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14-03-2007 Crocodile Creek barra action

werewolf

By werewolf
in Saltwater

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werewolf Newbie

werewolf

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Howdy! The following fishing yarn was written by Uncle Pete. I am very jealous I was not there! Pics to follow to!B)

On 14 March 2007 Forensic Pathologist Professor David Williams and his Townsville Hospital assistant Graham De la Haye invited me on a guided barra charter with Aussie Barra Charters with fishing guide Andrew Mead. The trip was a birthday present for David from his wife. The three of us were the only customers on the charter with Andrew.

At 6am we met at the Townsville National Park boat ramp, only needing food for lunch and were to return to the ramp at 4.00pm.

Our destination was Crocodile Creek in Cleveland Bay, about 30 minutes travel by boat from Townsville in Andrews 6 metre Yamaha longboat with a large capacity Evinrude outboard.

Andrew took a shortcut through the mangroves at the mouth of Ross River as the tide was fairly high, and we flew through the tangle of mangrove and silt with only centimetres on each side of the boat. (This saved about 5 minutes if we were to go wide of the mouth)

A quick stop at the mouth of Sandfly Creek where Andrew had about 8 casts for about 150 15cm mullet, a tasty size for big bruiser barra.

Another quick stop to talk to a pro-crabber who offered us the choice of a big buck muddy if we wanted a quick purchase. We declined as we only had barra on our minds.

Arrived at the mouth of \"Crocky\" and the tide was just starting the long run out mode for today. We abchored about 700 metres out to sea from the mouth.

Andrew rigged up 4 rods quickly, mainly Shakespear and Penn reels and two with 25lb mono and two with 25lb braid. Hooks were wide gape bronzies with about a 14mm round sinker fixed about 60 cm from the hook with a double trace between the hook and sinker.

The longboat is fitted with many road holders and the 4 rods with mullet loaded around the mouth area were cast out with the boat anchored sideways to the runout and each mullet cast about 3 metres further than the one beside it.

David, Graham and I took turns to take the strikes which came a beautiful intervals, allowing a photos to be taken of each fish.

After 4 hours we went upstream to a big wide corner with a 20 metre deep hole. This is where I caught the mother of all bruiser barras. It jumped four times, almost went around the outboard, actually had the ling catch the centre of the hull down deep and when measured it went 1230 and guessed to be near the old 50 pound mark. A few photos and release as 1200 is legal max.

Graham then landed a thirty pounder in the 90 plus cm range. David caught numerous Barra between 77cm to 90cm. No fish were dropped or lost in the battles, and the only failed strike was mine when I was too slow when taking a photo of a previous fish when my turn came to grab a strike.

The was no actual \"Striking\" done, Andrew showed us that all you need to do was to start winding the reel with the rod still in the holder and then to lift the rod out of the holder when the actual run had commenced. Very good hookup and success rate and none of the big \"Strike now!!\" business was going on.

By 2pm it all went a bit quiet, with another shift upstream a bit, but we had to get out before the tide left us high and dry at the mouth.

David also caught fingermark about 2kg, a good grunter(2), a Cooktown or Blue Salmon about 4kg, a Gold Spot or Estuary Cod of 1kg, Mangrove Jack of 1.5kgand a few gigantic Shovelnose Rays(they gave a good run and were probably more fun than the Barra to fight but not as exciting to see them beside the boat) A total of 13 Barramundi were landed, mainly between 77cm and 90cm and the two monsters.

Arrived back at the ramp at about 4.15 pm and Andrew even brought all the fish over to David's house to save getting his car dirty.

Best fishing trip I have ever been on, this Andrew Mead of Aussie Barra Charters has got to be one of the best guides in the business.

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chubbstar Newbie

chubbstar

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I have some questions,

How much did this cost you I need to go there. And yes I mean NEED TO GO.

It's been a dream of mine to catch a Barra for a long time, My old fishing mate that I left in Tassie was spewing that I would have the chance before him;)

Most trout guys in Tassie wonna catch a barra.

After reading that report I'm doing it asap.

I envy you, what a great day and report Thanks for sharing it.:woohoo:

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