Boxing Day Barra

[PilbaraBrad]

This is another trip report form the North of WA, sorry the quality of pics on this one are a bit average but some good fish none the less

hope you enjoy

Cheers

Brad

Sean had never caught been creek fishing before and I had been promising that I would take him at some stage for quite a while now. So Boxing Day was going to be the day. Not so long ago Sean moved to the Pilbara and I had all ready managed to put him on to his first chinaman, trout, rankin, mackie and a few other northern tropical species. This time on the hit list we had a barra and a thready, I was pretty confident that it wouldn’t be too much of an issue although we were going to a spot I wasn’t really too familiar with. We were up early and on the water just as the sun began to creep over the horizon. We made out way into the system minus a little less paint on the skeg of seans optimax because we had a falling tide and not plot for this creek in his GPS. All good, we found our spot and set about getting some livies straight away. It didn’t take too long to get a couple of good mullet and whiting in the bucket. We were fishing a pretty skinny piece of water so we opted for nosing the boat up on to the bank wile soaking a few. It didn’t take long and Sean got a solid run, followed by a jumping barra on his rod, he was checking the time when this happened and didn’t get a chance to grab his rod, ahh well all good at least they were around. Next my rod screamed off and a nice barra jumped out the back. I managed to set the hook and land the first barra f the day, it think it went about 76cm from memory, it was released. We managed to get into a pretty hot little thready session after that. The current had stopped over the low and the threadys were on the hunt, we managed to land about 7 ranging from 80cm to almost a meter. Sean managed a few and had that species ticked off the list. During that time I managed to drop two more barra, I hooked into a nice little rat on an atomic prong SP, I was spewing as well I have never landed a barra on that particular type of SP, we had it next to the boat about to net it when it managed to shake itself free. first of the day thready action was hot more even more yep, more last one for now The tide had turned and with the bit of push came a bit more barra action. Sean managed to stay connected. This time with a bit of luck and quite a few jumps we got another one in to the boat.Sean8 was stoked, only a couple of hours and he had both of his target species ticked off the list. His first barra went 78cm and was released. I dropped another barra, this time my braid parted on the spool, the only thing I can thin of is that I had a nick in my line. So tally after the first session was 7 threadys landed 2 barra landed and approx 4-5 barra dropped. seasns baz seans first ever baz, 78cm and released We changed spots for another session once it got dark. I was pretty keen to try get another baz on popper and on the first cast I got a massive hit, you guessed it though it didn’t hook up. I managed about another 3 hits but no hook ups. During that time Sean8 got a massive run followed by a jumping barra, the fish managed to throw the huge bait out of its mouth on the jump, another dropped fish., sigh......... Well there were a few fish around, after throwing lures for an hour or so I switched to bait for immediate success. My line must have been in the water 30 seconds when I got a blinding run. I set the hook and saw a large barra jump in the moonlight. This time it stuck and I must admit I was pretty nervous after so many dropped fish, but alas I managed to thankfully land it. The fish went 95cm, the biggest for the day, it was released. was pretty happy to land this one after dropping quite a few biggest of the boxing day bazza's Sean was the next to hook up his fish went very hard across the surface and playing him for quite a while before he could land it. We were pretty stocked to see a large thready come into view, not only was seasn already breaking P B’s but the meter mark as well. The thready went 108cm, a great fish congrats Sean, it was released.. seans PB monster thready, 108cm and releaed A very happy chappy, it has been a good year for threadys up this way, this is the 12th meter plus thready caught from my boat this season, biggest going 111cm so far.. I managed one more barra for the night, on a dead mullet of all things. The fish hit the bait like a bream but then set off on a screaming run followed by lots of jumps. It went 88cm and released. took the personel tally to 38 and the boat tally to 72 for this season so far 88cm, released... Well I chucked a popper around for another 10 minutes or so before bed and I couldn’t believe it when I hooked a catfish, the one technique I thought was safe from those pests, ahhhhh, oh well all good…………. sigh...............