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Barra In The Trees
Another thing which would blow the minds of some casual anglers is the number of barra which swim happily in the shallows right back in under the mangroves which line the edges of the harbour. At times we have drifted along under the mangrove branches and witnessed large schools of barra hanging in a foot or two of water. These fish can be caught, however if you think fishing on the open flats is difficult, then be prepared to raise your game to the next level.
A good mate of mine by the name of Tony introduced me to fishing under the trees, and even I would have been sceptical had I not had him to show me the ropes. Tony fishes the flats around the entrance to middle arm where he gets right up under the trees and engages in a bit of hand to fin combat fishing with the barra. The method he has worked out involves hitting his favourite flat a little over an hour after high tide. He then uses his motor to get him in under the trees, and then turns it off. From that point on he literally pulls his boat from branch to branch, all the time scanning the shallows for prowling barra. When a fish is sighted, he slowly and carefully lobs an unweighted plastic near the fish. If is presentation is careful and the barra does not spook at the boat or the sudden movement, a hook-up is assured. From that point on however, everything else is a in the lap of the fishing gods.
As you can imagine, hooking a decent barra amongst the mangrove roots on a short line becomes a real tug-o-war, and you either get the fish in the boat or you get done like a dinner. This is no place for soft rods and smooth drags, it¹s lock down drag "em out stuff, with lots of rod snapping branches right above you. Needless to say, you win a few, loose a lot but once you get the hang of this sort of fishing it¹s very addictive, and as a bonus you will normally have it all to yourself as not many fishos realise what they are missing.
The final flats option has been refined by well known Darwin rod builder Shane "Bones" Flanigan. Unlike most people, Bones fishes the flats on the really big tides when the water is filthy. Hence his love of dark, or high contrast lure colours. Basically Bones finds a spot on the flats where a natural feature will disrupt the water¹s flow forming an eddy or lee. He then anchors the boat a short distance away, and starts casting, while he waits for the current to carry the barra to him.
His other favourite technique is to stationary troll a big soft plastic lure out the back of the boat. Stationary trolling is another "no sweat" technique which is far more productive than most people realise and simply involves dropping a big soft plastic shad a reasonable cast¹s length behind the boat and placing the rod in the holder. Even though the boat is sitting still, the current pushing past the lure makes the soft plastic "swim" as if it were being trolled. While it may sound too easy when compared to sneaking around under the trees, his techniques do work and produce some great fish, with his best ambushed barra from Darwin Harbour in excess of 90 cm. A nice fish in anyone¹s book.
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