Braddles
25-08-2006, 02:36 PM
Sorry for the slight delay in this report - we have only just recovered after pulling off a 16hr fishing safari ;D
Put in at comslie boat ramp at 22:00hrs Tuesday night and headed straight for the mouth with the intention of going to Mud. Got to last shipping terminals on the right before open water and the swell was about a meter with wind pushing up some real sloppy chop..... It really was like a bar crossing on a bad day with waves from every direction and windy... We decided to head out through the mouth and tuck in close to the rock wall on the right near that scare crow man on the rock wall.... It was very uncomfortable rocking and rolling in a 4.5m boat and after two undersized squire around the 28cm mark in 30mins, we pulled the pick and headed back in the river.
There were massive ships everywhere with tugs as big as houses operating making the conditions even worse! We headed up the river to a jetty directly opposite the most Eastern end of the sunken wall. We fished right on the regulatory 30m from the jetty and casted in toward it... We were protected from the wind and the swell was just enough to gently rock the boat.. Within 10 mins I was on to my first fat healthy 30cm bream which went into the live well. Dan was on soon after with an estuary cod which was just 35cm and he too went in the live well. After 4hrs and perhaps 12 bream later (4 legal) and another cod in the live well... the current started to run and we were about to pull in the pick and check out the front again and seen a crab pot floating. It had two old Apple Juice bottles attached but clearly no name or other ID details and there was something large in the pot.... Dan casted over the rope and snagged it and wound it in...
It was really sad - there was a juvenille sea turtle of around 40cm accross totally trapped IN the chicken wire of this home made looking crab pot - Dead. What an aweful end as it must have drowned to death.... It had obviously gassed up with decay and hence floated the pot... We called port authority as I was worried it was a danger for small craft bobbing around in the shipping channel but they were not concerned and made no suggestion, which left us with no choice but to motor in close to shore and tie the pot rope around an old pylon... poor turtle... :'(
We headed out the mouth just as dawn was illuminating the sky... and now wind was more like 5knts with swell of 0.5m - so we headed over to mud with big grins on our faces - I had been dying to try out all the techniques I have been reading about from the reg mud fishos from Ausfish...
We anchored up in spot X (sworn to secrecy sorry) and loaded up our hooks with baby squid and sent them down... BANG! The fun never ended and the smiles never left our faces for the next 2hrs. It was amazing! This is what fishing is meant to be about!!! Whilst in 2hrs we only bagged 3 keepers (2 squire 32 and 34cm to the fork and one beautiful parrot fish), the fun of just catching fish was something I was long overdue for.. As the wind started picking up again the squire went off the chew and once again the slop started making it uncomfortable... In all the fun our pick had dragged a bit and a check on the sounder had revealed we had drifted off the spot into about 6m of water... Now we were onto "fingermark" city... with every bait sent down pulling up these hard fighting little reef fish within 1min... not sure what the legal size was or their table quality so sent them back..
The wind and seas continued to deteriorate so we pulled the pick and trolled back in towards Brisbane river mouth (no interest).... and stopped off again where we had sheltered and caught the bream and cod the night before. By now it was approaching mid day and we had been on the water 14hrs... The guys in Port Security 1 came by and said g'day (and made sure we were 30m from the jetty I am sure)... they were really friendly and the deckie even gave us a couple of fishing spots to try where he has seen a few snappery squire being caught the day before.....
After several fights with cat fish and a massive sting ray (with an extra long black whippy tail which was approx 1.5m long and he was whipping the outboard with it from the water - cut line and set free) it was time to think about heading home. We were so tired by now and I knew by the time we cleaned the boat and gear - the last thing I wanted to do was clean fish... and they looked so healthy swimming around in the live tank still... so we decided to set them free and take pleasure knowing our fun didnt even hurt a fish other than a sore throat..
we were home by 4pm and took 2 days to recover - hence the delay in the post...
Thanks again to everyone who provided tips with where to fish on mud and a special thanks to those that PM'ed me with there secret spots and tips - much appreciated.
Kind regards,
Brad.
Put in at comslie boat ramp at 22:00hrs Tuesday night and headed straight for the mouth with the intention of going to Mud. Got to last shipping terminals on the right before open water and the swell was about a meter with wind pushing up some real sloppy chop..... It really was like a bar crossing on a bad day with waves from every direction and windy... We decided to head out through the mouth and tuck in close to the rock wall on the right near that scare crow man on the rock wall.... It was very uncomfortable rocking and rolling in a 4.5m boat and after two undersized squire around the 28cm mark in 30mins, we pulled the pick and headed back in the river.
There were massive ships everywhere with tugs as big as houses operating making the conditions even worse! We headed up the river to a jetty directly opposite the most Eastern end of the sunken wall. We fished right on the regulatory 30m from the jetty and casted in toward it... We were protected from the wind and the swell was just enough to gently rock the boat.. Within 10 mins I was on to my first fat healthy 30cm bream which went into the live well. Dan was on soon after with an estuary cod which was just 35cm and he too went in the live well. After 4hrs and perhaps 12 bream later (4 legal) and another cod in the live well... the current started to run and we were about to pull in the pick and check out the front again and seen a crab pot floating. It had two old Apple Juice bottles attached but clearly no name or other ID details and there was something large in the pot.... Dan casted over the rope and snagged it and wound it in...
It was really sad - there was a juvenille sea turtle of around 40cm accross totally trapped IN the chicken wire of this home made looking crab pot - Dead. What an aweful end as it must have drowned to death.... It had obviously gassed up with decay and hence floated the pot... We called port authority as I was worried it was a danger for small craft bobbing around in the shipping channel but they were not concerned and made no suggestion, which left us with no choice but to motor in close to shore and tie the pot rope around an old pylon... poor turtle... :'(
We headed out the mouth just as dawn was illuminating the sky... and now wind was more like 5knts with swell of 0.5m - so we headed over to mud with big grins on our faces - I had been dying to try out all the techniques I have been reading about from the reg mud fishos from Ausfish...
We anchored up in spot X (sworn to secrecy sorry) and loaded up our hooks with baby squid and sent them down... BANG! The fun never ended and the smiles never left our faces for the next 2hrs. It was amazing! This is what fishing is meant to be about!!! Whilst in 2hrs we only bagged 3 keepers (2 squire 32 and 34cm to the fork and one beautiful parrot fish), the fun of just catching fish was something I was long overdue for.. As the wind started picking up again the squire went off the chew and once again the slop started making it uncomfortable... In all the fun our pick had dragged a bit and a check on the sounder had revealed we had drifted off the spot into about 6m of water... Now we were onto "fingermark" city... with every bait sent down pulling up these hard fighting little reef fish within 1min... not sure what the legal size was or their table quality so sent them back..
The wind and seas continued to deteriorate so we pulled the pick and trolled back in towards Brisbane river mouth (no interest).... and stopped off again where we had sheltered and caught the bream and cod the night before. By now it was approaching mid day and we had been on the water 14hrs... The guys in Port Security 1 came by and said g'day (and made sure we were 30m from the jetty I am sure)... they were really friendly and the deckie even gave us a couple of fishing spots to try where he has seen a few snappery squire being caught the day before.....
After several fights with cat fish and a massive sting ray (with an extra long black whippy tail which was approx 1.5m long and he was whipping the outboard with it from the water - cut line and set free) it was time to think about heading home. We were so tired by now and I knew by the time we cleaned the boat and gear - the last thing I wanted to do was clean fish... and they looked so healthy swimming around in the live tank still... so we decided to set them free and take pleasure knowing our fun didnt even hurt a fish other than a sore throat..
we were home by 4pm and took 2 days to recover - hence the delay in the post...
Thanks again to everyone who provided tips with where to fish on mud and a special thanks to those that PM'ed me with there secret spots and tips - much appreciated.
Kind regards,
Brad.