FISH & BOAT, April 2019- P5 Front Cover Feature From previous page ning the banks at low speed, looking for fish that were either holding, or This 95cm barra nailed a Vibelicious lure some 50kms to the south. Theactually feeding. after dozens of casts to the deep dropoff. Narrows separate Curtis Island from Nathan knows The Port well. He It was Bill’s first fish for the year. the mainland. More complexities! has recently set up a guiding busi- The effects of this increased tidal ness to introduce anglers, not only range are stronger tidal flows and to the prospect of catching a me- extensive inundation of the man- tre +,wild, saltwater barra, but also grove forests surrounding the water- provide the opportunity of catch- ways on the flood tide. And on the ing metre + king threadfin, which flip side, expansive mudflats with abound in the Fitzroy system, espe- a myriad of meandering channels cially in the Delta. I put his skills to and deep holes, both of which fun- the test by saying, “that’s a good spot nel and hold fish within the creek over there mate! That’s where they systems at low water. Tidal selection will be.” Pointing to the junction of when fishing in this area is therefore a small creek, a draining gutter and a critical. Of equal importance, is the broad sloping mudbank. knowledge regarding the various His reply was simple, “Good call, stages of the tide where the fish will Bill. I got a metre fish there two be holding and feeding. Nathan and weeks ago and dropped another.” I selected the second tides after the We scanned up a school of solid fish. February early neaps and went look- They were barra. ing for fish. My original call was made based These particular tides provided a on similar country I had fished when tidal range out of The Port (morn- working up in the lower Gulf Coun- ing) of 2.92m and into The Porttry and mid western Cape York, tar- (afternoon) of 2.42m, which for The geting both barra and king. There is Port, was almost considered “no run” something about solid lines of fring- to “little run”. There was however ing mangroves, sloping, yet exten- still a reasonable flow down to half sive, mud banks with occasional ver- tide out, and then again from early tical drop-offs that attract fish like flood to half tide full. It offered am- barra and king. There are many like ple opportunity to both explore and it in the Delta, but this one stood concentration of fish that showed up across a large submerged tree trunk, beauty, struck the lure in the shal- fish. Our expectations were high. out. Maybe it was the little creeks on the Helix 9 was in this area. The which showed up when we scannedlow water washing across the mud With so many options at hand,that pushed across the mudflats atboat was positioned, and two baitedthe area earlier. flats. The strike was so vicious and live baiting was always going to be low tide, sheltering deep holes and lines were set. We waited. It was pulling hard. The line went intentional that the king launched a consideration. The Port provides solid timber snags, which made the At times like this, there is always a straight down. It jumped again.itself across the water like a bound- several bait sources with the most difference. We may never know. But temptation to begin working lures - The jump was at right angles to the ing marlin. The fight from these big visual being, the “Popeye Mullet”. the fish do! We set about learning hard bodies across the shallow mud downward direction of the mainfish is determined and dogged. They They are difficult to catch as their more about this particular area. flats and soft plastics and vibes in the line. We moved to try and free the are often maligned as a fighter, but peripheral vision, due to their eyes A slow scan, wide of the creek and deeper channel. “Just in case,” we tell line. But so did the fish. The 50lb on a lure and in open water they give being on the top of their head, is gully, tracking the broken ledge of ourselves. But like all temptations leader was cleanly cut, most likely as good as fishing gets. This one was extraordinarily good. And when the foreshore mud bank, showedthe outcomes, very often, offer onlyon shell encrustation on the log. Aa real fighter. one “Popeye” moves, “all Popeyes elongated fish sitting in 1.4 metres adverse consequences. This is espe- missed opportunity. We explored The next fish was a barra. It move!” The trick in catching them, of water. They were obviously king cially so if one of the baits is taken widely until the turn of the tide. slammed my Samaki soft vibe after is to have a proficient cast-netter on threadfin, and by their image, they whilst retrieving a lure, or vice versa, I pushed for a return to where we countless casts to the corner where the bow of the boat (preferably one were of a good size. Moving beyond the lure is hit, and the baited line has had lost the barra earlier in the day. the shallow mud bank met the deep with a good sense of balance!), then the bank and into the channel sev- to be cleared in case both lines get It was a spot that would hold and dropoff along the channel. The big locate the school of fish and race at eral more big fish were located. They tangled. I have found it best to do channel fish no matter what the tide fish, which measured 95cms on the them at a fair speed. They will start were sitting along a vertical mud one thing, or the other. Not both at was doing. I wanted to see how it “brag mat”, totally engulfed the lure skipping. Select the largest section of bank in ten metres of water where once. After 20 minutes of no action fared on the flood. down into its gullet and gills and was the school and let fly with the cast the channel swept back into the flow and with the live baits still working There was a solid run in the flood critically damaged, but still managed net. Simple! It is good fun, but sure- of the primary creek. And by their away in the channel and across the tide when we arrived. The fresh wa- to put up a strong fight right back footedness, and teamwork is a must. size and shape, they were definitely mud flat, Nathan went into action. ter was pushed wide, and the seato the boat. Fish of this size are al- There are dangers; speed, balance, barra. We needed a place to anchor He worked the mud flats with abreeze had kicked in. Small waveletsways released, but with nil chance of mangrove mud on aluminium – allthe boat. The intention was to liveshallow running hard body. The in-washed the mud banks, forming asurvival, she was taken. A big king are a lethal combination if not han- bait. We had given a variety of lures evitable happened. distinctive colour change where the threadfin followed - my best fish dled correctly. Nathan is not too bad. a solid workout throughout the early The big chrome sided barra leapt muddied water and salt intrusionto date at 117cm! The tide had just We got a reasonable supply of bait. morning’s falling tide, with nil re- into the air tossing the bait on the met with the fresh from the recent completed its final flood of the mud The high water in the Delta was sult. And even though fish had been second jump, across the creek and off flooding of the Isaacs River. Several banks, and the fish were obviously clear and green, typical of a man- located, and their territory given a the hook. It was a fish of well over king threddies could be seen on the ready for a push up into the creeks grove environment. But as the water good going over, there was little, to the metre mark. I cleared my line. sounder in the shallow water. All and gullies. Nathan struck again began to ebb with some authority, no, interest shown except for one Took Nathan’s spin rod and woundwere facing into the current. Threewith another metre + king. This the stain of fresh water tainted the small gold spot cod. It was time to in the lure whilst he grappled with big shapes appeared back on the cor- one went 110cm and was tagged centre of the creeks and passages. provoke their interest from another getting the bait rod out of the hold- ner near the dropoff. They too were and released. My diary entry that This was expected and did not pose angle. The ideal spot to anchor in er. It gave the big fish time to get facing into the current. Most likely night read, “drought broken (1 barra a problem, for the diary notes explic- a situation like this was the junc- its bearings and head back to sulk barra. All fish were at feeding sta- 95cms), neap tides, soft vibes, Fit- itly stated, “fished just wide of the tion point where the shallow, 1.4m, along the deep, steep-sided, mudtions. Nathan was the first to scorezroy Delta – fished just wide of the shoreline at the edge of the fresh”. mud flat met with the 10m wall ofwall. It got hopelessly snagged overon a soft vibe. It was a king – andshoreline at the edge of the fresh”. We moved through waterways scan- the out flowing channel. The main the ledge, either in the heavy mud, or a good one. The big fish, a 1.19m Good advice! A sport fishers dream – 1.14m of Fitzroy Delta Nathan about to release 1.10m of threadfin taken on a Vibelicious lure. king. Note the fresh stain in the water.