A Day to Remember!

Now I have fished all over northern Australia...........from Darwin to Arnhem Land......from the Kimberley's to the NT border, remote Cape York to Mission Beach, and the rivers near Cairns are known like the back of my hand. I have witnessed some amazing sights and experienced some truly magical fishing. I have memories that are etched into my mind and I can recall them like it was just yesterday.

Fresh Water Barra

Well, last Saturday, in a little river just south of Cairns, my partner Debbie & I had such a moment: a moment that lasted for almost 2 hours of constant action on quality barra like I have not seem before in local river systems. But before I tell you about this, I'll set the scene for the day.

It was a high tide at approx. 6:00 am that morning and I wanted to use the backed up waters to cruise as far up the system as my little 4m Cairns Custom Craft would allow. We fish skinny water most days Deb & I, we just love flying upstream as far as we can go and there are various reasons for this.

Skinny water fishing

Not many people venture that far up our waterways, most vessels (or skippers) just can't manage it.......and the scenery can be awesomely beautiful surrounded by mountainous peaks and lush green rainforest. Oh!....the fishing can be great too. Targets are often sooties and JP's, tarpon and jacks as well as "ol’ bucket mouth" when conditions are right.

On this day I was quite surprised to find that the river was so low. We had had plenty of rain the previous week but, being the very start of our rainy season, I guess most of the rain had just soaked up OR flushed out to sea very quickly. But you have to make the most of prevailing conditions so we pushed on as far as I dared and called it a halt at one of the drains that I regularly fish. Sure enough there were a couple of rats hanging around and it wasn't long before Debbie & I had landed, photographed and carefully released a few little barra.

Check out that rainforest backdrop

We drifted slowly down on the falling tide, casting to bank side structure, stopping occasionally at more promising looking weed beds and landed a few more juveniles. The day was just perfect, a little overcast which kept conditions a little cooler but still quite humid......tropical fish just love this scenario. Coffee / late breakfast was had anchored up beneath some beautiful rainforest cover. We were truly in a tropical paradise.

What a coffee spot

My lady is a sailor / an ex prawn trawler skipper and she just loves being in "salt water".

And why do I mention this? Well, on most fishing outings I have my way and tend to fish the fresh (refer above) but today Debbie pestered me to go down to the mouth and try our luck in the salt on the incoming tide. Remembering that it was a low at approx. 12 noon and a gentle 1m run in, I reluctantly agreed to give it a go (well actually it was my hidden plan all along but I'll let her have the credit this time). And credit indeed it must be.

Drifting along on the incoming tide, occasionally using the electric to keep us positioned parallel to the bank, we cast to likely looking structure - we had switched lures to smaller 3" jack baits hoping to find a few mangrove jacks and GT's hiding amongst the snags. I was the first to hook up, but it was not what I had expected. A nice 60cm flathead had taken my lure from the mud and was quickly placed into the live well.

Lizard from the salt

Next cast Debbie had a "flash" from a nice looking barra. "Put the lead down darling" I shouted with excitement, there just might be a few barra hanging around here I thought.

The very next cast Debbie was hooked up to a nice 65cm silver streak........these feisty salt water barra are a lot fitter than their river cousins and the barra started jumping all over the place. Deb was having a bit of trouble coming to terms with the "pump & wind" technique but with my coaxing (read shouting instructions - sorry Deb) she soon had the fish under control, photographed and gently released.

Silver / salt water barra - great!

Just a little digression here. I have owned a Boga Grip for years now, having bought one many years ago when they first hit the scene as the next new “must have” toy. But it had hidden itself in the bottom of my tinny and not used for years.....something about not wanting to "hang" big fish like barra from the lip for that photo. In recent times however, I have had a change of tactics and now I use them to land almost every fish.

They are an excellent tool, offer more security that nets etc and correctly handled and used to "control" a fish while de-hooking, can actually improve the release process with a less stressed fish and a lot less damage. It is always a pleasure to see a quality fish revive and swim rapidly away.

Correct use of Boga

Back to the fishing.

On my very next cast the same scenario happened. A quality silver barra crunched my lure and launched herself into the air throwing the hooks in the process. Darn I thought, I had missed an opportunity. But I needn't have worried. Over the next couple of hours Deb & I had non stop fishing action.

Women (and blue lures) catch more fish

We even switched lures to try and stay connected to these feisty critters, they were so acrobatic. But whatever we tossed in their direction was seized upon with gusto.

There were hidden dangers in these waters however. On a couple of occasions our hooked barra would scream off in all directions followed by an almighty swirl the size of half a cricket pitch. All I got back was a lure with straightened hooks and a broken bib. We never did see what was lurking there.


Our second lure of choice was the beaut little Leads deep diving shad, as rare as hens teeth I might add, but boy oh boy, do they work in the right conditions. And on this day they wanted the blue one! (See above image)

We occasionally hooked up on the snags and reluctantly had to go in and retrieve our lures.......on most occasions this would be the end of the bite but not this day. We quietly motored back off the structure, repositioned the lead blob and cast away. We were into them again.

We actually lost count of the number of fish we had hooked and lost, probably a dozen or 15 or so. Now days we try to photograph every fish, just to keep score, so to speak, and on this day (at this spot) we landed at least 17 barra, lost another 4 at the boat (that's technically landed isn't it - we are fiercely competitive remember) and had the above win their freedom.

We left them biting - had to beat the rain

While all of this fishing action was happening and we were mesmerised to the targets at our feet, the skies out to sea were as black as !!!!!!! and the clouds were banking up on the mountains. A few drops of rain started to fall and we decided to call it a day. We scurried out of there before the heavens really opened up and made it to the safety of the ramp before a couple of drowned rats had to skulk home.

As we pulled away from the boat ramp we were still a bit shell shocked at what we had just experienced. We had landed over 20 barra, witnessed quality barra fishing that rivals anything that this great land can offer, and all within less than an hours drive from home.


Wouldn't it be fantastic if this was the norm.........and not just the occasional freak experience.


Happy fishing, regards Les

www.fishingcairns.com.au