# Freshwater Creek Cairns 13/2/09



## Junglefisher (Jun 2, 2008)

I had done a little bit of fishing on foot in freshy creek yesterday, it's back down to near normal levels but still quite murky - it's normally vodka clear. Yesterday I landed a huge Jungle perch, in the low 40's for sure but instead of climbing down the bank I went the leader lift and dropped it. I also got a 32cm mangrove jack. So I couldn't stay away with fishing like that and took the yak down today for a sesh.
Launched at a local park about a 3minute drive away. Paddled upstream to the same area I hit on foot yesterday and landed 2 small JP. My plan was to head downstream - normally I fish upstream as much as possible but I had two reasons. 1 - the water downstream looks more barra like. I know there are barra in there and wanted a chance at them. 2 - Yesterday I'd found that my normal cast upstream and wind back down was stopping the lure from having any real action, the current is simply too strong at the moment.
So I headed downstream, sheesh hard to fish when you are getting pushed along at 5kmh or more. I found I had to basically eddy out or pull up on a bank to get any casts in, annoying to paddle past some real fishy looking spots and not get any casts in 
Picked up a few fish then got to a spot where I may have had to portage, didn't check it out too thouroughly though. Lunch time so I got out of the yak, bad move! 10 zillion mozzies! So paddle back up munching my sandwich, drinking water and casting. It was much easier going fishing upstream, momentum allowing me to get 1 or 2 casts in before I had to drop the rod and paddle again.
Picked up some nicer fish, a fat JP that went 33cm, not too shabby.










Picked up a few more then cast into a nice eddy and got smashed, once, twice, thrice! Hooks held and I started the challenge of bringing in a fat fish that knew how to use the current whilst trying not to get swept downstream myself. I ended up holding a vine, letting go and winding, then holding on to the vine again etc. Managed to net him and being an enivronet, the hooks promtly fell out of it's mouth. So now I have a nice fish in the net balanced on the spraydeck, my rod sitting on the spraydeck and resting on the front rod holder, my paddle resting across the deck and I'm being pushed downstream. I want to get a photo of this nice fish so i have to paddle across the creek, eddy out and try and get out of the yak without losing anything. I managed it and she went 36cm and fat as!




























Eddy to the left where I caught it.









Paddled back up, past the car and a bit more upstream managing another few small JP. No barra or Jacks for the day though.


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## Rstanek (Nov 5, 2007)

Great report JF, that scond last shot is fantastic!


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## Marty75 (Oct 23, 2007)

What a beautiful fish and also a magic spot!

I once drove through the Atherton tablelands, very lush indeed.

Nice work Junglefisher.

Marty


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## Shufoy (May 28, 2008)

Amazing fishing mate!

Certainly have nothing like that here in Perth...

Great photo's too!


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## Junglefisher (Jun 2, 2008)

Hard to believe that it's suburban eh?


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## radar (Nov 4, 2007)

Damm nice looking fish craig, the scale patterns are amazing . Bad luck on the Barra prob all washed to P.N.G by now :lol: Cheers radar.


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## Imaddictedtofishing (Nov 28, 2007)

Wow nice looking fish. Are there crocs in there? Coz im going for a holidays up to cairns in july and we are spending 1 week near the reef and 1 week in the rainforest.


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## sunshiner (Feb 22, 2006)

G'day Craig

It's so good to see that the junglies are thriving. I first fished for them between Townsville and Cairns in the early 1970s. Like you, I used to wade/clamber up the small streams. Got some beautiful fish in some spectacular settings. Thanks for reminding me, although the memories are never far from the surface.


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## Junglefisher (Jun 2, 2008)

Matt... tough question. Would it be a good enough answer to say that no one has reported a croc in there in recent times? Anywhere on the coastal plains there is a chance of crocs so anywhere where you get JP, Jacks or natural Barra, you keep your eyes open. With thr floods just going back down and the water murky I was more cautious than usual and just after I exited the water there was a huge upwelling of mud and muck in a deeper part of the river. Several people saw it and the consensus was that a ball of marsh gas had burst on the bottom of the river. Made me sit up and take notice though!
In July you may be better off targetting the larger rivers for JP but it may be too cold even there.
Sunshiner, glad to have made you smile. Unfortunately some of the best places are impossible to get a yak in although I'm considering a small inflatable. I tried to take my yak to the upper reaches of the Russel a while back and spent most of my time dragging it over boulders rather than paddling it. Will go back there sans yak soon though.


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## mcbigg (Jul 14, 2007)

They're a cool looking fish that we don't often see.

Great work on the catches and thanks for the great report and jealousy-inducing scenic pictures.

Cheers, Paul.


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## RedPhoenix (Jun 13, 2006)

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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## AJD (Jul 10, 2007)

JF that's a great fish. Very fat. Congrats on the capture - she's a beauty!


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

Nice ones! Tell me....what's the go with them? I always thought they were a no take species but now I see they list a minimum size for them....can you legally keep them?


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## YakCult (Nov 4, 2008)

What an interesting report, Craig!  
Those JP's are a stunning looking fish......
Notice your PB is 42 - how big do you reckon they get?


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## Junglefisher (Jun 2, 2008)

Red, my longest was 42cm but that 36cm is the heaviest I've ever landed and measured. The one from Thursday was bigger but as I say, the hooks pulled when I tried to lift it. For some reason there's some real fatties at the moment, my suspicion is that they are spawning or have finished spawning. Alternatively, it could just be that the big fatties from Crystal Cascades (where people feed them bread) have been washed down in the floods.
Barrabundy, you are allowed to keep one as long as it's under 35cm. I've never kept one but am told they are quite a tasty fish for freshwater. I thought I was going to keep one yesterday as it had swallowed the whole rear treble and I could not get it's mouth open, then the front treble got tangled up in my sleeve. Managed to get it back alive though.
Yakcult, down at Paronella park they feed them barra pellets in the local river and I'd say some of them would be pushing 60cm and 4 or 5kg. There's also similar sized sooties there and hundreds of eels around 1.5m long :shock: . If you got a 50cm+ in the true wild though, it would be a fish of a lifetime.


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## Junglefisher (Jun 2, 2008)

Hit the creek again yesterday for a break from the saltwater.
Landed around 15 JP, most a decent size.
Water level is getting low enough to make some sections a hassle now.
Clearing up more every day too.


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## wongus (Feb 12, 2006)

Very nice. Thanks for sharing your pics. Would love to catch a nice JP one day.


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## onemorecast (Apr 17, 2006)

Great report and photos JP. I recognise Crystal Cascades as a place I've going swimming 20 years ago, and remember seeing a few fish swimming aroudn those holes.

Good looking fish too, very differnt looking than other types of perch.


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## dunebuggy (Dec 21, 2008)

Hey Junglefisher, great pics, didn't read the whole report though cos I am lazy. Being that far north, isn't there the possibility of crocs? It might seem a dumb question but, I don't know, so I ask.


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