Monthly Archives: September 2013

1770 – Baffle Creek – Deepwater Creek – 4 September 2013

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Wednesday

From Gayndah I drove north to Agnes Waters/ 1770 for the important part of the trip. Unfortunately the weather messed up my plans. No rain this time but a howling south-easterly blow.

I decided to do some exploring around Baffle Creek. I started on Wednesday morning at Flat Rock on Baffle Creek. There are a few submerged rock bars in this area. I walked out onto one in the pre-dawn light and cast a few soft plastics along the edge of the Mangroves.

Just after first light I caught a decent Bream – about 32 cm long, but as the sun came up everything went quiet. I moved down to the flats to the south of the boat ramp and cast around with a GULP 4” Minnow in the Pearl Watermelon colour. I had a few hits in the shallows but I could not hook up. I slowed the retrieve and caught a small flounder.

I carried on for an hour but I could not catch anything more, so I decided to switch locations. I drove into Deepwater National Park and decided to stop and fish along Deepwater Creek. This is a long meandering waterway that works its way out to the sea near Rules Beach. It is fresh at the top end but then flows over a small weir to meet the salty water. It is shallow and tannin stained but there are a few deep holes.

I swapped down to very light gear – 8lb leader and 1/8th, 1 hook jighead and a 3” GULP Crazylegs shad in the smelt colour. After all the rain earlier in the year, there was plenty of water in the system, but it was not running over the weir. I stopped at a few breaks in the vegetation on the bank and put in a few casts – no luck.

I followed a track off the road, down to the weir itself and decided to cast at the snags along the banks. There was plenty of bait close to the bank and something was lunging at it, periodically. I cast in close to the snags and lost a few jig heads.

After about an hour of peppering the area, I had not had a touch. I was about to give up. I cast in, under an overhanging branch, a few inches from the bank. The lure started to sink and there was a tail splash as something engulfed it. It took off hard for mid-stream. Then it leapt out of the water and I could see it was a small Barramundi.

It calmed down and I pulled it up onto the concrete. I was delighted to have my first barramundi. It was sitting on the salty side of the weir and was a golden bronze colour. I did not measure it but it was about 40 cm long. I took a few photos and sent it on its way. It was just before noon.

Baffle Creek – Flat Rock – Mangroves
Baffle Creek bream
Baffle Creek rock bar – just before dawn
Baffle Creek flounder
Tannin stained but full of bait
Deepwater Creek – pretty spot
The Barramundi was sitting less than a metre from the bank
Deepwater Barramundi

The wind had forced me to spend time exploring and it had paid off.

Gayndah – Burnett River – Mount Debateable Bridge – 2 September 2013

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Monday

I did some exploring of the Burnett River at Gayndah on Sunday afternoon and spent the night there. I was up before dawn and drove a few minutes up river on the town side to another bridge that leads to Mount Debateable Road.
The river widens here and there is a large sand bar in the middle. The sides are full of submerged trees and rocks. It looked like another good fishing spot, with access to either bank on foot. I decided to stick with what had worked the day before and rigged up with the same small soft plastic and 6lb fluorocarbon leader. I put the plastic on a 1/8th 1 hook, jighead and started casting at the various bits of submerged timber.

I had arrived just after first light and before dawn. As the sky brightened I saw fish coming to the surface in various locations. I walked out about 10 metres, towards the middle of the bridge and cast back towards the snags, along the bank. I lost a couple of jigheads and felt a couple of bites, but by sun up I still did not have a fish.
I started casting close to the bridge and letting the soft plastic sit on the bottom for longer. Just after dawn the line slowly pulled tight and I realised I had a fish on. It did not realise initially but when it did it took off. I played it patiently – with a 6lb leader and my light rod – I could not muscle it in. I let it wear itself out in mid-stream, before gradually pulling it towards the bank.

Burnett River at Gayndah
Misty morning
The bridge made a good platform
Not pretty
Another sizeable freshwater Catfish

I could see it was another freshwater catfish. It made a few attempts to bury itself in the snags but it was tired out and I soon had it on the bank. I took a few pictures and let it go. It was time to move on.

Gayndah – Claude Wharton Weir – 1 September 2013

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Sunday

Back to work for a while, but it is not all bad. I decided to take the scenic route to the Bowen Basin and try some freshwater fishing along the way. I have no experience of tempting our freshwater species, in Queensland. Every time I drive across a bridge over one of our rivers or creeks, I am tempted to stop for a fish. The high rainfall of recent years has left a lot of water courses looking like they must hold fish.

I decided to stop and fish the Burnett River at Gayndah. The Claude Wharton Weir is about 2km upstream of the town and there is currently plenty of water flowing over it. I arrived in the late morning about 10.15 am and drove along the north bank of the river, to the weir.

I have seen people fishing here before, when I have passed through and there is plenty of structure. The big floods knocked over thousands of tree and these are now half submerged, all along the banks. The weir is carved out of a rocky gully with lots of submerged rock outcrops. I thought of fishing in the reservoir, above the weir but this looked featureless so I decided to try beneath the wall.

I was using my light spin rod – G.Loomis GL2 – Fast Action and my Shimano Stella 2500 reel. I was loaded with 4 kg Fireline Exceed, in the new, yellow colour and I tied on a 6lb fluorocarbon leader. I chose a 1/8th ounce, 1/0 jighead and a Gulp 3” Crazylegs Grub in the Smelt colour. I love this lure in clear still water. The twin tails have a great action as it sinks.

I scrambled down the bank and started casting around some submerged branches. I lost one rig to the timber and re-tied with the same set up. I let the soft plastic lure pause on the bottom, for about 30 seconds after the cast and when I lifted it, there was a good solid weight on the end. The weight started wiggling and then took off into the structure. I let the drag do its work but it felt like the fish had got itself nicely wrapped around a branch. I let the drag off a little and each time the fish moved I put on a bit more pressure. After a minute or two, it swam out. I tightened the drag back up and pulled it out from under the branch. It was not done yet but it was just under the surface and out of danger. I gradually pulled it up to the bank.

Fantastic sunset at Gayndah
The weir on the Burnett River at Gayndah
Rockbars and sunken timber – ideal fishy structure
Not a handsome fish
Gayndah Weir catfish
The catfish did its best to hide in the timber
A small soft plastic and ligth leader tempted this catfish
I slowly persuaded it out of the snags

It was a big brute of a cat fish – between 2 and 3 kg. I had caught my first freshwater fish in Queensland – not very handsome, but great fun. I photographed and released it and carried on fishing up to the weir. I put in another hour and a half and saw some small silver fish come and make a grab at the soft plastic, a couple of times, but I could not catch them. I gave up at about noon and went to do some reconnaissance of other spots, for the next morning’s session.

Bribie – the old oyster jetty flats – 25 August 2013

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Sunday

I had caught a few good fish around Bribie Island through the week. There was plenty of variety – Estuary Cod, Mulloway, Bream, Flathead, Whiting, and Pike all put in an appearance. Despite some good catches, the fishing had actually been quite tough with a long time between bites.

On Sunday I decided to stay on the mainland, opposite Bribie and fish the old oyster jetty flats. Low tide had been would be at 6.02 am and I arrived just before first light at about 5.30am. There was no wind to speak of. I waded out to a point about half way between the green channel marker and the oyster jetty and started casting with a GULP 4” Minnow in the New Penny colour, on a 1/8th ounce, #1/0 hook, jighead. I was sticking with the light 8lb fluorocarbon leader as fishing light had worked well, earlier in the week.

Clouds made for an even more impressive sunrise
Not sure why this trawler is parked here
Nibbled by a big toady puffer
He was looking for a feed in the same spot
They were there I just could not find them
Nowhere to hide – kayaks boats fisherman – everywhere

I tried everything; big plastics, small plastics, different retrieve. At one point I thought I had found some fish but the rabbit like bite marks showed they were probably those revolting spiny toad/ puffer fish, which sometimes float around here.

The tide eventually started to run in but this did not stir things up. There is a big trawler moored in this area at the moment and for some reason it was running its engines – perhaps this noise did not help.

The weather has been so good that that by 9.00 am, when I gave up, there were boats and kayaks everywhere. It had been a tough morning but it is always better to have tried and failed than to not have tried at all!