A foul forecast and filthy salt water would send most barra fishers back indoors. Instead, the angler behind Micksgonefishing left the boat on the trailer, grabbed two light combos and went land-based in a freshwater run-off, and was rewarded with a barramundi session to remember.
The move was a reaction to conditions. With the salt "absolutely disgusting" after heavy rain and the boat fishing dead, he focused on a freshwater channel draining into the salt pans on the run-out tide. It is a popular, heavily fished location, and he repeatedly urged viewers not to share it.
Once he started casting, the fish kept coming. Weedless soft plastics and the occasional hardbody, worked through the last deep pockets before the shallows, produced a string of barra: a one-eyed 73-centimetre fish first up, a matching pair of 83s two casts apart, several around the 80 mark and a clutch of high-60s fish. A purple patch of three fish from three bites summed up the session.
He had company in pro bull rider Josh Sarin, who arrived straight from competition, pulled on a Micksgonefishing jersey and joined the action. The pair swapped fish and jokes, and clocked a fresh crocodile slide in ankle-deep water, a sharp reminder of where they were standing.
There was method to the madness. The barra, he explained, were holding in the last pools available before the dropping tide locked them in, sometimes for a fortnight, so placing a small-profile lure right on their noses was usually enough, even as spooked fish bow-waved across the flat.
The lasting message, though, was about stewardship. "One of the good things about this place, it hasn't been trashed yet," he said, pointing to the litter-free bank. His concern was that the more anglers who learn a spot, the less care it receives, and that respect is often all that keeps access open.
The session proved a memorable bag does not need a boat or perfect weather, only local knowledge, a willingness to walk, and the discipline to protect the water. With more bad weather looming, he flagged further land-based videos, on the condition that viewers keep quiet about the places that make them possible.