Just a few pics from recent sessions

kayak on the racks ready to go

flatty on the brag mat, 60cm, 4Lb, sebile crankster 35

bit of gear

another flathead, crakster again

another on the crankster

flatty off the kayak, went 43

cod and crankster

cod and crankster

the cabinet of madness

barra on splasher 72

another on the 72

yet another flathead

the 60cm caught on the crankster 35

Barra baits in all forms

A lot of people fish for Barra and there are many ways for this to be done. There really are no incorrect ways however there are many productive methods. These methods range from bait to soft plastic and hard body lures. Keep in mind though that when fishing for these popular and almost cultural sports fish, bigger isn’t always better.

The first thing you will need to know is the basics of this fish: where they live and how they behave. These fish grow up to 1.8 metres but are more commonly found between 60-70cm, which is still quite a large fish. Barra can most likely be found hiding and waiting for prey in structures such as trees, rocky outcrops, mangroves, drop offs and even manmade structures such as bridge pylons. Barra will engulf the lures/bait by inhaling vast quantities of water into their bucket mouth; as soon as they are hooked you can expect a big fight of aerobatic jumps or deep runs or a mixture of anything in between.

Bait: barramundi are not fussy when it comes to bait but as the rule stands, ‘fresh is best’. This can be in the forms of fish like perch or poddy mullet; both are top barra baits. If you are not able to access fresh bait, all good tackle stores will have frozen poddy mullet or even mullet strips. For best results, the live baits are better off hooked through the shoulders or tail with a 3/0 to 6/0 circle hook connected to 20Ib or higher mono leader. The frozen poddy mullet or mullet strips can be hooked using a 3/0 suicide out of the side and a half hitch around the tail, this method is extremely effective for lobbing into timber or a snaggy region.

The gear of choice for bait would be a sturdy rod, capable of casting baits and bringing home the big ones; usually a 3-6kg 6 foot rod will be ample. Reels can be whatever suits your style of fishing, bait runners on with their secondary drag engaged are great for fishing with bait yet bait casters with a loud ratchet in free spool do the same job. Your normal spin reel with a loose drag can also be just as effective: when the fish takes the line using this method, open the bail arm, tighten the drag, close the bail and watch the rod load up.

Soft Plastics: Soft plastic lures have been the most common and widely used lures in this modern era of fishing, whether it’s the price, the extremely customisable actions or the vast variety of styles and colours, all fisherman these days have a few trusty plastics in their tackle box. Plastics often range from shrimp imitations, gar copies, mullet, curl tail grubs, baitfish, and a variety of bugs, worms, and shapes you cannot match to any living creature; basically anything you can make a mould for.

Barra will take what looks like their main food source. If there is a river teaming with mullet use a mullet style plastic such as Gulp Pogy, Sebile Stickshad hollow and the well-known squidgy slick rig.  When estuaries are chockers with prawns it would be a good time to throw out prawn profile lures such as Gulp 3” Shrimp, Eco gear bream prawn and D.O.A shrimp, keep in mind in the estuaries most Barra are not normally over 60cm but any Barra will engulf these shrimp look-a-likes.

 If there is a spot where the Barra will hit anything, a lure with a hot swimming action will surely help turn on the bite just that bit more, lures like the Atomic Guzzler and Sebile Magic swimmer hollow will work well.  Fishing in dams and waterholes around timber, weed beds or lily pads, lures like Squidgys’ Pro slick rig and pro boof frog work great, Z Mans’ pop frog also account for large numbers of fish, each of these lures are rigged weedless.

All soft plastic lures require different movements to suit the actual plastic, even a different weighted jig head can make the action different, lift and drop, slow roll and twitching are a good basis. Once your fishing, look at how the lure moves best, customise the retrieval to suit the day, lure and outfit.

The outfits many people use for soft plastics on Barra are a 7ft 2-5kg spin rod and a 2000 size spin reel; this is good for the majority of Barra. Areas with larger fish such as Lake Awoonga would need a 7ft 4-7kg spin rod and a 3000-4000 size reel. For the mainline, braid from 6-20Ib will suit, catering for the area your fishing and the size of fish you are catching. The leader is generally the same as the main and up to twice as heavy.

Hardbody: hard body lure come in a range of shapes and sizes from poppers and stick baits to deep divers. The typical idea is to throw out lures in ‘the rave’ such as gold bombers but do not get me wrong they are great lures. This idea is okay if the lure matches your area, deep divers suit well in a river or lake trolling for Barra, shallow divers casting at snags and surface lures for fishing the top. But that’s not it, not only do hard bodies have bib sizes or no bib at all they can come in all different styles from floating and suspending to sinking and fast sinking.

If you are casting at snags along riverbeds or estuarine inlets, a shallow diver 60-100mm long and floating will do the job almost every time. A few twitches to get the lure down and letting it rise back to the top will entice even the fussiest of Barra. Lures like Bombers, Barra classics, Koolie minnows, X-raps, A-cast minnows and river rats would be some go-to lures for this application.

Rubble patches and deep pockets in rivers or trolling in rivers and lakes would require you to find the depth: if the lure is just touching the bottom and kicking up a little dirt it’s going to get munched on by a Barra for sure. Always try to estimate how deep the water is and look on the box of the lure to see how deep it dives. Classic Barra come in sizes like 3ft, 10ft, 15ft, 30ft, whereas lures like a Sebile Koolie minnow bib size is marked SL (small lip) all the way through to LL(large lip) and BRL (big round lip). With this being said, the Sebiles will have the actual diving depth for that lure printed on the box. For trolling and casting into deep pockets and rubble patches lures used for casting at snags would be fine, just in their deeper diving forms.

Barra on the surface is one of the most amazing spectacles, whether the lure you use imitates bugs, prawns or fish swimming along the surface if a Barra hits it and clears the water you are in for a real treat. Slow retrieve with heaps of splashing to imitate insects, large pops then a long pause to entice the Barra out of the Lilly pads and the constant pop on a medium retrieve to cover the vast distances of water are effective retrieves. A little walk the dog retrieve in an opening of water in a weed bed gets them all the time too. Lures that will do this and more are R2S bubble pops, Rapala skitter pops, Sebile splashers, and 3B pop dogs.

The outfits many people use for hard bodies on Barra are a 6-7ft 2-5kg spin/bait cast rod and a 2000 size spin reel or low profile bait caster, this is good for the majority of Barra. Areas with larger fish such as Lake Awoonga would need a 7ft 4-7kg spin/bait cast rod and a 3000-4000 size reel or heavy low profile bait caster. For the mainline, braid from 10-30Ib will suit, catering for the area you are fishing and the size of fish you are catching. The leader is generally the same as the main and up to twice as heavy.

This article is purely a guide, your Barra experience will be up to you personally, match the area, do not use too heavy gear, but if you are not confident with light gear do not go too light. See what other people in that area use and even try it out. Grab some gear, get in and give It a fair crack, I may even see you out there.

Fish light and get the bite.

Clayton Nicholls

The time is right if the time is night

Sunny weather in the Rockhampton to Gladstone vicinity have dried out all the wet places and with the sun many fishing spots have come back into action. Saltwater areas are almost fully recovered from all the flooding and runoff. Areas around Gladstone including Auckland creek, Boyne River and South trees inlet have been fishing very well. In the last month, the pause in freshwater run off and return of salinity to many waterways saw recovery in fish health and giving them a boost in size.

At this time of year the rivers, lagoons and other freshwater environment are normally shut down, and this year have once again proved true, but fished well you can still get a bite. Yellow fin bream have begun to stock up for the winter and have been found in larger volumes in the river mouths and sandbars.

Through this past month places like the Tannum Sands and South Trees Outlet have been fishing well with fish responding mainly to shallow divers and soft plastics.

The main trick for productive estuary fishing is to take your time, slow rolls of the lure and patience will pay off handsomely. Working a sand flat with a dozen or so casts starting from one end to the other will effectively pick up some fish.

Clayton Nicholls with a solid Barra caught on 4lb

Shallow diving lures that have tight actions like the Sebile Cranksters and Cranka Cranks have been demolishing the fish population whilst larger shallow dives like the bomber long A’s, Rapala Xrap’s and Sebile Koolie Minnows have taken some decent larger species like dusky flathead and smaller estuary barra and jacks.

The cooler waters approaching in Gladstone should push species closer to the surface and closer to the banks making finding them light work.

Awoonga Dam has been successfully stocked by the GAWB hatchery so well done to them; the lake should be fishing well in no time as many fish there gain 4kg a year, other species that can be targeted in the lake and have been known stock released there are mangrove jack and saratoga, the jacks will be in heavy structure while the togas will be in the skinny back regions.

Smaller landlocked fisheries are all but active now the days are shorter shorter and the temperature has dropped, but a decent effort will still see you landing the large specimens.

Ben Wyvil with a nice barra

Anyone looking to target the estuaries should consider paying some cash and getting some good hard bodies and if possible some single lure hooks as many anglers using singles in the past month have had greater luck with hook ups and certainly less fish dropped. Fishing in places like Boyne River, Tannum Sand and South Trees Outlet shouldn’t be hard as the fish are plentiful at the mouths and the structure is more than endless, sandbars riddled with rocks provide a very good hiding place for many fish species. A slow roll from the hardbody and softplastic lures is all that’s needed to get a bite in such heavily populated areas.

Whiting have moved right up into extremely shallow waters and can be targeted successful early morning on poppers, a constantly medium retrieve should see many whiting fall victim, a bit of red rubber from your old jigging lures tied to the trebles of the lure should get them even more keen then mustard.

Floating a small pilchard or live bait in the mouths of Boyne and Auckland Creek should see the capture of some fine blue salmon but there is the possibility of sharks. Some strong leader and extremely reliable terminal tackle and setups should be used as the salmon have been over a metre and can give any angler a run for their money. 

52-ing the fresh

When heading down to the local lagoon casting for Barra I like to use the Sebile splasher 52, such a versatile little lure. Slow retrieve with heaps of splashing to imitate insects, large pops then a long pause to entice the barra out of the Lilly pads and the constant pop on a medium retrieve to cover the vast distances of water. A little walk the dog retrieve in an opening of water in a weed bed gets them all the time too.

The trip started as I finished school, after losing my last splasher the previous day my goal was to find a splasher and a landing net. This brought me to the local tackle store, they had a large number of 72 splashers but they just weren’t the same on the barra, so I got the one colour in the 52 they had, grabbed a landing net and headed on down. After a lot of rain the water level had risen covering the entire area I was used to fishing, but the barra didn’t mind the new territory. Every 15 seconds all you heard was “pop”, “boof” or “slap” as they hammered the surface.

Clayton Nicholls with a stunning 60cm+
Barra pulled from snags on 4Ib on the Sebnile Splasher 52

The first fish was taken by trying to imitate a flailing insect between two weed patches; this obviously worked as a barra snapped it up and ploughed through the water like a truck. The next fish was coincidently taken in the same spot; I cast out doing a medium retrieve and a slow pop with a pause, a little tarpon hit it and sent the lure to the area where the first barra had dwelled. A few more pops and the second Barra climbed on and shot off straight into the weedy bank, but this time I had my landing net, saving the lure and getting the fish.

The next fish was taken in an area where I could hear a loud smack every so often, just next to a water plant floating on the surface. I made the cast, let the lure float a little, then after two splashes and a long pause the mighty fish erupted out of the water, dancing on the surface then came crashing down. The fish was landed and hooked perfectly in the pin joint. The lure came out easily, and then the fish was taken out of the net and swum a little for recovery before a few happy snaps and on it went.

A slow twitch near some timber accounted for the last two in my area; I decided it was time to evacuate when I walked out of the water to find I had 3 big leeches on my leg. To my surprise after the amount of times tarpon hammered the lure, I didn’t even hook up on them, but the best part of a tarpon is their hit so no loss there.

The Barra In my little spot are not huge, so why use the common barra gear of 20Ib braid, 40Ib leader if the barra are around 60-70cm when you can have a lot more fun on 4Ib main and 4Ib leader. Yes, you may lose a few fish, but you actually get more bites and hook ups fishing light, and fishing this light puts you up for a long fight of hard runs and aerobatic leaps.

‘Fish light and get the bite’

Clayton Nicholls

How To Fish From Structure

Have you ever been to a new fishing spot, only to be put off by the many fisherman already there and the tell tale signs that they haven’t caught anything? The problem here is that a lot of people don’t know how to fish from structures; all they do is drive on down to an area, toss out a prawn and hope for the best.

Structures can be many things, such as pontoons, bridges, wharfs and even rockwalls. All of these structures can be successfully fished from with the correct guidance and preparation. 

Clayton Nicholls with a just legal Barra

The first thing people do time and time again is to head on down to their local tackle shop and buy a bag of prawns, not even worrying about asking what they should be using for where they are going. Prawns are fantastic bait, but only when used in the correct area, otherwise the chances of hooking up on a lovely fish is almost zilch.

The best way to gather bait is to grab a cast net and try to net any baitfish swimming around the area, this could be poddy mullet, bony bream, herring, perch and the list goes on. Generally speaking the baitfish that is there in abundance is what works the best. In my local area I have found that bony bream and poddy mullet are the most commonly netted bait fish. If you do not own a bait net your local tackle store will be able to hook you up with a bait that works.

Rigs are the next problem people face, the local pontoons are riddled with sharks and larger barramundi, and so the normal 6 pound standard line on the small weekend trip combos may not work too great. Your rigs will ultimately depend on the fish species around the structure. Due to the number of sharks and barra in my locality, the rigs I use are tailored to that situation, 20 pound line to a metre of 60 pound leader (this will help with gill breakers and shark tails), all the way to a 20 pound nylon coated 20cm wire strand which will stop the sharks teeth but the nylon coating wont shy away the barra. To top it all off a 3/0 to 6/0 hook is used depending on the size of the fish and bait on that particular day.

Once the bait and rigs are sorted you have to put the bait on the hook.  Don’t just throw the hook anywhere and think ‘she’ll be right’, the effort you put in will be payed off when that fish of a lifetime swims past and hammers down that perfectly presented bait you spent a few more seconds dealing with.

A whopping 77cm barra pulled from the river by Clayton Nicholls

The general place to hook live bait is under the dorsal fin or just before the tail, although hooking through the top and bottom jaw can also work well.  The most important part in putting a hook through a livey, or any bait for that matter, is to leave the barb and majority of the hook protruding from the bait. Observe the bait after a fish has taken a shot at it: are the majority of the bites on the tail, back, head, or underneath? Change where you put the hook to suit the pattern – it’s all about being aware.

The correct gear for the fishing spot is always needed; you don’t see people fishing for flathead with an overhead combo, so why fish for sharks and barra with incorrect gear? A fisherman should never blame his tools if he didn’t bother to get the right ones in the first place.

 Most people around central Queensland would have a typical barra bait cast combo with 20 pound mono or braid, this can easily be adapted simply by leaving it in free spool or with the drag turned right off so when the fish hit and run they don’t feel any line and won’t drop the bait. Once the fish has taken a few metres of line, tighten the drag or engage the reel and watch the slack line disappear and the rod load up.

So you’re up 10m above the water on a pontoon and have hooked a big shark or barra, how the heck do you get it up to where you are? A simple method is a crab pot with no top, this can be lowered down to swim the fish into and hoist it up onto the pontoon. If you’re off a jetty or rock wall, a landing net or pair of good lip grips are all that is needed for the retrieval of your catch.

Another shark caught on the baitrunner

The correct handling of the fish is another important thing, most fish like barramundi and salmon require a lip grip in the mouth and a hand under the belly for adequate handling but sharks are a different story. If you aren’t game enough or don’t want to risk it, just cut the hook off and get it back in the water, but for those of us who like the adrenaline rush, one hand firmly gripped around the tail and another pinching tightly above the gills is the correct method for holding these fierce creatures, but hold on tight as they are very powerful.

When hooking these fish and retrieving them, take note on how they play with the bait. Sharks will hit and run whereas barra will play around with the bait in their mouth. The more you get to know how each species play with the bait, the more avid of an angler you will become. You will begin to recognise and identify the species of fish, start knowing and feeling when the right time to hook them is, and you will know how they fight so you can prepare for a long run or a lunge at the snags.

Many areas around Rockhampton city can be fished in this manner. For example, the old wharf down along Quay Street, the new boat ramp jetty near the boat club and the land outside Moore’s Creek near the Bowls Club. All of these places can be fished properly and with ease, it just takes preparation.

Correct holding of the shark

If you are looking for a more family friendly alternative, the sheltered wooden deck along the Quay Street walkway is a great spot: there are seats, fresh water, lots of grass for activities if the kids get bored, nothing dangerous around and what’s good is that it is in the middle of the city. Another alternative are the three pontoons or ‘towers’ as my mate calls them just over the road from the new playground, tennis courts and basketball stadium on Huish Drive. Once again, this spot offers a place for the kids, but it has also has railings which cover the perimeter, table and chairs, more seating, lights, power points and a barbeque.

Rains, Rain Don’t go away?

Recent rains in the Rockhampton to Gladstone vicinity have turned those little local waterholes into land locked fishing madness for the past month and if this trend in rain continues we are likely to see some very healthy specimens pulled out.

Clayton Nicholls with a nice 70+cm bara
pulled from the weed at the Woolwash

At this time of year the lagoons normally fire up at night but all the recent rains have pushed fish like Barra, Tarpon and even Sooty Grunter up to the surface chasing the swarms of insects getting knocked down and enjoying the change in temperature. This means that at any time of the day the chances of fish on surface or shallow diver are fantastic, the best time has been found to be between two and five in the afternoon.

Through this past month places like the Yeppen Lagoon and Wool Wash Lagoon have been fishing well with fish responding mainly to surface lures such as poppers and stick baits, and even unweighted plastics.

The main trick for productive surface fishing is watching all the little clear spots in the weed, chances are after a few short sharp bloops in the clear patch you will have a fish on fairly soon after. Be patient, best results happen after the lure is blooped and left there for a half minute or so.

Surface lures that have tight actions like the Sebile Splasher and R2S bubble pop have been smashing the fish population whilst shallow dives like the bomber long A’s, Rapala Xrap’s and Sebile Koolie Minnows have taken some decent fish just below the surface.

If you’re not too keen on lures and more of the hard-core bait fanatic, many species of perch have been caught on little surface lures around the Yeppen in the shallow waters amongst the lillies, a 4/0 through the back makes top notch Barra baits out of these little fish

All the recent rain has month been so good for the Fitzroy River but that’s not all bad news, the fish have pushed up into creeks such as Gavial and Casuarina to escape the large volumes of fresh pouring out. These fish are somewhat shut down but 8cm brightly coloured minnows with a short diving bib seem to be doing the trick.

Brendan Handly with a massive metre plus barra

These minnows can be slow rolled back from a snag or sharp short twitches with a little pause can get the fish stirred up and jumping onto the trebles.

Unlike popular belief Awoonga Dam is still fishing to its full potential, a small adjustments is all it takes to produce some fine specimens of Barra and further in the creek systems some Togas can be pulled too.

Prawns have come back in numbers in the saltwater regions of creeks between Gladstone and Rockhampton, mainly being caught in nets at mudflats or rubbles patches.

In the next month prawns are expected to be gathered a lot more easily, crabbing should be worth your while if the rain eases off but so far there is no way of knowing that, as soon as there is a break the black clouds roll in again.

Landlocked fisheries are expected to quiet down as the days get shorter and the temperature drops a little but a decent effort will still see you landing the large specimens.

If rains continue as predicted, bridges and water catchments such as Roopes bridge will continue to see a hefty population of Barra before they retreat to the deep pockets when the rain stops in the dry season.

barra and sharks

alright guys, I know it has been a while but I have been busy with work, christmas and fishing
these are two videos I have done up to keep all you fishos out there amused until i update with blogs tonight

Fishing Beats Shopping

After a stressful morning shopping I finally convinced my Dad to drop me down to the now deemed ‘not so secret spot’ at the woolwash but getting there by foot would be difficult after heavy rain, let alone getting there by car, So instead I went to ropes bridge. The tarpon were busting up everywhere chasing and attacking guppies. Whenever a group were busting up on the surface I would try and put a cast there and give it a pop and a long pause, this seems to be the best way to catch tarpon when you cast over the boils they make in the water. Most times however I just cast into the middle of nowhere and gave it small pops and little pauses all the way back which normally ended in a hook up. During the 3 hours down there over 40 tarpon and one Barra were caught, well over 100 hook ups would have happened with most of them tarpon, dropping the hooks or spitting them out at me, and one stage my lip. The gear of choice while fishing for tarpon on this day was nothing flash, just a combo I put together for if im showing others how to lure fish. It consisted of a 1000 size reel, 1-3kg rod and 6 pound braid. Testing this new combo out was fun, and the best part about tarpon fishing is watching the visual display as they climb all over your lures. I took a video of as much as possible but my battery and memory was low so it only goes for a few minutes, Enjoy

Gear For Tarpon:

Rod: Okuma X-factor 1-3kg travel

Reel: Shimano Seinna 1000

Line: 6 pound fused braid, 6 pound mono leader (mono floats which helps surface lures)

Lures: Sebile Splasher 52 in perch, amber fashion and sardine

stay tuned for more fishing adventures

Clayton

Daniel Richardson with his 56.5cm barra, tagged and released
good job I took my lip grips.

Well guys, I went shark fishing on Monday at the river, everything was prepared, I had 6 rigs set up in bags at home, each rig was a paternoster with a dropper loop, on the loop was 30cm wire trice, the wire was nylon coated, then on that was a 3/0 suicide and a 4/0 bait holder. I used everything, live mullet, bony bream, dead mullet, live prawns, dead prawns.  On the bottom was a big enough snapper lead to get it to the bottom of the fast flowing river.  There were some bites but that was about it, except for the run that broke my 20ib dropper loop, which if it was a shark its tail may have hit it.

 I had been there for hours and decided it was time to go home, I did so, but still feeling quite useless I rode to a local lagoon and used a Sebile splasher to find stuff, the only thing hitting it though was perch about 10cm in length but catching 15 of these was better than no sharks.

Shark Gear:

Rod: Berkley drop shot bait caster

Reel: Team Daiwa Viento with 10kg braid

Rig: 20 pound mono paternoster with 20 pound wire on dropper loop, 3/0 and 4/0 hooks connected together, small snapper lead

Bait: mullet, prawns, bony bream



just an avaraged size perch, relly the only fun is
 seeing about 50 of the swarm the lure in the water



Perch Gear:

Rod: 1-3kg strudwik sic stick

Reel: 1000 stradic ci4 with 4 pound braid

Lures: Sebile splasher 52 in perch colour

Stay Tuned for the second attempt,

Clayton

End Of School Trips



Crab catching at its best, bare handed



43cm flat head, judged by the mat

40cm+ bar tailed flathead

a few cod and other species caught on sebile lures,
 many other fish spitting hooks or cutting the line aswell

Definately catch of the day,
my mate with my lure in his hand

a trip to the hospital put the fishing trip on hold

one of many tarpon for the day

sebile splasher nails anything that eats surface lures

another tarpon

my mate getting his first woolwash barra

another mate landing another small barra, both only around 40cm

tagged and ready for release

Sebile Splasher, Barra and Tarpon

It was late In the afternoon, a few of my Gramma mates and myself met with a couple of boys from TCC(the cathedral college). We had the common goal, try for fish such as barramundi and tarpon on the surface.

I decided to make use of my Sebile lures and show off how top notch they really are. It was a slow start for my mate as his okuma baitcaster combo wasn’t working so he changed to his 1-3kg spin gear eventually, fortunately I already had mine out and going with a tarpon down on my Sebile splasher 52. Once the fish got excited it was great, the best part was tarpon have such soft mouths the hooks normally fall out. That was great news for everyone as each cast it would get hammered more than once and then something would finally hook up and the throw the hooks at the bank so all you had to do was cast out again. This happened most of the time but they hit the lure with so much force sometimes they hook up on their gills or eye socket or even in their side so the pliers and lip grips were handy.

The end of the day came and most of us achieved our goal, to catch fish.

My best mate got way up into the action with his light gear, my mate from TCC that works at the local tackle world cast about 3 lures into the tree and probably lost more, the other TCC guy claimed to have caught a Barra but there is no photo so I cannot put it up. Out of all the Sebile splasher showed every lure up. Lure fishing isn’t as easy as it may seem one of my mates didn’t get a single fish, it goes to show quality is better than quantity.

GEAR OF CHOICE:

Shimano Stradic Ci4 1000, 4 pound braid, Struwick sic stik pro 1-3kg

Sebile Splasher, Sebile Stickshad, Sebile Bonga Minnow

TACTICS:

The lure was used on a slow retrieve with regular bloops, more subtle bloops were used if the lure was being retrieved slower.

When surface luring do not try to hook the fish