Fishing Cairns: A Lazy Sunday on the Johnstone

It was by default that Keith Graham & I ended up in the Johnstone River at Innisfail. You see, "the best laid plans of mice and men" had us heading further south to the Murray River, BUT alas, somehow we had “lost” the directions of where to fish so a hasty change of plans saw us launching earlier than anticipated at the town ramp in Innisfail.

Not to worry…….conditions were quite good considering it was “winter’ and the water temp. at just on 22C should still produce a few fish we thought.

We headed downstream and fished the last of the making tide. I have a favourite river bend at this stage, one of those where the mangrove “prickles” are just poking out of the water. Bait fish like to hide amongst this structure for a bit of protection and hey presto – a few barra or jacks might just be about. I pinned on a lime green bomber, Keith snapped on a brand new Japanese lure called a xxxxxxxxx and off we went to toss them at the swaying nodules.

Les + 1st Barra on green bomber

It wasn’t long before a feisty little barra crunched my lure on the edge of a mangrove gutter and I was pleasantly surprised to have a fish on so soon. A few metres further along the bank and Keith was on too. They were only little buggers but at this time of year we are content with anything that’s active, such is the mindset of “winter” fishermen………..we have been left with little to show for our efforts on many occasions in the past so this was a good start to the day. Keith landed another rat soon after.

That new xxxxxxxxxx lure eh keith!

A happy fisherman!

I decided to head further downstream and experiment tossing poppers on the mud flats. We couldn’t see any GT’s crashing bait but you never know, there might be a few around and just as we rounded the second bend, Keith’s popper was smashed by a very active little river trevally. She had us in quite a panic actually as it headed through some timer, over the branches and back out into the open. Keith was stoked at his efforts and confidence was rising.

Nice river GT Keith - chugger popper!

Not long after I was into a similar fish and Keith decided that a double hook up was the way to go. Man this was fun……GT’s of all sizes are a great sport fish, they fight doggedly all the way to the boat and then some. On the light 4-6kg spin tackle we were using, they were really giving us some curry and we were having a real ball.

Nice pair Keith!

Boys will be boys!

And again!

Now, I just love the variety that river fishing offers us here in the Cairns region…….GT’s, mangrove jack, tarpon, queenfish, cod, bream and flathead to name just a few, but the lure of the barra is strong and soon tempted us again to head to the far bank and try our luck amongst the mangrove roots on the dropping tide.

Barra from the mangrove roots

It was a quandary…….Keith kept working the popper out wide and was being rewarded with more G.T’s…..while I tossed the bomber to the mangroves and eventually hooked up to another well-conditioned rat. I love barra fishing!

It was such a beautiful day, hardly any wind and a bit of cloud cover to keep the tropical sun at bay. We had morning tea / coffee on the run as well as lunch out in the open…..we just let the ebbing tide and gentle breeze drift us downstream and as luck would have it, it took us straight to the mouth of the mangrove creek that I intended to fish next anyway!

Keith has fished with me on many occasions, but he has not experienced the G.T.’s on the flats nor fished this little creek before. Its such a pleasure to take a mate to new waters, and even better when you actually land some quality fish to boot. Keith was very impressed with the structure of this new rivulet, the twists and turns, little gutters and overhanging mangroves looked extremely promising but alas, fishing was slow. Keith however, dropped a legal barra right at the boat.

As we zoomed back towards the township it had even crossed my mind to pull the pin early….the best of the tide appeared over and we had caught some quality fish on light sport fishing tackle. What more could we ask for?

On too many occasions we tend to “stick around” just in case and I’m the first to admit that I stay on the water way past what the productive tide cycle would dictate……….but hell, I love my fishing! And Debbie doesn’t really mind if I get home late for the Sunday roast….do you?

Lets try one last spot I suggested…….so we zoomed up past the town, under the bridge and slowly eased back and came to a gentle rest on a mangrove lined bend. Now I fish this location on many occasions during the “wet”……there are a couple of little gutters draining some backwater and the bank is lined with those “prickles” that I (and old bucket mouth) seem to love.

The big dropping tide, over 2 metres in all, had stirred up the mud quite a bit and there was a distinct dirty water line about 2 metres from the bank. Time for a rethink on lure selection.

If you read my last article on my recent Daintree trip you will note that I had quite a bit of success on those F111’s. Hmmmmm…….maybe they would be the go here too!

So I pinned on a bright pink think and tried my luck. This lure is a brand new colour for this season and Keith has meticulously chosen several new colour combinations for this lure which is exclusive to Bransfords Tackle Shop.

Note F111 in pink!

On only my second cast I was onto a little juvenile barra and was stoked. Keith soon followed and we had a pair of rats to show for our efforts. By casting, twitching gently with the rod tip and letting the lure sink slowly, you can cover heaps of deeper water under those cotton wood trees as well as work the deeper drop off along the aforementioned dirty water line.

Its my turn to hold up a pair!....what's that lure keith!

It was not long after that I had my best hit of the day. I was just lazily mooching along, drifting slowly and twitching my lure down deep when it hit. My rod buckled completely over and the rod tip was pulled into the water….line was peeling off the Chronarch and I was actually a bit excited about landing a legal sized barra. She was a goodun!

But just as I had pumped her up under the boat, I could hear the lure rattles through the hull, the hook’s pulled and she was gone. I didn’t even get a look at her but that didn’t matter. I was just so pleased that the F111’s and the technique I was using was catching fish.

Hmmmm......that pink F111 again!

Keith's last of the day!

We landed a couple of more barra each and decided to call it a day…..and as we drove back along the highway Debbie rang. How was it going she asked, were on our way home actually came the reply. I would be home for dinner after all.

8 barra

10 river trevally

1 small jack

1 1.5m croc….silly bugger!