Jacks on the Daintree

With the wet weather still prevailing and the majority of the rain falling south of Cairns, it was decided that the Daintree River would be our best option. It was Kevin's turn to take his well appointed 4.3m Cairns Custom Craft punt (Kev was the foreman at CCC for years) so an early rendezvous at my place was organised for 6:30am. The trip north was uneventful and we were soon backing down the well appointed boat ramp near the ferry crossing.



Kev's rig - 4.3m CCC & Tojo

With a predicted south-east change due to hit mid afternoon, we were mindful that the best fishing conditions should be early in the day, from launch until just after low tide at approx. 1.30pm...WRONG!

The river was as "flat as a tack" on launch, but the winds arrived early bringing driving rain and squally conditions. Not at all what we had expected, however, we were there, in our wet weather gear and would persist. The usual spots failed to fire as we drifted downstream on the ebbing tide. It was tough going and we were becoming quite frustrated. Its amazing how your casting accuracy "goes off" when the fish are not biting; but the mangrove trees seem to grown a few centimeters and grab the lures anyway. I'd hate to count how many times we backed into and under the overhangs to retrieve our very naughty lures!

Only real fish of the morning!

Up until lunch time we had had only moderate success; we drifted the slowly exposing banks, cast to fallen timber, overhangs and creek junctions......and all we had to show for it was a very small trevally and a medium barra. Lunch was had out in the open, the internationally famous Daintree mozzies and sandflies made it too uncomfortable to be tucked up out of the wind and it was more advisable to put up with a little breeze instead of the constant buzzing in your ears.

Just after lunch, on the making tide, we decided to fish one of the creeks down near the mouth. Conditions were quite good......in fact the weather was markedly on the improve by now, the rain had ceased, the winds had eased back considerably and there was even a patch of blue sky trying to develop offshore and push its was upstream.



First jack of the trip

These are quality jacks

I think my lure was hit first.....and the reason that I was a little surprised was that the quality jack had come from deep water, actually several metres away from any structure or the bank. Kev was soon on as well and fought a nice jack to the boat. We noticed that the jacks were hanging just off the main drop off and not on the normal structure. They must have been feeding on the bait slowly being pushed up the channel on the incoming tide. Our jack tally was mounting as attested to by the photo's hereabouts. In fact, this was some of the best jack fishing that either of us had experienced in our local rivers ever! A bold statement but true.



Just under legal barra

Just over legal - 59cm

We did manage a couple of legal sized barra as well, along with a half dozen little rats. And just toround off the species list, Kev also landed a flathead and a trevally.

Best barra of the trip at 68cm







One instance worth reporting however, was "the one that got away" moment. As we slowly drifted along I saw a nice looking snag....not one of those "big butt" fallen trees but one where there were heaps of little fingers of drowned timber protruding from the swirling waters. These are always worth a cast or two as the myriad little branches are ideal for holding baitfish. I cast right next to the upstream facing bunch of sticks and before I had time to engage the reel a legal sized barra boofed my lure from the surface.

He took off vertically, jumping over the branches, hooking up to a little nodule and powering out towards the middle of the creek. If he only stayed out wide I might have a chance I thought, so Kev gingerly started motoring towards the snag and the junction point of my line. Its amazing how such a little innocuously looking piece of dead vegetation can ruin a party.......by the time I'd used the rod tip to untangle this little intrusion, the barra had indeed swum back under the sticks, hooking up the lure and breaking himself free. Thankfully we had landed plenty of other fish so werent too distraught.

But have a look at what I did catch!

This was amazing! A little saltie

It was ferocious and put up a fantastic fight on light tackle.

Its growl was deafening………..and I was petrified that it would attract the attention of its even bigger mother who must have been lurking nearby.
But I was strong and survived to fight another day.

NOTE – it was released unharmed

It was two very happy anglers that pulled the pin at approx. 4:30 pm.......after such a S  L  O  W start prior to lunch, the change in tide and weather certainly flicked the switch and the fish responded positively. In all we landed;

• 7 barra
• 13 mangrove jacks
• 2 trevally
• 1 flathead
• 1 croc

Catch you on the water.

Regards, Les
www.fishingcairns.com.au

PS....Keith Graham, Alan Willmot and I are off to Lakefield mid week.......a boys camping / fishing / sensible drinking trip. I should have a good story to tell you next week.