Barra

THE 2020 barramundi season opened at midday on February 1 and I was on the water ready for the abundance. The season opening coincided with good tides and after only an hour, at 12.55pm, the abundance was clear – we had the first barramundi measuring a respectable 80cm. With the neap tides building towards the quarter moon, the fishing in estuaries …

IF fishing teaches you anything, it’s patience. Patience is a virtue rarely seen in an adult and even more rarely observed in a 10-year-old. Recently, my youngest of three amazing boys achieved what many of us only dream about: his first metre-long barramundi. Having spent many years in the Townsville sport fishing and game fishing clubs, at a time when my …

IT was a late wet season on western Cape York. Due to the delay in rainfall, the waterways started to flood mid-February, with a hint at barra time on the western Cape. Hopefully the rain we are getting continues, giving our waterways a good flush and the local barramundi population the fresh they need to spawn. With the barramundi season …

WELCOME to autumn. February definitely brought the heat and, finally, rain to most parts of Queensland, setting things up nicely for autumn fishing Gladstone style. Closer to the coast, rainfall has ensured the rivers and creeks get a much-needed flush of fresh water. Though I feel for the struggling farmers who missed out on relief from drought conditions and my …

FOR many years, my impression of the Bli Bli Barra Park, based simply on some false assumptions, was it was another ‘fish farm’ where the fish would just jump on the hooks. Where was the challenge and fun in that, I thought. I’d heard that about a barra farm up north where you can keep the fish you catch, so …

HI all, it was a few years ago I got a phone call asking if I would like to sponsor an event. It was Shara Vanhaeren from the WTF Women That Fish Barra Classic who called and outlined what they were trying to do and where they wanted to go with the competition, and I agreed to giving away a …

IN the previous edition of BNB I penned an article on preparations for our annual week-long fishing pilgrimage to chase Cape York barra in the upper reaches of one of my favourite top end river systems. This year’s trip was titled the ‘Cape York 2019- Beer and Barra Classic’. A lot of planning goes into these extended trips, as we …

Barramundi fishing will be off-limits throughout Queensland’s east coast from 1 November 2019 to 31 January 2020. Queensland Boating and Fisheries Patrol District Manager Glenn Shiels said fishers should be aware that the timing of the closed season had changed to make it consistent with other Queensland fisheries closures. “Most fisheries closures now operate from midnight to midnight and cover …

BREAK out the winter woollies because it is now officially July. Before we get into all the good oil from the Frenchville Sports Club Fitzroy Barra Bash, we’ll take a sneak peek at what’s been happening locally and what we can expect to see. In the estuaries two species have ramped up. The first is blue salmon. These guys can …

AFTER a particularly long wet season up here on western Cape York, it’s finally over and the Peninsula Development Road is officially open, signalling the start of tourist season. In coming months, adventurers, grey nomads and anglers alike will descend on Weipa from all over Australia with the intention of wetting a line in the waters around this little slice …