Fitzroy River yesterday

[Douglas]

The MET radar showed no rain so off the 3 of us went to chase some king threadfin.

It rained all day but thankfully was "warm" rain.

Sounder showed large schools just near the city reaches. Hundreds per school so our only task was to pick school with the size that we were looking for (75 -85 cms)

Schools disbanded and regrouped all through the ebb tide so it was matter of finding where they had moved on to. Soon as the tide turned they all disappeared.

Upshot was 15 king threadfin kept in 75-85cm range;

18 king tagged and released up to 94cm;

2 barra tagged and released;

2 blue salmon tagged and released.

Total of 37 fish with only 1 undersized ( small barra) using 3inch Gulp prawns 4/0 7gm jigheads. Got most of my fish on a slow roll over the drop-off from 15ft of water into 25ft.

There is no doubt in our minds that the king threadfin would not have lasted long in the river had netting been still allowed. Before the net free zone was declared it was still legal for nets to be used for king even in closed barra season.

Haven't seen that many king in the town reaches in years.

That same story would have been repeated multiple times in the 45km to the mouth.

Douglas