Catching Garfish around SEQ

[trueblue]

Is there anywhere good around SEQ to drag net for Garfish?

I used to drag net for them up in Townsville, and a group of us would catch hundreds of garfish over a morning, and we would pack them away in individual packets and freeze them to be available for the whole next season for baits

any beaches in SEQ hold garfish same as up north? I've been hunting, but not found anywhere good yet.

cheers

Mick

[Feral]

No, but if you want to fish for them North Pine dam is the spot at the moment. Just a little berley and they show up in a matter on minutes. They are big though, also check your limits, I think they now have an in posession limit of 50, which means you cant have more than 50 in your freezer.

[wags on the water]

TrueBlue - we used to target them in Ningi Creek from the boat ramp up to the mouth of the creek.

Cheers,
Wags

[trueblue]

I think they now have an in posession limit of 50, which means you cant have more than 50 in your freezer.

The new limit is fine per person. No need for more if there is a local source of supply.

cheers

Mick

[trueblue]

TrueBlue - we used to target them in Ningi Creek from the boat ramp up to the mouth of the creek.

Cheers,
Wags

Wags

were you line fishing for them, or drag netting?

cheers

Mick

[Fishobloke]

What sort of berly do you use? I hear bread does alright?
And with the bag limit, is it per person or all up (no matter on how many people) say in the boat?
Cheers,
Fishobloke

[jerson]

Trueblue,
Western side of mud, berley with chicken pellets, then catch them on a bait jig.
Last time i did this they were perfect bait size.

Jerson.

[trueblue]

when you say chicken pellets, is the chook food pellets, or chook sh!t pellets?

[jerson]

Food!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Fishobloke]

Haha, thanks for the info.

[mattooty]

A bait jig cut in half, with the tiniest split shot on the end for casting weight is my favourite for garfish. Add a quil float on the top and you're armed for the little beakies.
If you let the chook pellets soak in water a little bit before using it will turn into a mash, perfect for burleying in all sorts of baitfish. By soaking it, the individual pellets don't sink straight to the bottom. Toss in a few prawn peelings in there, while using tiny little bits of broken prawn on the jigs. This is a very visual style of fishing, and when you see your bait disappear, chances are it's in a gars mouth.
Biggest issue is wind, as soon as you get a little bit of chop on the water they seem to sit a bit deeper and are harder to detect their subtle bites.

[wags on the water]

Cast net at night.

[Freeeedom]

Plenty of big ones around Mud Island at the moment. I was over there about a week ago looking for some bream but couldn't berley up any at all so I fished the gar for a while. Ended up with 34, mostly around the 30cm mark, caught on small pieces of peeled prawn under a quill float. A bit big for tailor baits but good size to troll for mackerel. Great eating too! The photo is from a previous trip to Mud but they show the size range available.
For tailor baits the snub-nosed gar from the North Pine Dam are ideal.
Cheers Freeeedom

[bondy99]

Hello Freeeedom,

Many thanks for the garfish report, nice to see some larger species. The 30cm, are they sea-gar?

Wouldn't mind catching a few sometime.

Merry Christmas and all the best for the new year.

Cheers, Peter

[bushweek]

if your looking more local i got 34 good size gar at snipe today and theres also been plenty on the redland bay foreshores.