Match The Hatch - Flying Ants

How on earth can you match the hatch, when thousands of insects are floating downstream on the current lines; and literally hundreds of fish are slurping them off the surface?

But I am getting ahead of myself!

It was a perfect day - very little wind, hardly a cloud in the sky and the river was shining like silver as it flowed down a lush green, tree lined valley. Man, the upper reached of the Russell River sure was a picture to behold. But getting there had a few challenges, check out the boat ramp in the pic hereabouts!

Main "boat ramp"...upper Russell River

A bridge somewhere!

But we were soon on our way and zooming upstream....I decide to head as far upstream as I could (read - DARED!) Past sand bars and shallow rocky rapids, under old railway bridges and high motor ways, sunken timber and prop busting logs....it was an exhilarating ride! And as Keith and I came off the plane....lets catch our breath, take in all of this natural beauty and have a coffee under the shade. Being in such natural beauty sure made us realise just what a paradise Tropical North Queensland truly is.

How's this for morning tea!

While heavy into "fishy" conversation (err...what lure mate and stuff like that?) we did notice that there were little splashes all around us. Upon closer examination we discovered that hundreds of sooties & JP's were actually slurping floating insects from the surface. Wherever the main current line drifted downstream and as far as the eye could see in both directions, fish were in feeding mode - in all  my years of fishing tropical streams, I had never witnessed such a feeding orgy. What this did show us however, was a few things like;

1. The river held fish stocks way above expectation
2. Fish will feed way out in the open if food is there
3. When they are singularly focussed on drowned flying ants - its hard to get a lure to match
4. Do we have to carry fly fishing gear as well?
5. The bio mass of insect life was huge - this event occurred literally for miles downstream

Nice sooty...on a GREEN popper!

At first we tried to cast our offerings, poppers and hard bodied diving minnows to these slurping fish. We had a few half hearted follows and even managed to land a couple of sooties - but in the main, a cast would receive instant "interest" on the touch down, but after the initial inspection the bloody fish would realise that this big lump of plastic was nothing like a little delicate drowning insect and bugger off. Man it was frustrating!

I'm really not sure how it happened, but we switched out attention to the deeper snags....that's right, we decided to fish the river side with the most current. Maybe this is where the most "burley - insects" would end up anyway and maybe, just maybe, these areas held the most actively feeding fish. The tally was mounting.

Show off Keith...I caught one too!

JP on that green thing...deep diver!

NOTE - many reader will know what lures we prefer in these fresh water upper reaches - Rapala SR5's (get it)...but initially these weren't the flavour of the month either. I can't remember how often I changed my lure, but it was probably more than I have done so for the past 12 months combined, such was the frustration at seeing all these feeding fish, but not hooking up often enough. I tried deeper divers, shallow runners, medium runners, poppers of all shapes, sizes and colour - I tried poppers with "flash" on the trailing hook but this made no real difference. And then I found this little deep diving green thing that was in the bottom tray of my tackle box - it was brand new, but had been there for years.

Now that's a nice JP Keith!



Yeah, yeah, two at a time...see that green lure again!

I cast to the steep bank up in the shade, cranked it down and BANG! I was onto a quality sooty. Had I finally cracked the code? (Oh, Keith had found something that worked for him too - the tally was mounting). At one stage we drifted over a submerged snag in about 2 metres of water. I could see a quality big black sooty lying just downstream for the main log....but we were right on top of the structure by now, so more so in hope, than expectation, I tossed my little lure about a metre and started to wind. In a flash I was on...we couldn't believe it that a quality sooty would slam our lure right next to the boat....amazing stuff.

Quality lure crunching sooty!

Not too long after this incident, a similar thing happened on the opposite bank. But this time it was a monster JP. She just rolled over the timber and snaffled my little green lure......unfortunately the hooks pulled right at the boat so a photo opportunity was lost - I would have loved to show you how big, shiny and beautiful it was!

And then it happened; I lost that "magic" lure....not sure how, but the leader pulled from the double and I wound in the limp, lifeless braid. I retied another lure and off we went........I again was faced with the dilemma of choosing the right lure and by now Keith had switched back to the SR5 (get it again) and was out fishing me 2 to one....bugger. It was my boat too!

Tried this lure for a while too!

Keith again...he was getting ahead in the tally count!

If you can't beat em, join em I say........so with great reluctance (oh yeah!), I tied on my all time favourite, the very special, wonderfully successful, proven time and time again...SR5.
So what's my favourite sooty lure you ask ?

As we drifted down the hours passed - we had lunch under another beautiful shady tree and watched more fish slurp insects from the surface. I can't believe this was still happening. We followed the main current flow, switching from side to side of the river, and caught dozens of sooties. Under shady trees we picked up lovely JP's and in back eddies, the very acrobatic, silver sided tarpon crunched our offerings.

Beautiful silver tarpon

It was such a wonderful day we even forgot the time, the light was perfect, the weather superb and the scenery...well, a picture tells a thousand words. Just have a look at these and judge for yourself.

Check out that view!

By about 5:30pm we decided that we had better make a move to go home...so reluctantly we packed away our rods and zoomed the few remaining k's to our launch spot. Reflecting on the day we were in such a BUZZ! What a magnificent day it had been, Keith and I were absolutely stoked...and why wouldn't you be after fishing in paradise and landing about 50 fish.

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

PS - what's that lure again?
PPS - what colour, perch or green today?

Hook-a-Barra...the closed season alternative!

Many fisho's have considered the temptation to catch a few fish at a farm / hatchery etc. and many of you have shied away thinking that "its not cool" to fish in a pond. Come on be honest, many of you have also thought about giving it a go...it might be fun...at least I might catch one etc etc...RIGHT!

Main Pond - Hook-a-Barra

Processing sheds

Well, last weekend, after spending a glorious couple of days at Thala Beach Lodge, my partner Debbie & I, decided to do just that.

We had very legitimate reasons for being in the vicinity and after spending quite a bit of time with the manager, Mark, we decided to give the "pond fishing" a go. Was it the young guy standing near us who pulled in quality barra every dozen casts or so, or was it the sight of all those feeding fish scoffing offerings from the surface - who knows. Maybe it was the sight of huge albino barra in the display tank that got me all excited - WE JUST HAD TO DO IT!

Reception / Tackle Room

Display pool - check out those albino barra

So we paid our entry fee, collected our gear and selected our chosen lure from a range of soft plastics / paddle tails / poppers and hard bodied diving minnows. Did you know that you can even bring along your own favourite outfit and fish using your very own lures - how cool is that!
Hell I could have brought my whole tackle box with its 400+ lures and field tested the lot. Apparently the guy catching all the fish is a regular and he does just that.

That's him....the other guy catching fish

Not wanting to crowd this guy, even though he seemed to have THE hot spot, we ventured around the other side of the main pond and started to cast our offerings (soft plastic grey ghost with silver fleck!) I called this the main pond but really it was just the closest to the main entry area and I just wanted to get stuck into them; or was it the fact that the lovely lady at reception told us that this pond was chock full of a few hundred barra all about 70-90cm mark. Whatever!

Deb & I cast out our lures, let it sink a little and then started our retrieve.
But what retrieve do you do in a pond, full of fish, with artificial feeding habits?
A slow sink, jerk, jerk, pause......no that did not work.
How about a longer sink, twitch, twitch, twitch....not that one either.
What about a twitch, pause, sink, twitch, pause sink, twitch....hmmm, not that one today either.
We had a keen look at the other guy as he landed another one right in front of us...he seemed to be just winding. But alas, he was now packing up and before we could even walk around to the other side of the pond and seek his advice, he was gone.

Come on Les, your suppose to be a gun fisherman....think about it.

I took his spot, cast out to the middle and began my "experimental retrieve" process all over again. After about my 50th fruitless cast (apart from a couple of subtle knocks) the lovely assistant, Narda, came up and said "would you like me to toss in a bit of berley in the form of  some fish pellets - it might get them going again". OK I thought, it couldn't do any harm. So in she tossed a handful of brown pea shaped pellets - all hell broke loose. There were barra boofing all over the place..big bastards too! Man, I just had to catch one of these brutes - was Les Marsh going to be the only ex fishing guide in history not to catch a barra in a pond. No way mate!

Now lets think about this...I knew there were quality barra in there. I had seen them, the other guy had caught about 6 while we watched on. I'm just going to toss my plastic out there and wind it back in  a steady but relatively fast retrieve. BOOF, I was on. I had cracked the code - this day anyway!

Deb's on - can't remember who hooked the first

The lovely Narda landing Deb's barra

Now that's a quality barra babe

Les is also hooked up

Yeah...that'll do

She jumped out of the water (just like a wild barra does)........she screamed line off my little spin reel (just like a wild barra does)....she lunged for the cover of the only bit of structure nearby, the aerator (just like a wild barra would do)....she fought doggedly all the way to the bank (just like a wild barra does) and man, I was a happy little chappy I can assure you. I can't even remember whether Debbie had caught a fish before me, all I can remember is the excitement of hooking, fighting, landing a quality barra in this great location with all the senses alive.

We took photos....photos of Debbie's barra, pics of mine, pics of the double hook up and pics of my biggest and last fish. And after about an hour of solid fishing we decided that we had better get moving and continue our journey back to our lodge. It really was a fabulous time and I will certainly be coming back. But next time I'll take my own gear and try a few different things.

Just another good sized barra

Double hook up babe

My best (and last) of the day

The staff did tell us that the barra bite differently all the time....it just depends on their mood, the water temperature, the cloud cover, the salinity level, the moon phase and whether they have been fed lately or even how you hold your mouth. See....just like wild barra.

Mark, the manager & Les discussing tactics

Lovely Narda "helping" Les choose his tackle

I know that pond fishing is not for everyone, hell I don't even like fishing Tinaroo (and its only a bigger pond)....we are all different critters and have different needs / desires / time frames / moods and demands on our fishing time. But what if you are a dad and have little kids or don't own a boat etc. Following is what a few others have said about this place, it makes interesting reading.

Debbie wrote: "Had a blast there guys! What beautiful quality fish! For those of you who don't have the time, the boat, access to the rivers; have little kids that can't be in the sun for hours on end, or a cranky missus who gets bored...this is a ton of fun for all and a great way to practice your fishing techniques with either their gear or your own. Isn't Lake Tinaroo just a big pond too? Top day Mark and thanks to the lovely Narda, who is clearly passionate about fishing and her job!

David wrote: "Hook a Barra is well worth the trip, fishing in their main pond are some very strong fish with 80cm and around 8kg you will not have it all your own way as one might think when fishing in a pond, I have only fished their main pond and over a number of months my tally is 217 with 9 albinos, my best for an hour is 11 and 20 in 2hrs, and at an average fish size around the 70cm mark its a real workout. The staff are friendly and help full and as a Barra fisherman with more than 40y practice I still find it challenging and can't recommend the place enough."

So there you go. If you haven't tried it, don't knock it -  just do it ONCE -you just might learn something. Even if its that you too can enjoy the simple things in life, have a blast, and laugh with your mates or loved ones.

Hook - a - Barra is located near Wonga Beach, just south of the Daintree River, and approx. 35 minutes north of Port Douglas. Their facilities are growing all the time to cater to the visiting angler. As well as being a fully functioning barra farm, Mark and his team welcome all visitors and will happily put you onto a big one. The quality of their location, the water, the soil and feed, means that Hook-a-Barra produce first class fish. They have won multiple Gold Medals at the Sydney Fine Food Show, so can guarantee that the fish you catch will have all those qualities that make barramundi such a superb dining experience - yes, you can purchase some of your catch if you wish.

Note - the quality of the waters here is so good that last October, the barra actually spawned - in the ponds - all by themselves, and without any chemical inducement. Mark has a little fingerling on display that was salvaged from the marauding hoards of big hungry barra (they are cannibalistic in nature) - amazing stuff!

So if you're up that way and are at a loose end as to what to do to entertain the kids, the wife or even just want to test the swimming action of your new lure (yeah right)....drop in. Mark, Narda, Jo and the team would love to see you....Tell them Les & Debbie sent you, they do have a locals Loyalty Programme too.

HAPPY NEW YEAR....catch you on the water (or at the ponds)
Regards, Les
www.fishingcairns.com.au