The Rapala Fortnight Freebies Prize.

Hi there,

Yes, I did get very lucky : I won the first 2017 Rapala Fortnight Freebies prize for 2017.
What is that?
Some of you may ask...
Well every fortnight Rapala Australia do a little competition on their Facebook page. And every time a lucky participant get to received for over $200 of Rapala products.
And what did I had to do to become a lucky boy?
Well as it was the first Rapala Freebies of the year, they made it an easy one, so I was in with a chance...
I had to look online at what were their products and tell on their Facebook page which ones I would like to received.
And my choice was really simple, I wanted some fishing lures to chase the mighty Barramundi.
So I said that I would love to get some Storm So-Run Akame and some Twitchin' Mullet.
And that was it, I was the lucky one whose name came up in the draw.
Now, what did I received for such a big effort?
All of that:

All the Freebies from Rapala Australia.

So lets look at it a bit more closely.

Starting first with the ones I really wanted, the big bait:

Storm So-Run Akame.

This is a big lure, with single hooks, made to catch big fish. My goal with these is to catch a big Barramundi. It measure 19cm for 67g, and has a running depth of 0.3M. This looks like a good lure to use for big Barramundi, and I really hope to up my personal best catch on this lure.

Then comes the other lure that I was very interested to put my little fingers on, the Twitchin' Mullet:

Rapala X-Rap Twitchin' Mullet.

The Rapala Twitchin' Mullet is a lure that I really was hoping to win, because I had never seen it in shop in Darwin yet. But after looking at it online it seemed to be exactly the type of lure I would love to flick at some run off creek or even from the shore at some of my urban land based fishing spots.

It is a relatively small lure, 8cm for 13g with a diving depth of 0.3 to 0.6M, which is also what might make it a good land based fishing lure. It has a subsurface walk the dog action, and anyone who knows my fishing preferences knows that I love surface walk the dog lures. So this one should be really interesting to fish with.

As a companion to these two little lure came what could be described as their big brother, the Twitchin' Minow:

Rapala X-Rap, Twitchin' Minow.

This one is bigger and longer that the previous one. It is 12cm for 26g.

In fact there is two sizes available for this lure the 12 cm one and a smaller one at 10cm and 14g.

I am rather happy to have the bigger one, as it will nicely complement the smaller Twitchin' Mullet that came with it.

This one too is a shallow lure with a running depth identical to the Twitchin' Mullet, 0.3 to 0.6M that is. So I intend to fish both lures in the same zones, depending on what type of natural bait swim there on the day. Because as they say, the best is often to match the hatch.

With them came the Shadow Rap Deep:

Rapala Shadow Rap Deep.

This is a lure that I had never seen before, so it is more than welcome in my tackle box.

It is 11cm long for 13g, and is a slow sinking on pause lure.

It will be interesting to see how the Barramundi react to this lure.

It cam in the Clown colour, it is a colour with which I have caught Barramundi with in the past, so I am for the moment quite confident that it too should bring back a fish.

Then in all the goodies, I found some stickers, first this one:

Rapala Auto/Boat Emblem.

I do not have a boat, but I can see it placed on the bonnet of my car.

It will be like driving a Rapala's car, and will continue to make me day dream about fishing while driving to work. So you know, I could stay focused on the task at hand.

And now the proper stickers:

Full set of Rapala Pro Decal.

These stickers will find places on my pushbike and other perfect sticker's spots. My child has already spotted them and I might have to share.

Fishing lures and stickers, what could be missing here?

The cloths!

And here they are:

Rapala Coasting Lure T-Shirt.

Now for a guy like me who is borderline obsessive compulsive when it comes to fishing lures, what a T-shirt to wear!

To go with the shirt was a short:

Rapala Catch Boardies.

When I received an email from Rapala asking me about my pants size, I looked on their website, and this very short was my favourite. So the stars must have aligned properly, as this is the one I received.

And last but not least, you may have noticed it on the first photograph of this post, a bucket:

Rapala stainless steel lures bucket.

This is all what I received from the good guys at Rapala Australia for the Rapala Fortnight Freebies.

Honestly, it is more than what I was expecting, and I am very grateful for all of this, thank you guys.

If you live in Australia, you should definitively go on their Facebook page and try to enter the fortnightly competition, it is well worth it, and lets face it, not too so hard. So that everyone is in with a good chance to win.

Here is a last photograph for the road:

Storm, So-Run Akame.

The only problem for me receiving all these fishing lures early in the week, is that I had to wait nearly a full week before I would be able to test them...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

FFF Seadogs 2016 Prize.

Hi there,

Yes, I was lucky enough to win a round of the FFF Seadogs 2016.
And not any round but the last one, basically I really got in by the skin of my teeth.

So first what is the FFF Seadogs competition?
It is a friendly fishing competition organised by the FFF fishing forum, in Australia.
The competition is made of eleven rounds, and the angler with the best fish in a round win this round.
At the end of the year, the person who had the biggest number of points (Allocated by the sizes of fish entered in the competition each rounds) win the Grand Prize of Seadog of the year.

Now, I have entered this competition since it's beginning, and it is only the very first time that I win a round in it. This is a testament to the quality of the many anglers who compete in it every years.
And my win was I believe due more to sheer luck than anything else.
But hey, I will take it anyway.

So what did I win?
This:

Yes, all of this!

Now let's have a closer look at all these goodies.

First the Rapala:

Three Rapala fishing lures.

Yes, note one, not two but three Rapala fishing lures.

One Max Rap and two X-Rap XR-12.

The Max Rap swim at 03 to 09M (1-3FT.). And the two X-Rap dive to 1,2-2,4M (4 to 8 FT.).

Then come the Halco / RMG:

Three fishing lures from Halco / RMG.

This lot is made of a 40g Outcast in white, one of my favourite lure when fishing for Queenfish and other small pelagic from the shore. It cast like a bullet and fish love it.

Second is a Laser Pro 120MT, with a swimming depth of 1M. I have never fished with a Laser Pro, but many of my fishing buddies told me that they love it for Barramundi, so I will definitively try it.

And third is the ever reliable Poltergeist 80. A great little lure, which already caught me plenty of fish, and that I rate highly.

Then come the Reidy's:

Two of my favourite Barramundi fishing lure.

One of them is a B52...

Yes, I have said it before, my first ever Barramundi on a lure was on a Reidy's B52.

I have since always had some in my tackle boxes, and always make sure to have a few with me when ever I go fishing. 

The other is a Little Lucifer, these are great lures when fishing the billabong, or at the start of the run off season, when the bait is still relatively small. I have caught some fish with this lure too.

And then came the timber lure:

Deep River Lure.

This one is a Deep River Lure Mugil.

Deep River Lures are handcrafted in Queensland, and are very well finished. I already had two of them, and really like them, even if they are nearly too beautiful to be fished.

They are even signed under the belly:

Deep River Lure Mugil.

But what does the average angler would be with shiny lures and nothing to attach them to?

So here come the fishing line, from Platypus:

Platinum+ Braid by Platypus.

This comes just at the right time. It is here the beginning of the run off season. The time when I get my reels serviced and change the lines that need to be changed. With 300 years of 30lb braid, I will be ok for a little while. Platypus fishing lines are made in Australia and as such are well suited for the harsh condition under which we fish.

And last but not least, the Tonic sunglasses:

Tonic Evo polarized sunglasses.

Each round winner for 2016 was supposed to chose the frame of their choice, and they should have come with polycarbonate lenses. But the guys at Tonic Eyewear decided to give us a nice surprise, and send the glasses with real glass photochromic lenses.

Now that is some super cool stuff!

I already owned a pair of Tonic glasses with photochromic lenses, but I had them for several years and they have suffered the bad treatment that I inflict on my fishing accessories. So a brand new pair is more than welcome.

Oh and what kind of fish did I catch to get rewarded with all these nice things?

Do you remember a post I did in December 2016 about a Barramundi that broke my fishing rod?

That the one!

Yes it did broke my fishing rod, but it brought me a lot more.

I would like to give a big shout out to the FFF Forum for organising this great fishing competition.

And to all the sponsors in no particular order:

Reidy's, Halco / RMG, Rapala, Deep River Lures, Platypus fishing lines, and Tonic Eyewear.

Thank you all, you are making this competition even better.

Now what are my chance to win a round in the FFF Seadogs 2017?

Well, I wouldn't ask you to hold your breath on this one...

As so far I am yet to catch a Barramundi in 2017...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

The Reidy's Lures Winner

Hi there,

In each issue of the North Australian Fishing & Outdoors Magazine (NTMAG), a fishing report posted on the free fishing forum FFF, is reprinted and earns the writer a $150 fishing lure pack courtesy of Reidy's Lures.
And guess who won it this time around?

The Magazine cover and page 7.

Yes it's noted on page 7 that I won the Reidy's Lure Pack.

This was a great surprise and honestly it did make me very happy.

I love fishing lures, and Reidy's lures are right up there among my favourites to fish the local waters of the Australian Top End. They have a wide range of strong lures, with great action and colours. Basically the team are locals to the area and as such make the best lures when it come to catching the local fish. 

And because I am good at loosing my lures while fishing, it is always nice to get a few new ones.

I contacted the people from Reidy's via Facebook to ask when I could drop by to pick up my prize. Karen kindly replied that despite the fact that they close before I finish work in the evening, she would be happy to stay a bit longer for me to have the time to drive there and choose my lures.

Now talk about a great service, not only they offer the prize, but they were ready to accomodate my time schedule so I could pick them up!

So off I went to the factory that very day. Yes I couldn't wait! I was like a kid before Christmas, I wanted to get there as soon as possible...

The Reidy's factory.

Just on the outskirt of Darwin, the factory is just a short drive away and it didn't take too long to get there. Once there, I felt like Willy Wonka in the Chocolate Factory...

Lures, fishing lures everywhere... 

I didn't know where to look, my attention could not focus on any in particular, there was so many of them.

First I had decided what lures I was going to choose, then I would pick two of them.

Yes every lure would come as a pair.

Why?

Well it's rather simple really. The fishing report on the FFF Forum was the story of a fishing trip on Brett's boat and I had decided to share the bounty with him as a thank you.

After much inner debate, I made my selection and was able to walk out of the factory with a great bag of lures:

My favourite sort of party bag.

What is in the bag, some of you might wonder...

Here it is:

First two Big Lucifer in the H-CHAR colour:

The Big Lucifer.

I really like this colour, and think that it might be slightly underestimated by a few anglers.

I already had the B52 and the Junior B52 in this colour, but didn't have any lures in the Big Lucifer size. 

Now I do.

I really like the Big B52, simply because my best Barramundi so far was caught on a Big B52 and the fish measured 111cm (43.70 Inches).

This is why I went for the Big B52 in a newly released colour:

Big B52 in Midnight colour.

Karen had just told me that if I was after a certain colour in the range and couldn't find it on the shelves to ask for it, and that she might have it at the back.

Immediately I asked for this one and she got it from the factory storage area for me. I really wanted one like that and nearly took all the lures in the Midnight colour.

I never had a hardbody lure in black before.

Now I do.

Another lure that has been released only a short time ago is the Renegade:

Renegade in the colour 008.

As some of you might know, the colour 008 is my all time favourite in the Reidy's range.

If I had to have only one colour for all of my lures that would be the one.

When the Renegade was released I went to the shop to get one, and I wanted it in this very colour.

They didn't have it in this colour yet at the time, so I didn't get one.

Now I do.

For the grand final, I chose the biggest B52 that you can find, the B52 Big Ass 200:

B52 Big Ass 200.

This one is the largest of the B52's family, as its name suggest it is 200 mm long (7.87 Inches).

The lure is building a solid reputation as a big Barramundi lure, and can also be trolled fast for pelagic. In other words, a good all rounder, it was released in 2015.

I chose this one in the colour called Purple Rain.

Why did I choose to take it in this colour?

Well I didn't have a single lure in this colour...

Now I do.

And here is the full loot of fishing lures:

My Pack of Reidy's Lures.

Big thanks to the FFF Fishing Forum and Reidy's for this win! You guys made my day.

Now, I realise that on the first photograph of this post you can't read the full story that allowed me win these great lures...

Well you can buy the North Australian Fishing & Outdoors Magazine or go on the FFF forum to read it there. There is even a blue link to take you directly to the forum at the beginning of this post.

As to the quality of the photographs in this post, well please be indulgent, as this is the first time that I written a post, where all the images were produced with only my mobile phone.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

The Colour Pecheur.

Hi there,

Today I will present to you three beautiful fishing lures, in the colour Pecheur.
But what is the colour Pecheur?
You might ask...

Well, a few years ago, my good friend Dean gave me a handmade timber lure, that he had done especially for me, and painted in the flag colours of the country I was born in.
And Pecheur had been my alias, or nom de plume in online fishing and lures forum for a long time.

So what does it look like?
Here is a look at the first one:

The colour Pecheur.

This one was given to me by James P. The lure is a Bomber 15 Long A, in a colour that you will not find in shops.

This lure has a special marking on the head:

Fishing lure with team marking.

Now why on earth is the #TeamSlootz, and why would James give me a lure in this special colour with the team marking on it?

Well from what I understand, #TeamSlootz is a very tight group of rather good fisherfolks from around Darwin. (And no, I do not claim to be part of this tight community, I am just lucky enough to have one lure with the team marking). This secretive group, compete between themselves for a year, and the person who will have caught the biggest fish of the year, will have for a full evening, his drinks paid by the other members of the team at the end of the said year.

What did I do to deserve this lure? (And another one, just wait until you see it).

That was pretty easy really, in the second round of the 2016 Top End Barra Series, I hooked my lure, on a lure that was snagged on some underwater tree branches. I got both of them back, and one of them was a rather big and expensive one, no not mine, but the one I had just brought back with it. And it had the #TeamSlootz marking on the head. 

Once I learned that a guy that I know was a member of the team, I offered to give the lure back.

I exchange I was offered two lures in the colour Pecheur. That was very kind of James, I was not expecting anything really, and that was a great surprise. Thank you James.

The other one that James gave me?

Here it is:

Reidy's in the colour Pecheur.

This one is a Reidy's Big Ass, one of my favourite fishing lure when it comes to Barramundi fishing.

But this one, off course, will go straight to the collection, and will stay dry.

And now the one that Dean gave me, the one that started the colour Pecheur:

The Tastic Lures in colour Pecheur.

Yes, this is the one that started the colour Pecheur, at least for me.

It is a very beautiful handcrafted timber lure, made in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.

A lure made with the Barramundi and nothing else in mind.

Handmade in Darwin.

As the card says, this one was the number 1 in this colour. And is now to me a very precious lure in my small collection.

And to finish in beauty, the final bouquet:

Three version of the colour Pecheur.

I feel very privileged to have mates who painted these lures just for me, thank you guys.

James told me that he would like to see one of them in a Barramundi mouth...

I am not really sure that this will happen.

Sometimes I think that I could use the Bomber one to fish and retire it as soon as it would have caught a fish.

(There is absolutely no way that the other two will get near the water, ever).

But then I think that it will be scratched, damaged and all...

I don't want that to happen!

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

The Renegade.

Hi there,

Do you remember the 21st March 2011?
On that day, on this very blog, I introduced you to the prototype of a fishing lure made by Reidy's in Darwin...
At the time the lure was called The Big Judge, but that was not the definite name...
the lure was to be named the Renegade, and it finally hit the shops on this beautiful month of August 2016.

What did the prototype look like?
Like this:

The prototype.

This lure was a present that I received while visiting the Reidy's factory on the outskirts of Darwin.

I have never used it and kept it very preciously. 

But this week, I went to a shop, and bought my first Renegade as soon as I could.

And here it is:

The Reidy's Renegade.

I choose it in the kryptonite colour as it was the closest one to my favourite colour from the Reidy's range, the 008, which is not available yet for the Renegade.

Yes the prototype and the retail version of the lure are very similar.

Prototype and retail version of the Reidy's Renegade.

If the seems slightly different on the above image, it has more to do with the photograph and light than with reality. The prototype is at the top and the retail lure on the bottom of the pic.

The real difference come in the eyes, and the built of the lure.

For the eyes it is pretty obvious, but for the built? Well what I mean by that is that all the tow point and hook hangers are much beefier on the retail one than on the prototype.

Look by yourselves:

Eyes and tow points comparison.

As you can see once again the prototype is in the top part of the image while the retail one is in the lower part. And clearly, the tow point is much stronger on the retail version.

I don't know if it is because during the testing phases, the lure encountered bigger fish than planned? One can only ponder...

But I do know that with such a tow point, it should be able to bring back some pretty big ones.

For the hook hangers, judge by yourself:

Back hook hangers.

The retail version is on the left and the prototype on the right. You can easily see which one is stronger.

The Renegade is a big lure, which can be trolled slow or fast, to a depth of about four metres.

From March 2011 to August 2016 may seems a long time, but I believe that it took in fact longer in research and development to get the lure to shops. All the kudos to Reidy's for not rushing a product out of the factory doors, without making sure first that it was truly tested and ready.

Now I just hope that it will not take me as long to be able to swim and test mine. I can't wait to catch my first fish on it. When it come to play with a new lure, patience is not my stronger point...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

My First Two Deep River Lures.

Hi there,

I just received two very beautiful Deep River Lures.

• They are Handmade from timber.
• The two are very different from each other.
• I won them on the FFF.
• I intend to use them to fish.

Look at what I received:

Two Deep River Lures.

So, how and why?

Well, it is pretty simple in fact.

If you post on the great fishing forum FFF, and at the end of your post use the #DeepRiver, your post could be chosen as the lucky one for the month. And you would be sent one or two lures, directly from the man who makes them himself, Mr Barney.

And boy oh boy, they are nice.

So now that you had a preview of the lures, and know how I got them, lets look at them a bit closer.

First is the Slim.

A very beautiful fishing lure, that I will use mainly in the pursuit of Barramundi.

The Deep River Lures Slim 100.

To me, this lure has Barramundi written all over it.

From the shape, the colour, the fins and the shallow bib, just like I love them.

Here is a portrait of it:

Portrait of the Deep River Lures Slim 100.

This one is the shallow version. Which to me is great, as I mainly fish shallow waters.

And now comes the Mugil:

The Deep River Lures Mugil 70.

Now if this is not a really good looking little lure, I don't know what this is...

It is well finished, with an interesting shape. I think that it would be a great lure to target the Mangrove Jack. I can't wait to see it's action in the water.

And talking about the finish, look at the bib:

Pinned bib for extra strength.

This is one of the reason I personally would feel confident to target Mangrove Jack with this lure. The bib seems solid and well attached to the lure body.

Deep River Lures are handmade in Queensland, Australia, by Barney.

There is a great selection of body shapes and colours have a look at their range. (The link is at the top of this very post, in blue)

Thank you to Barney and the FFF for organising this friendly competition, and sending me these two beautiful lures.

Here comes one last photo, for the road:

Little lure for big fish.

Now it is true that when I receive such beautiful lures I usually keep them for the collection.

But this time I will actually fish with them.

Even it they will certainly end up with a few scratch from the carnivorous fish that swim around in Darwin's waters...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

First Barramundi Of The Year.

Hi there,

Here comes the tale, of my first caught Barramund this year.

• I hooked up five fish and boated only two.
• It was my first ride in Brett's new boat.
• Brett caught more fish than I, once again.
• All our fish were caught casting lures, soft plastics and hard bodies.
• I caught my first Barramundi on a Cultiva Tango Dancer.

I had not really had the possibility to go and do some serious fishing yet this year.

So when Brett invited me to have a go at fishing on Darwin harbour in his new boat, I jumped on the offer and said yes in no time.

And has usual, serious fishing with Brett, was full of laughter and it was a very good day on the water.

Brett picked me up from my home a bit before 11:00am, and we were soon launching the new boat from a ramp not very far from my place, nearly at the heart of the city.

The plan was to go at the top of Sandgroves Creek, and to be locked for the low tide, behind the rock bar.

And this is pretty much what we did, after having a look around in some mangrove first to see if we could sight cast a fish or two. But the water conditions, certainly due to the previous rain, was not in our favour,  so we went back to plan A and up Sandgroves Creek we headed.

We arrived a bit before the tide started to recess, and already we could hear a little boof here and there. I started to get excited, with the anticipation of catching my first Barramundi of the year.

Sandgroves Creek at low tide.

As we arrived I started to cast on the right hand side corner and just after a few cast, as my lure was passing the corner, I felt like if I was hitting the mud or a snag. So I gave it a very soft pull, to make sure that I had not encounter any timber. The line suddenly tensed and a little Barramundi started to show us how good it was at aerial acrobatic.

Yes I was on!

It was no monster but it was in my eyes, legal nonetheless and I started to get in the "I am more excited than I should" mode.

But it was not to be, as this feisty little fish was not only good at acrobatics, but it wasn't too bad either at spitting lures.

I didn't like this demonstration as much as the jumping one...

But hey, now we were sure to be in the right spot, fish were around.

This one had been hooked and lost on a soft plastic, rigged with a single hook.

Not discouraged, I continued to cast in the same spot, hoping that it would have a few brother, or maybe even a big sister hanging around the same ambush point.

And yes it took just a few casts to be on again, same lure, same trajectory, slightly smaller Barramundi... And same result...

A few jumps, and an award in lure spitting/escaping 101 for the fish.

Red card for me...

Well I tried to think that there is always another round, and that I would get my revenge.

It took a bit of time but it eventually happened.

We had moved to another arm of the creek and we could see the Barramundi boofing around us, but we couldn't manage to tempt them with our offering.

Having already lost two fish with soft plastic and single hook, I decided to try a hard body with trebles, as a way to turn the odds in my favour.

So I elected to use a little Tango Dancer.

I had heard by many people that this was a great surface lure, and this is no secret that love fishing with surface lures. At the moment my favourite walk the dog type of lure is with no doubt the DUO Realis Pencil 110, but I was afraid that it would be too big compared to the bait that the Barramundi were feeding on, this early in the season. This is why I choose the small Tango Dancer, as I don't have any of the smaller DUO Realis Pencil.

Well truth to be told, I now also really like the Tango Dancer in small size.

Why?

Because it got me my two fish of the day! And got boofed a few other times, where I lost the fish.

Brett, told me to look where the bait was shimmering on the surface of the creek, and to cast straight on it or just behind it.

So I did it.

We saw a school of bait being very nervous on the surface, next to a couple of trees standing on the mud, and we both casted in the direction of it.

Brett a soft plastic and me my surface hard body lure.

We couldn't see Brett's lure but I was attentively looking at my little lure, walking like a puppy on the surface through the bait school who got even more agitated. 

The lure going right, left, right, left, ri Boof!

No more lure on the surface! Where is my lure?

The straight line pulling away from me, and a Barramundi jumping at the end of it told me quick smart where was my lure, and with whom...

Oh I didn't want to loose a third fish, it wasn't very big, but I really wanted to finally land my first Barramundi of the year.

Because of the smallish hooks on the lure, I had my drag rather loose, and the fish was able to take a few nice run, and even when it was close to the boat, it dived again, and made me turn around the boat to know where it was going.

finally, with the fish boat side, I grabbed my leader line, and pulled it inside.

First Barramundi for 2015!

First Barramundi of the year.

It was not very big at only 57cm (22.440945 inch), but it was also my first legal Barramundi on my new combo and I decided to keep it. My little family was going to have some fresh fish to eat.

After that, I was happy, and the day could have gone without another fish for me, that it would have been the same... Yet, being a fisherman, I could not stand there, and not cast a lure, while Barra were boofing around us. So I did a cast in the same direction of where I got my fish, and didn't got another fish.

I then saw at least three simultaneous boof just at the back of the boat, so as quick as could be I flicked my lure in the middle of all this foaming watery commotion. This was literally my second cast after my first fish, and I was on again!

It gave a better fight and jumped more, but was in fact a smaller fish, by one centimetre.

Second little Barramundi.

At 56cm (22.047244 inch) it was just one centimetre over the minimum size, so we decided to let him grow a bit more, and in the creek it went again.

Brett was starting to say that it was very impolite to out fish your skipper, and I couldn't help to smile at that. As any fisherman would do, when the skipper is a good mate and you know that you can laugh about this kind of thing. I even pretended that I knew and that this is why from now on, I would just miss all the fish that would gobble my lure...

I shouldn't have said it, because this is just what happened for the rest of the afternoon. 

(Karma anyone?)

Brett would reel in fishes, and I would loose them, either boat side, or just after the hit...

I became good at that.

By example we were just about to move from a spot, when my lure got boofed on the surface, just a few feet from the boat. It made me jump in my shoes! I love seeing the sudden attack of a Barramundi on a surface lure. It always brings jitters to me, it is hard to beat.

As This Barra boofed the lure, it missed the hook and swam away, none the wiser that it might have just avoided capture by the people from above...

Seeing this, we decided to persevere a bit longer on the spot.

And of course, another Barra took my lure with gusto, and of course, I lost it too!

But this one gave me a bit of a fright, because once boat side I realised that the lure had lodged itself under the gill of the fish. Now, it is never a good place to have one's line, as the gills have razor sharp edge, and I started to get afraid that I would loose my lure.

Brett even got the net to try and quickly net this strangely hooked fish.

We could see the fish swimming with one of the gill wide open, and the lure inside of it. 

Even if it had been cold weather I would have started to sweat looking down at that.

Just as the net was ready and the fish close to the boat, it dived another time and made a funny kind of twist, which freed the lure and he swam away.

The line had very small damage from the adventure, which surprised me.

But by now Brett had spotted just opposite of us on the other side of the creek, some Barramundi boofing their head off, so we silently made our way in their direction with the electric motor.

Once there, it didn't take long for Brett to hook is first Barra of the day:

Brett first Barramundi of the day.

Yes it does look like the both of them are poking their tongue to me, as to teach me to show more respect to my skipper... Lesson learned.

The fish was in the 70s cm (27.559055 inch) and was going to be the biggest of the day.

Even if I think that Brett missed a much bigger one on a big Tango Dancer.

Brett missed a few fish there, I didn't even get a half hearted hit. Obviously, my lure was not the one to entice this bunch.

So we moved back to our first spot, where I had missed two fish earlier on, at the start of our fishing day.

On the way there, as I was saying that maybe my lure was good earlier but not anymore, and that maybe I should change it. As we were slowly moving with the electric and casting around, a fish boofed my lure, but once again didn't hook. I need bigger hooks!

So I kept the same lure on.

Brett then got his second fish, and it was a keeper too:

Brett second Barramundi.

Yes it was a keeper too, but we didn't measure this one, as it was obviously a fish of legal size.

Not long after Brett got his third fish, and because he already had two fish for himself in the esky, he decided to let it go.

Yes that was now three fish for him, and two for me, I had been defeated.

And yes, we did laugh about that too.

Which is a thing that I like about fishing with mates, the good camaraderie that enable us to laugh and relax about simple thing. A way to forgot about all of the world insanities, and to keep a good mental health.

Thank you Brett for inviting me on your new boat.

Now how big was this lure that got me my two fish?

As a fisherman would say: It was big like this!

My small Tango Dancer.

Yes a lure rather on the small size, when we think about Barramundi fishing.

But it seemed to match the hatch on the day, and I think that I will keep it in the tackle box, ready to use for my next fishing excursion.

Even if I do think that I should definitively change the hook on this little lure.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.