The Russell in Flood!

With the Christmas / New Year holidays upon us and a slight break in the weather, what does any keen angler do?


Plan a trip up one of the flooded rivers of course.

This can be a very exciting time to fish the top sweet water sections of our fast flowing tropical streams so Terry and I decided to meet at his place at approx 6:30am on Tuesday morning and decide then on which direction to travel, taking overnight rainfall into consideration. Like all well planned fishing decisions we um’d & ah’d for minutes as we drove away from Terry’s house, my 4m Cairns Custom Craft in tow and before long we settled on the “tried and tested” course and headed south.

Readers will be more than familiar with my assessment here, better to go south with various options rather than head all the way north to the Daintree to find it’s the color of tomato soup.

NOTE – Please be aware that we are not being frivolous here. There is no way that either of us would venture into flood swollen rivers just to have a fishing fix if there was too much danger and every river trip is carefully undertaken and planned taking the prevailing conditions into consideration. My heart and thoughts go out to those further south who are suffering so badly with the flooding that is gripping the East coast of Australia at present.

Barron Falls

Barron Falls

You see, the day before I had taken a trip up to Kuranda to view the spectacular Barron Falls in all her glory as millions of litres of water plunged over the gorge. This is something that locals and tourist alike must see, hear and feel - the power of the water when nature provides. Then it was west to Davies Creek to check out this popular camping / swimming spot to see this beautiful stream in full flow. Although nothing like the Barron River Falls, this stream sure was pretty and the falls spectacular in their own right.

Davies Creek

Davies Creek Falls

Then it was off to Atherton, down the Gillies Highway and along the Mulgrave Valley………this was a recon trip to check the water levels of the Mulgrave. Two nights before a mini cyclone had crossed the coastal range just south of Cairns and dumped 100’s of mm of rainfall. You could see where the swirling waters had been at their peak, crossing both sides of the highway but she had settled back down into the river bed proper by now and most importantly from my point of view, the water color indicated that fishing would be productive provided we did not get too much overnight rain.

Back to our journey!

Crossing the Mulgrave bridge slowly, making special note of the water depth and clarity, we easily calculated that it was quite fishable and if necessary, was just a matter of deciding at which point in the river we wished to launch my punt. There are considerations as to water height and bridge crossings when the river is up – anglers can be “trapped” between two flooded bridges at times which obviously restrict your fishing zone and its not an ideal situation. Its that compromise thing again.

Mulgrave River - Low Level Bridge

Mulgrave River - Downstream

Lets push on to the Johnstone I advised, we can check the Russell / Babinda Creek area and if its no good, we know we will have other options as backup. The Russell was looking good………and every little stream, gutter and drain was flowing clean as we headed south.

As soon as we approached the North Johnstone bridge our hearts sank. It was putrid and certainly not fishable in those conditions. Turning right at the Palmerstone Highway, we did a u turn and headed back north.

What about the Russell I exclaimed! We had not fished this river for ages, over 12 months for me, and in these conditions we could get way upstream, even under the highway bridge and up into rarely fished waters. Terry, being a local, has fished this water numerous times but personally I had only been this far upstream once before and that was with Terry several years ago. Why not!..........at least it would be an adventure.

But that same “bridge” problem would occur should we take the normal course and launch at the main boat ramp so it was decided to put the boat in via Babinda. Approx. 1k back from the main river there was water right across the road, the Russell sure was high. We proceeded very carefully until we reached the bridge and all we had to do was back the trailer to the side of the road and push the boat off………..easy!

Launching - That's the main road benind the boat



On the highway - truly!

 You just don’t catch fish in red water – I’ve alluded to this many times – so it was going to be a big trip upstream, past the swamps (where most of the discolored water was spewing from), past the highway, up rocky rapids and into virgin country.

Nice JP

Babinda Creek Sooty

Beautiful backdrop

 We had a few casts in Babinda Creek and landed a few nice sooties and JP’s. We headed up the Babinda drain to check out some overflows but it soon became apparent that the water was just too high to fish the flats. So out we came and prepared for the long haul up into fresh, clean mountain water evident from the highway bridge. We had not travelled more than 200 metres when I noticed what I thought was a half submerged log. As I was not quite up on the plane I eased back a little and then the realization hit me. This was not a log but the bloody big fat tail of a huge saltwater croc. We estimated that the total animal would have been over 4m long…………we quickly zoomed out of there and headed upstream.

Fancy a cooling swim in a tropical stream………..not likely mate.

The trip up was a real BUZZ. The contrast in water clarity once we passed the Eubenangee Swamp was amazing and our spirits rose in anticipation of a great days fishing ahead. Past red earth cliffs, rainforest and fern lined banks we zoomed, behind stands of trees and up rocky rapids. It was exhilarating and luckily Terry knew the waters like the back of his hand – er um well almost – we did come to grief at one particularly shallow rapid and the grinding of metal on rock is not a pretty sound. I always carry a spare prop and we were going to have to use it on the long journey back to the exit point. Not to worry.

Red Bank cliffs

Grassy verges

Drifting back down with the fast flowing waters we cast our surface poppers to back eddies / up under overhanging fig trees and along grassy edges. The JP’s and sooties were willing participants in our fun. The images hereabouts testament to our success.

JP

JP

We even found some barra to boot and working larger lures at the mouth of the drains produced the goods.

66cm Barra

One particular spot will be permanently etched into my brain and for various reasons. Santa had been particularly kind to me this year and I was blessed to receive all sorts of fishing goodies for Christmas. Bright shiny lures, deep diving Leads and poppers, sun glass straps, a new hat and even a hook sharpener and I was going to try a few of them on this trip.

Terry had just plonked the lead blob down to position the boat mid stream, I clipped on my brand new red deep diver and cast to the drain………..BOOF! On my very first cast, with my brand new lure, in a brand new spot I hooked up to a barra of around 70cm. But the fight was short lived. She drilled me in the grass and de hooked herself. Even though I did not land the fish, it did not matter. I was stoked to have the strike, the hook up and the brief fight. Barra can do that to you.

73cm Barra - Largest of trip

Terry and barra

To cut a long story short we came back to this drain later in the afternoon. We pulled another 4 barra from the junction and they were all quality fish. Terry landed a couple in the 60’s while I landed the biggest fish at just on 73cm. Being “closed season” all the barra were quickly photographed and gently released.

By mid afternoon the skies had turned dark grey, lightning and thunder could be heard rumbling up in the mountains and it was decided that we should head back to the vehicle and extract ourselves just in case. As it was we had to pull out the seats, take off the electric and remove the rod holder so that we could get under a railway bridge – if there was a huge dump upstream and the river rose a few feet we could have been in a bit of bother.

Remember that rocky rapid that we hit on the way up – well we pulled into a backwater and changed the prop – my little 20hp Yamaha certainly liked the symmetry of the new propeller and it was a comfortable trip back downstream to the extraction point…………apart from the stinging rain as it pelted into my face.

Back at the "ramp" - vehicle in left hand background

It was two very happy anglers that winched the punt back onto the trailer, the water had actually dropped a few inches during the day and there was no problems driving back to the highway and home for a beer.

I had had a wonderful day, fishing new waters, using new tackle that actually produced the goods and most of all, it was a real adventure.



Great fishing, Les Marsh
http://www.fishingcairns.com.au/

The Mighty Hinchinbrook

My good mate, and arguably one of the finest fishing guides in North Queensland, Terry Holman, had asked Debbie and myself to accompany him to Port Hinchinbrook for the weekend. You see Terry had a repeat client, Toshi from Japan, plus another fishing “guru” Kevin (refer my previous Daintree blog) to entertain and it was an opportunity too good to miss.

Debbie works in Real Estate, it’s a 7 day a week commitment and to have the opportunity to fish the Hinchinbrook region during the pre Christmas period, be guided by not one but three “experienced guides”, stay in a modern fully air-conditioned three bedroom town house right on the Marina, with our very own floating pontoon to boot – well, we just could not say no.

Terry, Kevin & Toshi left town early on Friday morning, they were to fish the channel that day and suss out the situation. Debbie & I had to work until mid afternoon, she is the boss after all, and we departed Cairns around 4pm. The drive down was uneventful apart from having to wait at the Aumuller St / Southern Access Rd intersection for over 15 minutes – it took 5 sets of lights before we went through…………Grrrrrrr, man I was cranky.

We arrived at approx. 7pm with all the excitement of a couple of school kids on vacation, checked out the fabulous apartment and helped Terry set up the BBQ for dinner. Our home for the next couple of days was to be the magnificent “Ripples on the Marina”. It had much more to offer than we expected, our very own floating pontoon with running fresh water to wash down our boat & gear, electricity to plug in our battery charger each evening, fully carpeted, only 5 minutes boat ride from the huge ramp and right outside our door. Oh, the inside was very comfortable too.

Ripples on the Marina

Sunrise from our bedroom

The alarm went off at 5:30am, we jumped out of bed, had a hearty but hurried breakfast of bacon & eggs and scrambled down to the boats and headed off. Terry, Kevin & Toshi in his 5m Cairns Custom Craft punt, Debbie and myself in our little 4m twin.

Terry, Kevin & Toshi

Leaving the Marina

The channel was as flat as a pancake and the trip across to the top of the island a breeze in the conditions. Terry had fished the rocky shoreline on the falling tide the day before and was quite successful, why not give it another go. It was decided that Terry, having the larger more comfortable boat, would fish the far bay while Debbie & I concentrated on the near shore.

No joke, on Debbie’s very first cast of the trip, a feisty 60cm barra crashed her lure amongst the stunted mangroves but failed to hook up – if we weren’t excited beforehand we sure were now. Conditions were ideal for lure tossing but we sensed that it was going to be a very hot humid day by mid afternoon.

Things became a stale mate for the next hour or so with no real fishing action at all, we were waiting on the morning high tide to start to drop, knowing full well that that would ring the dinner bell.

Juvenile barra

Fishing the rocky points

Estuary cod



Typical barra













Using shallow running Leads highjackers we started to account for a few small estuary cod, then a juvenile barra, then another……….more cod and the pattern was set. By mid morning we could feel the heat, the water was 34.8C, almost hot enough to cook in and that, as Kevin explained, was the reason for a lack of mangrove jacks. Too warm for them. We persisted around the rocks and it started to fire up and by lunch time the tally had mounted to about a dozen cod and 9 barra.

Turtle

Barra

What really surprised us was the number of sea turtles……..they were everywhere gliding through the shallow waters. Sometimes surfacing right alongside the boat and scaring the wits out of us……….they confused us too…….was that a fish swirl or just another one of these magnificent creatures.



It was too hot to stop fishing, and we couldn’t find a shady spot on this side of the island anyway, so we ate egg and bacon pie (with tomato sauce of course) on the run and got straight back into it.



By mid afternoon the north easterly was in……..man was it hot, and humid but the fishing had slowed anyway so we worked our way back to the channel side of the island. We found a rocky outcrop in about a metre of choppy water and began to cast our lures around the slop. I landed my best barra of the trip here and at 63cm it wasn’t a big fish but sure gave a good account of herself amongst the oyster covered rocks. I also lost two lures here, busted off on those very same oysters.

63cm barra - my best

Barra

Back to the channel and we worked our way along the mangrove lined shore. By now the tide was making and the window of opportunity would not last long. Casting amongst the heavily timbered bank, amongst the tangle of mangrove roots and fallen trees we found active fish again. It was Debbie’s turn to have some good luck and she out fished me three to one that afternoon.











Not to worry, it was two very happy and weary anglers that headed back across the channel to the Marina entrance that afternoon. We must have landed about 30 fish that day but not a jack in sight.

A hearty meal, the exchange of fish tales tall and not so true, a few beers and the swapping of lures amongst friends soon had us seeking the comfort of our huge queen size bed. I was asleep in no time.

Here in the tropics you get to know a few things about how nature works. During the day old sol shines brightly, sucking up all that moisture from the warm seas and taking it high into those puffy dark clouds. Sure its hot and sticky, the sweat runs down your backside and you reach for another ice cold beer or six – and that’s why we love it up here. But we also know that after the sun goes down, the air temperature drops a few degrees and guess what – all that moisture just can’t be suspended anymore and with the crack of lightning, the heavy roll of thunder, the heavens open up and down she comes.

Well at 1.20am I was rudely awaken but one the most spectacular “light” shows I had ever seen. Lightning flashed across the dark threatening sky, thunder rolled right through you and the rain pelted down. My poor little tinny……….she was safely tied up to the Marina pontoon BUT what about the electrics. I had the 240V battery charger connected, what would happen if my boat filled up with water just enough to short the whole thing out?

Climbing out of my comfortable bed I quickly dressed, went out back to my vehicle to find my umbrella and gingerly walked down to my boat. I had better disconnect all power first I calculated, then I could safely disconnect the leads, check the water proofing cover that I had rigged over the charger and even run the battery powered bilge pump. No dramas, it was over in a few minutes, all was safe and I went back to bed to watch the light show.

But guess what, my mate Terry awoke a while after me and had the same idea. He found my umbrella, scurried down to the pontoon and RECONNECTED the power to my charger. Thankfully all was well and by morning I awoke to clearing skies and a boat and electrics all intact and a fully charged battery to boot. Thanks Terry!

Happy anglers

Flat out fishing!

This second day saw the trip across the channel even calmer, the water was like glass and the mountainous backdrop of Hinchinbrook Island was a real treasure to behold. This is the largest Island National Park in Australia and offers truly stunning scenery, superb camping, fishing and even an Island resort for those so inclined.

We decided to fish the inside channel on the last of the making tide, it was too high to fish the rocks anyway and we really intended to kill some time for a while. If we landed a fish or two it would be a bonus. Terry cast his deep diving shad towards the mangrove stand at the mouth of a small creek, bait fish were scattering everywhere when BOOF!..........he was on to a barra of well over 90cm. It was sheer pandemonium as he tried desperately to control her direction but she charged back into the structure, around a stand of drowned timber and back out again. All Terry could do was glide on the electric to the dead tree, have Kevin position the boat and gingerly he tried to untangle his stretched line. It was so comical to watch him pass his baitcaster round the first trunk, then the second and oops…….almost lost the rod and then Terry into the drink. I did say almost and eventually the line was free of this obstruction and they headed back into open water.

But wait, there’s more…………the monster had found another drowned snag right out where the boat was first stationed. She crashed the surface and made a resounding BOOF. Man I love that sound. And it was all over, she had managed to snag the lure on a thin twig of a branch and swam to freedom.

Barra are amazing creatures. They are a magnificent looking animal, hit lures with gusto and offer a spirited fight on the right tackle. Their take can be spectacular and put grown men into a quivering mess……….they are as adapt at self release as they are at hooking up and many angler is left mouth agape at how they free themselves. How they found that hidden snag, rock or weed bed. You’ve got to admire them and remember the challenge. This is what fishing is all about, its not catching.

At this stage Terry and his band had decided to head back to the rocks. Debbie & I decide to stay and try our luck along the mangrove bank.

Did I tell you that just after the boys left Debbie had an almighty strike in the same spot…….unfortunately her drag was just not set for a monster of this size and she was free in a moment. But the memories remain and she will be back.

We decided to bolt up the channel and fish the island on the falling tide, casting lures to the mangrove forest and occasionally hooking up to hungry barra. It was great fishing but it had its frustrating moments too. Like the 200th time that I hooked up to the tree roots, like the time a metre long barra materialized under my shad but did not take that extra step to strike, like the lack of action on other species. There is not wall to wall barra anywhere, you have to take them when they come, find them where they are at various stages of the tide cycle and be thankful for being able to fish in such wonderful places like far North Queensland has to offer.

My only jack - nice one!

I don’t know how many fish we landed, we were too absorbed in our surroundings to seriously take a count but suffice to say that we had an absolute blast. If I had to have a calculated guess I would say that we landed about 30 barra for the 2 days, about 15 cod, 1 jack and a flathead. And I sure can remember that one lone jack……that’s another story.

  

Flathead

So if you ever get the chance to get to Port Hinchinbrook, want a quality stay in fabulous self contained accommodation look no further than "Ripples on the Marina". And if you want spectacular fishing, with a great guide, do I have a deal for you.

I trust all my readers have a truly WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR.

There are strange things happening up here in FNQ, our economy is in pretty bad shape and a lot of people and families are struggling big time. Christmas can be a joyous time for many…………it can also be a trying time for the sad, broken and downhearted. Share a thought for them too an pray for better things to come in 2011.

Good fishing, Les

http://www.fishingcairns.com.au/

Did someone say Rain Forest!

The pre wet season built up can be a fabulous time to fish our tropical rainforest rivers and even though the tides were not the best (a low at 6:00am and a slow run in until 3:00pm) Kevin and I decided to head to the mighty Daintree anyway.

Daintree Boat Ramp - A beauty!

Our plan was to head downstream from the boat ramp and toss lures under the overhanging mangrove trees before the making tide pushed up too far and disbursed the bait. It was a good plan and before long we hand glided to a standstill, clipped on my favorite Lead’s highjacker and dropped the bow mounted electric into the briny.

It was Kevin’s turn to take his boat this day, a beautifully finished off 4.3m Cairns Custom Craft punt, and as his electric is mounted on the bow, I still had my favorite stern position to cast from. Its not often that I get a chance to be the “client”……..being an ex guide and a fussy angler, I usually take my own boat and gladly guide my fiends / guests. Kevin is an expert river fisherman, we share the same fishing philosophies, have the same preferred angling styles etc so it was indeed a pleasure to be towed along this way.

Note – The bow mounted electric worked a treat. I was constantly amazed at the increased efficiency of the motor being in this position as the energy needed to “pull” an object through the water – pointy bit first – rather that “push” it from the stern, was dramatically shown in a positive light throughout the day. Food for thought there, maybe I should make some modifications to my punt as well.

Back to the fishing.

We were greeted by conditions that were not ideal. You see, we had had heaps of rain this past few weeks and the water was the color of black tea. Thankfully it wasn’t like tomato soup so we were fairly optimistic. It was warm, it was humid, it was as still as could be and the sun was sucking up the moisture making for uncomfortable conditions. Even at this early hour the sweat was dribbling down my back – it was going to be a hot day.

We had just settled into fishing and had no more than a few cast each when a flash zoomed up from the gutter…….barra we exclaimed excitedly. Back in went to Leads…….. boof………. and I was on to a feisty little barra around the 50cm mark. Kevin landed an archer fish and a couple more barra came from this one section. Hmmmmm, maybe we would have a good day after all.

Barra from mangroves - check that water color!

Archer Fish

Drifting further downstream we worked the thick horizontal mangrove trunks that jutted out from the heavily timbered bank. Quite a few barra were laying on the downstream side of these structures and a well presented lure brought instant results. We also worked the edge of the “prickles”…….at half tide these aerial roots of the humble mangrove tree provide shelter for skittish baitfish and guess what. Where the food swims the predators follow. The tally was mounting.

Barra - note dark coloring, a fresh water fish

About 10:00am we entered a small side creek. There was a snag sitting in about 2m of water so we clipped on deep diving lures to get down to the structure. On my first cast there was another barra flash……missed it. Next cast I let the lure sink a few feet first, twitch, twitch and bang…..I was on to a nice fish. But the hooks pulled after a brief encounter so we left the snag to get back into the river proper, away from the mozzies and have a cupper.

By now the tide had pushed in too far for this “under mangrove” approach so a journey upstream past the main ramp was the order of the hour. It was now time to work the “prickles” and again we found more willing fish however the bite had definitely slowed from the mornings peak. Drifting along on the electric we cast right up to the bank, slowly twitching our lures past the swaying mangrove roots and occasionally catching a barra. This was fun.

Man it was still, it was as hot as hell and the trickle of sweat had become a torrent down my back………lets head upstream and turn on the air-conditioning I mused. We pulled up near a bend and started to work a nice weed bed.

What the hell was that?

About 100 metres further upstream there was a real commotion going on up under the cotton wood trees. We could hear the splashing of a large animal near the rivers edge and the actual breaking of branches. And then we saw it, a huge croc of well over 5 metres glided out from under the trees. Its head was massive, almost a metre and a half from the nose to its eyes. Next came a huge hump that was the main body of this beast followed well behind by a trailing tail. I could feel fear swelling up inside me, the sheer size of this living dinosaur made the senses sharpen and the pulse quicken………we were far enough away to feel relatively safe in the boat BUT would not want to hang around that location for much longer. The beast made a 180 degree turn and crashed back under the trees.

Whether this monster was mating or defending its territory, we are well into the croc's mating season, we did not want to hang around to find out and a hasty decision was made to give that area a wide berth.

Up around the next bend we could see quite heavy rainfall blanketing the valley, the skies were as black as and thunder started to crack above the hills. Time to put on the wet weather gear just in case.

Just in case………within a few minutes the heavens opened up, the skies closed over, thunder rumbled around and through us so we quickly took cover in Barrett’s Creek to ponder our next move. It was lunch time anyway so we were quite happy for the relief from the heat and humidity while we ate a hearty meal.

It took about 1.5 hours for the storm to move further north-east and clear our way to continue fishing. Next stop was the weed beds where we encountered more juvenile barra and we both landed another each.

Juvenile barra - from the prickles

Barra from weeb beds

Further upstream we travelled, past the Daintree township , past Stewarts Creek that was spewing coffee colored water from the recent downpour and up to a nice backwater. I pulled another barra from the weeds here too. It was my lucky day.

The further upstream and the further into the tide, the barra activity was definitely on the decline, time to pack it up and head off home.


The tally for the day:

• Barramundi x 16

• Jacks x 4

• Flathead x 1

• Archerfish x 1

Two very happy anglers made our way back along the Coral Coast to Cairns that evening and conversations turned to next week’s adventure. WE ARE HEADING OFF TO THE HINCHINBROOK FOR A FEW DAYS………..hope to have a great weekend!



MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL MY FRIENDS AND READERS.

Good Fishing, Les Marsh

http://www.fishingcairns.com.au/