Weekend fun

[robbo80]

The trip was planned, the boat was packed, the weather was checked and we were off. My good mate Marty and i had decided to spend a few days fishing one of our favourite creeks north of townsville. We hit the road just after lunch on Friday and with the forecast of no rain and half decent weather we were both keen for some hot fishing. The only factor not on our side this particular weekend was the tides. We had only a small window of opportunity arount the turn of the tides to fish our favourite spots.

We arrived at our destination just after 2pm, off loaded the camping gear then decided to go flick some lures for a jack or two. With the tide dropping we opted to go up the the river and find some likely looking Jack snags to get us started. We cruised up the river and after about five minutes we found the perfect spot to start, 2 huge snags about a metre or so out from the bank with about 20m of mangrove roots covering the bank behind it. The first dozen or so casts proved fruitless and with the best snag approaching our expecation for a Jack was high. My suspending storm thunderstick hit the water first on the front side of the snag followed by Marty's on the other side. It was almost instantaneous, we bothed moved our lures and in a flash two Jacks came from under the snag and crash tackled our lures with some force. My jack was pulled free of the snag and into the safety of the landing net while Marty's decided the snag where it came from looked like a far better place than in the boat. After a few frantic seconds, a broken $700 rod, some hurried boat manouvering and some crafty tree breaking skills, his tasty jack was in the net with mine. After a measure (39cm and 42cm),a quick photo and some nasty words towards his jack that cost him his rod, the pair of Jacks were released straight into the esky for a tasty meal. We continued fishing the same area for half an hour or so and managed to catch 4 juvenile barra's all around the 50-55cm mark and another nice Jack but it was a little quieter than usual so about 4.30pm we opted for a change of plan and decided to go for a troll to see if we could find some bigger barra's on the bottom of the tide.

We headed back out to the mouth where we had marked heaps of barras on previous trips. Out went the Barra Classics in 15ft models and we started trolling. We trolled some more, then a little more, and even more but our silver friends from previous trips were non existant. Just on dark we eventually found a nice snag that was holding a few and as our lures neared the snag the boat was pulled out of gear and the lures jigged as we slowed speed. We commented to each other that our lures had just hit the snag then WHACK i was on. With my hookup call of Yep, i turned around to see a nice barra of around 70cm come out of the water. At the same moment Marty hooked up to a fish that took about 20m of line but unfortunately the hooks pulled and we didn't get a glimpse of the fish. Bugger, oh well thats fishing. I managed to get mine into the enviro-net and after some photo's it was back to trolling as darkness approached. We managed another small barra off the snag but it was just shy of the legal limit, measuring 57cm.

As darkness fell we headed back to camp for a quick feed then off hopefully to catch some big grunter as the tide roared in. The night time session proved very slow with only 1 nice grunter and a few trevally released so we decided to call it a night around 1am. This night was one of the clearest nights i had ever seen and after counting 98787687688 stars, 788 of which fell out of the sky it was bed time. There is something very special about being out in the middle of nowhere, no boats for 10km, perfect weather, good company and the best self proclaimed singer of all time, (well he can sing ok but hey he aint that good). We got back to the camp, set up the tent then with high expectations of tomorrow we called it a night

We woke just as the sun made an appeareance and in no time we were off. Our plan was to head as far up the river as we could go on the big tide and throw lures at the snags on the run out tide. We travelled up the river for about twenty minutes and decided to start our day there. 5hrs later and with only 2 jacks about 20cm long for our efforts we arrived back at the mouth both very disappointed and lost for ideas but were in high spirits cause you can tell a hell of a lot of lame jokes in that time. I'm sure mine were heaps worse than his but it kept us entertained in a very slow session.

We stuffed around for the next few hours and before we knew it it was nearly 5pm and not a legal fish in the boat for the day. We went in search of some bigger fish again and reverted to trolling again to hopefully change our luck. So we headed back to the spot from the previous day. Now i'm not too bad when it comes to fishing and Marty and i always end up pretty even when it come to catching fish but in the next three hours i was outfished unbelieveably but it was still amazing to see.

The boat was positioned and we both threw out our Barra classics in the guns and roses colour (red head and green body) halfway through the run we came over the snag we were after and it was covered with barras sitting midwater behind the snag. My lure hit the snag first and with a slight pause and a sharp flick of the tip i was on. Not a world beater by any means but this fish didin't hit like a barra after after it made its way back to a snag a was sure i had a nice jack on. After a few minutes of trying to get the fish out of the snag i decided to snap the lure off but as i gave it a final pull the fish came free along with half the tree. To our surprise a nice fingermark and half a tree came to the surface and with a little persuasion the fiesty 52cm fingermark was mine. We knew there were plent of barras about so it was back to trolling with light running out quicky. The next five trolls didn't result in any fish landed but it did result in Marty losing five very nice barra. The first was a horse, it hit like a steam train and tore about 40m off 30lb braid off with ease before coming half out off the water so we could see her then proceeded to straighten the 6strong vmc trebles at will. After the 5th troll and 5th lost fish we were both lost for words and i"m sure if he didn't get the next one he would be very cranky. It was just one of those things that happen and every fish he lost after about 30 seconds and every one of the barras jumped so we got a good indication of the size (70cm-80cm).

You guys and gals, like me would be starting to question his technique but i can assure you he has caught hundreds and hundreds of legal barra and is one of the best barra fisherman i have ever fished with, it was just one of those things that happen from time to time. So we turned around and started the troll again and we hadn't got any where near the snag and Marty was on again. Once again the fish broke the surface but we didn't get a good look at it. The fish took a heap of line and very quickly too but we knew it wasn't a barra. After about five minutes the fish came to the boat and to our amazement it was a beautiful big king salmon. The fish measured 116cm and was a very welcome capture which made me very jealous cause i am still yet to catch one. (damn you Marty that was my fish). With two barras on the next two trolls, both around 70cm we decided to head back to camp but have a stop off on the way back at snag we found that morning.

We pulled up with about ten minutes of light left and threw the lures out. By this time the tide was racing in and with the boat in gear we were not actually moving backwards. This was not the ideal conditions for barra. The throttle was increased and we slowly crept forward but the current was running too hard to even work our lures properly. The only way we could troll was to hold the rod stationary as the force on the rod was unbelievable and we couldn't jig troll as we would normally do. We planned to finish the troll and were just about to wind in when Marty got whacked again but no hookup. We couldnt help ourselves so went went back for another one. It was now completely dark and with no moon we definately didin't have things on our side. The next hour and a half or so was unbelievable 4 more barras for Marty, with three about 70cm and the fourth a really nice one about 95cm and not even a scale for me. In between this we had hits from three or four fish and actually jumped another four off. Fighting fish like these in a massive current like the one we had made the fish seem twice the size. We called it quits around 8.30pm and headed back to camp. In roughly 4hrs Marty had landed
6 barra between 70cm-95cm and a beautiful king salmon and i had a lonely little fingermark. We worked out that we had jumped off 14 legal barras and had hit from many others, in what i would have to say was the best session of quality saltwater barra fishing have ever witnessed.

For the rest of the night back at camp we reflected on what a special afternoon we had and wished we had taken more photos of the barras at night but it was all too exciting. I don't think i will ever live the fact that i didn't manage to land a leagal barra in all that mayhem but just thankful i was there. As the night wore on we decided that we would have an hour to troll in the morning before we had to leave.

The alarm went off at 5.45 and we jumped in the boat and and headed to our bank to troll. It was a case of dejavou for me as Marty hooked and landed 4 more legal sized barra in the time we had and i registered a big fat 0. We chose to release all 4 barras that we hooked as we did with last 4 from the night before as we had plenty in the esky already and to make sure that there are plenty for us to catch next time.

With a quick pack in order we headed back to camp and loaded the boat and left paradise until next time. We headed off back across the bay to our car for the trip home. Looking back now i doubt i will ever see any fishing like that again and can only describe the last 5 hours of our trip as mind blowing and hope everyone reading this gets a chance to be part of something like what we experienced in their lifetime. Its very easy to see why its so easy to get hooked on fishing and why its so great to live in North Queensland. Till next time cheers.

Pete

[virty]

Pete - Got to be happy with that mate some nice fish and a great time magic!

[Talina]

Hey thanks for the report Pete, its always great hearing about your fishing trips while being on 8 weeks holidays - it really makes me motivated to sit here at my desk & do work, NOT!!!

Its also great to hear that your favourite creek continues to fire! & I have no doubt it will only get better as this temperature keeps rising...TODDOSH, when are we going???? I can't wait to get up there & get stuck into some of the Jack's & Barra as it's been quite a while seeing though I have been playing around with Billfish the past few months!

Hey also, I'm sorry to hear about your rod champ - I have no doubt you had a bit of a cry (literally) about that

Great to see you managed some nice barra fillets for yourself & your family to put into the freezer, as it will be all over for a few months as of the 1st November (for people who don't know the Barramindi Season Closes in North Qld on 1st Novemeber - 1st February)

[robbo80]

Nah it was Marty's rod not mine thank goodness. Still no one likes to hear graghite break.

[toddosh]

Oi bud,must of been a good weekend to break rods but at least his was on a fish mine was just twitchen a lure.It really makes me jelous when you send me photoes while im at work and your catchin fish.I will talk to ya about goin this weekend if your not fished out.Cheers