There is one fish that had eluded Ryan Moody through an entire career on the water - and it is not a metre-plus barramundi. "I've been catching barra professionally for decades, and at this point it almost feels like breathing," the veteran guide says. "But there's one fish out there that I've never caught in all my years as a guide - saratoga."
Moody set out to change that on a string of stocked lakes on the Tablelands behind Cairns, joining operator Kim Anderson of Kim Anderson Sportfishing. The fishery has a backstory close to home: the saratoga were stocked years ago by a biologist mate, Terry, and Moody had to chase him up just to confirm the fish had taken hold.
The lesson came fast. Saratoga eat off the top - their eyes sit high on the head - but converting those surface strikes is another matter. "Traditionally people think of topwater for saratoga... however, the hook-up rate, and probably more the landing rate, is extremely low," Moody says. His fix was to go subsurface: "I think we were one from 30 the first trip up here, tearing our hair out. The next one I went 15 from 17 when I switched over to using a paddle-tail rig, weedless, with a very small sinker on it."
He fishes the weedless plastic like a frog over the lily-covered lies, then drops the rod tip at the edge of the cover, lets it sink into the deeper water and slow-rolls it back. The take demands restraint. "It's the same as with barra - don't lift your rod tip and side strike them," he says. "You feel a delayed reaction, then a bit of a hook set, but not too savage."
Even with the right approach, saratoga punish complacency, and Moody lost plenty before boating his first - a 65cm fish that was tagged for research. Anderson has landed them to 89cm in the same system, which also carries stocked barra. Moody noted the toga had grouped tightly after the season's first cold snap, much like barra do, and reckons the moon plays its part, with shorter but fiercer bites around the full moon.
The reward, he says, is in the fight to simply keep them buttoned: "They're not the world's biggest fish, but they're very difficult to keep on, so that makes a really good challenge." His advice for anyone heading up after their own first toga is blunt: "You've got to get used to [losing them], otherwise it'll do your head in."