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.
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| Picture Perfect - Daintree ramp |
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| 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
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.
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| 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.
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| Keith with a F111 - new colour |
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| Nice jack mate! |
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| Juvenile barra |
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| 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.
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| Keith is the spotty king! |
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| Here' that little tarpon |
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| 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
