I wasn't happy, as one of my goals since moving here was to catch a barra.
The NT is pretty heavily regulated for catching barra, which I believe works in the favour of the angler, so I feel a bit better about pulling a few out.
The day was supposed to be simple, catch up with Julie from work, and go to the city and buy some gear. She knew the people there and said she would help me get some good gear and a few $$ off.
Change of plans.....No simple day....
We did the buying (2 rods, already had a reel, so now Sam has one too) then headed out to a private farm that Julie's hubby, Peter manages. With a massive amount of fish in their dams, they wouldn't miss a few :)
Julie teaches a females class up here called "femme fishing", an 8 week course teaching women to fish. Since there is no mens class, I got myself a private tour.
Julie taught me all the imporant things I needed to know, casting for barra, jigging for barra and all those important things. After this, I threw my new gear into the water for the first time.
It took me a while to get anything happening, as it was the middle of the arvo and the fish dont eat then (and barra are lazy and wont do bugger all). Julie however, was pulling in a few. Oh well, keep trying. I managed to hook a few, but inevitably, a few dropped. Julie hooked one, and asked if I wanted to pull it in, so I said yes, and managed to land it. Julie said I can claim it as it was my first landed, but I wanted a full catch.
Not long after I landed the first, I managed to hook up on a decent sized barra, and with some help from Julie, got it to shore!! Success!! I am going to claim this one as my first catch, as I did it all. It came in at 68.5cms. It felt really good catching it, as they are quite challenging and had many others decide to have a chew on my plastic, but spit it out (sometimes even mid air!!)
Julie then taught me how to fillet and clean up the fish, something I could never do before. I do believe its a change in my attitude, as before all fish were too nice. I now see barra fishing as sport, but still think reef fish are too cute and nice to hurt!!
When I got home tonite, I cooked up one fillet of my fish, and Sam and I were able to share it. Those buggers are HUGE and have a lot of meat!!
As I mentioned, I got a 2nd rod n reel for Sam, however im sure that whoever comes up can use it..... You know you want too :)
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| The first landed..... fish was slipping, theyre heavier than I thought! |
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| My Rex Hunt impression, the first fish I caught myself. |
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| Nicer pic of the first fish caught myself. 68.5cms :) |
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| Gutting and filleting etc... |
