# QLD - Ayr Trip



## WayneD (Jul 11, 2006)

Well the time had come for my 6 monthly trip to Ayr and I was looking forward to getting into some barra. The drive up was quick left at 6:40pm and got in at 8:10am. Only 13.5hrs drive, wish it was closer...had a lay day the first day and teed up a session with Con the next morning on a local creek. So I got to his place around 6am and we were on the water within 5 minutes from his house (everything is 5 minutes away in Ayr). This session proved fruitless apart from a few catfish and tarpon although I did have a brown undies moment when a little bullshark came up and had a go at my catfish beside the yak, but he missed, even though I lowered it down for him to have a second go at it.

Sunday saw me head off in the stinkboat with my brother and mum hoping for a few barra on livies, but alas nothing but sharks, rays, catty's etc.

Monday I waited until the afternoon and drove my little car through the bush to get as close to a spot as possible that Con and I had visited the last time I was here. It was still a good 200mtr drag over soft sand to get to the water but it was manageable and I really wanted to catch a barra. I didn't take long for the first little barra to nail my gold bomber, phew thought I was going to go barra-less. I managed about half a dozen in this session and was pleased to be on the board. Some were caught on StevenM's home made Bazz RR's which made them even more special. As I pushed on up the creek I had a little bit of portage and then got back in the yak. First cast after getting back in was at an irrigation pipe and it got nailed. The fish pulled drag and I thought I was onto my first decent barra. Then I got it in sight and it was a decent Jack of about 45cm as I reached around to grab my lip grippers it spat the hooks and swam away. Spewing, I had never caught a jack on the yak or ever for that matter.

I fished up the creek a bit longer to get to where the unstoppables had done me over last time. I had upgraded my leader this trip and was keen to bring one in alas it wasn't to be the case with no fish on the snags that I got dusted on last time. So I turned around and headed back. As I was paddling back casting at a rock wall I noticed something in the middle of the creek a snag that wasn't there before. That's a bit weird I thought. I kept casting and watching this snag and then all of a sudden it disappeared. Screw this I'm out of here, must be a croc. So I paddled frantically to get out of there and then I thought to myself, will all this splashing attract it to me? So I slowed down to a gentle paddle and kept my eyes scanning the water line. What do you do in this situation Con? I got back to the portage and felt safer so fished the same snags as I had already caught fish on. This only resulted in two follows from little bull sharks and I thought to myself now this is extreme fishing!


































Tuesday saw no fishing as Mum and I went for a trip to Townsville as she had some appointments up there and she doesn't like to drive.

Wednesday morning saw me heading back to the croc sighting spot but I stayed in the first bit of the creek and only stayed for a few hours as I wanted to fish the afternoon as well. Heading up the creek I got a few swipes at the lure but they were only having a look. I got to my turn around spot and headed back and pulled a few fish off the snags that I had had swipes at. The fish were hooked outside the mouth indicating that they weren't really hungry and probably just being more territorial than anything.


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## WayneD (Jul 11, 2006)

Wednesday afternoon saw me heading off to a salt water location the Con had told me about. The launch site was supposed to be a ramp but it was more like a sand dune. No boats could launch here. It was a bit butt puckering when I saw the Beware Crocodiles sign but it had been pushed over and looked fairly old so there would hopefully be no crocs left here, right?

So I headed downstream to the snags Con had told me to try but it was dead low and there was only about 2ft of water there so I quickly headed upstream to a bank that he had also told me about. Third cast in Barra, 7 cast in Barra, this one going the closest to legal for the trip at 56cms. No barra for Mum for tea. Then I had a bit of a lull in the fishing but as soon as the tide turned they were on. I lost count of how many barra I caught, probably 10-12+ but these saltwater ones were very aerial and good fun. I also lost as many as I caught when they jumped.

As the tide pushed up over the mudbank I cast into a little opening and the gold bomber was inhaled by something other than a barra. At first I thought it was a flathead but then it hung deep and had me in 2 minds. Then up popped this 68cm flathead. You little beauty I thought, what a great bycatch and unfortunately for her she was going to be dinner for my mum. I pulled up on a sand bank to get some photos and noticed flathead lies all over the sand bank. So I started flicking a few lures around and walking the sandbank. No flathead were caught but I nailed a few more barra. They really take to the air in the shallow water and put on a great show.

It was time to go so I started paddling back against the wind and tide and couldn't resist a few more flicks into likely looking spots. For this I was rewarded with my first ever Jack and he was pretty, but not a keeper so I let him go and paddled to my launch spot a happy chappy. As I got back to the launch spot and stepped out of my yak there was this almighty splash behind me and I shit myself and ran up the beach. Much to the amusement of the old couple setting up their caravan. I thought it was a croc coming for me but there were 2 dolphins chasing mullet less than 20 metres away from where I landed, phew.

And that was it for this trip. Another 14hr drive home and I am done.


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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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QlpoOTFBWSZTWSCkyKYAAAlXgAAQQAEAEFAAPu+eACAAVEQyNDTQGgRT8kT0nqM1DNQQJjrOMGTvVNUpZ3hlclIA4UakCPDmrWDQqcLQoxPCWzbpzBvQSoUEfi7kinChIEFJkUw=


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## Rstanek (Nov 5, 2007)

Cool report, healthy barra are such a good-looking fish. Congrats on the jack as well!


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

While I was disappointed I could only manage the one session with you, this trip report makes me wonder if I was the cause of the lack of fish. I haven't seen my house during daylight this week so I was looking forward to hearing some fishy news.



WayneD said:


> Screw this I'm out of here, must be a croc. So I paddled frantically to get out of there and then I thought to myself, will all this splashing attract it to me? So I slowed down to a gentle paddle and kept my eyes scanning the water line. What do you do in this situation Con?


Exactly that but without the gentle paddling if they're big. Reach for the camera if they're babies...haven't photographed one for a trip report yet.



WayneD said:


> The launch site was supposed to be a ramp but it was more like a sand dune. No boats could launch here.


A few die-hards do. They winch their boat and trailer down there, launch the boat and then winch the trailer back up again. I've seen some broken trailers and one expensive landcruiser get pulled over by the weight of their boat. It's a wonder no one has had a snapped rope take their head off yet!



WayneD said:


> I saw the Beware Crocodiles sign but it had been pushed over and looked fairly old so there would hopefully be no crocs left here, right?


Ummm.......about 5k upstream there is the biggest one I've seen.....but it doesn't seem to stray far.....yet....that I know of.

The dolphin incident is interesting, good to see they're still around, haven't seen them for years myself. One morning I launched there at first light. The channel at the time was much shallower there than it is now and it was only just deep enough to use my mirage drive. I felt the kayak hit something hard and whatever it was made an almight splash and took off pushing a massive bow wave which I could just make out in the dim light. I had a brown pants moment and was seriously wondering whether I get out, turn around or what? I decided to go fishing but when I was on my way back I saw a couple of the same bow waves being pushed in the same place. At first I was baffled and thought they might be dugongs, as I got close I could see they were big turtles and the water was only just deep enough to cover them. I'd obviusly bumped one and gave it a fright.

Great report by the way, more fish photos in there than I've caught all year!


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## Dodge (Oct 12, 2005)

Wayne for the distance travelled it's good to read you got some reasonable results, and pleasing that Steve's timber did the job as well.


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## suehobieadventure (Feb 17, 2009)

Well done, I was in Ayr in my dreams last night catching sooty grunter from my lads boat  THEN I woke up and realised I was in SA and the other half was snoring :lol: . Must be time to head north again.


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## WayneD (Jul 11, 2006)

leftieant said:


> Well, that answers the 'what lures should I pack' question.
> 
> Great report mate and I hope can emulate even 1/10th of your result in a couple of weeks.


Yep the gold bomber is a must have in Nth Qld if you ask me.

Can't fit a rod? Want the Emmrod to try? Happy to send it to you. I'll even send you the gold bomber with it.


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## WayneD (Jul 11, 2006)

Dodge said:


> Wayne for the distance travelled it's good to read you got some reasonable results, and pleasing that Steve's timber did the job as well.


1280kms each way Richo. Bloody long way to catch some barra. Steve's timber was great and I thank him very much for making them for me.


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## Nativeman (Sep 6, 2005)

Nice report Wayne..Some great fishing.

Steven makes a good lure, awesome to see it caught a barra or two.


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## Junglefisher (Jun 2, 2008)

Sounds like fun.
I know the saltwater spot, the ramp had just been washed out when I was there I think.
Not sure about the freshwater spot, might be the same one but I think not.
Lots of fish, even if they weren't big. Shame about the jack.
Nice flatty, I saw a real big one caught (and taken) from there. Closest to 1m flatty I've ever seen.
If the croc goes under, don't paddle straight. Change direction. If it is tracking you, it will need to see where you've gone.
Great to see the Bazz RRs working well.


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

Like this


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## carnster (May 27, 2008)

Funt times Wayne classic rod!


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## WayneD (Jul 11, 2006)

Geez BB you wouldn't want your rope to break when going up the hill...


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## Julian (Oct 23, 2009)

Love that rod , where can you get them in oz
cheers Julian


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## WayneD (Jul 11, 2006)

http://www.emmrod.com/pages/Distributor ... alers.html

Or http://www.emmrodsoz.com.au/


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## kayakone (Dec 7, 2010)

Wondering how that rod would go on a tuna Wayne? Or an 80 - 100 cm barra? Reckon it'd be OK?


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## WayneD (Jul 11, 2006)

Rated to 25lbs Trev. I tried to get that size barra on it this trip but alas was hounded by littlies...

Let me know if you want to borrow it and test it out on something decent.


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## kayakone (Dec 7, 2010)

WayneD said:


> Rated to 25lbs Trev. I tried to get that size barra on it this trip but alas was hounded by littlies...
> 
> Let me know if you want to borrow it and test it out on something decent.


Thanks for the offer Wayne, but probably not sufficient. I have got something decent in mind Wayne, and I know where it lurks, something that has been smashing me for three weeks (three encounters - all failed). [1st encounter ... one straightened 3 X treble in five seconds; 2nd encounter .... on for five + minutes, took 150 metres, and I stopped it, then bitten off; 3rd encounter encounter, on for four minutes ... split ring straightened.]

I suspect some slimy *bastard* will meanwhile hook it and claim it as his (I don't have a car ATM, so I can't go fishin'). And if he does, I'll never talk to him again. I hope he gets tipped over. :lol:


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