Category Archives: Fishing

Barra going Nuts

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I was supposed to be going camping this weekend, even took the Monday off work, but as it turns out the car got a crack in the radiator. I found this out on Friday. Meanwhile Brucesta had just moved from WA to Darwin and had asked me about some fishing. Since I didn’t have anything planned we made some last minute decisions to go barra chasing for the 11.30am lock in.

At first it was slow going, I hooked a few small cod (I seem to have a knack for it). A few hours of not much and it was across the low Brucesta managed to hook a fish that buried itself under a log. Since it was 1m deep it took me about 10 minutes of fishing around with the net under water to dislodge it, actually we gave up, but when Brucesta tried to break his line off he managed to get the fish out. Turns out it was a 38cm barra, his first NT one, and at least we were on the board.

As the water started to roll in we heard the occasional boof and we trying to hook something up. We were at a branch in a creek where the craziest thing happened. About 5000 tiny mullet came pouring into the creek. For about 5 minutes we were hearing a boof every 30 seconds. Then for 2 minutes after that, it was a boof every 2-3 seconds. 5 minutes after that it went back a boof every 30 seconds, before dying off. You could physically see the 60-80cm barra jumping. Over and over. It was crazy, they were everywhere!

And yet… they would not hook up. I have never seen anything like it, if I had of known feeding frenzies could go like that I would have assumed it would be easy to get a fish. But we got nothing. Another boat near us got 2 whilst trolling so we swapped to that, I got a decent blue salmon but no barra.

I still just can’t believe I saw that. I wish I had a go pro or something as it was just so insane. And yet no barra from it. It was the most disappointing thing that happened that day, and I’m a North Melbourne supporter.

Got:
Brucesta: 38cm barra
Me: Blue salmon for dinner

Random story of the trip:
A boat in that creek had their nose about 2 metres in the air whilst motoring, their outboard was 75% under water.

Snap

Boating around the Harbour

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Claire and I finally had a Saturday together, so we decided to go out on the boat. Claire had actually never been out on the boat before, we weren’t sure how she would go.

I decided to hit a few more blue water locations, as it was across the low and therefore a bit prettier. It wasn’t a fishing trip, but I was planning on having a bit of a cast around.

We hit this nice area of exposed rocks and I flicked around a bit. Got a few small items like a cod and a blue bones. Finally hooked onto something decent, but it spat the lure half way through. Really wish I had of known what it was. Soon we stopped for ‘elevensies’ and Claire had some beer, water, and food. Then the wind kicked up. It wasn’t long before she started to feel sea sick, and that was the day. We tried to go up some mangroves, that stopped her feeling sea sick, but the sun was out and so were the bugs.

So we decided to call it a day. Cracked my first can at the car wash.

 

Final land based session on Hammo

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Having day trips organised for the Friday and Saturday (more on my blog) we had one last crack at land based session. The wind was fierce that day and fishing on the beach was next to impossible. We tried a few locations, in the end settled on some rocks next to Catseye beach. Got a few small bites, and Chops managed to land a flathead.

Got:
Me: Nothing
Chops: Flathead, released

Story of the trip:
Saw some whales come through! When we were on the beach with too much wind, a whale and a calf came through, right near the airport. Pretty cool!

Snap

Fishing on my Wedding Day

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I was getting married at 2pm, plenty of time for a land based flick in the morning. I also thought that it would read as an omen: a fish would be equal good marriage, no fish would be a bad sign. We hit a sandy and rocky beach, flicking some plastics for not much success. Soon we saw some bait busting up so tried to flick there. Soon enough I caught a tiny cod. Hey, that’s good right? A good omen.

As I wound him in suddenly a little calamari came out of no where and latched on. I tried to drag him up the beach but he let go. I cast the cod back to him and he went it again. I tried again for a fail, but he latched on again to the cod.

We were frantically trying to figure out how we could land it – it wasn’t hooked, and we didn’t have a net or anything. So my mate decided to try to drag a treble lure through it to see if it would hook. It did, but not well, and the calamari bolted.

One final cast of the cod and even again the calamari came back and latched on! The second time we were able to hook it with the lure, and presto, we had a lunchtime feed.

Got:
Me: Small Cod and a claim on a Calamari
Chops: A claim on a calamari

Story of the trip:
Who caught the calamari? A lot of debate has raged on this one. Did I get it interested and he caught it? Did I catch it and he landed it?

Snap

Bucks day!!

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The wife and I are very different in some ways. Whereas she had 3(!) hens nights with various friends in various locations, I did not want one. Strippers? Might as well drink non-alcoholic beer. But she was insistent on me doing something… hey no worries what about a chartered fishing trip?

We set off in glorious weather, having been assured the tides were not ideal. First place we hit a few of the boys pulled up some thumper trevally. The guide was dissapointed and we moved on.

At this point I was thinking of forming a mutiny. Firstly I hadnt caught one yet. What if that was it? Secondly they cook okay if they arent refridgerated. Thirdly nummas/cerviche is awesome. Fourthly how sure he could be we could get others? But no, he wanted it for bait…. so me and Chops (a fellow Trevally lover) waited.

Second place we got, nothing.

Third place we went to, a few of the boys hooked Nannygai. Success!! And a few more… soon we were smashing them! But not poor old me….

Eventually I got onto a 42cm one. Can’t complain. I took a break as I was hogging the rods. I found out later the rod that I had was ordinary, but in 60m of water I couldn’t tell.

Soon my mate tired and I grabbed my rod again… got a slight nibble and I increased the pressure and hooked the fish. Suddenly my whole body was clenching trying to hang on… he pulled off some line, which was funny as the drag was so tight I broke it easily on a snag. I wound and winded. Over and over. We were fighting sharks, and I was doing such and ordinary job of getting him up quickly I didn’t think I had a chance. Wound and wind. Over and over. Soon my whole body ached. The skipper was shouting to me to stop being a princess and ignore that lactic acid. Easy to say… this might seem dramatic but
a) I like a good story
b) It was a really ordinary rod and reel
As I wound that bad boy up inch by inch I was hoping it was something decent otherwise I would look the fool. Part of me wondered if I had a small shark as it kept taking line, and that drag was DAMN tight.

When I got it to the surface…. far out… an impressive (68cm) Coral Trout!!! When I got it in the boat, I mean, wow, what a rush. I remembered why I love fishing, why I love the Whitsundays, and that bait fishing / bottom bashing isn’t all bad!

From then on I hit the beer (my first, stop judging me, fishing comes first on these things) and let everyone have a fish for a while. My cousin pulled up a mammoth Nannygai, otherwise everyone was pretty much hitting one after the other. The trick was getting them past the sharks. I spent a bit of time teaching the newbies what to do, one particular highlight was pulling a fish past two sharks who were charging it.

Soon a few people got tried so I hit the end of the day, managed another 2 keepers and a 50cm sweetlip, which was pretty damn cool.

What a trip!!!

Got:
Me: 68cm coral trout, 50cm sweetlip, 3 40-55cm nannygai
Everyone: Lots of nannygai! And some Trevally. One more sweetlip.

Story of the trip:
Clearly my coral trout. I was so stoked with it. The wind was dead, the ocean was blue, just a great trip all around.

Snaps

Trevelly!


Me with my Coral Trout!


The old man looking happy


Cousin Gareth with the biggest Nannygai of the day, think around 80 to 90