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Bribie Island – The Museum Drain – 4 March 2012

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Sunday

I am still working, and slowly getting used to just fishing at the weekend. It’s not much fun is it? Still I can’t complain – I have nearly finished my work project and will be back fishing, full time, in a few weeks.

This morning I drove up to Bribie Island for an early start. It would be a 2.1m high tide at about 6.30 am. I arrived a bit before 5.00 am and started fishing under the bridge on the Island side of the Passage. The tide was running in strongly and was approaching high. The session started with a soaking from an early morning shower. I fished around under the bridge with a soft plastic minnow and had a few bites but could not hook anything. The tide had lifted the weed and, as usual it was floating around in the eddies and clogging up the lure. After 20 minutes, I decided to move on.

I drove down to the drain in front of the new museum. I walked down the rockwall and out, along the sand bank, that runs along the southern edge of the drain. As dawn broke there was a bout of surface feeding, just at the mouth of the fresh water drain. I put on a GULP 3” Minnow in the Banana Prawn colour on a 1/8th 1/0 jighead and positioned myself just to the north of the drain, about 10 metres from the shoreline. I then cast back towards the drain mouth. When there is a 2m high tide the drain mouth is covered by about 1.2m of water. The predators move up in to this area on the rising tide, very quickly, to feed on the fish, crabs, worms and grubs that are washed out through the mouth of the drain. Once the sun was up I could clearly see where the tea- tree stained, run off meets the sea water coming up the Passage. This is a good area to concentrate on. I cast up, under the bridge over the drain and slowly bumped the lure along the bottom. I lost a couple of tails to small fish and changed for a new plastic, each time.

The surface attacks continued, something was feeding on the bait schools that were siting just out of the current, close to the shore. A few more casts and I felt a bite. I struck a bit too soon and pulled the lure out of the fish’s mouth. I dropped the rod tip again and paused for a count of five, then struck. This time it was on and it took off. Fortunately it swam away from the clump of mangroves. I played it out and when it seemed tired enough I pulled it slowly up the rock wall for a few photos. It was a Flathead just over 50cm long. I let it go and went looking for more.


A few more casts in the same spot and I had another fish on. It was a smaller Flathead this time – just over 45cm. I measured, photographed and released it. I cast around closer to the bank and felt a few bites, close to the bridge structure. Then the line went tight on a smaller fish. It was a Moses Perch and I suspect these were what had been causing the commotion on the surface earlier.

I only had a few hours so I had to stop at about 7.00 am. The water was fairly clear and although the midges were buzzing around everywhere, conditions were pretty much perfect. I am looking forward to getting back out again soon.

Bribie Island – Sandstone Point Drain – 27 Feb 2011

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Sunday

Up early, 3.30am and back to Bribie to see if the Flathead were still around. There was no real wind but officially the wind direction had turned to a northerly. When I arrived at about 4.20am the bridge resembled Scapa Flow submarine base during WW2. There were about ten lines in the water from the north side of the bridge and a couple of cast nets kept splashing over the side. There were also a couple of crab pots hanging off the bridge further along. It was good to see so many land based anglers out fishing but a stealthy approach in this area, was out of the question.

As I was rigging up I ran into a local fisherman who also patrols this area with lures and we waded out under the bridge together. The tide was still running in but as there had been a lot of disturbance on the north side of the bridge, we decided to fish the south side. There were lots of surface breaks and tiny jumping jelly prawns. We both hooked into some Pike – I was also bitten off, but I think it was only and aggressive Pike. They can really chomp as I had a 16lb fluorocarbon leader tied on.

After 30 mins of fishing, neither of us had a Flathead so I decided to move south and my friend headed off to Pebble Beach. I continued south, casting along the shore line in front of me. The surface bust ups continued, but died off as the sun came up. The tide was slowing now and about to turn. I walked south and round the corner towards Sandstone Point.

As the tide started to run out, I positioned myself in the mouth of a big sandy drain that is just on this corner. I took out a GULP 2” Shrimp in the Banana Prawn colour and rigged it on a 1/8th 1/0 jighead. I cast it into the run out tide and jigged it along the bottom of the drain with the current. A few jumps into my retrieve I felt the unmistakable ‘thud’ of a Flathead bite. I paused, counted to five, then struck – I was on. I pulled it clear of the Mangroves and walked it round the corner to a small bay where I pulled it up onto the sand. It was a 48cm Flathead and it was just after 6.10 am. I released it and went in search of more.

Sandstone Point
Flathead
Flathead
Flathead
Flathead

The Long Toms arrived and made a couple of impressive aerial lunges for the plastic, especially when I speeded up the retrieve. After half an hour or so of fishing with the same soft plastic lure, I swapped to a GULP 4” Jigging Grub in the Pepper Prawn colour. This is a fairly robust grub tail soft plastic. The tail vibrates nicely and when the water is not very clear I think this helps the fish find it. It worked this time as it was grabbed on the first cast. In fact, it had hardly hit the water when something ate it. It took a couple of turns of the reel to realise it was hooked and then it made a great tail splash and took a bit of line. Again I gradually walked it back to shore to unhook it. It was another Flathead, around 43cm long.

I photographed and released the fish and carried on for another hour without any luck. The water was very murky, as the big tide had stirred up the all the sediment again. I was pleased to see there were still fish around but I would like a bit of south-easterly wind to come back soon.

Bribie Island – Buckleys Hole & Sandstone Point – 1 Sept 2010

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Bribie – Sandstone Point
2 x 41cm Flathead
42cm Flathead
Wednesday
I was off to a late start on Wednesday and arrived at Buckley’s Hole at Bongaree, on Bribie Island at about 9.30am. Low tide had passed at around 7.30 am and so it was getting on for half way into the run in tide. This gave me about an hour to wade out and fish over the coffee rock ledge that runs all along the edge of the Pumicestone Passage.
My first cast was hit on the drop –it was a Yellowfin Pike. I was fishing a GULP 3” Minnow soft plastic lure in the Banana Prawn colour on a 1/6th 1 jighead. The next cast produced the same result and so did the next, and the next. I moved along the ledge and the Pike moved with me – or they were resident all along the 50 metre stretch that I fished. I tried bigger plastics, heavier jigheads, but I just could not get past the Pike. After an hour or so, I retreated and decided to go back across the Bribie Bridge to the mainland and fish the second half of the run in tide on the sand flats around Sandstone Point.
I parked up and wandered out past the old oyster jetty and carried on south to the mouth of a mini channel that has quite a good flow on a run in tide. I had my usual estuary fishing outfit. A Loomis GL2 6ft 6” Fast Action spin rod. I have matched it with a Shimano Stradic 2000 reel. I was using 2.8kg Fireline with just over a metre of 10lb fluorocarbon leader. I tie the main line to the leader using a uni to uni knot. I could probably fish lighter but if I am lucky enough to find the odd Snapper or Jewfish, I still have a chance of landing them with this set up. I switched to a GULP2” Shrimp soft plastic in the Peppered Prawn colour. I walked along the edge of the channel, casting up into the current and bumping the lure along the bottom back towards me. Third cast and I felt the definite dull thud of a fish. I paused and struck but there was nothing there. I cast back in the same spot and, in exactly the same position – thud. This time I wanted to be sure so with great patience, I counted to ten and then struck hard. Now I was on and even though it was not a huge flathead, I was delighted it wasn’t a Pike. I got it close and could see it was solidly hooked so I decided to grab it with the glove. That worked and I measure it against the 40cm tape marker on the rod – just legal – dinner at last. I did not take it to the bank to unhook as I didn’t want to lose my position. I have regularly dragged a nice fish back to the shore and then been unable to figure out where I need to get back to, to catch its mates. I put it in the keeper bag and cast out again in the same location. After a few more casts, I caught an almost identical size flathead, just a few feet to the left.
The tide was getting up now and there was a good 70cm of water around the base of the mangroves. I turned around and headed back towards the car casting in as close as I could to the edge of the new mangrove shoots. After 20 minutes or so this paid off with another just legal flathead. At around 1.00pm the westerly wind was really howling so I gave up and drove home.