Fishcairns

:tDear Fishing Friends, To say that the month of May just zipped by like a whirlwind is an understatement…..when we work and play in a paradise its great, when we get the chance to just PLAY and PLAY AGAIN BIG TIME ……..man, do I get excited. By now you should have already read about my exploits to one of Northern Australia’s truly magic locations, the Aurukun wetlands in remote Cape York. I was lucky enough to visit this region for the second year running in early May but this time with mates, Keith Graham of Bransfords Tackle Shop and Terry Holman from Fish Hunter fame. Thankfully Keith has penned an excellent article on our exploits during this trip, his article is posted hereabouts so I will leave it there. US Bound: On 20th May I boarded a Qantas flight bound for Florida, US of A! I had to pinch myself to see if this was really happening to me but after seeing the sun set twice on the same day (crossing the International Date Line) I knew it was real. It’s a bloody long way from Cairns (Australia) to Sydney, LA, Charlotte and Fort Myers, South West Florida. Fast forward to Florida: I stayed on Sanibel Island, approx. 40 minutes from Fort Myers International Airport………from the beach we could see the high rise of Naples (not the Italian one). It’s a holiday island full of condo’s………no high rise which is great. Only about 40 houses on the 8 km long island and they are all on canals, most with their own private wharf area. The house I stayed at with friends (John & Jennifer Oatley) was a lovely 4 story home and I had my own private ensuite. The highlight of the trip was the bass fishing…….it is very similar to our barra fishing but in non tidal waters. We had planned to fish Lake Okeechobee but it was too low, Florida was in drought when I was there. So we ended up fishing the channel country. These massive channels were dug / blasted in the 30’s to help drain the Everglades. Realizing this was a huge mistake, the relative authorities have installed levee banks and weirs to control these canals and they now offer unbelievable bass fishing. Tearing along a narrow channel, 5 metres wide and only 5 – 12 ft deep, doing over 100ks an hour in a bass boat dodging alligators is a real buzz! Better than a ride at Disneyland our guide mused. The first day saw us concentrate out efforts in some small channels near power line access points that ran at right angles to the main highway. Skinny water bas fishing is not for everybody but I can assure you I had a ball. Using a light spinning outfit we cast rubber grub and eel imitations to deeper pools and weed covered gutters. Just let it slowly sing said my guide, and when you feel the tension just give it a bit before sinking the hook with an almighty strike. It was a bit strange at first, it’s a totally different to my barra catching methods, but I was a keen learner and soon had a handle on this new technique. It sure was effective though and I soon had my score of bass mounting……….my first ever American large mouth bass was landed after about 5 minutes fishing. I whooped and hollered around like I had just won the lottery. Well, I might as well have! I had dreamt of catching one of these “iconic” fish for over twenty years and thanks to my very dear friend, John Oatley from Sanibel Island, I had achieved it at last. Boy was I excited, I had read heaps of magazines, watched countless video’s and spoken to numerous American clients who had all talked fondly about their bass. And now I could hold my head up high and say to them, Yep!........I’ve done that. Now I would be the first to add that, even though I class myself as a pretty good angler and know how to cast a lure, if it had not been for my expert guide Mark Shepard of Bass Online, I would not have had such outstanding results. Techniques required to fish for these channel bass were subtly different to that used back home in or tidal rivers and estuaries. His soft plastic rigging and hook placement was all new to me but nothing had prepared me for the next offering from Mark. After landing about 20 or so bass each (that’s my mate John, guide and myself) Mark decided that we were “good enough” to go to the tiger country and fish the larger bass in the trees. Yes, I said IN THE TREES, and that’s exactly what we did. We cast weed-less, heavy craw dad patters right amongst the green overhanging branches and has bass crash them on impact with the water. Sometimes we had to leave the baitcaster in free spool and jig the lures down through the branches to the water level. But the results were the same……crash, bang, “I’m on someone would yell”. Then it was tug of war between and angry bass, green flexible branches, 60 lb brain and a heavy action rod………usually we won and the catch rates soared again. This was demanding fishing but the enjoyment factor was high I must add. On my first ever bas fishing outing in the States I landed 44 bass to 7lb………I was stoked. How’s that for a beginner. The second day saw us fish another set of channels called “Holiday Park”. These waters were a bit deeper and wider than the “Power Pole” country fished the day before and Mark reckoned we would catch larger specimens here – he was spot on. We literally went flat our for 30ks (dodging dozens of alligators on the way) and then started fishing ….using the electric to position the boat we fished all day in one straight line – no worries about tides, current, wind etc. We just cast to the lilies, water weeds and backside vegetation. Amazing – back home we have to contend with 3 metres of tide, curving banks with constantly changing depth, and varying bank-side vegetation etc. This day was a real gem! We landed probably 15 bass between 6 – 8lb and saw heaps more larger fish that were just too lazy, or too well fed to show any interest in our offerings. Sometimes we cast to several fish clumped together under the broad lily pads, watch them cruise about totally ignoring our lures and have a more energetic specimen come from several metres away, crashing through the weeds to slam my floating frog lure like it was its last feed. Sometimes the hooks would not grab, sometimes my timing was a bit astray, sometimes the fish was too cunning………but the catch rate climbed steadily and the day was one I will savor forever. We probably landed about 60 bass for the boat. Thank you Mark for two memorable days of “fishing heaven”. The essence of my Florida trip was to spend quality time with my mate John Oatley. You see John used to live in Thailand, used to come to Cairns (Australia) quite regularly on recreation leave and as luck would have it, fished with me and his lovely wife Jennifer, on numerous occasions. We had built a rapport, a common understanding, shared a quality of life we enjoy, and of course we both loved out fishing. Now fishing is not only typified by the single minded pursuit of those scaly critters that inhabit waterways, its also about the enjoyment of sharing something we are passionate about with great company. John & Jen are great company and I always looked forward to there frequent visits. When John retired back to his home on Sanibel Island I jumped at the chance to renew our friendship and to fish in “his own backyard”. We did spend a couple of days chasing tarpon. I hooked up to a 100lb fish one morning on the sandy flats on the southern side of the Island but lost her right at the boat after a spirited 20 minute fight, five jumps and a 200 metre dash for freedom – all for the hook to fall out right at the boat. Oh well…….at least I had one on. The guide, Pat, tells me that he boated on average 4 tarpon per day shortly after my visit, but that’s fishing. We spend a couple of days playing among the many mangrove lined bays and estuaries near his home. We tossed DOA’s and plastics for snook out on the flats for red fish, sea trout and lady fish etc but the snook were away spawning somewhere else. The red fish had moved offshore and the rest, well I had some fun on the light spin gear and saw some magic country with heaps of potential. Hell, I had to leave some challenges so that I could come back again. I hope its soon! Oh by the way, I did manage to spend a few frustrating hours in the Bass Pro Shop at Fort Myers……..man, what a store. Why was I frustrated – well because we only had a couple of hours to shop (John had arranged for us to spend a lovely evening dining with his sister and brother-in-law) back on Sanibel and I was only getting started when John mentioned that we had better get going. The sheer size of this store, the product range and stock variety has to be seen to be believed. Every conceivable lure, plastic, jig, rod, reel and fishing tool, along with a superb range of clothing and fishing accessories was on display – and I only covered about ¼ of the area. I didn’t even get to see other parts of the store to even know what goodies laid on the shelves. Oh! Well……..I’ll be back (sorry Arnie). Now if anyone wants to go to a boaties paradise, to visit a charming island situated off the balmy Florida coast, to stay in a condo right on the junction of a palm lined navigation channel and the calm open waters of the Florida flats, to fish for giant tarpon, snook and red fish OR get hooked up with one of the best bass fisherman in Florida (Yeah, I’m biased) then drop me a line……….have I got a deal for you. Catch you on the water? Regards, Les www.fishingcairns.com.au humbs:

CAIRNS FISHING UPDATE Hi All, Well I have been at it again……..tripping of to remote Cape York to get my fishing FIX and boy did I have an absolute ball. This trip was undertaken with a couple of good fishing mates in Keith Graham of Bransford’s Tackle Shop and Terry Holman of Fish Hunter fame (one of the best fishing guides in Queensland). Now Keith is a writer of some note so I cheated a little and let him do the typing. His report on our exploits is now posted on the Fishing Cairns web site so if you want a good read, together with some excellent pics of our memorable captures, just follow the liks to the Fishing Cairns report pages. And as for the local scene, here is a brief report on the situation. River & Estuaries Brrrrrrr!.......its cold. Only 12 degrees early yesterday morning but thankfully the mercury climbed to a very pleasant 26 by mid afternoon. Ah, winter in the Tropics, don’t you just love it. This cool snap can have a drastic effect on catch rates however, and sometimes a different approach is required to give yourself the best chance at quality fishing. Subtle things like scaling down your tackle / line class and switch to smaller lures. Adjusting your targets too can make a huge difference to your day and if you want to experience the best this region has to offer at this time – well then spend a few bucks and go out with a guide. The finest will still land you quality fish and show you some of the superlative country and waterways around our region to boot. Guys like Terry Holman can produce the goods when condition are a bit trying, with his last charter to the Daintree producing 6 barra, 14 mangrove jacks, 4 flathead (yes, we do catch them up here during the winter months) and 5 trevally. Now I’d be happy with that. We should soon see plenty of silver & black bream enter our rivers & estuaries as they prepare for spawning along with the usual winter species including sickle fish, estuary cod, salmon (when calm conditions prevail) , trevally and queenfish. A metre long silver streak thrashing from the waters surface is a sight sure to get you heart pumping. Blue water The cooler waters should see our prime targets, coral trout, red emperor, large and small mouth nannygai and sweetlip move up onto the shallower reefs as the waters cool. Remember to check your chart and make sure you are not in a green zone though as heavy penalties apply if caught. There will be many visiting anglers in our region as hordes of southerners (and Kiwi’s) come up here to escape their winter and ignorance of the rules and lack of local knowledge is not an excuse for illegal fishing. The light tackle scene is red hot at the moment, one charter operator reported a quadruple hook up on quality spaniards last week. They managed to land a couple of them with the best going to 20 lb, the best for the day being a very respectable 32 lb. They also landed two dog tooth tuna, arguably one of the toughest of tunas found anywhere and a humungous 1.5 metre dolphin fish (mahi mahi). Cape York If you read my above mentioned report you can get the drift………the cape is firing in both the rivers / estuaries and near shore blue water. No where else in Australia can you experience all of the different types of quality light tackle / sportfishing on offer, all in the relative comfort and safety of a 6m custom vessel. You see the prevailing winds blow from the South East and up there, this becomes a land breeze making it quite comfortable to fish offshore in relatively small craft. But remember, this is absolute peak season and unless you are quick to book, you had better make plans for next year. That’s about it for now…….I have another ace up my sleeve in the form of a report on my recent trip to the States chasing the “holy grail” of calm water fishing – the legendary large mouth bass. Its coming up soon. Catch ya on the water, regards Les www.fishingcairns.com.au

DIED AND GONE TO HEAVEN ON THE "PIKKUW". Keith Graham. I've been fortunate enough to fish some of the worlds best known 'hotspots' but can honestly say that I have never experienced full on sport fishing action of the magnitude found on my recent adventure. It was as though time had stood still and preserved a fishermans valhalla where numbers of fish, of all species, were available in almost plague proportions. And if you think I am exaggerating read on and then make your mind up! The Aurukun Wetlands lie fifty nautical miles south of Weipa. Access has been restricted over the years to many potential visitors, hence the reason the area is so pristine and virtually untouched. Several_ charter operators have taken a select few clients to fish and explore this wilderness but now the area is due to be opened up by the local Aboriginal Council which in itself is a fascinasting story. Three years ago a grant was obtained to partially fund an eco friendly operation that would eventually consist of a 25 metre aluminium cat complete with two tenders ...all of which were to be in survey. The mothership would position itself strategically at the mouth of the various rivers and the tenders would zoom off with clients to explore untouched waterways not only for fishing but birdwatching, bushwalking and cultural experiences conducted by the local aborigines. A number of skeptics said it would never materialise but now they have well and truly eaten their words as this operation is a reality, due mainly to the determination of a few passionate believers and charters are beginning to book in earnest. The rate is approximately $500.00 per person per day. That's great value as it includes all tackle, food, transfers and refreshments. Incidentally this operation is now a fully owned Limited Company that lease the boat from the Aurukun Shire Council and ongoing operations are funded by the Southern Trust who receive royalties from Comalco. My workmate and fishing buddy Les Marsh and I arrived early May and were met at the airport by the Skipper of the 'Pikkuw', (which is Aboriginal for salt water crocodile), Wayne Brogan and his first mate and mad keen fishing guide Tim O'Reilly. These guys are full on enthusiasts for the project with a professional approach to their duties. We all hit it off from the start and couldn't wait to get going. The three rivers that meet near Aurukun are the Archer, the Watson and the Ward. Our brief was to explore all three rivers from the mouth to the upper freshwater reaches checking out fishing opportunities and passing on any information gleaned. Both Wayne and Tim were with us most of the time plus a friend of Tim’s from Melbourne.. .Bob Bentley who was there to fish and take photos. First day we decided to fish the Watson River which is wide.. .deep and has heaps of rockbars. The river was dirty as heavy rain had been falling in the region for several weeks prior to our arrival but were we deterred??? Never! Wayne motored upstream in the tender for 22 nautical miles stopping on occasions to let us toss lures into gutters and creek openings but not much was happening. Then, as we approached the upper reaches larger creeks we spewing out crystal clear water creating a colour change where they met the main river. Often there were drops offs at this junction giving predators the ideal ambush point to snaffle up any baitfish swimming out from the creeks. We tied on smaller shallow lures such as Gold Bullets and Leads jack lures .... the response was instant! Small mangrove jack savaged us...followed by archer fish.. .then tarpon and after a while working these areas barra began to chew, no doubt drawn in by the commotion. We had to work hard for our fish using the twitch and pause technique and it proved to us that even in extreme conditions this river could still produce. It began hissing it down..just what we needed more rain! Our first day was interesting and an eye opener but.. .only a preview of what was to come. The next morning the guys took us to the headwaters of a local feeder creek called 'Cockyella'. Their intention was to show us what a pristine creek this was and the native bee hives, built by Aurukun locals, dotted along the way. A top initiative and for those in the know 'sugarbag' is a real treat for aborigines and if you haven't tried it do yourself a favour ...it's delicious. Beyond this was their local swimming hole ...a waterfall and plunge pool they call 'The Spa'. We jumped off the bank into this whirling white water and enjoyed a good soak before heading back to the boat ...feeling like a million dollars. The Archer River is huge and is interspersed with islands just upstream of where it meats the Watson. We fished the main arm, which again was belting through at a great rate of knots, and managed to find a large back water. Anchoring the tender we tossed Gold Bombers and Leads Hijackers over the current and into the back water. Instant hook-ups. Les was giving his all to a feisty barra around three kilos when I hooked up just after him on a slightly smaller model ...there were fish zooming in every direction as we tried to control them against the rivers fast flow. After eight barra, everyone of which felt at least twice it's size as they had their way with us in the current, we decided to move on. There's no doubt we could have stayed there and pulled a heap more but the enticing Archer had more to to reveal. One larger arm of this mighty river is referred to as the False Archer. It veers off between the Archer and Watson and is often mistaken for the main river by strangers. We motored slowly upstream in this waterway passing rockbars, open savannah plains and salt pans. At one point we saw six wild horses galloping off in the distance through flooplain waters. A closer look through the binoculars gave us a great view of this spectacle. As the river narrowed waterlillies appeared on every bend and it seemed to become deeper.. .and much clearer. This was mangrove jack country if ever I saw it so the deeper diving lures came out like Storm Tundersticks and Rapala Shadraps. The first twenty casts were made on the run as Wayne slowly moved upstream against the current with no result, unless you count archer fish up to a kilo in weight. Then, as the water turned almost a blackish hue of crystal clear I had a mighty hit. My thumb hit the spool on my Calcutta 150 loaded with twenty pound braid ...I could hardly hold this animal! At the last minute before it reached a snag pile I managed to turn it's head and began to slowly crank it back towards us. Les shouted..." It's a jack ...a huge jack". We gently cradle lifted him into the boat and wow.... what a sight. Fangs like a mongrel dog and lit up in anger. It went 1.85 kilos on the Boga Grip .... my best inshore jack for the year, the action was just about to hot up a notch or two! Les scored three more mega jacks using a sinking Shadrap.... all I could manage was the odd strike and hook pull outs. A magnificent river with a healthy population of jacks from hell. We we well pleased with ourselves as Wayne too us back to the Pikkuw. Life on the Pikkuw is real cruisey. The food is excellent ...there is a Plasma T.V, if you wish to see a DVD or check out your own footage / photos taken during the day. My favourite relaxation was to sit on the top deck with an ice cold beer and watch the awesome sunsets..or...use the binoculars to scope white breasted sea eagles or jabiru's catching a feed of fish. We also put the crab pots out every night and as you would expect there are bulk muddies in these parts. The best pot we emptied over our five day trip had seven legal bucks in it did we pig out on muddies or what? Being Eco Friendly the boat has a composting toilet that works a treat .... no smell.. .and no effluent pumped out into the river ...a brilliant idea! A trip to the Love River had been organised with a group of the local Aborigines. The objective was to `Open' the river after a year long closure. I learned that when someone of importance dies in the Aurukun community they often close a waterway in respect and remembrance of that person, which is why there is no fishing there for the closure. Whilst they were conducting their private ceremony Wayne took us up the Love River to check out the local barra population - a day I will never forget! Wayne was a professional barra fisho in his early days and knows the whole area like the back of his hand and remembered one particular creek mouth that always produced. We anchored at the mouth but again the water was so dirty Les and I just looked at each other and shook our heads, however we were here now so why not give it a try. I tied on a Tropical Rogue 3" and Les opted for his old faithful Leads Hijacker as our first casts hit the water the whole area erupted in a frenzy of foam. Bait scattered everywhere and we both hooked up on barra instantly.. .both feisty fish of around 3 kilos with bright yellow tails. They went ballistic in this shallow creek mouth and taildanced for all they were worth! As Les unhooked and released his at the rear of the boat I moved down to release mine, giving him the chance to stand up front and keep on fishing. We did this for almost two hours and released over sixty barra ranging in size from 2 kilo to 4.5 kilos. What an experience, then, to top it all off I latched onto a decent sized king salmon... .poor old Les had to make do with another barra. Where in this tropical world can you experience fishing like that?? Amazing stuff, and yes we had to leave them biting as we wanted to check out some other flats areas.. .and guess what? They wee all teaming with barra too, some of them taking our lures in between small mangrove shoots in less than a foot of water. Incredible, unbelievable and I doubt we will ever repeat that hot barra bite. The next couple of days we explored the Ward river with similar results ...so many double hook ups we lost count. Then we fished the flats on a run out tide near the outpour to the Gulf. Bob and Tim had a particularly good night using 3" poppers with Bob's best fish, ( and the biggest barra of the trip), going 90 cms. We tried live baiting with mullet and caught good barra, in between the countless catfish. We caught bream up to 1.2 kilos on lure.. .flathead. .and Bob managed a saratoga using a Prawnstar lure. We did it all ...and enjoyed every moment exploring these incredible Aurukun Wetlands. Our thanks to Tony Varnes who organised this trip and not forgetting the skipper Wayne and his trusty right hand and Tim for their hospitality and good sense of humour. I feel confident that this venture will succeed.. .and at this moment local Aurukun residents are learning the ropes so they can become more involved with the day to day operations of guiding and maintenance. Kind regards, Les Marsh www.fishingcairns.com.au

April 23, 2006 FISHING REPORT It has been a long time since I pounded the keyboard and wrote a newsletter on the fishing scene here in Tropical North Queensland. I have no apologies to make however – BUT I do have a very understandable reason. You see my life had been thrown into utter turmoil by the break down of my marriage of over twenty years. I am not going to go into the nitty gritty as to why, there are always two sides to every story, but suffice to say that I was devastated to loose my best friend, my work mate, the mother of my children and wife. We all have ups and downs in any marriage, some we work through, others we don’t. I hadn’t even felt like fishing let alone writing an article about it – and my first couple of charters were a real pain as I struggled to get through them without crumbling into a blithering mess. But time heals all they say and I’m on the mend. Not completely healed yet but certainly well on the road to recovery. I was even able to share some jokes with some very dear clients this past couple of weeks and for that I sincerely thank them. And this leads me into this month’s article. River & Estuary: As you will already know, this region has been copping a pounding from old Mother Nature. First it was a bit of a softening up job by some late season rains. Then came the worst tropical cyclone in living memory to hit the Queensland coast. The category 5 “Larry” roared in from the Coral Sea and slammed into the coastal communities of Kurrimine & Mission beaches before reaping destruction on Innisfail. She was not content with this as she split in two and headed up the ranges to the Tablelands where her strong winds did more damage to crops, livestock and farming communities. In all over two billion (yes, billion) dollars worth of destruction to cropping, farms, housing and townships have been recorded………some communities will take years to recover. The farming sector, the lifeblood of these regions will struggle for months, until crops mature in 8 months time, and then the fear of a glut of produce flooding the market may further dampen their recovery. Who would want to be a farmer……….they are indeed very resilient people and our thoughts go out to them. Since then the rains have not stopped, with our region recording the highest April rainfall on record – and we still have another 10 days to go. The Daintree tea House for instance had over 1.7 metres at last count. Can you imagine what effect this is having on our rivers? And only a few days ago another cyclone called “Monica”, a smaller less destructive system thankfully, crossed northern Cape York and brought heavy moisture laden clouds streaming in from the northern equatorial region. This moist air collided with colder south-easterly winds and the result…….rain, rain and more rain. Hell I think I need web feet just to pick up the kids from school. All the river systems from the Tully in the south, the Johnstone’s, the Russell & Mulgrave, the Barron and the mighty Daintree were metres above normal level. And we still don’t know how the wild rivers of the remote Cape York region have fared. The Barron peaked at over 7m yesterday. So what has this got to do with the fishing you ask……..have you ever tried to fish in tomato soup. Well this is what it has been like recently. Now back to my repeat clients, the ones that made me laugh. DAY 1. They had pre booked me for three days. The weather report said that rain was predicted and they were right (this time). I picked them up from their city accommodation and headed south. At this time of year it’s a safer bet to go this way as the highway traverses several rivers prior to reaching out target, the Johnstone Rivers at Innisfail. If this system is blow out by heavy overnight rain it’s a simple task to back track to cleaner more fishable waters. You guessed it, the North Johnstone was terribly dirty, the South was an absolute mess, was about a metre higher than the North and was the consistency of that thick soup I mentioned earlier. BACK TO THE MULGRAVE – at least this was still clean. After launching at Deeral we headed way upstream. Pass the weed beds; pass numerous gutters and way up to the third railway bridge. Conditions looked good, the water was hight but still running clear and expectations were on song for a good mornings fishing targeting sooties and jungle perch amongst the timber, under stately shade trees and along the grass beds. We cast small poppers in various colours……we cast and we cast. But strangely it just was not happening. We had lunch in the shade under one of the bridges and I planned our afternoon attack. The falling afternoon tide should see the gutters fire up and we planned to target barra. We hooked on larger “gold bomber” type lures and hit the drains. There was a dirty water line at the mouth on these draining gutters and conditions looked just perfect for the barra……they hang around these drains and feast on easy pickings flooding from the surrounding flats and swamps. But after a dozen drains for no result apart from a few lazy flashes and near misses I was starting to get a bit worried. It just did not seem to be happening. I was not too concerned, not yet anyway, as I still held a few aces up my sleeve (or so I though). The next two drains produced zilch, nothing, not even a follow and on careful inspection they revealed why. The bloody river was flowing from the main stream back up into the gutters and not the other way round. In other words the river was rising faster than the receding tide and the water was actually flowing from the river back onto the surrounding flood plains. What a disaster. I have only experienced this event once previously in all my 15 years of guiding here in Cairns and I can say that during these conditions its almost impossible to find feeding barra. We landed a couple of fish further downstream, pulled from the weed beds so all was not lost. DAY 2. I had originally planned to fish three different waterways with these lovely people. My good mate Terry Holman had fished the Daintree that day and at the “wash down” at his place that evening he was as dirty as the swirling muddy waters. The rain had not stopped all day up there and the river had actually risen a metre during the day. Terry struggled to catch a couple of barra in that system and advised me to head south again. Now Terry is the absolute best in the business, a lifetime of fishing these waters had honed a sixth sense – if he had struggled, most other guides would have given up hours ago. I knew the Johnstone options were still out so it was back to the Mulgrave but a different plan of attack was necessary. I decided to stay downstream and fish the inter tidal regions. Even though the river was high and fresh, this was a stroke of good fortune and the fishing much improved on the previous days effort. During the high morning tide we tossed poppers around the mangroves for a few trevally. We found a small feeder stream with gin clear water and motored silently upstream on the electric. We cast poppers and an American made surface lure called a Zara Spook……….now John was determined to land some fish on this thing and persisted casting and “walking the dog” back to the boat. I landed a few JP’s on the poppers……John was being hit but not connecting….his Spook thing obviously too large for the JP’s to hook up. But he was keen to keep trying and commented that “if they are too small for this lure then that’s too bad”. He was enjoying the strike as much as “catching” and the scenery was stunning in this hidden stream. On the falling tide we made our way back to the main river and started working over some gutters draining dark Ink coloured water into the main river. But here too was no action and we headed back into the Mulgrave. It was a good move however. I found a couple of gutters upstream and cast my Leeds highjacker into the swirling mix. Boof! And I was on to a medium size barra. Cast in there I instructed and John persisted with his Spook. Now, from this one little gutter I landed four barra, hooked and lost another three and had a couple of other near misses. And the Spook……nil, zilch, but John was not deterred, there was another day to go. And in a passing comment John asked if barra ever follow the lure right to the boat and strike………not likely I replied! Against all better judgement Terry had again headed north to the Daintree and again conditions were atrocious………..I had no alternative but to head south again. DAY3. I needed to think seriously about this, John and partner had been very patient BUT I needed to provide more action. I’d tried upstream in the Mulgrave for a poor result. I’d fished downstream in the Mulgrave and Russel junction for a bit more activity but nothing to get too excited about. Oh, by the way we had also landed a few jacks on day two. The Russell was flowing a lot cleaner this day so I decided to head way upstream and try our luck at Babinda Creek. The river was still quite high and backed up by the early morning tide. We tried a couple of gutters on the way up and eventually rounded the bend just downstream from the Babinda Rd bridge……….would you believe it. The water was lapping the bridge and I could not drive a cigarette paper under it – we were beaten back again. Not to be deterred I recommended we drift downstream and cast to the edges, the back eddies, the grass verges etc and work over a few drains and soaks. Things started to pick up and we landed a sooty and a couple of jungle perch. John still persisted with the Spook and he was generating a lot of hits but as mentioned earlier, the hook up rate was atrocious. We found our way down to a grass-covered bend where a small creek and soak was discolouring the main river. A few nervous baitfish could be seen scurrying along the edge. John tossed his Spook and I instructed him to retrieve it slowly along the bank. He had almost completed his retrieve, lifted his head and was about to do likewise with his rod when BOOF!…right at the side of the boat a barra estimated at 20+ lb had a shot at his lure and sprayed us all with water. Now John did not see it but his lady and I certainly did. That would have been a memorable catch indeed……so they don’t follow lures to the boat then eh Les? This was all that I needed to get fired up and with determination to prove him wrong I parked the tinny amongst the weeds and told them to continue casting parallel to the grass verges. I switched to a red and white bomber for instant success, but John had raised a couple for fish on his Spook so I rummaged through my tackle box. Trying to resist the temptation to imitate this new found barra killing action, I hooked on a Japanese made imitation. In about ten casts I had eight hits, hooked up to four barra and landed a couple of just under legal size. John had about the same hit rate, but being a bass fisherman he just could not resist the urge to strike as hard as he could and failed to hook up. His lady friend did likewise on successive casts. Got the strikes but missed the fish. Now I won’t continue with a blow for blow descriptions as we headed downstream, but suffice to say that throughout the day we raised at least 17 barra, hooked up to about eight but only landed three in the boat. We landed a couple of jacks as well as few small trevally. All in all, not a bad days fishing under the conditions. And the moral of the story…….open your mouth and your bound to get something stuck in it (do barra hit lures at the boat?) and always be prepared to learn something new. I had used soft-bodied Zara Spooks in the billabongs of the Mary River system out of Darwin years ago. I had not considered them since and the hard bodies versions that John was using was certainly the lure for the day. By using a very slow, jerky retrieve this lure sways tantalising from side to side across the surface………the barra, jacks, trevally and JP’s just could not resist it that day. I NOW HAVE ONE IN MY TACKLE BOX. Blue water scene: With all this lousy weather were having at the moment…..a strong wind warning and even a gale warning a few days ago, well just forget it. But Billfish has reported good fishing with light tackle gear just prior to the blow. Quality spaniards to 30 + lb were about along with various tuna. Cape York: This is usually the start of the dry up north but we are having a prolonged big “wet”. The Archer River was 12 metres over the causeway last week, most gulf town are flood bound and the rivers are spewing out huge volumes of fresh…….but when it all starts to settle down those barra, jacks and salmon will be queuing up at the gutter mouths to gorge themselves on the easy pickings. This big wet is fabulous. Although it is a real pain in the you know what right now, this is what makes our fishery so vibrant for years to come. The bigger the wet, the more recruitment to our fish stocks occurs. We will see much improved catch rates right across the Top End for years as a result. So, let it rain BUT I’d like it to stop - like tomorrow! See you on the water. Regards, Les Marsh ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fishing Cairns / Charter Boat Centre / Fishing Cape York Phone Aust. 07 404 111 69 International 61 7 404 111 69 Fax Aust. 07 404 111 79 International 61 7 404 111 79 http://www.fishingcairns.com.au http://www.charterboatcentrecairns.com.au http://www.fishingcapeyork.com.au "Let us organise that fishing charter of your dreams"