# QLD Coochin Creek



## paddleparra (Apr 23, 2008)

I thought I'd have a paddle at Coochin Creek last night chasing whatever would bite (am going through that dry spell thing that seems to dog me now and then), the storm clouds rolled in and away with little to show then the moon rose, caught a couple of little whiting that were released for the real fishermen to catch.
I managed to catch a couple of flatties which looked a little thin so I released them then............in less than a meter of water, pitch blackness other than my red and green nav lights at the front of my yak to illuminate my rod i slipped my rod into it into its holder and fumbled arround for my coffee flask when I heard my little Diawa Luna screem like it did the day I caught a real snapper...........
I was wearing a reasonably powerfull head lamp which is great up close however fades quickly in the distance, anyhow I caught a glimpse of a fish leap out of the water, from the distance it had an outline like a tuna (my species knowledge is woefull) and it pulled so hard that my T Curve was hard to Get outof the holder.........
Long story short.. heart racing, rod bending, drag peeling off line etc etc then there was a sudden 'ping' and it was gone! line slack and fish was free. My leader was still in place but neatly cut at the end. Could have been, should have been, would have been..... but! Could this be the start of the end of my dry spell! I was well annoyed but I smiled the whole way home.

Is it the right season for mangrove jack?

Brian


----------



## sunshiner (Feb 22, 2006)

G'day Brian

Possibly your mystery fish was a tarpon? I've caught many mangrove jacks and never heard of one jumping, normally they head straight for cover (but yes, it is possible as they are showing up here in Noosa). And, in Coochin Creek the odds against it's being a tuna are astronomical. Hope to see you soon. Jaro's taking delivery of his Profish today which should provide some interest.


----------



## paddleparra (Apr 23, 2008)

Outstanding Kev,

what about you? Upgrading to a battle cruiser or gunna hang onto your frigate!

Brian


----------



## sunshiner (Feb 22, 2006)

Mine's more of a patrol boat, mate. And she'll be good for a few years yet.


----------



## mojofunk (Nov 1, 2006)

I suffer the same l long dry spells. Your not alone. Im learning to fly fish at the moment and have spent huge time on the water for no result. Sounds like your catching a few anyway. Good luck with the mystery fish. Maybe it was a Mullet jumping away from whatever you caught. They get big and jump around all the time. Dont know about the tuna look though. Or Taylor would be a good explanation.


----------



## Nativeman (Sep 6, 2005)

Geevus, paddling on your own in Coochin Creek on a full moon, your a braver man than me. :shock:

Lots of bull sharks in there, I reckon tarpon too ;-)

Cheers


----------



## Kitfox (Aug 13, 2009)

Bad luck mate. I agree that it may have been a tarpon but equally it may have been a thready. I had the same thing happen this morning on a big lizard in the Maroochy river but thats fishing and its one of the things that keeps us coming back.


----------



## JTC (Oct 19, 2007)

Hi Brian,

My bet for your mystery fish would be a Queenie, had a similar experience in the darkness in the Pelican Waters canals last year. It was great fun while it lasted and it continued it's aerial display long after it had won it's freedom. There are lot's of them in the Passage, and all the creeks and canals that run off it.

I look forward to the next installment... Hopefully you'll be the victor next time...

Cheers,

Jason


----------



## Baitman (Aug 1, 2009)

Hiya,

I am a Coochin Creek regular and I reckon you had either a Tarpon (I have seen a few around lately, but would be rare to have it take a bottom bait, or most likely a Threadfin salmon. My money is on the Threddy.

Dont know about those bull sharks - never seen one of those up there, and I have dangled my legs in the water many times!


----------



## paddleparra (Apr 23, 2008)

so thready or a tarpon....... both OK to eat right?

As for the bull sharks, I have to admit that I haven't seen any the few times I have been to Coochin, I also have sharkshield but didn't bother as I thought the creek would run a little shallow for them ( said me the fish expert!! hmmmmm) well thanks for the support and as for fishing at night well it holds both an air of eeriness as well as excitement I think and the reduced boat traffic and increace in wildlife noise is brilliant.

I was using silver foxes but actually caught this fish on the guzzler shrimpy looking thing, before darkness i noticed a lot of yabbie holes and thought it might mimic one of them!! Clearly it did.

Brian


----------



## BIGKEV (Aug 18, 2007)

Baitman said:


> Hiya,
> 
> I am a Coochin Creek regular and I reckon you had either a Tarpon (I have seen a few around lately, but would be rare to have it take a bottom bait, or most likely a Threadfin salmon. My money is on the Threddy.
> 
> Dont know about those bull sharks - never seen one of those up there, and I have dangled my legs in the water many times!


All the creeks at the top end of the passage have Bullies in them. I have fished for them up there regularly during the warmer months, the further uupstream you go, the more likely you are to encounter one, as they follow the mullet schools right up into the freshwater and the females also head into the fresh to give birth to their live young. Smaller bull sharks will some times do a bit of acrobatics also, they are great fun when they like this all angry and aggressive tailwalking across the surface, so don't discount hooking a small shark that just bit you clean off if you are certain the fish you saw jump was the fish that you had hooked. Jacks have been appearing regularly on some other forums fishing reports so they are now back on the menu also.

Kev


----------



## pcsolutionman (Apr 9, 2007)

There are thousands of bullys in coochin, I usually see 10-20 sharks in an average outing when fishing well upstream, have also seen a couple of 2m plus sharks around the camping ground. I reckon seeings though u got bitten clean off and not rubbed off u had a small bully hooked, they often get arial after being hooked and theres so many of them in there. Im yet to see a thready come out of coochin even though I have heard of plenty

Lee


----------



## Nativeman (Sep 6, 2005)

I've been trying to find the pic, I'm sure it is on this forum somewhere, but last year there was a bull shark left dead at the dirt ramp at the end of Roys Road. It looked pretty fat and long, when I saw the pic I thought to myself no more putting my legs over in that area :shock: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Cheers


----------



## paddleparra (Apr 23, 2008)

Hey Scotty were the flatties any good, mine looked a bit hungry and what plastics were you using?


----------



## Baitman (Aug 1, 2009)

I could swear on a stack of bibles that I saw a bonefish near the Coochin mouth late last summer. I was standing knee-deep on a sandbar and saw this fish that looked like a very large whiting but with grunter kind of stripes. It spooked off very quickly once it saw me, and I'm not that ugly. Well, my mum reckons I'm gorgeous!


----------

