Old Scaley

Which ramp did you use? The one near the Coochie ferry terminal, or the all tide one with the pontoon?

I might be wrong, but seems to me that once you hit a school of those rat squire nothing else gets a chance to get to the bait. They always seem to be in that 30 to 34cm size range and very hungry.

Does that mean your prop is now a little shinier than it was before the trip? . It is pretty well marked out from that ramp but still easy to find the earth. How long did you stay out?

Very generous of you Brian, to not rape and pillage the ocean as is your usual wont. Although the absence of a report from the Greg/Hamish/Kat expedition makes me a tad dubious about their success as well.

Did you sleep in because you were exhausted from pulling in the big ones last night? Hope you left a few in the ocean for Kat and Hamish tomorrow.

Hey @Drop Bear, are you coming along?

Ok, so who is a definite for tomorrow (Friday)? @ellicat, @Cavvy, @AUS-BNE-FISHO, @Kat Weather looks good early for Mud. Back up plan would be to fish the port. We can fish there on the way back in anyway. I would like to be back at the ramp around 1pm if that suits everyone so I can get the boat and any fished cleaned in time for a few football enhancers before the NRL/AFL finals kick off in the evening. I have plenty of bait and tackle, and Brian would be in the same boat (pun intended) so deckies should just bring favourite rod or rods (2 maximum), food and water, sunscreen and hat. Hamish, if your dad is not coming fishing, he could save himself a lot of time by dropping you off at my place, which is a lot closer to home than the boat ramp, if he is ok with that.

Sounds like a fantastic deal. Would I be right in thinking that would have saved you around $1k taking the price of your Hook into account? Hard to say no to that.

Don’t worry, I will have something that fits you.

Good luck everyone heading out tomorrow. I am going to have another crack in the Logan in the morning. Will see some of you bright and early in the morning on Friday. Hamish, how much do you weigh? Just thinking about life jackets.

Fishing trip or family trip? If it is just a fishing trip you could try some of the rivers around Lakefield. Should be sheltered enough to get on the water most days. The North Kennedy fishes well for barra and jacks. You can camp at Annie River, which flows into the North Kennedy. It is pretty rough, lots of crocs and snakes, but it does have a sort of ramp. I wouldn’t recommend it for a family trip though.

Nice flathead @Sneaky1.

Count me in, either as deckie or skipper. I would recommend seeing how many people are eligible and then working out how many and which boats to take. Given how unpredictable the wind has been, maybe one of the rivers would be the best option. That would mean organising bait on Thursday if we want yabbies or worms.

Two really good games yesterday (unless you are a knights or roosters fan). And that is the merciful end of season for the Qld based teams. The Titans went out with a bang, the cowboys a sizzle, and the broncos a gender reveal. Kinda sums up the season really.

Hi Kelvin, hope you have a great time at Noosaville. Did we move many times? Come on, this is Brian and me - we moved from the ramp to spot W and that was it for the night. I know Youngy says move if you don’t get a fish in 20 minutes, but it would take us that long to decide who was going to pull up the anchor. Catch up soon, mate.

I actually did catch one last night. Unfortunately it was not around the neck because he kept cruising away, oblivious to the fact that he was attached to my line somehow.

Count me in at this stage. Only concern would be how busy it gets on that river during the day, especially school hols? Anyone got any info re that? If not there we could try the Logan or Jacobs Well/ the Pin?

You forgot to mention the 500 pounder that I hooked but it got away. why a jet ski and a boat would cut across the stern at handshake distance when it was obvious we were fishing, AND I was emphatically waving them away, is beyond me. It was a good night Brian, thanks for the trip. Not the 40 cm models we were hunting but a good feed none the less. Good times.

100% free, Hamish.

A mate put me onto this eNewsletter that comes from Department of Agriculture and Fisheries every month. Looks like a good way to stay informed about any upcoming changes to rules and regulations, and some handy info on other topics that would interest most fishos. I have subscribed. Here is a link https://www.daf.qld.gov.au/news-media/newsletters/catch-news in case anyone is interested.

Geez @Kat, I bet you weren’t expecting this much advice. I can’t add anything to the wealth of advice above, but I did notice that apart from the line weight there hasn’t been any real talk about whether to use braid or mono. I am sure there will be no shortage of opinions on that front, and you may already have that choice sorted but here is some basic info just in case. Braid is exceptionally good if you are going to be using lures or soft plastics, but you will need to learn the right knots for joining your braid mainline to your mono or fluorocarbon leader if you don’t know them already. A lot of bait fishers prefer mono, but you can use braid for bait as well, as long as you have a decent length leader to allow some stretch in the line. And you can use mono for lures, just not as effectively. The type of rod you choose might vary depending on your choice of line too. A braid rod will generally have a faster taper and feel stiffer compared to a slower, softer rod that would suit mono. If you are buying new line at the same time as your new reel, ask the store to put the line on the reel for you. That service is usually free and they will do a better job than you can because they have the right gear. By the time you analyse all the advice in this thread, you will probably end up more confused than when you started. Most of the salespeople at the tackle shop are pretty good and will steer you in the right direction if you tell them your budget, the type of fishing you do and any ideas that you already have. Good luck!

Very nice session Daryl and a tasty collection of estuary favourites. The video wouldn’t load for me from this site so I had to go to YouTube and search for it.

Pretty busy around Southbank with school holidays happening. Not sure where you are planning to fish, but a few weeks ago I was walking around that area and stopped to watch a guy fight a fish that turned out to be nice thready around the metre mark. He needed some help to land it because of the rocks and no long handled landing net. He was using prawns, it was mid-morning and near the bottom of the tide. The secret location was right beside the Capt Cook bridge. Go get em, Hamish!

Wow Hamish, your enthusiasm is an inspiration to all of us. You have learned so much and tried so many new things since you first appeared on this site. And your reports are always a good read. I am not sure if your sounder has mapping or not, but just in case I am attaching a map of that area near the red marker so you can see where the holes and drop offs are. When my boys were little we used to fish the rocks there from the land and caught bream, flathead, cod and even whiting sometimes. We had some donut trips too, but hey, that’s fishing. I have seen bullies caught there and there are definitely mudcrabs around that area. I would bet there are threadies too, but back then I hadn’t even heard of threadies (no www or helpful forums in those days). If anyone can find a thready there, it will be you. Go get em!

Nice work Southside. Seemed like we were just competing against each other most of the time . Good to see it generated a bit of friendly banter and nobody took it too seriously. Thanks to @christophagus for organising this again. I am already looking forward to next year.