Big Bribie Island Pike and Plenty of Flathead - 19 June 2011

Sunday

I managed a quick dawn session at Bribie on Sunday. I arrived at around 6.00 am. Dawn and low tide were at about the same time. I was fishing the area of sand banks and muddy weed beds south of the old oyster jetty, on the mainland side of the Pumicestone Passage.

I started with a GULP Crazylegs Jerkshad soft plastic in the Pink Shine colour, rigged on a 1/8^th 1/0 jighead. I have now upgraded to a 12lb fluorocarbon leader as I have been getting bitten off by the Tailor that are around in the estuaries at the moment.

As I waded out I noted how cold the water has become in the last couple of weeks. I presume this is down to the consistent westerly winds. It was a westerly again this morning but not the predicted 10 to 12 knots. The first hour, through the slack water period on low tide, was a bit slow, but as the sun started to really light up the water, I started to catch fish. I had now switched to the GULP 5” Jerkshad in the Satay Chicken colour – basically, yellow on top of pumpkinseed.

I opened the account with a monster Pike – at just over 45cm I think it’s the biggest I have ever caught. Around 7.00 am I caught the first Flathead. It was about 35cm long.  I then put in about ten more casts in a radius of a few metres of where I caught it. After slowing my retrieve and pausing longer, I hooked up to another – this was a much better fish. I dragged it on to the sand, photographed and released it. It was just over 50cm.

I fished on until 8.00am and caught another six Flathead between 30cm and 58cm. They seemed to feed more aggressively once the sun was a little higher over the water and the tide started to run in, solidly. There are plenty of fish in our fridge at present, so I released all the Flathead I caught today. I kept the monster Pike for the cat.

If you want to try land based fishing with soft plastic lures, now is the time. I expect they are sitting on sandbanks in all the estuaries at present. You will need to wrap up warm though!

For more reports, photographs and fishy yarns - read the blog at http://landangler.wordpress.com/

Another bagful of Bribie Island Flathead - 7 May 2011

Tuesday

With the wind forecast to kick up to a 15 knot south-westerly around 7.00 am on Tuesday, I had no real choice but to fish in the Pumicestone Passage again. When I arrived at Bribie at around 5.00 am the wind was nowhere near that level, so I decided to fish on the island side of the Passage.

Low tide would be at about 7.30 am. I started under the bridge with a GULP 4” Turtleback worm in the BBQ Chicken colour on a 1/6^th 2/0 jighead. As I waded, quietly in the shadows, there was no surface action and everything was very quiet. I realised why, when two dolphins popped up less than 5 metres away.  They usually do a good job of eating or scaring the fish.  They were wallowing around in less than a metre of water, they must have known I was there but it did not seem to put them off.  A third one joined them and they headed over to the other side of the bridge. I moved to the south and caught a few Pike.  After about twenty minutes I moved back north of the bridge and caught a few small Tailor. Then the dolphins came back again so I decided to move on.

It was now just after first light – about 6.15 am. I drove down to the car park beside the saltwater lagoon that sits just in front of Buckley’s Hole. This lagoon and the drain at its mouth, has been completely transformed by the wild weather of the last year or so. The mouth has gradually moved much further north, towards the main Bribie Island Jetty. The drop off into the main channel of the Passage is only a few metres from the shore at low tide. I walked out of the car park and onto the sand.

I started by casting just over the drop off and walking along it, heading south. As the current slowed there was weed everywhere, this made things difficult. I was hoping for a few Bream, as they like to school up by this drop off, when they are spawning. Initially, all I caught were a few Pike.

I waded all the way down to the corner of Red Beach. On the way I landed a couple of Flounder and I kept the biggest of them. By now I was fishing with a GULP 4” Minnow in the Pearl Watermelon colour. I waded and cast for about 3 hours without much success. I walked back towards the car park and carried on north towards the Bribie Island main jetty.

 I had now switched to a GULP 3” Minnow in the Peppered Prawn colour. I had also swapped to a lighter jighead – a 1/8^th 1 hook. I was using 10lb leader. About 100 metres short of the jetty I caught a small bream - around 27cm. Then I found the Flathead.  The tide was running in, solidly and the weed had cleared up. Just after 10.00 am, I caught the first one - around 30cm long. It was quickly followed by a couple of 40cm + fish. I switched to a Gulp Crazylegs Jerkshad in the Curry Chicken colour. I caught a couple more undersize fish and then two good ones – at 48cm and 54cm. All the fish were caught on the same 30 metre stretch of sand and by 11.30 am, I had a full bag limit of five.

It had been a cold and blustery morning and I had put in a lot of hours before I found the good fish, but eventually I located them. It may have been the tide change that encouraged them to feed. Once I had my five I decided to head for home and thaw out.

A couple more Bribie Flathead in the wind - 2 June 2011

Thursday

The weather forecast was not great, but a fishing day should never be given up on! I started on the island side of the Bribie Bridge just after 5.00 am. It was cold but the south westerly breeze was light and the tide was about half way out. There were prawns jumping everywhere. They were under the bridge lights, in close to the pylons, but the first couple of soft plastic lures I tried – the GULP 2” Shrimp in the Banana Prawn colour and the 4” Minnow in the Vader colour -  did not get any bites.

I switched to a 2” Shrimp in the Peppered Prawn colour. I was fishing it on a 1/6^th 1/0 jighead and using a metre of 12lb fluorocarbon leader, tied on to 10lb Fireline mainline. It was almost first light now and I am not sure if it was the light or the colour change, but I immediately started catching fish. The first was a monster Pike – around 40 cm, then an undersized Flathead and then a small Chopper Tailor, then more Pike. After a fish a cast for about 20 minutes, I finally found a 42cm Flathead that I could keep for dinner.

As the sun came up I waded north, towards the boat hire spot and after plenty of casts and plenty of Pike, finally got another Flathead that was just over 40 cm. By 8.30am the wind was a solid south-westerly and I had had enough.

For more reports, photographs and fishy yarns - read the blog at http://landangler.wordpress.com/