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Ghosting Jungle Perch
Robbie Wells
Depending on the angler we all have our own list of fish species on the must catch list. Mine are mostly species that aren't in my local area and require extensive travel and favorable conditions, along with that magical window of opportunity. On a recent business trip to Cairns I had my one day window and an opportunity to cross jungle perch off my list. When you think jungle perch, you think images of cool mountain streams cascading into rock pools of gin clear water, engulfed in rainforest. Without the luxury of a boat, but with the help of Google earth, I selected a section accessible by foot where I could pickpocket my way through some pools up or down the river.
We headed to a section of the Mossman River north of Port Douglas and after a short 20 minute hike through some amazing rainforest I could finally hear and see glimpses of the river. We arrived to find an awesome section of rapids spilling into crystal clear small to medium size rock pools. I decided to climb a large rock for a look over the rock pools and to locate the best place to flick... bad idea, as I stood up 3 or 4 little shadows darted off into the rocks. The water is that clear it's hard to even tell how deep it is as you can see every rock and piece of structure on the bottom... a more stealthy approach was needed.
Armed with an assortment small minnows, surface lures, cicadas, frogs and even a spider imitation, I regrouped and moved up to next pool, ducking and diving around the large granite boulders until I had good scope out the pool. I could see some small junglies just out of the main flow and they appeared to be sussing out anything that was getting washed down the rapids, darting in and out of the current and to the surface when anything floated past. I thought this will be easy pickings... 100 casts later and I had nothing to show except a few follows by some tiddlers. I tried switching between surface, sub surface minnows, etc. for no reward.
I moved up to another pool with a similar set up; fast rapids cascading down a ledge into a single 10 metre pool. This section had a lot more eddies and backwaters, with another small group of jungle perch darting around again as food was carried down with the water flow. This time I could see some larger shapes down deeper in the fast water but I was having trouble keeping the surface lures in the zone and my selection of small minnows weren't handling the fast flowing water and couldn't get deep enough. Another thing I noticed was that everything I threw at them seemed to be larger than what they were feeding on.
After another scrumage through my tackle box I tied on a TT Lures Ghostblade in Green Spook, three casts later and fish on! My first JP! At only around 15cm it was not a big fish but a solid fight for its size and and awesome looking fish in great condition. I pulled another 3 small fish from this pool and got smoked on light line by another in the deeper faster water. I could flick the Ghostblade across and through the fast flowing water and into the back eddies, keeping it in the feeding zone. I could also drop it into the base of the rapids and hop it across the bottom with the flow.
Even in the crystal clear water the transparent profile of the Ghostblade was virtually invisible, prompting a lot more interest as it seemed to better mimic the smaller items the fish were feeding on.
After a few more hours in this pristine environment and a few more small JPs landed, I was flicking the blade to a backwater, between a rock and the main rapid and bang! On the drop and about a foot under the water, the blade was smashed by a half decent Jungle Perch. They're quite a handful for their size, especially on light gear and in the fast flowing water. As I fought the jungle perch I was imagining all of the underwater rocks they dart through and after what seemed like forever I had an awesome specimen at my feet.
Again it was in excellent condition, with awesome markings. They are quite a thick fish for their size and their colouring really blends with the granite colored rocks, shadows and clear water they inhabit. They are a cool fish to stalk and catch, not to mention the amazing country you see while chasing them. Unfortunately my window had now closed and it was time to get back to real world and then maybe cross another species off that list. I have another window opening in the next couple of weeks on the way home and a GT or similar would be nice!
How Goods Australia
Robbie Wells
www.sun2seauvprotection.com.au