Bush 'n Beach Fishing Magazine Location reports & tips for fishing, boating, camping, kayaking, 4WDing in Queensland and Northern NSW
HAVING never caught a threadfin salmon before, Helaine Wilesmith was keen as mustard to have a crack and tick Brisbane River threadfin off the bucket list.
When the invitation finally came from friend Joe, it was pretty hard to pass up, particularly as he knows what he’s doing and regularly catches them in the Brisbane River. The plan was hatched, seeing them target the fish during a night-time session. After collecting a supply of livies from near the mouth of the river, they travelled back to one of Joe’s secret spots and set out a few baits.
To pass the time they tossed some vibe lures around, trying to up their chances of landing a big goldy. It wasn’t long before the baits went off, however Helaine lost the first two and blamed Joe’s dodgy knot tying because both rigs had parted company at the braid to leader knot.
After a severe beating, both verbal and physical, Joe re-tied all the connections under strict supervision and added a bit of super glue just to make sure. The fish were still around and the third run of the night finally had Helaine hooked solidly to a good specimen.
Threadfin like to move around a bit and this one had Helaine doing laps of the boat while trying to get the upper hand. A stable platform is a must when fighting the bigger models, since you spend a bit of time going up the front, down the back and from side to side, fighting to get control.
It seemed like the fish was never going to give up but finally it came alongside and once in the boat went 107cm. It was a fantastic fish to open her account. Celebrations and gloating were about to kick in when suddenly Joe was on. It was a bit hard to work out who was playing who but it was pretty evident this fish was bigger and crankier than the previous one.
Joe applied a bit more hurt as the battle went on and once the fish finally breached the surface Helaine yelled: “I’m gonna need a bigger net!” After a bit of mucking around at the side of the boat, Helaine gained control of the head, leaving Joe to tail wrap it and lift it in.
It was definitely big, measuring 134cm and marking his new PB. A great night’s fishing all round. Helaine will definitely be back.
Power Boat Anglers Club trip
The weather was finally looking good on a weekend for a change, and with a blessing from the better half, Rob Schomberg set about finding a suitable deckie. Paul Dawson had mentioned he may be available and after some sweet talking he also gained a leave pass.
The pair, on board Salty, met up with Lucky Me and Zen at 4.30am at Scarborough, along with Doug and his deckie Neil on Trailblazer. While the anglers had originally planned to head to Mooloolaba, the extra hours of travel and therefore lost sleep required made the local scene a nicer option.
They hit the ramp and launched, hooking up with more club boats before setting off into the darkness. About 2km out Lucky Me suffered electrical issues and decided to turn back to sort them out at the ramp before heading out again. Salty led the way to Cape Moreton, hoping for a sunrise bite, with Bruce and his new boat Motley Crew not far behind.
They sounded around near Roberts Shoal and found a decent show. Paul’s first cast was met with a screaming strike, resulting in a snapper of about 45cm. This was quickly followed by three smaller models that were landed and released, all before Rob could get a hit.
He soon had a smile on his dial though after boating a 60cm snapper that fell to a 4” Nuclear Chicken Berkley Gulp. The next 30 minutes were absolute mayhem, with fish coming in on nearly every cast and any-thing under 2kg being released to fight another day.
Once bagged out on decent fish it didn’t make sense to keep fishing there, so it was time to head off and look for a jew or two. The plan almost worked but not upgrading the jig head to a heavier-duty model resulted in the only taker being dropped due to the hook opening up. Lesson learnt.
The fishing then slowed and the only other keepers over the next few hours were a quality spangled emperor extracted from the kelp and a lively mack tuna that managed to wrap around everything in the water several times. Salty then decided to head wider in search of Motley Crew and stopped at a wreck on the way to try out the last two livies.
It turned out to be a pretty short story, with both baits getting smashed with very little else to say about it. With their tails between their legs, Rob and Paul continued out, finding Bruce on the 105m ground. His day had been fairly slow but he’d landed a solid spangled for his trouble and a few reasonable pearlies from his current spot.
Rob and Paul pulled a quick couple of legal pearlies and then the rot set in, with tiddlers everywhere prompting a move back to the shallows where they found and released more snapper but no pearlies. The trip back to the ramp was brilliant, with Moreton Bay all but glassed out, allowing for a few cobwebs to be blown out along the way.
A number of club boats were out that day, with several fishing off the Gold Coast, but it seemed the Moreton Bay fishos had made the best of the conditions. It had certainly been slower off the Goldy, but all boats returned with a reasonable feed just the same.
Let’s hope the hole in the bad weather continues to be on a weekend instead of midweek so everyone can continue to get out and enjoy it.
Until next time, safe boating.
