We are at it again.........another fishing trip, another new lure to field test.
Why do I always have to do this Keith!
Ah well, just lucky I guess!
And so it was that KG and I headed up the Captain Cook Highway, past the trendy seaside suburbs, past sleepy Ellis Beach and quietly slipped past the police and workers putting the "witches hats" out for the annual Coral Coast Triathlon. Phew...we made it in the nick of time. Hell, we could have been held up for hours watching the backsides of the bike riders. Nothing wrong with that but it was great to sneak past Port Douglas and on to the Daintree.
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| The Boat Ramp / Pontoon is a beauty! |
It was a beautiful day and as we slipped quietly off the Daintree boat ramp Keith handed me my new lure!
Hmmm...it looked almost like one of my other favourites, the Super Shad (check past postings re the success of this little gem) but it was a bit shorter in length and upon closer examination, had a totally different bib. Its a semi floater Keith exclaimed....meaning with the current hooks, it will rise slowly if you stop cranking it back. BARRA LOVE THIS PRESENTATION. Or if you keep winding it will get down to about a metre.
I must admit that it looked darn good in the water. It cast like a bullet, worked down a treat and that tight waddling action sure looked tantalising. Time to get over near the mangroves and put it to the test.
It was cold....it was winter, well for us Cairnsites anyway and the water was strangely discoloured.
We have had a couple of inches or rain in Cairns this past week and the Daintree / Cape Tribulation region is one of the wettest places in OZ, maybe they had had a lot more precipitation up here eh Keith!
Things started a bit slowly. My favorite bank didn't produce anything and as we rounded the mangrove prickles swaying in the ebbing tide I cast....there it was. That unmistakable silver flash of a decent barra...but it failed to hook up. Repeated casts drew a blank so we zoomed off downstream to try another spot. Casting to bank side mangroves, back eddies and protruding roots we soon found our first fish. A nice little barra and the first fish on the new lure. It worked and the fish found it as enticing as I did....well one did anyway!
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| First fish / barra on the new lure |
It wasn't long before Keith landed a nice mangrove jack, but he was cheating and using one of the Zerek prawn things (he just loves em!). My next cast was right up tight to the mangrove roots and before I could even engage, a silver streak had engulfed my lure and zoomed off towards the middle of the river. It wasn't a big fish but the take was sure spectacular - a little GT graced our presence, a quick pick and back into the drink.
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| Nice jack Keith - on a Zerek |
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| River trevally - great sport on light tackle |
Off we went again, headed right down towards the mouth this time and tried our luck in a backwater. By this time we were both on the Zerek's and Keith into another nice jack. Boy do they hit hard when that make up their mind that they want it and I soon found out. I cast towards a partly submerged bank side tree, by the time I had closed the bail arm I was hooked solid to something that did not like the daylight. It buried me deep within the snag, even with the prawn firmly down the gob of whatever it was, I just could not stop it from tangling me up in the structure and I was forced to break it off and start again.
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| Keith's "side ways" presentation - it works a treat! |
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| Beautiful mangroves. |
It was lunch time...Keith made the "Luxury Roll"...he loves his food I can assure you and the gourmet meal was washed down with a nice hot coffee.
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| Nice barra Keith...on the Zerek |
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| Aha...Les on the "new slow sinking shad type thing yet to be named!" |
By now the tide was starting to make so we headed to one of the creeks to follow the rising tide back up the system. Keith persisted with the Zerek while I though I had better give the new shad another chance to prove itself. I don't know why, maybe the fish needed to get even or the Gods' thought I'd had too much luck lately, but for whatever reason all the bigger fish hooked got away.
Its not that they weren't hooked up, or they threw the hooks on their fifth or sixth jump....they just did and we were a bit frustrated with lost opportunities. Things happen like this sometimes and if you try to over analyse it you'll go bonkers. Just accept it and move on I say. I'll be back!
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| There it is...a little worse for wear! |
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| Jacks loved it too! |
The early making tide was the most productive on that day, I think we landed 3 barras, a couple of jacks and trevally and lost those goodun's mentioned above. The water was really pushing in hard now and conditions not ideal for this part of the river. We could head way upstream mate and try our luck, or just pull the pin, have an early finish and a couple of beers before the roast! The beers won!
So look out for these new, as yet to be named, 3inch slow sinking shad type things in Bransfords....its well worth the drive.
NOTE - we did see three very large crocs this day, all well over 4m, take care anglers!
Catch you on the water, Les
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