Sooties in the northwest

[Big_Bass_Fisherman]

I have had a bit of luck over the past two weekends fishing in Lake Julius for Sooties. Lake Julius is about 80km north east of Mount Isa. The first day i went out with a mate to paddle around the lake and scope it out, the weather wasnt great as it was cold with big south easters. However we did find a few fish with a nice sleepy cod in the middle of the day and then 5 good sooties out of one snag just before dusk. We were fishing with hardbodies and squidgies.
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The following weekend we had some more success, up at 5 and straight out there before the sun was up. It was at the end of some warm weather up into the 30's so the fish were on. When we turned up there were thousands of bony bream feeding on the surface, somehow i hooked one on a surface lure. It was a great morning with 17 sooties for myself up to 48cm with quite a few over 40. I didnt weigh the big one but it would have been around 3kg. Ended up keeping a couple of average size ones and they were some of the best freshwater fish i have eaten. Will definantly head out there again next warm change to get a feed.

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[Goodoo haven]

Some nice fish caught there. I bet those sooties was fun to catch. Well done mate.

[nickstock]

Well done mate, those Sooties sure do pull like freight trains!

Cheers,
Nick Stock

[Bad_Bubby]

Well done mate, they are solid sooties, gotta love Julius aye! Taking those yaks would save alot of hassle towing out there too.

[team_mongo]

Good work, I fished Julius must of been 20 years ago now. Those sooties pull hard!

Whats the road out Julius like now? It use to be a goat track.

TM

[Bad_Bubby]

It is in relatively good shape, we sat on 70km/hr for most of our last trip (apart from the crossings). You still cop a bit of a hiding from the red dust and slightly uneven sections. The E.Liechardt road is much worse in comparison.

[Big_Bass_Fisherman]

It only takes us around an hour and a half to get there. The first 70 odd km is easy, the last bit is pretty slow going around 20km an hour. The kayaks are definitely the best way to do it, so much quieter and it only takes me a few minutes to be on the water. Every time we got a fish we were able to stay there and pull a few more of the snag, there would have been to much repositioning in a boat. The only issue with the kayaks is we can only fish about three kilometers before its time to turn around, next warm change i will throw the swag in the kayak, should be able to do ten km or more, have a camp and then paddle back

They are definitely black freight trains, i have been enjoying catching them out of the shallows at Gregory river. They come flying out from under the bank in only a foot or two of clear water, awesome to see.