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Luring Cooktown

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Rivoli Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Jun 2021 at 7:57am
Have a great day Martin 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Jun 2021 at 1:06pm
Yesterday Mickey Rat and I went up to Lakefield. We left earlier then usual to check out a couple of spots first. These spots are on the Kennedy River ( not to be confused with the North Kennedy River) and our goal was to see if there would have been enough of a flood to re stock this river. Ok here comes a bit of info that took me years to find out. The Kennedy River starts and ends in swamps. It has no opening to the sea. The only way it gets stocked is when the nearby Normandy River fooods enough to join up with it. This last wet season saw Lakefield get a lot of rain over a long period, but it doesn’t seemed to have flooded the Kennedy and Normandy Rivers enough to join them or to join them enough for any or much RE stocking. ( the North Kennedy River enters into Princess Charlotte Bay). So now we know to avoid these fishing spots. Yes they still have some fish in them but not as much as it normally has. At the end of last season, campsites 1,2 and 3 at Kennedy Bend on the Kennedy River were completely dry, campsite 4 has less then metre of water in front of it.

So. Y the time we got to one of the spots on the Normandy River it was after 10 o’clock. Previous years of fishing this area had taught me that the fish are relatively inactive until this time of day due to the water needing to heat up. The only reason why we don’t leave Cooktown, only 90 minutes from the first fishing area, after 8 am is because most of the times you have to get to the spot and walk away from the car park trying to beat others along the river bank. Judging by the traffic on the roads up there yesterday, it is going to be a very busy season this year.

We started along the river bank fishing and after about 20 I yelled to Mickey Rat that I had a “ flash” of a small barra behind my lure. His reply was that he had already landed a small barra..... gee he kept that quiet. I’m always excited at my first barra of the day. So at our first area we both had other fish following ( flashing) the lures and Mickey Rat had dropped a couple of small fish.

We worked our way further downstream looking for suitable water. Much of it was pretty shallow but in the deeper pockets we had more signs of active fish until I landed a small barra of around 30 cm. I yelled this out t Mickey Rat who then informed me that he had also previously caught another small barra AND a couple of archer fish.

A while later after Mickey Rat had caught more fish of various types and I was still limited to the one small fish, we came across a nice deep pocket of water. I had brief hook ups on a couple of small barra then landed a nice 70 cm barra. Mickey Rat landed a couple of fish that were most probably legal ( legal size is 58 cm in Queensland) but he opted to let them go. We kept my 70 cm only for the day. We called it quits soon afterwards and head back to the car. It’s amazing how far you walk without knowing it when you are fishing.

Our overall catch for the day was me with 2 barra and Mickey Rat with 5 barra, 3 archer fish and a small catfish. I got my small barra on a Gilhop lure made by Gil Hopper ( snagged this lure later and lost it) and the 70 cm fish on a Fugly Martin’s Minnow. I had flashes and brief hook ups while using a mad Dog Dynamite, a Bass Attack Manboobs, a Fugly “ not a Martin’s Minnow ( Chris knows what that means)” and a HJK minnow. Mickey Rat caught all of his fish on a small Kuttafurra lure that I loaned him and a DJR made by Steiny.

Photos to come once I kick start the lap top - easier for me to upload.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Jun 2021 at 1:36pm
In the first photo is the small barra caught on the Gilhop lure.
next photo is the 70 cm fish on the Fugly Martin's Minnow.





Next 2 photos are of the deep pocket that I got my big fish from and where we saw a lot of action - follows, brief hook ups. Mickey Rat also dropped a good sized tarpon at his feet.





I got done by a "wait a while" bush, this bush also ripped a good hole in the leg of my shorts - mongrel stuff



next photos are 2 of barra on Steiny's DJR lure and a barra on the Kuttafurra lure




Martin-

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote scotch&dry Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Jun 2021 at 8:41pm
tis but a scratch Marty get worse than that before you die , dont forget all them trebles i get impalled on lol

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Jun 2021 at 8:45pm
Ha ha ha yep Ed, worse will and have happened.

Going again tomorrow.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Jun 2021 at 7:17pm
Well today wasn’t as productive in Lakefield NP for Avocado Mick and myself. I tried a location that had never produced for me in the past but was told to hit it before the tourists flood the area.

Well we got to the little waterfall and was confronted by barra scales everywhere and some big fish as well. Seems like others had snuck into this area before the roads officially opened. Mick got 2 small barra on a stickbait made by his newest bestest buddy HJK. I scored  little fella on a Mark A lure. We both received many follows and bumps, Mick sticking with his stickbait and me trying about 6 various makers. Each lure received at least a follow but they were very shy. All the fish that we saw were small specimens except for I big fish that was waiting by a rock just under the water. But he was not interested in our offerings.

We tried various places further along this big water hole for only just a few more follows and bumps. We tried back at the waterfall on our way back out for only just one follow of a barra lucky to be 15 cm long.

I think the only time I’ll fish this place again will be either sunrise or from a boat as it’s suited more for trolling then casting from the bank. At least Mick got to see some new water.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Jun 2021 at 7:30pm

Could only load one photo of Mick




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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Rivoli Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Jun 2021 at 8:22pm
Queensland is definitely going to cop a hiding this winter, every second person I know is either in the territory or qld  yabbying fishing and just generally chilling out. All looking for a feed of Barra or red claw. Doing quite well a lot of them too. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Jun 2021 at 7:21pm
Originally posted by Rivoli Rivoli wrote:

Queensland is definitely going to cop a hiding this winter, every second person I know is either in the territory or qld  yabbying fishing and just generally chilling out. All looking for a feed of Barra or red claw. Doing quite well a lot of them too. 

Yes and in Cooktown we have the belated 250 year anniversary of Cook’s landing celebrations. Apparently there’s still some spots available in caravan parks but all other tourist accommodation is totally booked out.

My niece stated that she has camped at Lakefield a few times but never fished it. Said with a bit ink and a nudge in the ribs. Might have to go again tomorrow.



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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Jun 2021 at 10:37am
(just had to correct some autocorrects that my phone made in my last post - have no idea where some of these words came from LOL.)

Well I took my niece to Lakefield yesterday and she had a great time. We didn't get much in the way of fish but she hadn't walked the bank before and one of the highlights was seeing a few baby freshwater crocs only about 30 cm long.

We left Cooktown at about 7 am as the day bite doesn't really kick off until the sun warms the water up a bit. There is an early morning bite that happens in these rivers at about sunrise with the fish taking advantage of the changing light conditions. Campers at our chosen spot said that there was a lot of activity on the surface for about an hour after sunrise. 

We were fishing by 9 am and nothing happened for the first couple of hours - apart from a small barra flashing my lure a couple of times. I picked this day to take Tiffany there because of the winds. Believe it or not, but past fishing trips for barra fishing mates and I have found a correlation in the wind direction and the barra bite. A southerly wind bringing up cooler weather puts the fish down, in Lakefield at least anyway. Easterlies and westerlies are not to bad, but northerlies normally see the barra being very active. The northerlies in Lakefield in winter are not common at all, in fact quite rare.

The wind predictions from my phone app for yesterday said southerly winds for Lakefield until about 9 oçlock where they were turn easterly. The predictions were out by a couple of hours and despite going fishless in areas that I normally pull fish from, my first barra was hooked and landed at about midday on a Mark A lure that fish went about 45- 50 cm. Tiffany had a brief hook up using a Kuttafurra mousy looking wake bait soon afterwards.

I switched over lures a few times then settled on a Fugly Martin's Minnow. In 5 minutes I had two, what I believed were solid hook ups on two legal sized fish, one which was way over the required 58 cm - only to have them throw the lure just a few metres from me. 

A move further downstream Tiffany had a great hook up on what was easily a 70 cm barra on the same Kuttafurra wake bait, only to have it rub the line again a stick in the water and break her off. Tears didn't flow because I managed to keep my composure LOL, and I think Tiffany was too stunned at the power of the fish.

A little further down and lost lost another 2 good fish by them throwing the Martin's Minnow. Well it was more like them letting the lure go after holding it in their mouths while I fought them in for about 20 metres - now I really did feeling like loosing my composure CryCry.

We were going to try to make it down to a particular hole that is a side creek where it enters the river. This hole normally holds a few good fish. (When Avocado Mick first came across it about a year ago, he kept his captures of 3 barra all over 70 cm quite until we caught up to him. By that time the fish were wary and only flashed our lures). But checking the time, and how long it would take us to get there, bashing through thick scrub all the way, we decided to turn back.

We had another go where Tiffany lost her good fish and my Kuttafurra and this time I hooked a barra of about 60 cm on the same Martin's Minnow. But this time the fish wasn't just holding the lure it was properly hooked - until it threw the lure of a series of jumps Angry. And then Tiffany snagged the green herring lure made by Richard Lee that she was using.

I tied onto Tiffany's line a Fugly "not a Martin's Minnow" and I went over to another Kuttafurra model. As it was starting to get late we didn't spend much time fishing but we did try a log jam in a creek mouth. I scored another  barra of about 45 - 50 cm. Now this is something different. I had the photos taken and unhooked the fish. I then speared head first into the water. Tiffany said she didn't see it swim off. So we waited until some stirred up sentiment cleared and here was the fish up to it's dorsal fin stuck head first in the sandy bottom. I got a stick and dug the fish out, it then shot forwards and amost totally beached itself at my feet and I flicked it back in with the stick. As Tiffany said "no wonder you caught that one, it was a dumb fish".

Further along the way back to the car and an archer fish fell to the "not a Martin's Minnow". Our total scores for the day - me 2 small barra and a small catfish, Tiffany an archer fish and a slightly bigger catfish. Not much but a fun , if not frustrating day.

photos to follow shortly - got to hang out the washing.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Jun 2021 at 10:59am
small barra and catfish on a Mark A Lure





small barra on a Kuttafurra



Tiffany's small catfish on a gold Bomber and archer fish on the "not a Martin's Minnow". This lure has a very good action , slightly different to the Martin's Minnow and it will smash the fish.







Martin-

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Seaweed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Jun 2021 at 4:40pm
As per usual a great read Marty, love your stuff. Your mate, Seaweed.
"Always Merry and Bright"
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Jun 2021 at 5:12pm
Yesterday and the previous day Mickey Rat and I tried around the Bloomfield area. The first day saw us launch his boat in a little creek that fed into a larger creek. Despite looking very very fishy - nothing much came of it. I scored a little mud cod (a type of gudgeon that lives in brackish to fresh water - very similar to a sleepy cod) and a small trevally.  I got these on a Fugly Martin's Minnow, once again I tried various other lures for no success. We had a little bit of interest from other fish but not much.








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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Jun 2021 at 5:22pm
OK another go at finishing this post. I run an Optus dongle and that drops out up here and my sister's Telstra wi fi drops out.

hopefully I can upload the photo of this tiny trevally-


Yesterday we launched into the Bloomfield River. It was calm enough to poke out through the river mouth for a fish but no interest. We then tried throughout the river for again no interest. It's very frustrating to be in such a great looking and very fishy waterway to have it prove fruitless. Michael talked to a couple of locals who fished with bait and they only landed an undersized mangrove jack and a small trevally so it was pretty dead for them too.

Tomorrow we are going to try Lakefield NP again and hopefully that will prove productive.




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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote p.j. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Jun 2021 at 8:13pm
You cant get them every time Martin Stern Smile
But looks like you have nice weather fore the trips tho Big smile
Keep trying, so we can see some more off the great country, and hopefully the Fish Big smile

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Jun 2021 at 5:14pm
Yesterday's trip to Lakefield was once again interesting - as well as frustrating.

Our predicted winds offshore from Cooktown were in excess of 30 kph. I check the offshore winds as Cooktown is surrounded by many big hills and mountains. Plus the shape of the coast and direction of winds can mean very different conditions depending upon where you are in town. The winds at Lakefield were predicted at 13 kph from the east. With the thick bush you may not feel any wind at all and it was pretty humid fishing with my glasses steaming up. Lakefield is on the other side of the Iron Range and receives a lot of protection from winds from the east and especially the south. On the way back home once we got out of the protection of the Iron Range we got into a drizzling rain that turned heavier the closer we got to Cooktown.

The area we went to presented us with a new challenge. The banks were steep with a layer of dried soil / sand on top of wet slippery clay. So you would be negotiating a steep section of bank, your feet break through the top dry stuff, and you are slipping down the bank. Best thing to do is to fall onto the bank to make more contact with the bank to arrest your fall. By the end of the day I looked like a pig that wallowed in the mud. There were areas that you just would not go incase you slipped into deep water. This is all to do with seepage from the high ground water level. Normally this seepage is only about  30 to 50 cm above the river water level but due to a lot of rain in Lakefield at the last wet season, this ground water level now is up to a couple of metres high.

Mickey Rat and I started fishing at about 9 am. Once again things were very slow to start off with. The sun had not had much time to heat up the water at that stage.  But I did notice that most of the "signs" of fish came from deep with in the snags and after the water had run off shallow sand banks. Of course you still have to try the deeper holes as well and we still had flashes, follows and short strikes here as well. I was using a yellow Kuttafurra lure which I snagged a couple of times before loosing it on a snag that would not let it go. I had just earlier remarked to Michael that I didn't like using that lure here as the yellow colour disappeared from sight quickly in the brown coloured water. I like to see where the lure is as it make it easier to manoeuvre it through snags. It also makes it easier to see if any fish is following or has flashed your lure.

As I was tying on another leader to my line after loosing the above Kuttafurra lure, I noticed a cute freshwater crocodile about 80 cm long just 2 metres from me. freshies are cute, but saltwater crocs are damn ugly no matter what their size. This little fella just stayed there for about 3 minutes watching me watching him, until I stood up to see how close I could get to him without him moving.

Now yesterday was frustrating to both Michael and I as we went through some lures. I counted 5 of mine did not return and Michael lost a few as well. But I can't remember  what one of these lures were. My count down of MIA lures goes - Kuttafurra, Bass Attack, HJK experimental thick minnow (40 cm approx and 56 cm barra and a catfish caught on it - cast like a bullet), a Raghubir (sudanraghu2210) made lure (caught a just legal 58 cm barramundi), and I can't remember what the 5th lure was. I'll leave it up to Michael as to whether or not he wants to tell what he lost. Our high lure loses is a sign that we had to fish in very tight to cover, or try to make the hard casts to get to cover. I lost the Raghubir minnow to a big barramundi that took it under the log I was standing on and would not come back out - eventually the line parted. 

I got back to the car before Michael and tried a little bit in the opposite direction. I was using a Bass Attack lure that kept on getting follows, flashes and short strike but no hook up. I tried other lures but this particular fish was only interested in that one lure. I eventually gave up when I heard Michael back at the car. I had found 2 plastic blow molded lures near the car, but one was severely damaged.  The damaged one was a Tropical Rogue sold at Bransfords Tackle in Cairns. Terry Leadbetter from Leads Lures used to make these from timber for him so I have been told. Now I had originally thought that a crocodile had done the damage on this lure, but I could not find any teeth marks on it, or a depression that could have come from a huge blunt tooth so I am now unsure if it was done by a crocodile or a fish.

As stated above I got 3 barra and a catfish. Michael got a catfish, a barra of about 30 cm and a nice 71 cm barra. His big fish was on a gold Bomber. Now I have this thing against gold Bombers. My brother in law would always use them for barra no matter what, even when I was outfishing him using timber lures. So it became a contest between us, me with my timber lures and him with his gold Bombers. The only time he would not use them was in the saltwater chasing the pelagic species because as he said in his own words "those fish would break them". So he would use the Halco made Scorpions, and then the contest would be my timber lures against his Halco lures Confused.

Photos to come in another post in case the internet drops out and I loose all of this post.



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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Jun 2021 at 5:31pm
My freshwater croc


the fish on the thick experimental HJK minnow. This lure casts like a bullet and I almost lost it quite a few times by overshooting the snag and it landing high up in trees on the other side of the river.







Raghubir's minnow and barramundi including a close up of the lure






Michaels barra





The destroyed Tropical Rogue lure


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MadDogLures Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Jun 2021 at 10:46am
Great read Martin 👍
Life is fishing!
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2 words
Haircut
Job







Thumbs Up
Nichos Maulers Homemade timber lures....THEY CATCH FISH!

YA DONT KNOW...IF YA DONT GO...SO GET OUT THERE AND... FISH IT
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Jun 2021 at 4:51pm
Originally posted by Nicho Nicho wrote:

2 words
Haircut
Job

My 2 words-
notta 
Chance 








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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Jun 2021 at 5:15pm
The winds have slowed down a bit over the past couple of days contrary to all of my weather apps. So today I went outTo the reef for a run. The plan was to go to GTCorner as it was going to be low tide early in the morning. Then I was going to go over chasing coral trout.

The run out there I tried one of Rivoli’s lures on the troll. It was hit three times by what I think were smaller species of mackerel example like school or spotty mackerel . Unfortunately no hook ups. GT corner failed me today with only one hit from a giant Trevalley. I did however get a flowery cod and a shark mackerel using a HJK stick bait. I have tried other Lures before hand Lures for no interest. 

I’ve decided to call-in early day as it was going to be a slow trip home. By a slow trip I mean a troll all the way home as it was going to be a slow trip due to the size and the shape of the swell. I also was not going to bring any fish home today as we have enough in the freezer so I didn’t take any ice with me. But this mackerel ( fat at 97 cm) was not going to survive a release due to how it was hooked and I wasn’t going to waste it.

I trolled a couple of Rivoli’s lures and was hit almost immediately in a reef area of about 12 metres deep. Unfortunately that fish threw the lure before I was able to see what it was. The rest of the trip home was uneventful.



OK so it seems that I didn’t take a picture of the shark mackerel. Seems I was thinking too much about dispatching it rather then photographing it. But here is a photo of the remains after filleting it LOL




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c'mon martin , you can afford to lose some hair. how about it, raise some funds for Tony and LL. i'll start with $20. ok everyone, put the pressure on the huge one and corner him into a hair cut. hahahahaha. . . .mick
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Jun 2021 at 8:25pm
You are cruel Mr Smith.

Thankfully nobody has taken up the offer.

Pssst Tony - how do I hide Mick’s comment?????? 
Martin-

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Jun 2021 at 9:04pm
Back out again today but with Avocado Mick. Weather apps said slightly higher winds for today, but they lie- until today. At least it wasn’t a drastic upgrade in winds but enough to make it bumpy.

Trolling out through the river mouth Mick was using a Beardy lure, similar to the Beardy lure that I recently caught a 97 cm Spanish mackerel on. But it wasn’t a mackerel he hooked onto, it was an undersized nannigai.

I was using one of Rivoli’s lures that he sent me- he deeper river version. About 50 metres after Mick’s hook up , I hooked up with line screaming off the reel - then nothing, busted off.

I tied on the shallow river lure that Rivoli sent me and scored an undersized spotty mackerel. Nothing else happened until we neared the reef and the lure caught another spotty mackerel at just a fraction undersized.

The fishing the reef was very unproductive with only a few small fish caught. I was busted off by one big hit from an unidentified fish. We were able to retrieve snagged lures about a dozen times but gee I went through some lures. I was also constantly re tying my leaders due to them fraying on the coral.

After 2.5 hours of poor results we decided to troll back home. The size of the chop meant so that we were not going to be bashed around meant that it was going to be a slow troll anyway. Halfway home and the reel screams off and on board comes a nice 102 cm Spanish mackerel using Rivoli’s shallow diver  . ( ps- I’m writing this post at the Bowls Club and I just won the meat tray....  yay me).

Further on and I was seeing the occasional “ flash “ in the water. After one of these flashes, Mick’s rod tip ‘ bumped’ and then his line started blowing in the wind. Seems like he was bitten off and a Bass Attack lure went missing in action.

No more action from then until we entered the river. I went to wind in my line and no weight to it. My wire trace was bitten through. I did previously note a small twitch in my rod and a couple of clicks of the drag but thought it might have been he bottom as I passed over a sand bank.

Let me try to remember my lure losses today-
2 Rivoli lures
2 Bass Attack lures
A Per Johannsen lure
A fugly Martin’s Minnow 
A CAM ( Chris McBryde) herring lure
A K.A.D. lure

I know there is at least one more lure but I can’t remember what it is.

Bloody hell, what a taxing day.

Photos to come when I get home onto my sister’s wi fi 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Rivoli Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Jun 2021 at 9:32pm
A good and bad day Martin you’ll have to upgrade the wire trace!!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Jun 2021 at 9:47pm
Originally posted by Rivoli Rivoli wrote:

A good and bad day Martin you’ll have to upgrade the wire trace!!

I rarely have the wire trace bitten through. I usually run 27 or 44 pound single strand but this was 58 pound trace. Just came across a fish whose teeth meshed together perfectly I suppose.

Fish on CAM lures herring, before I lost itOuch





A fish on a Ganesy lure - this is the other lure that I lost. This lure was taken into the coral by a big something ( I think I have another that same colour)



Mick's small nannigai on the Daniel Beard - Beardy lure


Fish on Rivoli's lure. The first 2 photos are of the samw fish, I just wanted to show properly what the lure looked like.








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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jun 2021 at 8:09pm
Tough day at Lakefield today.

I picked up Mickey Rat and we headed to an area that we had not fished before. Well that is a little untrue as I fished this area on my first trip to Lakefield and that was in the middle of a very bad drought. Back then we walked up the centre of the river bed looking for water.

Today we went up a conjoining river that ended up being pretty well filled in with sand and thus very shallow. I managed to find a small 30ish centimetre barra on a Bass Attack "MANBOOBS" lure and a small catfish on a Kuttafurra lure. Michael had a couple of half hearted strikes (gold bombers do not always produce the goods). When it seemed that we were not going to find the water we were looking for , we called it quits at that spot and went looking elsewhere.

Our new spot looked great and Michael had some interest from a couple of fish. Then we found a couple of recent camp fires, one which was still smoldering. There was the tell tall evidence of this pool being heavily fished and that quelled my expectations.

Nothing eventuated from this area and it was starting to get late so we called it a day.

I have caught more catfish here in Lakefield this year then all of my previous trips. But none of these have been the huge catfish like what I catch in the freshwater reaches of the Wenlock River. I enjoy catching the big catfish as they give a great account of themselves and fight vey hard.

my little barra and catfish





Michael fishing at the first spot. This was the best water we found and even then it was very shallow.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kayargh1 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Jun 2021 at 9:55am
Hi Martin, I really enjoy your ongoing thread. I am not sure if Bransfords have changed the lure that they call a Tropical Rogue but I think they must have. In the attached picture the top and bottom lures are both stickered Tropical Rogues as made by Leads and purchased from Bransfords.  The smashed gold lure that you showed in your post as a Tropical Rogue doesn't appear to look very much like the originals. Regards, Ken


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote hooknose Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Jun 2021 at 4:00pm
Agree with Ken on this Martin, keep up the good work mate 👍
Cheers Steve R!!!
MAN I LOVE FISHING ! ! !
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Jun 2021 at 6:16pm
Yeah Bransford’s new Tropical Rogue is totally different to what the originals were. They were changed over a few years ago. I was pretty miffed at the time because I was going to buy some of he timber ones and was presented with the plastic variety.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Jun 2021 at 9:56pm
Wednesday- pick up a parcel of lures from the post office.

Thursday- first day of a 3 night stay at Lakefield National Park. Bill and I went reacquainting ourselves with areas we had not spent much time in. I put on one of Roy Durre’s brand new stickbaits. Within half an hour it is smashed by a big barra. I fought it in having to tighten my already heavy drag as it powered it’s way to the snag made up of two logs. Under one log this fish went. Steady pressure and it came back out- only to quickly duck under the second log appearing on the other side. This was a very big fish and it was only 6 metres in front of me, but on the wrong side of the log. Steady pressure again but this was the same stretch of line that rubbed up against the first log. As you can imagine, the line parted and I was not feeling all too well.

I re-armed myself with the next of Roy’s stickbaits. Another 40 minutes later and the lure was smashed in what I thought was clear water. I only found out about the snag in the middle of the river when this fish, a carbon copy of the first, swam under it. This fish was still peeling line off, by now, a very heavy drag, rose to the surface, and still under drag pressure , half jumped out of the water. It then swam back down and obviously found another limb on the sunken tree and busted me off.

The next one of Roy’s I lost was because it was a smaller and lighter lure and trying to cast it from heavy cover on 15 kilo line stuffed up the cast and it caught on an overhanging branch to stay there dispute by efforts and pleas to the fishing gods ( and me crying). 4 brand new lures not even in my possession for 24 hours, 1 hour of fishing, 2 hits and 2 hook ups and 3 lures lost. Was not happy with myself but was in awe of the size of the 2 lost fish.

A look on the hand held Garmin GPS showed that we were close to a favourite fishing hole ( shark hole we call it) but on the other side of the river. Access to this hole is never assured so I always wanted to find another way in. As it was getting late we headed back to camp. .... oh, Bill got a little barra of about 50 cm on one of HJK’s minnows, which I didn’t get a photo of.

Friday saw us going further along the track system we were on. We headed to the saltwater section of the river. I won’t camp in this area as at high tide the camp sites are almost inundated by water. The crocs have been known to visit people’s camps here.

It was a falling tide and using HJK’s stickbaits I had 4 hits,2 solid hook ups only to gave the barra throw the lure. Nice silver saltwater barra, they definitely would have come back to camp. We then left to visit another freshwater hole for a half hearted bit each.

On our way back we checked out another camp site as it seemed it would be closer to “ shark hole”. By the GPS it was only 2.5 kilometres away, half the distance of the previous spot we identified. A plan was hatched for the next day.

Saturday’s antics to be continued. The NBN is playing up again so I’m posting this before I loose it.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Jun 2021 at 10:39pm
NBN reset so back at it.

Saturday and Bill and I set off on foot to shark hole with the car at the camp site identified the day before. Following the GPS we came across a billabong that was once part of the river. A few casts and Bill was hit once by something very small. As there was no flow in the water we knew it was land locked. We headed to what would have been up river as we didn’t know if the down river side opened up to the main waterway. The billabong degenerated into a narrow channel about 3 metres wide and about a metre deep. The sides of the channel were about 1.5 metres high and very muddy. This was not an area to cross over, too many bad things against it. Further up it got shallower but there was no way we were going to enter soft sticky mud . I yelled out to Bill” hey there’s ripples in the water up here”. Bill caught up to me then “WHOOSH” a big black croc about 5 metres long powered it’s way down the narrow channel making waves over half a metre high and within 30 seconds it negotiated the 40 metre channel into deeper water. I have known pig hunters following their dogs to enter similar channels but not me and this justifies our hard and fast rules of croc safety. Another 40 metres up the channel and we found safe, dry land bridge ( marked that on the GPS).

Taking the direct route to shark hole and we had to negotiate some very thick bush and a very steep but dry gully. We emerged at what I had marked as “ barra tree”. If you go back to this post about 2 years ago, it is the tree that my brother in law and I had a brilliant 2 days fishing smashing the barra.

We found this snag and caught a couple of small barra off it before they went quiet. Moving downstream and we encountered more small barra and Bill caught his biggest ever archer fish. Bill was using HJK minnows until he lost 2 of them. Then he went over to an $8 bargain bin special. I started off using HJK stickbaits but nothing was happening on the surface. The day was all about sub surface lures.

Every time we found the fish , they shut down quickly. Then we found out why. Shark hole was living up to it’s name a d we constantly had a shark/ or sharks in front of us. I got a 50 ish cm barra on a Gansey lure, another on a Kuttafurra lure, and one on a Roy Durre minnow. We also got a few more smaller barra and archer fish. But the sharks put a lid on the barra’s activities.

We called it quits at 3 pm. I deleted the track in on the GPS as I found the outlet to the gully we crossed coming in. By starting back on the northern side of this gully meant we wouldn’t have to cross it on the way back. It also meant that we could make use of grassland and avoid most of the thick scrub. I saved this track in my GPS for future trips.

Saturday night was our last night but I had to plug a puncture in a tyre before I could relax. We didn’t fish today. Bill had to drive back to Innisfail and I was a bit worried about my tyre as it lost a bit of pressure overnight. I needn’t to have worried though as it stayed up all the way home.

Photos to come when I log onto my laptop.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Jun 2021 at 11:18pm
Bill's fish on HJK minnows









If you go back to about October last year you will see how a gold bomber Bill was using broke it's tail when it hit a log. Bill glued in a rubber tail into the broken bomber and he said it had a wicked action scoring him a little 45 cm barra before the tail fell out (Bill didn't get a photo). He used araldite to glue it in, is there a better glue for Bill to use? He got a lot of hits by fish mouthing the tail as no hook up when the did this as there was no hook in the tail.



Some of Bill's fish on his bargain bin special. It caught his biggest barra at 64 cm.










I caught a barra around 50 cm on a Bass Attack lure before snagging it.



And I got another barra around 50 cm on a Ganesy lure




Barra and archer fish on Kuttafurra lures. I lost the colourful one to a snag - bummer.











one of Roy's stickbaits that I lost to a big barra, and a barra caught on one of his minnows.






Saturday night around the camp and a beautiful moon comes up. We were watching people with torches chasing cherabin shrimp in the rock pools beneath the Kalpowar Crossing causeway.



One of the rangers at Lakefield is tagging fish. If you catch a tagged fish anywhere, make sure you report it. This helps to determine growth rates and fish movements. It would be interesting to see if any tagged barra get caught outside of Lakefield. 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Craft Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jun 2021 at 7:19am
Hey mate, another great story. I was hoping for pics with those top waters but words are pretty good too. Guess I’ll just have to send you a few more to “tank test” 😁
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Ducks Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jun 2021 at 9:22am
Martin, I'd be trying to get a bit of dowel glued in to the bomber with a wire pigs tail (plastic keeper) coming of it.
That way you can replace the rubber as needed on the go.
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