dirvin21 Posted July 27, 2019 Share Posted July 27, 2019 We headed to Townsville again for another fishing trip this time a 2 day trip with a guide, it was a good deal basically landing at the airport with him there waiting to take us to the lodge catered for us for the nights and transfered back at the end all we needed to do was concentrate on the fishing. The first evening we wandered down to the water only 100m from the lodge for a cast didn't take long for Amy to hook-up to a pelican I'll give them one thing they fight hard. The locals were catching plenty of catish on baits and after awhile finally had a take resulting in a small gold-spot cod, a new species for me, then it was back for a restless night becase of anticipation for the next day. Day 1 we headed to Bowling green bay, water looked amazing and we were frothing at the mouth to get casting We started casting our first spot I had a couple of missed hits before Amy was onto a fish which took a B-line for the timber but she managed to get it back out and in the boat Her first black-spot a nice solid specimen That turned into the story of day 1 we caught loads of cod both black spots and gold spots, I also pulled the hooks on an assumed fingermark on a rock bar and got blown away by an unstoppable beast what the guide thinks was a juvenile groper, the barra ust refused to bite there were hundreds on the sounder with a basic case of lock-jaw welcome to barra fishing, still an awesome day and caught plenty of fish Day 2 we had the option of fishing the upper Burdiken in the fresh and almost certainly catching barra or risk the salt and get the variety and hopefully bigger barra, we risked the salt The wind was howling and it was cold.......... very cold! We started casting a mud ledge and it actually didn't take long to get a bite the fish flew to the surface and right before me was a barra happily throwing my lure at me, I took that one fairly gracefully, the response to the second one that did the same thing was not so dignified After awhile the barra went back to lock jaw so our guide suggested we work some deeper trees which opens up the chance of some other species, again the bite was tough not even the species Queenslanders consider to be vermin would bite, after a few trees I finally had a hit and pulled out a flathead..... not a positive reaction, shortly after Amy got a small gold-spot then I was hit by something far bigger the fish put u a good fight and out came a much better Gold-spot the bigger cod were one of the fish Id gone to QLD to catch We moved to a new tree for the tide change and our guide was confidant the bite would happen we were casting for what seemed like a long time before the place seemed to liven up bait was nervously rushing around and sure enough a hit, at first I thought it was a fingermark but turned out to be a small GT Still happy with the GT desite them being considered vermin in FNQ We kept casting the tree again and again and when it seemed like nothing was going to happen I had another take, it happened fast what I assumed was another small trev suddenly screamed towards the timber leaving me the only otion of grabbing the spool and going for broke feeling everyones tension I pumped the fish up as hard as I could and a fingermark was in the net, some dignity was lost with my reaction but this has been a bucket list fish for me since I was a kid. I think our poor guide took a breath of relief going by how happy I was to catch this fish because it was a tough session. We kept fishing for a couple more small cod and some more barra hits but just couldn't get the barra to play the game. We ended up on the water for 12 hours on day 2. Amy had a really tough 2nd day but she stuck it out and never gave up in true hardcore fisho style, also have to say our guide was awesome, a to bloke who never gave up trying to find active fish for us, I would recommend him to anyone and we'll definetely be back cheers for reading Dave 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rickmarlin62 Posted July 28, 2019 Share Posted July 28, 2019 Great report dave pity the barra are bein stubnorn 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
masterfisho7 Posted July 28, 2019 Share Posted July 28, 2019 Great report Dave love the photos 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonD Posted July 28, 2019 Share Posted July 28, 2019 Envy that warmer weather having cancelled two trips north recently due to weather. Yes barra can be a tricky fish, especially in regards to water temp, to hot or cold and they just sit there frustrating you when you can plainly see lures almost jagging them. Shame about the one that got away, some of those estuary grouper can grow huge. I like the idea of your guides job, looks like an interesting job. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rah Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 Top Report Dave. Great pics and awesome on the Fingermark. Tick off the bucket list ey. Looks like a great trip for you and Amy. Cheers Tara 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratchie Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 Awesome report Dave! Sounds like a great trip for you and Amy and some decent fish landed. Always nice to tick one off the list! Cheers scratchie!!! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackfish Posted August 3, 2019 Share Posted August 3, 2019 (edited) Great report Dave at least you 2 ticked a couple of fish off the bucket list. I doesn't matter where you fish if the fish aren't biting they just don't bite the buggars. Edited August 4, 2019 by Blackfish can't spell 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big Neil Posted August 4, 2019 Share Posted August 4, 2019 Fantastic report Dave. Shame the Barra weren't playing but that's fishing as we all know. Will send you a PM for some additional info. Be grateful for some info. Cheers, bn 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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