Last Chance Barramundi
With the close of Barramundi season fast approaching, the weekend just gone was looking like the last chance I would get to target the infamous species. Saturday was busy, so it had to be Sunday. And with the weather predicted to drop out, it looked like the ideal time to put the effort into heading to Hinchinbrook. So Andrew and I decided we would leave early Sunday and put the boat in at the Cardwell end of the Channel.
The alarm was set for 3.30am, and by 4.15 we were driving out of Townsville. After a long but exciting drive up the coast, we finally arrived and put the boat in a little after 6am. We had an incoming tide until about 10, so we planned to take advantage of the early morning clam and chase some Fingermark at an offshore wreck. But the weather was not as good as we thought it would be, and the fishing wasn’t much better! We were sill able to reach the spot we wanted to fish, and it marked up well on the Humminbird. But all we could manage were a few small Nannygai. We persisted in bumpy conditions for a couple of hours, putting down GIMPS, Threadybusters, Species One50's and an assortment of Gulp plastics. With no luck we headed off into the Channel where we planned to spend the rest of the day.
We fished the Mangroves, Headlands and Bays as the tide topped out and began to drop off. Despite fishing an area where Andrew had nailed plenty of good Barra just weeks earlier, we managed just a handfull of Barra….couda and Trevalley, but only caught a glimpse of 2 silver flashes from the target species! With much persistence we did manage to put a couple of fish in the eski, just small Fingermark, Grunter and some nice Blue Salmon.
It was an extremely long day on the water, and with few options left we decided to head home earlier than anticipated. We eased the boat through the shallow waters of the Cardwell Marina right on the bottom of the 1.5m low. We spotted a small Croc inside the Marine Cove, a reminder to keep an eye out at the local ramps. By 7pm we were home and look forward to a show and bed. Not the finish to the season we had hoped for. Hinchinbrook is a beautiful destination that in really close to Townsville, but boy... it can be hot and cold!
The alarm was set for 3.30am, and by 4.15 we were driving out of Townsville. After a long but exciting drive up the coast, we finally arrived and put the boat in a little after 6am. We had an incoming tide until about 10, so we planned to take advantage of the early morning clam and chase some Fingermark at an offshore wreck. But the weather was not as good as we thought it would be, and the fishing wasn’t much better! We were sill able to reach the spot we wanted to fish, and it marked up well on the Humminbird. But all we could manage were a few small Nannygai. We persisted in bumpy conditions for a couple of hours, putting down GIMPS, Threadybusters, Species One50's and an assortment of Gulp plastics. With no luck we headed off into the Channel where we planned to spend the rest of the day.
We fished the Mangroves, Headlands and Bays as the tide topped out and began to drop off. Despite fishing an area where Andrew had nailed plenty of good Barra just weeks earlier, we managed just a handfull of Barra….couda and Trevalley, but only caught a glimpse of 2 silver flashes from the target species! With much persistence we did manage to put a couple of fish in the eski, just small Fingermark, Grunter and some nice Blue Salmon.
It was an extremely long day on the water, and with few options left we decided to head home earlier than anticipated. We eased the boat through the shallow waters of the Cardwell Marina right on the bottom of the 1.5m low. We spotted a small Croc inside the Marine Cove, a reminder to keep an eye out at the local ramps. By 7pm we were home and look forward to a show and bed. Not the finish to the season we had hoped for. Hinchinbrook is a beautiful destination that in really close to Townsville, but boy... it can be hot and cold!
