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Fishing Missionary Bay No.2 & 3

Fishing no 2 and 3 in Missionary Bay.

Several years ago I had been invited to fish with “Lumpy” Milson and a select crew of fisho’s on a houseboat working the Hinchinbrook Channel. Amongst this motley crew of hard drinking, hard fishing guys was Wayne Keene, Graham Brake and a guy called Mark Perrett, who for some reason was nicknamed “Puking” Perrett! Anyway to cut a long story short the upshot was that we became friends and fished together over the years. So when Wayne rang to say he and his mate Morgan Lindley had booked a houseboat and would Linda and myself like to join them for a weekend, I didn’t hesitate to say yes.

The designated weekend duly arrived and we loaded the punt up with all the gear needed for a short stay with the Keene’s and off we went No 3 Creek in Missionary Bay. As we arrived for what looked like a glorious a couple of days, I spotted Wayne and Morgs flicking a few lures around the mouth, ”Pick me up at the houseboat” I shouted, ”I’ll drop the wife of so the girls can get acquainted and we’ll fish the flats”.

No sooner said than done and of we went working the flats in front of the creeks on the run out tide. Morgs was using a fluorescent green and blue “Flatratz”, Wayne a orange and red “Lucinda” lure and for me it was a red and blue “Leads lure” made in Cairns, all of which proved successful for the stay. Wayne was driving the electric, Morgs the outboard and I didn’t have to nothing to do but fish, which is a luxury for me and I was about to make the most of it, I was determined to get the first cast in to the best snag,”

It wasn’t long before Morgs had hooked and released a nice Barra at about 55-cm, followed by myself with a fish of similar size. Wayne has pulled the cast of the century off and has got his lure right up the “Block Hole”, working it out of the Mangrove roots he was soon smashed by a nice fish, ”Better barra this Jimbo” he calls. After some grunting and groaning as the fish tried to work the lure of on the root system the fish is soon out in the open water where it was netted and measured (60cm) and put in the kill tank, as this one was destined for the table.

Next cast Morgs is hooked up to a snag, so Wayne motors in on the electric having a quick cast as he did so, ”not a good move mate” I said, sure enough he gets monstered by another decent fish, so now we have Morgs halfway in the Mangroves trying to get his lure out and Wayne having all sorts of trouble controlling the Barra in close! Morgs pulls us in with his rod (thank goodness for braid) and retrieves his lure and pushes us out in to the open, now Wayne has a chance to boat the fish, not a bad fish at 63cm,this to was put in the kill tank and would be the last kept as we had plenty for the table.

The fishing went quite for a while, that is until I hooked, at what first appeared to be a decent Barra but things are not always what they seem! This fish was giving me some grief; it just wouldn’t do what I wanted! It wasn’t swimming like a Barra didn’t even want to jump but by the color was obviously a Barra, I eventually brought it to the side of the boat to see a 60 cm Barra hooked in the head, no wonder I couldn’t steer it out!

We called it a day after that and went back to the boat for lunch, the plan of attack was we would all take our lovely ladies out for an after noon fish and meet back for tea and drinks. Well that was the plan but we hadn’t been fishing long when Lin has hooked onto a nice Barra in the snag and had to put a bit of pressure on as it was determined to head for the timber. Well wouldn’t you know it the bib on the” Flatratz “broke leaving Lin a tad disappointed and me down one lure. ”That’s it for me” she said, “take me back I’m going to read me book”.  "That's a bit unfair", I said “who’s going to hold the front of the boat down”, No reply but just a black look!

After dropping Lin off I decided to fish right up the creek as the tide were nearly at the bottom. About an hour and a half of run out and I could also catch the run in. As I motored up I passed Wayne and his wife Raeline, who shouted that they were having fun hooking “Rat-Barra’s” out of the drains.

As there was hardly any tidal movement I decided to work up the creek against the current, first snag first cast and smash a nice Jack had hit me as the lure dropped onto the water! It was determined to get back into the snag but a bit of pressure and I had it out in the open it was a beauty measuring almost 50cm!Well this fish was about ready to make its way out to the ocean so it was released to continue its journey to be a bigger fish. Two snags later same deal but a smaller fish, about 40cm it to was released, even though’ I’m partial to a bit of “Jack” fillet with my chips.

It was one of those afternoons to remember no wind, sunny day and the creek was jumping! Bait was every where being smashed by plate sized Trevally, which were grabbing my lure as it came out of the timber, good fun, but not the big Barra I was after. I cruised up the creek catching good size Jacks a couple of big cod but no Barra.I had hooked and released some small juveniles but none of a keeper size, then I saw it the mother of all snags not big but a nice trunk leading out to a hairy, twiggy bits on the end, had to be a fish there. I cast over the trunk working the lure back towards the twigs on the end, I just got over the trunk when I nice fish of about 70+cm floated up and inhaled the lure! Yeah Baby. It swam out of the snag towards the boat, this ones mine I thought, the fish kept coming giving me no chance to apply pressure allowing me only to reel in. As it saw the boat it turned away and spat the lure at me, I was stunned, ”Stuff me, they are hard to hookup some time!” I flicked back to the snag just incase there was another Barra there but the lure was smashed by another Jack, not a Barra but a nice fish.

It was getting dark so I motored to the house boat for a well earned beer, Wayne and Raeline had caught and released about eight Barra, Morgs and Sarbbie had had some fun with Jacks and Cod up another arm of the Creek. We had a great night Barra on the barbie, cold beer good company, telling tales of trips gone bye and planning our next.I went to bed reasonably early and left them trying to hook up some of the sharks that were attracted to the small squid that were attracted by the lights. The last thing I heard was the girls screaming as “Morgs” was chasing them around with a big crab!

We had planned to fish till lunchtime, and then Lin and I had to leave for more mundane things. We fished the mouth of the next creek (no4) for a nice Barra of 62cm, not big but a nice fat fish. As the tides were starting to neap, the bite of yesterday had shut down. Still all in all a weekend to remember. That’s what fishing’s all about, meeting good friends, having a great time and if you catch fish, that’s a bonus!

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