Tag Archives: shimano stella 2500

Brunswick River and South Ballina – December 2019

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With bills piling up I had to disappear overseas in October and November to earn some money. There is no doubt that fishing is an addiction and an expensive one. Still, there are far worse things you could be addicted too and occasionally it provides dinner!

In December we had the continuing drought and the bush fires to deal with. I woke up several mornings to an ominous smoke filled sky at our place in South Golden Beach. Fortunately although I could smell them, the fires stayed a long way away.

It was hot and the winter species had long departed. The Brunswick River produced a few small flathead at the river mouth – especially on the very last hour of the run out tide. But, of the 10 flathead I caught over two sessions casting soft plastic lures, only one would have been legal to keep.

Just before Christmas I fished a few sessions in South Ballina, on the flats around Mobs Bay. My preference is to fish from the top of the tide through to about half way out, in this location. This worked fairly well and I ended up with three good flathead at each outing. I was fishing with my light spinning rig. This is a NS Blackhole 6′ SGII 602L trout rod. This rod is a true ‘Ultralight’ and picks up even the slightest of bites and touches. It does not have any grunt but it can handle a good sized flathead. I have recently swapped my 2500 Shimano Stella for a Daiwa TD Sol III 2500D LT reel. It is a bit clunkier than the Stella but I like the sturdier design, as I am always dropping it. The drag is good and I like the heavier bail arm. I had teh reel loaded with 12lb braid and about a metre of 10lb fluorocarbon leader. I was fishing with a 1/8th of an ounce/ size 1 hook jighead and the GULP 4″ Minnow soft plastic in the pearl watermelon colour got the flathead to bite.

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 Island – Oyster Jetty to the channel marker – 18 April 2013

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Thursday

At last the cooler (and hopefully drier) weather is beginning to show itself. I love this time of year. Dawn is later so I become slightly less nocturnal and the fishing improves exponentially with the cooling water temperatures and the more consistent south-easterly winds.

It was back to Bribie Island – my home fishing territory. I was in position under the mainland side of the Bribie Island Bridge at 5.00 am, about an hour before dawn. Low tide would be just before 9.00 am. This is the ideal tide situation for fishing these flats. The tide is about halfway out and running nicely. The fish have moved up into the shallows during the night with the high tide and are now gradually retreating. They stay in shallower water in the pre-dawn light, as they still feel fairly safe.

I cast around but the water was already too shallow directly under the bridge lights, to warrant fishing that area, so I gradually moved up, past the old oyster jetty and concentrated on an area of weed banks, about level with the end of the jetty. There are sandy hollows in the weed and when the water depth is just right the flathead like this spot.

I started with a GULP 4” Minnow in the Smelt colour on a 1/8th oz, 1/0 jighead. I was fishing with a 10lb fluorocarbon leader and my Loomis GL2/ Shimano Stella 2500 spinning outfit. It was still dark. It was now just before 6.00 am. There was just a faint glow on the horizon. I put a few casts out into the shallows and the fun started. The first fish was a good one – a flathead, just over 55cm long. I was going to release them all today but this one had half a tackle shop hanging out of its mouth, so I put it in the keeper bag. It looked like it had swallowed at least one hook and had some pretty heavy trace with another broken hook hanging off it.

I cast out again and felt another bite, but did not connect. On the next cast, I caught it – another Flathead – but this one was just a baby – about 30cm long. I kept going in the same spot and about 5 minutes later, I felt a good fish connect. This was another good fish, a little over 60 cm.

The sun was now up and I gradually moved further to the south. There were a few long toms around and these would occasionally attack the soft plastic. I caught another undersized flathead at about 6.30 am and then things went quite for about an hour.

First flathead of the morning
The second flathead
Plenty of leftover tackle
Flathead
A pretty good sunrise on the way
Another flathead
Seriously flat head
Amazing clouds
Flathead
They kept attacking
The hard body fished best
Flathead
The fish kept coming
Plenty of sand crabs running around
The Realis Shad 59MR gets down to about 1.5m
Another great DUO paintjob
DUO Realis Shad 59MR hard body
Most fish were legal size
Plenty of fish and plenty of sunshine
The patched up shed and old oyster jetty

By 7.30 am I was about half way to the green channel marker. I had swapped to a GULP Jerkshad soft plastic in the Cajun Chicken colour. The water had started fairly clear but as we got closer to low tide it became murkier. Suddenly I felt a solid bite and I was on to another fish. I pulled it on to the sand. It was about 45cm. I then caught a couple more, of about the same size, on the same soft plastic.

I was sure there were more fish in the area but after another 20 minutes of casting, they seemed to have calmed down or perhaps, grown wary of the soft plastic. I swapped over to a small hard-bodied lure – the DUO Realis Shad 59MR. I have had success with the lure in this area before, but today I was using a new colour – purple/ silver called HD Gill. It is a 4.7 gram, 59mm suspending minnow with a great action. It will hover for a few seconds at the end of a swim and maintain its depth, to about 1.5 metres below the surface.

This soon stirred the fish up. I worked it along the edge of the weed beds, out by the channel marker and soon started hooking up. The first couple of fish were small. I turned back and covered the same ground I had been over with the soft plastic jerkshad and after an hour and half, I had caught six more flathead. They were all over 45cm and had all attacked the Realis Shad 59MR.

By about 9.45 am I was back at the bridge. I had three of the better fish in the keeper bag for a meal and I had really enjoyed the session. Early in the tide the water had been very clear and there had been no rain – let’s hope the fishing and weather stays this good.

Bribie Island – The bridge and surrounds – 5 June 2012

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Tuesday

I was back on local turf and although the wind did not look promising at least the rain was holding off. At 4.30 am I set off for Bribie Island to see if I could find some Flathead. Looking back over the blog and my fishing diaries, May to October have produced by far the best catches of Flathead for me. I have been busy with other things this year, so I hardly fished in April and May and I am planning to make up for it in June / July.

I started under the bridge on the mainland side with my light spin rod and reel: Loomis GL2 and Shimano Stella 2500. I was using 6lb braid and a 12lb fluorocarbon leader. I started with a 1/8th 1/0 jighead and a GULP 4” Minnow soft plastic in the Smelt colour.

It was about 5.15 am and the tide was just starting to build up momentum for the run out. There were a few jumps on the surface under the lights. I cast at them and felt the odd bump and grab, as the smaller fish made their inquiries. I caught a small pike that jumped clear of the water to grab the plastic. Then I got snagged on the small piece of reef just south of the bridge, so I decided to give the small DUO Tetraworks Bivi vibe lure a try. I picked an orange coloured model and tied it on. I love this lure. It has a great action at low speed and a good profile. Fish will often grab it as it is paused on the bottom. In this terrain I had to keep it moving or I would lose it to the rocks. After a few casts, it did the trick – a tiny Flathead grabbed it, just to the north of the bridge. I got rid of the fish and carried on. I caught a few more Pike but could not find a better fish.

After about 30 minutes of peppering the area with casts, I moved across to the other side of the bridge and had a fish around the lights. The tide was running in now but the wind was blowing all the weed and debris across into this area, so it was difficult to fish with the Bivi lure. There is now a nice ridge in the sandbank along here and some good weedy patches. There are nearly always Pike along here and I caught a couple. Then a small Whiting grabbed the Bivi lure – there was no shortage of variety.

As the sun came up I moved down to the sandy drain in front of the Seaside Museum, towards Bongaree. I fished along the edge of the tea tree stained water that was running out of the drain. I had been monstered by a big fish here, a few weeks ago. It had grabbed a big plastic (Jerkshad) and taken off. I only had the light rod and could not subdue it. Today, I started with the DUO Tetraworks Bivi and, after a few casts it produced another fish. Unfortunately, it was another tiny Flathead. I swapped back to a GULP Jerkshad soft plastic in the Satay Chicken colour. I cast around, gradually moving to the south, along the drop off. I felt a few bites and lost the tail from the Jerkshad. I swapped down to a GULP3” Minnow in the Nuclear Chicken colour and something grabbed it on the first cast. It was another small fish and I could tell by the mad headshakes it was a Tailor.

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The water was now too deep to fish along here. I stopped for a chat with Colin – who always has his finger on the Bribie fishing pulse and he brought me up to date on what is biting where. It is good to know someone is keeping the Flathead on their toes. There have also been a few bigger Tailor and the occasional Jewfish around. As the water temperature drops there should be a few more Tailor.

By now, the wind was up but I was too cold. I went off to find a hot cup of coffee. It was a beautiful, if breezy day and the massive full moon had been clearly visible all morning. Nothing for dinner though! I think I am paying the price for not putting in the hours – fishing can be a hard taskmaster.