Group’s stellar record
a barra,” Neill Snr said.
“It’s been roughly five years since he had caught a barra and he had a blast.”
Neill Snr said the 3 barra caught between them measured 65, 75 and 85cm respectively.
“While we weren’t lucky enough to pin a metre-long fish, we were happy with the barras liking big paddle-tails when we slow-rolled them back to the boat.”
The father and son fishing team released their catch, as they always do with freshwater model barras.
SPORTING SPIRIT
Lily Cowie watched her catch swim off.
She didn’t lose the fish, but instead chose to give it its freedom following, what she described as, an incredible fight.
Lily’s left arm and shoulder were fatigued in a way she found hard to comprehend, but an experienced tropical angler would understand.
The Victorian expat had done battle with a GT or giant trevally, one of the toughest fish – pound-for-pound – to swim Aussie waters.
The trevally wasn’t an overly big fish as far as GT’S go, yet at about 10 kilograms, it gave an exceptionally good account when Lily hooked the beast while fishing near Magnetic Island last weekend.
Metal jig style lures had already fooled a pair of school mackerel before the trevally hit like a train and dictated the terms of the fight early.
Lily confessed that her largest fish prior the brace of 60cm mackerel might have been a yellowbelly of no more than a foot (30cm) long, and now her
learning curve was a steep as they come.
And learn, Lily did.
Settling into a pump and
wind routine, Lily let the fish have its head when its weight and strength combined to rip line from the spin reel, yet
when the fish paused, Lily was on the job drawing it back to the boat – sometimes just centimetre by centimetre.
Lily was visibly relieved and elated when about 20-minutes into the fight, the leader was at hand and her largest ever fish was heaved aboard.
Photographs quickly doneand-dusted; Lily chose the wisest option when considering the fate of her fish.
She simply released the grip on her GT and the re-entry into the drink was a particularly neat one for a fish of bulky configuration, scorecards likely to read 8.5 or better.
It’s been roughly five years since he had caught a barra and he had a blast
MORE CLOSURES
Anglers might be keen to hit the water this weekend knowing that the second and final closure for Coral Reef Fin fish commences Monday (November 21) and winds up at midnight Friday November 26, coral trout and nannygai among a host of reef species off-limits for all fishers.
Likewise, the second and final closure for Spanish mackerel begins Monday, although this closed period extends for 3 weeks, the popular species a prohibited catch until midnight December 12.