Barra Bonanza. Part 2. By Harry Baumann. Photo s by Grant Lauterbach. 26

Transcription

1 Barra Bonanza Part 2 By Harry Baumann Photo s by Grant Lauterbach 26

2 WOW! Waking up early in the morning in the Kimberley is something very special. The sunrise is something you never forget and to find yourself in the middle of a river where it s all calm and there s a croc staring at you on the back deck! No chance of a swim. 27

3 Heading out for Barra Fishing outfit If you missed Part 1 of Barra Bonanza (May Issue) then I ll give you a brief catch-up. The Great Escape was our once in a lifetime trip to catch Barramundi in the Kimberley and it s an adventure just getting there, now for the fishing adventure. We had finally arrived at our first destination, which wasn t for barra but for other species like Queenies, GT s and Spanish Mackerel. We didn t have much luck but a few of the other guests did ok not that we didn t have our chances. With a few nice fish caught by the rest we all jumped back on board the mother ship for a feed and an all night cruise through the Kimberley. Now it;s not any normal food on this cruise it s some of the best food you will every eat. No snaggers and beans for dinner..! WOW! Waking up early in the morning in the Kimberley is something very special. The sunrise is something you never forget and to find yourself in the middle of a river where it s all calm and there s a croc staring at you on the back deck! No chance of a swim We headed out first thing but things were a little quiet, but cruising around the creeks and waiting for tide changes is and adventure itself and those dam bugs! Make sure you spray yourself really well before heading out for a fish. Not much fun if you get nailed by the sand flies. Once the tide had changed we headed back out. It was later in the afternoon and Trippy, the skipper, decided to take us out himself. Now this is a guy who knows where they are at all times. We cruise up the river to an oyster rock bar which he has informed us never fails and with the 28

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5 Big Barra jumping River2sea lure As for me, I was still trying to get the hang of the whole baitcaster thing and was getting knots everywhere much to Ryan s amusement! Dog! outgoing tide we should be in luck. Well it wasn t long before all hell broke loose and the barra were jumping everywhere. A little about our setup: First off is the reel. We were using a baitcaster or you can opt for a spin. But, for pin point casting go the baitcaster. Now they can be tricky to use and I was never a big fan of the baitcaster, maybe because I was crap at using the things! But I did make myself use it on this trip and you will be surprised that after 5 hours of casting and picking out birds nests that you quickly get the hang of it. Dam those bird nests, I m still having nightmares. For catching barra a lot of the time you need to cast and hit the right spot or you re not going to get a hookup. Next of course you need to get yourself an FWA Series baitcaster rod or any other inferior rod hahaha! Hey, come on, I m not going to plug another brand of rod! Nah, there are heaps of good baitcaster rods out there but ours is just the best. Next up we have our line. We were using the super PE 20 pound braid, with a 60 pound wind on leader from Richter Lure. Now, wind on leaders are the way to go as they wind through the guides so nicely and of course for casting. Now the lures we were using were the Halco Tilsan and River to Sea. Make sure you take a good range of colours and depths as you don t want to be caught without. What you will need Baitcaster rods FWA Series Assortment of lures Halco / River 2 Sea Line 20 pound PE braid Baistcaster or spin reel Wind on Richter leader 60 pounds Well it wasn t long before Ryan had hooked up to a nice barra which was only in about 30cm of water and took off into the deep. So like most barra it decided to start jumping everywhere which is what makes these fish such fun to catch. As for me, I was still trying to get the hang of the whole baitcaster thing and was getting knots everywhere much to Ryan s amusement! Dog! But as mentioned before, you really need to be pin point with your casting. I finally managed to get my knots out and have a few casts as Ryan was already on his 3rd barra. Dam they were everywhere but I wasn t having that much luck and I could see the wake on the water from all these barra just sitting there. 30

6 Barra coming into boat It was so frustrating I wanted to push Ryan overboard hahahha. But I kept on persisting and finally managed to hook up and with a big smile and a big old yell of OH YEAH!!! The fight was on and these were not the biggest barra but good size of around 70cm. It was jumping all over the place, but I did manage to get it to the boat. So Ryan decides to help me out by grabbing the fish so we could have a talk about it and a happy snap. Now everyone knows Ryan never has much to say, RIGHT!!! Well, he decides to grab the leader and leave the fish in the water to talk about it and before you know it, it decides to have a bit more fight left in it and WACK it was gone! RYAN had just lost my fish. Not being overly happy I carried on thinking hey, at least there are still heaps out there. There were still heaps there so we were straight into it again with Ryan catching about another 2 or 3 while I was once again getting myself into knots. But I did manage to get myself out of the knots and into the hot zone were I managed to get another 31

7 Snags All of a sudden there was this huge splash in front of us. I though it was a shark but no it was a massive Barra! hookup and once again, yep with Ryan s assistance, he managed to loose my barra again. Well lets just say I was not too happy and it was a long cruise back to the mother ship. But, I still had a big smile on my face as I ve never seen that much barra in one spot and it was so much fun seeing all these fish jumping everywhere. Once back onboard the mother ship we all gathered around with a few cold drinks talking about how everyone managed to catch themselves a barra or 2 or in some cases about 5 or 6 and the stories went well into the night and in particular over dinner where the chef cooked up a storm of barra. The next morning was another one of those beautiful Kimberley morning warm, calm and crocs! Everyone was itching to get out and catch themselves another barra and in particular me as I wanted that photo. Ryan on the other hand wanted to catch a metery. Now that doesn t sound like a word but when it comes to barra its means catching a barra 1 metre plus in length and its like the holy grail of barra fishing. Once again Trippy took us out and we headed up the river looking for areas where they may be hiding out. We came along to group of snags out of the water that looked rather fishy. We quietly approached the snags and started casting our lures amongst them. All of a sudden there was this huge splash in front of us. I though it was a shark but no it was a massive Barra! This thing was huge, the biggest I ve ever seen. Ryan got the first cast in and WAM he was on, the drag set, the rod bending and touching his toes. This thing was heading somewhere we just didn t know where. Then all of a sudden it was off and we thought hmmm. That was big and I don t think he will be hanging around. But no, a few minutes later he popped up again and I managed to get a cast in before Ryan and BAM I was A quiet afternoon fishing?...not with these guys! When it comes to gut wrenching excitement, fishing with a Halco Roosta Popper is hard to beat. These lures are built for aggressive surface action in tough conditions around reefs and bommies. The cutting-edge design features a concave front for maximum bloop and spray, while the low centre of gravity and elongated head provides tumble-free retrieves. Combined with a loud sonic rattle and rear weighting for superior casting, these unique poppers are already making a splash with anglers world-wide. AUSTRALIA S TOUGHEST LURES Roosta Popper 105 Roosta Popper 135 For a brochure log on to or fax (08)

8 River system on but with much the same result as Ryan NOTHING! DAM. Now we must of hooked up to this fish or his mates that were all about the same size of around BIG about 5 or 6 times before everything went quiet. Well it was fun but it made us more determined to get one of these big meteries. So we headed off looking for more snags when Trippy decided to head into a creek where he was confident that there would be some good barra sitting. As we quietly moved up the creek Trippy noticed movement ahead into a run off (HEAD END). Now, there ahead of us, about 25 metres in front was this massive wake. Ryan, always the one ready first (me still picking out knots), has a cast with no luck. So he goes again and this time WACK this barra just snaffled the River2 Sea Triho. Well let just say the fight was on. It jumped and took off in all sorts of directions but finally after about 10 minutes Ryan had landed his fish. We all though it was a metery or very close to it, but we didn t have a tape measure with us and we didn t want to take it back. So we grabbed the net pole and marked the length on that. After being in awe of this massive fish we released it and decided that was it for us and headed back to the mother ship for a few cold drinks. And the tape measure! Once back onboard the boat we measured the pole and it came in at 91cm Oh well, not the 1 metre plus we were after but a bloody good fish anyway. But I m sure Ryan would tell otherwise! He still says the fish was 91.5cm! Hahhahha! Oh well, you get that. Heading out 33