Fish Fact File, Barra

Coinciding with tomorrow, February 1 and now being able to catch one of Australia’s most sort after sports fish, barramundi I will do this write up on them.

FISH NAME: Barramundi

COMMON NAMES: Barra, Giant perch

DESCRIPTION:

Barramundi is an aboriginal term translated to be ‘large scale fish’. Barra are a prehistoric looking fish with large scales, Big Mouth, Wide humped shoulders. Barra also have a scooped forehead and close set eyes. Barra colouration depends on its environment. In murky dams or land locked billabongs Barra seem to have a rusty tinge but if they are found in clean water like some dams and estuaries they seem to have a metallic silver coat of armour. Also note that most fresh water Barra have darker tails and fins.

FEEDING/HABBITS:

All Barra are born male and if given the chance to get large enough turn into females. Nobody knows why this happens and marine biologists are still trying to figure out what made them have this genetic change. Barra also are able to change waters from fresh to saline and vice versa almost instantly, this makes them sought after by fresh water and salt water fishos the like. Barra in fresh waters eat shrimp, baitfish and fresh water crustaceans. Salt water Barra tend to put up more of a fight and they eat baitfish, whiting, gar, mullet, saltwater crustaceans and even squid. Barramundi suck their prey into their mouth along with large amounts of water which dis orientates the fish and then they swallow the whole, whilst doing so you will hear a swirl then a tremendous pop sound.

HABITAT:

Barra live around snags and make their own ‘holes’ to hide in by brushing silt out of an area with the fins and tail. Sometimes you can even see the tip of their dorsal fin sticking out of the water if their home is in a shallow position like mangrove roots. In creeks or rivers Barra will hide themselves in low visibility areas like the white wash turbulence created as water flows past a bridge pylon or dead tree. Occasionally in salt water Barra will hunt in weed beds but that is more for fresh water dwellers. These beasts and their offspring live in the one location and generally only stay in the one area they were born in for example if they were born in the Fitzroy River they will stay in the Fitzroy River. In each area Barra will have a different genetic structure, slightly altered to help improve them for the environment of the particular area.

SIZE:

Barra are fat fish and grow fast in fresh water places like dams and billabongs. Barra size is more known in weight then length because when you catch a 130 odd cm Barra it could be anywhere between 30 and 50 kg so major articles and even papers use their weight because unless you know this 44 kg sounds better than 130 centimetres. Barra can grow to over 50kg and over 140 centimetres but most are caught around the 50-60cm margin and can be anywhere between 2 – 10 kilos.

FISHING TECHNIQUES:

BAIT:

Barra can be fished with bait and this will generally only be live bait. For fresh water the best bait is a fresh water shrimp hooked through the tail on a running sinker rig. For salt water either a paternoster or running sinker rig should suffice and the bait of choice would be gar, whiting or large herrings.  Whether it is hunger or over territory Barra should strike these baits with no second thoughts.

SOFT PLASTICS:

Barra will literally tear the tails of your jig head so be prepared to lose a few either from them jumping or head thrashing but most the times it’s from them over powering you or swimming for the snags. The best soft plastics in clean water is natural colours like mullet or pumpkin seed and for dirty water or tea coloured water high vis colours like fluoro pink and white work great. The best tail style is a paddle tail but almost any tail will work. The most effective retrieve for Barra on softies is a simple lift and drop and try multiple speeds of this. The best outfit for Barra on soft plastics would have to be a 4-6 kilo medium action graphite bait caster rod. The reel should match the rod, balance well and generally feel good to cast and play your lures with. A great hint for this is asking your local stores if they have Barra combo because most stores in my area do. The spool should have 6 kg backing with 4-6 kilo braid depending on how big you Barra are.

HARD BODIES:

For hard body lures any large diving lures and crank style lures in natural colours would be fine during the day and at night surface lures and sub-surface lures are the best as Barra use the silhouettes of the fish swimming above them created by moonlight or artificial light to target and attack their prey. Keeping this in mind lures I would use during the day is a koolie minnow ml 136 and a magic swimmer 125 both of these lures are made by Sebile and their quality is unbeatable. These lures should be chosen in colours of your local baitfish or whatever you think will work. At night I would use a Sebile magic swimmer 85, Sebile splasher and even a small lip koolie minnow in this occasion use colours like sea chrome or white lady just to make them stand out more at night.

New 2011 features

these are the new posts and things that will be happening to this blog in 2011

• more species guides
• sebile lure guides e.g. splasher. koolie minnow, magic swimmer
• video logs of fishing action
• videos of lure swim styles and how to use them
• more pictures from yak adventures
• all these rely upon me getting my waterproof camera and could change.
• rig tips
• bait tips
• knot tips

if you have any suggestions feel free to email me at clay94_fishing@live .com.au

Fish Fact File, Bream

Due to heavy rain and major flooding all waterways have been highly affected, damaged and polluted so I decided to make fish fact files to help other anglers catch what they are after. This goes to show fishing never stops, catching them may do but when worst comes to worst do what you can to help your angling skills as well as fellow anglers thrive.

FISH NAME: Bream (QLD)

COMMON NAMES: Pikey bream, black bream, costal bream

DESCRIPTION:  

Bream found in the surf have brilliant silver scales almost like a mirror, bright yellow on their fins and a faint black outline on their tails. Bream found in Upper River and estuary systems have a deeper yellow on their fins and long with their scales being less mirror like they have a somewhat olive colour along their back.

FEEDING/HABBITS:

Bream can be very timid and sensitive to noise and light and can have very delicate feeding patterns. Bream can feed on a wide range of food depending on their habitat they can eat yabbies (nippers), prawns, works and baitfish. Bream larger than one kilogram will attack mullet and larger baitfish like herrings. These heavy hitting fish feed around snags, shelters and other forms of structures like bombies or mangrove roots and generally bream will only feed in shaded areas or areas of low visibility.

SIZES:

Rare examples of bream grow to 4 kilograms however most bream are caught at 200 grams to just over one kilogram and some cases close to two kilograms. Bream spawn in July to August in Queensland and April to May in New South Wales.

HABITAT:

Bream can be found in most areas with any form of structure food and shade. This can be for example fallen trees or bombies or sand flat gutters just to name a few. Bream stick to the shade most times of the day and swim in schools as little as ten to well into the hundreds. Bream tend to swim in schools of simular sized fish so if you find a good area full of nice sized bream keep it to yourself because good breaming spots spread like wildfire through word of mouth.

FISHING TECHNIQUES;

BAIT:

Live baiting is best done for bream with a 2500 sized reel and a 2 metre fibre glass spin rod combo, match that with two to four kilo braid or mono and you will be right. Use good quality leader that won’t break from sharp things like barnacles because bream are strong fighters and head straight for snags. Bream like well-presented bait so make sure you do so if you aren’t using live bait. The best live bait is live prawns, yabbies or little white bait. If you are using dead/frozen bait, fish strips frozen prawns and blood worm works well.

SOFT PLASTIC:

The best outfit for breaming with soft plastics is a 1-3 kilo graphite spin rod 1.8 to 2.2 metres in length depending on your retrieve and where you fish, the shorter ones are better for kayaks. A good quality 2000 to 2500 sized reel should be used and make sure the weight of the reel feels good on your chosen rod. The reel needs to be spooled with braid; I prefer 2.7 kilo braid because I use this outfit for other fishing too. Fluoro carbon leader is a must. Onto the lures, stick baits, curl tail minnow and curl tail grubs have proven very effective on large bream. The colours of these should be natural like pumpkin seed and watermelon. Prawn look alike including the gulp shrimp work well and the yabbie look alike storm lure works like dynamite. Remember to match the soft plastic to the area like prawns on weed beds, yabbies on yabbie flats and so on.

HARD BODIES:

Bream swim in shallow waters so surface and sub-surface lures are the go for most areas. Slow sinking bibles lures also get good hook up rates, once again where you are will depend on size style and colour. I could think of no better lure then a Sebile crankster 35 mr it has a great rattle and awesomely effective swim style. Some other great lures for bream are the Sebile splasher 52 and a Sebile flat shad su (suspending). Any one of these lures should catch you your bag limit of fish but remember the best type of fishing is catch and release, save the fish for future trips and protect the delicate ecosystems.