Farewell my lovely – A reflection on the Daintree River and More!

Packing up and preparing to leave your country of birth brings many emotions to the fore.

And having to wait for weeks before you actually board the plane has many frustrations, especially when your boat has gone, your fishing tackle is boxed up and on the transport; you don’t even have a hat, polarised sunnies or a long sleeved shirt…let alone your own vehicle.

But thanks to good mate, Keith Graham from Bransfords Tackle Shop, who loaned me all this gear, we found ourselves cruising up the Cook Highway on Sunday morning heading for the mighty Daintree River. It was a strange feeling!

 I know this river like the back of my hand, I know its moods, its water flows, its hiding places and where to catch a fish (on most occasions)…but today it felt strangely different. In a way I was saying goodbye, not forever mind you, but at this stage I have no idea when I would fish these waters again.

 

 

We were fishing in Keith’s punt, but I was basically showing the way and telling him where and when to fish…and hey presto, we were having success. We cruised upstream this day and fished the shallow flats near Barratts Straight…Keith landed a lovely river trevally after a prolonged and dogged fight on light spin gear. A few casts later there was an almighty “boof”, a spray of water and a huge swirl but alas, the leader knot pulled through the double and whatever it was, was gone. The Rapala popper bobbed up a few moments later and at least he got his lure back…only damaged pride.

 

 

 

 

By now the tide was building and we commenced a slow drift upstream. Casting to bankside weed and swaying ribbon grass, my favourite haunts were still producing fish….it was as if time had stood still all these past 30 years as I was landing fish from the exact spots that I had done so for years. Had it really been that long…when would I do it again?

 

 

 

 

 

We had morning coffee under the shade of the overhanging rain forest, birds and butterflies flew by and it was just like yesterday (1989) that two old codgers chatted about politics, the economy, the footy, Aquis and Cairns real estate. Even Pauline Hansen got a run, again! And by lunch time we had landed half a dozen silver jacks (baby barra), real jacks, GT’s, queenies and spotties (archer fish).

 

 

 

 

Sure I was happy to be there, in a magnificent environment, on one of the prettiest rivers in the world, with a great mate having great conversations….but my thoughts were drifting off to the snapper and kingies of New Zealand. What tackle techniques would be successful over there, would I be able to use my beloved tinny over there or would my fishing be dominated by the blue water scene. Hell I love my river and estuary fishing here in OZ! Keith was a great listener, and offered heaps of educated advice…advice like “You get over there Les and sort it out before I come over and fish with you”.

 

 

 

 

The afternoon drifted by and the usual targets were in their usual locations…it wasn’t easy fishing by any stretch of the imagination, but for me it was like fishing in a “dream”….years and years of memories came flooding back. Remember that day when we landed……what about the time when….how about that time……all of a sudden it rained and we clung to the cliff face and overhang to stay relatively dry.  More chat time, more reflection on all the magic times that I had had fishing this wonderland of Tropical North Queensland.

I have had a very lucky life up here, and God willing, there is more to come.

I have fished from the Hinchinbrook Channel to Thursday Island – from Seisia to the Gulf…across the top end; Kakadu and the Kimberley have very special memories. 

And that’s only in the top half….the trout of the Snowy, the snapper of Whyalla (where I was born) and the tommies from the Ardrossan jetty…man it has been fun. And I must also give a very special mention to a dear friend from the States – John Oatley - who took me under his wing and showed me his back door; the Florida flats, 100lbs of tarpon, red fish and jacks. We even went to the Arctic Circle and fished for lake trout and pike, what an adventure that was.

There are some very special people still here that I must thank, and apologies to anyone that I might have forgotten to mention. You’ll just have to remind me of your worth and I’ll let you come over to NZ and fish with me in my new home.

 

Keith Graham has been a rock…a very special and dear friend and companion.  Not only have we had some amazing fishing, just check out Bransfords Tackle Shop’s web site and look up his CD collection. Its not a co-incidence that our combined exploits feature quite regularly! But Keith has also been there during the “dark days”…thanks heaps mate! A very warm thank you to his son Mat too, we have witnessed this young man grow in all facets of his life and I, as well as his dad, are very proud of him.

 

 

Then there are my fishing buddies of long standing, some of you have dropped off the scene of late but the memories of past exploits still sit vividly in my brain…the likes of Kevin Venese, Brett Parks, Capt. Kim Andersen and Rob McCulloch…and I could not leave out Holman!

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES.

Many of you have followed my exploits over the years, I know that I have influenced your fishing choices, your tackle selection and hopefully guided you in some way to better fishing…I sincerely appreciate your fellowship and goodwill…Heff from Port Douglas / Lineburner fame has been a big player in this regards also, thanks mate.

I am heading off to New Zealand shortly with my beautiful Debbie and a whole new world to explore, sail and fish. It will be challenging to find “what works” in my new domain, but it’s a task that I am extremely excited about. We will be based in a little farming / tourist region called Matakana, approx. one hours drive north of Auckland. If you are ever in the region please look us up, I’d love to have a beer or two and if you’re a keen angler, why don’t you bookmark my new Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/lesmarshfishingnz and see what I’m up to.

 

And so it is with very mixed feelings that I sign off from this Blog.

God bless you all, see you on the water!

 

Kind regards, Les

Opportunities....take them when they come your way!

Now this is such a "truism"....and so often reflected in life, as well as in FISHING!

How often have we said "I wish I had taken that trip?" i.e. the Kimberley's with Keith, Matt, Kerry & Gibbo - what an awesome fishing experience that was. Or when a friend asks you to fly to an interstate destination to partake in a once in 20 year reunion, or to go watch the footy or even just a night out etc.

Opportunities....you must take them when they come along!

And so it is with fishing, when that big barra cruises up from the depths and sucks in your lure...you see it all happen right in front of you so vividly, that it almost appears like slow motion in your minds eye! And when it jumps out of the water three times....when it tears line from your drag, jumps again and is gone. Man that's a lost opportunity!

But I'm getting ahead of myself again......Keith Graham and I had decided to fish the beautiful Daintree River last Sunday. The tides were looking good and the weather Gods were smiling at last. TNQ had received quite a bit of wild, windy, rainy weather of late and in fact, I had not fished for four weeks due to bad weather conditions. I guess it is "winter" in the tropics after all.

Picture Perfect - Daintree ramp

Happy are we Keith?

So the Daintree it was....launching at the ferry ramp is a simple exercise; although I wish the authorities would pull their finger out and fix the floating pontoons. They won't float high and dry sitting in the car park. This lack of urgency to fix what is a well used facility, during the height of our peak tourist season, with hundreds of visiting anglers from down south....its stupidity!

Now I just love fishing with Keith. Not only is he a good bloke, he is always full of great conversation to help pass the time but most importantly, he owns Bransfords Tackle Shop, Clifton Beach and always has some new "toys" (read lures / tackle) for us to try out in the field. New lures, new reels (love my Quantum reels) new rubbers and soft plastics etc. and this day was no different.

Keith handed me a little "package" and inscribed on the front was the word "LES" Wow, that's me!
The first thing that caught my eye was a brand new rattling minnow from the Storm stable. It looked a beauty, all shiny and bright yellow / green / chartreuse...it looked a treat and I just could not wait to clip it on and give it a go on the barra. It was called an "Arashi" and had some impressive in-built features including;

• Circuit Board Lip
• Self-Tuning Line Tie
• Internal Long-Cast Mechanism
• Dives to 2 feet
• Was 11cm long and weight 17g
• In normal configuration  it was suspending or very slow sinking
• IT WAS THE ONLY ONE OF ITS KIND IN FNQ

I was so impressed and chuffed to be chosen to field test this brand new offering to the local market.

Drifting along a mangrove lined bank, Keith and I cast to the shallow mangrove prickles (aerial roots)..the new lure was working a treat. It cast extremely well without hooking up to the leader, looked tantalising good at rest and swam beautifully on the retrieve. I was indeed impressed. On about my sixth cast a beautifully conditioned legal sized barra shot up from the gutter and engulfed my new lure. She climbed all over it, jumped into the air and crashed back to fight again...tore  a few metres off my reel, jumped and jumped again...an in a flash, she was gone. Darn....I was peeved at loosing such a good fish. Not to worry, the day had only just started.

I did manage a little trevor on the new lure!

We headed upstream that day, I figured that in the strengthening winds the upper reaches would offer more protection from the predicted 25knot winds and hence improve our chances. Bara don't like windy conditions and catch rates drop considerably in bad weather scenarios...trust me!

I found a nice little backwater with plenty of fringing ribbon weed and cast my shiny new lure right to the back bank. Twitch, twitch, twitch....BANG! I was onto another feisty barra and this one too was well over legal size...she tore off a few metres of 30lb braid, jumped a couple of times and again threw the hooks. Now I know that I was a little rusty, but this was ridiculous....and when I lost my third legal size barra a half hour later, thought it was time to get my act together.

Opportunities....you must take them when they come along!

And I knew exactly what I was / had done wrong...and kicked myself for not taking action sooner.

My last big barra trip was up at Aurukun a few weeks ago...I was used to fishing with my drag set a lot tighter than I normally use back home. These quality fish had fought quite hard in the relatively shallow waters of the Daintree and I had not given them a chance to "play themselves out". And the real Cardinal Sin, I had not changed the hooks!!!!!!

Most overseas made lures come pre fitted with brown / black freshwater hooks...they are ideal for the likes of pike, bass, salmon and trout etc. but with no disrespect for these northern hemisphere species, they are just not strong enough for the likes of barra and mangrove jacks (or any of our tropical species for that matter)....they MUST be changed BEFORE you use them. Not after loosing quality fish like I had experienced. Man I was stupid...I knew it, but just got slack!

So what did I do during lunch...changed the hooks on that beautiful new lure offering and chastised myself for being an idiot of the highest order. Not to worry, I had the afternoon to redeem myself.

Keith with a F111 - new colour

Nice jack mate!

Juvenile barra

Now that's better Les...new hooks I see!

We fished all the way up to the township, we caught a few rats here and there but lamented on the ones that got away.

All thinking barra fisherman know that the tide plays a critical part in the activity of feeding fish, and knowing where to be to target them at the right time of a tide cycle is paramount to success. Oh yes!...I knew exactly where we had to be and soon had us drifting towards the snag pile. Drop the lead Keith, its the last of the run  out and we should find a few barra here.

We switched offerings to a new plastic prawn....I remember having a go at Keith for bringing "cooked" prawns as these new ones were red in colour. But here too opportunities would soon present themselves. Fishing was a bit slow for the first handful of casts...I landed a little tarpon that offered their usual acrobatic fight and then hooked a feisty little rat barra. But right on cue the  tide changed an started its run back upstream. Like flicking the switch the barra came on the chew and we were into some great action on light sticks using these new prawn lures.

Keith is the spotty king!

Here' that little tarpon

The best barra landed for the trip!

I must say that we dropped or missed about a dozen prime barra each, but still managed to hook and land enough to satisfy the keenest angler. It was a steep learning curve - toss your lure / let it sink / twitch the rod tip upwards and let it sink - was that a hit or did I hook some timber? You can't teach an old dog new tricks they say... we are still learning this new art of fishing with soft plastics and our catch rates are climbing considerably. Watch out Mathew Graham, we will catch up with you soon!

Catch you on the water, regards Les
www.fishingcairns.com.au

DAINTREE RIVER CRUISE CENTRE FOR SALE!

Daintree River Cruise Centre – An Iconic, Lucrative Tourism Business!

 

The iconic Daintree River Cruise Centre is officially on the market! The retirement of Far North tourism pioneers, Lee & Janet Lafferty has created an extraordinary opportunity for buyers to secure one of the most famous, “Must See” tourist attractions in North Queensland. This business sits rightfully in popularity alongside the Great Barrier Reef, the Kuranda Train and Sky Rail, frequented by both international and domestic tourists wishing to experience the ultimate tropical wilderness adventure.
 

                                       

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be sold as a going concern with an extensive list of Licenses, Equipment & Chattels included in the sale:

 

·         WIWO 364 days per year eco-tourism business

·         A prime, flood free, Daintree river side position

·         The 5165m2 freehold property: Lot 5 on RP 27758

·         A business model that has been tried, tested and famously successful since 1987

·         4 marine vessels, stock and equipment

·         Irreplaceable marine & tourism permits & licenses

·         2 sanctioned jetties + a rainforest boardwalk entrance

·         A 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom family residence + work shed

·         A second shop building + staff accommodation

·         A rare opportunity indeed!

 

The mighty Daintree River flows through some of the oldest rainforest on earth and is inhabited by the other prehistoric icon, the Salt Water Crocodile. Daintree River Cruises offer tourists and locals the best chance of coming face-to-face with the last living dinosaur.

 

The current owners have reduced their work load to a 20 hour week with long term, enthusiastic support staff. Could be managed or easily run by a “hands on”, husband and wife team + staff. You can be as busy as you want, or an absentee owner.

 

This truly is a once-in-a-life-time opportunity to secure a well-established, eco-friendly and easily run business. The business plan is simple. It works. It is highly profitable. It has so much more potential in the future with the fresh energy of a new buyer to take over the reins. The potential lies in a multitude of future opportunities; for example: tapping into souvenir sales, the addition of a café, or the creation of a hub for travelling self-drivers and tourists.    

 

This is a fantastic opportunity to change your life and enjoy a wonderful working lifestyle in Tropical North Queensland…a perfect way to employ your entire family! Alternatively, a superb opportunity for existing enterprises to acquire a well-run, lucrative and established complimentary business.

 

Go to http://www.daintreerivercruisecentre.com.au for a look at the Daintree River Cruise Centre website.

 

  Inspections welcome by appointment. Contact the selling agent, Debbie Aldred of RE/MAX Cairns on mobile 0402 969 316 email debbiealdred@remax.com.au