When Spot ‘X’ fires!!

[Jim_Tait]

How many of you have a spot ‘X’ that fires guaranteed (well almost – it is called fishing – not catching!) under certain times/days of the year with particular river heights / tides/ water colour / moon phases etc..?

Checked out some of my favorite freshwater haunts near Townsville last week – but most were still too high / fast / brown to ‘work’ properly for barra. So though I should go to spot ‘X’ – an hour long trudge across inundated coastal floodplain / saltpan to where all the coastal plain freshwater run off and its fat mullet population drain into the beginning of a mangrove creek channel. Although pure freshwater, the barra involved are silver saltwater fish coming up from the estuary to ambush mullet on the beginning of the outgoing tide or the run in tide (when they’re game to come into the shallows).

Took a day off from work duties to fish the run out tide in the morning and the beginning of the run in tide in the arvo – was a lot of fun!! Landed 11 barra and one jack for the day + lost3 big fish – most under size (almost all 52 cm fish) but a lot of fun on a relatively light spin stick and scored a couple of keepers 58.5 and 72 cm. Fishing was tight and furious casting into a narrow mangrove alleyway entrance and having to extract them out into the saltpan pool to have a good chance of playing / landing them. Successfully used shallow minnows, SPs and surface lures the latter giving me the best buzz with big surface strikes on dusk that give you a big shot of adrenaline and remind you that you are sitting in croc country and to have a look over your shoulder every so often!!

Regards and tight lines - Jim

[bdowdy]

nice fish jim, nothing better than walking and catching wild fish especially on surface. thanks for showing .cheers bdowdy..brett

[baitwaster]

Good report mate, some very fine lookin fish there. To answer your original question, I have never had a spot X. I am still looking for it. I look at fishy looking spots, but there are never any fish there, if ever I do catch a couple, I am fighting every man and his dog for the same bit of water...... I wouldn't have it any other way though, when I do find a spot X - it should be very satisfting... LOL.

Bet the tramp into and out of ya spot makes that cold beer extra nice when you get home

[Shagga]

Nice fish and good report and pics Jim. I am with baitwaster I have never managed a spot x either. I keep getting told "you should have been here last week".

[Cammy]

i wish i had a spot X, im still searching!!

Cammo

[nuggstar]

awsome post, some nice looking barra there

[SeekingBarradise]

Good report Jim.

A mangrove jack & barra on the same day is an awesome catch. You have to be happy with a fishing trip with those results!

All the best on future trips - watch for people following you to spot X ha!!!

Cheers Kel & Lyndon.

[Jim_Tait]

Thanks for the replies folks.

All I can say regarding finding a spot ‘X’ is that you have to put some effort into finding one!

I use a lot of remote sensing info in my work - aerial photography, satellite imagery etc.. and that can sure help find potential spot Xs, including ones that are off the beaten track and away from the masses. Once apon a time I only had topographic maps to get excited over but these days a lot of remote sensing images are available over the web.

It also helps to have a bit of predictive capability about your species of interest i.e. steep sided valley deep gorge holes for freshwater cod, productive sandy flats draining to deeper channels for flathead, rocky bombies and ledges adjoining deep water for mangrove jack, shallow bait holding sand bars within deep river channel holes for barra, deep beach gutter s with some rocky features for jew – etc.. – then once you have a target in mind go looking for it in virtual reality – Google Earth is good where there is high resolution image – tilt the image over and go fly over your favorite estuary, coastline, or river at about 700 feet – look for spots the masses may miss for one reason or another, access is key – remember if its easy to get there it probably is for every one else as well!! – if you have to canoe down a creek, drag your dingy across shallow sand bars or hoof it over a mountain to get there you’ve got more chance of finding some virgin water.

Also a good spot X may only fire under a specific set of conditions – if you do come across a hot bite even in more publicly accessible places – try and note what specific conditions were making it fire at the time – turn of tide on dusk or dawn?, fresh in the river, a warm day in the middle of winter, first storm build up of the dry, bright moon behind an overcast sky etc.. Get a theory going and then test it by returning to the spot under similar conditions.

It doesn’t always work (its called fishing not catching remember!!) – but I love the thrill of exploration. Sometimes it means you give up going to a more regular, productive, ‘public spot’ to put effort into finding somewhere new – I’ve gone miles bush on what I’ve thought was a hot lead and got naught – but then sometimes it all comes together and bingo you crack one – a new spot “X” is born.

The sweetest spot X is when you find a ‘honey hole’ that is right in your backyard under the noses of the nearby masses. When I lived in Canberra I had a brown trout spot where I could regularly catch>50cm fish about 20 minutes from home – which I first spotted by looking out of an airline planes window coming into land!!

Finding spot “Xs” takes your ‘hunting’ to a new level – good luck and tight lines - Jim

[chrisallangler]

Nice work mate, some fantastic looking fish, seeing them smash the surface would have to be a sight to see, thanks for the report

Chris

[Mak579]

Being a local I always enjoy reading your reports Jim, well done.
Hope "Spot X" doesn't appear in Eddie Riddles Bulletin fishing maps this week

Cheers,
Matt C