Returning to the Daintree!

It had been absolutely ages...........I couldn't actually remember the last time that I'd ventured north to the Daintree. Not for any specific reason, I love this river, but through various circumstances I'd found myself fishing the southern waterways this past 6 months or so.

Anyway, after a late start (my mate Keith stuffed up the pick up times) we found ourselves launching at the ferry crossing as grey skies hung overhead and light drizzly rain drifted down. It looked quite bleak actually and with a bit of angst we fired up the Yammy and headed across the river.

Readers will note that I'm quite set in my ways as far as choosing a lure goes. I have been using the brilliant Flat Jack minnows for some time now and could see no reason to change today. In keeping with the recent Aussie theme, I clipped on the green & gold model....the water was a bit discoloured near the ramp so thought this colour might stand out and give me the edge.



First Barra - note that water colour!

It was only a half dozen cast when the little barra slammed my lure about half way back to the boat. I was stoked, conditions weren't ideal but at least I'd landed a barra. The juvenile was carefully photographed, the hooks removed and slipped gently back into the drink. We drifted along the backwater mangrove edges casting to the prickles and hey presto, anothe little barra hooked up. Two in five minutes, a very good start to the day.

Back out into the river proper and we drifted quietly along on the incoming tide. It was a high at approx. 10:30am, and after the late start, we only had a short time to fish this phase as we moved upstream following the last of the making tide. Another barra from the mangroves, a similar fish from the point of a little island and things were pretty good.

We'd even forgotten about the weather which had cleared up considerably as we headed inland / upstream. Further north along the Cape Tribulation range however, it was still pretty black and we hoped that we would remain dry for the day.

Around a bend and along the bank side, casting to swaying ribbon grass now and another couple of small barra slammed our offerings. This was great fun.....I looked up and took in the vista. Man I love this river, why hadn't I fished here more often I asked Keith? The greenery and rainforest clad hills offered a spectacular backdrop to the gently flowing waters. It was good to be alive, in great company and in natures splendour.........do it guys. You won't be disappointed.

Hoe beautiful is this!

Time to head upstream, above the township I advised. So off we zoomed......past Barrats Creek, Humbug Straight and the township. I eased the little tinnie off the plane as settled into a smooth glide towards the river bank. A couple of cast and Keith and I had landed another barra each - how good was that! We were drifting downstream now, the dropping tide taking us past well known "hot spots", places that I have fished for over 20 years and regularly (well, almost....we always remember the good days!) caught fish.

As we drifted past the Daintree township I crossed river banks......there was a huge wed bed here now and this surely held a brra or two. I was not disappointed!

By this time I had grown tired of the little Aussie battler (green & gold lure) so decide to snap on my old favourite, the brown neutral coloured model. It was instant success as barra after barra (hold on Les...your not up at Aurukun just yet) well, a few anyway, shot from the swaying grass beds and engulfed my offering. I was absolutely stoked. I didn't care what happened next, we hand returned to a beautiful little piece of paradise and found some willing little barra.

Keith had a call from his lady, what time will you be home boys?...........OK, lets pull the pin and head off home.

The day was just perfect!
The vista more stunning than I had remembered!
The weather gods had smiled upon us - no rain, a gentle breeze and comfortable temps (in and out of the water)
And as for the barra count......we landed 14 little barra for the day.....yes FOURTEEN!

Now that's not bad for this time of year in our neck of the woods, I just wish there were a couple of legals amongst them!

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

ANZAC Day.....Green & Gold for Australia!

(NOTE - click images to enlarge!)

My partner Debbie had the day off..........no Real Estate agent works on this day, and so after a very late start for us, we found ourselves launching at the Barron River ramp on the highway. As I backed the tinny down the ramp I could already feel the winds picking up.

We should have been here at 6:30 I mused, not to worry; we could find somewhere to fish.

We poked my little CCC out the river mouth.

 

As I zoomed down to the river mouth and poked the nose of my CCC outside, conditions weren't too bad. As long as I took it steady we should be right. Debbie was mad keen to get some "salt air" in her lungs. We spend most of our fishing time way up in the fresh and being an old prawn trawler skipper, the salt water was still her real love.

Heading up Trinity Inlet - north side!

And so it was that I found myself out of the Barron mouth, heading south east (or was it SW?) back up the Cairns Harbour, Trinity Inlet. It was a bit choppy at first but nothing that my little tinny couldn't handle. Deb was stoked, she felt alive - salt spray in her face, sea water all around, the magnificent backdrop of the Yarrabah range to the east and the Kuranda range to the west. We do really live in paradise.

Plenty of fishy looking snags here!

What about this one!

OK babe, let’s just drift along on the wind and tide & cast to the shoreline snags. Successive wet seasons have dumped these big old trees right on the water’s edge....on the high tide and with a relative easy cast to the structure, there just might be a barra or two hiding there.

Was Deb happy - you bet!

Just as we eased into a little bay, where the water was a bit clearer, Deb cast to snag number 57 and right on cue a lovely little silver barra snaffled her lure. It wasn't a big fish, it didn't have to be. Deb was so stoked to land a true salt water barra at last and after landing, a quick pic and a measure...it went just on 55cm, it was gently put back into the drink. You couldn't wipe the smile of Debbie's face if you tried. This was something she had wanted to do for ages, and it had finally come together on Anzac Day 2013.

Snags.....looks good eh!

Cast No 213!

Such a beautiful place TNQ!

Back inside the river - as a Jetstar plane brings some more tourists!

After a few more stops and a hundred casts to likely looking structure, I decided that the winds were picking up (as is the daily occurrence on the east coast of TNQ), the tide was getting low and it was time to get back into the river. By this stage I had to travel fairly wide to avoid the little "surf" that was building on the shallow sand flats at the mouth but we were soon back in the safety of the tidal estuary and zooming upstream.

Under the Barron highway bridges!

Boat ramp and boating pontoon.

The old river bridge at Stratford - a very popular fishing spot!

Today was going to see a big drop, low tide just after midday was a low of only .4m. If I was going to fish upstream, we had better get a move on before the shallow reaches of the Barron became a too dangerous proposition to try and cruise over. As luck would have it, we made our way right up to the Freshwater creek mouth, powered off the plane and settled under a huge shady tree for coffee and morning tea (a late one at that).

Zooming upstream.....Kuranda Range in the distance!

It’s a proud day for us Aussies, ANZAC Day; we have the footy (AFL to me) and a heap of other sporting events to drool over. So in a show of patriotism, I decided to put on a green and gold Flat Jak. This proved to be a superb choice.

As we drifted downstream on the falling tide I couldn't help but comment on the dirty state of this river - perhaps they were releasing water from the dam, perhaps they had has some heavy rain upstream. Either way, I was not too confident of success but more content to just "suck it and see"...drift down and if we caught a few fish that would be a bonus. I was almost lost in a trance when that first little hit came from a feisty little juvenile.



My first little barra....on the patriotic colours!

Now that's a bit better!

But smash my lure it did and the barra was quickly landed, photographed for proof and gently released. About three casts later I was slammed again, this time about half way back to the boat....put the lead down baby I exclaimed, there appears to fish holding up here and we just might catch a few.

Nice barra Deb.......barracuda that is!

Deb cast back upstream and worked her lure back over some rubbly bottom...........bang! She was on to something a bit bigger, was this the barra we were after. After a spirited fight and violent head shakes the fish finally showed itself. It was a barra alright but not the one we wanted. A barracuda, not barramundi. A quick pic and it was back in the drink, you don't waste time with a thrashing cuda in a small tinny. They have massive teeth and deserve due respect.

Sorry babe....it was fun wasn't it!

Now that's a jack....well, almost!

Oh, I’m on to another little barra, an another and another........what a day after all. Deb frantically changed lures, have you caught anything on this blue one she asked. Nope, its a brand new lure and I bought it for you my darling. Deb smiled.....sure you did, and right on cue she hooked up to another little barra. She had christened that lure and in the process ensured that she had landed the two biggest barra of the day. Still under legal size but who cares (sob, sob, sob!).

Another 55cm barra on the new "blue" Flat Jak lure!

I think we landed 8 barra for the day (a late start and an early finish for me)....hell, the footy was on and even though we have MyStar / Foxtel and can record live TV, I was anxious to get home and watch the Bombers thrash the Pies!

And they did, you beauty!

· We had had a fabulous day out on the water.

· Only 15 minutes’ drive from home.

· In comfort and safety of a pretty little, much maligned waterway

· We had landed 8 barra, a cuda and a jack (well its almost a jack ha ha)

· Launched / retrieved at the magnificent new pontoon / ramp on the highway bridge

· Washed the boat down

· Drove home and sat down with a cold beer to watch the footy

NOW THAT'S A GREAT DAY!

Catch you on the water!

Regards, Les

www.fishingcairns.com.au

A Stonker of a Saturday

My good mate, Greg Parkes, was up from Sydney on business!

Greg looks after some accommodation complexes here in Cairns and just loves coming up here to work and have the opportunity to fish with me. And so it was decided to fish the South Johnstone at Innisfail.

I was a little unsure as to what the river conditions would be like; the Innisfail region had had over 200mm of rainfall the previous week. As long as the water was relatively "clear" we should be OK!

Clear.........it was like a swimming pool. In fact in all my time fishing this river, I had never encountered such pristine water quality.

The next big question.....how much fresh was still coming down and how far upstream could we traverse? (Actually its 2 questions right!)

What a glorious big blue sky day greeted us....we were running a bit late however, as after a big night out on Friday, I'd forgotten to set my alarm. Secondly, after picking up Greg from his hotel, he was a bit seedy and needed some comfort food i.e. Macca's. So off to Woree it was.

We launched under the magnificent new Jubilee Bridge, putted under the shade and dropped anchor to apply sun screen etc. I pulled out my two favourite lures....a Flat Jack for the big stuff, and my fresh water gem, the beaut little SR5 for the sooties and JP's and jacks and tarpon and archer fish and barra............do you get it yet?

And as for Greg, well he had the same but in a different colour just to vary it a bit!

I'm going to just head upstream as far as I can go I explained.....with a falling tide and a low at approx. 12 noon, we were about half way out. We zoomed along, the 20hp Yamaha pushing my little 4m CCC up over the sand bars, over the rocky ledges, the shallow rapids and weed beds. I couldn't believe at how clean the water was, the visibility was amazing - so much so that I had never been more confident of "not hitting anything"....it was a real eye opener.

Up past the third rapid, over the old South Johnstone rail bridge, up under the highway and we were soon at the end of the road so to speak. We had made it as far as a boat could travel.

OK mate, let’s start our drift back downstream. We had heaps of beautiful water to fish and the rest of the day to do it.

It wasn't long before the sooties showed their presence. These plucky little fighters are a magic species to target on light spin gear. Casting as close as you dare to bankside structure, weed beds and swaying grass, they dart out with abandonment and crash your like it was their last meal. To sight fish them right up against the bank is amazing.

As we drifted down we would spot a cruising big black bastxxx right up against the bank. An accurate cast within a couple of feet would see the sooty charge at your offering and without hesitation slam the SR5 and head back to cover. If your reflexes were a bit slow, it would be over in a flash - all hung up and a lost fish and a lure too if she was real brute.

And it wasn't only sooties that got into the act.

How's that for a quality JP

JP's just love sitting under the overhanging trees and a cast right up in the shade would bring an instant hook up on these magic little fish. We are so lucky to have these beauties in our waterways....they are highly prized by sport fishers and are always treated with the utmost respect and released. I did manage one of my near PB on JP's that day...a really prime specimen and I'd suspect a breeding female too as she had a resident following of about half a dozen smaller fish that day. They darted all over the lure until the big bruiser shouldered them out of the way and snaffled my golden offering.

We caught tarpon and archer fish, more sooties and JP's, quality Jacks and even 3 GT's (all by Greg too!). In fact I think one of those GT's was Greg's PB....a fantastic fight on light spin gear. But no matter how much fun we were having on the day, something was still missing. You guessed it......barra!

 

As we came to a particular steep sided bank, I advised Greg that on the next point, there is a heap of "structure" in the form of old railway cages, pipes and tangled machinery (probably washed down by a major wet season flood years ago. I often catch a barra hear I exclaimed!

And here it is - nice little barra

Quality sooty!

Right on cue a lovely little juvenile rose from the depths (its about 5m at this spot) and slammed my little offering. It put up a spirited fight on the 4kilo gear but we soon had her safely in the boat for a quick snap and release. How's that mate...right on cue too!

More Jacks and JP's and sooties....and an occasional juvenile barra too. Greg hooked up to a nice little barra of around legal size, to only have the hooks pull on her third jump. I think he was a little enthusiastic and pulled a bit hard. Not to matter, Greg was stoked.

It was mid-afternoon now and we had worked our way down towards some amazing structure, a series of huge trees washed into the river and it was one of my favourite spots. I always catch something here I exclaimed, get ready to drop the lead blob Greg! We were not disappointed as we both landed a couple of quality sooties.

What was also noticeable was that the afternoon bite had increased out catch rate...the water too had risen in temperature from a fairly cool 23.1C right up the top to a more comfortable 25.8C. Had this fact increased our catch rate, were the fish more active in the warmer water - you bet!

I even landed a couple more juvenile barra as we continued our journey. It was getting late however and we had to make a decision soon. At just on 5:30 we pulled the pin and zoomed back to the boat ramp. By this time the tide had pushed back upstream making it a comfortable and safe journey in the fading light.

Upon reflection it was a perfect day.

The weather was as good as it gets here in TNQ, hardly a cloud in the sky, a very comfortable 28C on the water and a heap of fish to boot. Greg actually advised that "it was the best fishing day he had ever had". I was so thrilled for him and pleased that I could show him the ropes.

In all we landed well over 60 fish. I'd lost count at about 40+ but what a great day. Thanks for your company Greg....and note, olive coloured perch imitation SR5's work ALMOST as well as the gold ones!

Catch you on the water!

Regards, Les

www.fishingcairns.com.au

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