Well Dave and I headed into the creeks again today to chase those monster Jacks on the light line and 3in Atomic Prongs. We had some new water to test out today, and were keen as mustard leaving my place by 4.30am. When we arrived at our destination the water running in was dirty from the large incoming tide. It didn’t look good for lures at all. But down near the mouth the water cleared nicely as the cleaner bay water flooded in.
We headed up into a small tributary for about an hour and made hundreds of casts into some beautiful looking water. There was plenty of bait flooding in with the tide, but little appeared to be feeding. Then out of nowhere a monster fish smashed my prong and the water exploded. It was a bloody nice Barra, not the intended fish, but a fish non the less. Unfortunately fishing only 8lb PowerPro I stood little chance. Actually, he did head out away from the snags, so I might have had a chance. If only he hadn’t gone around a log on the way out! It was short fight, but I was loving every minute. This had us persist here are little longer before we decided it was just too quite to continue.
We then made a move to another small creek and proceeded to venture up inside. Again the water looked fantastic, but the fishing was slow! I think the tide today was just too big, and the fish were deep in the timber. Our first fish in here also came out of the blue. A big hit from a solid fish on my white prong. I put good pressure on and had him well clear of the snags. Then suddenly he decided he was going back and there was no stopping him! “ZZZZZzzzzz…… oh crap”. I chased him in and found the fish still attached to the end of the leader. A little hand-lining and he was in the boat! 38cm. A few quick pics and I was happy to release him to fight another day.
Dave was next to get a flash from a fish. Looked like a Jack it came on the corner of a set of snags at the entrance to a drain. I was holding the boat in place so Dave could have a few more shots. I was working my lure along the edge and BANG, fish on! “Sorry Dave” I said as a small Barra launched into the air. Dave wasn’t interested in helping me, and I had to photograph and let him go myself…lol
While I was re-tying my leader it was finally Dave’s turn to catch a fish. Putting his prong into a likely looking spot he was thinking ‘Jack’ when a fish hit. A poor fight had this fish pegged as a small cod, but soon a decent looking flathead came into view. The fight was pretty ordinarily, and it was easily led into the net. At 55cm Dave at least had dinner!
As the tide turned we made our way back out of the creek. The water was moving pretty quickly now and we were loosing hope of another fish here. Then BANG, on again. This was a good fish and it took the full limits of the PowerPro to pull the fish form the snags. But I managed to hold on and soon another thumping Jack was lead into the net. This one went 42cm and after some pics I was again happy to let the fish go.
With the tide now running hard we headed out of the mouth and worked the mangroves lining the bay. I was flashed once by a nice Barra and then completely OWNED by a big fish. I had no hope with the light line, but I was just loving seeing the fish smash the prong and explode in the water. But it was clear to us that this area was holding Barra and not Mangrove Jack, so we headed back into the main creek for the target species.
Back in the main creek the tide was running out and the water was starting to dirty up. But it was still green in places around the mouth, so we concentrated our efforts there. It wasn’t too many casts and a Barra exploded form the water attached to the end of the line. This fish came well clear of the snags and might just have been doable on the light gear, but the hook pulled and swam away. We kept working the edge and my next fish buried me in the snags in record time. I’m guessing a big Jack. I’d been done too many times today, time to bring out the big guns.
Away went the Stella 1000 and out came the Calcutta and 20lb braid and my old favourite, the Flatz Rat.
The rain was now coming down and there was thunder and lightening near by. We decided to have just a few more casts and then call it quits for the day. And thats all it took. I cast the Flatz Rat hard against the mangrove roots, pulled it down and paused. BANG, the water exploded and nice Barra went air-born! With the heavy gear this was no problem at all and we soon had her boat-side. At an estimated mid to high 60’s it was a great way to end the day!
We headed up into a small tributary for about an hour and made hundreds of casts into some beautiful looking water. There was plenty of bait flooding in with the tide, but little appeared to be feeding. Then out of nowhere a monster fish smashed my prong and the water exploded. It was a bloody nice Barra, not the intended fish, but a fish non the less. Unfortunately fishing only 8lb PowerPro I stood little chance. Actually, he did head out away from the snags, so I might have had a chance. If only he hadn’t gone around a log on the way out! It was short fight, but I was loving every minute. This had us persist here are little longer before we decided it was just too quite to continue. 
