We hit the Daintree river at the end of the last bit of rain we had and done pretty good with the bream, Mangrove Jacks and even hooked up on a Barra that we just missed on getting into the boat.
We headed towards the mouth of the Daintree river with catching some top of the line Barra in mind.
We ended up probably around half a click from the mouth on the left side facing the mouth of the river just on the edge from the shallows anchored for around 21/2 hours. I had a berlie pot which was around 8 inches long 4 inches wide pretty much a rectangle made of stainless mesh with a good length of rope tied to it as we use this same setup on the reefs and works very well.
With the berlie I use it mainly consists of mashed Pillies, fish offcuts, chook pellets and Tuna oil.
We threw it over the side to get our berlie trail going til it hit the bottom then just lifted it off the bottom about 4-6 feet as too keep the muddies off it.
The tide would have been about 2 hours before the top so we were looking at getting around 4.5 hours in of good quality fishing time.
I was using an Aluminium F series spinning reel by tomman with a First stick spinning rod by Seahawk Tackle great combo a bit like a third arm.
My mate Paul was using Black Rose by Lemax with a Pro 300X spinning reel by Ajiking.
15 minutes into it we had a couple of touches on the rods more so just curious ones at that.
Half an hour had gone by with nothing then pauls rod did had a strike I mean it was a big hit, that reel was screaming like it was not going to let up at all, it was heading for the shallows trying to get him snagged on mangrove roots so he hit the drag a touch more which pulled it up to a slow run then it stopped for a few seconds and he give it a bit of a tug on the rod and off it went again, by this time he had been fighting this fish for a good 10 minutes so I gave him a bit of flak about "hell mate you need some help or what" lol he gave me the filthiest look and by the time he got it anywhere near the boat his face was red and his knuckles were white as I couldn't stop silently laughing about it then there was colour, thank god it was a good flash of silver I thought it was a salmon then up and out of the water it went right in front of my face it was a big Barra probably one of the biggest I had seen in a long time then down it went straight under the boat out the other side and bang it broke the line, I said "wow dude that was a really good view ", just to see that barra so close up and out of the water dancing on its tail still hooked up was mind blowing for me.
Paul just looked down to the bottom of the boat and shook his head in disbelief looking at his limp fishing line, not a lot I could say but "next time buddy next time".
Paul baited up a pilly dipped it in Tuna Oil and cast into the deeper section hoping to hook another big one.
The water had a slight discoloration to it after the rain which helps in hooking up on your fish as it's a bit harder for them to see what it is that way they will just hit it as hard as or just sit and swallow it not moving at all till you wind it in realizing that you have an estuary cod on the end of your line.
The berlie trail was starting to work an hour after we anchored and I was getting a few interesting hits with real short runs then they would drop it and hit it again, after about several goes at it i hooked up onto something hard and fast, the runs were very hard but all over the place back and forth under around the boat it went, then straight out towards the middle of the river in pure desperation to get free, it wasn't white knuckle fighting but it was a great fight with the landing of a 6 kg mangrove jack very nice fish for the first landed one in the boat lol, Paul just looked and mumbled something, he caught a couple of good ones with one just hitting the 6.2 kilo mark but all in all a few nice fish.We had caught a few good mangrove jacks that day mainly in the first two hours before the top of the tide and 2 hours after the top of the tide the same applies to the bottom of the tide as well, I have seen jacks in pairs and in schools of around 10 to 12 at one time moving along the river banks or the edges of shallows at fast pace.
Mangrove jacks have a hearty appetite they will eat just about anything when there hungry from Squid to pillies I have tried all sorts of lures and plastics but nothing will beat a good looking pilly dipped in Tuna Oil that's for sure on the reef or in the rivers.
Red Snapper or mangrove jacks call them what you like they run like a Mack truck and try anything to break your line they are line strippers and dirty fighters found in warmer waters of our rivers and reefs in Queensland, when going after these predators you need to be the Boss with the big stick or you could end up losing the fish. They will grow up to 10 plus kilos but the most common size is around the 5 -7 kilo mark. Look for snags along the river banks or fallen trees in the water or just look for holes on your sounder near river bends or where fresh water meets salt water etc you will find them in one of those places.
Have fun and tight lines to you all and remember "if it ain't screaming they ain't there".
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