Crocodiles Warm while Barra’s Remain in a Coma!

What a perfect start to the day……….the drive up the coast from Cairns was just magic. Not a cloud in the sky, the fringing rainforest (the oldest in the world) looking splendid as it hugged the mountains. Signs of a good wet season and probably no recent cyclone damage I’d suggest.

My 4m CCC @ Daintree Ramp / pontoon

What a magic day!

We launched our boat at the main ferry crossing and surveyed the scene – just a picture. The waters surface was like glass, the mangroves were drinking up the life giving ebbing tide and the surrounding tropical rainforest was alive with the various calls of the birdlife. It was great to be alive.

Conditions would not stay like this for much longer however, with predicted strong SE winds in the order of 25 – 30 knots, and a maximum day time temp. predicted at 24C, it was going to be a cool day by our standards. Thankfully there was no hint of rain so anywhere out of that persistent wind would be quite pleasant still!

These conditions are just ideal for those big lizards too!

As the tide receeded, it was a low of .5 metres at midday, any exposed mud or sand bank out of the wind and in full sun, would be a sunbathing opportunity too good to pass up by the resident crocs. And boy, were they making the most of it. Just by cruising around, looking for likely looking fishing spots to toss our lures, saw us encounter 15 of these prehistoric creatures…….imagine how many we may have seen if we had really tried to find them.!

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But in conditions such as these, sightings are a real bonus and you never cease to be amazed at what life is actually hiding in the waters of the Daintree.  We were here for the fishing, not the croc spotting!

My Debbie works in Real Estate (RE/MAX Cairns – the #1 real estate company in the world, TRUE) so weekends are usually her busiest time. Working 7 days a week is the norm for Debbie, but I was fortunate enough to encourage her to come and fish with me on this day, she will not get another day off until after October she confessed…..make the most of it girl.

Readers will know that Debbie & I are extremely competitive with our fishing; I just love it! And so it was that I chose a couple of lures while Debbie took out about her usual 6-8 lures in various sizes / colours / diving depth etc etc……….she must have been nervous eh!

First for the day

We had not gone far when I enticed a little rat from under the overhanging mangrove branches, you know, the horizontal ones that lay parallel in the water column. Tip, barra just love hiding behind these structures and can be found on both the incoming and outgoing tide in this situation.

There was a friendly chap anchored up nearby, but he was bait fishing and waiting for the action. The Daintree can be very productive as a bait fishing destination also, but I’m a lure fanatic so politely passed him by……….”You’ve just caught my fish he exclaimed”……….”nar, you’r fishing out in the open while she came from way back under the trees” I explained. We moved on!

We left him in peace & tranquility

Not long after, the predicted winds arrived and sent a shivering blast up the river. Thankfully we had come fully prepared and I always wear a few layers of clothing to stop the piercing blast under these conditions. Lets look for some more protected water I suggested, and off we zoomed upstream to a nearby creek junction. Zilch!

Protection from the wind - but not much else!

At least Deb was relaxing!

There was surprisingly quite a lot of boating traffic on the water this day. A combination of lovely early weather and a few more tourists around I’d suspect. There were boats zooming all over the place, a sure sign in itself that the fishing was a bit slow with anglers trying to locate feeding fish. Let’s head upstream and try something different I suggested.

Now readers will know all too well that I have had a little fixation on a particular lure lately, the mighty “Flat Jak” from Bransfords. And I have done particularly well on them for quite some time now. Being a relatively buoyant lure, swimming to about 2 metres on a long cast, they are not the “bees knees” in all fishing situations. Every now and again circumstances will come along where a different approach is required. And so it was the Debbie & I found ourselves tucked out of the wind in a little backwater surrounded by thick cotton wood trees. Barra just love hiding under cotton wood trees (another tip!) but a shallow lure just does not get down to where the fish are at.

Then it hit me like a bolt from the sky……..during my recent trip to Lakefield, Ali had caught quality barra on another of Bransfords tried and tested (by yours truly several years ago) lures, the exclusive“F111’s”. They are a brilliant lure to cast, are a slow sinker, but when worked enticingly with a slow jerky retrieve, they dance all over the place like a wounded mullet. Get it……….injured or sick fish get eaten by predators, right!

I chose a bright green and gold model, after all it is the Olympics, and I should support the Aussies. On my very first cast I let the lure sink down in the 2metre + water I was fishing in, jerked it slowly back to the boat and there it was, a nice silver flash down deep. There’s barra down there babe, get your lure in there. Refer back now, Debbie likes to try a hundred different lures in a day, but this time she was reluctant to change whatever she was tied to. But I can assure you that after my fifth little barra, Deb thought that there just might be something in this drop technique after all, so reluctantly tied on a bright shiny pink and bronze model.

Unfortunately Deb had no luck, she had a strong hit from one down deep that failed to hook up and missed a couple of flashes. I didn’t think she allowed the lure to sink far enough but you try to tell a headstrong Kiwi girl that she is not fishing right……….competitive, you bet ya!

Time to head back downstream and fish the incoming tide………..unfortunately the area I chose was just not firing today. The tide was racing in, stirring up the mud and whether this had anything to do with it I could not be certain but I was bitterly disappointed.

We flogged my river bend for naught……..time to get an early exit I thought, lets go home babe and have an early roast (its traditional on Sunday’s in our household).

Deb's first and last for the trip!

We stopped at a couple of places on the way back to the ramp, Deb finally landed her first barra for the day and I was pleased for her. I know that she never complains, never does, but I also know that she loves nothing better than barra fishing (apart from sailing / walking along a deserted beach / having a nice glass of wine….sorry, got carried away!). I landed another juvenile as well.

Now I really don’t like to gloat, but what was that tally count darling………..Oh yes!

7 barra to Les and 1 barra to Deb. Yes, we are competitive!

Green & Gold - go Aussie - F111

And as for those “new” lures, the “Bransfords F111’s”……….I’ll certainly be using them more often when conditions are right…….they come in a great range of modern, well finished eye catching colours too.

Catch you on the water

Regards, Les

www.fishingcairns.com.au

Farewell my friend........see you next time!