I spent a few days in Darwin leading up to the weekend including Saturday and Sunday so with nothing scheduled for Saturday suggested to my colleague we treat ourselves to a day of barra fishing with a guide.
I've hooked up barra before but as yet have got to land one so I was quite expectant as Shoal Bay estuary is quite well known for larger barra and i know as the weather has warmed over the last week there have been a few more fish taken and so looked forward to a productive day.
We met our guide for the day at the ramp and after exchanging the usual pleasantries off we went. I figured a guide would know his turf and be able to sniff out a fish.
As I expected, this fella went right to some flats where in a cast or two we've got all the poddies we needed.
I looked at the rigs and thought that this fella had some different ideas than I'd expected and not having done a real lot in this area of fishing I was willing to be taught. The rig was 15kg super braid, spider hitch to albright ,to around a meter of 70lb schnieder leader, small bean sinker to a 3x 2/0 treble. that bit had me fascinated.
When we pulled into a small feeder tributary to start fishing toward the top of the creek as the tide was full and we moved down the creek as the tide dropped.
When we got to the furtherest spot, we could hear the "boofing" of barra feeding so I was quite expectant of a good fish being boated shortly.
The next bit fascinated me though. Our guide rigged a poddie through the back on one of the hooks in the treble set, pulled out a bit of styrene, looped the line around it around 40cm from the bait and tossed it into some twigs, with the bait and styrene rig dangling into the water off the twigs and the line feeding back through the snag to us.
Now I'm aware that barra need and frequent snaggy and craggy haunts but his technique left me wondering which is why I've started this thread. Remember we were using 15kg super braid...which is not known for its abrasion resistance and I really wondered if a fish did hook up whether I'd be able to wrestle it out of the already snagged line.
Our guide did all the rigging, casting, presentation and placement of the baits, which i found a tad frustrating. Not that I question his integrity, Its just that I love all aspects of our sport. He made it clear he did not require any "help" so I just held the rod...he went to work with a hard body on a nice little outfit, but we failed to draw an enquirer. Now i know fishing can be like that and am starting to realise barra are as fickle, perhaps even more so than other species, so O.K., yep, we'll move down the creek.
Pulled up at the next spot, same deal, plus a bottom rig, small bean to treble, hooked to an unwilling and nervous poddie.
We've been sitting there for more than 1/2 hour, our guide hammering the area with a hard body to no avail, and i get a run, in fact quite a good run, hooked into a good fish that obviously ran me into the sticks. I've still got the fish on and am in the process of trying to coax him out when the obvious happened and the braid gives way.
We fished our way with the dropping tide to the mouth, then begin to work our way back up as the tide turned.
We ended up back where I dropped the first fish to wind our day up. I had another run but failed to hook up...so thats our day. $450.00...no fish
I have been wondering since about the techniques used and suitability of the gear for fishing braid among snags.
I don't want to criticize the guide, which is why I've not identified him. Don't get me wrong...he worked hard for us all day and fished all the spots I registered in my mind as "fishy" water.
I'm just a little mystified about using braid and intentionally tossing it into twigs and sticks. when I quizzed him on it he dismissed the question of abrasion resistance with a "braid is the only way to go" comment. I'm O.K. with that in open water, or lure fishing where you get a hook up and move the fish toward the open water, but when you obviously have to drag a fish out of a snag...I'd reckon mono would be a better option if that is the chosen and adopted technique to drag fish out of trees.
I'd appreciate hearing of others experiences with guided fishing. I'd probably give it another go at some point, but just felt for the money it was a pretty ordinary day. Our guide did go to the fridge and pull out a nice fillet from the day before...but it was little consolation although he didn't have to do that so i guess I am thankful for that. We left it with our hosts for a feed subsequent to our trip...most expensive bit of fish I've ever seen!
There we go...fish 2, humans 0 and I'm left with a heap of questions!!!
Cheers
Rhys
Reply With Quote
.
