Burrum River Session 13-15 December

[GraemeW]

Finished arvo shift at 10:30pm on Thursday night & got everything ready to go stay at my mates place at Torbanlea for a 4am start.
Arrived at midnight after packing up the vehicle & having a quick shower after work.
Downed 3 beers when I got there & got to sleep at 1am.
I woke at 3;30am before the alarm on my phone & thought no point in going back to sleep so i decide to get moving.
I was anticipating a good day as we had decided earlier to target threadfin salmon.
Noel has a few select spots that have paid dividends in the past.
We got to the Burrum River ramp just before 5am.
Saw some prawns jumping so Noel threw the cast net near the ramp & a bit later down river for 1/2 an hour.
Ended up getting half a kilo of prawns for bait.
Put two crab pots in the water first before wetting a line.
The total for the two hours we were on the water wetting a line for was 3 threadfin salmon (biggest was 68cm), 1 stingray, 1 leopard ray & 12 mudcrabs (mostly small stuff) from 2 pots with 1 keeper.
A very good morning.
Home at Noel's just before 9:30
Fish was on the menu for breakfast after returning from the mornings session.
1 Whole fillet for breakfast.
Yum Yum !!

Saturday did the same with a bit later start.
Rebaited the crab pots with threadfin salmon heads & tails.
Fished the same area.
Catch for the day was 1 Threadfin salmon, 1 bull shark just over a metre long & 1 mudcrab which I caught on the rig I was using.
I caught a pike eel which dehooked over the side of the boat.
For those who have not seen or caught one they are nasty critters.
Many crabs were chewing on the fresh bait we presented.
Noel almost got a big buck but the crab let got when he saw the boat.
Just not within reach of the landing net.

I saw something poke its head out of the water & go back under about 20 metres from where we were anchored.
I swear it was a crocodile.
Was definitely not a fish or log.
Noel said he had seen a small one a few weeks prior around the same area.
Got back to the ramp just after 10;30am



Sunday was a bit later start.
Noel threw the cast net to get some bait after we drooped the pots in.

Got 2 salmon, I bull shark a bit smaller than Saturday, 1 pike eel & Noel got 2 grunter which ended up with a new piercing as both had a go at the prawn on an 8/0 hook which pierced through the very front of their head when they chewed down on the hook.
Both survived to live another day.
Only caught 1 catfish for the whole time fishing unlike the Mary River where they are in plague proportions.

Sunday arvo was spent at the pub talking about the great weekend & chatting with with the locals .
Even amazed them by doing a trick of balancing a schooner glass at an angle on a 20 cent piece.

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http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af36/greenbeest/Burrum%20River%20session%2013---15-12-13/IMG_61591280x768.jpg

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[cuzzamundi]

That trick has amazes me, too! Never seen that one. Great stiff on the fishing - have always thought there'd be giant gecko's in the Burrum.

Cuzza

[cuzzamundi]

*stuff, not stiff.

[thelump]

Great report. Thanks for posting.

[manta man]

Nice feed G.W, those Fillets look yum.

[the gecko]

There was a croc sighting up there back 5 years ago, dpi set baits, but no takers. I fish up there at night and I'm always on the lookout. Nice threadys, thanks For the report.

[GraemeW]

My mate Noel with the threadfin salmon caught yesterday (4-3-14). Also got 3 spotted grunter.
Put 2 crab pots in with no joy as they crabs caught were very small.
The area copped a flogging over the holiday period.
Since just before Christmas the count is now to 13 threadfin caught & landed.

The best effort so far is 3 salmon in two hours + 2 (keeper) mud crabs.

[snapperbasher]

Nice work Graeme!
Mate are you getting them up the Isis or in the Burrum itself?...I got a couple a fortnight ago up the Isis. 101389101388

[GraemeW]

Nice work Graeme!
Mate are you getting them up the Isis or in the Burrum itself?...I got a couple a fortnight ago up the Isis. 101389101388
Nice fish snapperbasher.

Fish were caught in the Burrum River.
The salmon pictured in this post were caught on the 21-2-14.
A couple of weeks ago a mackerel was caught in the cast net.
My mate Noel has been fishing the Burrum River for more than 20 years & said he had never seen a mackerel where we were getting bait from.
Water is extremely salty at the moment.
There are still a few prawns around. Crabs are tiny.
Is best to go during the week when there is not so much traffic on the river.
Some weekends are crazy.

[snapperbasher]

Yeah mate we used to get baby Spaniards on our bait jigsright up the river when chasing herring... Never seen them anywhere else.

Have you seen any barra on your travels? I have hooked anddropped 2 in my last 2 trips up there..... have caught a few in the burrum overthe years but there seems to be more since Lenthals went over.

[GraemeW]

Been hoping to catch a barra or a mangrove jack but alas have not seen or hooked either species.
Wait I lie. I did see a massive barra do an aerial display near a river/creek intersection.
It was quite spectacular as it did this twice.
I guess something bigger was trying to catch it for breakfast.
This happened before Christmas.

My mate Noel a threw his cast net over a massive barra not long after the new year..
It put a hole in his net you could put your head through.

[scorpo92]

Are you fishing down near the mouth or up around Howard? Im headed up to howard chasing barra and bream next 3 weekends.

[snapperbasher]

A bloke got one 109cm when I was there a fortnight ago up the Gregory!