The day I caught a mangrove jack…

Ok, so I know this page is meant to be about trout. Specifically Tasmanian trout. But sometimes there are trips to more exotic, not to mention warmer places that not only are a great experience, but reinforce how much I really love Tasmania and Tasmanian trout.

Due to a set of very fortunate circumstances, we recently spent a week in Port Douglas in far north Queensland. It wasn’t a fishing holiday, but I did manage to get three days on the water.

One day was spent on the Daintree River near Cape Tribulation with Gaz from Creek Ninja. Gaz is a guide who mainly specialises in jungle perch, and I did spend a day with him chasing those, but this was a day to hook into a few barramundi and other species in the snags.

True to my form in tropical waters—the weather was crap. Strong south easterly wind, intermittent and heavy tropical showers and 100% cloud. Great…

The tides were wrong, the moon phase was neap rather than spring and the solunar table said I should be drinking beer back at the resort. But every day on the water and in a boat doesn’t come off your life, so to hell with the naysayers, fishing is fishing.

I geared up with a seven weight and nine weight – Gaz felt that the seven was a good place to start, along with a 1/0 yellow and white Clouser. We launched at a very good ramp right on the Daintree near where all the crocodile tours also start from.

“Don’t get too close to the water…” Good advice.

In the boat and straight across the river to some good looking snags was the first recipe. The key is to fish your fly hard against the snag on the premise that fish will be holding under it and to the downstream side. A bit like bream fishing here in Tasmania.

Three casts in and a very solid archer fish takes the fly. At 40cm it is the biggest archer I’ve ever caught.

Then an hour of casting at snags.

Then out of nowhere, a barra boofed the fly, I managed to resist the trout strike and set the hook properly only to pop the 20lb leader like a complete Muppet.

“OK, we might park the seven weight…”

Out comes the nine weight with a fly that I’d last used on Nicole and my honeymoon at Hinchinbrook Channel 22 years ago.

Then another hour’s casting, two torrential showers and another archer fish—same as the first.

It the middle of a huge downpour, a javelin fish whacked the fly. Rarely have I had a fish pull so hard. Gaz’s boat handling skills are 11 out of 10. We soon netted it and let it go.

Four casts later, Gaz says to get the fly right into the back of a set of snags shaped like a triangle. As is often the case, I over cast by two inches—the fly hooks over the back of the mangrove limb. No sooner had the fly touched the water than it was smashed with great vigour.

One of three things can happen now.

1.        The fish comes over the top of the snag and can be played in the normal way.

2.        The fish comes off and we swear.

3.        The fish stays on, but swims under the snag. And swearing.

Yep, it was three.

So I’ve got a very solid tropical fish hooked around a snag on 40lb line in pissing rain and everything is now locked up solid.

As I said, Gaz’s boat handing skills are 11/10 and we are soon right in the snag on top of the fish, now apparent identifying as a mangrove jack.

After a lot of poking and prodding, with swearing, there was only one option.

“Gaz—hold onto the leader.”

“Why?”

“Don’t think—do,” as Hawthorn legend John Kennedy would say.

While Gaz is holding the leader, I cut the connection between leader and loop on the end of the fly line, pull the fly line back around the snag, tie it back on and play out a very stunned mangrove jack to the net.

This reinforces two things.

1.        Take a risk, if you lose the fish, so what.

2.        Always knot your leader to the fly line loop—many more options.

But back to my initial premise. The tropics are awesome. The fish pull bloody hard. The weather, even in the pissing rain is warm.

But compared to trout, it is so one-dimensional.

Trout are the ultimate brain fish. Mangrove jacks, barra and other pull-hard species are just that: pull hard species.

Thanks Gaz for a brilliant day—I’ll be back.

And yes, we did see crocodiles.

I think I prefer Tasmanian snakes…