Central
OLD
Barra action continues MACKAY
Cameron Christian
Barra action will continue through March and high rainfall can be worked around to produce
like the Pioneer River. Additionally, continued rainfall may see crab hauls increase as they move to the mouths of creeks to avoid the freshwater coming in. Fishing guide, Jason from Inshore Fishing
undersize bread and butter species. Big lazy barra will often selectively feed on only the best and juiciest offerings. Meanwhile, salmon can become fixated on jelly prawn, hence Jason suggests ganging up the small prawn or imitating them with curly tail plastics preferencing the natural colours. Prawns may be floated in deep holes or simply noticeably deeper sections in creeks for barra and tight to the structure for jacks. Significant structure at the base of rock walls like those in the Pioneer River can often hold congregations of finger mark and can produce great results with live baits fished tight to the bottom. For persistent lure fishers, neap tides will help to work over solid structure
Patrick with a nice barra caught using a ZMan DieZel Minnow guided by Inshore Fishing Mackay. protected from the run where fish can comfortably congregate both in and around the structure. Using trolling motors with spot lock functionality or heavy weights to anchor
March as conditions begin to transition into winter and the rain finally clears anglers should expect results when trolling for mackerel in areas like the fronts of the Pioneer River,
Peter and Luke Vella with a double hook up of barra and king threadfin salmon. great results. Barra tactics can be tweaked to target other species including jacks, grunter, salmon and fingermark prevalent during March in Mackay systems. High rainfall will continue to boost prawn stocks throughout systems and, consequently, live baiting often produces the best results in systems,
Mackay preferences the neap tides focusing on the bite time around the bottom to incoming tide, using the outgoing and bottom of the tide to gather bait and find where the fish appear to be feeding. Jason recommends matching the hatch for the prize March species, especially when avoiding spending the abundance of prawn on
Diane and Ivan with a couple of quality grunter caught using fresh herring while on charter with Inshore Fishing Mackay. away from the structure is essential to spend a good while and annoy the fish to bite. Alternatively, lure anglers may produce results around rocky headlands like those seen around Seaforth, Shoal Point and Green Island remembering to check zoning. Lures can be trolled slowly using deep divers tight to the bottom for fingermark or at the surface for queenfish noting that it may take several passes to achieve results. Large tides can be productively fished on the flats throughout systems, such as the Pioneer River, Eimeo Creek and the Seaforth area. The flats may be fished for barra, grunter, golden trevally and permit or snub nose dart focusing on the shallowest waters on the incoming tide. Anglers should look for tailing golden trevally and barra and offer surface lures, shallow divers or lightly weighted soft plastics. Toward the end of
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Eimeo Creek and Mackay Harbour. Flathead will also become prominent during this transition period, casting soft plastics or
flies on the flats mentioned above can produce great results, especially when focusing on the edges of rubble patches with a sandy or muddy bottom adjacent. The most important result of high rainfall through February and March will be the beginning of the breeding season for sooties. As the freshwater begins to flow, the sooties will roe up, get even angrier and congregate in the flowing water. Casting small lures in and around the flowing water can produce serious results with high numbers able to be caught. Through February MAFSA will be gearing up to breed sooties in the hatchery and members will be hanging around the known flows in Kinchant Dam, Teemburra Dam and the upper reaches of the Pioneer River around Marian looking for big females full of eggs. MAFSA are also currently waiting on an order of 40,000 sooties from Barra Bass and Barcoo hatchery, another massive boost to Eungella sooty socks using SIP funds.
Sooties can be so easy to catch when the water is flowing even the author’s infant brother can manage a monster like this on an old piece of stirfry steak. But remember to always try to support the belly.
