Huggy B meets the Baz Man Chu

HUggy B decided it was finally time to venture north of the 26 and into the Pilbara in search of his first Barramundi. He arrived with nothing much more than the shirt on his back, his fishing gear and a 6 pack of some of the finest beer (cascade first harvest) I have ever tasted. We decided that we were going to ditch the original plan to chase GT's and barra in favour of just the barra. the tides were not great for GT's and with stronger forecast afternoon winds on Saturday we opted for a bit of creek action.

The weather for our transit to said creek was nothing short of perfect, the whole trip we sat on 30 knots, simply stunning and a great into for huggy into the "Pilbara Lifestyle". We arrived and spent the next 10 minutes sorting out the boat, swags went up top, rods rigged with lures and we were ready. In that short time the wind came up to almost 20 knots, and from the east so trolling was going to be a tad difficult. The water temp was also a tad shy of 27 degrees, I was starting to feel a little more pressure. Anyway we set out on a troll run and first pass BANG!!!!! I was on, a nice baz jumped out the back of the boat, nice fish but we didn’t land it. Next pass and again we were on my new favourite baz lure was working a treat...

The wind was really gusting and holding a pattern at slow speed was difficult so we opted for some livies. There was plenty of bait around, it didn’t take too long to grab a few and set them out. It must have only been about two minutes and I was on again, this time I landed the fish from memory it went 80 something, then I landed another and another, huggy was getting the shits because during that time he dropped about 1 or 2. Anyway I coached him through the next run and he managed to stay connected, soon after he landed his first ever barra. then he landed his second, and third, I think you get the point. WE got 8 in the first session and dropped quite a few as well, we both managed fish in the 90's mine was a 96.5cm and huggys was a 93, happy days!


Huggys first ever baz, not huge but he did improve on this one


huggys 93cm baz


Biggest of the trip 96.5cm, released

Well we decided to relax a little for the rest of the afternoon, we had planned to get up around midnight to fish the night low so after some home cooked rissoles for dinner it was to bed for an early night..

The alarm went off at 1230am and I tell you what it would have been pretty easy just to stay in bed, alas we got up and went off to try our luck collecting some livies at night, oh what joy! We managed to get a few stoinka whiting, we made our way back to the boat and changed into some dry shorts (oh the chafe still hurts) before settling into another great session. We only had a few baits so we were going to have to make the most of them. I am pretty sure it was me who hooked up first, I landed about three solid 80 something cm fish while huggy landed another 93cm barra, it was action packed and we dropped about another 4 or 5 fish. The barra were going crazy which convinced me to throw on a popper. It didn’t take long to get stuck into some action. I got three massive hits, one of which was right at my feet (scared the bee Jesus out of me and huggy) by this stage the moon had set and it was bloody dark. I had a hit but no hook up in one area so I flicked the popper out to the same spot, BANGGGGG this time it came up solid and a really nice sized barra jumped. I had the fish on for a good five minutes and we were in the closing stages when the dreaded occurred. On the jump the fish managed to throw my hooks. I have caught quite a few barra on popper before but not this year, would have been nice to land it but hey, we had a cracking session anyway. not sure what the tally was up to by the close, probably around 12 landed and about 10 dropped.


Night time bazza


Huggy getting in on the action


Huggys second fish in the 90's


looking pretty happy with him self

Well the sun rose on another spectacular day and with it came the hordes of Pilbara anglers looking for a bazz. We were one of 6 boats in the area and things were tough. Plenty of fish were landed but not like the previous day for us. A couple of our mates managed about 12 or 13 fish for the day between the three of them, awesome stuff and even better because they all went back. We managed to land 4 and had a real shocker with dropping fish. Huggy landed a small bazz on SP, pretty cool. WE dropped a lot of fish when we probably shouldn’t have but hey I guess that happens from time to time doesn’t it. We ended up leaving the creek pretty happy, especially with day one. huggy landed his first baz, first thready, first jack and well his first second third.......one hundredth catfish, lol....


Huggys baz on an SP


me, landing one after dropping about 4 in a row

On the way home we stopped in at the pontoon near point Samson to throw some plastics around, there were some big fish under there, queenies, trevs, small mackies were all shying our lures. I switched to one of Big Johns banana jigs and came up solid on a queenie first cast, next cast I lost the lure to a spanyid, damit... Huggy landed his first ever queenie in the funnies of ways. I had just hooked on to a mackie on a slice, a queenie was shadowing mine so he flicked out a bait. he hooked up straight away and watched it run under the anchor rope and back the other way. He tried to pass his rod under the rope and it snapped. meanwhile the queenie was still going ape, somehow even with me laughing my ass off he managed to land the fish, very very funny circumstances.


Queenie on BJ's home made banana Jig

Huggy's first ever queenie and his broken rod, hahahahaha haaa hahah a ahahaha (still making me laugh)

Thanks mate, it was fun

Final Tally 16 barra landed and approx 15 dropped in 2 days, not tooo bad, but we will do better next time.


DazSamFishing's picture

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Great report & great

Sun, 2009-11-29 21:42

Great report & great fishing.

Plenty of 'firsts' for Huggy hey. Can't wait to get my first barra too.

Did you blokes keep any of the smaller bazzas? Do the wild ones taste alright, or are they a bit muddy flavoured?

PilbaraBrad's picture

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we kept the last fish of the

Sun, 2009-11-29 21:46

we kept the last fish of the trip for huggy to take home, it was about 60cm. The wild salties taste pretty good around the 60cm size, but we generally put them all back mate in exchange for a few threadies or a jack

DazSamFishing's picture

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Nice - barra is a favourite

Sun, 2009-11-29 21:59

Nice - barra is a favourite in our home. I bet chasing them on poppers at night is quite an experience.... guess you'd just be listening for the big 'boof' & holding on.

PilbaraBrad's picture

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yep, popping for them at

Mon, 2009-11-30 12:19

yep, popping for them at night is better than anything else IMO when they are on

Goodz's picture

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Great little read and good

Sun, 2009-11-29 22:04

Great little read and good photos! Very jealous of the barra action, need to get back into some again one day!!!

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Faulkner Family's picture

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well done guys. great trip

Sun, 2009-11-29 22:05

well done guys. great trip and read .well done Huggy on a few first for you but can you please leave the mask on for the pics, im now going to have nightmares for the next monthLaughing, congrats go to Brad for putting Huggy onto the fish

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Kasey L.'s picture

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which one is brad, and which

Sun, 2009-11-29 23:50

which one is brad, and which one is huggy?

Lucky Tim's picture

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The buff brothers

Mon, 2009-11-30 03:40

The buff brothers strike!
Nice weekend by the looks boys and good to see you remembered the fry pan this time too B-Dog. Why can't it be like that for my trips.....

PilbaraBrad's picture

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because you come here on

Mon, 2009-11-30 12:18

because you come here on crapola tides my friend, and in winter

HuggyB's picture

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What an awesome weekend!

Mon, 2009-11-30 05:23

Hard work at times (chafe!!!) but so worth the effort, even when you go to bed at 7pm and wake up at 12 to get live bait trudging through the sand (more chafe) to fish for a few hours.

 

And Kasey, Brad is the mexican mafia looking dude......believe me, those masks are a godsend up the creek with sun and fly protection.

 

Queenfish annoyed me more than anything, went straight under the anchor rope, then jumped back over it and as I was passing my rod under the rope it the inevitable happened and it  jumped - crack. Just made me more determined to catch it!!

 

All in all, a very unforgettable trip.

 

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crasny1's picture

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As usual a great read and Photos Brad

Mon, 2009-11-30 07:59

I might get one of those masks after burning my face to a crisp yesterday.

Neels

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Excellent report Brad, some

Mon, 2009-11-30 07:59

Excellent report Brad, some great fish for the both of you. Need to get me a few of those sometime.

GrahamM's picture

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What can i say other than

Mon, 2009-11-30 08:07

What can i say other than another great report and pictures and yes i aam still so jealous . I will get up there 1 day

Brucesta's picture

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Where you two in the convoy

Mon, 2009-11-30 08:07

Where you two in the convoy of two boats heading back towards Pt Samson yesterday at around 9am 9.30ish? we went to the east of cossack yesterday with some moderate luck but no Bazza Mundy's hooked, it was so dead in the creek we ended up in. It didn't help that our native australian mates decided to net the creek TWICE! wasn't happy.

 

great to see they are out there in good numbers fella's congrats Huggy on the species ticked off the list. good trip!

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HuggyB's picture

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Nah not us in the convoy

Mon, 2009-11-30 08:21

we were travelling solo.

 

And cheers Brucesta, it was good to tick a few species off!

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Colin Hay's picture

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Great yarn and pics Brad

Mon, 2009-11-30 08:29

And well done Huggy. You picked up some great Barras there. Pity about the rod, but these things happen.

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Blake.T.'s picture

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good report guys, sounds

Mon, 2009-11-30 09:57

good report guys, sounds like an awesome trip

what rod did you snap???

PilbaraBrad's picture

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it was a raider blake, def

Mon, 2009-11-30 12:17

it was a raider blake, def not the rods fault though

HuggyB's picture

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I don' think it mattered what rod

Mon, 2009-11-30 13:23

it was going to snap with the way the fight went regardless.....just means I need to buy more toys!

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DazSamFishing's picture

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Nothin' but excuses Huggy.

Mon, 2009-11-30 17:21

Nothin' but excuses Huggy. You should have had more control over those Queenies... they fight as hard as a whiting LOL

PilbaraBrad's picture

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yeah right, i have never

Mon, 2009-11-30 20:23

yeah right, i have never seen a whiting jump 15 times and wrap people around an anchor rope mate

DazSamFishing's picture

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LOL. Yep - they do go skitso

Mon, 2009-11-30 21:49

LOL. Yep - they do go skitso

HuggyB's picture

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Its pretty tough

Mon, 2009-11-30 21:53

when the chips are down, you are upset that you have a broken rod but are still connected to the fish and have hope and a determination to land the fish!

 

Yet the skipper is doubled over with tears laughing at you and not helping in any way shape or form. To the point that he was on the verge of hyper-ventilating.

 

Very tough indeed.......

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Faulkner Family's picture

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wouldnt you be doing the

Mon, 2009-11-30 21:56

wouldnt you be doing the same if it was the other way around. i know i would.at least you didnt let the fish beat youLaughing

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Kelvin8r's picture

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Nice work boys, well done

Mon, 2009-11-30 10:34

Nice work boys, well done huggy on ticking some fish off your list. How did ya go with brads singing?

HuggyB's picture

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He was strangely quiet

Mon, 2009-11-30 13:24

I spit a few lyrics early and I think he felt intimidated with the awesome benchmark I set.

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Kelvin8r's picture

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fark!

Mon, 2009-11-30 18:44

shit thats unheard of... maybe thats the key... better lock that one in the old memory bank

crasny1's picture

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LOL, I hear that all the time Sheldon

Mon, 2009-11-30 11:20

It must be pretty bad. Just drink more beers and all sounds normal. Everything changes after 9 Coronas

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJ19qh4g2-o

LOL

Neels

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crasny1's picture

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What is the count Now Brad

Mon, 2009-11-30 11:22

I like the count better than PE12.

Sort off keeps us informed on the progress.

Cheers

and great Read mate.

Neels

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PilbaraBrad's picture

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about 33 mate, give or take

Mon, 2009-11-30 12:17

about 33 mate, give or take a few . I think the boat tally is up to about 67

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Cheers Brad

Mon, 2009-11-30 12:31

Good count and the target looks easily reachable and breakable.

Felt the pain yesterday after getting bored with bottom bouncing near Courtney Head (sitting out the wind in the lea for lunch). Threw a Roosta popper at the shore on the Tcurve and Saragosa 14 000 locked fully and got beafed by a good GT. Bloody near pulled my arms off and did injure the back. Was not ready for the wild ride and twisted the lower back muscles.

Got to toughen up!!!

Neels

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PilbaraBrad's picture

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hahaha, yep good fun mate

Mon, 2009-11-30 12:38

hahaha, yep good fun mate nice work!

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Jeez that is a great

Mon, 2009-11-30 11:58

Jeez that is a great session. Nice pics aswell.

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yet again another great report

Mon, 2009-11-30 12:21

well done Brad for putting Huggy onto some quality fish.

sure Huggy has plenty of other combos as he has an arsenal there.....Wink

 

mako magic's picture

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looks like a awesome

Mon, 2009-11-30 12:24

looks like a awesome weekend, must have to drag my ass up that way one day indeed

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Great storey

Mon, 2009-11-30 14:46

great storey and pictures guys, certainly some good fish caught by both Brad and Huggy,  Huggy i see your wearing your lucky camo cravat again ,which would be a good idea for the bugs and sunburn up north

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Nice work boys.

Mon, 2009-11-30 15:45

Nice work boys.

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Nice work

Mon, 2009-11-30 16:43

Nice way to start the account Huggy.  I know what you mean re feeling the pain for the effort, but its sooo good when the rewards start coming.  I can't believe that you out sung Brad though, obviously he hasn't been watching enough dora the explorer (or whatever the latest trend is Laughing)

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ah.......

Mon, 2009-11-30 21:54

that would be Tinkerbell mate. Something about a lost city or treasure. I didn't realise fairies had either to be honest.

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Huggy B well done ,it is one

Mon, 2009-11-30 19:29

Huggy B well done ,it is one of mine and Jesses dreams to go north and catch some barra,a great report and some top picks ,well done brad on putting huggy on the fish ,a good skipper makes all the differance. Well done guys.

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Bloody hell! Excellent

Mon, 2009-11-30 21:25

Bloody hell! Excellent report guys ! I had no idea huggy was capable of catching so many fish!

No wonder i couldnt find the report lol... i was looking for ages, pilbara stories.

Now back to perth and no fish :)