Rockhampton’s Piscatorial Playground – By John Boon

November 2015 seems like an eternity ago. When we look back that far it feels like we were still running around in horse and carriages. Let’s not go that far but it feels like long, long ago when the introduction of the Rockhampton Net Free Zone came into effect.

I’m not going to get into the details around what happened in that time but want I want to do is look at the present and into the future. I think we all suspected that this was going to have a positive impact but no one had the future vision to give everyone an accurate forecast of what would happen.

Advances in technology have sure helped us (the average angler) understand exactly what has happened. First of all, the side imaging leap into the mega hertz range gave us crisp down and side imaging. It took a lot of the guess work out of identifying different fish species. It also helped with target separation so we could clearly see how many fish were in one particular school.

Massive schools of 130cm plus King threadfin are a pretty common sight.

From mega side and down imaging we then advanced to 360 degree mega imaging. For me this was an unbelievable tool for keeping lures in front of moving schools like barra and King threadfin.

Most of the time if the school moved out of the side imaging beam then you were casting and hoping. You may have been casting at that school for thirty minutes before you rescanned only to find the school had vanished. I remember scratching our heads thinking ‘how long have they been gone and how much time have I just wasted?’

The latest technology advancement is another giant leap for fisher-man kind. Live imaging is now proving and dis-proving theories all over the country. In the right hands it’s a learning tool far greater than anything else we own in the boat, besides what sits between our ears. The jury is still out for a lot of anglers making a decision on live imaging and if technology has gone ‘too far’, definitely a question for another time.

Just like mega side/down and 360 imaging, live imaging is giving us incredible feedback about just how many big barra live throughout the Fitzroy delta and throughout the Rockhampton NFZ.

Not only is live imaging telling us about big barra numbers it is also helping us understand their habits and the magical techniques required to catch them. At the beginning of the net free zone a barra over a meter was considered a trophy capture. After a few years that benchmark was then upgraded to 120cm.

Giant king thread fin are an incredible sport fish. Luke Peisker with a 130cm model.

In this current day and age, combining angler experience, the net free zone and also live imaging the bench mark has now been raised to 130cm. I can remember back when I got my PB saltwater barra in Coorooman Creek a few years back of 134cm. Live imaging hadn’t hit the shelf yet so to get a barra of this caliber was a career milestone. I can remember looking at that beauty thinking it was like a unicorn.

Once live imaging hit the shelf and clued on anglers grabbed it with both hands, we now realise that 130cm isn’t overly uncommon. Has it taken anything away from the magical day for me? Absolutely not, personal trophies will always remain no matter where technology is up to.

I don’t want live imaging to hijack this article, it’s merely an observation from a passionate angler and another tool to reinforce that the Fitzroy and surrounds is alive with big barra.

Big barra aren’t just the only sport fish trophy to swim in these waters. King threadfin are also in fine form. Back in November 2015 a meter threadfin was a great capture with 120cm being a trophy. Just like barra the sizes have increased over the years and in this current day 140cm is now the new trophy.

I’ve personally caught 3 threadies over the 150cm mark with the biggest being 153cm. I know other anglers who have caught bigger ones which is absolutely mind blowing. The biggest I have seen a photo of was 166cm. This was caught by an angler who liked to remain anonymous and I can attest that the photo was amazing.

I guess the question is what sizes are we going to see in the future? Will they just keep growing to be enormous? The answer unfortunately is no. Just remember that they are animals and do have a life expectancy.

Currently I know of two anglers who have got PB saltwater barra captures from the Fitzroy River at 137cm. How long till we see a capture over 140cm? The benchmark that I’m aware of belongs to the late Ken Richardson who was well known for making ‘Richo’s Lures’.

If visiting the Rockhampton Net Free Zone make sure to do your reaserch. They can be a frustrating animal to get a bite from at times.

Ken caught a barra on one of his home made lures during the Rocky Barra Bounty competition (not sure which year, Bill Bowtell help me out mate) that measured in at 150cm. It is etched in stone, and there is photo evidence for the non believers. A truly remarkable capture and a PB that I’m not sure any of us will better. One thing I can assure you though, we will have fun trying.

As amazing as big breeding females are there’s also a question on how are we going for the smaller juvenile males? Over the last three years we have had a number of fresh water flushes come through the barrage gates. This does help the situation but only minimal. We need flooding that opens up all access to the flood plain lagoons.

When this happens it provides a super highway for barra. The land locked barra which have been able to feed and grow in the protection of lagoons will make their way into the salt and all the smaller barra will head in the opposite direction for safety and feeding.

Since the start of the net free zone we haven’t had the exact flooding we need at the right time, yet. We have had some of the lagoons run into the salt but not the event we are all hoping for.

Bill Sawynok from Infofish has given us fantastic accurate data on barramundi recruitment for as long as I can remember. As rec anglers we can positively back up the data with every time we go fishing for barramundi. Recruitment has been good over the last few years and when we target school sized barra on snags and rock bars there has always been the rat brigade hungry to scoff a placcy or two.

Always support the body weight of those big breeding females to give them the best chance of release.

When scanning around our magnificent Fitzroy River I’ve seen plenty of nests of small barramundi, usually from 250-400mm. Sometimes the rats can be an absolute pain in the backside when wanting that larger size but it is great to see these little guys as it means the waterway is healthy with recruitment.

The same goes for king threadfin. I would say that thready recruitment is booming much better than the barramundi. Some of the small King schools I’ve seen on side imaging almost black out the screen. Sizes that I’ve caught out of those schools normally range from 300-500mm in size.

As for this year, I haven’t been able to have a decent crack at some numbers of barramundi or King threadfin in the Fitzroy. We did fish the King of Kings competition way back in February but were focused on large barra and threadies.

Because I work week on week off, the neap tides which we prefer for barramundi fishing have been when I’m on shift. The other factor is that the Fitzroy barrage gates have been opening and closing making the river filthy.

Looking over the local charter operators, they seem to be capturing a lot of barra around that 500mm size. When I get a chance I’ll see if they’ve been getting any micro mundi’s which will give us a better indication of new recruits.

So, if you’re still reading then it’s time for the reward. The reward is that you get to hear from a true big barra expert on some of his tips and techniques. Coby Pascoe in my opinion is one of the guns who has pioneered chasing big barra with live imaging. He’s got a few You Tube videos available and really does make it look easy.

You don’t get to see the thousands of casts or the hours of searching and preparation which would put it a bit more in perspective. He’s put the time and effort in to get the results.

Coby’s number one tip when chasing big barra is to be prepared. They hit hard, run like demons and will test every part of your setup. Weak points will be clearly exposed. Take the time to get knots perfect. Use strong trebles like Owner ST-66’s. 80-100lb fluorocarbon is recommended and even using this size leader you can still be rubbed off. Get everything perfect and re-check before hitting the water.

There were plenty of juvenile’s caught at last years Rocky Barra Bash proving a good recruitment. The year’s ahead look promising.

Number two is using big soft plastics. Big fish eat big bait. Coby loves the Irukandji brand, nine and eleven inch Sicario paddle tails have been a ‘go to’. The Mega prawn is new on the market from the same company and Coby did a lot of work behind the scenes product testing. The eight inch Mega prawn is now a big barra slayer as well.

The final tip is to only focus on targeting big barra. If you want to get good at anything then you’ve got to focus on that one subject. It might take hours to even get a follow so don’t lose sight of the prize and chase smaller fish. Dedicate yourself to it and keep cycling through different areas and techniques. Build your knowledge with each trip until you become consistent.

If you’re keen to read a bit more about Coby and big barra tactics then I did an in depth interview with him and another local expert by the name of Matthew Zahl which is in the current edition of NAFA magazine. Plenty of good oil in there with the boys giving away some trade secrets.

If you’re planning on doing a trip to the mighty Fitzroy River then make sure you do your research and plan the trip well. Even though we have a world class fishery, the results won’t magically jump in your boat. A lot of travelling anglers have made the trip only to return disappointed.

At the end of the day the mighty barra is still the thinking man’s fish and just when you think you’ve got them wired, there’s nothing like a trip to the donut shop to give you a big hard slap of reality.