Tag Archives: catching barramundi on soft plastic lures

Rockhampton – Fitzroy River – 22/3 November 2013

Posted on by
3

Friday

Friday saw me back in Rockhampton. I am enjoying fishing up here, whenever I can, but I am also missing the Bribie Island flathead fishing. I have completely missed the busy months of September and October. I hope to get this job finished and be back out there soon.

Rocky is warming up and by 3.00 pm, its usually over 35 degrees and extremely humid. There have been a few more storms and the Fitzroy River is looking murkier and murkier. I arrived in town just after lunch. I had a few meetings, dumped my kit in the motel and headed across the bridge to the north side of the river.

I wanted to see if I could find any more giant herring, grunter or tarpon. The locals insist the last few hours of the run out tide are the best time to fish here, especially when they coincide with dawn or dusk. Full moon had passed on Thursday, so their would be plenty of tidal flow. The sun was dropping, as was the tide and it was hot and sticky. I arrived at about 5.30pm and wandered out under the railway bridge, to the edge of the rocks. Low tide would be at about 9.00pm. It had rained the night before and there were rumbling grey clouds on the horizon with a few, far away lightning flashes. I could smell the rain but it was not falling yet.

There were a few prawns jumping, so I started with a GULP 4″ Shrimp in the Banana Prawn colour. I had rigged it on a 1/8th ounce, size 1 hook jighead and I was using 12lb fluorocarbon leader. I was using my new 6′ Shimano Catana rod and the 2500 size Shimano Stradic reel.I was casting along the edge of the rocks, so I did not need a long rod – the fish are usually close to the shore, lurking around the rock bars and overhangs.

As the sun dropped the surface activity picked up and there were small jelly prawns scattering, each time I pulled the soft plastic up close to the rocks. After about 15 minutes, I decided to let it drop down right next to the rocks. Once I was sure it was on the bottom, I paused for a good ten seconds. I then jigged the soft plastic shrimp up and down few times and paused again. It was third time lucky and something fairly powerful grabbed the plastic and headed off. It quickly surfaced – a barramundi, about 45 to 50 cm long. It tail walked on the surface a couple of times, trying to spit the lure. After a short fight, I lifted it out of the water. Although I was delighted to catch a decent Fitzroy barramundi, it is currently the closed season for barramundi, so after a quick picture, I released the fish unharmed and decided to moved round to the next set of rocks. You are not supposed to target these fish at this time of year and whilst you cannot decide which fish is going to eat your lure, it was a fair bet that there would be more than one barramundi lurking at the base of those rocks, so I moved on.

Run out tide on the north side of the Fitzroy
The rocks are gradually revealed
The barramundi were sitting close to the rocks
A couple of photos then straight back
There were a few prawns around in the river
About 10 minutes later I found another one
Suddenly the barramundi were all around the base of the rocks
I changed sides to try to avoid the barra
The rain had brought the grunters out
2″ Shrimp gets a Tarpon
Fitzroy Tarpon
Lots of small fish around
No idea what this is
Low tide on the south side

The jelly prawns were all over the place but there was nothing much feeding, close in. I lobbed the soft plastic a little further out, and let it sink again. As I lifted it off the bottom, I felt a tentative bite but did not hook up. I kept casting and put in some long pauses, close to the base of the rocks. The sun had set and the rain and thunder was close. At about 6.15 pm, something slammed my shrimp at the base of the rocks. I knew it was another barramundi straight away. It soon surfaced and made a couple of leaps. I let it settle and pulled it gently out of the water. It was a little bigger than the first. I photographed and released it.

I moved to another location, about 10 metres further south for a few more casts. It was now about 6.30 pm and pretty much dark. The rain was imminent and the wind was gusting in all directions. I continued with the soft plastic lure that was catching fish – GULP 4″ Shrimp. In a carbon copy of the two previous captures, a third barramundi grabbed the lure at the base of the rocks. It was also about 45cm long. I released just as the rain started spitting and decided it was time to go. By the time I reached the car I was soaked to the skin.

The session confirmed all the local advice I had been given – fish during a big falling tide, at dawn and dusk. I think the humidity and pending storm also helped. The next morning, I swapped sides to avoid the barramundi and found a few small fish, some of which I have never caught before. The rain seemed to have fired up the small grunter and tarpon and I caught a few of each, in the hour around dawn.

That was it for Rocky for a while – hopefully I will get back around March, when those barramundi will have grown big enough to keep.

Yeppoon – Fishing Creek Barramundi – 13 October 2013

Posted on by
7

Sunday

The wind was forecast to be a north-easterly that would build through the day and we were 6 days off the full moon. I could not stay away from Fishing Creek – the sandflies were driving me nuts but the good catches of the day before, drew me back to the same spot, just after dawn. The tide was another hour further in, as I waded through the shallows. I stopped at all the usual pools and channels and continued to fish with lightly weighted GULP soft plastics, in the natural Banana Prawn, Peppered Prawn and Watermelon Pearl colors. I caught a couple of small flathead and tried out a new MARIA suspending minnow hard bodied lure, that I have been sent. Sure enough it got the small flathead going and accounted for another two, before I lost it to a mangrove root. I could not find any big mothers but there were some enormous ‘lies’ in the sand, so they were around.

The MARIA lures that I have used so far have been very good. Despite this, they are slightly cheaper than many of the more established, mass produced lures on sale in Australia. Like my favorite DUO lures, they have superb colours and always have a very refined and specific action. I would love to see them in more tackle shops.

I wanted to fish the area where I had found a Trevally the day before. It is a mangrove lined curve in the bank with several fallen trees along it. The water powers round the curve, when the tide is running and the fallen timber offers a good ambush spot for bigger, predator fish.

My hunch proved right. I was now fishing with a 3″ GULP Minnow on a 1/8th ounce, 1/0 jighead. First taker was a 45cm estuary cod. It tried to lodge itself in the mangrove roots but I let it swim out and then pulled it ashore.

Something was smashing bait close to the mangrove roots and I thought it was probably another cod. I lobbed a long cast and it landed inches from the roots in exactly the right spot. I let it sink and thought – it will either be snagged or it will catch a fish. I twitched the rod tip up but there was no resistance. I let it sink again, paused and repeated the process. I did this about four times until the lure must have been on the bottom, in about mid-stream.

I twitched the lure up , off the bottom and it stopped dead, on something solid. Before I could register line was screaming off the reel. The fish was heading up current but in the direction of the mangrove roots. I instinctively started walking backwards and winding against the screaming drag. This had little impact at first but then it turned back towards me.

I tightened the drag a little and the fish seemed to pause in the current, for a few moments. It then lunged off again. It kept making long powerful runs but they gradually got shorter. After what seemed like a lifetime, I caught a glimpse of large silver scales and a big tail slapped the surface – it was a barramundi. I was as patient as I could be and I let it run when it needed to. I was fishing with 12lb fluorocarbon leader, so brute force was not going to land this fish. Fortunately I was on a gently sloping sandy bank so when I was sure it was played out, I gradually eased it out of the water.

Small Maria suspending hardbodied lure got this flathead
Plenty of big flathead in this system
Fishing Creek as the tide runs out
The cod were getting bigger
The flathead were getting bigger too
Mangrove roots – fish zone
My first legal saltwater barramundi
Might have been angry rather than hungry
It put up a serious fight
Just over legal size – but too handsome too keep
Beautiful fish – well worth the effort exploring
Tried a MARIA MJ Twitch suspending hard body and tempted another cod
Tarpon give you a real work out on light fishing tackle
Only small but they know how to fight

It was a beautiful 57cm saltwater barramundi. As it lay on the sand, the jighead just dropped out of its chin. I took a few pics and measured it and after a minute or two, decided it was just too handsome to eat. I took it back to the water and it swam off. It was about 9.15 am.

Now I was excited, but cast as I might, I could not find another barramundi. I swapped to a MARIA MJ Twitch hardbodied, suspending minnow and cast this out. This got whacked on its second try, but it only pulled up an angry estuary cod.

I moved on to larger GULP Jerkshad in the Cajun Chicken colour. After a few casts, something walloped the plastic and took off. It went berserk and started leaping and splashing. I took it for a Tarpon and after a very violent fight, I landed it.

I fished on until about 10.30 am and then decided I had had enough. It had been an excellent mornings fishing in a beautiful location.