South East Queensland

Kayak Fishing

Lake Wivenhoe

Date:19th September 2005
Time:8:00am - 11:00am
Tide:N/A
Launch site:Lake Wivenhoe - Logan Inlet
Water temperature:18°C
Lures/baits used:Hard Bodied and Soft Plastic Lures
Report:We took the Cayat (double) today and decided to troll and jig into any schools we found on the sounder within Logan Inlet.
 Of seven Forkies caught, one took a trolled deep diver and the others came from jigged Soft Plastic and jigged Bib-less Rattlers in 10 to 15 metres of water. Interestingly, they did not touch an Ice Jig tried at the same times as the other types of lure.
 My brother scored a 50cm Bass on a jigged Soft Plastic as well as most of the Forkies however I was kept busy positioning the Cayat in the optimum way for him to fish (that's my story, anyway).
 Apart from a few campers fishing the bank as well as a couple of recreational Kayaks playing close to the shore there were no other craft in Logan Inlet today which meant we had the perfect "mirror conditions" all to ourselves.
Submitted by:Ross C.
Date:26th August 2005
Time:8:00am - 12:00pm
Tide:N/A
Launch site:Lake Wivenhoe - Logan Inlet
Water temperature:18°C
Lures/baits used:Hard Bodied Lures
Report:Armed with Tony Smith's refined Solunar calculations predicting 11.05am as being the most likely time for a "bite", I trolled with two rods out from Logan Inlet ramp to North of Hills Peninsula.
 I trolled drop-offs, through balls of baitfish, in open water and deep water and just about every time I saw enough fish on the sounder to "work" an area I caught a Fork-Tailed Catfish.
 I ended up with nine of them in total, and, on one occasion, had both lures hit at almost the same time and still managed to retrieve both fish.
 Two other boats launched ahead of me and I heard later that they also caught nothing but Forkies.
 The Forky strikes were spread out fairly evenly over the morning but the biggest one was caught at three minutes before Tony's predicted optimum time.
Submitted by:Ross C.
Date:20th August 2005
Time:7:45am - 9:45am
Tide:N/A
Launch site:Lake Wivenhoe - Logan Inlet
Water temperature:17°C
Lures/baits used:Hard Bodied Lures
Report:I spent about an hour trolling deep diving lures in Logan Inlet between the ramp and Loganview Point for just one Forky taken on a Predatek B65D.
 I then headed into deeper water between the exposed island and Hills Peninsula where I took a small Forky and a 49cm Golden Perch on a B65UD then a huge Forky in fairly uncomfortable conditions with the wind increasing from the Northwest.
 One of the Forkies was a monster but, as it had taken a B80UD trailing on my second rod while I was still dealing with the netted Yellowbelly in my lap, I had to let this big fellow go beside the Kayak without taking a photograph.
 As the wind became quite strong very quickly and a reasonable chop was building up, at about 9:15am I decided to play it safe and headed for home.
Submitted by:Ross C.
Date:30th July 2005
Time:7:30am - 11:30am
Tide:N/A
Launch site:Lake Wivenhoe - Logan Inlet
Water temperature:17°C
Lures/baits used:Soft Plastics and Hard Bodied Lures
Report:It was a "mirror finish" again on Wivenhoe today and I started off by jigging up 4 good size Forkies schooling at 20 to 40 feet in 40 to 60 feet of water North West of Hills Peninsula using Soft Plastics on 4lb Fireline.
 I then trolled across to Varleys Cove and on the return journey scored a 36cm Bass and a smaller Forky using deep diving lures in about 20 feet of water
Submitted by:Ross C.
Date:18th July 2005
Time:7:30am - 12:30pm
Tide:N/A
Launch site:Lake Wivenhoe - Logan Inlet
Water temperature:17°C
Lures/baits used:Soft Plastics, Hard Bodied Lures, Spinnerbaits
Report:Trolling deep diving lures elicited only one hit (which I missed) between the launching ramp and just North of Hills Peninsula so I decided to try other methods to pull a fish out of one of the many small schools that kept appearing on my sounder.
 For half an hour I tried casting bib-less hard-bodied lures and spinner-baits without success so resorted to jigging large soft plastics which eventually yielded a Forky.
 I set off trolling again and headed to Bigges Peninsula and followed the Channel along to Varleys Cove before returning the same way.
 On the return journey I caught two more Forkies on deep divers and lost what felt like a solid fish along with my favourite Mulga Frog coloured B80UD when the line broke at the leader (I had the drag set too heavily but that's no excuse for tying bad knots). To add to my displeasure I also managed to get spiked in the hand by a Forky shortly after losing this lure.
 It was another perfect Winter's day on Wivenhoe and I reckon I'd rather be out there catching catfish than catching no fish.
Submitted by:Ross C.
Date:26th February 2005
Time:7:00am - 11:45am
Tide:N/A
Launch site:Lake Wivenhoe - Logan Inlet
Water temperature:29°C
Lures/baits used:Soft Plastics, Hard Bodied Lures, Spinnerbaits
Report:The targets for today's fishing were the numerous Fork-tailed Catfish that inhabit Lake Wivenhoe. While there was an outside chance of catching either a Bass or Yellowbelly either of these were going to be a bonus.
 We started with diving lures, Ross checking his sounder to determine how deep we should be trolling. After an hour had passed I was trolling a home-made lure at about 20 feet in 25 feet of water when my rod doubled over. A few minutes later I landed a "Forkie" that was hooked neatly in the top of the tail wrist!
 Half an hour later Ross called that fish hanging at 20 feet weren't interested in his lure, but as I trolled across the area my rod again bent over. This time the "Forkie" was hooked squarely in the mouth. We remembered to weigh this one at 1.5kg before releasing it.
 We tried casting lures around a steep bank, but no more fish turned up until we reverted to trolling and Ross landed another "Forkie" on a Predatek B80-UD in "Mulga Frog" pattern.
 Finally, when heading back to the ramp, Ross picked up some more fish on his sounder and marked the spot. We cast Spinnerbaits, HB's, and Softplastics, but apart from a strike on a SP that failed to hookup, couldn't provoke a response.
 Unlike Ross's previous session (see below), the fish weren't schooled as densely. This time 80mm lures worked provided they could dive to where the fish were holding, and the smaller lures jigged through the area were not successful.
Submitted by:Tony
Date:12th August 2004
Time:8:15am - 12:15pm
Tide:N/A
Launch site:Lake Wivenhoe - Logan Inlet
Water temperature:16°C
Lures/baits used:Soft Plastics and Hard Bodied Lures
Report:I started trolling large deep diving lures across Logan Inlet and made several passes through a school of fish without any strike. I therefore located the school on the sounder and jigged a soft plastic at the level where the fish were holding. A strike quickly ensued and a Fork-tailed Catfish was landed.
 Okay, that proved it was Fork-tailed Catfish schooling at about 30 feet in 40+ feet of water so I moved on trolling various colours of Predatek B80-UD's past Loganview Point, along the submerged river bed, across to Bigges Peninsula, then back to Logan Inlet. Not a strike was had (but no Catfish had a go either).
 I trolled through three more largish schools of fish in the deeper water around Logan Inlet and each time I subsequently stopped to jig and each time I pulled in a Fork-tailed Catfish.
 Subject to further testing (during next summer), I have concluded that the Fork-tailed Catfish must have found the 80mm Predatek lures a bit big for their liking but, on the other hand, there appeared to be no Bass big enough or interested enough to have a go at them either.
 The weather was great and even though the morning was "Bass-less", the four Fork-tailed Catfish gave me a bit of fun on 4-pound Fireline using my light spinning rod.
Submitted by:Ross C.
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