A Stonker of a Saturday

My good mate, Greg Parkes, was up from Sydney on business!

Greg looks after some accommodation complexes here in Cairns and just loves coming up here to work and have the opportunity to fish with me. And so it was decided to fish the South Johnstone at Innisfail.

I was a little unsure as to what the river conditions would be like; the Innisfail region had had over 200mm of rainfall the previous week. As long as the water was relatively "clear" we should be OK!

Clear.........it was like a swimming pool. In fact in all my time fishing this river, I had never encountered such pristine water quality.

The next big question.....how much fresh was still coming down and how far upstream could we traverse? (Actually its 2 questions right!)

What a glorious big blue sky day greeted us....we were running a bit late however, as after a big night out on Friday, I'd forgotten to set my alarm. Secondly, after picking up Greg from his hotel, he was a bit seedy and needed some comfort food i.e. Macca's. So off to Woree it was.

We launched under the magnificent new Jubilee Bridge, putted under the shade and dropped anchor to apply sun screen etc. I pulled out my two favourite lures....a Flat Jack for the big stuff, and my fresh water gem, the beaut little SR5 for the sooties and JP's and jacks and tarpon and archer fish and barra............do you get it yet?

And as for Greg, well he had the same but in a different colour just to vary it a bit!

I'm going to just head upstream as far as I can go I explained.....with a falling tide and a low at approx. 12 noon, we were about half way out. We zoomed along, the 20hp Yamaha pushing my little 4m CCC up over the sand bars, over the rocky ledges, the shallow rapids and weed beds. I couldn't believe at how clean the water was, the visibility was amazing - so much so that I had never been more confident of "not hitting anything"....it was a real eye opener.

Up past the third rapid, over the old South Johnstone rail bridge, up under the highway and we were soon at the end of the road so to speak. We had made it as far as a boat could travel.

OK mate, let’s start our drift back downstream. We had heaps of beautiful water to fish and the rest of the day to do it.

It wasn't long before the sooties showed their presence. These plucky little fighters are a magic species to target on light spin gear. Casting as close as you dare to bankside structure, weed beds and swaying grass, they dart out with abandonment and crash your like it was their last meal. To sight fish them right up against the bank is amazing.

As we drifted down we would spot a cruising big black bastxxx right up against the bank. An accurate cast within a couple of feet would see the sooty charge at your offering and without hesitation slam the SR5 and head back to cover. If your reflexes were a bit slow, it would be over in a flash - all hung up and a lost fish and a lure too if she was real brute.

And it wasn't only sooties that got into the act.

How's that for a quality JP

JP's just love sitting under the overhanging trees and a cast right up in the shade would bring an instant hook up on these magic little fish. We are so lucky to have these beauties in our waterways....they are highly prized by sport fishers and are always treated with the utmost respect and released. I did manage one of my near PB on JP's that day...a really prime specimen and I'd suspect a breeding female too as she had a resident following of about half a dozen smaller fish that day. They darted all over the lure until the big bruiser shouldered them out of the way and snaffled my golden offering.

We caught tarpon and archer fish, more sooties and JP's, quality Jacks and even 3 GT's (all by Greg too!). In fact I think one of those GT's was Greg's PB....a fantastic fight on light spin gear. But no matter how much fun we were having on the day, something was still missing. You guessed it......barra!

 

As we came to a particular steep sided bank, I advised Greg that on the next point, there is a heap of "structure" in the form of old railway cages, pipes and tangled machinery (probably washed down by a major wet season flood years ago. I often catch a barra hear I exclaimed!

And here it is - nice little barra

Quality sooty!

Right on cue a lovely little juvenile rose from the depths (its about 5m at this spot) and slammed my little offering. It put up a spirited fight on the 4kilo gear but we soon had her safely in the boat for a quick snap and release. How's that mate...right on cue too!

More Jacks and JP's and sooties....and an occasional juvenile barra too. Greg hooked up to a nice little barra of around legal size, to only have the hooks pull on her third jump. I think he was a little enthusiastic and pulled a bit hard. Not to matter, Greg was stoked.

It was mid-afternoon now and we had worked our way down towards some amazing structure, a series of huge trees washed into the river and it was one of my favourite spots. I always catch something here I exclaimed, get ready to drop the lead blob Greg! We were not disappointed as we both landed a couple of quality sooties.

What was also noticeable was that the afternoon bite had increased out catch rate...the water too had risen in temperature from a fairly cool 23.1C right up the top to a more comfortable 25.8C. Had this fact increased our catch rate, were the fish more active in the warmer water - you bet!

I even landed a couple more juvenile barra as we continued our journey. It was getting late however and we had to make a decision soon. At just on 5:30 we pulled the pin and zoomed back to the boat ramp. By this time the tide had pushed back upstream making it a comfortable and safe journey in the fading light.

Upon reflection it was a perfect day.

The weather was as good as it gets here in TNQ, hardly a cloud in the sky, a very comfortable 28C on the water and a heap of fish to boot. Greg actually advised that "it was the best fishing day he had ever had". I was so thrilled for him and pleased that I could show him the ropes.

In all we landed well over 60 fish. I'd lost count at about 40+ but what a great day. Thanks for your company Greg....and note, olive coloured perch imitation SR5's work ALMOST as well as the gold ones!

Catch you on the water!

Regards, Les

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