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Looks like my season has come to an end, and there's some worrying developments about its future. Once the trout move off to spawn it takes a couple of months for them to move back, then the Cod qo quite followed by the yellow belly as they stop actively feeding in the cold months. Traditionally I would then focus on the redfin with the ultra light gear, but due to an epidemic of red spot they have been all but wiped out this summer, and that's a huge worry. Redfin are the main food source for the other species and without that previously inexhaustible supply, the other species won't be feeding up as well, worse yet there are reports of red spit being found on the yellow belly in the lake, if it kills them off then with both Main predators of young carp, their population will explode. If that does happen, then it's bound to spread the entire length of the murry. But anyway I look at it, when the seasons change and the fish come back on there could be a major hit to my season, even this year my average yellow belly went from around 8lb down to around 3-4lb. So it is possible it's already being felt.

I broke the tip in my Nitro distance spin the other day and bought a replacement while I'm waiting for a new tip that fits. I started slow with just the one 59cm cod but ended up with 5 trout including 2 6lb and an almost 7lb browns, and got a nice little rainbow that made a nice change.

Stopped fishing for awhile because of work/school and everything else.Now my mates have their Ps and soon myself. Started fishing pretty regularly. Fortunately i haven't lost any knowledge or skill and have been getting onto some good fish while teaching my mates.Tried beach and rock fishing for the first time yesterday with a new bait rod setup 8 foot fiberglass rod matched with a 750 Penn reel spooled with roughly 400m of 20lb mono and landed some solid fish. caught these two a bit back and was looking for an offical species name rather then just calling them Rock cod or Trevally. PS. Good to see this forum hasn't died as its very useful and everyones pretty good.

Im staying in Roma, QLD and looking to go fishing nearby for cod and perch any suggestions for the area?

Hi again all, With kids footy season and life in general about to disrupt my fishing ambitions, I threw my gear in the car, abandoned the family and work and arrived at Inskip to walk on to the 1st barge of the day for Friday. Arriving at the magical Fraser island to passing showers and bit of wind here and there I dragged my gear on foot a few clicks up the south western side to campgrounds, set up camp, then got into the fishing. Set out live herring and threw some halco slugs around I was soon onto the fish! Plenty of action over 2 days, numerous small pelagics and surprisingly a tally of 5 estuary cod near 50cm mark was amongst the highlights of the trip. Only really fishing the tide changes I had a few hours downtime so did some hikes inland in between for fun. Over 3 days my Garmin told me I clocked nearly 55km with only dingoes, dolphins and turtles to keep me company. No tuna (again) but gives me a reason to go back!

I went down to the river today to give it another shot. I've tried soft plastics, lead fish, jelly vibes and hard bodies. I've finished in the current, along the bank, in the calm water ect and nothing was working and nobody else, was, catching either. I had good luck yesterday arvo and decided to work on what was doing it yesterday. But after an hour trying different approaches I had no luck, but then using a combination of what worked yesterday and tweeked to what's worked in other parts of the river, although in those situations I'm only casting 5m-10m, here I had to cast 30m-35m. But working the current and the eddies I hit pay dirt, and in an hour and a half more or less I pulled in 5 yellow belly and a cod. The real key was the pause on the retrieve, I see so many people fishing lures ect and it's just a strait retrieve every time. I got one little 2lb yellow during the retrieve, but I got the other 4 and the cod on the pause. That pause is a deadly weapon in bringing on a strike, the other big key is always point the rod tip at the lure, when you get a hit it's pulling against the drag rather the rod which has flex and you get more hookups instead of strikes. Anyway here are the biggest.

I took the kayak out for a test run today, it took a bit of time getting used to it, especially in the current. But I managed two smaller trout a 2lb and a 3lb but I also managed a little 45cm cod, so it's starting to come together.

Had a rather unexpected catch today, an 8lb 58cm murry cod, not really unexpected from the murry River but very unexpected coming out of the rapids. Unfortunately the season is closed so it went back in but I was paid back 3 casts latter with a 3.5lb yellow belly.

While fishing today I heard the fishing was going really good at the weir, only trouble is the water is so high and fast nothing regular will hold still long enough in the current long enough to get a bite. Fellas have been using lead fish, basicly fish shaped sinker between 1oz and 2oz, you rig it like a tassie devil and jerk it off the bottom as it makes its way down current. Only trouble is only one shop is selling them and they are pretty big, not that well made and cost $4 each. Solution, make my own. I bought some long flat sinkers, 28gn and 57gm so right in the butter zone. I then cut some stainless welding wire, twisted a loop with a treble hook with some red heat shrink on it. Put the sinker on, then made another loop and put a swivel on. Then I squeezed it flat in a vice and bent the base to add a little movement. Everyone uses them plain lead which work but look a little rudimentary. So I made some like that and then powder coated some with hot dip jig paint. I think they look alright, not to see how they work. Traditional style finish New hopefully improved style.

Going to Sharp Park River Bend Country Bush Camping and wondering if there is any fish there In the river.

Hi All, Male 36 here, looking to get back into fishing like I used to as a kid. I'm interested in fishing for natives in the Riverina and trout in the high country of VIC & NSW. Chased some trout over Xmas and going for a trip to Nagambie soon after the natives. Also going to start strapping a rod to my motorbikes to combine 2 of my hobbies. Cheers.

I recently bought two new G.Loomis rods and was keen to try them out so when today's forecast for Moreton Bay was for around 0.2 metre seas until after midday, Damon and I decided to head to our recently found spot over at Moreton to try them out. The river was calm as we headed out around dawn and things looked very promising. The calm seas continued until we got past the main shipping channel beacons but deteriorated very quickly after that. We were soon punching into a very nasty swell with cross chop and the wind was considerably stronger than the less than ten knots forecast. We decided to persevere but by the time we got to our spot the seas were probably at least a half metre of chop on top of a metre and a half swell, and very confused. We anchored and sent some baits down with some fairly heavy lead as the run was nearly as bad as the last time we were there. The swell and chop was pretty bad and I missed a couple of decent bites but then managed to hook something that obviously had some size to it because I wasn’t gaining much line for a couple of minutes, and then it would fight for a few seconds and then just be a heavy weight in between fights. I started to suspect a cod at this stage, but when we finally got our first glimpse of it in the white-capping swells behind the boat my heart sank because I thought it looked like a huge sea toad. But Damon said he was sure it was a cod, and he proved to be correct when I got it to the back of the boat. It was a very nice cod. That nice, in fact, that we had considerable difficulty getting into a landing net that was way too small for it! Lol. But eventually Damon somehow manoeuvred it into the net with the tail sticking out, and brought it aboard. My very first fish on my new spinning rod, and what a great start to its fishing life! I caught one keeper grassie after that, but we’d only been there about half an hour when I started feeling decidedly queasy. I was just about to mention this to Damon when he turned to me and exclaimed that he was feeling rather ill. The swell, chop and generally very confused sea was just too much and we quickly up anchored and started to head for home. We only made it a couple of hundred metres however before we decided it was going to be a very uncomfortable slog back to the ramp. I suggested we instead head down Moreton close in, in search of some better seas. By the time we reached the Sandhills it was considerably calmer and we headed towards Mud. By the time we were approaching Mud the seas had almost totally abated and it was much more like the predicted 0.2 metre seas than the maelstrom we had encountered at the top end of the bay. We were both feeling much better by this stage and decided to try a couple of spots on the northern side of Mud. But as usual, at least for me, Mud was reluctant to give up any of its mythical fish to us. As it was still before lunch time we decided to head to another spot we had caught a few squire at in the past. Surprisingly, this was when the day’s fishing really started. As soon as we dropped our baits down we started getting nice bites and a few decent runs. We bought a couple of grassies on board, then Damon caught a Moses Perch. It became a bit of a blur after that as we hooked fish, lost fish, boated fish, got bitten off, broken off and generally had a ball! The squire gradually got bigger. Damon boated a 38cm, followed soon after by a 43cm. Now, to us, that’s a decent squire! We high-fived each other and felt like we’d finally got the monkey off our back. Not to be out done, I soon had a good run and after a solid fight I boated a 50cm one. We kept getting big runs, often hooking up but either getting broken off on the bottom or bitten off. Whatever they were, they were biting through around 60 lb double leader just above the hook. Eventually I hooked something that was monstrous and peeled 30lb line on very heavy drag like it didn’t even know it was hooked. I fought this thing for at least fifteen minutes without ever sighting it, or even really getting it close to the boat. At this stage I remembered the giant turtle we had seen surfacing in the area a few times in the past hour or so, and it finally clicked that it was probably him I had hooked. He ended up breaking me off on the bottom, and I can’t say I was totally sorry, as he had just about worn me out. The G.Loomis spinning rod had certainly got a decent workout on its first day of duty. I love it! It has a sensitive tip and heaps of grunt, with a range of 15 to 50lb! We decided to call it a day and headed off to the ramp, knowing we had a fair bit of work ahead, cleaning the boat and gear, and scaling and filleting fish. All in all, probably our best day in the bay so far.

Good morning all, First time posting on here. I'm not new to fishing but haven't spent a lot of time over the years fishing much but now I have more time on my hands I'm keen to get out a bit and try put some fish in the freezer and generally get out in the fresh air. I'm based on the Darling Downs and am keen to head down to the Texas/Bonshaw area to chase Yellowbelly and Cod. I've read a few older posts on here but am chasing some more advice. I don't own a boat or a yak currently but am looking to buy a yak soon so I can fish the dams around here. In saying that are there enough land based spots down that way or am I better off to wait till I get a kayak? It's 1.5hrs from where I am so I don't want to drive all that way and find no where to fish. TIA. Cheers, Cameron.

Hi guys Thought I'd share some of my research, and I've also got a question. So, I managed to come along the topic of jacks in the river. I've seen the odd pic/story of them, but never heard of them as a viable target species. There are some abandoned wharfs near the deep holes at the local park, which is about one and a half Kilometres paddle away. I was thinking, if I lob a big mullet right under there, with a locked drag on thirty pound, I might have a chance of a cod, salmon, or a jack... Obviously my hopes are WAY to high here, and I'd probably even struggle catching the bait I'd be going out for a night yak session. Sounds fun, but it's kind of creepy when you seem to be the only thing alive in the river in pitch black. Now, to my question. Have you guys ever heard of jacks being caught in the river, consistently or fluked. I'm interested. I don't want the spot, I prefer finding my own, but I'm thinking once I get a better knowledge of the area of river I'm in my Dad and I may be able to find better spots for livies, and for other fish. Also, just out of curiosity, what is the weirdest/best thing you or someone you know has ever pulled out of the river? Here is a thread of two making my mouth water with envy!!! http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/showthread.php/138110-Brisbane-river-jacks-do-they-exist Cheers Hamish

Had a quick trip to the Port of Brisbane today with my youngest boy. We were going to head out into the Bay, but when we got to the ramp at the crack of 7.30am I decided to wimp out because it was a bit brisk to be travelling too far in shorts and a flannie so we just fished the port area. Tide was running out the whole time, but we still managed a few keepers. I was hoping for a few snaps before the closed season. I couldn’t land a single squire but my son just kept hooking up on undersize models. We also landed a few undersize tailor but no keepers. Gave it away around lunchtime.

Yesterday I caught my first cod in manyyears having a hard time identifying this it exactly is it a murray trout or hybrid cod cheers. https://ibb.co/b3XV1HK

Can anyone identify this beaut little cod type critter ? I got a couple of them on Monday....and on a 4/0 too. Pic doesn't do it justice - the blue/black markings were quite pleasing to the eye.

Having only been out fishing 4 times in the last 3 or 4 months, with mixed results, I was a bit excited to be heading out there this morning, after checking the tides I had every intention of getting out there around 4am, but found myself at the ramp at 4:15, oh well. I decided to cruise up to Harry’s and have a little poke around, upon arrival there was probably 6 or 7 boats already there, which wasn’t too bad really, I managed to get on to some of those concrete pipes and started fishing the edges. First cast of the morning was with a pearl z man streaks on a 1/2 oz jig head, it didn’t even look like getting to the bottom, I had missed the turn of the tide and was dealing with considerable current, so decided to rig up a 1oz jig head with a pink grub on it, turns out it worked a treat, I had a little cod climb all over it, he was just a whisker under legal, if he had grown a goatee he would have wound up in the esky. feeling pretty good about that capture I kept plugging away, and not long after, my pink grub got hammered!, a proper battle ensued, I was using 12lb fluro leader on 20lb braid, and didn’t want to go too hard on it, I’d get a little line back then he’d take a little bit off me, I think he had about 4 good runs in him before he surfaced behind the boat. I was pretty stoked once he was in the net, he came in at 74cms, so I got a couple of pics and decided to let him off with just a warning that maybe next time he won’t be so lucky. After that quite a few more boats had arrived and the bite had all but shut down, I could only manage 1 small squire on a squid offering. I decided to head to the Rous and try for a mackerel, and also catch up with Brian as he’d told me the night before that him and Leo were heading there. I didn’t go that well at the Rous, got snipped on my floating pilly, caught a grinner not long after, and kept getting my plastics cut in half by pike, so I motored up to say g’day to Brian and Leo, and I think I waved to Steve? who was fishing with Drop bear, then headed down to West Peel before going home. West Peel wasn’t really firing, a dishonourable mention goes to the wobbygong who ate the grinner fillet, the sea toad who destroyed my paddle tail and the turtle who ate my pilchard, fear not Gregoug, the 35/40cm sea toad wasn’t up to your standard, your still the king, hahaha. I did score a little tuskie on plastic, and a 25cm grassie too the grassie played up like a second hand lawnmower on top of the esky and wanted nothing to do with the camera. so all in all it was a pretty good day on the bay.

I was at Mum's on Macleay Island for the weekend. Friday night was hot so I turned the ceiling fan on high to cool down. I thought it would be a good idea to pick up my rod to rig up for an early morning fish. Result: The weekend was not off to a good start. By early Saturday evening the weekend had not improved - no keepers and had to trudge around the island with a surf rod (no surf beach in sight). As I was contemplating the rest of the weekend I got a message from @GregOug asking if I was available to go out on Monday. I made myself available. We headed out Monday at about 6am from the Port of Brisbane boat ramp and waited just off the ramp for Greg's mate to arrive and show us a couple of spots for some Grassie Sweetlip. Greg had been instructed by his mate on the appropriate rig and in turn had passed the info to me. We were rigged up and ready to go (thanks Greg). We headed out to Green Island and anchored up alongside his mates boat. Greg was almost immediately on with an under about 29cm. Greg now had the feel for these beauties and was soon on again and shortly landed the first legal fish of the day. A Grassie Sweetlip 31cm and 463g. Greg released it to the eskie (as @ellicat would say). Greg was hooking up and landing every couple of minutes, however, all further Grassies were just shy of legal. We lost count eventually and I was so busy jumping up and down for the landing net I missed all my chances of hooking one of those beauties (that's my excuse and I am sticking to it). Greg also landed what we think is a small Tawny Shark. We released him back to the bay. Greg's mate and his deckies were also landing only unders so they decided to head to Mud. Greg and I stayed a little while longer then packed up, pulled anchor and made our way to Mud. Of course we passed Greg's mates boat and reached Mud a few minutes before them. I estimate we got at least 20 min more fishing time. That Green Machine can fly. However turns out Greg's lifejacket can also fly. Luckily his mate lagging behind spotted it and picked it up out of the water. Lol. At Mud there was a little more traffic and nothing seemed to be showing on the sounder. We eventually decided on a spot that looked promising. There were lots of pickers it seems. Greg landed an ugly unidentified thing. Greg had a few promising Grassie runs but didn't hook anything. Greg obviously chose the right side of the boat again! Anyway, I decided to swap rigs as I clearly needed a change in luck or equipment. I now had my heavy boat rod with my Nasci 2500. The Nasci was upgraded to 20lb braid (my 10lb was old and failing and @deegee12g had donated some 20lb braid and the heavy boat rod to my growing tackle store). I had 15lb Fluro leader and a 3.0 octopus hook. We were getting pickered and seemed to be constantly re-baiting. I got a couple of tugs that seemed promising but nothing seemed to eventuate. I waited a minute and decided to check my bait again. Alas I started winding in the line and appeared to be snagged on the reef. Oops no maybe a fish? No fight just heavy unmovable wait - definitely a snag. Trying my best to free my tackle from the bottom I again felt some movement. No it is definitely a fish!! Wow there was some weight to it. After a nervous few minutes expecting my line to snap any moment I landed my overall personal best - Gold Spotted Estuary Cod. Greg was there with the landing net and we jumped up and down and high fived and cracked open a beer to celebrate. After releasing him to the Esky (lol), we settled back down to try our luck again. After another little wait I had felt a few small bites and started winding up to check my bait again - again I felt resistance - was it a snag? Movement? Yes. This time I recognised the reaction (or inaction) and tightened the drag a little and began to reel him in - a few minutes later I was pausing as I was exhausted, this thing felt like a monster - it was going to be my new PB!! We could see the join in the braid to leader - he was almost there. Then snap. This time it was jumping up and down but no high fives and I can't repeat what I said on this family friendly site. About this time the wind was up a little and we heard from @ellicat and @Old Scaley so we pulled anchor and went to say hi - hold up our prizes to show each other and headed back to the ramp. Oh and thanks for the Grassie Greg it tasted fantastic. Great day out. Cheers Kat P.s If anyone is thinking about being deckie for @GregOug think again! The above was all an elaborate untrue story Greg forced me to post. In reality he treated me like a slave and the day was boring, as usual no fish were landed. The photos are doctored with the help of Photoshop.

I’ve been taking my time wiring up Yewgary with nav lights, bilge, battery hooked up to a regulator/rectifier and sounder my mate gifted me so I haven’t been on the water until recently. Took the mrs (aka Net Girl) out for a run down the Logan yesterday.we put in at the Carbrook ramp which is an excellent spot and worth every $ of the ramp fee. It was her first time in our tinny and she was impressed with how shiny and fast it was After some stuffing around seeing if my transducer was set right (it wasn’t, it loses the bottom around 15knots and throws up about a foot of spray - any tips?) we got to the first spot I chucked out a tuff prawn (thanks @tugger for the tip!) and was showing Net Girl how to work her lure and second flick I was on! Crunched by something with a bit of weight and strong tail kicks it put up a great little fight before it popped to the surface - a nice little Jew. It played up at the surface while Net Girl was working out how to extend the net but with some great netting action from the decky eventually we boated it. Now Net Girl was even more impressed! Jewie was released and we drifted around seeing a few fish on the sounder and later on I hooked a legal cod on a threadybuster and Net Girl swiped it up first go this time with skill and expertise! We released the cod and decided to call it a (successful) day. back to the ramp and not a drop of mud was seen even though it was approaching low tide. In the kiosk there was a great display of Gobblers lures + jigheads I will be snapping up a few packs of the jerk shads for bay work that’s for sure @Luvit im hoping the crabs fire up soon so I can combine flicking plastics with a bit of passive potting I can’t wait for the first legal buck to come over the side and get in my belly!

I had been talking with my brother about a quick trip on the Bay for ages, and finally teed it up for yesterday. He was a very keen fisho and boat owner until he discovered golf about 20 years ago and now his boat and gear is just sitting under his house going to rack and ruin. Anyway, the forecast was good so I decided that Mud would be good because you always catch something, even if it is undersize reefies or squire. Left the PoB ramp mid-morning and headed to spot A. There was a boat where I wanted to be so we sounded around and found some structure holding bait and hit the spot lock on the Minn Kota (did I mention how much I love the electric?). We spent the next 45 minutes feeding squire around that 25cm size, so decided to leave them biting and headed to spot B. Of course there was a boat on that spot as well so I sounded around about 70 metres away from there and found more bait and structure on a small drop off. First cast and up pops a tuskie that was right on the legal limit so back he went to grow some more. The bite was constant and I was pulling in small tuskies and grassies every couple of minutes. Then a bigger model came onboard, around the 34cm mark. Then a nice cod around 43cm and 2 more tuskies about the same size as the first keeper. The bite slowed as the run out tide slowed down. My brother is still a bit rusty so only managed a few undersize squire and grassies. I was desperate to get him onto a decent fish so we stopped at a couple of snapper spots at the port on the way in. Not much happening there until I said time to go home. As I packing up the boat he kept a line in, hoping for one last chance. Suddenly, his rod buckled and a good size fish took off. He called “finally!” And then it was over as quickly as it started - the fish spat the hook! Even though he didn’t take home a keeper I think he had a good enough time to want to do it again, and maybe soon the golf clubs will be gathering dust and his boat will be back on the water. All fish caught on prawns or squid. Only one photo- my usual poor effort with a pic of dead fish on an esky. Thanks for reading.