BARRAMUNDI
The Barramundi is one of Australia's most prized and well known sportfish. Great to catch and great to eat.
The Barramundi can vary from quite brown or green looking in freshwater to a beautiful silver in the salt. However most commonly a bluish-grey on the upper body and silver below with yellow on the caudal fin. Has a large mouth and typical perch look about it. They can grow up towards 50kgs however specimens over 20kg are worth boasting about. Most fisherman want to catch the magic 1 meter barra, and many chase for years before getting that monkey off their back. In the last few years impoundment barramundi are reaching enormous sizes. For more information on visit Fishes of Australia - Barramundi.
Barramundi are caught by a variety of means including, hard bodied lures (typically of a minnow style), soft plastics, fly fishing, live and dead baits. Live bait can be very effective, including live prawns, mullet or other small baitfish. Plenty or fishing articles and entire books have been about how to catch this outstanding sportfish. I have fished for almost entirely with lures and from my experiences -
1. Hard bodies - Larger Saltwater fish tend to be around the mouths of large rivers, trolling or casting large hard bodies can prove very productive, including Barra Classics, Large Nils masters, RMG Scorpions. These large lures match the large mullet they are most likely chasing. Best on spring tides where there is plenty of water movement. Fishing during the famous run off (Around March - May) is the best for this. In early mornings and afternoons they can often be caught with surface lures such as Lucky Craft 100 and 115 Sammys, this is one of the most fun ways to chase Barramundi and the explosions as they hit surface lures is a lot of fun (and highly addictive!). Hook up rates are often a lot lower - but the strike at the surface lure makes it worthwhile.
2. Soft plastics - great fishing these from anywhere near the mouth to as far up stream as you can get during the run off. Very productive fishing this over mud banks the drop away into deeper water where the barramundi are waiting. Always fish the eddies created on the side of the river bank, especially up towards the fresh water. When fishing soft plastics they can certainly be hitting a certain colour and changing until you find the right one has worked many times for us.
3. Billabong Fishing - great fun, fish are generally smaller and the lures used are usually smaller as well as the Barramundi are chasing smaller fish and frogs etc in the Billabongs.
The boys at MFP love catching Barra! Here is a heap of Episodes where we chase Barra:
Season 3 Episode 1 - East Alligator NT Part 1
Season 3 Episode 2 - East Alligator NT Part 2
Season 2 Episode 8 - Barra in Lenthals Dam QLD
Season 1 Episode 6 - Mini Mini System NT
Internationally
Barramundi are found in Australia, and parts of South East Asis, including Philippines, Papua New Guinea, South China and parts of India.
Australia
Barramundi is Found right around the top of Australia from the mid QLD coast in the east around to the top of WA. They are found in both fresh and salt water. They can be offshore around heads, right up to the top reaches of rivers and creeks. Most angling takes place around the mouths of big tidal rivers during the run off season. Now stocked also in many dams throughout Queensland.
DAZZA: Certainly one of my most favourite fish to catch. I have chased Barra for years and it took me quite a few years to crack the meter mark. But that day was one of the most exciting days of my fishing life. I remember catch on a old tiger bomber and hooking the big girl near a snap and she charged straight back there, managed to get her back from around the snap and boat side we saw the lure holding by one small treble in the top of the head, the other treble ripped out by the snap, typical Barra crazing moments at the boat - celebration was huge once we lifted her into the boat. Almost as satisfying was seeing her swim off healthy to fight another day. So Good!
BIG RED:
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