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The one that didn't get away
It was "B" day, Barra day in Queensland, the 1st of February.
Sunday's I work my ponies at The Rocky Markets in Dennison street giving pony rides until 2 PM. This was good for me as it gave me some spending money for another couple of lures and I don't like fishing in the middle of the day anyway. I had been waiting for this day for months, just before 2 o'clock I called into the tackle shop "Barra Jack's" the lures I had ordered 2 lures, they hadn't arrived so I picked out a couple of bright pink
Nilsmaster lures. After taking the ponies home, giving my tackle a final check and feeding the noisy cats it was time to head back into Rocky.
John was champing at the bit as he had never caught a fish on a lure and tonight looked good. We loaded his boat which is a 10' tinny onto the trailer, put in the oars and safety gear and had a cup of tea. It was about 5:30 by this time so we headed off to the river. Many people will tell you to catch a Barra you have to travel 1000's of kilometres, go to Darwin or some other place in the "Never Never" (that is a place and not just in a Peter Pan book) BULL S__T. Here in Rocky you can catch plenty if you know when to go. Our regular spot is at a very secret, hard to get to and you should never try to get there because of the huge distances involved. From the northern end of the car park on the south side of the river between the 2 bridges in the centre of town you can launch your small boat, you then row the 50 meters out to the rocks in the river. If you launch your boat at the concrete boat ramp on the north side it will take you an extra 5 minutes to get there. As I said HUGE distances involved here.
I always fish for Barra at night, you can catch them in daylight but I find they feed better at night. Being opening day for the season there were a lot of boats around when we arrived, but as expected come night nearly all headed home. Because of the rocks in the river at low tide not many people like driving their 16' or larger fibreglass boats at night (Darn shame that) so it's up to the smaller boats after dark. I like to park the boat and fish from the larger rocks as it allows me to move around and not disturb the fish. The rock we fished from that night was about 30m x 10m it was half tide and falling. 6:15 PM we arrived. John was keen to start fishing and had a few casts right next to the boat. 4th cast Bang! His first Barra on a lure. He was hooked on lure fishing now. First fish in under 5 Min. It was 52 cm, the minimum is 58, back he went but it was still a Barra. Lucky so and so I thought. Dark came at about 7:00 I was still fishless, but not for long.
You have probably read about sight fishing for trout, well I sound fish for Barra. Just after dark the Barra start to surface feed. The sound is like no other. As they write in the magazines it is a BOOF. The sound of a bucket full of water being sucked from the surface and the surrounding water falling in to fill the hole that's left. Like a small implosion. Quite unique.
On Queue. they started and I was in action. When I hear a boof I move across the rock until I'm within casting range. Usually only 3 or 4 casts are all it takes before the strike. Even a small Barra hits the lure with a thump you'll never forget. Gelspun line is my personal choice because of the solid
hook-up and better casting distance but it's not for everyone (just ask me about the stuff when I've got a birds nest on my reel and I can see a Barra feeding). I landed 2 undersized Barra and let them go by 8:00 PM. Then it happened I was walking over to the other side of the rock when I saw it. Being in the shadow under the bridge and looking down into the water where the streetlights on the bridge shine on the water I could see the unmistakable shape of a Barra just sitting there near the surface. I'm sure my hands were shaking as I cast. About 10 meters past and 2m in front should do it. My best cast that night, perfect. I slowly started my retrieve my heart sunk when he started to swim away, then I saw what he was doing. In a large arc he swam to attack from behind. I lost sight of him for the last 5m as he attacked.
The
hook-up was unmistakable the rod bent the drag sang. I was a very happy man. Those first few seconds seemed like and hour. Will the knots fail? Will the line rub the rocks? Is the drag too tight? The answer was no no no. Then the hallmark jump. Not only does it get your adrenalins going it lets the other fishermen know you've got it right. After about 5 or 10 minutes (I didn't time it) of heart in throat action he was safely in the landing net. John had heard the commotion and was on his way over to see my prize. Out came the tape. 75 cm, not huge but a good fish in any language. We headed home soon after that, we had what we came for. If you're going to go to the trouble of catching a top table fish, treat it properly, bleed it immediately and get it on ice as soon as you can. John likes going fishing with me, I don't eat fish so he gets to keep the whole catch. John tells me it was 4 good meals and was the best fish he'd
eaten in a long time.
MORE ED PICS HERE
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