Wednesday
I only had time for a late morning session on Wednesday. I decided on the Pumicestone Passage again. I arrived at Bribie Island around 9.00 am. It was just about high tide. I decided to go back to the area where I had caught so many Flathead last week – the mouth of the tidal lagoon in front of Buckley’s Hole.
The sky was clear but there was a cold, westerly breeze blowing at about 10 knots. The wind was blowing the weed on shore. I waded out onto the sand spit and started walking north, along it to the point where the lagoon drains over the coffee rock ledge into the Passage.
I was fishing with a 1/8th 1/0 jighead and using the old favourite GULP 4” Minnow soft plastic lure, in the Pearl Watermelon colour. I had a 10lb fluorocarbon leader. Something aggressive grabbed at the plastic a couple of times but I could not seem to hook up. Usually this means small Choppers (juvenile Tailor) are hanging around. A few casts later, I lost the lure to a bite off. I re-rigged with the same set up. With my first cast I hooked another fish. The frantic headshakes suggested it was a Tailor and then it leapt out of the water to give me a better view. It was hooked nicely in the mouth and I dragged it back to the sand. It was just about legal at around 35 cm, but I released it.
35 cm Tailor
Unfortunately then Dolphins turned up. They are beautiful creatures and it is nice to get close to them but their presence does nothing for the fishing! They splashed around just beyond the drop off and made a couple of surges, sending bait flying everywhere.
55 cm Flathead
I moved a bit further north and waited for things to settle down. The tide was really running out now. The weed had cleared and the wind had dropped away. As I waded towards the Island jetty I caught my first Flathead of the day – it was just under 40cm so I released it. I then caught two more small ones from the same spot. I moved further north and cast into the shallow water, just before the drop off. There was a solid thud – I dropped the rod tip and counted to ten. When I picked it up, I had a decent Flathead on the end. I waded back to the steps and landed the fish. I kept this one for supper – it was just over 55cm.
At about 12.45pm I gave up and went home, to thaw out. The fish were certainly not as thick as last week but they are definitely still around.
Landangler's Blog 
Hey Landangler you inspired me to head to Buckleys hole today. I pretty much use the same rig as you and fished from about 9am to 1pm. It seems things are a bit thinner on the ground atm, do you know why that would be? I got 3 small flatties all day and lost one big one at about midday in the bright sun with a brighter plastic. I never actually got a visual but he stared doing the ‘thud thud thud’ head shake so I presumed it was a flatty. When you fish near the old oyster jetty where do you go? What exactly do you look for? and at what tide time is the best to have a crack. I always thought the passage was hard fishing but you’ve inspired me to unlock its secrets and now I’m finding fish when I never could. Have you had any luck in the shallow water near the boat ramp on the main land side second exit before the bridge?