Gone Fishing in Cairns with Darren Brown
- Darren Brown
- Sep 1, 2016
- 2 min read
This past month of fishing has been truly re-invigorating and fuelled my angling passion. I decided to think outside of the box, get completely out of my comfort zone, and have a go at a life changing adventure. I’ve spent all 34 of my life living and fishing in South Australia. This year I made the decision to quit my job and drive with my partner across Australia from Adelaide to Cairns. When I finally arrived, I was full of anticipation and excitement. I felt like a kid in a candy store with a whole new, exciting and unfamiliar world right in front of me to explore.
I spent the first day exploring new locations and searching for fish with soft plastics. There is nothing more satisfying to me than skipping that perfect cast under an overhanging mangrove tree and watching the water erupt as your lure instantly gets slammed. As I turned the fish out into the deeper part of the creek, I knew exactly what it was. It performed the famous Barra dance by breaking the surface and desperately trying to shake the hooks loose. Although it was only a small fish, I was ecstatic to catch a wild lure caught Barramundi on my first day in Cairns.
The very next day I was at it again. Casting at a submerged tree I felt a solid clunk and the rod suddenly loaded up. I struck hard and for a split second thought I was snagged. But the powerful tail thrusts I could feel through the rod suggested otherwise. After a short but intense fight I had caught my first ever Mangrove Jack.
I was blown away at how hard this small fish smashed the lure and fought with so much aggression. I love how hard Mangrove Jack bite down and really clamp their jaws shut. Trying to pry open the jaws of a Jack to remove a soft plastic lure isn’t the easiest thing to do.
Every spare moment during the next two weeks was spent targeting land based Mangrove Jack on soft plastics. Casting lightly weighted 2.5inch zman grubz at fishy looking structure has resulted in some nice land based winter Jack.
Another big angling highlight from this past month occurred while fishing from a small jetty at mission beach. Even under a heavy drag setting, line continued to peel off the spool. I watched in amazement as a Giant Queenfish launched itself completely out the water to do a backflip in the air. For several adrenaline pumping, heart in mouth minutes I battled to stay connected to this fish through all the huge lightning fast runs and flips out of the water.
So far I loved every moment of exploring and fishing in my beautiful new tropical paradise. I have only barely begun to scratch the surface of the adventure this magical place has in store.
Fishing lures are available at the We Flick Fishing's Online Tackle Shop Subscribe to our Youtube channel
Follow us on our social media page
Комментарии