Australian Fishing Blog

Yesterday’s plan didn’t quite go as planned and our trip to Kings Point was stopped short near False Cape due to the swell. So we opted to hit up a very tidal small creek on the way home. The tide had turned from high and there was bait everywhere, large schools of small and medium mullet, and lots of gar and longtoms. We ventured up the creek and drifted back out casting all the likely snags along the way.

I had an ok hit on my plastic swimbait along a nice stretch of outside bend, but it just grabbed the tail. Then Ryan changed over to a little crab imitation and I told him to cast at this snag that was in a prime location on this outside bend offering a great ambush spot. Ryan landed a perfect cast and was instantly hit and bricked, he kept the pressure while I did a bit of maneuvering with the electric and out popped a nice bright red mangrove jack. Ryan’s first on a lure so he was pretty pleased and a good way to open your jack account.

The bait started thinning out and the cover on the banks wasn’t as good so we decided to move back down to the mouth. A decent drain was feeding more water into this section along with some decent bait and I mentioned to Ryan that this was looking good for a barra. We cast the last stretch of the creek down to the mouth and then around the mouth. There was a small snag sitting right in the open offering a prime ambush spot for a smart barra and I said there HAS to be a barra on this snag. I cast out just ahead of it and slowly worked the lure back giving it a small rip to let anything on the stick know bait was coming. Slow rolling across the snag a barra hit the plastic in clear view missing the hook not once or twice but four times! Unbelievable, four goes at it and can’t find the hook.

We got out of there after this as the water was getting too low and tried another couple of spots before calling it a day. So still turned out to be a fun day out exploring a new creek and great to see Ryan get a jack on a lure.

Ryan & I hit the Trinity Inlet with plans of fishing deep on a strange neap tide with no run from 5am until 12 noon. Just near the boat ramp I made the call to start casting some snags and we entered a small creek. Getting used to the electric was taking some effort and before we knew it a pro crabber sped past, way too fast for this small creek, so I shook my head at him and got out of there fast. We made the call to just keep casting at the edges along the main waterway as there were a few mullet around.

I’d just been telling Ryan which snags to target and how long it has been since I caught a decent jack since I mainly target barra these days. Then I put a decent cast in along side a nice looking snag and started a slow constant roll retrieve on a big paddle tailed plastic (Jackall 5.5″ Ammonite Shad) when suddenly a few winds in the lure was jammed. I knew it was a jack by the way it hit and was very fast in turning him away from home and ‘guiding’ him my way a bit. However the fish felt a little too big to be a jack and I started to think it might be a really fired up barra. It soon became a tug of war and I patiently played him out thinking large barra, but it took another sizzling powerful run falling just short of cover. Each run became shorter and eventually I noticed the size of the fish in the water. I was quite disappointed (still thinking barra) until I noticed a broad silver gold mangrove jack. Happy would be an understatement and I’m surprised I turned him on light gear and got him out of the snag as he was quite a brute of a jack.

We continued along the same stretch and the mullet started thinning out, water temperature rose to 25 degrees and Ryan had a couple of follows from jacks on his fav little hardbody. Around the corner we noticed a very nice drop off from 2m out into 7-8m of water with a good set of snags at one end. We changed to weighted weedless plastics and Ryan caught a Toadfish (opsanus tau) which didn’t even warrant a photo – he was U-G-L-Y ! Ryan dropped a decent fish that put out a screaming run to nothing right beside the boat which was a shame because it was a good fish and I think we both would have liked to know what it was. I dropped two fish that felt fairly small like little estuary cod.

As we headed up past the snags on the electric, to come back and drift the snags we both noticed a commotion on a timber snag and saw some fins. Then the same fish flapped around on the surface again as if it was pinned somehow. Ryan made the call to go and check it out as the fins did look red. So we drifted over and sure enough, here’s a decent sized jack that had clearly won it’s freedom from another angler, only to become trapped in a snag with full leader and about 20 metres of braid attached to him. He was in good condition, so I netted him and Ryan took care of the lines and he came home in the esky for Ryan’s dinner. What a fluke of a find. The jack had a good set of shoulders and was in very good condition.

So all plans of fishing deep were abandoned and we made our way up another typical Trinity Inlet creek. I was fishing another unweighted Jackall Ammonite Shad rigged weedless and Ryan threw on a 3″ gulp shrimp. While we were rigging up I was focusing on the electric and as my back was turned I felt a solid hit and turned to see a small barra swim off with the tail of my plastic. Bugger, dropped him. We continued on and I caught a little jack deep in a snag and put the brakes on fairly hard and pulled him out on the baitcast set up and Ryan caught a little archer fish.

So what was expected to be a slow day took a nice turn and the weather was amazing. Looks like we’ll be heading back Thursday for a quick hit and run session.

What started as a frustrating morning in the salty mangroves turned out to be a fun day catching the world’s smallest barra and jacks in the brackish waters of the Barron River.

We arrived bright and early to a local creek to find a lack of bait and not much action. After what felt like 50 casts of the castnet, we scrounged up enough bait to at least get some lines out. First action of the day was a great take on a little mullet I had out, then a small jump as a barra spat the mullet back out. It was just before the run started to slow and I had called it for a bite window not less than 60 seconds before.

Before long the tide turned, started to run out and all the bait was gone. Ryan was persisting as I’d just been giving him a few tips on how to cast a net and while he practiced he hauled in a decent nets worth of herring. Then before long he was onto some decent prawns, exactly what I’d hoped to see.

So I got back on the net and we filled the bucket and headed to the Barron River to drop some live prawns down into likely snags for a barra or two. Not less than 10 minutes in I’d pulled two little barra of one snag and they were good fun and better than sitting around a sandfly ridden creek you couldn’t have bought a bite in.

Ryan got in on the action third fish with a cute little jack, then possibly the worlds smallest barra (which he clearly didn’t want a photo of) then the worlds smallest jack right at the end. It’s just luck of the draw as to what size you’ll find around these snags but they are usually just frustratingly shy of legal, sometimes a larger barra is lurking. One thing is for sure though, barramundi go nuts for a live prawn, some of these little guys can really hit hard and fight better than some bigger models I’ve caught.

Did not take too long and all the prawns were gone, mostly due to wise jack attacks that leave nothing but a tail, the hit and run experts. In all we caught about 7 barra and 2 jacks. Next time we are going late afternoon and into the night to see what larger fish turn up.

Yesterday in howling winds and on/off drizzle we decided it would be a good idea to go hit some tropical freshwater out of the weather. Upon getting out the car it was clear that there was no escaping the wind, but deep in the forest canopy it was not too bad. I don’t like fishing on really windy days up here because I’m almost certain it puts the fish off.

We may as well have been bushwalking photographers as it was very hard going. A group of rafters pushing down past up wasn’t a good sign either. The best strike of the day came from one of the first casts, when a rather large fish exploded on Ryan’s little fizzer somehow missing the hooks. I managed only one fish, a khaki bream that really didn’t want to come to the waters edge, putting up a great account for himself.

Even with barely a fish caught, it was still a great day in the beautiful surrounds of FNQ.

With scrawly weather around Cairns, we journeyed out west where the rain doesn’t fall (often). Ryan is a sooty grunter virgin so I though best we do something about that. After explaining how quick he will need to turn them and making sure he’s running enough drag we had reached a spot that warranted a cast or two. I cast out one of my favourite little surface lures, a Tiemco Bass Mania in Frog Pattern. I had barely turned the handle when bam I was on. Even after explaining how hard sooty grunter fight and preparing Ryan (and reminding myself) I was surprised by the fight! Took a quick pic and sent him on his way.

Just around the first bend and Ryan was onto his first sooty. There were heaps sitting in this spot and even though Ryan was keen to see me throw a lure at one of his mates, I was happy to watch and see the fish drawn up with his sooty. There were a few black beasts lurking deep.

Even though they kept hitting the lures, nothing committed and sadly this kind of summed up todays fishing. Especially for me, lots of half hearted hits.

Next stretch up I landed my second sooty and last fish of the day. I would have had at least 15 hits on the different lures I was using but no commitment. Quite unusual for sooty grunter.

Up a little further and we found an undercut bank with some serious sooty grunters lurking around, big and wise. Ryan had at least 3 hits and multiple boil ups behind his lure but they were just too smart and worked out what was happening. After persisting for a while too long, the decision was made to try another spot completely.

Ryan caught all the fish from here on out. Including this interesting little guy below, a spangled perch I assume, but the split tail has me intrigued. I saw a lot of these fish today, as well as archerfish and some others I’ve never seen before.

Didn’t take Ryan long to work out where the sooties were sitting! He cast into the same spots as me and pulled fish. Didn’t matter what lure I tried, just wasn’t my day

With no drinking water and the terrain ahead looking a tad too full on, we headed back to the car. Spotted ‘skippy’ on the way.

Had another live bait session a few nights ago in the Trinity Inlet. Live bait collection was easy, but no prawns. When we arrived I spotted some surface action and and called it for grunter chasing prawns. I was wrong and they turned out to be 60-70cm barra just cruising on the surface clearly visible in the clear high tide water. They wait for bait to get pushed off the flats by the tide and sit in ambush. Tony decided to try and cast net one and instantly they shut down. Needless to say, next time we will be throwing lures and plastics at them from a distance rather than the cast net. Barramundi are so in tune with their surroundings they really remind me of jungle perch. Doesn’t take much, but a sniff of danger and they shut down and move on (unless there is a stupid feeding frenzy going down).

After collecting bait from the flats we tried some deeper water that looked very promising and also threw some dead baits and yabbies out into the channel. One of my baits was snavelled and upon striking I could tell it wasn’t much of a fish and up came a cute little barred grunter. Not too long after I was bricked on the drop by a decent fish, not much chance to stop it. We both hooked some GT on live herring. I caught a small jack and Tony got a 60cm barra which he kept for his stomach.

I also managed to get owned by something very large from out in the channel, presumably a large fingermark on light gear. I had no chance around oyster encrusted pylons but in hindsight I could have played it much better but I panicked when I felt the weight of the fish and just couldn’t turn if from heading straight at the wharf. I lost a similar fish last year that ran from deep water back straight under the wharf as if it knew what it was doing. These are the fish that keep us coming back for more. Suckers for punishment.

We returned the next night and Tony caught a 55 barra on live herring and a small queeny on a shrimp plastic. I caught a cute small jack. There were thousands of herring on the drop off the flats and we spooked the barra again off the bite and up into the mangroves. Doesn’t take much for them to work out what’s going on at this spot at night in relatively clear water.

Tony better start taking some photos of his barra I reckon, or at least allow a quick photo before release. Would be good to add them into these posts.

With weather like the last few days we’d be mad not to get amongst it before the weekend crowds ruin the fishing and fun. We headed South to the freshwater and as usual it did not disappoint. Alex was in fine form, catching lots of fish and bounding through the scrub with enthusiasm. I didn’t catch too many and left the exploring to Alex. I was very happy just to be standing in cool water taking in the surrounds. The first spot saw a couple of Khaki bream each and many follows from wise jungle perch. Alex spotted the largest JP’s he’s ever seen at one spot and so he’ll be back no doubt.

Here’s some photos to give you a small idea of the natural beauty.

We moved onto another spot where Alex caught two jungle perch and a sooty grunter from the same hole.

Then we drove to the next section upstream and just near the road bridge I did a quick check to see what was lurking. Threw my lure in before I was within sight of the fish and noticed a heap of followers with some much larger swirling around beneath. Not to blow my cover I quickly retreated and took another angle. Casting upstream just past the snag holding fish, up under the bridge on the far side I nailed the perfect cast! Three twitches and a fairly fast retrieve back and I was on. The was a good fish I could tell. Suddenly my new rod didn’t feel so strong and she fought me all the way to the bank, in my head I was thinking ‘very big sooty’. When I saw it and I was delighted to see a thick set, very pretty jungle perch. Big mumma! Alex had already taken off so I just snapped a few pics from the bank then released her. I’d loved to measure her but I can safely say 38-39cm based on a few calculations using the lure length as reference. I will claim it as a PB anyway because what the photos don’t show is the girth on this fish, she was heavy. All the jungle perch up here were very thick and healthy.

Zipbaits Rigge 56 custom tune strikes again!

Alex walked as far as the eye can see up the creek in the photo above and then some. I wasn’t so keen and the last few days have taken their toll on my enthusiasm.

We saw lots of sooty grunter, khaki bream, jungle perch and a fairly large tarpon here and it’s a great spot for a swim. Safe to say, we’ll be back.

Spotted this ugly bugger on the way, anyone know what type it is?