HOME » Saltwater » Barramundi » A Bucket List Fish Adventure

---

A Bucket List Fish Adventure

By Sean Bekkers

I think just about every angler has a list of fish that they really want to catch, you know the bucket list, which will vary depending on where you're located and what you like to catch. For me I have heaps of bucket list fish and some are relatively accessible, while others not so much, and right up the top of my list was to catch the iconic barramundi. Sitting there staring at a computer a few months back and I received a message from a Justin saying, "Do you want to catch a barra"... for a split second I may have thought, is he joking... however the reply was quick, "Hell yeah!" Moments later the bones of a mission were being brain stormed.

Being located in southeast QLD means the barra aren't as far away as you might think and I constantly hearing reports of quality fish being caught from Hervey Bay to the Brisbane River. The chance of actually catching one is pretty small though as they are a well-guarded secret. After some snappy planning Justin, myself and Paul (Chewy) were going to meet up at one of the closer stocked barra dams in the hope of nailing a fish or two. We decided on a weekend, however we only had a very short window to get on the water between work and family commitments. A late Friday afternoon and early Saturday morning bite was going to be the window and the decision to fish from kayaks was made in an effort to keep it simple.

The Plan

The anticipation of maybe catching a barramundi was killing me. Every day at work the clock seemed to be getting slower and slower and with only a little over a week to plan I needed to work out what rods and tackle to take and decide quickly. The trick was trying to cover all bases without taking excess stuff. Reports of barramundi being caught anywhere from 30cm to the magic metre mark meant that I had every chance of hooking a beast, a fish that would tow me around.

In the end I decided to take two Okuma Helios 7' 3-6kg rods, matched with Azores Blue 4000 reels and loaded with 20lb Platypus Braid. These are a proven combo that have landed quality fish. Gear wise I definitely took way too much, however I write that off to being a novice barra fisho. The key gear that I would take again includes Bagley Rattlin' Finger Mullet hardbodied surface walkers, ZMan 4" and 5" DieZel MinnowZ and TT Lures SnakelockZ weedless jigheads in 1/4oz and 3/8oz weights and 4/0 and 6/0 hook sizes.

As for the camping side of things, we kept it really basic with a swag, an icebox of food and a cooker... just to get my coffee fix at 4am. Chewy had fished the area that we intended to fish, the weekend before and the message came through saying ZMan 5" DieZel MinnowZ were the go to presentation. With it being a little cold early morning, the topwater bite might be slow.

Friday Arvo

Friday was finally here and after rolling through the grind of work, I flew home and over to Justin's place to load up the gear and start our trip up to meet Chewy. On the way up we figured that we had about 2.5 hours to have a paddle around and see if we could chalk up fish or two for the afternoon.

The thing about impoundment fishing is that some days it's firing and other days it's slow. That is better than some days though, when it's completely shut down! We were definitely hoping it wasn't the latter, however we decided it was still going to be a great recon for later sessions. Before we knew it Chewy had us flying down the back tracks and all we could see was a sea of dust and the occasional hazard lights letting us know that the road was stuffed in that spot. We slowed down, rolling into our intended launch sight and at about this point I started to get really amped. Tall timber, lily pads, heaps of structure... everything that you read about and see on TV.

Yaks were unpacked and launched in record time and before we knew it the casting arms were unleashed. Between the three of us there were ZMan 5" DieZels, FrogZ, Turbo CrawZ and Bagley Rattlin' Finger Mullet peppering all the likely hot spots. I noticed that Chewy's retrieve was quite quick and something I didn't expect. I picked up the good news that barra have no trouble chasing down a lure, so the call was to throw plenty of casts and vary the retrieve until you find one that works.

As the afternoon went on, the bite seemed really slow and although Chewy had us on all of the good spots, the barra didn't want to play ball. Between the three of us we ended up with some rattles and boils, however nothing would commit. On the paddle back in I couldn't help but think, this is going to be a tough bite weekend and all of my anticipation was slowly turning to doubt. This was short lived after some beverages back at camp. Justin and Chewy were quietly confident that we would nail fish the next morning.

Saturday Morning 

Up early at 4am and a short trip to the next spot. We were welcomed with a still, cool morning, looking out over a mist filled stretch of water. All that we could hear were birds and the occasional flick of bony bream. Once again the anticipation was high and in no time we were on the water flicking lures.

Again Chewy did his best to get us onto the fish. He knew they would be in a particular areas, basically large patches of lily pads. Casting top water presentations, like the Rattlin' Finger Mullet and then fast rolling 5" DieZel MinnowZ meant we had all bases covered and it wasn't long before Chewy received a strike on the surface! Looking over at the other bank, I couldn't help but notice a patch of lilies all on their own. I paddled to within casting distance and started working the area with a Rattlin' Finger Mullet.

It wasn't long before I had a strike, BOOF, but no hook up. I put another cast in and BOOF once again, however this time I got the hooks in. After a quick little fight I had nailed and landed one of the local bass population. It wasn't really fair on him though as the gear that I was using was intended for barra. On the other hand, getting a bass on the surface is always welcome.

We kept pushing up along the stretch of water, until we stopped to work another lot of lily pads and by this time the barra were starting to play and everyone was getting hits and fish... well Justin and Chewy. Chewy nailed a few fish in quick succession, one of which was a solid mid 60cm model. Watching from the yak as someone is fighting a reasonable barra is pretty awesome and something that I don't think I would get tired of. Before long Justin was sending the barra call also. At this point I was just stoked to see them landed in real life. The acrobatics of these smaller fish is unbelievable and once landed they are an awesome looking unit.

The next few hours we pushed on and the rattles and fish continued for the other lads but I could not win a trick. It was safe to say that I was frustrated at this point. After a short while I saw Justin put a killer cast into a snag that resulted in him being locked on within seconds. I quickly gathered my gear in and paddled down to where the action, hoping to capture a few photos. Sometimes a small fish just seems to grow on the end of the rod and this fish grew, was ripping line out and seemed to be heading back down from where we had just come. After what seemed like ages, the barra became airborne and threw water over the both of us. I soon found myself backing off and at one stage it nearly jumped clean into Justin's yak! I'm still getting a laugh out of this now. Anyway, before long Justin landed a solid 80cm plus barra and to think that there's even bigger monsters in here was giving me yak wobbles.

Almost on cue the wind started coming in and as it was getting late in the morning and the bite window was closing fast, we started working our way back. I was thinking about the rattles that could have been, along with how good the day was and the fact that I scored a bass off the surface. Even if I didn't land a barra it was still going to be and awesome trip.

As we came around the next bend Chewy told me to work the edges that were getting peppered by the wind. This is easier said than done, especially when the wind catches your yak and starts pushing you straight into where you're casting. I had placed two awesome casts right on the edge that resulted in no rattles. On the third cast a gust of wind grabbed my lure (ZMan 5" DieZel MinnowZ rigged weedless) and hurled it a metre or two into the lily pads.

Instead of just ripping it back to the edge, for some reason I twitched it into the water and straight away I felt a hit. I wasn't sure whether it was weed, lilies or fish at first but I struck regardless. I'm so glad that I did too! It was no monster, however this fish came screaming out of the lilies and straight for my yak. I could hear the lads yelling, "Is it a barra!" and once the fish got to the yak it became airborne.

This little fish played up, gave me the barra shower and tried to throw the hooks. What an awesome fight. As I was getting close to landing it I could see the TT Lures SnakelockZ jighead lodged perfectly in the corner of the jaw. I went to grab the leader and I could hear the call from the lads. Something along the lines of get the f$#king net under it! It was safe to say that the boys were stoked to see that I had my fish. Moments later it was in the yak and although it was not a weapon, I can now add a pocket rocket barramundi to my list of catches.

This whirlwind adventure was planned in under a week and resulted in some quality fish for the three of us, while also giving us a great idea of what we are in for next time. I'm keen to plan another trip to chase down a more respectable size barramundi, although I am stoked with my first and the adventure that it took me on. So, what bucket list fish can you tick off in under a week?

Screaming Dragz, Sean

Gear List:

Okuma Cerros Spin Rods - CER-S-702M 7' 3-6kg
Okuma Azores Blue Spin Reels - AZORES-4000
Platypus Bionic Braid - 20lb
Platypus Stealth FC Fluorocarbon Leader - 40lb

ZMan 5" DieZel MinnowZ
TT Lures SnakelockZ Jigheads - 1/4oz 6/0

Bagley Rattlin Finger Mullet Surface Walker