Barramundi

One of the things I still enjoy about fly fishing is tying a fly and then catching a fish on that fly … it's a fantastic sense of achievement. Unfortunately fly fishing options around where I live in Central Queensland are limited by strong prevailing winds and strong tidal flows so more often…

On 29th September I was fortunate to be invited by Scott McAuley, who I have fished with socially on quite a few occasions, to partner up with him to fish the 2020 Venom – Lake Awoonga Open. The competition was made up of three sessions, one on each of Tues 29th Sep, day two on 30th September and…

I use this method of tying an FG knot when setting up rigs for big fish using outfits that typically have 30lb Suffix 832 braid that I connect to quite hard Suffix F100 fluorocarbon. Since I perfected this tie of the FG knot I have not suffered a failure of the knot and it has accounted for heaps…

We are very lucky in Central Queensland (AKA "CQ) to have an extensive range of big fish that we can target. That includes but is not limited to the species listed below. Barramundi (both freshwater & saltwater) Kingfish (Yellowtail and Cobia) Lutjanids (Mangrove Jack & Fingermark) Javelin fish…

One of my favourite past times is dusk and night fishing for big barramundi in Lake Awoonga. To be successful in the dark it's important to have the right gear at hand and knowing where each item is. My Lake Barra check list helps in that regard … there is a place for everything and everything is…

[map state="QLD"] I have fished the Boyne pretty much through all seasons and understand why it is regarded as one of the iconic fishing locations for the Gladstone Region. It can produces Barramundi all year round even though the number caught is often low. Other target species include Mangrove…

[map state="QLD"] Even though South Trees Inlet is connected to the Boyne River it is a separate water course in its own right. Historically it was an inlet with a problematic braid linking it to the Boyne River but the transfer of water from the Boyne River to the inlet was very light. Between…

[map state="QLD"] Gladstone is blessed with a lot of fishing options including iconic rivers such as the Boyne and Calliope rivers, Awoonga dam which is famous for its barra and of course expansive estuary waters including a 40 kilometer stretch of water between Curtis Island the Main land called…

[map state="QLD"] The Narrows is a 40 or so kilometre stretch of water that runs between the mainland and Curtis island. For me the southern end of the Narrows as far north of the Crossing just below Ramsay Crossing is the gem of the estuary fishing in Gladstone. The reason I focus on that area is…

[map state="QLD"]Awoonga Dam was created by damming the Boyne Rive with a  rock fill structure faced on the lake side with a concrete skirt to mitigate erosion in the case of overflows. The 650 odd meters of embankment is 540 meters high at its highest point and was built from rock excavated from a…

This post is a work in progress and lists the different species of fish I have landed on fly in Central Queensland. I have had a look through my photos from the last couple of years and added those that I have found but there are still some photo gaps which I'll add as I find the photos or will…

Process: In the example below I am making two 46g two layered soft plastics. So in this case that will take 92g of material. The bottom layer is deeper and will use about 60% of that and the top layer is only about 7mm thick so it will use only the remaining 40 % of material. For each colour I also…

The Zerek Fish Trap lipless crankbait has a unique design that integrates the action of a vibe with the versatility of a soft plastic as well as a grub tail adds another vibrating hot spot to the lure both when being retrieved and even in response to the smallest movement when on the pause. Made…

  Quicklinks   Plastisol is a high quality liquid soft plastic that is Phthalate free and is the common base material for most soft plastic lures. Lures made of this material should not be stored with lures based on Elastec material such as Zman lures or lures made of TPE materials such…

There are very few fish that don’t eat prawns or at least shrimp. Prawns can be fished in a number of ways right through from horizontal rolls at various speeds and depths to long vertical or angled lifts and falls in the zone where fish are holding or even jumped back to the boat just above the…

Jackall Squirrel lures are all Hank tuned and consequently they come out of the box already tricked up with hardware suitable for barra. The original 79mm version swim off the cast at around 3 meters and a little deeper on the troll and come in a version including rattles and a silent version. In…

  Quicklinks   There are times when the right bait for barra is a hard bodied lure. Selecting the right style and swimming depth of hard bodied lure is definatley one of the keys to that process. You can do things with hard bodied lures that you can’t do with any of the soft plastics…

Historically, weedless soft plastic paddle tails have had a poor reputation for hook up rate because the soft plastic material does not compress enough when a barra takes the bait. This ingenious soft plastic paddle tail has all the fish attracting capabilities of other soft plastic paddle tails…

These are expensive lures at about $40 a pop but there are times when thay can be gamchangers so it would be a sham not to have one or two in you kit. The Barambah Bony Shad Lure has interchangeable weights that allow anglers to set the depth. The slow to medium sinking shad can be fished from 1…

This walk the dog type lure is an older model and the colours the orange chrome is no longer available. I was lucky to snag a couple of these at our local Tackle World. The new ones have a lateral tail fin that stabilizes the retrieve a little but I am happy without that because without the tail…

Although mainly trolled, the Scorpion 150 is a great casting lure for big salt and fresh water barra. On the cast it swims down to 3 meters. The “butterknife” tail aid in easy casting and the lure quickly descends to around 3 meters. When trolling areas of structure, the buoyancy of the lure and…

With a diving depth of 8 feet on the cast the original Barra Bait has been one of the most popular Barra lures in Australia for many years and is still a great option particularly on the troll. This classic design has been responsible for some of the largest Barra ever caught in Aussie waters!

The Pointer 100XD is an extra-deep diving jerkbait. It has a reputation of swimming straight from the moment you take it out of the pack. Off the cast it has a swim depth of 10 feet. I often use this lure when the water is colder and barra are sulking in deeper water. Gunmetal shad – a very flashy…

The SugaPen 120mm is a uniquely designed dog walker. This lure is designed to splash with it cupped face, like a popper, but have the advantages of being a dog walker which attracts more fish. The colour I have selected is GT287 which is silver with a little bit of orange under the chin. This is…

This is one of those lures that has stood the test of time. Originally designed as a barra lure for Northern Territory fisheries the B52 had evolved into a popular Australia lure for not only barra but for many other fresh and saltwater species. This lure swims at around 1.5 meters and fills a gap…

This is a silent running suspending lure that dives to the depth of 3M+ and one of my favorite lures for prospecting around weed beds and other structure. Samaki REDIC are crafted of the highest quality materials, ABS body is the best in its class, offering unmatched strength and crisp clear bib to…

The L120 swims at around 2.5M on the cast and just a little lower than that on the troll. The cast has a straight tradectory because the weights move to the rear of the lure and then as the retrieve starts the weights lock in place back towards the front of the lure enhancing the swimming action of…

As fresh and salt water lure that on the cast has swim depth of 10+ feet and on the troll it swims a little deeper. The Classic 120 Barra has an unmatched tournament-winning heritage and for many years was the first choice of all serious Barramundi anglers. It has slipped from that position these…

This is the deepest swimming lure that I carry and on the cast can swim at a depth of 20 feet. The River Rat is a stand-out general purpose saltwater lure, that is great for both casting & trolling. I carry just one colour and that is the Bobby dazzler gold.

The Jackall Super Squirrel 115 lures was released as bigger brother to the Jackall Squirrel 79 in 2020. They are Hank tuned and consequently they come out of the box already tricked up with hardware suitable for barra. The super Squirrel swims at 4 meters and is currently only available in a silent…

This colour is called Olive Scale and it has a diving depth of only 1-2 meters. This fills a gap in my hard body lure box for a relatively shallow diving lure in natural colours for use around structure and weed banks and weed bombies.

The 25A features the trademark Bomber tight wiggle and rolling movement that creates a life-like swimming action. This is a deep swimming lure and swims at 12-15 feet on the cast and 20-25 feet on the troll. Deep Long A Lures produce the same seductive action whether fished with a slow retrieve or…

This is one of the bigger soft plastics that I carry and is only pipped for size by my 8" top pour soft plastics. Both these big lures generally get a swim any time I am fishing in low light or in dirty water. This is the biggest of the DieZel Minnows that I use and I like it because the Z Man…

  Quicklinks   Plastisol is a high quality liquid soft plastic that is Phthalate free and is the common base material for most soft plastic lures. Lures made of this material should not be stored with lures based on Elastec material such as Zman lures or lures made of TPE materials such…

A fly line is a fundamental piece of specialized equipment for the fly fisher. Modern fly lines are made from special polymer materials which are extruded around a core generally of monofiliment or more recently braid. The key difference of the two core materials to the fly fisherman are the…

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