Keith & Les....Daintree Bound!

The "eyes" have it - Les (sunnies) and barra (red eye)

"Where do you recon we should go Les?", Keith asked.

"How about we go to the Daintree....I know she has been knocked about by the recent floods, but we do need to fish it and work out where the fish are. Their usual haunts have all but been washed away but there has to be fish still in the river, they have to be hiding somewhere?"

And so the decision was made late on Saturday night to head north to the Daintree. It is still one of my favourite local rivers, especially if barra is the main target. The southern rivers hold barra, but they also fish well for the likes of sooties, JP's, jacks etc....the Daintree IS a barra river in my book (Now if you are bait fishing, that's another whole ball game - I'm specifically talking lures here).

Heading up the Cook Highway, the sun was just peeking over the horizon...the golden rays were lighting up the scattered clouds and it was just a picture, glad to be alive and going fishing with a mate. It was going to be a glorious day. I pulled up at Keith's place a few minutes late - sorry mate! Packed the car, tied down the rods, filled the esky and it was off to Bransfords Tackle Shop JUST IN CASE! We always need a couple of new lures (even though I probably have 500 or so in my tackle box) and this trip was no exception.

I had been experimenting with these "new" soft plastic things with varying success. I know that many anglers have made the switch and just rave about them...but Keith and I are dinosaurs and have been a bit reluctant to take up this challenge. Not from lack of success, but more from the pure joy we get out of fishing floating, hard bodied, diving lures.  We were determined to give softies a decent work out today and crack the code.

It was a pleasant journey up the coast, past Port Douglas, Mossman and Hook - a - Barra....the seas were flat and calm, the sun glistening off the still surface...we couldn't wait to launch.

With a high tide at approx. 6.30am and a fairly big 2 m run out, we decided to follow the receding waters downstream.  Casting to bank side structure and looking for "new" barra holding zones we quickly realised that it would take some hard thinking to put the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle back into place again. This downstream section of the river had not suffered degradation like upstream had, the broader waters obviously allowing the floods to spread out and slowly wash to the mouth. But what was evident however, was the fact that previously shallow runs had now become much deeper channels; the receding waters were flowing much quicker now and on checking the sounder it became evident. My previous productive fishing zones (i.e. shallow runs with plenty of mangrove roots, prickles and weed beds) had been completely scoured out and we were now drifting along in water 1.6m deep, even on low tide, and the waters were racing out.

Keith - 1st barra of the trip

Its "winter" - GT's in the river

This is not conditions that old bucket mouth finds comfortable, they are lazy buggers, ambush feeders and love being in slower moving water...just outside of the main current.

This was not to say that all of the river had been affected this way...just my highly prized, productive zones - you know, the ones that you have worked out over 30 years of fishing a particular waterway!

Just up ahead lay a big old mangrove tree, the banks were still intact here, shallow approaches, mangrove prickles and a deep undercut right under the overhangs - perfect!

As we drifted past we cast to the over hangs. BOOF!...right on cue, right at the boat, right under the branch, a beautiful silver barra engulfed my lure. It was a beauty and did all the right things...she jumped, dived, took me around the boat a couple of times and jumped again. But our skill prevailed and she was soon in the boat. In all this action we still managed to drop the lead blob to hold our position in the current...there may be more fish here eh Keith? And sure enough, there was!

65cm...best for the day!

 They were feisty fish too....Keith hooked up (or should I say, the barra mouthed his lure) jumped and was gone. Time after time quality barra hit our lures, tore off and jumped free. What were we doing wrong - hooks sharp, rod work exceptional, angler skill evident. It was just one of those things. After about eight hook-ups and near misses things went quite; we moved on!

Heading downstream we planned to fish a backwater. It often produced on the last of the run out tide and being a "backwater" the water flow would be much slower than the river proper and offer ideal conditions to present our soft plastics. It was a plan. Drifting along we cast our six inch plastic tails under the overhanging mangroves, let it sink down slowly (we were using unweighted plastic things) and twitch enticingly now and again. Did you see that flash? Sure did mate....back up, drop the lead and lets give it a good work over.

We cast upstream, we let the plastic wobble down, we twitched, and twitched, and twitched...we were excited and expectant. And there it was, another silver flash, a bump a failed hook-up. Cast again, twitch, pause, float, twitch....and right at the boat, about a metre down, this huge bucket mouthed thing engulfed my plastic. It must have been well over 80cm, a real prize for this river, and in the tea coloured water looked a real sight. But again the single hook failed to find its mark, another opportunity lost, but a real pleasure to see such a quality barra in the river. This scenario would repeat itself many times throughout the day.

The soft plastics, in some locations, sure enticed the barra to have a go...but due to inexperience, presentation, hook placement etc., failed to hook up regularly. Back to the drawing board.

It was lunch time by now and conditions so pleasant, we decided to  drift downstream and chose a cosy sheltered bank to have lunch. The Coral Sea just offshore, the majestic Thornton's Peak and adjacent ranges, Black Mountain and the mighty Daintree River. What a picture!

Keith...happy for a lunch break

Daintree - Thornton's Peak - looking upstream

Is this a magic spot or what!

Mouth of the Daintree - looking towards Port Douglas

OK Keith, I'm going to head upstream now and show you the damage caused by the floods. As we zoomed up past Lafferty's it soon became evident that this was a major even. Whole bank side vegetation had been peeled back exposing bare earth. Trees and roots piled up parallel to the water flow, whole islands where 90% of the trees had been smashed and piles of twisted timber, branches and vines lay like a grave site on the waters edge. It was so sad!

Just a sample of bank side destruction

Is that a snag pile

But nature has its way and even as I surveyed the scene, this was my third visit to the Daintree this past month, I could see evidence of life renewing. Green shoots were sprouting from what looked like dead timber, vines were creeping up and over supporting structure and even in the water, ribbon grass had tried to re-establish a presence. Everything happens quickly here in the tropics. It would not be long before the barra would return.

Nice one Keith...look at that structure

Soft plastics do work!

But in the meantime, we still had to work out where the barra were living, hunting, feeding...they had to be still there somewhere!

I took Keith right up to the township, we surveyed the bank side, we saw half a dozen monster crocs - the biggest a whopping 5m easily! In over 30 years of fishing the Daintree, I had never seen so many big crocs this high up. Whether they had been washed down from their previous  mountain hideouts, travelled upstream looking for easier pickings or just more revealed due to the lack of bank side structure to hide in, I don't know. Sure was an eerie sight though - hell, I only have a 4m tinny!

Now that's a croc!

At 5m easy...a real monster

We worked our was back downstream. I looked for river sections that still held the right conditions - out of the main river flow, with bank side cover, prickles and grass....and found the fish. Not big salt water barra, but feisty little juveniles that were obviously very hungry. They smashed our lures, they tore off along the bank, they jumped in defiance, and we landed quite a few. BUT IT WAS STILL TOUGH...having to re think and re programme my brain is not an easy task. I found myself drawn like a magnet to previously productive zones. But they did not exist in their former conditions and guess what, there was no barra there.

Conclusions:

• Forget where you used to catch fish (to a fair degree!)
• Think about what conditions might hold barra
• Search for new territory that offers these conditions
• Often it is the "opposite" bank to that previously fished
• Find the right conditions and we found the fish - in good numbers
• Think about how the river has changed - it varies from downstream tidal zones to upstream freshwater areas
• Take extreme care when travelling - new logs have appeared, sand bars are much shallower and deep channels are not where they used to be
• Look out for those BIG crocs, especially if heading upstream

Catch you on the water,

Regards, Les
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