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Barradise
By Jacob Iedema
Battle Camp Road, a dusty yet scenic drive through some spectacular Australian bushland. The road that allows access to three isolated national parks, Lakefield, Starke, and Cape Melville. After entering Lakefield National Park we left Battle Camp Road and punched straight for an isolated campsite on the banks of the Normanby River. The camp is situated one hundred kilometres from the ocean, however five metre plus saltwater crocodiles aren't an uncommon sight. As well as big crocs, I was told the river is barramundi paradise and has an extremely high population of good sized fish.
We arrived at midday and setting up the tent in the hot, humid, overcast conditions couldn't have been more unpleasant. On the plus side, this sort of weather ticks all of the boxes for barramundi. Once the tent was up, I selected a rod from the car and meandered my way down to the river bank. A deep hole ran adjacent to the bank that I was fishing, while shallow patchy weed beds lay in the middle of the river, right to the opposite bank. The drop off had a steady patchy weedy decline that rose from three or four metres to as shallow as 80cm. It was the perfect ambush spot for any hungry barra.
I commenced by casting paddle tail soft plastics at the drop off and hopping them down the ledge. After an hour of casting at snags, working the lure over weed beds, down drop offs and in deep holes, I had only caught a catfish. I switched to a Fish Inc. Fly Half 80mm Popper and this allowed for longer casts, so I was able to work the popper over the top of shallow weed beds.
Casting into shady areas, I worked the lure and kept it in the strike zone, with short pops and long pauses. I made a cast parallel to the bank on which I was fishing, that was shaded by overhanging trees, working the popper halfway back before a bow wave raced up behind it and subtlety sucked it off the surface. I wasn't sure if it was a barramundi at first, due to the subtle hit, however seconds later a low 60's barra was putting up an aerial showcase in an area of tight timber.
I grabbed my spool and, once I had turned the fish's head, tried not to let him take any drag. This barramundi had other ideas as it began peeling 20lb line off my reel! After what felt like a fifty metre run in the tight timber, I had control once again. Before long I had landed my first ever wild freshwater barramundi and first ever on barra on topwater.
Not long after landing my first fish another barramundi smashed my surface lure in the shady shallows of the opposing bank. This time it was a proper hit. I heard a huge THWACK as my lure disappeared from sight, moments before a smaller barramundi cartwheeled out of the water. It was merely a rat but the surface bite was enough to make anyone jump out of their socks. I then fished my way up and down the river for two more barra surface hits, both small fish that jumped off or didn't hook up.
After the sun had set I re-rigged for the next morning's session, but before retiring for the night I made my way to a high bank close to the campsite and shone a spotlight into the water around where I had been fishing. One, two and three red eyes glowed back from the shallows across the river.
The next morning was hot, steamy and overcast, so I had another fly half popper rigged up as I made my way down to the river bank. I made a cast up onto the sandy shallows, disguised by patches of weed. The popper landed next to what seemed to be a log that was exposed for about three metres. I started to work my lure and the log started moving, before it eventually sunk down below the water's still, oily surface. Always be croc wise!
My first hook up was to a small barramundi, only five casts into the morning. Taking flight, the fish shook the hooks mid-air with a thrash of its head. I continued casting up onto the shallows and bringing the popper out into deeper water. Fifteen more casts and a barra exploded from under my popper. I set the hook and immediately line started peeling off my spool. This fish was swimming towards a fallen tree! I attempted to turn its head as it dove into the timber and I could feel my line rubbing on a branch just as the barramundi got airborne. It revealed itself to be a fat 70-80cm fish and after another short run I felt my line go slack...
After inspecting the remaining leader it was obvious that 20lb wasn't going to be heavy enough... but all I wanted to do was get another lure in the water, so I tied on another Fly Half popper and started casting again. Twenty or so casts later I had a smaller fish smash the popper but miss the hooks.
Just ten casts later the popper was hammered by a proper dinosaur. The fish danced through the weed beds, ran down the drop off and launched itself out of the water with six powerful jumps. This fish was towelling me up on 20lb, however it had no intentions of wrapping me up in any nearby timber.
So, after a long and enjoyable but adrenaline pumping fight I had the fish to the shore. I then had to drag the fish up the relatively steep bank, hoping the damaged line wouldn't snap. Once the fish was away from the water I quickly jumped down to secure it and rushed back up the bank. Laying the fish down on the brag mat, I had 71 centimetres of topwater barramundi.
After releasing the fish I continued casting, missing a couple of smaller hits before a proper giant smashed the living daylights out of the lure. As soon as it hit I knew what I was in for and how stressful the next few minutes would be with such a light leader. I loosened the drag to try and prevent being rubbed off by its raspy mouth. Line began screaming off the reel as the beast ran along the weedy fringe of the drop off. The run ended with a colossal aerial display. Suddenly, it turned and ran towards me and as I struggled to keep the line tight it leapt out of the water toward me. The giant continued to shake the hooks as it shook its head in and out of the water.
After an intense fight the beast lay against the steep bank. I knew there where crocs in every direction, however I ran down and grabbed the leader and gently began to pull the fish toward me. Using the leader I dragged the fish up the bank a bit. Just at that moment the leader popped without warning and the popper fell to the side of the fish as it lay 30cm from freedom. I jumped down and seized the giant by its oversized and powerful jaws, grabbed the lure and ran up to the safety of higher ground. This was a proper weapon of a wild barra and it was fat for its length. It must have weighed at least 10kg and I was stoked with 84cm of surface pounding, skinny water barramundi.
From saltwater barra to impoundment and wild freshwater barra, on this northern adventure I had been able to chase this iconic sportfish in some iconic and picturesque locations. Slowly I deciphered the parts of the puzzle and figured out how to catch these fussy predators in a variety of environments. I'm nowhere near an expert that's for sure and there's still so much to learn about these iconic species, however I had managed to catch a few and was stoked. I now long for the day that I can return north again to chase these iconic sportfish...
Jacob Iedema