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.