Doing a happy dance
LOCAL barramundi action is beginning to ramp up as shallow waters warm and season 2021 draws to a close for both recreational and commercial anglers.
Warm evenings have encouraged plenty of anglers to do their thing with lures and baits, landbased anglers reaping as many barra rewards as those with boat.
Brittney Le-roy did her happy dance late last weekend after landing a fantastic 90cm barramundi while fishing from a favourite Haughton River spot.
Le-roy figured a low tide coinciding with sunset was about the perfect time to hunt a barra.
“Bait was hard to get but I found five really nice mullet and wondered if I could turn them into a barra,” Le-roy said.
The super-enthusiastic angler wasn’t left wondering for long when, at dusk, her rod buckled and she was tied to a fine barra.
The fight was one of landbased dreams, the fish a long way off, jumping and few snags on which to lose it.
The barra did everything right, as did Le-roy, and it was with pure jubilation the fish was eased onto the sand and Le-roy cried tears of joy.
The barra, at 90cm, remains her biggest yet.
COWBOYS BOSS SCORES
Daniel Jackson and partner Dacoda Street are Townsville locals who are into the barra, the pair regularly claiming fish in the 60 to 75cm class – all from their favourite, but secretive, landbased spot.
Karl Pedersen is equally shy about giving away his spot, the Kirwan angler fooling a brace of barras while fishing under city lights on Tuesday evening.
He said unweighted live prawn baits cast in front of fish cruising on the edge of bridge shadows fooled near identical barras at 63cm apiece.
James Harriet says he has been frequenting the drains and lakes network near Castletown Shopping Centre for his end-of-season barra fix, the big man also finding most of his fish under the cover of darkness.
“I like to throw gold Bombers under the bridges and tunnels but hardly ever get good fish until the sun goes down,” Harriet said.
“But once the street lights are on… it’s like a switch has been flicked and the drains come to life – that’s when I get my barra.”
Harriet said this week had been particularly rewarding with at least one legal size barra caught each evening.
Lewis Ramsay, North Queensland Cowboys chairman, hired Ian Moody to find a barra last weekend.
In fact, Moody found several fish for Ramsay and mates Mick Graham and Dolan Hayes, the best a ripper 101cm model landed by Ramsay when they fished within a Hinchinbrook Channel creek.
Ramsay was happy to release his trophy metre-long barra while Graham and Hayes accounted for fish at 86 and 84cm respectively, early in the day.
Moody described the big barra as one that was well-conditioned with the shoulders of Matt Scott and leaping ability of Kyle Feldt, the barra spending plenty of time in the air.
“She peeled a lot of line and jumping quite often and fought all the way to the boat,” Moody of Ian Moody Sportfishing Charters said.
“It was great to get her on board and get some quick
snappy pics with Lewis, before giving the big breeder her release,” Moody added.
RETIREMENT IN STYLE
Vic Johnstone celebrated his very first day of retirement last Saturday with a fishing trip for the ages – one into Cleveland Bay where his arms were stretched good and proper.
Johnstone shared the special day with daughter Ange and her partner Luke Warnest, both of Mount Ossa north of Mackay.
The trip started ordinarily with on-water conditions disagreeing with forecasts and providing an uncomfortable passage to Magnetic Island.
Stiff winds pushed spray from a sloppy sea over the gunnels far too regularly to ensure anyone happy, yet the trio found more agreeable conditions upon rounding the eastern point of the island.
Sheltering from the southeasterly influence in Horseshoe Bay, Ange opened her account with a procession of just legal-size nannygai before prying a tasty bar cheek coral trout, her first, from the shoreline rocks.
Vic was happy enough with a reasonable sort of gold spot cod and Luke was dusted too easily, too many times, by big fish that dragged his line into the boulders and all three were happiest when winds eased, seas settled and they continued their odyssey into Cleveland Bay.
Immediately, at their chosen spot, several cobia or black kingfish materialised from the depths to check out the boat and just as quickly disappeared before Luke’s rod heaved and he was tied to a good fish.
Vic and Ange retrieved their lines in order to not foul that attached to the hooked fish and while watching on, Vic’s bait still wafting only centimetres below the surface and beside the boat, an enormous fish grabbed the offering – that wasn’t really being offered!
The double hook-up and ensuing battles were a spectacle to behold, both fish delivering tremendous campaigns before eventually being brought to the boat.
The cobia avoided the baited hooks, Luke’s fish a GT or giant trevally and Vic’s catch a GT of a different kind – a golden trevally of almost equal size.
Both anglers were spent and Luke happy to give his GT its freedom while Vic, adrenaline still coursing through his veins and shaking with excitement, decided to keep his golden trevally – his biggest ever fish of any kind.
Vic continued to catch mack tuna, mackerel and bigger cod – as did Ange and Luke – the 70-year-old remarking: “If I knew the fishing was going to be this good, I’d have retired years ago.”
BARRA ON MIND
Weekend fishing options are understandably of the barra kind for many anglers with the 2021 Queensland East Coast Barramundi season drawing to
a close at midnight November 30.
Local creeks and rivers are certain to be well-fished and for obvious reasons, a good number of anglers are sure to frequent the bowels of the Hinchinbrook Channel.
Landbased anglers should continue to reap barra rewards locally when they use both or either lure and live baits, flooding early evening tides prime for the predatory species.
Meanwhile, post lunchtime low tide periods might excite those with boats who could explore deeper holes and exposed snag areas and mangrove spider roots with any number of lures.
Highly regarded local angler Mark Parkes suggests ei
ther the Samaki brand Redic Jerkbait SF90 or MS60 to both be winners in that low tide scenario, the latter ideal for walking through and around messy snags. Light northerly winds won’t bother anglers seeking grey of broad barred mackerel on these tides, the popular table species likely to be found anywhere that baitfish might be congregating.
Expect Bay Rock, Middle Reef and Cape Cleveland waters to be infiltrated by the mackerel anytime soon.
And reef fishers can do their thing knowing that they’ve just over two weeks until the second and final five day Coral Reef Fin Fish closure for 2021 is enforced starting on November 2.