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Chasing Freshwater Barra in the Mitchell River

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When Ross Paton rang and informed me that he and his mate Mick were off to do a “shakedown” trip to the Mitchell River and would I like to come and chase a few “Sooty’s and Barra”. I thought, why not this would give me a good chance to try out some new lures sent to me by Jan Haanstra (www.werpmolens.nl/) and to give the esky (Icy Tek) I won courtesy of Fish & Boat magazine a good work out. “Sounds like fun too me” I said, see ya 3.45 am Friday, he replied.

And on time he was, travel time to the Mitchell is about 6 hrs plus but in reality it was about 8 hrs, we stopped at Chillagoe for breakfast (first time I’ve had gravy with my sausage, tomatoes and eggs!) and then checked in at Wrothman Park station. We had a quick unpack, mostly fishing gear and went to check out the river, we were actually fishing by 12pm, not bad, not bad!

I tied on one of Jan’s blue “topguns”, Ross and Mick opted for Gold “Bombers”, and the blue looked really great flashing in the clear water. It looked even better when I saw the silver flash of a nice Barra rolling up to inhale it! As soon as it felt the hooks it took off tail walking all over the lagoon (idiot! Keep your rod down, I thought!) Accompanied by my “Yeah Baby’s” but he soon ran out of puff and was released to fight another day, size was probably just legal. We fished for another hour or so, Mick catching a Juvenile and Ross fishless by that time we thought we had better make camp.

Nothing much was done after setting up camp (except for a few Brewski’s) so it was early to bed ready for an early start (or so I thought”). Well about 1.30am Ross has got the chain saw happening and woke me up, I’m laying there thinking about giving him a kick when I hear a Barra going of in about 60cm of water right in front of the camp. I jumped up grabbed my rod that I had already set up with a popper and flicked it out into the stream. Up she came had a look, I saw the flash quite clearly as it was a full moon, not a bad fish I thought, I’ll give you a bit of time and come back for you. I walked up to the next lagoon, working the popper over the flats hooking a Juvenile and dropping a decent fish, by this time I was really keen to try for the fish in front of the camp.

First cast, working the popper back thro’ the stream and she whacked with a mighty splash, accompanied by my “alright’s”. What a fight ,jumping out trying to shake the lure, tearing all over the lagoon ,I had no idea where the rocks were ,all I could see was the silver flash’s under water and the whole fish when she jumped out! What a sight that was in the moon light, talk about a buzz! Ross and Mick eventually got up just in time to se me beach her and to take some pics! Size was around 80+cm. Un-reel! I was stoked!

Next day we are off downstream chasing “Sooty’s” to the sounds of “Bit lucky last night Jimbo”. That soon wore of as the “Sooty’s “ started attacking any lure that was placed near a log or rock, especially if it had water running past, I started of with the “Topgun” catching some nice fish before switching back to the popper, nothing better than working the popper close to a snag and seeing the fish monster the lure and they put up a good show too! Ross switched to a silver ”Flatratz” and Mick stayed with the “Bomber” tho’ the “Sooty’s” found it a bit big but it didn’t stop them attacking it! I put on a red and white popper (I found it in the $5 box at Nugget’s Tackle Shack); it was dynamite on the “Sooty’s”they would be climbing all over each other to get to it, as soon as it hit the water! I love sight fishing, nothing better. Ross was having fun with ”Sooty’s” on the “ratz” but was finding the Catfish a problem when working deep; they can put up a good “stoush” but are really not a nice fish.

The fishing usually goes quite in the middle of the day so we headed back to camp for some lunch and a snooze. As the evening session was to be the last, Ross was keen to hook a “Barra” and was working the “Ratz” deep around any snag or rockbar. Me, I was content to have fun catching and releasing "Sooty’s” on the popper, they really are a great fighting fish and real fun the way they grab the lure. Mick was still flogging the big “Bomber”. Ross was frustrated with the Catfish getting to the lure first but was soon was into a decent sort of fish. "Nice Barra this Jimbo” he calls out, sure enough up she comes tail walking over the river, shaking her head trying to dislodge the lure. After a bit of a struggle, it looks like Ross had the upper hand ”get the camera” he shouts! Fatal mistake! One last shake of the head and out pops the lure! ”Oh, well at least I got to see the fish,” says Ross.

By then it was time to head for camp, no moonlight fishing for us everybody was to tired, the only excitement for the night was Mick getting attacked in his sleeping bag by a whistling Kite at about 1.30am,weird that! No fishing on Sunday as we spent the day driving round looking for future campsites and fishing spots, and meeting some station managers. We left the Mitchell at 8.15 am Monday and after checking out at the homestead were home by 2.45.

In summary a good fun trip, not an over abundance of Barra, probably due to having no “Wet” to speak off, keeping the river low and not allowing new fish to swim upstream. Surface lures are the go (but not the big “Bomber”) and the fishing goes quiet in the middle of the day. Jan’s “Topgun” Lures work ok; I’m going to try out the diver’s in the Channel soon. The “Icytek” esky kept the blocks frozen for the trip and probably would keep the ice for at least a week. If you are going to fish these remote rivers please get permission from relevant stations and call in on the way in and the way out. Safe Boating and See Ya on the Water.

Jim (Jimbo) Lee  -  www.un-reel-sportsfishing-adventures.com.au