The New "Super Shad"

Well, have we done it again!

Only time will tell I guess, but early indications are that this brand new lure will be another fantastic addition to the lure range available at Bransfords Tackle Shop, Clifton Beach.

Readers will be fully aware that Keith & I have brought a few new lures to the local “barra scene” and we are rightly proud of our efforts to date. The very latest offering is a new deep diving shad type lure that, in its current configuration, offers almost neutral buoyancy – a lure that casts like a bullet, lands well without hooking up, and dives right down in a very enticing tight wiggling action.

Pause, and it will virtually stop dead in its tracks…….this is an ideal presentation to “old bucket mouth”

By changing the trebles to a heavier gauge / larger hook size, it will become a slow sinker…….also something to be savored under the right conditions i.e. still deep water / cottonwood trees / mangrove drop offs etc…..the possibilities are only limited by  your imagination.

 

What a beautiful day!

Keith and I headed north to the Daintree River on Sunday to give these new lures a work out. Conditions were fantastic …….a beautiful sunny day with a gentle breeze……a low tide at approx. 10am of just under a metre and we thought we had it made! We could fish the mangrove edges / overhangs on the falling tide and then capitalize on the making tide for the afternoon run.

keith is on....first cast!

 

Nice river trevally!

 Launching at the Daintree ferry crossing I was drifting downstream on the ebbing tide. “Why don’t you cast your popper out over the sand flat” I asked….there might be a few GT’s around. I was still rigging my rod when Keith shot his “Chugging spit” popper out over the shallow flats and started to crank it back in short sharp jerks. Boof……boof………boof, and he was on to a lovely river trevally. Dead set, first cast!

How cool is this...just purfect!

Man, what sort of day were we in for, I mused!

At this stage I was in a little dilemma as to exactly where to fish. It was only an hour before low tide….too low for the “prickles”…..not quite ready for the backwaters and do we go downstream to the gutters or upstream to the weeds? Well, we were half way to the mouth so decided to continue downstream.

 

Good looking bream....on a shad!

 

Yea I know...Its the wrong kind of barra!

We fished a few of our old favorite barra snags and well, it was actually a little disappointing.  The barra were not playing ball, but to our surprise, some other species were showing a keen interest in out shads. After all, this was supposed to be a field testing trip and not just a barra catching exercise per se! We were pleasantly surprised by the shad’s effectiveness……….lets just see how it performs under varying conditions.

Nice "pair" Keith - they like pink too!

 

We did find a nice little pod of actively feeding barra under a mangrove overhang and managed to extract 4 little juveniles. A double hook up, a quick photo and a release, that’s not so bad! We also managed a barracuda and an estuary cod before the tide started to push back in and we headed for new waters. It was about a 1.6m run in and it was pushing quite hard.

Keith's on to a better one!

Beautiful silver salt water barra!

Casting to just submerged timber produced quite a few lookers, but no hook ups, so we decided to zoom further upstream. And it happened again!

Hmmm....too good for me!

Keith, cast your popper along the mangroves mate, there’s a GT working there – and sure enough, very first cast….boof…..boof…. and he was on AGAIN! These river trevally are very honest fighters and on the light spin gear, are so much fun.

Les & flathead...ask and you shall receive!

We haven’t landed a flathead yet I mused (an IN joke!)…..and the very next cast I was into one from a sandy bankside amongst the mangrove roots.

Gold spot estuary cod....they like em too!

And so do the jacks!

More proof right!

SPECIES………..were we after barra or species! Oh well, the shad was working so who cares.

Our next stop was way above the ferry, a deeper cotton wood tree lined bank where I could really test this lure on the pause. Cast as far back under the trees as I dared, crank, crank, pause…….there was a flash and I was on again to a little rat! We caught a couple here before deciding to call it quits fairly early.

Little juvenile from the cotton wood trees!

Heading back to the ramp we looked at the days tally:

• 8 barra
• 1 bream
• 3 mangrove jacks
• 1 barracuda
• 1 archer fish (good one Keith)
• 1 estuary cod
• 1 flathead
• 2 GT’s
• And wait for it………1 grunter. Yes a grunter on the Super Shad (lost at the boat by Keith)

Now, I know that its not a brilliant day by some standards, but for a field testing trip of a brand new lure it was very satisfying indeed. There’s not many lures that can boast that sort of catch spectrum and I’m sure you will agree. So, get to Bransfords……check em out……a great colour range…….buy a few at the very realistic price of $12.99 and go catch a few fish yourself. I sincerely hope you have success too!

PS – we ran into an old friend while fishing and he was using the F111 lures that I wrote about a few weeks ago. I was pleased to hear that he had had success too, landing 4 barra and 4 jacks…...good one Brett!

PPS – so you want to try these new “Super Shad’s”…….drop into Bransfords and purchase these beauties for a special introductory price of 3 for only $35!

 

Catch you on the water, regards Les

www.fishingcairns.com.au