lure-n-fly

It's a sand bass. Often confused with a barra.

Hey James, Are you practicising your casting on the water or over land? If practicising over land it is most likely your leader is breaking due to wear and tear of the impact of the fly hitting the ground. If you're practising over water, I have no idea... Cheers, Brendon

I got a call from my brother based in the Northern Territory suggesting I come up for a couple of days fishing the wet season runoff. The offer coincided well with my work commitments and one day later I found my way on a plane to Darwin. The first two days were spent exploring the fresh water upper reaches of one of the major river systems. This trip resulted in well over 100 fish which mainly consisted of barramundi, saratoga and sooty grunter. That trip is worth a report in itself so I'll leave it at that for now. On the third day we planned to fish downstream from Shady Camp in search of the elusive one metre wild barramundi. We'd arranged to fish with another mate (Pete) on the day with us all to meet at Shady Camp barrage for a gentlemanly 9am start. We arrived around half an hour before Pete and decided to have a few casts at barrage. First cast for both my brother and myself resulted in a double hookup of barramundi. Both around the 50cm mark. Next cast saw me miss a fish and my brother hooked and landed another small barra around the 45cm mark. Next cast I was onto another 50cm model. We didn't see any more hits for the next dozen or so casts. Above the barrage we could see hundreds of tarpon rolling, so we had a few flicks up there. Tarpon can be notorious to hook on lures and these were no exception. Every cast resulted in about 6 hits and we hooked a tarpon about every 2-3 casts. We probably landed 1 for every 3 hookups. After releasing several tarpon, we had another quick flick below the barrage and my brother landed another barra in the high 40's. Pete soon arrived and we launched the boat and headed off downstream to the mouth of the river. I've fished for barramundi on many occasions, but never on the Mary River system. I was extremely keen to fish here as the techniques used on this system are so different to anywhere else I have fished. The Mary River system splits into multiple creeks towards the mouth, with the major creeks being Sampan Creek and Tommycut Creek. We were fishing Sampan Creek. Both creek locations are famed for their big barramundi, although king salmon and catfish are also regular captures. The technique used to fish these creeks is quite simple. Troll large shallow diving minnows out the front of the creeks. (ie. From the creek mouth to about 3km out!) It felt very strange trolling so far off the coast over ground that showed no features of significance. Due to the big tides, the water depths started at about 6 metres at high tide and dropped to about 1 metre towards low tide. As the tide dropped further the trolling moved further offshore. This is certainly no secret spot and at one point I counted 24 boats trolling in the one area. So much for being remote! Most people were well behaved and most caught one or two fish. My first hookup came about 2 hours into the runout (around midday). I was fishing with the largest Strada lure and the fish hit hard. Immediately I suspected a big fish going by the weight and headshakes. She soon jumped and revealed her bulk. She was a big fish and I knew she would give the magic metre mark a nudge. The fish jumped four times during the fight and by now we had several boats closing in for a look. After about five minutes she was guided into the net and lifted aboard. A couple of quick handshakes and we placed her on the lie detector. She fell just short of the magic mark at 96cm...I suggested rounding the measurement to the nearest 10cm to put it at the magic mark, but this suggestion was quickly shot down by the crew. Regardless, I was not disappointed in what was an impressive fish. Not my biggest barra, but my biggest wild barra. We quickly removed the hooks and set her free. For the next hour we saw several boats hookup on fish that appeared to be around 80-100cm mark. The next bite went to our boat again with my brother hooking up on another quality fish. His fish immediately took to the air launching itself an honest four feet clear of the water. As it launched itself the lure was seen flying in the opposite direction giving the fish an early freedom. Not long after it was Pete's turn to hookup. His fish took a slow powerful initial run, and did not jump. After about 5 minutes it was clear this was a BIG fish. By now we were having thoughts about what it could be. We thought it is either a BIG barramundi or perhaps a large and lost black jewfish. For the next fifteen minutes we would get the fish close to the boat and with a quick kick of its tail, it would take and easy 10 or so metres of line. Visibility in the water was non existent due to the runoff, but with each kick of the tail, massive swirls could be seen rising to the surface. Soon we had the double close I was waiting anxiously with the net. This time when the fish kicked it's shoulders and tail cleared the water. The fish revealed itself a Queensland Groper. Not huge by groper standards, but a huge fish nonetheless. The next concern was how we were going to land this thing. We had the biggest environet on the market and the fish was clearly larger than the net. We had a gaff on board and considered lip gaffing the fish, but we all decided this would be a last resort. Boga grips were considered for about half a second when no-one volunteered to be on the end of them! Pete was starting to tire and was putting a worrying bend in his rod. Eventually the fish came close enough for me to slip it's head and shoulders into the net. I grabbed the net and my brother grabbed the fish’s tail. Our first attempt at lifting the fish got it to the gunnel, but not over it. It took another attempt and all of our might to get this beautiful fish on board. The net could be heard ripping under the strain! Our main concern was to get the fish back in the water as soon as possible. Pete was too tired to lift the fish, and it would have been a two person job anyway, so we decided to photograph the fish on the floor of the boat. We knew this wouldn't produce the best photo, but it meant we could get it back in the water quicker. Our lie detector stops at 115cm and the groper was a good 6 inches longer. The fish was a good 130cm. I'm unable to find any length / weight charts for Queensland Groper but we all estimated the fish at somewhere between 40kg and 50kg...Perhaps more??? My brother and I hauled her mass back over the side and the fish swam away as though nothing had happened. The fishing slowed after that and we managed to catch a catfish to finish the day. A couple of hours later I was back on a plane and headed home to Sydney. A great end to an impromptu visit.

...and I bet they sink just as quick as my last two pairs

+1 for the Daiwa wilderness. I keep mine in the back of the car with a small box of lures...just in case! For its purpose, it's great value.

Correct on the wire netting cod

Hey Musty, You're spot on the mark. I found I was conciously trying to keep my head still, whilst moving my eyes. To be honest it was a bit of a pain, and there were several fish I "edited" out because my head movement would make you dizzy! However, they are what they are, and I'll use them again. I'm hoping to get some action of kingfish nailing a surface lure on them. Much easier than using the handycam. I just can't find good crew who'll put a rod down and use the handycam when fish are on the surface!

I was recently given a pair of video camera sunglasses, which I thought might be useful on the odd fishing trip. I've recently posted a couple of reports on bass fishing in my local creek, so rather than repeat more of the same, I've put a short video together. The sunglass camera is only 3MP, so the clarity is average, but hopefully you'll find the video watchable. (The quality is much better in bright daylight, which is typically not when the bass are on the surface...You may notice I need to look lower as well ) The fishing has been really consistent over the past two months in the creek. The main difference I have noticed in the past month is the fish have really started taking to surface lures. I have caught them on Jitterbugs, Jittermouse, Teeny Torpedos, Tiny Torpedos and my favourite, soft shell cicadas. My hookup ratio seems to be one hookup for every three strikes. The video was taken about two weeks ago. I fished the creek again this week after the recent heavy rains. The water level, as expected, was much higher, much dirtier and flowing really fast. I found that I still caught fish but those caught this week were really small. Can't wait for the weather to dry up and warm up again! Hope you enjoy.

Hey mate, I'm not sure what your boat setup is like, but this response is based on the layout of my side console. I have downriggers on both sides, but find the one on the drivers side more convenient. If I see something on the depth sounder, I can quickly raise (or lower) the bomb without leaving the helm. Your preference may be different depending on your boat layout.

After a week of wind and rain, I had to fish with the weather looking so good this morning. Like most, I have to work to fund my fishing, so I made a plan to flick some lures around Pittwater and be off the water in time to head to work. I hit the ramp at 4:45am and headed off into the darkness. Just as the morning twilight began I could see there was bait nervously congregating around the edges. I could also see the odd splash of feeding fish, but nothing schooling as yet. I started casting a popper (Sebile Splasher) towards the bait was hit by a smallish fish on the first cast. On the third cast I was hit again and hooked into a chopper tailor. A couple more casts, another missed hit and the bait disappeared. I motored around to another spot and found a school of fish actively feeding on the surface. I cast out a squid fly which didn't get a hit. On retrieving about the tenth cast, I noticed the tip of my fly rod had broken off. Not sure how it happened, but after 12 years of service, I can't complain. On the bright side, I can get a new one now! I swapped back to a spin rod and cast a 10gram Raider into the school. Instantly I hooked into a nice bonito. The schooling fish sounded so I sat and waited for them to reappear whilst watching the glorious sun rise. The school didn't come back up so I went in search of some more schools. It wasn't long before I found another school. The fish were moving fast and not staying up for very long. However, I managed a second fish before too long. The time was now 6:30 and I had to make tracks to get the boat cleaned before work. As I headed back to the ramp, I saw several more schools of bonito. It took all of my will power not to stop and cast at them. Was a short, sharp session and I just managed to make it to work ontime at 8:30. Didn't see any sign of kingfish, but the bonito were a pleasant surpise.

Hi Slink, I don't have the sizes you mention, but I do have a Twin Power 8000 and Stella 10000. Both are exceptional reels and I see no difference in the performance between the two. I got my Twin Power significantly cheaper as it was run out stock. If you can make a good saving on the Twin Power you've been offered, you wont be disappointed.

Hey Mate, My favourite lure for both species is the 6" Slapstix. I seem to have the most luck with the white colour. The Salmon will take small metal lures on days when they aren't too fussy. The 7 gram Sea Rocks have the most weight for size of the lures I've come across. By far the best lure is a squid jig. Convert this into a squid and send it out live. Hope this helps.

Iceman is corect. That's a brassy

Nice work and great post Mick. With the warmer temp today, I decided to hit my local creek as well. I hit the water about 5pm and I also started out with surface lures. I could see fish but they just weren't interested. Switched back to SP's and landed 5 bass around the 25-30cm mark. I'm loving this warmer weather. The fish are certainly getting the fired up. Was going to try the surface lures on dark, but was getting really thirsty, so headed on home. I'll take a bottle of water with me next time.

You should have put a hat in the photo...You'd get my vote for catch of the month!