Sorry!..........I'm off to Aurukun.

SORRY........I'm off to Aurukun next Monday, with Keith of Bransfords Tackle Shop and Mike from Radio 4CA & Zinc.

Why am I telling you that you may ask?

Well, it just goes to show how the thought of fishing in an absolute wilderness paradise, with great mates, and hopefully catching a heap of quality barra, can cloud your thinking (and appreciation).

Keith and I fished the Daintree on Sunday....and in its own right this is a beautiful waterway and certainly a magic place. We even had a real blast landing

Grunter....a rare lure catch!

• 2 archer fish
• 3 trevally
• 5 mangrove jacks &
• 16 barra (yep, that's right)
• and even a grunter on a lure!

The first "pair"

Typical Juvenile barra!

 

Keith even landed a legal sized barra at just on 64cm....he rolled an even bigger one late in the day.
But somehow, for some strange reason I just can't focus on writing about it. My thoughts are constantly being hijacked by the desire to fishing the Archer, the fresh water snags, the mangrove lined flats, the river mouth and rocky headlands....hell, we only have two and a bit days!

Now thats a nice barra!

Watch this space, I'm sure I'll have a lot more to tell come next week.
I ceratinly hope so.
I have a brand new Green Arrow rod to test on the brutes up there.

Catch you on the water, regards Les
www.fishingcairns.com.au

"A picture tells a thousand words so they say"

So here's the rest of the "story" in picture book format.....sorry!

 

 

 

 

Another Lure Test!

We are at it again.........another fishing trip, another new lure to field test.
Why do I always have to do this Keith!

Ah well, just lucky I guess!

And so it was that KG and I headed up the Captain Cook Highway, past the trendy seaside suburbs, past sleepy Ellis Beach and quietly slipped past the police and workers putting the "witches hats" out for the annual Coral Coast Triathlon. Phew...we made it in the nick of time. Hell, we could have been held up for hours watching the backsides of the bike riders. Nothing wrong with that but it was great to sneak past Port Douglas and on to the Daintree.

The Boat Ramp / Pontoon is a beauty!

It was a beautiful day and as we slipped quietly off the Daintree boat ramp Keith handed me my new lure!

Hmmm...it looked almost like one of  my other favourites, the Super Shad (check past postings re the success of this little gem) but it was a bit shorter in length and upon closer examination, had a totally different bib. Its a semi floater Keith exclaimed....meaning with the current hooks, it will rise slowly if you stop cranking it back. BARRA LOVE THIS PRESENTATION.  Or if you keep winding it will get down to about a metre.

I must admit that it looked darn good in the water. It cast like a bullet, worked down a treat and that tight waddling action sure looked tantalising. Time to get over near the mangroves and put it to the test.

It was cold....it was winter, well for us Cairnsites anyway and the water was strangely discoloured.
We have had a couple of inches or rain in Cairns this past week and the Daintree / Cape Tribulation region is one of the wettest places in OZ, maybe they had had a lot more precipitation up here eh Keith!

Things started a bit slowly. My favorite bank didn't produce anything and as we rounded the mangrove prickles swaying in the ebbing tide I cast....there it was. That unmistakable silver flash of a decent barra...but it failed to hook up. Repeated casts drew a blank so we zoomed off downstream to try another spot. Casting to bank side mangroves, back eddies and protruding roots we soon found our first fish. A nice little barra and the first fish on the new lure. It worked and the fish found it as enticing as I did....well one did anyway!

First fish / barra on the new lure

It wasn't long before Keith landed a nice mangrove jack, but he was cheating and using one of the Zerek prawn things (he just loves em!). My next cast was right up tight to the mangrove roots and before I could even engage, a silver streak had engulfed my lure and zoomed off towards the middle of the river. It wasn't a big fish but the take was sure spectacular - a little GT graced our presence, a quick pick and back into the drink.

Nice jack Keith - on a Zerek

River trevally - great sport on light tackle

Off we went again, headed right down towards the mouth this time and tried our luck in a backwater. By this time we were both on the Zerek's and Keith into another nice jack. Boy do they hit hard when that make up their mind that they want it and I soon found out. I cast towards a partly submerged bank side tree, by the time I had closed the bail arm I was hooked solid to something that did not like the daylight. It buried me deep within the snag, even with the prawn firmly down the gob of whatever it was, I just could not stop it from tangling me up in the structure and I was forced to break it off and start again.

Keith's "side ways" presentation - it works a treat!

Beautiful mangroves.

It was lunch time...Keith made the "Luxury Roll"...he loves his food I can assure you and the gourmet meal was washed down with a nice hot coffee.

Nice barra Keith...on the Zerek

Aha...Les on the "new slow sinking shad type thing yet to be named!"

By now the tide was starting to make so we headed to one of the creeks to follow the rising tide back up the system. Keith persisted with the Zerek while I though I had better give the new shad another chance to prove itself. I don't know why, maybe the fish needed to get even or the Gods' thought I'd had too much luck lately, but for whatever reason all the bigger fish hooked got away.

Its not that they weren't hooked up, or they threw the hooks on their fifth or sixth jump....they just did and we were a bit frustrated with lost opportunities. Things happen like this sometimes and if you try to over analyse it you'll go bonkers. Just accept it and move on I say. I'll be back!

There it is...a little worse for wear!

Jacks loved it too!

The early making tide was the most productive on that day, I think we landed 3 barras, a couple of jacks and trevally and lost those goodun's mentioned above. The water was really pushing in hard now and conditions not ideal for this part of the river. We could head way upstream mate and try our luck, or just pull the pin, have an early finish and a couple of beers before the roast! The beers won!

So look out for these new, as yet to be named, 3inch slow sinking shad type things in Bransfords....its well worth the drive.

NOTE - we did see three very large crocs this day, all well over 4m, take care anglers!

Catch you on the water, Les
www.fishingcairns.com.au

A Good Choice Keith!

As I sat back watching the Footy....AFL to me, I was channel surfing during the half time break and stumbled across the Cowboys NRL game. It was a significant moment and not just for the scores, it was a close game at that stage. The game was being played under lights in Townsville and it was raining!

Anyone living up here knows that at this time of the year, all of our rainfall comes from the SE trades, our prevailing weather patterns that feed of the huge high pressure systems that cross the continent from West to East.

If its raining in Townsville on Saturday night, it will probably be raining along the coast and ranges further north come Sunday.

Keith and I had already made plans to fish one of the southern rivers this day, exactly which one was still being decided as we motored down the Bruce Highway towards Gordonvale and beyond. The Mulgrave was as clear as crystal and so too was the Russell. But as we closed in on the ranges so too did the weather. It wasn't that bad, just that steady drizzle we get up here at this time of year...occasionally!

As we neared the township of Innisfail, and looked further south into that big black, heavy sky....our decision was made. Were going to fish the Johnstone today mate.

Tides - high at approx. 7:30am of 2.6M > Low approx. 12:30 of 1.2m!

OK Keith, were fishing downstream first, see how we go and then if we need a fresh water fix, we should still have enough water to get a fair way upstream.

I clipped on my "favourite" Flat Jak in neutral brown and cast under the overhanging mangroves, second cast and I was on to a plump little silver barra or around 55cm. A quick photo and it was gently released. That was a very pleasant surprise and a couple of casts later and I was on again.
These weren't big fish, but very healthy looking and fought spiritedly, using the ebbing tide to aid their fight for freedom.

1st Barra - 2 minutes from the ramp!

 

There is something that my good mate Terry Holman, fishing guide extraordinaire, has taught me this past couple of years. And that is the fact that barra are a social critter. If there is one, there probably is others nearby. So I plonked down my lead blob to position us in the current, nicely within casting distance to the structure and Keith and I worked the area. We were rewarded handsomely with a double hook up on feisty little juvenile barra. A quick pic and they were gently released.

Double hook up mate...what a start!

And again....WOW!

This was a great start to the day!

We pulled the "anchor" and drifted steadily down stream on the falling tide. I was on again and quickly dropped the blob to the bottom to stop our progress. Keith fired his XRap into the slot and he too was rewarded with a nice little barra - how cool was this. Two double headers in about 15 minute fishing.....we were very happy chappies indeed.

 

OK Keith, lets head over the other side now and work that mangrove bank, there are a couple of snags on the bend that just might hold a fish or two. Guess what, it did hold a nice little barra and I was stoked. All of  my decisions had paid off to this point and I was very pleased with myself. Unfortunately Keith's next cast was a hook up to the structure so reluctantly we had to motor over to it on the electric and any chance of catching another fish vanished with the disturbance.

 

We drifted down and around the next bend where I knew another snag was in about a metre of water, plonked the lead and told Keith "where to fish" so to speak. And right on cue he was on again...."I'll play this one out Les and you see if you can hook up", three double hook ups in one day....come on, get real!

3rd Double....this is fantastic!

 

Well get real we did and the photo is here abouts to prove it....well done, pats on the back, high fives all round. Were we happy! Read it again....THREE DOUBLE HOOK UPS ON BARRA and it wasn't even morning tea time.

Bla Bla Bla...Palm Cove xxxxxxxx......come on Keith!

 

After the pic & release the phone rang, it was The Cairns Post seeking our comment on the article that appeared in Saturday's edition. The one about the much needed infrastructure development at Palm Cove. This has been one of Keith's passions for years (I won't bore you here, this is a fishing story) but I politely told Nick that unfortunately he would have to wait for Keith's response as he was hooked up to another barra. I don't think Nick believed me for a while but here it is, picture proof...Keith can almost talk under water and a little barra was not going to stop him from having his qualified say on the matter.

 

It was now time to have a cuppa and reflect on what had been an amazing little session. We sat down and pondered over what has just transpired - 10 barra, three double hook ups and the photos to prove it. This was so rewarding and we almost forgot about the drizzle. One thing I should also mention was that the water temperature was an acceptable 23.8C...just on the lower end of the tolerance level for barra and that the 1.4m drop was also ideal!

Now, for all you barra fisherman and new entries to the sport of catching barra on lures, go back and read the above again. There are several points to ponder and note for future reference. I can't physically take you all fishing and show you exactly what, where, how and why....but if you observe a few things, the art will open up to you and your catch rates will improve dramatically...hopefully!

After our coffee we decided to head upstream, Keith was determined to catch a quality sooty so off we went. I was a little disappointed with the catch rates "in the fresh" and for reasons unknown, it was very slow going. Sure we landed a few fish, but nothing like previous trips. We tried SR 5's and roosta poppers, Zerek prawns and hard bodied super shads but we did have long period where we had no action at all. Even some of our most reliable spots failed to produce the goods.

Silver Grunter

Maybe the conditions were just not to their liking, maybe the previous weeks "minor flood" had put them down - who knows. But we did manage the following:

• 12 barra
•  8 sooties
•  9 JP's,
• 6 jacks,
• 1 silver grunter,
• 1 archer fish

Barra on popper....a great sight!

There was one memorable moment on a deep water bend. Keith was using a bright green popper and cast to the snag nestled up against the cliff face. Bloop....bloop....BOOF! One of the best barra of the day was landed here, they are sure spectacular to catch on a popper.

 

While heading downstream at the end of the day we ran into another fellow angler. He had been working way upstream that day and noted that he too had a fairly slow day. But that was after trevelling all the way to the Tully River and after finding it absolutely Pixxxxg down and the river up about 3 metres, decided to back track to the Johnstone.

We were happy, conditions that day weren't too bad and that early morning session on the barra will be a cherished memory for a while..........at least until the next cast, the next barra, my next trip to Aurukun!

Catch you on the water
Regards, Les
www.fishingcairns.com.au

Returning to the Daintree!

It had been absolutely ages...........I couldn't actually remember the last time that I'd ventured north to the Daintree. Not for any specific reason, I love this river, but through various circumstances I'd found myself fishing the southern waterways this past 6 months or so.

Anyway, after a late start (my mate Keith stuffed up the pick up times) we found ourselves launching at the ferry crossing as grey skies hung overhead and light drizzly rain drifted down. It looked quite bleak actually and with a bit of angst we fired up the Yammy and headed across the river.

Readers will note that I'm quite set in my ways as far as choosing a lure goes. I have been using the brilliant Flat Jack minnows for some time now and could see no reason to change today. In keeping with the recent Aussie theme, I clipped on the green & gold model....the water was a bit discoloured near the ramp so thought this colour might stand out and give me the edge.



First Barra - note that water colour!

It was only a half dozen cast when the little barra slammed my lure about half way back to the boat. I was stoked, conditions weren't ideal but at least I'd landed a barra. The juvenile was carefully photographed, the hooks removed and slipped gently back into the drink. We drifted along the backwater mangrove edges casting to the prickles and hey presto, anothe little barra hooked up. Two in five minutes, a very good start to the day.

Back out into the river proper and we drifted quietly along on the incoming tide. It was a high at approx. 10:30am, and after the late start, we only had a short time to fish this phase as we moved upstream following the last of the making tide. Another barra from the mangroves, a similar fish from the point of a little island and things were pretty good.

We'd even forgotten about the weather which had cleared up considerably as we headed inland / upstream. Further north along the Cape Tribulation range however, it was still pretty black and we hoped that we would remain dry for the day.

Around a bend and along the bank side, casting to swaying ribbon grass now and another couple of small barra slammed our offerings. This was great fun.....I looked up and took in the vista. Man I love this river, why hadn't I fished here more often I asked Keith? The greenery and rainforest clad hills offered a spectacular backdrop to the gently flowing waters. It was good to be alive, in great company and in natures splendour.........do it guys. You won't be disappointed.

Hoe beautiful is this!

Time to head upstream, above the township I advised. So off we zoomed......past Barrats Creek, Humbug Straight and the township. I eased the little tinnie off the plane as settled into a smooth glide towards the river bank. A couple of cast and Keith and I had landed another barra each - how good was that! We were drifting downstream now, the dropping tide taking us past well known "hot spots", places that I have fished for over 20 years and regularly (well, almost....we always remember the good days!) caught fish.

As we drifted past the Daintree township I crossed river banks......there was a huge wed bed here now and this surely held a brra or two. I was not disappointed!

By this time I had grown tired of the little Aussie battler (green & gold lure) so decide to snap on my old favourite, the brown neutral coloured model. It was instant success as barra after barra (hold on Les...your not up at Aurukun just yet) well, a few anyway, shot from the swaying grass beds and engulfed my offering. I was absolutely stoked. I didn't care what happened next, we hand returned to a beautiful little piece of paradise and found some willing little barra.

Keith had a call from his lady, what time will you be home boys?...........OK, lets pull the pin and head off home.

The day was just perfect!
The vista more stunning than I had remembered!
The weather gods had smiled upon us - no rain, a gentle breeze and comfortable temps (in and out of the water)
And as for the barra count......we landed 14 little barra for the day.....yes FOURTEEN!

Now that's not bad for this time of year in our neck of the woods, I just wish there were a couple of legals amongst them!

Catch you on the water
Regards, Les
www.fishingcairns.com.au