Have seen a few pics lately, theres a few about.

 The water temp should still be around the 30 degrees. I might take to go pro and see if I can get some action shots. Pretty hard to beat a big baz launching out of the water.

You can catch Barra all year

 Yep there still there. It been pretty hot the last few days to

 Now all I have to do is wait for work to finish. I haven't had much luck catching them once the water drops down past 27 degrees. Are you a pilbara fisho Damo?

 Dont know if I want to mix with you mob

:)

All good we still get them all year just have to work

Ive tried over here over the cooler months but not much success. We got a small one in May but nothing else. Not a bad spot to chase Barra in Kununurra. Some nice water ways there Wish we had some fresh flowing water here :( 

Then admittantly I would chase less Barra in the dry.

If the wind is howling we just drop the tinnies in the rivers and poke around chasing Barra 

Hey damo, can you tell us about your best technique for winter barra?   ie livies / lures.  freshwater / saltwater

thanks

Like most places the weather determines were we fish in the Dry.

If the SE slow down we head out into the Gulf (salt) and fish various rivers, Islands offshore, otherwise if the wind is blowing we hit the Lower Ord (fresh) or the Keep (brackish). I have two boats to compensate for the weather.

It's very rare that I live bait / bait so 99.5% of the time I use lures or plastics. If we troll then I use my Minn Kota on my Noble 5.3, but the motor on the 3.7 proline otherwise casting prevails. Check out my last post RE Trans am. They work a treat. If we use bait, and it's mostly when I am on mates boats, then livies work but dead mullet and squid/mullies work better IMHO. We have had killer sessions on squid/mullies (no sinker just cast it out on a hook, its shallow obviously at the top of the creek) high up in the creeks on the top of the tide, or dead mullet on the bottom at the mouths of creeks on the dead low.

To be honest the only thing I would do differently in the winter is fish the shallow water as Barra will move up and sun themselves to warm up. So for example when we hit the Keep we fish the shallow water around the rock bars with shallow running lures, not the deeper water with the wood. Alternately when we fish the Lower Ord we fish the fast flowing water full of wood as this seems to be were the Barra hold up, not the slower deeper water/wood that we would fish in the Warmer weather. If we fish the Gulf we fish the same spots we fish all year round but just concentrate more on the mangroves, especially as the tide drops. The Barra wait just on the edge for the mullet to drop out of the mangroves but we target the shallow, slighly sloping mud banks (mud banks prevail here) as this allows the water to warm up quicker. I have a Minn Kota so that makes it so easy to move around on auto-pilot. Dont have a different preference in lures for the year just change up and see what earns a strike. Likewise it's good to hit small drains with small soft plastics as the tide drops. My favourite is the 3' Slam white jerkshad on a 1/8 - 1/6 TT jig head and cast deep into the drain and slowly bounce it out. Pulled mobs of Barra doing this.

If we can get offshore we hit up some Islands and fish the shallow water, but ultimatley we are targeting Jewies in 3-4 m of water. We simply drop octajigs over the side and hang one. We also catch Barra in the mix and big fat 90cm plus Barra, nothing less thus far.

One noticable difference in the winter is the hook up rate, during the winter the Barra tend to bump the lures rather than mouth them. They are not as agressive so they simply bump the lure with their mouth and when you hook them its usually around the outside of the throat, not inside the mouth ; so for every 10 bumps you may only hook 2 fish. So sharpen your trebbles!

Last year was real cold for us here, it got down to 8 degres, and that is very cold for here. But we still pulled Barra, they have to feed, just not as much, so trips would get 2-3-4 fish instead of 30-40-50 we get in the warmer weather (thats two fishing per boat). Dont forget Barra soon turn off when the weather gets too hot, it hit 40 here late September 12 so come mid October 12 the Barra had shut down. Trips in Oct 12 were getting a few fish; but Oct 11 we were getting 30-40-50 fish a session but the big difference was the day temp, it was stinking hot in the 12 buildup (and still is, 40 today). We have had bugger all rain this wet so it has been a real hot wet season and the only good fishing has occured when we get a break in the weather.  I dont fish landbased so this statement is boat related. My favourite time to fish obviously is the build up here (we dont have a "runoff" like the NT here) and just after the wet.

We are blessed with a myriad of options here in KNX and VERY low fishing pressure. Makes for a hard choice and you can bet come Monday morning we are madly texting between mates to organsie the weekend fishing/camping trip.

One thing is for sure though, since owning a Minn Kota I-pilot I can categorically state we have caught more fish. The options the Kota provide is just phenominal!! Track route makes trolling hands free and spot lock makes casting so easy. Will never fish without one ever again. It's amazing how frustrated you get when you dont have one.

I'm assuming your Pilbara also (doesn't say in your profile) but you have some very good Barra fisherman your way so corner some of them for advice. POC comes up here to fish the Gulf in October and watching him fish he definately knows the game. Very Good bloke as well (and the crew that come up to fish). I'm sure if you PM him he will oblige.

Thanks for that.  Bloody must have taken ya half an hour.

Yep, I'm in Pilbara and dont bother fishing the cooler months for barra.  We turn our attention to marlin then!

40 -50 sounds like a great day.  Are these big fish?  My first day fishing the Ord we managed 45, so can understand your scores but ours were all less than 60cm.

Here in our Pilbara creeks, we are happy if we can get 8-10 barra in a trip.  Sometimes we may only get 1 or 2...... sometimes none.

THANKS  AGAIN  FOR  THE DEATAILED  INFORMATION!

Would say thirds

1/3 < 55cm

1/3 >55 < 70

1/3 >70

We seem to have mobs in the 80's ATM and these are big fat bowling ball Barra.

We have also had a huge juvenile recruit after our biggest wet in 2010 which means in 1-2 years these will be plus 65 (also probably responsible for the loads of 80s)

Mate if I had a dollar for the meteries I have been smashed by, then I'd be very rich.....

Oh and Lake KNX is already being stocked so give it a few years and you can forget the QLD impoundment's :)

It's a 110km to Wyndham from here and then another 85km to the Blue down the Gulf so our days offshore are limited, otherwise I'd be doing as you guys do in the Dry 

Nice!!  I bought an investment property in Kunno.  Might have to kick the tennants out and move in.

Love metery's, only caught a few, but they are always the target!

Plenty of options and no excuse to go fishing :)

Deal!!!  I'm passing through on my way to Darwin next month but wont have time to stop.

We are planning to stop at Telegraph Pool on the way back.  Hope it is firing this year.