PickerelHunter Posted October 21, 2007 Report Share Posted October 21, 2007 Having only about a month left here in the land of sun and surf, this will probably be my last fishing report from this beautiful country. One of the teachers (Mike) at the school that I'm at asked me if I wanted to join him on a canoe trip through one of the freshwater rivers about 2 hours north of Townsville. I obviously jumped all over that one. We left at 4am to be on the Herbert River for 6. The river is fairly shallow at this time of year (0-5 feet with some deeper holes of 10-14 feet). There were even a few spots where we got stuck because the water was too low and we had to walk the canoe to deeper water. During wet season though (Nov to March) the river is raging and basically unfishable. Our target was the prized but elusive Barramundi. Everyone here claims that these fish fight harder that any in the world, even the tackle shop guy gave me hooks to replace the ones on my rapalas because they wouldn't hold up to the fight. The stretch of the river we fished was very remote with very little access to it. To get there we had to drive through sugarcane fields and rainforest, with the "road" being two tire marks through the grass, mud or sugarcane field. It was the craziest drive I've experienced, but well worth it. We dropped the bikes off at one spot where we were going to exit the water, and then drove the 4wd up to our starting point. As Mike was unpacking his gear I couldn't help but toss a lure into this gin clear river. Second cast out a nice Black Bream took my Storm swim shad. These fish don't get too big, but good fight on them for sure and they taste amazing (more on that later). The easiest comparison for a Black Bream would be a mix of Smallmouth Bass and a Crappie. Anyways, we get into the canoe and start drifting down stream, the flow wasn't very strong but good enough that we didn't have to paddle. We threw lures at every snag and deeper hole we found and boated 4 Bream within the first 10 minutes. Then things died out, but the scenery and wildlife sounds made up for it. Just an unbelievable place to fish. The drift took about 2.5 hours and we only boated another couple fish, plus I lost a few along the way. We had a nice fish fry for lunch and drove out to another spot about 10 km upstream from where we started and did another drift of about the same length. This time we killed 'em, we landed well over 10 fish each, with many more lost to snags or getting unhooked. All the fish were Black Bream though, but after our fish fry I was happy because they tasted like our perch. We had switched to using dead shrimp in the afternoon and we think that's the reason for our much higher success rate (we used lures all morning). Unfortunately the Barramundi were elusive and we didn't boat any, but I had one on and it is not a lie, these fish are absolutely awesome. Jumps, head shakes, long runs before he finally wrapped himself around a log and broke me off (And this was a small one too!!). The Black Bream hold there own as well for their sizes, and some of the larger ones put up a solid fight with a few runs. Many were caught along fallen trees and that can get quite tricky to get them in the boat from there. At the end of the day I had 10 nice keepers to bring home and fillet, and boy did they taste great in a little seasoned flour fried on butter and some olive oil. This was one of the best experiences I've had out here, canoeing and fishing a remote river all day with untouched forest all along the river and the wildlife doing its thing topped of with a nice fish fry along the rivers edge, you just can't beat it. This now makes me really want to do a similar thing through Algonquin or even out west. Here's a few pictures of the trip. Our first launch (where I caught the first fish from shore) The first fish (Black Bream) Drifting down the river This is the spot where I lost the Barra But followed it up with this guy A few of the specimens Nice and cleaned They tasted SOOOOO good Mike said that I have to catch a Barramundi before I leave and he's gonna get me one, so I may have another report about that, but aside from that I think this will be it because there's lots of stuff to finish up here in the just over month that I have left. Hope everyones fishing is going well Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frghtlnr2005 Posted October 21, 2007 Report Share Posted October 21, 2007 Awesome Report Peter Also beautiful pics as well, Australlia has always been a place i have wanted to go since i was a kid, now that i see the pics from this report and past reports i would definetly go now. Hope your next month is as enjoyable as the rest of the time you have been there. Dallas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigugli Posted October 21, 2007 Report Share Posted October 21, 2007 Great pics and report. Tell me. Are blokes like Steve and Bushy, or Big Rex still doing t.v. fishing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smerchly Posted October 21, 2007 Report Share Posted October 21, 2007 Fantastic report PickerelHunter !! It's great to have a taste of what's on the other side of the world .....different fish & scenery ! The black bream remind me of a black bass (smallie) , crappie & walleye combo . They sure look tastey ! You are a lucky guy to have this experience "down under" ,and maybe learn a few new tricks from the Aussies to apply to fishing for Canuck fish . Thanks for the great report Steve , and we will be looking forward to seeing you in the COLD months ahead for some steelie fishing . BTW......the barramundi is one mean looking creature .......looks like a tarpon/ crocodile cross ..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Andrews Posted October 21, 2007 Report Share Posted October 21, 2007 Those bream look kinda like rock bass but the fillets look .... well mouth watering! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwl Posted October 21, 2007 Report Share Posted October 21, 2007 awesome report, cool to get a report from another part of the worls..i think those breem are related to sunfish, i know they call them breem in parts of the states, that would be cool to catch one of those big baramundi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishhead Posted October 21, 2007 Report Share Posted October 21, 2007 If you don't catch a Barra-Mundi, just try again on Tuesdi! Great Post. As an ex-pat aussie who never got to fish there, it is great to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokin Joe Posted October 21, 2007 Report Share Posted October 21, 2007 Thanks for another great post Peter, I hope that you are able to get into some Barramundi before you leave. I posted a video of them a little while back, if you're interested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BrownBomber Posted October 21, 2007 Report Share Posted October 21, 2007 Nice post Peter...hopefully you can land a barramundi before you leave! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokin Joe Posted October 21, 2007 Report Share Posted October 21, 2007 Just outta curiosity do the have zanders down there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PickerelHunter Posted October 21, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2007 Thanks for the comments guys. The fishing is pretty good out here to say the least. I could definately get used to these rainforest rivers, they're just awesome, and the fishing is quite solid within them (just have to watch out for these damn crocs!!). Too bad I don't have a bit more time on my hands to do more of it. School is crazy right now with everything being due, and finishing up my practice teaching, but after watching that Barra video (thanks Joe) I just might have to head out somewhere local and try to catch one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PickerelHunter Posted October 22, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2007 Question for you guys...How does bottom fishing dead bait work in our lakes, rivers etc.? I've never done it, but since I've been here it seems like the "Go to" technique for most fish species, using either dead herring or dead prawns. This seems when nothing else will and I started thinking about it's effectiveness back home in our waters. Haven't heard much about it, except for the odd pike story, but thought it was worth looking into if it works so well here Oh, and Joe, just read your post....I highly doubt that there are Zander in Australian waters. From what I know about them they are strictly a European fish, but not totally sure about that. But I've never heard of anyone talking about them around here, or any information about Australian fish that I've research on the web mentions them so I'd say no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigugli Posted October 22, 2007 Report Share Posted October 22, 2007 We use cut baits for trolling and for cats with success. Some people love using shrimp with great results. Most people do shy away from dead baits. As for Zander, look to Northern Europe and Scandinavia. A walleye that regularly grows to 25lbs+. Finns and Swedes who immigrated to Ontario and Minnesota love these places because the geograghy was just like at home, and so was the fishing. At home there was big pike, perch and zander. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Rockfish Posted October 22, 2007 Report Share Posted October 22, 2007 Great report Peter, there are also many Breem in Europe, Holland had an overpopulation of them in their canals and they stocked more Pike to control them with great success and fat Pike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjcanoe Posted October 25, 2007 Report Share Posted October 25, 2007 Holland had an overpopulation of them in their canals and they stocked more Pike to control them with great success and fat Pike. There's still a lot of them in Holland as well as those big fat pike! The pike I caught over there (holland) seemed to have bigger heads than normal compared to the ones we get around here. jjcanoe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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