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.
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| Barron Falls |
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| 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.
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| Davies Creek |
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| 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.
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| Mulgrave River - Low Level Bridge |
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| 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!
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| Launching - That's the main road benind the boat |
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| On the highway - truly! |
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| Nice JP |
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| Babinda Creek Sooty |
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| 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.
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| Red Bank cliffs |
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| 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.
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| JP |
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| JP |
We even found some barra to boot and working larger lures at the mouth of the drains produced the goods.
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| 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.
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| 73cm Barra - Largest of trip |
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| 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.
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| 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/
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