gonna spool me!!!!" - Me after it took a big run, annoyed that my hard work pulling it up just went to waste. "Sh!t!!!" - Whenever I was nervous, scared, excited, or really really angry. "Don't get your hopes up" - My Dad being pessimistic. Here is the video though, please enjoy Getting done on a salmon.MOV Now to the heartbreaking one... Busted and dusted.MOV OK, so if you've watched that, you'll know... Well... That I got done... I was very sad and devastated about that, but I took it pretty well, just re rigging and getting another line out. I was so shocked to be honest that I had just hooked up to something that big at the park! It is taking a toll on me now though, I feel like I just lost a million dollars ! After that bust off, the bite went pretty quiet. No more hits on the big rod, no more live bait, no more picks. The other people left about an hour before me, so I said bye/cya and they left. When I was doing a final bit of cast netting though, I picked up another good size whiting (OH, and in case you're wondering, I mean it would be a ripper live bait, not that it's a good sized fish in general). I hope these become consistent enough so I could catch one on a rod and reel, it would be awesome if I could catch a new PB there too - Finally, just as I was cleaning out the esky, I found a prawn that was white all over. None of the other prawns were like this, and I'm 99% sure it is just frost from the freezer, but just in case, I didn't use it for bait. I don't think it would've been white spot disease either, because after it thored in a bucket for about 10 minutes it was normal coloured. Just wanted to check for anyone who knew, is this white spot disease? That is the report done now, I hope you all enjoyed. I will do the stats of the trip next. Sorry if the language in the video was offensive to anyone, and ellicat/AFO, if you want to take it down feel free to do so. I hope everyone stays safe with COVID-19 as well, and I hope everyone can get out for a fish. Sorry for any grammatical/punctuation errors as well. Statistics of Trip - Tide: High at 6:40AM, q.9M, Low at 1:45PM, .5M Moon Phase: Third Quarter Moon, so not to much run Air Pressure: 1021 Weather: 20c, Humidity 63%, Partly Cloudy Fish caught: Estuary Cod x 1, River Perch x 1 Time fished: 6:30AM - 11:30AM. 5 hour session or so. Bait caught: Prawns, frogmouth pilchards, mullet, herring, scat Bait used: Live mullet, frogmouth pilchards, prawns, live and dead Overall Success Rate: 75% - Some decent fish and what was probably the biggest fish of my life! Cheers Hamish

Hi all As some of you may know, it is my birthday today, so after some convincing I got my Dad to wake me up at twenty to five this morning to go fishing at the local park, seeing what we could catch. In the cart there was a new landing net, perfect for me because of its size. After I had put three layers on and walked down there, we got the lines out baited with a mix of prawn, live and dead, and a bully line out just for fun with a piece of eel. After all of 2 minutes, we had our first strike. I leapt over to the rod, hoping to be on. To my dismay, nothing was on the line. "Oh well," I thought, and got my line back into the strike zone. In no more than ten minutes, I was on. After tightening the drag and doing some pumps, I could tell whatever this thing was it was heavy. I was proceeding to pull it in, saying to my dad I might need a hand because whatever it was, it was a good fish. When I was about to see it, it took a pretty decent run out, so then I started having a fun little fight and a bit of practise for big tough fish. After a couple more runs, I saw the unmistakable shape of a catty. It was a pretty good fish, but another one of the brown ones. These ones seem to be bigger, fatter, and fight harder. It measured 40 cm and was still dark when we took the photo - A nice catty just before dawn Also, I know it sounds a bit silly but is this a different species of cat to a forkie? I find even forkies at this size don't fight as hard and these go really hard on both light and medium gear. Also, I think these ones practically live in the mud because you can see how dirty the fish is, compared to pulling up a salmon catfish (forky). Maybe that just happens with all big cats. As well as that, these guys bleed all over when de hooked. Any ideas? OK, back to fishing. While the lines were set we were [well, my Dad had 'volunteered' (I totally didn't make him LOL) thankfully] throwing the net. The prawns we were getting were great. The first few casts resulted in only one or two, but after that they went off. The bait tank had a good amount in no time, so live prawns for the day. Hooray! While my Dad was going with the cast net, I saw the 8 foot rod getting pecs so I picked it up. I was on straight away, and I felt the really brutal but small head shakes of a perch. The size prawn it took was impressive, but I find good size River Perch don't shy away from big live prawns (for anyone targeting them, even though there's not much to target them for ). I got it up, proceeded to get a photograph, de hooked it and sent it on its way. Here it is - A 20cm-30cm River Perch Even though he wasn't the biggest perch or in the best condition, it was still nice to catch him and see him swim off to grow bigger for next time. I then re casted my lines and started having a go with my cast net. After one or two prawns, I looked up. In the space of about five minutes, my dad was holding the rod, ready to strike. Then, he yanked hard. Since the drag was so loose the line came out crazy fast, and luckily after he tightened it it was still on. He eventually got it up, and up came another solid (not massive but good sized) River Perch. Here it is, it was safely released - Certainly not in the worlds best condition, but a solid, gold, BR River Perch. By now, we were in full swing. Four lines out, all targeting different things - shark, salmon, cod/bream, and vermin/perch for the sport. After that nice little perch, I see the heavy line bent over. I sprint down to the jetty and pick it up, and I could tell it was probably a catty. This catty however had lots of go in him, and it was probably my fault I'd set the drag a tad to tight but if it was looser it would've been a hell of a lot more fun! LOL. Just as I surfaced him, he pulled really hard and to my shock my leader knot pops. My immediate thought was, "poor fish!" because it now has a hook and 2 metres of line dangling out of its mouth, so I decided to figure out why. My four reasons are the following - Leader knot slipped (not very likely though as I check all my knots, especially leader knots and that didn't slip); line was weakened from the knot (most likely); the drag was to tight and something wasn't up to scratch; or finally the fish had somehow worn the line. Whatever it was, I was disappointed but it was an old hook so it will rust out in no time . After that, my friends dad happened to be passing by and since it was also Mother's day today (what great timing )off my Dad went. I didn't have any camera also, so for the next catch you'll just have to believe me. Both the lines up on the pier (I reeled in the shark line because legally I'm only allowed to have three lines out in tidal waters in QLD) and it took about one million attempts to get the hook out but eventually I got the hook out of my eel bait and threw it away. I then looked down at the jetty and saw that my line was on. I ran down and started reeling in whatever fish I had. It turned out to be another big catfish, measuring around 40cm. This guy went really hard also, next time I'm battling one I'm loosening the drag off completely and just going to have some fun. Sorry there's no pic, but he flopped out the hook and I just slid him back in to the drink. I also think I'll start giving bigger catties a proper release instead of a flop down, a bit better for them. The bite went really quiet after that. The bait tank still had a good amount of bait in it, so no need to do any netting. I just sat down and watched the lines. The odd nibble occurred, and the big one just kept getting pecked off, over and over. it had been happening all morning, and when I saw it going off I ran down (about 45-60 minutes minutes after the bite went quiet). Whatever it was had dropped the bait, and a couple more nibbles almost confirmed to me so. I started cranking in the bait, and I think this is what set the hook. I realised I was on, and started fighting the fish. It didn't stand a chance on 80lb line I thought, but for the pound to pound fight it was great. Trying to go under the jetty and around the pylons, when I got this fella up I knew I didn't want to lose him. How I wished my dad was there to scoop it up and christen the landing net... Oh well, I got it up. You may be wondering what this fish was. Well, it was a 30 cm bream. A nice fish by most people's standards, and a very welcome by-catch. Now that I think of it, 3/4 of the last sessions I've had I've caught a bream, the three being morning. It's not even Winter yet. I am thinking the bream in Winter will be promising here, but like usual, no promises! LOL. I politely asked some passers by to take a pic and they did quickly, and I got him back. He kicked off straight down, hopefully now he's fine living somewhere else. Here he is - While it may not be the best pic, it was a welcome catch on 80lb line! After that bream, I decided to start washing the mud and other assorted river gunk off from the jetty from the net. Hopefully that makes it a bit better and cleaner for others. There were a couple more hits and strikes nad taps along the way, but nothing stayed connected so I reckon if they weren't breambos they were catties. After I'd cleaned up, I began discarding some smaller live prawns (made sure they were alive). I got rid of them and kept the bigger one, most of the big ones we'd caught had been eaten, LOL, but all up if we were cast netting all day we easily would've gotten 30, we probably had about 25 in total. Just to show the average size of the prawns we were getting, here is one in comparison to my hand (would've been about a 12cm prawn) - Back at home, I washed up, packed the gear away, gave my mum a Mother Day pressie, got my parents pressie, and cleaned up the gear. A very good and exhausting b'day, that's for sure. I hope you can all stay safe even though these restrictions are gradually easing, we still need to go by the rules. Sorry for any errors in the text also. Here are the statistics of the trip - Stats of Trip - Tide: High, 1:00AM, Low, 7:20AM, High again at 1:00PM. 2.5M, 0.4M, 1.8M. I fished the last of the run out, the change, and the first of the rise. Moon Phase: Full Moon, which may be a reason why there were so many prawns. Weather: 19c, 8Km/h winds, 59% humidity Fish Caught: Catfish x 3, River Perch x 2, Yellowfin Bream x 1 Bait Caught: Bucket load of prawns and a couple frogmouth pilchards Bait used: Live prawns and frogmouth pilchards Tackle Used: 6"6' and 8" Ugly Stik Gold rods, size 1000 and 2500 Shimano Sienna and Nasci, 14lb mainlines and 20lb leader, size 650 Penn reel, 30lb braid mainline, 30lb fluorocarbon leader, size six and two ball and bean sinkers, large barrel swivels, size 6/o and 4/o circle and suicide hooks, 2M Rogue Firepoint boat rod, Size 5000 Jarvis Walker with an Aurora Rod, 30lb braid mainline (that's my cheapy combo, 20in 80lb Halco wire trace. Overall Success Rate: 80% - no target species caught but a great day out! Hope you enjoyed, Cheers Hamish The fully loaded cart for a finale picture!

Hi all Yesterday I went out for another session on the Brissy River, just at the local park. I wouldn't have gone normally because the tides were out, but I had a mate around who wanted to go for a fish so I decided to take my exhausted self down there (I think kayaking, mountain biking, and another fishing trip does something to a weak 11 year old kid because I felt sick last night, LOL). Also, sorry to post up another report after the Moreton Mania one, I think that one was a bit more exciting anyways. So, once I rigged up the rods, got the gear ready, and packed the fishing cart we went down to the park. When we got there there were a few people congregating on the jetty (teenagers), so much for social distancing... I then proceeded to chuck the smaller set ups out with some prawn I'd caught there prior to the session, and began throwing my net. The first cast resulted in some prawn, and so did the next few. With about 8 livies, I threw the two biggest out on the salmon line. While my mate wasn't getting hit (mainly because either the prawn he put on kept coming off due to bad presentation, tide, or pickers) I caught a few more prawns. By now we were about 45 minutes into the trip, and I saw a couple pecks on the salmon line. I thought it was a catty, and when it took off a couple minutes later I knew it was. Up came the first fish of the day, +1 for me! After I dealt with that, I proceeded to catch some more prawns, and a little river shrimp. For about another half hour, I had some throws where I got some, or got nothing. Our next strike was about half an hour away, but since my friend was taking the prawn off me we missed it (well I saw it and he heard it, LOL). I doubt it was big anyways, but you never know. We kept on fishing, still having a chat to passers by. It amazes me how everyone thinks that social distancing doesn't apply because of the eased restrictions, the amount of crowds I saw pass by was quite large. We had about an hours break from any fish, but I was still getting a few prawns. I had a few drinks because it was actually pretty hot in a balaclava, long sleeve top, polo fleece, sunnies, and cap, and I made sure to put some burn cream on my legs (the mud was probably protecting them as good as anything though, I was dirty as). At about 4:45PM, my friend got a hit on my little rod next to the pylons, and then he thought he'd dropped it. Turned out he hadn't, because when I told him to pull the bait up he had a little perch on. It had a lot of go in it apparently, because it hit pretty hard. Here it is - After the perch, I caught a couple more prawns, but by this time some fella had pulled up with his little tinny to the jetty, and it was still too shallow to throw from the walk down to the jetty so I had a sit down. Not to long after, the little rod has a big bend in it's tip. I run over, and my friend thought it was snagged, which was partly true... Whatever this was, I could feel it was big. It had me around some structure on the bottom, I think a crab pot (ironically enough from a member of the WBB, I remember him coming there when I was young and taking all the crabs into his white bucket ) tied to the bottom. It kept trying to go off, and I was just waiting for him to come out. In about 2 minutes though, I felt my line go slack. I reeled it up to see my bloody 9lb leader had been busted off, sigh! I think I'll only be using 20lb leader on that rod from now on, because if there's a big cod I don't want to loose it again, LOL. In about half an hour, it was time to go home. I proceeded to reel in the big line, but when I got down there the line was going off. I picked it up and I was on. Soon enough though, I saw a thing curling around on the surface. "An eel?!" I thought. Nope!. When I got it up, I realised it was a little log, which was drifting in the current. It just shows how strong the tidal flow is here, because for a bit of wood to be able to take a heap of line (despite the drag being somewhat loose) is pretty impressive. I began reeling up the other lines, but as I reeled in the small one it went off. I was on! I quickly proceeded to pull up something that looked a bit like a small lizard, but on closer inspection I thought it might be a rock gurnard. I am still not 100%, but I think it's pretty close to that whatever it is. I catch them in my shrimp traps a fair bit, too. If anyone has a better idea, please tell me. Here it is - I got the hook out and packed the gear up, time to go home. It was just getting dark on the way home, and when we were back on the road we had to call a dog's owner because it was on the street, I figured it would've just found it's way back to it's home (turns out the person lived 3 houses down) but I guess it's better than getting them worried or something like getting hit by a car . Here are the stats of the trip: Statistics of trip - Tide: 2:40PM Low, .3M, 8:40PM High, 2.1M - I was fishing the rise Moon Phase: First quarter, so not that much run Weather: Sunny, light gusts Bait caught: Prawns and shrimp Bait used: Live prawns, dead fresh prawns Fish caught: Catfish x 1, River Perch x 1, Rock Gurnard x 1 Tackle Used: Shimano Sienna and Nasci, size 1000 and 2500. 6"6' and 8" rods, Ugly Stik. Size 650 Penn reel, 2M Rogue Firepoint rod. 14lb mainline with 9lb and 20lb leaders, 30lb mainline with 30lb leader and 80lb trace. Size 4/o suicide and circle hooks, size 2 and 5 ball sinkers, big swivel. Overall Success: 85% That's all for this report, I hope you enjoyed. Hopefully I will finish my school work off soon so I can get out for a Friday fish, and by the way, it's my birthday on Sunday. Hooray! LOL. I hope to be getting a charter (it's become a bit of a tradition for my b'day because I've had the same one for two years now and it's great) but hopefully the restrictions are eased enough so they can operate. Sorry for any grammatical errors as well. Cheers Hamish

Hi I am thinking of getting a pet silver perch and I was wondering if I can keep it bye it’s self or wether I need more the one