Brisbane River Session #307

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hi all, 

Shot out for a cast this morning at a spot I hadn't visited for a week or two on my favorite river - the Brown Snake. I arrived shortly after 5am but unfortunately for me, the bait was pretty slow. I managed to get together a few prawns and a couple herring, but nothing substantial and definitely not enough to last for the days fishing. It was my last session of the holidays so I was hoping it would be a good one. 

Luckily, as the sun crept above the horizon, and my mate who I hadn't seen for a while coincidentally arrived, the prawns came on, with most casts having 1-2 while they were there but my best having about 10 prawns. The prawns weren't there for long though, but in the time they were I managed to get a good level of livies. 

The bites were very quiet for the majority of the rising tide, with the only notable catch being a catty which caused a massive tangle... But as the tide began to turn, it was like a switch was flicked on. First, my mate landed a nice school size jewie, followed by a legal snapper. Then, it was my turn. A rod baited with a live prawn went off, leading to another soapy, followed by another legal snapper, and then another soapy. All in the space of 10-15 minutes, and just like that, the fish disappeared again, and the tide started to trickle out.

Fish

After my mate caught a bream and a pike eel, the bites really slowed down a bit, and eventually some of my other mates from school arrived at the jetty. One of them had some success on the sabiki jig, landing a few herring, so sure enough I sent one out and another soapy was landed (around the 65cm mark). He was pretty stoked with this, but the herring disappeared leaving us only with a handful of prawns left for the days fishing. 

Jewfish

A seatoad and legal sized bartail flathead kept us on our feet, but as the day and run out tide progressed, we were seeing a bit of a decrease in fish activity. I believe my fishing mates managed two more snapper, all legal, which was good to see, as the snapper seemed to be avoiding my lines. The fresh squid from a previous bay session was working very well though, accounting for a couple legal fish. 

My mates headed off to pick up some lunch and in the time they were gone I only managed a shovelnose. As we began eating lunch though, there was another bite period, starting off with me pulling in another soapy jew, before another rod went off which I handed over to my mate. It was putting up a better fight this time, and everyone on the jetty was stoked to see a legal jewie (threw it back as it was still only little, 76cm at a stretch ). 

Jewfish

With those two more jewies we were pretty satisfied with the day. I think someone else caught a nice flatty (50cm or so) and my mate pulled in some more snapper and soap jewies for the day (he stayed much longer than me), so he got his bag limit. I unfortunately had to cut the session short leaving at 1:30PM, but oh well, can't really complain with 5 jewies and a legal snapper landed (plus a few other things). 

Thanks for reading, here's the stats of the trip:

Tide: 4:00AM, .7M, Low, 9:15AM, 1.8M, High, 3:15PM, .4M, Low. 

Moon Phase: New Moon

Bait Caught/Used: Live herring and prawns, with live prawns being the winning bait for the day. 

Fish Caught: Catfish, seatoad, flathead, bream, eel, 5*jewfish, many snapper. No tailor or threadfin. 

Air Pressure: 1023

Humidity: 76%

Overall Success Rate: 90% - a good day with plenty of action, a bigger jew or thready would have been the icing on the cake though!

Cheers Hamish

[ellicat]

A session that keeps you busy. Gotta be happy with that.

Glad to hear the squid worked.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

11 hours ago, ellicat said:

A session that keeps you busy. Gotta be happy with that.

Glad to hear the squid worked.

Thanks Brian, I still have the head left for next time as well. . 

[Old Scaley]

Great stuff, Hamish, but you forgot the hand signal for the comp. You’ll just have to get out there and have a do-over. 

[Rebel]

Great haul.

Top photos.

Well done.

[mangajack]

That's a good land based session for the Briz....

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

13 hours ago, Old Scaley said:

Great stuff, Hamish, but you forgot the hand signal for the comp. You’ll just have to get out there and have a do-over. 

Thanks Steve. And yeah I totally forgot. I think I will start glueing the months symbol onto my Bragmat so I always remember. 
 

12 hours ago, Rebel said:

Great haul.

Top photos.

Well done.

Cheers Rebel.

10 hours ago, mangajack said:

That's a good land based session for the Briz....

Cheers manga. Wish they were bigger.