Australian Fishing Blog

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.

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.

Live bait, lures and soft plastics. A fair few bust offs, at least 6. We kept moving until we found where the barra were feeding. I was lucky to get one of my lures back after a huge hit and run from a very large barra. Leader knot failed because some idiot forgot to retie it from the other night.

Live bait did the trick, herring or mullet and somehow Tony caught nearly all the fish (freak). Also got a very good buck mud crab in one of the pots! Watching mullet get slammed off the surface and getting drilled by unstoppable barra near pylons was the highlight!

60cm flathead

36cm mangrove jack

40cm GT

44cm cod

51cm tarpon

65cm barramundi

63cm barramundi

Dinner was canceled and a last minute decision was made to go for a fish. I’ve been keen to test some of the latest batch of lures that I’ve come up with. Mostly larger lures with a bit of bulk to them. The plan was to collect live bait, soak a line in the Trinity Inlet and flick a lure around the lights where bait and barra congregate.

It was a fairly quiet night with not many runs, then out of nowhere Tony and I got a double hook up, his was a legal mangrove jack and mine a 60cm barramundi. The mangrove jack was caught on a sardine and the barra on a bony bream. We persisted for another 30-45 minutes with not much result before moving out of the shallow water into the deep not long after the tide started to run out.

Fishing the deeper water was slow, the water was consistently changing between turbid and relatively clean with not much bait around. Then out of the blue, Tony caught a 40+ fingermark and also a fairly decent tarpon on a gulp shrimp, christening his new reel. After around an hour some bait (mostly mullet) started moving into the area off the flats and so did the barramundi. Tony started getting ‘flashed’ by big barra as he retrieved his tiny two inch shrimp, so I started throwing around one of the lures I’ve made.

I put out a long cast and instantly started a moderate to fast constant retrieve just near a developing current line. The lure got belted hard, really hard. Instantly taking to the air I could see this was a decent barra, I felt the line pull tight and the lure secure its place firmly in the jaw. This fish was full of beans and did his best to both dislodge the lure jumping several times with violent head shakes then huge diving runs setting the hook firmly. Also trying it’s best to take me around the pylons as well. The gear I was using stood up to the fight but I couldn’t believe the strength this barra had, on one of the power runs I was actually pulled off my feet momentarily. Awesome, haven’t had a estuary fish do that before! Netting the fish in a dilly lift pot was certainly hairy, yet mildly entertaining and it took many, many attempts in the fast flowing current. Didn’t look good on a few occasions but the braid held up and rod kept the barra off the pylons with relative ease. Very happy with this set up and it is far more capable than I’d given it credit for.

We were a little surprised the fish only went 85cm as it was a very healthy specimen and was called for closer to 90cm in the water. But for my first fish on a homemade lure, I couldn’t be happier! I tested the lure in the pool earlier in the day and even though it needs a final clear coat, the lure swam well so I thought I’d give it a go. Tony’s mate Matt saw it in the water and really liked the action asking me about it, he couldn’t believe I’d made it which was good feedback.

Tony also dropped a large barra which was bound to happen fishing tight quarters with 8lb braid and a medium heavy rod. Hooked on the humble two inch shrimp!!

Caught this nice jack last night on a live leader prawn. I must have cast it right on his head as it was taken on the drop. Strong fish that fought a LOT like a smaller barra. Not much else eventuated apart from a tiny bream.

Every now and then I’ve decided to put up a post dedicated to the tiddlers. The little fish that keep us all entertained! Too cute not to post