Tag Archives: landanglers Bribie Island fishing report

Bribie Island – White Patch – 11 December 2015

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Friday

The flats in front of the old oyster jetty at the Sandstone Point Hotel had not produced much action during my last fishing session. So on Friday I decided to fish somewhere else on Bribie. Wild weather was forecast and it was very hot – 33 C. There was a strong northerly wind blowing and there was plenty of cloud around. A storm seemed likely in the late afternoon.  I decided to give White Patch a try. This is a stretch of shore on the inside of Bribie Island where the 2 to 3 metre coffee rock drop off into the Pumicestone Passage, is quite pronounced. I have caught just about everything here over the years – snapper, trevally, queenfish, flathead, bream, whiting, estuary cod, moses perch, pike, long toms, tailor and jewfish. Flathead, whiting, bream and pike are by far my most common catches.

I wanted to fish the falling/ low tide. As regular readers will be aware, I much prefer fishing a run out tide at Bribie. That is not to say fish do not bite on the run in. I am just more confident of where to find them when the tide is running out. Fish, (especially flathead) move back in surprisingly fast with the run in tide. Both flathead and whiting love to eat soldier and other small crabs. As the tide runs into the shallows, they have a very good chance of finding them. If you are fishing with children over the holidays, soldier crabs are a great bait. They are plentiful, fun to collect and if you slide two or three on to a #4/#6 hook, at the end of a lightly weighted 6 to 10 lb line, you should find a few fish in the shallows.

Low tide would be at about 4 pm. I arrived at about 2.30 pm and wandered down the steps to the beach. The shoreline has a mixture of weed, sand and flat rocky areas. The edge of the main channel is only exposed on the very lowest of tides. I like to fish on top of the ledge, in the shallows before later casting over it, as the tide recedes.

This is a beautiful spot but this afternoon the fishing was very tough. I walked up and down casting everything I had in the tackle bag without much luck. At about 3.00 pm I caught a very grumpy bream who slammed my GULP 3” Lime Tiger coloured soft plastic minnow. I had dropped right down to 8lb fluorocarbon leader in the clear water.

I waded a long way along the shore almost to the south end. At this point there was plenty of bait in the shallows and each time I cast, it would scatter as the lure passed overhead. It was now about 4.30 pm and the tide was starting to slowly run in. There was a big surge about 5 metres in front of me and the bait scattered in all directions. I was now fishing with a bigger GULP Jerkshad in the Cajun Chicken colour. I cast in the direction of the surge. After about five casts something grabbed the soft plastic and took off at a tremendous pace. Fortunately the drag was not set too tight so it could easily take line. It stripped off about 20 metres of line in a solid fast run. Then after just a few seconds, it was gone. It looked like it had just dropped the soft plastic. I suspect it was a trevally, which I have caught in this area before.

I carried on casting but it did not come back. The sky got blacker and blacker, so at about 5.00 pm I decided to retire. Fishing in our estuaries is tough in the summer months but persistence is the key.

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Bribie – the old oyster jetty flats – 26 May 2014

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Monday

On Monday I had a late morning fishing session at the usual spot at Bribie. The weather was perfect – light south-easterly breeze and clear blue skies. Winter days like this are hard to beat.

I started fishing in my usual spot – beside the old oyster jetty at about 11.00 am. Low tide would be at 1.37 pm, so the timing would be pretty good. This spot most consistently produces fish in the last few hours of the run out tide.

I started with a GULP Crazylegs Jerkshad soft plastic, in the Curried Chicken (red back, yellow belly) colour. The water was clear and there was no missing this lure – it stood out very clearly underwater. Just to the north of the jetty, I found my first fish of the day – a 45 cm flathead. The fridge is empty so I kept this one. I caught another smaller one, a few moments later, then moved south of the jetty.

The underwater terrain is changing here very quickly. I think it must be the more consistent south easterly winds which start to cut channels and drains in the sand banks. I was now fishing much shallower clearer water so I decided to swap soft plastics. As mentioned in my previous post, I am all out of GULP Watermelon Pearl 4 “ Minnows, so I started off with the same shape and size,  in the Smelt colour (white and silver/grey).  It is a fairly good imitation of the small mullet and whiting that are everywhere at the moment. After a few slow sessions, I have dropped down to consistently using 10lb fluorocarbon leader. Lighter leader nearly always means more bites, but you have to play the fish more carefully, if you want to land them.

 

The Smelt Minnow soon found the fish – a 45cm one at first and then a bigger, 55cm version. The tide was running out quickly and would soon start to slow, so I decided to try a bigger hard bodied lure. I chose the MARIA – MJ1-70F, this is a floating diving bibbed minnow with a great action. It has the added bonus of being pretty tough, which helps with flathead. It only took a couple of cast to stir up the biggest fish of the day – a 62cm flathead.

As the tide ran down I walked back across the exposed flats and was amazed at the seafood buffet of whelks, worms, and soldier crabs that litter the area – no wonder the fish like it here.

Bribie – the old oyster jetty flats – 22 March 2014

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Saturday

Back to early morning low tides for the weekend. On Saturday it would be at about 7.00 am. There was a bit of rain around. The northerly winds had been coming and going. The temperatures were warm again but the water is continuing to gradually cool down.

I arrived at the Bribie Bridge a little after 5.00 am. First light would be at about 5.30 am and there was no breeze. I had selected a variety of soft plastics lures to run through. I started with a 3“ Zman Minnowz in the Opening Night colour, on a 1/8th ounce, size 1/0 hook Headlockz Jighead. I chose 12lb fluorocarbon leader and started fishing from the shadows cast by the bridge lights.

At 5.18 am I caught the first fish of the day – a 43cm flathead. It was sitting just to the south of the patch of reef near pylon number five. The tide was running pretty quickly. This can work against the Zmen as they are definitely more buoyant than most other soft plastic lures. After five minutes, I caught another, bigger flathead about 10 metres further south.

There were prawns jumping everywhere and a bit of surface feeding going on, so I swapped to a slightly thinner profile 3.75“ Zman Streakz, in the Redbone (glow) colour.  I cast around and got plenty of hits from something a bit more agile than a flathead. I assumed it was the small Moses perch that are often around, or perhaps some bream. Either way, eventually it was a flathead that I caught with it – about 10 minutes later.

The sun was now up and I moved south, past the old oyster jetty. I swapped to a different colour in the 3.75” Zman Streakz  – Shine. I thought I might find a few more bream and I think I had a few bream bites before I caught yet another flathead at 5.47am. I swapped to a 4 inch Zman Streakz Curltailz in the Bloodworm colour and after a few casts, this caught another flathead. This was a very good size fish – somewhere between 65cm and 70 cm. I worked through the Zmans, catching a couple more fish on the 3“ Minnowz in the Redbone colour.

 

The storm fired them up
Bream
Duo Ebikko
Ebikko
Duo Ebikko strikes again
Duo Jerkbait 120SP – a big lure for a flathead
Duo Jerkbait 120 SP
Duo Popper
Duo Tetra Works Pocopoco
Orange bug hard body
Powerbait 3″ Rippleshad
Rippleshad
Rio Prawn
Sebile Spin Shad
Zman – Bloodworm curly tail
Zman
DUO Jerkbait 120 SP
DUO Jerkbait 120 SP
Duo Jerkbait 120 SP
Rio Prawn
Gulp Jigging Grub

 

It was now about 6.30 am and the sky was looking ominous. A soaking looked like a certainty but at least there was still no real wind blowing. I swapped to my last remaining Rio Prawn lure – the biggest one in their range – the 19 gram. I thought the colour I had was the original or ‘Natural’ but I see it’s actually called ‘Night Glow’. This soon did the trick and I pulled in three or four more flathead over the next 30 minutes. The bigger lure seemed to attract some slightly bigger fish, but after a few tussles the worn leader snapped and I lost my lure to a particularly aggressive, headshaking flathead.

Size of lure did not seem to be an issue so I pulled out the DUO Jerkbait 120 SP. This is a suspending, flat sided, hard bodied minnow that seems to drive the tailor nuts. At 120 mm long it is bit larger than the usual flathead favorites but I thought I would give it a try. I did not have to wait long. The first taker was a fairly small flathead – just over 40cm. The next, a few casts later was a very decent fish – nudging 60 cm. The Duo Jerkbait kept catching fish through the bottom of the tide.

As the tide started its run in I decided to switch to a small lure and see if the fish were still interested. I pulled out the DUO Tetra Works Pocopoco sinking popper. This is a light (4.7 gram) popper that can still be worked quickly on the surface. I had it in the Pink Clown colour. It did not take long to find the fish. Unfortunately it did not last long. I had not upgraded the factory treble hooks. These are too soft for wrestling with hard mouthed flathead and so after a few captures one had broken off and the other was all bent out of shape. On to the next lure – the DUO Ebikko hard bodied, sinking shrimp imitation. This time I had it in a pearly white colour. Once more, I did not have to wait long and after three or four casts I found a fish – another 45cm+ flathead.

It was now about 8.00 am. The stormy skies seemed to have fired the fish up even more than usual. I carried on working my way through the tackle bag. Next I offered a Sebile ¼ ounce Spin Shad – I have never caught much with this lure although I think it should catch plenty of fish. It did not have much trouble today and after a couple of hits the treble hook bit and pulled in another flathead. The last hard body in the bag was a tiny orange and purple Japanese-made bug. This performed like all the others and soon caught a fish.

I finished up the session catching a few more flathead on the Powerbait Rippleshad – first the 5” in the Cola colour and then the 3” in the Perch colour. The fish were very aggressive which might have been because of the barometric pressure drop caused by the big storm that was approaching. At 9.00 am I was back at the car after another great session.

Bribie – flathead bonanza on the oyster jetty flats – 2 May 2013

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Thursday

The moon was waning, the winds had dropped and the tides looked perfect. Low tide would be at 9.16 am, at 0.6 m. There had been a strong south-easterly wind the day before, but this would ease off in the morning and pick up as a pure southerly, later.

I was confident that the fish would be in my favourite spots – so I drove back up to Bribie at about 4.30 am. I was hopeful that I would find some flathead under the bridge lights. I waded out just after 5.00 am. The sky was clear and the moon was about 40% full.

There has not been much surface activity under the lights in recent weeks and today was no exception. I cast around the drains and weed beds on the edges of the illuminated pools created by the lights. I caught one very small flathead on a GULP 2” Shrimp soft plastic in the Banana Prawn colour.

After about 30 minutes, I waded south, past the oyster jetty and started casting around the Sandstone Point corner drain. The water over this area was already pretty shallow – only about 50 cm, in most places. I moved to the edge of the sand bank and launched a few casts directly into the main drain. After three or four – I felt the lure stop dead. I thought it had snagged on the tufty seagrass at the edge of the drain. Then there was a tug and powerful, long, initial run. This was a good fish and it towed me around for a bit. I wanted to tire it out, as there were a few boulders and abandoned crab pots between and a gap in the mangroves, where I planned to land it. It soon tired and I pulled it up, on to the mangrove roots. It was a great start to the day – a good flathead – 66cm. I was still using the GULP 2” Shrimp soft plastic in the Banana Prawn colour.

I stopped for a chat with a keen local angler who had also waded out along the mangrove line – very keen – he is in his mid-eighties! He took to soft plastics after many years of fishing with an Alvey and bait, and now loves them. I hope I am still embracing change at his age – fantastic!

I wandered out a bit deeper, in front of the long sand bank and put in a few casts back towards the oyster jetty. The sun was up now. I hooked a couple of fish but dropped both. I was still fishing with the GULP 2” Shrimp. I stayed put and methodically sprayed the areas, where I had dropped the fish, with casts. I soon found one again and it was just under 40 cm, so I shook it free. A couple of casts later I had a better fish on and after a few solid runs, I decided to walk it back to the sand bank. It was just under 60cm.

As the tide dropped, I waded down towards the green channel marker and back again. The fishing got better and better. I caught another nine fish between 7.00 am and 8.20 am on GULP Jerkshads in the Cajun Chicken and Satay Chicken colours.

Rod bend at sunrise – nice
The biggest of the day at 66cm
Good fish kept coming
GULP Shrimp – completely inhaled
Cajun Chicken for this one
They kept coming
GULP Satay Chicken for this one
This one could not resist some yellow rubber
And another flathead over 50cm
Then it was time for the Z men
Z Man Minowz in the Houdini colour
The colours look better in the water than out
The fish just kept eating the Z man
All tangled up chasing the Z-Man
And another flathead
And yet another
They just kept coming
The Z-Man Minnowz drove them nuts

It was my turn to try something new. Many readers have been asking why I don’t use the Z-Man soft plastic lures. Steve, at Jones Tackle – http://jonestackle.com.au/ (and many others) have been trying hard to persuade me of their brilliance. I recognise they are cheaper and more durable than the GULP range but I have not really got used to their colours and I find their texture a lit too ‘rubbery’. I think the colours look very good in the water, but not very good on the packets. Steve insisted I buy a packet of Minnowz in the Houdini colour and try them out. I chose this moment to give them a work out. The Minnowz have a standard minnow shape with an additional paddle tail.

Well you can probably guess what happened. On the first cast, a fish hit the lure on the drop and I pulled in a tiny, 25cm flathead. On the second cast, I pulled up a 40cm flathead and from then on the Z-Man Minnowz caught a flathead about once every 10 minutes, until I gave up at about 10.00 am. At first they appeared to be catching smaller fish than the GULP Jerkshads but then I caught two 50cm+ specimens towards the end of the session.

So Steve, and everybody else – you are right, they do catch fish. Could this be the end of Landangler’s exclusive love affair with GULP? Well, one swallow does not make a summer. I have a feeling anything would have caught fish today. But I was impressed enough to buy a few more packets!