Mackay waters.

[mKs]

About 1 month ago I was thinking how good it would it be to drive to Mackay and chase some queeny as it is supposably there season. Well after some organisation Troy and I were of to Mackay to see my dad and also fish for 6days -24/7…

We left on the Friday night and got to Mackay after stopping by Lake Awoonga to have a look.

(Might be a little bit out of order, but quite tyred)

First trip to the creek via the quad bike we didn’t get much apart from some small trevally – on a megabass anthrax hehe, and a few flatty around the 60cm mark. Imo the water quality was just to good, the spot is only around 1.5mtrs deep and we could clearly see the bottom, it was just to clear. So we went back to house and re-rigged for a night session.

This time we decided to run 20lb fluoro leader and I ran a megabass anthrax and troy was using a rapala x walk. Again we took the quad down to the spot at around 11pm and first cast Troy’s lure got slammed. BARRA, barra for sure. It did an erratic jump and we thought it didn’t feel like a barra, after a bit the hooks pulled. Then my 3rd cast got slammed on the pause. Erratic jumps and we thought maybe queeny, landed it after several jumps and some small runs, a 45cm tarpon. Wow, a wild tarpon, awesome.

That night was awesome; every cast was getting hit with many tarpon getting free. Troy lost 8 and I lost 6, in the end I landed 3tarpon – biggest going 50cm. (pics when I get them of dads camera.)

With the next day rolling on, Troy didn’t have much faith in my barra spot, so we went in search of some dirtier water while dad tried the old spot again. We went to Alligator creek and we slayed some pike and a lot of flatty biggest going 65cm. We get back to dads and he go’s, “Well boys, I got 2 barra”….. HAHA Troy’s face was so funny.

That night we went back to the spot to find the action died down a bit, but nether the less we got a few hits but none hooked up, although Troy did land a nice flatty on a strike pro popper.

Next day, we rigged up nice and early and we headed of to the creek yet again. 20lb leader, and smith –cherry bloods rigged on. After 20min or so Troy got a hit and saw a chrome flash. He yelled out and I quickly had a cast, a rip and a jerk and a long pause. Lure was 4-5cm from surface and you see this 56cm barra take the lure and strike! Straight into a high jump and a few nice runs and a few more jumps while Troy was swearing that I stole his barra. Lol. Measured her up, a few photos and off she went to fight another day. Another 20-30min later, same lure. Casted right up under a over hanging tree and a quick jerk and a long pause and once again we could see the barra hit the lure. This time it fought really well and some nice jumps in the shallow water. This one measured 64cm. After a few more hours that was all the action there, apart from vermin flatty.

We thought next day should be Troy’s day for sure.

Again we tied the cherry bloods on and after a while troy landed the perfect cast into the sticks, a quick jerk then a pause and wammo…. Hooked up to a nice 53cm barra, a few jumps and nice runs he landed his first lure caught, wild barra. A few pics and a measure and off she went. A few minutes later I landed a quality cast right under the same tree the produced yesterday. A big rip of my megabass anthrax and a pause, another rip and while the lure was resurfacing wack! OMFG, barra on anthrax. TROY! Barra on anthrax. After some erratic jumps and an anthrax ¾ down its gob I landed the 52cm barra. Was very excited as it’s yet another first on my anthrax. While only low 50’s I was extremely excited and I felt my trip was complete. Troy also got another barra that day, only a small one but a barra nether the less.


Again we rigged up new rigs, new Biminis’s and new leader and off we went again. This day Troy was on fire and was using his “serious” stance. LOL.

He flicked his cherry blood out, half way through his retrieve on the pause this HUGE barra engulfed his lure. OMG, this one is a biggy! Serious stance Troy! This one took a lot of drag and some nice jumps but it couldn’t even get his whole body out of water. Fuk yeah! After some more powerful runs and another half jump troy got him to the bank and was relieved the 20lb leader, hooks, and shitty P.E survived the fight. A healthy 82cm barra taken in less than 1.5mtrs of water, couldn’t get much better than that. I think we got 2 more little barra that session.

Next session we headed towards the small ponds of water and sticks Isaac style, but with BC. Using cherry bloods again we got 2 barra around 30-40cm and many flatty (around 8-10), we hit these waters the next day also and got a nice feed of solid flatty’s. Landed 4 all up going 60cm.

Last session we tried our luck one more time, this time I tried a 4inch atomic prong. 4th cast a 55-60cm barra took the bait and straight away surfaced pulling hooks, bugger. 5cast later a solid hit, yep im on. Bugger, it’s a flatty haha. Went 60cm. Action went down from there so we tried the ponds again and managed to get a few nice barra going 30cm.




Trip complete, we didn’t think the action was going to be so good in winter, land based and in Mackay, with awesome blue sky’s everyday, low winds and great food it was a good trip. In the end with Troy, myself and dad we caught 16 barra and many flatty, cod and other species.

P.S: Finally after Troy has spoon feed me great fish for 6 months I can finally say I have put him onto some wild barra, tarpon and quality flathead.


(More pics to come, some on dads camera and some on my phone)

[Try Hard]

Mad as man, sweet read and the pics are gold...5th pic is my fave lol

82cm is an awsome wild fish man.

Sweet stuff aye...gotta love north queensland!!

[LIVE2FiSH]

your mad. good fish fellas

[pinkey]

Mad trip, awsome effort landbased. How cool does the 82's tail look!

[blue_mako]

Awesome trip. Can't wait to go back. That 82 was insane.

Troy

[mattuna]

looks like you had mad as time boys, great fish and lot of them

[Shortlite]

Awesome stuff boys. Congrats Troy, the hair's coming back eh? Nice wild bazza mate, and love the action shots. That creek looks prime!

Bring on the rest of the pisc.

[Pistol_P]

Awesome trip boys..!!!

Nice Barra...your a sneaky man Troy....You do more trips away than me...
mmmm....I might have to go somewhere soon.

The 5th picture is a cracker....nice pegs....

Pete

[ffejsmada]

Nice trip boys, well done. Some nice snaps there too.
Top looking country with some top fish.

Mad as!

Cheers Jeff.

[adidaspeteman]

Mad as man, sweet read and the pics are gold...5th pic is my fave lol

lol