A pink 5-inch paddle prawn, a 30-pound leader, and a young angler running on adrenaline at the back of a boat. That was the recipe behind Isaac's new personal-best barramundi on Hodgie The Barefoot Fisherman's NT trip — a 109 cm fish dragged out of mangrove timber on the smaller of two paddle prawn options the boat had been throwing all morning.
Hodgie himself was happy to log a quiet day on the rod. The full moon had come and gone two days earlier, and he was working on a long-running theory that the fish switch on a few days after rather than during the moon. "We always talk about hating the full moon," he said. "As soon as the moon starts to sort of three or four days after is usually the best. This is only a couple of days after the full moon, but tomorrow will be even better."
The morning kicked off on surface lures, with newcomer Harrison along for his first trip and Hodgie running spot-lock. Schoolie barra and jacks blooped at fizzers and Fakey Dog walkers on the flats. As the sun climbed and the bite went quiet up top, the boat switched to weedless plastics worked tight to the timber. "If they're not biting on the surface, you got to give them that presentation just that bit deeper," Hodgie said.
He demonstrated his Atomic Prong rig on camera — push the screw spring into the nose, hook through the eye, then through the belly and out the middle of the back — and stuck the first paddle prawn deep into the snags. A solid metre-class fish nailed it almost on cast and ran straight at the boat, busting Hodgie off on 50-pound leader before he could clear the timber. He was still re-tying when Isaac picked up Harrison's rod, fished the same line, and felt a near-identical thump.
This time the angler did everything right. Hodgie called the fight from the wheel, motoring the boat out into open water on the electric while Isaac kept rod tip up and drag soft. "This is another metery," Hodgie said. "Holy s***, mate. This is a monster." The fish stayed pinned. Twenty minutes later it slid head-first into the net on the first decent shot.
The measurement landed at 109 cm on the sticker, with Hodgie reckoning closer to 112 by the tail tip. Isaac's verdict on his own state was concise. "That was the most nervous I've ever been," he said.
The release got the same care as the catch. Hodgie kicked the electric back into the current and pushed the fish forward to flush water through its gills. "Now we got to be real careful with this fish and get him back real quick," he said. "There's nothing better than letting the PB go."
Gear was deliberately heavy. Isaac fought the fish on 30-pound leader through 40-pound braid, on a Samurai spin outfit and an Abu Beast reel set tight enough to lift big fish from cover when the snag-hopping odds turn against the angler. "Damned if you do, damned if you don't," Hodgie said. "You got to give them that presentation just that bit deeper."
The lesson Hodgie kept circling was lure size. The same paddle prawn that smashed his own line earlier in the morning was the one Isaac used on the second metre-class fish. "We always talk about big lure, big fish, small lure all fish," Hodgie said. "This is exactly what you do." The lightest jighead he'll go to on a 5-inch paddle prawn is a quarter-ounce — anything lighter, and the plastic stops swimming on the drop.
For Hodgie himself, the fish was secondary to the company. "I don't have to throw a lure now to be happy," he said. "I'm happy as that was watching Isaac. I've known Isaac since he was a real little kid and to watch him just get a PB like that is a pretty special moment."