Mangrove trevally fishing

We hit the Daintree River at the end of the last drop of rain we had and did pretty well with Bream, Mangrove Jacks and even got hooked on a Barra we just missed getting on the boat. We headed towards the mouth of the Daintree River with the idea of ​​catching some of Barra’s best in mind.

We ended up probably about a half click from the mouth on the left side facing the mouth of the river right on the edge of the shallows anchored for about 2 1/2 hours. I had a Berlie pot that was about 8 inches long and 4 inches wide, pretty much a rectangle made of stainless steel mesh with a good length of rope attached to it, as we use this same setup on reefs and it works great .

With the berlie I use, it consists mostly of Pillies puree, fish trimmings, chook granules, and tuna oil.

We tossed it over the side so our berlie trail would continue until it hit the bottom and then lifted it off the bottom about 4-6 feet to keep the mud off.

The tide would have been about 2 hours before the top, so we were looking to get about 4.5 hours of good quality fishing time.

I was using a Tomman aluminum F-series spinning reel with a Seahawk Tackle First Stick spinning rod, a great combo a bit like a third arm.

My partner Paul was using Lemax’s Black Rose with an Ajiking Pro 300X spinning reel.

At 15 minutes we had a couple more touches on the rods, so just curious.

It had been half an hour with nothing, then Paul’s rod took a hit, I mean it was a big hit, that reel was screaming like it wasn’t going to slack at all, headed for the shallows trying to hook it in the mangrove. roots, so he hit the drag one more tap, which made it go slowly, then he stopped for a few seconds and gave the rod a little yank and went again, at which point he had been fighting this. fishing for a good 10 minutes so I was like a bit of “hell dude do you need help or what” lol he gave me the dirtiest look and by the time he got near the boat his face was red and his knuckles were white already i couldn’t stop silently laughing about it then there was color thank god it was a nice silver flash i thought it was a salmon then it went up and out of the water it went right in front of my face it was a Big Barra , probably one of the biggest ones I had seen in a long time then went down directly under the boat on the other side and ban g broke the line I was like “wow dude that was a pretty good sight” just seeing that bar so up and out of the water dancing on its still hooked tail was mind blowing to me.

Paul just looked down at the bottom of the boat and shook his head in disbelief looking at his limp fishing line, I couldn’t say much but “next time mate, next time”.

Paul baited a pilly, dipped it in tuna oil, and cast it into the deepest section hoping to hook another big one.

The water had a slight discoloration after the rain which helps hook the fish as it’s a little harder for them to see what it is, that way they’ll just hit it so hard or just sit and gobble it up without move. all until you reel it in realizing you have an estuary cod at the end of your line.

The Berlie trail was starting up an hour after we anchored and was taking some interesting hits with really short runs, then being dropped and hit again. After a few tries I got hooked on something hard and fast, the runs were very tough, but the whole place back and forth around the boat went, then straight into the middle of the river in sheer desperation to break free. . It wasn’t a white knuckle fight but it was a great fight with the landing of a 6kg mangrove jack, a very good fish for the first one to land in the boat lol, Paul just watched and muttered something. He caught a couple of good ones, one of which hit the 14-pound mark, but overall, some good fish. We had caught some good mangrove trevally that day, mainly in the first 2 hours before tide crest and 2 hours after tide crest. The same applies to the tidal bottom as well, I have seen jacks in pairs and in schools of around 10-12 at a time moving along riverbanks or shallow water edges at a rapid pace .

Mangrove trevally have a huge appetite, eating almost anything when they are hungry, from squid to pillies. I’ve tried all kinds of lures and plastics, but nothing beats a nice pilly dipped in tuna oil, that’s for sure on the reef or rivers. .

Red Snapper or mangrove jacks call them what you want they run like a mack truck and try anything to break your line they are strippers and dirty fighters found in warmer waters of our rivers and reefs in queensland, when chasing these predators you must be the boss with the big stick or you might end up losing the fish. They will grow to over 10 kilos, but the most common size is around 5-7 kilos. Look for obstacles along river banks or fallen trees in the water or just look for holes in your sonar near bends in the river or where fresh water meets salt water etc. You will find them in one of those places.

Have fun and keep firm lines for all of you and remember “if you’re not yelling, you’re not there.”