On friday straight after work we set out to our desination from the launching ramp in Butchers Inlet (Cossack). It was a little rough but the 2 boat convoy made it there in reasonable time. After we arrived the other boys chucked out their crab pots and we went for a troll/explore. We didn't get far before we almost got stuck.. the receding tide was going out very fast and these were the biggest tides we'd ever been there on.

The Para boys

Once the tide got a bit lower it was time to find some bait. So we anchored in some shallow water, jumped out and took a stroll to find some mullet. We did reasonably well with around 15 odd good sized ones that would last us the remaining afternoon and evening.

By this stage it was nearly dark so it was time to anchor up and have a fish. We pulled the anchor and moved to our spot. The tide was making it difficult to lock on the bottom so we had to stuff around a bit. Once we'd successfully anchored we realised our bait bucket that was tied to the back of the boat (to keep airated) had been smashed by the prop so we had no mullet for the evening. DAMN.

We fished for a bit with poppers/fizzers but they were proving unsuccsessful and the beers in the esky looked a bit more appealing hehe. After knocking off quite a few drinkies we headed off to bed at around 2-2:30am.

Woke up the next morning to a glorious day and a chronic headache. Not to worry, a couple of panadols and a huge drink of water did the trick.

We pulled up to the bank and went to get some mullet for the day. It was a bit harder than the previous day but we managed to get some good ones. We waited for the tide to go down a bit more and then started to fish.

It started out a bit quiet with only a few catfish caught but soon enough I was on. I could tell by the jump that it was a big fish. I knew it would be in the 90's and possibly a meter fish. After a tussle I got him in and after a quick photo and a measure the big girl was released to fight another day. She was 94cm, my 4th barra over 90cm.

After this I thought it would be the start of a good session but it quietened off a little before Glenn hooked up some time later.

Glenns fish pulled a bit of string and got completely airborne but we realised it was a much smaller fish - the small ones go hard! When we got it in we measured it and got a photo. We decided to keep this one for dinner.

This barra was also tagged. I called up ANSA and here are the details.

Tag number 24464.
tagged on 7th Sept 2003.
by Jay Wheelock (member of Nickol Bay Sportfishing Club)
tagged in jones river 1.

recaptured 24th Feb 2007 ( thats 1267 days at large.)
angler Glenn Hall.
caught in jones river 1
700mm long and kept.
growth of 180 mm.

So theres a little bit of interesting information for yas.

After this the tide started to come in fast. I started to think we had come to the end of our fish but at the last minute Glenn hooked up again. I didn't think it was going to be a barra as it didn't jump nor did it take much line but sure enough when it came in it was a 65cm barra. We decided to keep this one for the paraburdoo boys that didn't get any barra.

After this fish it was time to head home. The tide was coming in fast and it was too high and fast to continue fishing effectively. The trip home was uneventful and just about as rough as the previous day.

All in all it was a good trip out. The catties were a serious problem but we've found this quite common on the bigger tides. Barra numbers were a little below average for this spot but this is something we've also noticed on the spring tides (we usually fish the neaps with much better results). Considering the difficult tides and a slow season in general it was a good trip.