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Hi all Yesterday arvo I organised a fishing trip with a mate to a spot on the Brisbane River. I was keen as to get out, and between floods, covid, and school I hadn't been fishing for 6 weeks! I rigged up my rods and packed the fishing cart in anticipation for the session. After a good nights sleep I played tennis in the morning and arrived at the jetty at around 9. There was one fella at the jetty with three rods, so I baited up on the other side of the jetty and wasted no time getting to cast netting. My initial throws were not fruitful but as soon as I dispersed some berley (sand, tuna oil/tuna, old veges, weetbix, bread, old biscuits) I started catching some prawns. To my dismay there were quite a few glassies swarming to the baits as well, but I kept going. After about 10 throws I had 12 or so prawns/baitfish, so I got my landing net and swooped a couple net fulls of foam/bottles out of the river. The flooding has left a tonne of Styrofoam in the river which I think would easily be the worst affect. Even when the larger chunks are removed the small pieces get everywhere. I kept casting and soon my mate arrived at the jetty. It was quite crowded now but we each had room for two rods. We baited up with livies and decided to try our luck casting on the slack tide, as it seemed there were a lot of good baits about. We got a few more prawns then came back to our seats on the jetty. I baitchecked my lines and to my dismay, a 20cm catfish had hooked itself on my 6/o circle hook. I chucked him out live in hope of a shark and we decided to go back to netting. Our attempts were futile and we soon retreated to our seats in an effort to cool down. It was then I noticed my Abu Garcia overhead was getting some small taps. I dismissed it as a bream, as Michael had gotten similar nibbles. I sat back down and then I heard the great sound of line speeding off my reel. I untied the rod from the bollard and set the hook when the fish slowed. It had plenty of weight and a short but fun fight ensued. The fish took a couple of speedy, decent length runs early on, and I continued to try and turn him away from structure. He attempted to dive below the jetty, and hopes were high. We were pleased to see a nice little thready surface after the fun fight. He netted him up and kept him in the water so he would release well, and wet the brag mat. He was barely hooked, just like the last one I lost. We wet the brag mat and measured the thready. He came in at a couple centimetres over 80 - a nice way to open my account for the school holidays. Michael vented the thready and after a quick swim he gave a strong kick off back to the depths. Woohoo! Sorry for the crappy editing job guys. I am happy to send (PM) the photo to any member on AFO - I just do not want this spot being shown to any random person on the Internet, as the photo is quite location revealing. I will try and master the sky shot to avoid having to do this next time! Anyways, after he swam off, hopes were high. I re rigged my 30 pound trace and 4/o hook and fired my bait straight back out. Things seemed to be going quiet though, so after eagerly anticipating any action we got back to cast netting. We gathered around 10 more good baits (maybe a few more), and then another fella (not a fisherman) came down who we chatted with for a half hour or so. He was on holiday from a place where he catches Murray Cod (can't remember where), but it seemed like he like to fish. After he left we kept waiting for any bites, but the tide began to move faster. It seems at this spot high tide at mid-early morning is ideal, or when there is no boat traffic. There were a few more little nibbles, but apart from getting pickered a few times we were having no success. We had gathered some big mullet and herring while cast netting too, so I chucked out a herring (catfish replacement) and Michael put on a mullet. The bite had definitely gone quiet, and the tide was starting to pick up. A fish of some sort was pulling on Michael's bait a lot, but it seemed to not want to hookup. After a prolonged period of time it eventually ate the bait, but after a short-lived fight a rotten pike eel surfaced. I decided I would keep this one for crab bait, so I thought I would dong it. Ten minutes later, and after at least 30 whacks with my pliers, the pike eel was still alive and kicking. Arrgrghh! It began getting slower and slower, and the tight was really picking up pace now. It would've been sometime around midday, and another fella rocked up. I fished with him before at the same spot, but he didn't bother bringing rods this time and just came down for a chat. Another group of fisherman did rock up shortly after though, and the jetty was getting packed. We could barely fit our lines off the jetty, and this is when a bit of chaos began. The guys who had just arrived had tiny sinkers, which meant they tangled with us miserably. I gave them a larger sinker, but their lines were still tangling up. "Oh well", I thought... I kept cast netting, and it was good to have a chat on the jetty. There were plenty of clouds, and that meant that I wasn't going to get too sunburnt (or so I thought - even though I had my buff + sunnies on I still came home looking a little bit cooked ). We got a few more livies, and lines were deployed yet again. I nearly had my herring ran over by a Go-boat, so I wound it in nice and close to the jetty. The people who had came along had also brought their dog. It was having a fun time with another dog, who jumped in the water. The first time it was OK, as it was in an area where the current wasn't that bad. The second time the mischievous dog leapt in, it soon realised it had bitten of something a bit too big - the main current of the Brisbane River! I lent over the jetty - trying to net it did not result in anything. Luckily, I managed to grab it by the collar just in time. It's owner retrieved it from the water. He didn't go swimming again, lol. Then, the other dog promptly scuttled up to my landing net and took a wee, right on it! Ewwww!!! We kept fishing, and decided to sit back down on the jetty. Everything was relaxing, and upon bait checking my lines (the original large herring had come off, I replaced it with a smaller one) another pike eel came up. This one luckily spat the hooks, which was good as I didn't want to deal with it. I kept fishing, but it had really gone quiet. The fish just weren't nibbling, and with ever increasing boating activity (a 48.5 foot luxury yacht had come in to pick up guests for a Hen's party), bites were not looking likely. We all kept fishing, and eventually Andrew headed off. I decided to try my luck with the Abu Garcia Nexus rod Greg O very kindly gave to me a while ago, as I haven't had much luck on it yet. Michael and I kept casting our nets, and we were getting a few prawns. It was close to three now so we decided to give the cast netting a rest for the day. We were sitting down and chatting when a bit of line came off Michael's reel. The same thing happened a second time, but upon inspection it was revealed to be a catty (due to the presence of slime). I assumed it would be the same thing when line came off the Nexus dropped next to the pylons, but I picked it up and realised a good fish was on the line. It had me wrapped around a pylon from the start of the fight, and it became tense when a scorching run happened down into the depths. I was trying my hardest to extract this fish, but after another large run it managed to reef me in something and bite/rub me off. Ughhh! I re-rigged with 50 pound line but my hopes were not high. I put a 6/o hook with a heap of livies threaded on it. Michael headed off soon after, and the other two guys on the jetty caught a little catty (which I kept for crab bait) and a perch. The old fella who had been at the jetty before me had only left a short time period ago for one catty - I felt bad for him! Bait I was picked up a 4:15PM as the ferries are down at the moment, and I was pleased with the day. Here are the trip stats: Stats of TRip: Tide: 4:3AM, Low, .4M, 10:40AM, High, 2.4M, 4:50PM, Low, .5M Moon Phase: New Moon/29% Bait Caught: Pike eel, catfish, prawns, herring, mullet, glassies, silver biddies Bait Used: Live herring, prawns, glassies, dead herring Fish Caught: Threadfin x 1, Pike eel x 2, Catfish x 1 Tackle Used: I used a Shimano Aero Baitrunner (from ellicat) on a Rogue Firepoint Boat Rod, A Abu Garcia Nanotech Nexus from Greg O on a just-held-together-by-a-biro Spinfisher, and an Abu Garcia Barra King + Ugly Stik. 20 + 30 pound braid mainlines. 30 and 50 pound fluoro leaders. 4/o and 6/o circle/suicide hooks. Size 4 star sinkers. Large barrel swivels. Air Pressure: 1013 Humidity: 81% Weather: hot, cloudy Overall Success rate: 80% fun 7 hours! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed Cheers Hamish

Hi all I've been reading the latest BNB and it has some great articles about fishing in our area. May help some people (hopefully!) - https://bnbfishing.com.au/beat-the-heat-in-brisbane/ - Around the Rivers/Creeks https://bnbfishing.com.au/catch-a-fabulous-feed-in-february/?mc_cid=455c7c9ec5&mc_eid=9020033529 - GC-Tweed Area https://bnbfishing.com.au/moreton-bay-grassie-guide/ - Moreton Bay Grassies And here is the link to the 'Home' part - https://bnbfishing.com.au/ Cheers Hamish

Hi all Today the plan was to go out for a real early morning session at some of the newer spots. I woke up at 1:40AM and had a quick chat to Dad, who said it would be a lot easier to go tomorrow as he could stay a bit extra (he has work so good of him to even take me!). I've decided to just go for another session in gentleman's hours though, as I'm not feeling 100% right now (tired as) so a good night sleep would help! Today's session was pretty successful though, so here is a run down. After loading up the bike buggy with the rods, cast net, and esky (and a few other handy things), I set off. The first stop was purely to catch bait. After a ride through some bike path's and some roads, I was going down to the first spot. It was a high tide this time, and after chucking a yew on the jetty so all was good for a quick departure, I got the net out and started doing some throws. In one of the first throws (probably first five) I managed a little herring. Not too good but a start. In the next few throws I got two more herring, but there wasn't much around. I put in about fifteen throws then left as nothing was really happening, so I hoped I might be able to get something at the next spot. Interestingly, there was a crab pot lying on the jetty. Dunno what it was doing there, but it was there for the taking if someone wanted to nick it! Leaving - look familiar @Towknee? Once again, big thanks for it! I rode down the rest of the road, and got to the spot. I was crossing and a truck came speeding down. I was about to cross but before my front tire even got on the road I slammed to brakes as hard as possible and reversed up like Speedy Gonzale. "I'm not getting hit today!", I thought. I crossed the road safely and then rode down to the jetty. There was another bloke fishing, so I took the buggy off and parked it and the bike separately. I deployed a live herring, and then sat down to have a quick chat with him. he hadn't got much yet, but told me he normally gets catties and Baby Jew (I assume Perch but not sure), the odd breambo, and he's caught one big flatty at 60cm off there. So I suppose it's similar to the local park. Good fish sometimes. Bad fish sometimes. He hooked a little catty sooner or later, which was entertaining to watch. After that one, I gave the salmon line (a baitcaster with a smaller hook to cater for the smaller baits) a bait check. This was mainly because I thought I had saw it twitching around a bit more than usual, which I just wanted to examine the livie after. It was still A-OK, so back out he went. I was being cautious in my casting, as the first livie was lost due to a little tangle and was flung away. I checked the line again, and it was still all good. The other fella still had no luck, and it'd gone a bit quiet. I gave the net a couple throws, and in return I got some mud. There seemed to be a crab pot tied off the jetty in the front, so I wasn't going to touch it and I didn't want to throw on top of it. A net snagged in pot would be no good. I sat down a bit more as I was feeling a bit crook (a drink helped too), and got up to give the net another throw. Just as I was about to pick it up, I heard my drag screaming. I raced down and picked up the rod. I turned the ratchet off, tightened the drag, and I was on. It didn't feel massive, but it had good weight as well. I started cranking him up, and then it took a speedy run. I asked the other fella to grab my net for me, so it was lucky he was there to give me a hand. About a minute into the fight I had it close, and it went for another good run under the jetty. In a little while I got it to the surface. He played up, but luckily the net was slipped under a lovely lookin' silver Thready. It wasn't a massive fish, but I was pretty happy with it, that's for sure. Goodun! I gave him a quick measure, and he was approximately 65cm. The fella fishing got the hook out with his pliers, so I lowered the Thready back into the water. He showed no signs of baroutrauma, but I reckon I could've tipped more water on him (I only did one bucket) and dealt with him quicker. I gave him a good swim, and he eventually gave a good kick off back down to the depths below. I was pretty happy with that. A good Thready, on a livie the size of my thumb! I rebaited the salmon line with another herring, and left the line down. I was cautious not to throw my cast net on top of a big branch that was on the mudflat, so I was hardly letting it sink. In a couple more throws, I got some good prawns, which was quite good. In about another half hour, Mum called up and told me the dentist appointment I had was moved forward to 2:00PM. That meant I had to get going ASAP. I hooked the bike back up, chucked all the gear in, and was about to go. Just then, the other fella hooked up. I watched to see what it was and he ended up pulling up a nice breambo. I'd given him the remaining livies, so hoepfully he ended up doing good on them. You won't believe the picture I got though, I don't know how I got it! Swimming Across the Concrete I gave the jetty a quick bucket down, then got home. In about half an hour I was home and knackered, and shot off to the dentist... Just on time too! Unfortunately, braces are coming next week . Thanks for reading this report, and I hope you enjoyed. I'm certainly happy about the Thready! Here are the stats of the trip - Stats of trip - Tide: 10:00AM, 2.5M, High, 4:40PM, .4M, Low Moon Phase: 0.9%, so pretty well not much run and a New Moon Weather: Sunny, light breeze Time Fished: Left home at about 10:15AM, got back at 1:50PM or so Humidity: 71% and very muggy High and Low Temp: 29oC, 18oC Air Pressure: 1014.9 Bait Caught: Herring, Prawns Bait Used: Live Herring Fish Caught: Threadfin Salmon x 1, other fella got a catty and bream Tackle Used: 12lb and 20lb braid mainlines, 20lb and 30lb fluorocarbon leaders, size 3 bean sinker, barrel swivel, 3/o circle hook, 1/8th Jighead, 3.5 Inch Motor Oil plastic, Abu Garcia Veritas 3-5KG and Ugly Stik, Diawa Shinobi and Abu Garcia Barra King 650. Overall Success Rate: 85% - Good fish and company Cheers Hamish!

Hi all Today I decided that after my basketball game I would go down to the local park and try my luck. I rigged up my rods and reels (my normal salmon reel is in for a service so I was using my Jarvis Walker Sovereign which is better anyway because wet weather isn't to good for reels and it is just a cheapy). By about 3:30PM, I was out of the house towing the cart through the park, and I had lines in and first throw of the cast net at approximately quarter to four. If you're wondering also, we won our basketball game 22-14. Yay! As I walked down, I noticed a water dragon basking in the mud which looked nice. This is the second one I have seen in two days so they must be on the move at the moment - Can you spot him? There he is! After that lizard, I got cast netting. My first couple throws were pretty good with the trusty ten footer, but alas, no bait was caught (except a decently big glassy). The lines were baited with herring from the last yakking trip, and I was sure hoping that keeping them in good nick would pay off. The herring we not touched, and the poddy mullet which was deployed on the salmon line had the same fate (untouched). I gave the lines bait checks in between cast netting, but as the tide was rising more I realised I would need to change something to get bait and fish. Before I started cast netting, the line that I was casting got stuck on my glove. Bye bye, Mr. Mullet! I started throwing the net in between two mangrove plants on a mud flat area I sussed out on the last low tide. The deeper water around the jetty never works on a high but it looks like I've found somewhere the does. The first cast I got a good sized bait prawn, then a glassy and small prawn, then another prawn - how good! It wasn't long before I got the first hit of the day - it was on two glassies and seemed to be OK. The rod buckled but unfortunately since I was netting i did not make it to the rod in time. When I pulled it in the baits were still intact and the line was slimed up, which is typical catfish. Lucky I didn't hook it... After some time I switched the bait on the line in structure to a live prawn to try and attract something since the dead herring wasn't going good at all. I caught a couple more prawns while waiting, but then decided to let the mud bank settle so more bait would come back. As I was walking, just about to sit down, the rod with the live prawn screamed off. I picked it up, set the drag tight, and the battle was on. The fish was going for some good runs, and I thought it was going to do some nice aerobatics at one point. I saw the shape of it's tail and immediately knew what it was. It dived back down though, and as I tried to keep it from going into any snags, someone walked by. This was a very good thing, as it meant I could grab my net! I was holding the spool to avoid letting the fish in the pylons, as most of the runs beforehand had been clean towards the surface. I quickly bent down though, scooped up the fish, and low and behold I landed my 7th Threadfin Salmon. Yewww. Pickin' him up Classic Thready Shot Mug Shot I was stoked to land that salmon, and I would've gotten a brag mat photo but a big dog came down and I did not want the fish to get mauled or anything like that. It measured about 51.5CM, and after a good swimming it kicked off with a big splash. Unfortunately it had swallowed the 4/o suicide hook straight down it's gob, so i had to cut the line. I was so stoked after the release and capture I even gave the salmon a kiss on it's way back. It was about 5:00PM now, and it was nearly time to head home. The rest of the session was uneventful. I tried a bit more netting but the bait seemed to be off now, and I departed for home with a successful day under my belt (and Domino's pizza awaiting me). I got home, told the big story to everyone at dinner, and after almost 30 sessions, caught another threadfin salmon!! I have a theory about salmon fishing on rainy days as well, and it is that when it is raining, threadies in shallow water will start actively feeding more. The silver fish look very good, and I sure hope to catch some more of them eventually. Thanks for reading the report now, I hope you enjoyed. Sorry for any errors in the report. Here are the stats of that trip - Stats of Trip - Tide: Low, 10:36AM, .6M, High, 5:30PM, 2M Moon Phase: Waning Gibbous, 60% moon, so some run Fish caught: Threadfin Salmon x 1 Bait caught: Prawns and Glassy Bait used: Prawns, mullet, herring, glassy Tackle used: 12lb, 14lb, 30lb braid mainlines, 20lb, 30lb fluorocarbon leaders, 80lb mono trace, size 4/o circle and suicide hooks, size 5000 Jarvis Walker Sovereign, Size 2500 Shimano Nasci, Size 2500 Diawa Shinobi, 8' Ugly Stik rod, 6'6" Abu Garcia Venotat rod, 2M Rogue Firepoint boar rod, size 2 ball and bean sinkers. Humidity: 93% - if it was Summer it would've been a good day for shark Weather: Rainy, cloudy, showers Rain: 37.6mm Air Pressure: 1012.9 Overall Success Rate: 95% Cheers Hamish

Hi all Last night I put in another session on the Brisbane River with my Dad and brother. We were fishing, near Green Bridge. Overall, it was a pretty successful night, here is what happened. So, we rock up to the fishing destination (jetty, don't tell anyone) and see it's as crowded as we've ever seen. Two guys fishing together, and an older couple taking up the spot we'd normally go in. After a quick throw of the cast nets, we decided to fish off the side and back of the jetty. One rod out for bream, the other live baiting for salmon/jew. We started throwing the nets for about 10 minutes after I had chucked out a whole dead herring and a cube of prawn. Initially throwing the nets, we were catching nothing, so we went to have another sit down with the rods. We got our first take on the dead herring with in 2 minutes of us doing that, and the fish felt good. Sadly, after some vicious head shaking, it spat the bait and we lost the fish. I re-baited and we started throwing the nets again. That's when we started getting some good prawns, we realized to be successful we had to throw our net right in the shallows/mangroves. After numerous bait checks, we got another take on the herring, which felt considerably smaller. It pickered the bait off the hook, making me think it probably wasn't a trophy fish at all . Now, it was about 7:30 and the prawns really started coming in. Unfortunately, the older couple hadn't left yet, nor had the other guys, taking up most of the jetty. In fishing situations like these, I probably should've gotten there earlier to get a better spot. After a couple more tiny takes and a few more prawns, the older couple hooked up to a decent fish which turned out to be a fairly big pike eel. Then, they got a double hook up, a pike eel and a little bull shark. Then, they caught another little bully. This happened in the space of say, 45 minutes. It was about 8:15 and I guess those other guys decided that the fishing was good 'cos they called in one of their mates, and in within fifteen minutes of that, they called in another one of their mates. These guys started to get a bit annoying/rude, throwing their lines directly over mine and trying to take my spot and swearing a bit too loudly for when there's little kids around (another guy had rocked up with his children, about 4-6 I'd say). It was then about 8:30PM, so we did a final bit of netting, caught a couple prawns and frog mouth pilchards then packed the nets away in the car. With the final half hour of fishing, I just chucked out a whole herring on my light line to see if a big bream/cod was sitting in the mangroves. It ended up turning into a small pike eel, which was about 50cm and released because no-one seemed to have a donga and we didn't really need any shark bait. The bloody thing nearly bit me twice (once on the shoe, once on the glove) and then we decided just to 'nudge' her back in. Here it is - After skull dragging it in, we began to pack up and just left the last line out with a live mullet on it. Well, nothing smashed it, and I spent about 10 minutes untangling it from the guy who threw his line over mine. At 9:00PM, we decided to leave just as it began to rain. Overall, it was a pretty good session, here are the nights statistics (tide, time, moon, etc) Statistics of Night Tide: 1.2M - 1.7M (halfway high to high) Time Fished: 6:40PM-9:00PM Fish Caught: Pike eel, 50cm Bait Caught: Prawns, frog mouth pilchard, mullet Moon: Third Quarter Cycle Tackle used for the night: 30lb mainline, 100lb mono leader, size 6 ball sinker, 80lb trace (mono), 6/o circle hook, large barrel swivel 14lb braid mainline, 20lb fluorocarbon leader, size 2 ball sinker, 2/0 suicide hook. That's everything, hope you enjoyed this report. Cheers Hamish