INDIANANGLER

Just returned from half day fishing the Lower Ord River in Western Australia, where the big Barramundi
roam ...... and even bigger man-eating saltwater crocodiles.

We started the day trolling relatively shallow lures, a Gold Bomber on the first rod and a Laser Pro 120
green/ gold on the second rod.

The guide had switched all my 40lb leaders to 100lb leader material (Jinkai)!

All the hits came on the Laser Pro in the earlier part of the day. Later on as the sun warmed the waters, the Barra moved into cover and I switched to the Squidgy soft plastic.

This proved to be a good choice as the largest barra for the day of 65cm fell to this lure.

Some pictures below.

Kingfish

Ord River Barra

Contd.....

For the tech side.

6.5 ft 2 piece Ugly Stik mated to a Shimano Sustain 5000FG reel, 40lb J Braid and the 100lb
leader...... used for casting lures and plastics. Worked fine despite the relatively stiff rod , which I chose on purpose for its toughness and ability to take hard knocks. The Sustain is smooth and powerful.

7ft 2 piece Silstar rod with Penn 460 Slammer, same line and leader as above. This was the tough but heavy trolling outfit.

Lures were a selection of the Australian Classic Barra in various depths and colours, the Halco 120
Laser Pro and the Squidgy Drop Bear soft plastic.

Kingfish

Deleted

Nice Kingfish, that Barra in the first picture, was it a one you too furthest up river?

Can't remember, Bobby.

We just went out about a couple of kilometres from the boat launch site and the guide kept making repeated passes at areas where he had caught barra previously.

The darker colour of the fish in the first picture shows that it is a resident fish, not a fresh sea run
Barramundi.

Kingfish

Nice barramundies. Nice to see a fishing report after quite a time. We also have a beautiful mangrove river in Kanyakumari, but netted insanely.

Thanks Venkat.

Yes, I found out the extent of netting when fishing the rivers of Goa for Barramundi. If it were not for the guide and his excellence at retrieving snagged lures, I would have been out of pocket by thousands of Rupees!

Very lucky here in Australia.

Kingfish

Nice report and thank you for sharing Kingfish!
There are some big barras in some areas I fish, but they very rarely take any lure even when they are actively feeding on the surface. Hoping to target them at night going forward and see how it goes. I tried fishing at night, the last time I was at my fishing spot, but was not comfortable with all the crabs on the rocks below my feet at night. Would freak me out if they crawled over my feet in the darkness and called it a night....

Regards,
Maruthu

Thanks, Maruthu.

Barra are finicky fish, you just have to keep plugging away at them. As the guide said to me
"they may ignore the lure going past them 15 times but decide to hit on the 16th try ..... just
their nature".

If night time fishing is difficult, try for them in the daytime when they are either down deep or in shady cover, although I realise this may only be possible from a boat sometimes.

Regards,
Kingfish

By the way, Maruthu..... barra have no qualms about taking a Squidgy soft plastic! The biggest fish on this particular trip fell to the Squidgy in the Drop Bear colour that you have.

Hope you catch similarly.

Kingfish

Thank you Kingfish! I'll keep trying for Barra with those squidgies and update you.

I've had some tarpon action on those squidgies, but it very hard to get a proper hook set....

I hope you have removed the protective plastic sleeve on the hook of each Squidgy?

The barra that I just caught was perfectly hooked in the corner of its mouth, no issues whatsoever about hooksets.

Kingfish

Great Report Kingfish! Thanks for sharing.

While we are discussing Barra to be finicky eaters, I would like to share a recent incident.
I was at this estuary mouth which is known for some good fish. There were about 4-5 local Canoes fishing with a hand line just along the rocks.
When I reached the spot, one of them was fighting a Good barra and landed it in a few minutes. This got my hopes high.

I started casting, without any hits. Where as these locals were landing one after the other Barra.
They were using live Tiger Prawns as bait about 6 inches in size.

I tried every damn lure I was carrying that day without any hits. Finally retired for the day.
Reached back and ordered the Zerek Live Shrimp.

Do soft rubber lures have an advantage over hard lures for Barra?
Any other suggestions that would help me land a Barra would really be appreciated. I am still envious of the Locals who had access to live tiger prawns.

Regards,
Humaid

Thank you, Humaid.

My experience has been that live bait will always put more fish in the basket than artificial lures.

However, as sportsmen, we wish to take it as a challenge and catch fish on lures rather than bait. For us, it is not about filling the baskets as if our livelihood depends upon it.

I am sure that the vast majority of us angle for the thrill in outwitting a fish and landing it, so we make it tough and use techniques that lower our chances compared to the livebaiters.

The day before yesterday, the largest barra I caught was on a soft plastic. Yet today, all the barra were caught on lures and the same soft plastic did not get a single hit.

The lures ranged from a Rapala Xrap 10 in Ghost colour, Gold Bomber, Reidy B52 (Aussie lure)in silver with black back and another lure which I cannot remember.

There is no set pattern and any lure can be productive with Barra if they are in the mood .

I think if you "match the hatch" and use the Zerek Shrimp, you should get some action.

Keep trying and please don't feel disappointed, we have all been in your shoes more often than not.

Kingfish

Kingfish, I have removed the hook protectors.
I meant to say that the hook set with the tarpons was very difficult irrespective of the lure.
Lately my strike to hookup ratio has gone really low for me, though the hooks are sticky sharp

Some more pictures of this trip....

We were entitled to take home one Barramundi. So we chose one fish of legal size that was still a male
and had it filleted expertly by the guide.

We solved the problem of transporting it back to Sydney , journey time of some 14 hours involving
2 plane changes, by first freezing the fillets in the hotel room fridge.

The fillets were then wrapped in layer upon layer of newspaper, which is an excellent insulation material.
The packet was opened when we reached home and the fillets were still cool ..... just need the wife to
prepare a meal of the fish !

Kingfish

Kingfish!

Barra fillets, pan fried in butter.... YUM!

I once had a Barra that I caught in an estauary mouth.
The estuary had a lot of mangroves and fish had a muddy flavour to it.
The Barras I had otherwise were excellent tasting....

Maruthu

Maruthu,

Will ask the Mrs to make some pan fried in butter!

So how come we don't see pictures of your Barra catches?

Kingfish

Because I caught them three or so years ago
I haven't been taking pics of all the MJs recently, but will be going forward....

Nice report kingfish, Those are some nice barramundi, looks like you had a great trip for half a day fishing. How do you like the Shimano sustain, have you used it in the surf? I was looking at buying a mid range freshwater/ light saltwater reel and was looking at the Stradic and the Sustain in the 3k size.

Maruthu, for the hookup ratio, you ever try fishing spinning gear ? I was fishing two weeks ago and had 5 bluefish on 5 casts at a spot and would fail to hook them properly all single time. Looks like my drag on the Vs200 wasn't set tight enough to get a good hook set. I then set the drag properly and then it was game on.

Hello Binu,

Thanks, although it was fishing for half day only I managed to make the most of it because I had an excellent guide who knew the area like the back of his hand.

I really like the Sustain 5000 FG, it was my first outing with it although I had purchased it some time ago.

It is a smooth reel and has an excellent drag. The Barra were fought to a standstill very quickly due to the drag , a tactic recommended for catch and release as the fish does not get tired and so can recover
easily ...... as compared to playing it for a long time on a lower drag setting on other reels.

Having said that, I would not use this reel in the surf as it seems a bit delicate for that and it would not be able to keep water out if accidentally dunked or continuously sprayed by saltwater.

Excellent for freshwater and light saltwater fishing.

Regards,
Kingfish

Good going there kingfish and an excellent report. Keep em coming!!!

Cheers

Thanks Ulygun ..... about time you sent us something?
Regards,
Kingfish

Even with spinning gear when I was fishing with Venkat and Durvesh one night, we were all missing all the strikes from Cudas. I think we almost had about a dozen strikes that evening with no hook up to show for it even with stiky sharp hooks We are all planning to use assist hooks and see how that goes. Will update from my upcoming trips in July....

Cheers!
Maruthu

With barramundi, setting the hook is a matter of timing.

As you may know, barra inhale their prey/lure. You will feel a certain tightness of the line when they do this ...... you must set the hook at just that moment with a snap of your wrists. A bit too late and they will spit the lure out.

It takes a bit of practice to time the hook set, this may be the reason why a lot of Barra are not hooked properly.

Kingfish

You read my mind

Some nice Barra there Kingfish. Enjoyed the report.

Cheers
Bops

Thank you, Bops.

Perhaps we can hear from you on your recent exploits?

Kingfish