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Free Stuff!!
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For a limited time, you will receive a free Stealth or
F111 lure with every order over $50-00.
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| A 14kg beauty caught by Matthew Graham on the inner reef |
Island Macko's On The Chew!
Although only a small window of opportunity presented itself during August just about every angler
in Cairns headed for the reef and inshore islands in search of Spaniards, and they weren’t disappointed!
The second wreck near Double Island was a popluar spot with more than a dozen boats jigging, trolling
and drifting baits to try their luck, and they didn’t have to wait long.
Spaniards were there in good numbers, all around the 12 to 15 kilo mark, creating havoc as fish on
blistering runs weaved their way through the throng of boats. In spite of this handicap a number of
big fish were caught and weighed in at Bransfords Tackle Shop.
Matthew Graham scored the prize catch of the day with his 14 kilo fish taken on a high speed retrieve
Bumpa Bar lure, he also snared several smaller fish. His fishing mate Byron Hammacott had ‘one of those days’
as he hooked several Spaniards only to pull the hooks close to the boat. Still, that’s why they sometimes
call it ‘fishing’ not ‘catching’ mate!
With the upcoming Yorkeys Knob Light Tackle Slam there will no doubt be some mega Spaniards caught and
weighed, and with cash and prizes to the value of $20,000 the competition will be fierce.
How To Tame The Big Lakefield Barra!
Lakefield fishing can be summed up in one phrase: "Rooster one day - Feather duster the next".
The very day you arrive that first fishing session can be dynamite with the barras chewing anything that
you care to throw their way, and the very next morning you thrash the water to foam without even a flash of silver.
It can be a frustrating place to get consistent results.
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| A HUGE Mangrove Jack! |
Walking the banks is one of my favoured methods, lure fishing isolated water holes using surface lures
in the warmer months and deeper divers when temperatures drop. You may not end up with a cricket score
catch but every fish is a challenge as you try to winch them through tangled timbers. One thing you will notice,
and especially this year, is the smaller size barras that are there in big numbers. Fish in the 45 to 55cm bracket
that are fun to catch but tend to offer little resistance.
Our recent trip to Lakefield saw us camp at the Kalpower Crossing. Talk about luxury; there’s showers, toilets and
even a tap but the price you pay for this is an endless stream of 4WD tour groups that tend to take away from
the peace and quiet usually enjoyed when out bush. It was convenient as we only had a few days, and, we had never
tried this area of Lakefield before.
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| A Big & Fat Beauty! An incredible barra specimen... |
Deciding to concentrate our efforts in the two Kalpower holes and the downstream stretches of Midway and Hanush’s
we started casting medium and deep diving lures such as Manns 10+ , Ron Gallo deep divers and Tropical Rogues.
Our first couple of sessions were encouraging with feisty barras to 62 cms. giving us a good run, and with 4 or 5
fish per session we were well pleased with ourselves. But we had come to Lakefield to target bigger barra this time
and we decided to give away our more favoured snag casting techniques and concentrate on slow, and I mean really
slow trolling.
It’s a given that you will generally catch bigger barra either trolling or using livebait, (such as cherubin or
spangled perch), however the change of pace we experienced was more than a shock to the system.
Finding ‘trolling runs’ that are likely to hold a good head of fish is the key. We looked for a consistent water
depth of 4 to 5 metres within 15 metres of the bank…and plenty of what we call ‘matted snags’. These snags are not
what you normally encounter jutting out from the rivers edge that hold barra under their trunks or heavy branches.
Matted snags lie on the bottom and are ‘layered’, sometimes a few metres deep. Imagine wet season deluges spewing
timbers into the deeper holes where they stay put. The next wet season another layer of snags is deposited on top
of the first layer and so on. The result is a mat of snags where barra can hole up out of the main current run
and ambush their prey with ease, (lazy bugger these barramundi!).
The main problem is that these bigger fish can snaffle your lure and tangle you up in and around these timbers with
relative ease - if you let them. The method we discovered overcame this problem on most occasions, but don’t think
you will get away without losing any lures it’s bound to happen! The best Lure Retrievers in the business won’t
thread their way through four or five layers of tangles timbers.
Before I tell you the techniques for snaring these bigger Lakefield barra make a note of these ‘must have’ barra
trolling lures .Every one is a winner and will generally bounce off heavy timber better than many other lures we
have tried. We do sell the Barra Classic range right here on the site, the other are available in store if you want to
check them out.
- Barra Classic Pro Alternative in metallic gold or blue - 12’ model.
- Barra Classic purple or metallic gold - 10’ model.
- Barra Classic F18 Manta Ray, metallic gold or blue - 6 metre model.
- RMG Scorpion metallic green & gold or bleeding mullet - 5 metre model.
- Killaure Barra Bait 6” in chrome yellow - 12’ model.
- Tilsan Barra 6” in metallic blue or gold - 5 metre model
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| Keith with another tremendous Barra catch |
Remember when you use braid, and I suggest a quality braid in 30 lbs. b.s., these lures will dive deeper than the
indicated depths and if you let out more line then hold your rod tip low they will almost get the bends. When using
braid we use twisted 40 lbs. leaders and Halco snaps, (or similar h/duty snaps), which gives some ‘shock’ absorbtion
to your rig.
Using your sounder start your slow troll so as to try and ‘clip’ the tops of the timbers. We do this by making sure
the driver talks to his mate constantly so the varying depths are known. When it gets deeper you let line out to
maintain this ‘snag clipping’ technique, conversely when it shallows up, retrieve line and/or lift up your rod tip.
This keeps your lure in the ‘Strike Zone’, when your lure ‘clips’ that snag it often triggers a response from a
docile barra and Wham he strikes.
This may sound simple enough however it takes time to perfect, and bare in mind that you have already ‘sussed out’
your trolling run/s.
Another good piece of advice is to hold your rod in a forward position and occasionally ‘rip’ the lure so those
rattles work. We call it ‘ringing the dinner gong’ and boy does this work. It’s also handy when you feel your lure
snag up. When this happens quickly drop the rod backwards and often your lure will float up and off the snag. I did
say sometimes!!!
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| Matt with his second best Barra of the trip |
When you hook a fish the driver should angle the boat towards the centre of the river so as to help drag the barra
away from his snaggy den. When he’s safely away from snag heaven cut the motor and play him out.
We caught some teriffic barra using this method, up to 76cm, and lost some even bigger fish. They were in plump,
healthy condition and fought like demons. At this size they weighed 6 kilos and really made our trip such a success
as we caught a bunch of them over 70cm. I even managed a 2 kilo mangrove jack trolling and when I checked out his
stomach contents he had a 5” eel tail catfish partly digested, again in prime condition.
When those bigger Lakefield barras are on the chew trolling you can soon rack up your bag limit, so please remember
to carefully release unwanted fish by reviving them first.
Practice your trolling techniques and you will get into better quality barra. It may take more patience to perfect
but it’s well worth the effort!
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Fishing News
