My mate Gavin and I were out on the Barron last nite after a nice bbq and customary ales at his joint. We got out on the water pretty early allowing plenty of time for cast netting. Upon discovering the prawns were holding in a couple of places, a few casts had my net rumbling big time and the bait tank loaded with seemingly more prawns than water. Mullet on the other hand were more difficult to catch. After 3hrs or so of throwing I scraped together enough poddies for a nights fishing.
We bagan fishing at sundown as the tide came in. Alot of boats were launching at around this time leading to a pretty crowded situation at about 7 or 8 oclock. Eventhough we had live prawns these were not getting taken, and after another three hours or so we were thinking it was going to be 'one of those nights'. Then suddenly at about 11oclock the river exploded into life with numerous tarpon and barra crashing into the resident anchovies. Gavin and I took turns hooking (and loosing) the tarpon with our spin outfits. Then out of nowhere my other rod rigged with a mullet went nuts. A few minutes later a barra appeared on the surface. Gavin had the landing net ready, but the barra had other ideas simply breaking straight through the mesh. Miraculously the fish didn't escape. I pulled her in the boat with the broken landing net hanging on the line. It only measured 61cm, but it was a start and my first for the open season.
Our prawn baits all died shortly afterwards so Gavin and I sat there hoping for the other live mullet to get hit. We could hope all we liked, it wasn't going to happen...or so we thought. Just as we decided to call it a night (or a morning?) my line got wacked. A down-deep fight under the boat saw another barra break the surface. With no landing net I had to somehow lip grab the fish. I had about 3-4 attempts before finally succeeding with the 63cm fish. As it came onboard I heard a 'bang', this often happens when the sinker hits the side of the boat so we thought nothing of it. Then I realised my knee was pressed up against Gavin's light spin rod, transforming it from a 2piece to a three piece. The rod snapping trend has become a disturbing one...at least I'm occasionally getting some fillets (albeit expensive ones) for dinner.
(should probably say Any fishing is...probably going to be illegal soon)
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