LURELOVERS™ Australian Fishing Lure Community Homepage
Forum Home Forum Home > Fishing > Fishing Reports
  New Posts New Posts
  FAQ FAQ  Forum Search   Events   Register Register  Login Login

Luring Cooktown

 Post Reply Post Reply Page  <1 3334353637 50>
Author
Message
 Rating: Topic Rating: 2 Votes, Average 5.00  Topic Search Topic Search  Topic Options Topic Options
horrorhead View Drop Down
LureLovers.com Fanatic
LureLovers.com Fanatic
Avatar
LureLover of the Year 2020

Joined: 14 Jun 2011
Location: Cooktown qld
Status: Offline
Points: 14008
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31 May 2022 at 10:14pm
At it again. Making the most of the good weather. This time I had another mate with me - Brett.

Once again I won't go into too much detail - another good day tomorrow so up early again. Seems like tomorrow is going to be the last before I go up to Weipa for a week ..... bloody hell life is toughWink

A couple of things though. With a stripey that I was bringing in, a giant trevally grabbed it. While fighting it in, a shark took it's tail. So I ended up with half a GT. Oh well, I'll turn what's left of it into nummus.

When Brett and I first got to the reef there was a little ripple on the water and we were getting stuck into the fish. Once the wind died down to nothing, the bite decreased so markedly we changed reefs to chase giant trevally at GT Corner.

At GT corner Brett was busted off 3 times with the same lure. We didn't manage to get it back the third time.

The half GT and the RS Lure made by Rodney Whyte.






Joe Flints lure. This lure got the largest trout for the day at 61 cm.






The Fugly "Martin's Minnow" worked well.  I got 6 trout to Brett's NIL. I gave him the lure to use and first cast he scored a 54 cm trout - lure fell out of it's mouth when the fish hit the deck.












I scored a 86 cm giant trevally that was turning black - male breeding mode, on a Stephen Gane made Ganesy walk the dog / stickbait.






Brett likes his Halco poppers and scored a few fish on it including this flowery cod



I was having some success with this HJK minnow, until a big giant trevally took possession of it 







K.A.D. Lures by Damian Flannigan worked well and accounted for quite a few trout.








Martin-

you don't havta be pretty to fish
Back to Top
p.j. View Drop Down
Stall Holder
Stall Holder
Avatar
P.J's Lures

Joined: 06 Jan 2011
Location: Denmark
Status: Offline
Points: 2936
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote p.j. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Jun 2022 at 6:08am
WIN WIN Ermm
Both the Shark and you got a bite LOL

   Knaek & Break 
           Per
P.J. LURES
SO SMOKING HOT
EVEN CUSTOM DOGS LIKE THEM
Back to Top
Chep Buxley View Drop Down
LureLovers.com Fanatic
LureLovers.com Fanatic
Avatar

Joined: 19 May 2010
Location: Lake Dyer
Status: Offline
Points: 1202
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Chep Buxley Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Jun 2022 at 7:47am
"Stripies" seem like a common catch. Can you eat them? 
I guess it might be hard to go pass the Trout.......
Back to Top
horrorhead View Drop Down
LureLovers.com Fanatic
LureLovers.com Fanatic
Avatar
LureLover of the Year 2020

Joined: 14 Jun 2011
Location: Cooktown qld
Status: Offline
Points: 14008
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Jun 2022 at 11:19pm
Originally posted by Chep Buxley Chep Buxley wrote:

"Stripies" seem like a common catch. Can you eat them? 
I guess it might be hard to go pass the Trout.......

Very good eating, like a smaller mangrove jack. Many people prefer them over coral trout in eating qualities.
Martin-

you don't havta be pretty to fish
Back to Top
horrorhead View Drop Down
LureLovers.com Fanatic
LureLovers.com Fanatic
Avatar
LureLover of the Year 2020

Joined: 14 Jun 2011
Location: Cooktown qld
Status: Offline
Points: 14008
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Jun 2022 at 11:22pm

Back at the same reef as yesterday for more coral trout action. This didn’t pay off and the fish bite was very very slow. The  the predicted low morning winds were stronger and didn’t change direction and Brett and I were fishing in very choppy conditions. Choppy conditions are normally great as it hides you and the boat but it seems to have had a bad affect on the fish. We don’t know if it was the direction of the wind, the intesity of it or something completely unrelated but the differences in the bite between the 2 days was amazing. I tried the lures I swas using yesterday but the strength of the wind and th surface chop meant that most of the ime the lures were blowing out of the water using my aggressive rip and wind technique.

The troll out saw Brett hook and land a nice spotty mackerel of 82 cm. Spotties are better eating then spanish mackerel.

After about 40 minutes, Brett hooked the first fish of the day, a 43 cm trout, as he was bringing his fish in I hooked a 45 cm trout. We both thought that we were going to be in for another great session but 20 minutes past before Brett got another hook up. Brett’s line screamed off and I thought “GT” , Brett thought hig mackerel. After a few sizziling runs Brett was trying to unhook a barracuda about 1.6 metres long without getting chewed upon.

After I landed a great sized stripey of 35 cm on one of Per Johannsen’s lures I spotted a group of very big giant trevally. Now I should have swapped over to my bigger outfit but worried that they were going to quickly move from the area, I cast Per’s lure out. It was hit immediately  went into a huge run. I chased after it using the electric motor but it kept on going, then nothing. Checking the lure, 3 of the six small treble points had straightened out, and now I’m kicking myself for not using the larger outfit.

A little bit later I hooked a long tom, this thing was not coming on board either – it too has too many teeth and like to flash and thrash the trebles. I kept it in the water trying to conjure up a reef shark that was hanging around us so it would deal a fatal blow. But this shark would not come near it either (I wonder how many people have been eaten by long toms???). Eventually Brett was able to calm it down and cut the fish off. 3 things I won’t allow on the boat- barracuda, long gtom, and saltwater eels (pike and moray). I like my body parts intact and unpunctured.

Over an hour passed with only a few half hearted hits despite us trying everything we could think of including the chant –“here fishy fishy fishy”. I’m loosing faith in that chant. Then another stripey came on board. I had changed over to one of Mad Dog’s mackerel lure (it’s actually his “barra” model). This lure is a deeper diver and hung into the water better. Trouble is that I fish the shallow reefs and I had to unsnag it a few times. This fish was 33.5 cm long, legal size is 25 cm and are a cousin to the mangrove jack so very good eating. Most of the time the stripey fillets make up much of the “mixed reef fillets” in the fish monger’s window (so buy it, it’s good stuff).

Another half an hour passed and the Mad Dog scored a 53.5 cm coral trout. Another half an hour passed I’m maneuvering the boat with the electric motor to give us the best drift over the best bommies. Brett saw me heading to a narrow gap between 2 bommies and knew that I was looking for a GT there. Because he was using a Halco popper, and poppers cast further then a bibbed minnow, he launched his lure over to the start of it. The water erupted, his reel squeled as line screamed off it and I kicked the electric motor into top gear. Brett was in all sorts on conniptions trying to slow this trevally. As I was following the fish I heard a “snap” behind me. Turning around confirmed that Brett’s rod had snapped. He handed me the top part and I handled that part while Brett still manned the bottom part and the reel – and we were winning …. UNBELIEVABLE….. then reef happened. The fish had rubbed the braid along a bommie as it was trying to head out to open water.

We soon headed for home. The wind had increased with a very rough chop but coming in from the side instead of behind us like it should have by that time as per predictions. As I don’t like gto bash home we set out my 2 rods as troll lines. (Brett also broken his bigger reel on his bigger outfit.) Talking on the way back and I looked at my line. I have my rod holder about 40 cm to the side and in my peripheral vision. I noticed that the bfraid coming off the reel was not “tight” like it should have been if there was the weight of a working lure on the end. Winding it in and the wire trace was broken. This wire was either bitten through or a mackerel had coiled the wire when hitting kit and snapped the wire with the resulting kink. So exit the Mad Dog lure.

The rest of the troll home was uneventful. We only took the mackerel home as we both have enough fish at home already.

Photos next post - connectivity issues again.

Martin-

you don't havta be pretty to fish
Back to Top
horrorhead View Drop Down
LureLovers.com Fanatic
LureLovers.com Fanatic
Avatar
LureLover of the Year 2020

Joined: 14 Jun 2011
Location: Cooktown qld
Status: Offline
Points: 14008
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Jun 2022 at 11:42pm
My first coral trout using a Mark A Lure. I also got a yellow and black remora on this lure before snagging it. I have only ever seen black and white remora before.






Per's lure that caught a stripey and hooked a GT as well as this longfin cod.




HJK lure with a longfin cod.




Brett contemplating how to get his lure back from the barracuda




Mad Dog lure with stripey and the big coral trout.






Martin-

you don't havta be pretty to fish
Back to Top
rodsncods View Drop Down
LureLovers.com Fanatic
LureLovers.com Fanatic
Avatar

Joined: 27 Nov 2011
Location: somewhere
Status: Online
Points: 4206
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote rodsncods Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Jun 2022 at 8:30am
ok i suppose if your not after a feed, but when things get a bit tough, have you ever considered using, wash my mouth out with soapPinch, BAIT. . . . .MICK
BEER IS PROOF THAT GOD LOVES US AND WANTS US TO BE HAPPY!!!
Back to Top
horrorhead View Drop Down
LureLovers.com Fanatic
LureLovers.com Fanatic
Avatar
LureLover of the Year 2020

Joined: 14 Jun 2011
Location: Cooktown qld
Status: Offline
Points: 14008
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Jun 2022 at 12:17pm
Originally posted by rodsncods rodsncods wrote:

ok i suppose if your not after a feed, but when things get a bit tough, have you ever considered using, wash my mouth out with soapPinch, BAIT. . . . .MICK

LOLLOLLOL
I have too much fun with the anticipation of the next hit to use soap .... I mean bait GENERALLY. I have considered taking out my big gear and putting down a live stripey over a deep reef for some of those mega sized coral trout down there. But I'm thinking I might have to re-spool from 25 kilo mono to 40 kilo braid for that. Funny how my big gear from down south is now pretty average up here. I know people using 40 kilo as their normal gear.
Martin-

you don't havta be pretty to fish
Back to Top
horrorhead View Drop Down
LureLovers.com Fanatic
LureLovers.com Fanatic
Avatar
LureLover of the Year 2020

Joined: 14 Jun 2011
Location: Cooktown qld
Status: Offline
Points: 14008
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Jun 2022 at 4:33pm
Some random photos.

This morning I found the brain bucket off one of the big groper. Apparently it went up into shallow water on a very high tide and the water went out too quickly for it to get off and it beached itself. Other things then came along and ate pieces off it, mabe even those 2 crocs in the foreground?Confused






This estimated 3.5 metre croc sunning itself at Croc Bend on the Annan River.




I made myself some throwing spikes. Not bad for 30 minutes of throwing them, 8 out of 10 then 9 out of 10. That was at 3 metres range now to work upon a larger distance. I'm going to have to make myself a proper target now as it does too much damage to trees.




Martin-

you don't havta be pretty to fish
Back to Top
rodsncods View Drop Down
LureLovers.com Fanatic
LureLovers.com Fanatic
Avatar

Joined: 27 Nov 2011
Location: somewhere
Status: Online
Points: 4206
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote rodsncods Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Jun 2022 at 5:24pm
that groper head would be still good for soupDead. . . .mick
BEER IS PROOF THAT GOD LOVES US AND WANTS US TO BE HAPPY!!!
Back to Top
Chep Buxley View Drop Down
LureLovers.com Fanatic
LureLovers.com Fanatic
Avatar

Joined: 19 May 2010
Location: Lake Dyer
Status: Offline
Points: 1202
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Chep Buxley Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Jun 2022 at 7:15am
Throwing Sticks? That's new to me. Can you explain them more Martin?
Back to Top
horrorhead View Drop Down
LureLovers.com Fanatic
LureLovers.com Fanatic
Avatar
LureLover of the Year 2020

Joined: 14 Jun 2011
Location: Cooktown qld
Status: Offline
Points: 14008
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Jun 2022 at 1:35pm
Originally posted by Chep Buxley Chep Buxley wrote:

Throwing Sticks? That's new to me. Can you explain them more Martin?


I meant throwing spikes - similar to throwing knives. All just for a bit of target practice similar to throwing darts on a dart board by yourself. I've still got my .22, not for hunting but because I like target shooting. They are just sharpened pieces of metal rod. Knife throwing is a big sport in the Baltic countries.



Martin-

you don't havta be pretty to fish
Back to Top
horrorhead View Drop Down
LureLovers.com Fanatic
LureLovers.com Fanatic
Avatar
LureLover of the Year 2020

Joined: 14 Jun 2011
Location: Cooktown qld
Status: Offline
Points: 14008
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Jun 2022 at 6:19pm
This is the reason I don’t go flat blat  in the dark. Check out the scallops from a propeller in this log. Imagine the damage to the prop.


Martin-

you don't havta be pretty to fish
Back to Top
Steve B View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member


Joined: 27 Jan 2014
Location: Darwin
Status: Offline
Points: 747
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Steve B Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Jun 2022 at 6:22pm
That’s art, you should take it home LOL
Back to Top
horrorhead View Drop Down
LureLovers.com Fanatic
LureLovers.com Fanatic
Avatar
LureLover of the Year 2020

Joined: 14 Jun 2011
Location: Cooktown qld
Status: Offline
Points: 14008
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Jun 2022 at 5:48pm
Justin Coventry in town does a Cooktown report for Fishing Monthly. He asked if I had a recent photo of a barra capture. Per Johannsen - your banana lure is a super starLOLLOLLOL


Martin-

you don't havta be pretty to fish
Back to Top
Tony View Drop Down
Admin
Admin
Avatar
Admin

Joined: 09 Nov 2009
Location: Hervey Bay, QLD
Status: Offline
Points: 6012
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Tony Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Jun 2022 at 6:00pm
Love your work Martin. Cool woohoo, go the Banana! Clap
Cheers, Tony

For the love of Fishing Lures.
Back to Top
Chep Buxley View Drop Down
LureLovers.com Fanatic
LureLovers.com Fanatic
Avatar

Joined: 19 May 2010
Location: Lake Dyer
Status: Offline
Points: 1202
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Chep Buxley Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Jun 2022 at 9:22pm
Well done Martin! Congratulations Per!
Back to Top
p.j. View Drop Down
Stall Holder
Stall Holder
Avatar
P.J's Lures

Joined: 06 Jan 2011
Location: Denmark
Status: Offline
Points: 2936
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote p.j. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jun 2022 at 2:59am
EYHAAAA LOL Thumbs Up
Thanks all

  Knaek & Break 
          Per
P.J. LURES
SO SMOKING HOT
EVEN CUSTOM DOGS LIKE THEM
Back to Top
horrorhead View Drop Down
LureLovers.com Fanatic
LureLovers.com Fanatic
Avatar
LureLover of the Year 2020

Joined: 14 Jun 2011
Location: Cooktown qld
Status: Offline
Points: 14008
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Jun 2022 at 10:18pm
Only a short story as I just lost my post due to our great connectivity here.

Ed (Scotch&dry) and I hit Lakefield National Park today. This park finally opened and hopefully I'll get many more trips in before it closes again. 

An overcast and cool day that was threatening to rain for most of the day so the bite was never going to be a hot one. End of the day Ed ended up with - one small catfish and two undersized barra on a First Strike lure made by Frank Treswick and an undersized barra on one of his own lures. I ended up with one little tarpon caught on a HJK minnow. We both had some soft hits but we think that that's due to the weather. I dropped a 70 cm plus barra right at my feet using a First strike lure.

High light of the day was seeing a baby (60 cm est) saw fish (shark). I had always wanted to see one of these as apparently they are slowly facing extinction.


Martin-

you don't havta be pretty to fish
Back to Top
horrorhead View Drop Down
LureLovers.com Fanatic
LureLovers.com Fanatic
Avatar
LureLover of the Year 2020

Joined: 14 Jun 2011
Location: Cooktown qld
Status: Offline
Points: 14008
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Jun 2022 at 10:27pm
Now some photos.

Notice how Ed blends into the back groundWink












My humongous effort for the day, a tiny tarpon




This is the best photo I got of the saw fish before it swam away. Unfortunately you can't made out it's tooth studded proboscis 


Martin-

you don't havta be pretty to fish
Back to Top
Chep Buxley View Drop Down
LureLovers.com Fanatic
LureLovers.com Fanatic
Avatar

Joined: 19 May 2010
Location: Lake Dyer
Status: Offline
Points: 1202
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Chep Buxley Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Jun 2022 at 10:41pm
Great photos Martin. Glad you got to see a saw fish.
Back to Top
scotch&dry View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member
Avatar

Joined: 03 Dec 2015
Location: Cooktown qld
Status: Offline
Points: 185
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote scotch&dry Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Jun 2022 at 11:11pm
Thanks for a great day out in the park mate, was amazing to see the sawfish, probably a bit on the cool side for the Barra to really fire up. We will be camping up at bottom whip handle this coming weekend if you’re nearby. Clap
Ed.McC
Back to Top
horrorhead View Drop Down
LureLovers.com Fanatic
LureLovers.com Fanatic
Avatar
LureLover of the Year 2020

Joined: 14 Jun 2011
Location: Cooktown qld
Status: Offline
Points: 14008
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jun 2022 at 3:25pm
Originally posted by scotch&dry scotch&dry wrote:

Thanks for a great day out in the park mate, was amazing to see the sawfish, probably a bit on the cool side for the Barra to really fire up. We will be camping up at bottom whip handle this coming weekend if you’re nearby. Clap

WOW, I was talking to a ranger this morning and she said that that area was closed. But if you made a booking then it must be open - cool because Bill and I have some areas around there we like to fish. She  did say that communications between the various ranger offices are (my words) very poor. They don't go by the Qld National Parks website for road closures but use the Cook Council website instead.

Bill and I are now going tomorrow (Wednesday) with 4 nights booked at Kalpowar Crossing, we  will probably hunt you down for a fishThumbs Up
Martin-

you don't havta be pretty to fish
Back to Top
horrorhead View Drop Down
LureLovers.com Fanatic
LureLovers.com Fanatic
Avatar
LureLover of the Year 2020

Joined: 14 Jun 2011
Location: Cooktown qld
Status: Offline
Points: 14008
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Jul 2022 at 1:44pm

Now that was a great 4 day trip to Lakefield National Park with Bill Caractsanoudis and later on by his two sons. Not so much because of the amount of fish caught. We caught enough to keep us interested, but more in the way of good camping weather. Now while the weather was cool enough for camping, it did hinder the fishing at least a little because the water was not heating up or heating up much. In general, barra like hotter water and the consensus from many “barra experts” is that they don’t really come on the chew until the water reaches 25 degrees celcius. But in saying that I have caught many barra early morning in the middle of winter.

Also against us was the moon phases with the moon on the first quarter. I have much more success on the lead up to the full or new moons. But fish have to eat sometime.

With this type of conditions there was never a hurry to get out of bed. I usually don’t expect much until the sun is high in the sky heating the water up and all of our fish came from after 10 am to late afternoon. When we left Cooktownit was rainy and very windy and was forecasted to have been the same for the next few days. The forecast for Lakefield was for overcast conditions with at the most 60% chanceof rain of up to .8mm. So a bit of drizzle or very light rain as expected and expirienced. This was welcomed as when we did get a little bit of precipitation it was usually when we became hot in the humid conditions, or at night to cool down the conditions for better sleeping conditions. Most nights we were sleeping in our underwear without any coverings at all. I use a 5 man pop up tent that we also used as storage o keep things out of sight as well as from any rain. Bill and his sons like to use a swag, but I find these too restrictive.

Now the reason for the difference in the weather conditions is that Lakefield is on the other side of The Iron Range. This mountain range stops a lot of weather. Lakefield can have flooding rain while Cooktown is fine , and visa versa. Now the Normanby River is the major river that runs through Lakefield. This is the river we fish the most. Now the headwaters of this river is fed by the East and West Normanby Rivers that drain an area from Lakelands to the western side of Bloomfield. If you check out a map you will see that this is a large area. The convergencce of the East and West Normanby into the Normanby is on the Normanby cattle station run by the traditional owners. All of this information comes into play to some extent later into our trip.

On Wednesday afternoon after we set up camp we checked out Hann Crossing. I had never done much good here before but have heard great reports from others. Well Bill and I barely saw a fish apart from a small archer fish that Bill caught. We had a couple of flashes from small fish and that was it.

The next day we ventured onto Aboriginal land. I had permission from one of the traditional owners so we were safe to fish it. The traditional owners used to be more accommodating but too many bad events made it harder to fish and now you must get perfmission rather then just rock up whenever and wherever. Events such as paddocks being set alight killing stock to flush out pigs, fences being cut, they once had a prize bull that was shot so hunters could pop off the pigs that came to feed off it. Luckily I’m pretty good friends with a couple of these people.

This was Shark Hole that we fished. It has featured in many of my previous posts. We caught all up 8 fish but none at legal size, but it was good to get back there. The cooler weather kept  the fish deeper in the water so surface lures did not produce any fish or flashes at all. We also tried another hole further up. I got a little fish there and we had quite a few flashes so the fish were interested but not really motivated.

The next day Bill and I went to check out some places where we have loose plans to fish in the future. We also checked out a place that produces few fish but they are generally of a larger size. There was a couple of blokes (very dodgy looking) setting up camp there and part of our conversation went (paraphrasing) like this-  

Him- not much bank fishing upstream, ya gotta go downstream.    

Bill – we’ll go upstream.     

 Him – there’s  a good hole downstream, I’ve been coming here for 26 years and I know what I’m talking about, ya gotta go downstream.     

Bill- we’ll go up.  

 Him- becareful of that big lizard up there he’s a mean bugger.   

Me – we know about him alright. Then we headed off – upstream.

After our bush bash in the few spots there were we both had flashes from fish. I was entertained for a little while trying to snare a puny barra of about 20 cm until it lost interest.  Bill then hooked onto a nice 60 cm barra and this is usually the smallest size that we encounter here, me seeing the little barra was a first. Next thing Bill is in all sorts of trouble with a big thing smashing water everywhere close to the bank. Bill had switched over to a deeper diving HJK lure and a 82 cm barra smashed the lure at his feet. Fish landed, photos taken and a tag set in it’s back and it was released. Now we were at the end of easily navigable river bank and we headed back. Forty minutes later and about 300 metres downstream Bill points out a barra and yells ït’s got a tag in it”. It was Bill’s big barra and was moving downstream.

It took us about an hour to get the 2 kilometres back to the car. Before we went to the car we checked out where the campers put their boat in. It became obvious that the only way the boat could go was upstream and the campers did not want us to fish any of the area they wanted to fish. Downstream was totally overgrown with big log jams blocking off the river. Back at the car and I noticed how one of the handles on one of my tool boxes was in the down position. Somebody had tested my lock.

Bill’s sons arrived that night and the next day we hit Shark Hole again. The fishing was tough with no surface activity. Most of the fish were caught on soft plastics that Max and Tom were using. By the time we finished, we were hot, sweating because of the high humidity, tired, and hungry. I got back to the cars first and went upstream to a shallow pool that is normally dry in the late season. Now the little barra were very active in here and I pulled a couple of fish and had numerous short takes and flashes here. By this time the others turned up and Max started fishing and Bill and Tom departed back to camp. I dropped a nice barra of about 65 cm. I had to give it a bit of slack line trying to coax it away from a tree branch growing horizontally just 30 cm above the water. Max and I got a couple more small barra then things started slowing down. After I caught a barra just over legal sizeand kept this one for my mate that gave us permission to fish there the hits stopped completely.

The next day was Sunday and was our last day for this trip. We packed up and headed off to a waterhole in the national park. This waterhole gets flogged every year and is usually booked out with it’s camping sites. There was once site packing up and the kid that was fishing said he didn’t catch anything. We didn’t spend much time in this area and headed off. We tried a few areas of shallow water over rapids, Tom was hit and dropped a fish of about 50 cm but that was it for this area.

Further down in the deeper holes things were a bit more active. This is the area that I like to fish. I have a “creek” that enters the river that I like to get to and use as my turn around point. I got there first and quickly landed a 44 cm fish. A few more soft hits and flashes and the others turned up. Bill caught a nice 54 cm barra then I landed a just legal 59 cm barra. Things then calmed down and we headed back. It was a 4.5 kilometre walk back that took us about 90 minutes bashing through the bush trying to keep to open land.

On this trip I tagged 27 barra, there were a few more caught that I was not around to tag. There were numerous small tarpon landed as well as the occasional catfish and small archer fish. I had a good time.

On the way back Bill and I were talking about how we thought the river crossing at Kalpowar was deeper and the water seemed to have risen at Shark Hole. I speculated that the Normanby River crossing at Battle Camp Road was going to be deeper. I didn’t really fancy turning around and going home the long way so I was hoping it was going to be passable. When we got to the crossing it was obvious that the river had risen quite considerably. I saw tracks of other vehicles that went through and there were people swimming there so I knew I was going to be OK to go through. I kept the bow wave in front of the car going and made it across easily. When we crossed it a few days before it was about  40 cm deep. When we went through the bow wave was at bonnet level and half way up my door. I love the snorkel on my car as across the river was a car without a snorkle being loaded onto a flat bed tow truck that presumably had a drink of water. This isn’t the deepest water I have been in and I don’t go into water this deep without a reason, and won’t go into fast flowing water.Travelling up the cape and water crossing are common place.

So there was a significant amount of rain in the catchment area. This could explain why we had reasonable fishing despite the low barometre, cold weather and wrong moon phase. Fish tend to bite better on a steadily rising water level.

 

I’ll post the photos up in another post.

 

Martin-

you don't havta be pretty to fish
Back to Top
horrorhead View Drop Down
LureLovers.com Fanatic
LureLovers.com Fanatic
Avatar
LureLover of the Year 2020

Joined: 14 Jun 2011
Location: Cooktown qld
Status: Offline
Points: 14008
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Jul 2022 at 2:38pm
We caught a lot of fish on HJK lures






the 82 cm barra























I got this lure marked up as a MFL, but I'm not sure, anyway it's hugging a snag in the river now



Fish on soft plastics




Verlon Caudill's lure caught fish until it too was lost to a snag





Fugly Martin's Minnow worked well





I got a few good fish on this First Strike lure made by Frank Trewick before I snagged it.




This C.R.A.F.T. lure made by Roy Durre also caught a lot of fish








Martin-

you don't havta be pretty to fish
Back to Top
Craft View Drop Down
Member
Member
Avatar
Craft Lures

Joined: 03 Aug 2017
Location: Gold Coast
Status: Offline
Points: 95
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Craft Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Jul 2022 at 2:51pm
Nice to see that minnow doing the job for you!
A sharp knife and a straight grain
Back to Top
horrorhead View Drop Down
LureLovers.com Fanatic
LureLovers.com Fanatic
Avatar
LureLover of the Year 2020

Joined: 14 Jun 2011
Location: Cooktown qld
Status: Offline
Points: 14008
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Jul 2022 at 2:57pm
Originally posted by Craft Craft wrote:

Nice to see that minnow doing the job for you!

A couple of times when things got quiet, I put this lure on and extended the bite. 
Martin-

you don't havta be pretty to fish
Back to Top
horrorhead View Drop Down
LureLovers.com Fanatic
LureLovers.com Fanatic
Avatar
LureLover of the Year 2020

Joined: 14 Jun 2011
Location: Cooktown qld
Status: Offline
Points: 14008
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Jul 2022 at 5:34pm
57926

Well look at that ... (technically) 2 of my fishies are in the print again.
The queenfish I'm holding was on a K.A.D. popper made by Damian Flannigan
The barra Roly is holding was one of my tagged barra. Tagged at 54 cm, caught again 3 weeks later at 56 cm
The queenfish Kaiden is holding was caught on a Richard Lee popper that I let him use.


Martin-

you don't havta be pretty to fish
Back to Top
p.j. View Drop Down
Stall Holder
Stall Holder
Avatar
P.J's Lures

Joined: 06 Jan 2011
Location: Denmark
Status: Offline
Points: 2936
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote p.j. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Jul 2022 at 6:31pm
Brag Brag Brag LOLLOLLOLLOL
Love it Martin ClapClapClapClap
Keep up the good work Thumbs Up

   Knaek & Break 
            Per
P.J. LURES
SO SMOKING HOT
EVEN CUSTOM DOGS LIKE THEM
Back to Top
horrorhead View Drop Down
LureLovers.com Fanatic
LureLovers.com Fanatic
Avatar
LureLover of the Year 2020

Joined: 14 Jun 2011
Location: Cooktown qld
Status: Offline
Points: 14008
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Jul 2022 at 7:12pm
Big smile
Originally posted by p.j. p.j. wrote:

Brag Brag Brag LOLLOLLOLLOL
Love it Martin ClapClapClapClap
Keep up the good work Thumbs Up

   Knaek & Break 
            Per

LOLLOLLOLBig smile
Martin-

you don't havta be pretty to fish
Back to Top
horrorhead View Drop Down
LureLovers.com Fanatic
LureLovers.com Fanatic
Avatar
LureLover of the Year 2020

Joined: 14 Jun 2011
Location: Cooktown qld
Status: Offline
Points: 14008
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Jul 2022 at 2:18pm
Can finally add in yesterday's effort.

Scoth&dry and I went looking at some water outside of Lakefield National Park but still in the same river. Unfortunately the big holes as seen on Google Earth were fairly shallow with a lot of leaf litter on the bottom. From google earth these looked like deeper pools then what they actually were - that plus the image was taken in 2018 so some changes would have happened.

We did find one pretty deep hole with a great snag in it. Within 5 casts Ed had landed a nice 51 cm barra after it gave him a bit of grief by hooking him up to a log for a while. A little later on I was hit but no hook up. Ed had another hook up but it soon spat the hook during a jump. A little bit more action from flashes towards Ed's lure and with us sighting a barra chasing something on the surface and smashing it ended the action.

Ed's fish was caught on a First Strike lure made by Frank Trewick. 


Martin-

you don't havta be pretty to fish
Back to Top
horrorhead View Drop Down
LureLovers.com Fanatic
LureLovers.com Fanatic
Avatar
LureLover of the Year 2020

Joined: 14 Jun 2011
Location: Cooktown qld
Status: Offline
Points: 14008
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Jul 2022 at 2:20pm
Finally the photo -


Martin-

you don't havta be pretty to fish
Back to Top
puglee62 View Drop Down
Stall Holder
Stall Holder
Avatar
Fugly Lures

Joined: 03 Feb 2010
Location: ipswich
Status: Offline
Points: 7933
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote puglee62 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Jul 2022 at 5:51pm
Originally posted by horrorhead horrorhead wrote:

57926

Well look at that ... (technically) 2 of my fishies are in the print again.
The queenfish I'm holding was on a K.A.D. popper made by Damian Flannigan
The barra Roly is holding was one of my tagged barra. Tagged at 54 cm, caught again 3 weeks later at 56 cm
The queenfish Kaiden is holding was caught on a Richard Lee popper that I let him use.


thats a good picture of you MartinThumbs Up
that's no how ye make porridge!
Back to Top
horrorhead View Drop Down
LureLovers.com Fanatic
LureLovers.com Fanatic
Avatar
LureLover of the Year 2020

Joined: 14 Jun 2011
Location: Cooktown qld
Status: Offline
Points: 14008
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Jul 2022 at 10:04pm
Tried at Lakefield again yesterday. A pretty dismal failure. I had an interest from a puny little barra that had a go twice then disappeared. I had a huge barra come out from a root ball and engulfed the C.R.A.F.T. lure but when the lure touched the side of it's mouth - it spat it back out immediately. I saw all of this from about 2 metres away so it knew very quickly that it wasn't a food item. Probably just as well because I only saw the head of this fish with a bucket mouth about 10 cm wide. The rest of the fish was still in the root ball and I don't think my 10 kilo outfit would have handled it.

I can only put yesterday's lack of fish down to the very cool day we had - that's all I can think of.
Martin-

you don't havta be pretty to fish
Back to Top
horrorhead View Drop Down
LureLovers.com Fanatic
LureLovers.com Fanatic
Avatar
LureLover of the Year 2020

Joined: 14 Jun 2011
Location: Cooktown qld
Status: Offline
Points: 14008
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Aug 2022 at 5:52pm
Been a long time since I have posted here.

My trip down to the lure expo was going to take a week, but the bad weather saw me on Bribie Island in a few days being chased down by rain.

My fishing in south east Queensland was also limited by the weather and also by me starting to acclimatise to the heat in far north Queensland - I bloody froze down there. I only caught a few little bream on bait while down there.

On the trip back to Cooktown I got chase back up by more bad weather. I did have plans to haunt people on the way back but a chest infection saw me not wanting to pass it on.(not covid according to all the rapid antigen tests I had done.

I arrived back in Cooktown last Monday night. I tried the Annan River a few times for queenfish, got hit a couple of times but no hook up.

Today I took a regular visitor to Cooktown to a secluded spot that, without  GPS would be hard to find. Trekking through the bush in a straight line is a hell of a lot faster then following the curves of a river bashing through all of the riparian foliage. 

We had a few half hearted hits / follows. This area is not a consistent producer but has a good population of small barra and good mangrove jack. Throw in the odd oversize barra into the mix and the place can be pretty exciting. Well Gregory had the only solid hit of the day - his very first mangrove jack at 44.5 cm. Gregory got this jack on an old Nilmaster Invincible where on the previous cast he had broken the bib off - so it was basically a stickbait.

We tried a while longer but only had very mild interest. We left after a few hours only wanting to make it half a day's effort - after all, we have to be fresh for his birthday dinner tonight.





Martin-

you don't havta be pretty to fish
Back to Top
 Post Reply Post Reply Page  <1 3334353637 50>
  Share Topic   

Forum Jump Forum Permissions View Drop Down

Forum Software by Web Wiz Forums® version 12.03
Copyright ©2001-2019 Web Wiz Ltd.