Grrrrrrr!..........all I want is a legal barra to take home to my family.
It was with much anticipation that my mate Keith Graham and I headed north to the Daintree River. We had not fished these waters for several months now and seeing as the weather God's were smiling and we had actually had some beautiful sunny weather for almost a week......expectations were high for a great day on this magnificent tropical waterway.
Launching at the public ramp near the ferry crossing is an absolute breeze these days. There is even a floating pontoon to assist with the launch / retrieve process and we were soon on the river, readying our tackle and applying the sun block / insect repellent / gloves / broad rimmed hat and sunnies. No sooner had we putted out into the middle of the river when bait and fish exploded all around us. G.T.'s we shouted and it was a mad panic to open our tackle boxes, sift through the hundred or so lures that we tend to carry (just in case) and searched for that favorite popper.
Trevors just love surface lures and when they are smashing bait like that, are relatively easy targets with a small 3" popper worked erratically across the surface. No sooner had we had our gear ready (should have clipped on a popper at the outset to the 4kg spin outfit) and the trevors had all disappeared. BUT WAIT..........there's more. Another feisty school soon erupted 20 metres away so we motored over on the electric and cast in the direction of the surface action.
In no time we were both hooked up and after a spirited fight the G.T.'s were quickly photographed and sent on their way back downstream.
It was a low tide at approx 11am that day, so we decided to have a cast around some mangrove prickles before the water became too low. We landed a small barra, had a couple of half hearted follows and a flash from a jack but not a lot was happening.
Time for a cuppa........head upstream to the weed beds and see what old bucket mouth was up to.
We began our drift, fighting the elements and trying to work out which was the dominant force - the wind or the tide. We usually use the tide to slowly push us downstream, using the electric to position us within casting distance of the swaying ribbon grass. But sometimes up here the south east "breeze" is a bit too strong and you sort of get stuck in the one zone having to fight for territory all the way down – today was one of those days. It was a bit slow but a few juvenile barras were being landed on the leads and F1-11's (One of Keith's special lures imported by Bransfords Tackle Shop).
Let's head upstream I stated, I want to see how much water is coming down and we were soon zooming up past Barrett’s Creek, past the township and into a shallow sandy straight. Shallow........did someone say SHALLOW!
Luckily I could see the skinny water but even after powering down we came to an abrupt stop / Keith crashed to the forward casting deck and landed firmly on the fleshy part of the anatomy called your "rear end". Man was he going to have a big bruise tomorrow I mused. Just goes to show how careful and well prepared you must be at all times........you see, we always stow our rods carefully next to the gunnels when travelling, all spare lures are put out of harms way and the deck in orgaised with esky, tackle bags, knife, pliers and boga's in their place. A sudden stop like that could easily have resulted in broken tackle, hooked anglers or much worse. Thankfully it was only bruised pride (sorry Keith).
The real problem however is that small outboards can't propel you through sand, they can't plow on and tend to suck up the "hard stuff" when the prop is revved in this fashion. Hmmmmm.....the tell tail is supposed to squirt water, not steam. We did manage to clear the tubing but there must have still been an obstruction (read dirty big lumps of sand) further up the cooling system so it was decided to head back downstream on the electric, fishing on our way and think of plan "B" to get home.
We did manage a few more barra however and the pictures hereabouts attest to our success;
• 8 barra in total
• 2 river G.T.'s
• 1 jack
But time was ticking by and who knows how long it would take to get way back down to the ferry / ramp. So it was two "slightly" unsatisfied anglers that packed up the gear and putted slowly down stream on the outboard. My neck was crooked to the right every 30 seconds to ensure that some H2O was trickling out of the tell-tale...........I kept a constant watch on the water temp too, I didn't want to cook the motor and thought that a damaged impeller would be a lot less expensive that a new outboard - agreed!
By about 4pm we had made it back to the Daintree township........how about we pull in here?
I could get a ride with "someone" from here to the ferry, drive the car and trailer back and it would not only be quicker, it could save the engine. What a great idea we mused.
It wasn't long before a very generous Mexican (Victorian) offered to take me back and I was more than grateful for their assistance. In only a half hour or so I had been dropped off at the ferry, driven back to the town ramp, loaded the boat and off we headed home. Probably saved me a couple of hours and a few dollars to boot.
And I still didn't have that last legal sized barra for the season, what would the family eat from now until February next year? Mangrove jacks / fingermark / queenfish / mackerel / tuna / emperor / trout.......OK, we'll survive.
Great fishing, regards Les
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