Barra Greediness- any ideas?

[aidbox]

Howdy,
I know this is going to sound greedy, but yesterday I caught around 30 barra and only 4 were legal. I generally flick, not a fan of trolling and dont use livies. But I want to start getting bigger fish rather than the small ones and am after some advice. I have just moved to Cardwell so I have rivers and the channel at my disposal. Things I am not sure of:
- Are the bigger fish in there with the smaller barra- keep persisting?
- Are bigger fish around snags or flats or drains or deep holes?
- Should i use certain lures- bigger ones? ( I use 80-90mm lures, jackalls, cherrybloods for eg)
- Is trolling better than flicking for bigger fish?
- Big tides vs small tides?

Any opinions, advice and experience would be great. Of the 30 I caught, 30 were released so just sport for mine. PM if you dont want to post. Thanks guys

[brisbane_boy]

A lot of the time the larger fish hold deeper than the small ones, start using lures like threadybusters that can get down on the deep corners of the creeks and pinpointing large fish on the sounder and jigging plastics or vibes on there nose and you should get some larger stuff, at times the bigger fish can also be up in the shallow snags and available on a wider range of lures but thats worth a shot to mix it up.

[aidbox]

A lot of the time the larger fish hold deeper than the small ones, start using lures like threadybusters that can get down on the deep corners of the creeks and pinpointing large fish on the sounder and jigging plastics or vibes on there nose and you should get some larger stuff, at times the bigger fish can also be up in the shallow snags and available on a wider range of lures but thats worth a shot to mix it up.

cheers mate i do have a couple of them in the tacklebox but havent quite cracked their code yet. how do you find is the best technique?

[brisbane_boy]

This post is spot on with how I work them couldnt explain it better, anytime ya working deep thou have a tackleback handy, these sort of lures dont bounce over snags the same as the floating ones but they do catch a lot more fish...

http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/sho...threadybusters

[aidbox]

cheers mate appreciate the advice........any other angles/ideas/opinions people?

[aidbox]

any other ideas guys??

[NAGG]

What a great part of the world you are in ........ very envious.
That said - I'll be up there in less than 3 weeks ..... & my aim is to target those bigger barra.
At a place like Hinchinbrook it's easy to get fixated on the creeks & those abundant snags as they usually hold barra (usually smaller fish) - My plan is to (for the best part) try to leave those creeks alone & concentrate on rock formations around headlands or exist over the flats (bigger tides) . Additionally the drains that flow off the flats into deeper water . .... on the falling tide.
Lure selection will go from my usual 80-100mm hardbodies to a mixture of soft swimbaits (4-6") storm swim shads , slick rigs , hollwbellies & Z man swimmerz plus larger hards like the RMG Scorpions , X Rap XR12s ...... & as mentioned the soft vibes like thready busters and Trans am's for those drop offs or hopping over the flats. It's also probably worth throwing the odd surface presentation like a Rapala X Walk , Lucky Craft Sammy or some type of popper / fizzer around these areas as well .
I'd let you know how I go ...... but I reckon you might beat me to it

Chris

[aidbox]

What a great part of the world you are in ........ very envious.
That said - I'll be up there in less than 3 weeks ..... & my aim is to target those bigger barra.
At a place like Hinchinbrook it's easy to get fixated on the creeks & those abundant snags as they usually hold barra (usually smaller fish) - My plan is to (for the best part) try to leave those creeks alone & concentrate on rock formations around headlands or exist over the flats (bigger tides) . Additionally the drains that flow off the flats into deeper water . .... on the falling tide.
Lure selection will go from my usual 80-100mm hardbodies to a mixture of soft swimbaits (4-6") storm swim shads , slick rigs , hollwbellies & Z man swimmerz plus larger hards like the RMG Scorpions , X Rap XR12s ...... & as mentioned the soft vibes like thready busters and Trans am's for those drop offs or hopping over the flats. It's also probably worth throwing the odd surface presentation like a Rapala X Walk , Lucky Craft Sammy or some type of popper / fizzer around these areas as well .
I'd let you know how I go ...... but I reckon you might beat me to it

Chris

Sweet mate good luck to ya. HAha yeah no doubt i will be out over the weekend. Where abouts do you mean when you say rock formations? on the sounder/underwater structure or off points etc? Only rocky headlands I have seen are down towards the island in the middle of the channel. Also, how do you intend on targeting the flats and what with? Are bigger barra on the flats you rekon?

[NAGG]

Sweet mate good luck to ya. HAha yeah no doubt i will be out over the weekend. Where abouts do you mean when you say rock formations? on the sounder/underwater structure or off points etc? Only rocky headlands I have seen are down towards the island in the middle of the channel. Also, how do you intend on targeting the flats and what with? Are bigger barra on the flats you rekon?

target the area between Hecate Pt & the Missionary bay creeks on the high tides . The bigger fish will move onto the flats to feed - sound out the area but it's primo country with deep water near to the flats

chris

[aidbox]

target the area between Hecate Pt & the Missionary bay creeks on the high tides . The bigger fish will move onto the flats to feed - sound out the area but it's primo country with deep water near to the flats

chris

Yeah think I have an idea what you are talking about- do you flick in close to the rocky banks etc or wider from the bank along drop-offs (which would be 100m from the bank??? Im guessing these flats would be roughly 2-3m high tide? Fair bit of current/exposed area between there......I see hectate pt from my house so I know where you are talking but not sure where to target there. Cheers Nagg

[NAGG]

Yeah think I have an idea what you are talking about- do you flick in close to the rocky banks etc or wider from the bank along drop-offs (which would be 100m from the bank??? Im guessing these flats would be roughly 2-3m high tide? Fair bit of current/exposed area between there......I see hectate pt from my house so I know where you are talking but not sure where to target there. Cheers Nagg

Fish up to the bank on the bigger tides & then drop back as it falls - fish the drop offs on dead low. The current flow wont be bad around from the actual point ( heading towards creek 9) This is a big area - so it may take time to work out where are the primo spots ...... but hey , you live there so time is on your side & you can pick the conditions.
I would start just inside Hecate itself (depending on conditions) & work my way east ....... that 2-3 km section looks pretty good.
Anyhow you'll probably see my Seajay around there during the first week of June ..... we'll be on the Diamantina

Chris

PS - what has the conditions been like (wind & rain)?