Anyone Fishing?

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Jeff
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Re: Anyone Fishing?

Post by Jeff »

Great catch Dan!!! Jeff

Dan_Smullen
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Re: Anyone Fishing?

Post by Dan_Smullen »

BarraMan wrote: Sun Nov 29, 2020 5:24 pm
Dan_Smullen wrote: Sun Nov 29, 2020 4:50 pm What an epic adventure!
Did you catch any fish?
I’m working up to that, Dan!
:lol: :lol:

Can’t wait to see what you got!

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BarraMan
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Re: Anyone Fishing?

Post by BarraMan »

And so the saga continues!

Barra fishermen talk about the length of the fish rather than the weight. So to give you an idea:

A 60 cm (23.5") barra weighs about 6 ib.
A 70 cm (27.5") barra weighs about 9 lb
An 80 cm (31.5") barra weighs about 13 lb, and
A 90 cm (35.5") barra weighs about 18 lb

The magic number is 1 metre (100 cm = 33.4") - such a fish will weigh about 24 lb. Joining the "metre" club is every barra fisherman's dream.
My first ever barra was 104 cm (41 ") and weighed 14 kg (30.8 lb)! I have spent the past 20 years and a bunch of $$$ trying to repeat the exercise! 8O

On this trip, the biggest fish was 85 cm (33.5") - caught by yours truely, and the smallest was 60 cm (23.5"). We caught a handful of fish over 80 cm with most in the 60 to 70+ cm range. Minimum legal length is 55 cm.

The McArthur River has a delta, with numerous outlets to the Gulf in addition to the main channel.

Day 1: we fished for a couple of hours only, in one of the delta creeks for a couple of barra.

Day 2: we fished another delta creek for a 5 or 6 fish. I dropped a good 90+ cm fish - it ducked under the boat and cut my leader with its gill rake.

Day3: we travelled 2.5 hrs (70 nm) to the Robinson R and caught 20+ barra - 7 in the first 15 minutes. We were planning to sleep overnight on the boat but it was 45 C (113 F) in the shade at 14:00, so having boated 20+ fish, we ran 2.5 hrs (70 nm) back to our air-conditioned cabin and ice cold Coronas!

Day 4: early start back to the Robinson R, 10-12 barra boated by midday so we moved to Fat Fellow's Ck an hour back towards the boat ramp and caught another 10 or 12 before calling it a day and running back to our air-conditioned cabin and ice cold Coronas!

Day 5: back to the Fat Fellow. 20 or so barra boated by early afternoon so back to our air-conditioned cabin and ice cold Coronas!

Day 6: we fished another creek about 30 min from the mouth of the McArthur - and boated a bunch more barra, before heading back to our air-conditioned cabin and ice cold Coronas!

Day 7: back to the Fat Fellow for more barra boated by early afternoon and back to our air-conditioned cabin and ice cold Coronas!

We caught 102 barra in the last 5 days of our trip! Easily the best fishing trip we have ever had!

Day 8: pack up and head for home!

Our only problem was, "What to do with the 22' boat once we drop the vehicle back to the rental company in Mt Isa"? :doh:

Fortunately, I have worked out in that country and knew a cattle station (ranch) manager on a place a couple of hours west on Mt Isa, so I arranged to leave the boat there - to be retrieved once I get my LR Discovery back.

I won't bore you with pics of 102 barra, but I will post a selection shortly! :D

Fuzz
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Re: Anyone Fishing?

Post by Fuzz »

That sounds like one good fishing trip! Well except for the 113f part :help: Does it ever get to a nice human temperature, you know, something like 60f? And if so are there still fish to be caught?

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cape man
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Re: Anyone Fishing?

Post by cape man »

Great trip! Hope the repair on the Land Rover is something minor.
The world always seems brighter when you've just made something that wasn't there before - Neil Gaiman

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BarraMan
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Re: Anyone Fishing?

Post by BarraMan »

Lure chucking barra fishermen like two things - snags and drains!

We pulled multiple fish of this snag, ie 7 in 15 minutes!
Image

and we pulled at least 15 barra out of this drain! We talked to another couple of fishos who did the same thing the previous day.
Image

A couple of by-catch species.
Black Jew (don't ask me why!)
Image

and Mangrove Jack.
Image


Image

Image

Image

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Fish of the trip!
Image

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BarraMan
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Re: Anyone Fishing?

Post by BarraMan »

Fuzz wrote: Mon Nov 30, 2020 3:59 am That sounds like one good fishing trip! Well except for the 113f part :help: Does it ever get to a nice human temperature, you know, something like 60f? And if so are there still fish to be caught?
60F = 15C ?

No worries - there will likely be a 2 hr window early in a mid-June morning when its 60F, but the barra will all have lockjaw! :lol:

Jeff
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Re: Anyone Fishing?

Post by Jeff »

Great fishing BarraMan!! Also, beautiful area!! Jeff

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BarraMan
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Re: Anyone Fishing?

Post by BarraMan »

The saga is almost finished! I got my Land Rover Discovery back today and my wallet is only $2k lighter. $1,300 for a new gear selector unit, and $700 to repair the damage done by the roadside assist in recovering the vehicle!

Tomorrow I am off on a 1500 mile round trip to recover the boat.
Last edited by BarraMan on Wed Dec 02, 2020 7:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Jeff
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Re: Anyone Fishing?

Post by Jeff »

Terrible BarraMan!!!! Jeff

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