Brisbane River Sharks

[werewolf]

Got out to Karana Downs early this morning. Ended up with 2 sharks - 78cm & 79cm, 1 catfish and 2 more runs from sharks that didn't hookup. How anything can grab a bait pinned with 3 hooks and not get nailed I dunno! One shark was on a small piece of eel, fished without weight on the bottom. The other was a large strip on gangs, 10 feet from from the bottom. The 2 missed sharks were also on the semi-floater (one even came up onto the surface and thrashed about before it let go). All caught from the bank mid way through the runout. The only annoying thing of the morning were the idiots with no respect for people who get there before them. One stupid old lady started throwing a ball in the water for her dog, right next to our lines. Then later this group of Kayakers put in inbetween our lines! I mean crikey, there was plenty of river to the side of us. Why insist on launching in the middle of someones camp??? Some ppl are just plain rude >:(

The flake burgers we had for lunch made up for it though! mmmmmm ;D

This pic is Charles with the 78cm bitie.

[werewolf]

Me with the 79cm

[werewolf]

The catch (after gutting)

[cuzzamundi]

good stuff werewolf! how big do you get em down that way? great fun on light gear those bullies. what pound was your trace? mono? great you had some eel. if youve got a big rig with very heavy gear whack some eel on that - you may just get a BIG boy if you already havent. well done and great fun.

cuzza

[mickstar001]

N 8-)ice one wolf what bait did you catch the other one on (one the gangs). How do you go about filetting them - they dont have bones hey??? Were they nice?

[werewolf]

cuzza, the biggest I've personally seen is 80cm (so pretty small!) and I've heard stories of 6 footers caught, but not by reliable sources! I'll be in the market for a small boat/punt by the end of the year, so it'll make it easier to target the biggens then ;)

mick, all were caught on eel fillet. We often use whole poddy mullet on gangs, but they didn't produce a run today. No bones! Just a cartledge backbone. Straight forward to clean, just pretty much have to resharpen the knife every minute... They are top eating. I wouldn't make a habit of eating local flake too often though. I mean, who knows whats in that river!!!

[werewolf]

sorry cuz! i use Big W's finest heat weld nylon coated wire, methinks I've got 40lbs, but i know my bro uses 20 without probs. Above that I use 20lbs for my rig - a sinker on a dropper with a big sinker, and then the bait end is on another dropper, terminated at the same end, but has a float. Each dropper is about 5 foot, given me 10 foot from the bottom when its fished. The sinker dropper is on light line, so it breaks if it gets snagged. I haven't lost a hook yet to a snag, or caught many catfish on it (get plenty on our bottom bashers).

[cuzzamundi]

yeah that line class'll hold small boys like that ok. i'd upgrade though if youre thinking 6 footers - upgrade quite away. good stuff.

cuzza

[tazza_505]

g'day fella's... i was down at a friends house near indooroorpilly and we were trying to catch some sharks ib steak chunks but all we caught were a good few catties... anytips on where 2 go to catch sum sharks?
thanks
tim

[werewolf]

Hi taz, from stories I hear, it should be possible to catch sharks in the Bris from the weir right through to the bar! I've attached a pic of a rig that I use for sharks, I've caught every one of my handfull of sharks on it. My mates have caught a few on the bottom, but they catch a lot of rubbish and snags as well. Funnily enough they have converted to my rig!
Make the droppers as long as you can cast. I can comfortably cast 5-6 foot droppers with my 7 foot uglystick. The sinker should be pretty serious - to sink the rig and stop drifting in the current. The floats I use are the foam torpedo style from Kmart - they work a treat. Don't use those stupid clip on plastic bubble things. With the 2 droppers going in opposite directions, you can get 10-12 feet from the bottom! (less with drag from the tide pushing the rig sideways though). This distance seems to be reasonably catfish proof.
I'm starting to think that eel is the best shark bait. I normally use poddies on gangs, but the mullet didn't get touched in favour of eel last trip. My bro has reported the same - mullet + gar baits in the water and nothing. Switch to eel and hello shark! I sure wish I knew how to target eel! Also Taz, have a go with a fillet of catfish. I've never tried it myself, but if I don't catch another eel sometime soon...

[tazza_505]

thanks alot!!! would fresh water eels work well because i can catch them for you if u'd like... ill definently try a cattie fillet aslong as i dont get spiked! ill trying your ideas later!
thanks alot!
tim

[werewolf]

pike eel is what I've been using, but I'd imagine any variety of eel would work just as well, just gotta get past the teeth and the slime!

pic - the nasty end of a 1.2m pike eel

[tazza_505]

are you catching your eels or getting them from a shop?

[werewolf]

yeah we catch them, filleting them is the hard part ;D

[Feral]

One stupid old lady started throwing a ball in the water for her dog, right next to our lines.


Bugger - missed opportunity - shoulda asked her if she would mind you tying that shark hook on to its collar!

[mattooty]

Great little sharks. We got 12 the otha day. 3 in the morning in the first half hour and then we left. Came back that arvo and got another 9.
Great fish and BEAUTIFUL eating. better thgana nything
matt

[tazza_505]

hahaha nice one!

[werewolf]

feral - lol - nothing like a decent live bait ;)

mattooty - good work mate! what size where they?

[lippa]

i fish for shark in the pine. simple rig 10/0 stainless hook with 30cm plastic coated wire trace crimped, (don't rely on the heat seal alone) to 15lb mono (cant beat snyder) whole mullet fillet in a burley trail of blood, get your trail flowing into an eddy or back water, they seem to hang around there, also great fun to show the skiers when ya lift a 4 footer outa the water!!!!!!!!!!! ;D

[Louis]

G'day Werewolf,


Well done on catching the sharks.



From the swivell to the lead is a 5 foot length? Is this the case?


I imagine it must be a tricky rig to cast.





Louis

[mattooty]

Yeh werewolf, they were all small. About the same size as your ones. We got one bigger one around 4/5 foot but that was all. I was just fishing whole blue pillies on the bottom on about 2-3 foot of twist and melt wire. I use a snap swivel on the end of the rig. That way, wen i bring a shark into the boat, i just undo the swivel and effectively reduces the amount of hooks, line and the like thrashing around the boat. I usually have about 5 or 6 traces ready to go. Had one small one follow another up next to the boat. Dropped a bait in front of it and had 2 on at once.
Matt

[werewolf]

G'day Werewolf,
Well done on catching the sharks.
From the swivell to the lead is a 5 foot length? Is this the case?
I imagine it must be a tricky rig to cast.
Louis


Yeah thats right Louis, I use a bit over 5 foot, due to my highly technical measuring tool - my armspan haha. The wire gets added on the end of the trace so it makes it a touch longer, but I only use 6 inches or so of wire. I don't have any trouble casting it with my 7 foot uglystick. Just lob high, instead of the usual flick when casting (otherwise your ears might pay for it...). The heavy sinker lets me cast a good 20-30m.

[werewolf]

lippa! looks like we need you in the bris, scare a few of the skiers away!

matooty - champ effort mate, thats unreal! did you berely up like our crazy friend in the pine?

[frazzel72]

G'day Werewolf,

Have you had a crack for them in Colleges. I've sighted plenty of the critters zippin around the main area with polaroids as the tide is coming in to high tide. It would be priceless to see the faces of all the Mum and kids having a dip while you drag one in ;D. Maybe next time they'd read the signs.

On another note, I've seen plenty of them up near Mt Crosby weir whilst flickin lures around. Mainly just below the old weir where they get locked in pools created by the weeds at low tide.

Paul

[mattooty]

No, didnt burley at all. Just drifted along a dropoff. Using the whole blue pilchards, we were getting about one fish per drop, with no bycatch as there was so many of them
Matt

[tazza_505]

i tried your ideas yesterday at cameron rocks except i couldnt get a hold of any eels so i tried using some frog mouth pillies. the only problem was the small finger mark and bream got there before the sharks.

[Az]

picked up a few of these out of the mouth of the river and a few unstoppables
had one nice table size but decided to return him.. they have a bit of a stench to them... are they good eating? How do you prep them?

Cheers
Az

[werewolf]

frazzel - I have yet to try at Colleges. Lots of current + heaps of weed has always put me off. I should really try it one day though, considering the river is narrower, anything swimming past would smell the bait!

Az - don't let the smell put you off - ammonia?? - you cannot smell it whatsover when cooked, and they are sure worth cooking! Highly recommended. Dusted with flour and then cooked on the BBQ, then served with chips and a sprinkle of lemon 8-) I'm getting hungry just thinking about it!

[frazzel72]

I used to catch gummy sharks down in Victoria from the surf. Some wise old saltie told me that the ammonia smell is from Lactic acid which built up during the fight and the best way to get rid of it was to bleed and gut them as as soon as possible after the catch. I've always done it since then and it seems to work. Could be worth a try on Bullies if the smell bothers you.

As Werewolf said, they're beautiful eating and no bones. :P