P10 - FISH & BOAT, April 2019 Fishing Townsville’s Great Flood By Miles Tam Townsville saw the monsoon inundated with water with many be rescued from a landlocked drain. trough sit stationary over the Gulf losing everything. We were one of This fish had his days numbered, so Townsville is not very well of Carpentaria for over a week and those statistics, unfortunately, but we needed to act fast to save the big known for being a very wet dump over 2m of rain in that time. we come out a lot better than many barra. and tropical destination. As aIt saw thousands of homes become others. Sitting in a foot of water that was matter of fact, it’s quite the opposite. With this big rain, we saw the Ross about 40 degrees in temp, this big More like the outback meets the sea. River open its gates beyond anything guy didn’t have long to live. I think Generally, clear skies, stable weather, we have ever seen before, and the we got to him in the nick of time. relatively dry air and we rely heav- sheer volume of water coming down With the help of Capt Jimmy, we ily on that one monsoon storm to fill the river needed to be seen to be be-arrived with a 150L esky filled with our dam every year. lieved. It would be unfathomable to water, a rod with a large treble on Well, 2019 was a little over the top think of how many fish we lost out it, and a big landing net. We would in my opinion! of the weirs into the salt with this try and foul hook the beast and run flood. But, thinking about how good it around the corner to a local boat The big barra at approx the Cleveland Bay and surrounding ramp for release. 1.1m long cruising the areas will fish within the next 2-3 After only 2-3 attempts, we had shallows. years because of such a disaster, hasit hooked and netted swiftly to the to be some kind of silver lining. bank, where we cradled it to the eksy We also saw some bizarre things for the short journey to the ramp. that truly set the internet on fire! As we arrived at the ramp, there There were barra found in peoples was a family fishing there and to see swimming pool and on roads. Crocs their face as we pulled the big barraThe famous mudcrab caught spotted in the streets and in peoplesout of the esky was amazing. They in the street which saw it driveway, and of course, mud crabs looked like they have never seen one reach over 485k views! caught in the gutter! Yep, that mud that big before. The big girl was full crab was caught by me literally 2 of life and didn’t take much convinc-nomenal after such a disaster. Here’s Jimmy does the honours houses from my place in the gutter! ing to leave our hands for freedom! hoping! Well done Townsville for to release the big girl back If that wasn’t enough, I had a phoneLet’s hope this good deed brings us being so resilient and banding to- call from a local legend who tipped some good fortune this year and may gether in such tough times, a true into the Ross River. me off saying a big barra needed to the fishing be nothing short of phe-show of character there! Humminbird® Extends Range of Best-In-Class Imaging With New MEGA Imaging+™ Humminbird® was the first to take crisply and clearly. 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