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Meadowbank morning - OK, so that was unexpected

Little_Flatty

By Little_Flatty
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Little_Flatty BLUE MARLIN

Little_Flatty

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Out this morning for a before work session. On the water at 5:30am. It was just the start of the runout and the tide was absolutely racing. In some spots, I needed a 1/4oz weight to hold bottom. Thankfully I had texas-rigged my power minnow so I could simply cut off the lure, change the weight and re-tie.

Got a few undersized flatties, nothing to write home about.

Towards my last casts, something whacked my lure on the drop, so I tightened up the line and I was on. Felt like a flatty initially but then the thing JUMPED !  Didn't get a good visual on it, so at this point I still was assuming that it was a flathead. Interesting. Never encountered a jumping flathead before!

The fish swims towards me and I need to wind like a madman to stay in touch with it. As I see colour, I still couldn't quite work out what the fish was. My guess was the flounder of a lifetime (it was broader than a flatty) or a little jewie. And then I see it properly...a BARRA!!!

I couldn't believe my eyes. I was in such a state of shock I could barely operate the net, but somehow I manage to get it up for a photo.

image.png.f52f872a528a74e2d62a1cf1032f0a05.png

I'm guessing this was one of the fish that was purchased by someone to release in the river, for ceremonial/religious reasons. Seeing as this guy shouldn't have been there and there is no mention of Barramundi on the NSW DPI size/bag limit charts, I let a fellow fisho - a regular consumer of upper Parra fish - take it home for dinner. He probably wouldn't have survived the winter anyway. But judging on the size of his girth, he certainly seemed to have a comfortable existence in the Parra until now, unlike his skinny cousins in the fish market tanks.

After that, it was time to go home. Didn't expect such a memorable capture before work!

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Blackfish KINGFISH

Blackfish

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Now that's something you certainly don't see everyday and not many people can say they caught a Barra in the Parra.

Geee that would make a great T Shirt 😀

I would guess the Tsethar to LF. The poor buggar would not live through winter, these people don't get it.

Great capture anyway. 👍

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Little_Flatty BLUE MARLIN

Little_Flatty

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7 minutes ago, Blackfish said:

Now that's something you certainly don't see everyday and not many people can say they caught a Barra in the Parra.

Geee that would make a great T Shirt 😀

I would guess the Tsethar to LF. The poor buggar would not live through winter, these people don't get it.

Great capture anyway. 👍

'Barra in the Parra'...I love it @Blackfish 🤣

Didn't know the concept was called Tsethar. Interesting.

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Yowie SAILFISH

Yowie

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Great catch. One to remember.

As far as I know, there is no limit on barra in NSW.

Flathead do very occasionally jump out of the water (shallow water only) after hitting a nipper or lure. I have had a few tail walk across the surface like a mini marlin. They swim up to a sinking nipper, hook up then keep swimming up through the surface.

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Green Hornet KINGFISH

Green Hornet

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I should add, Barra in Sydney Harbour have been caught before and its believed that Bhuddists raise them in tanks and release them as a part of one of their rituals.

And yes, if you spend any time fishing surface lures over the flats you will eventually come across jumping flathead. I've seen them launch themselves close to a metre into the air when they smack a Sugarpen.

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masterfisho7 KINGFISH

masterfisho7

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1 hour ago, Green Hornet said:

I should add, Barra in Sydney Harbour have been caught before and its believed that Bhuddists raise them in tanks and release them as a part of one of their rituals.

And yes, if you spend any time fishing surface lures over the flats you will eventually come across jumping flathead. I've seen them launch themselves close to a metre into the air when they smack a Sugarpen.

Have to agree i have heard of a few doing this

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Little_Flatty BLUE MARLIN

Little_Flatty

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2 hours ago, HawkesburyParadise said:

Nice one! Isn't Barramundi a fresh water fish? How did it survive in the salt water?

Also, What community releases fish in rivers? I know that We(Indians) release birds for astrology but I've never hard of anyone releasing fish. 

They are a migratory fish. If I remember correctly, they can live in the fresh, but need to breed in the salt. Thus the Barra stocked in impoundments need to be replenished regularly.

3 hours ago, Green Hornet said:

@Blackfishpretty well summed it up, "you don't see that every day".

It must have been a thrill to land that and I bet you could hardly believe your eyes.

It was a thrill indeed and absolutely I couldn't believe my eyes! My hands literally started shaking when I realised what it was! Even though I know that it was likely there with human help, it was still an awesome surprise.

3 hours ago, Green Hornet said:

I should add, Barra in Sydney Harbour have been caught before and its believed that Bhuddists raise them in tanks and release them as a part of one of their rituals.

And yes, if you spend any time fishing surface lures over the flats you will eventually come across jumping flathead. I've seen them launch themselves close to a metre into the air when they smack a Sugarpen.

Yep, I'm dead sure that a fellow raider or two have caught barra in the harbour. It's rare, but not unheard of given the Buddhist practices in Sydney. I have caught a lot of flathead in quite shallow water, but haven't had one jump yet. Or get one on a sugapen.

3 hours ago, Yowie said:

Great catch. One to remember.

As far as I know, there is no limit on barra in NSW.

Flathead do very occasionally jump out of the water (shallow water only) after hitting a nipper or lure. I have had a few tail walk across the surface like a mini marlin. They swim up to a sinking nipper, hook up then keep swimming up through the surface.

Thanks. Memorable indeed. I have heard of jumping flathead as well, but I'm yet to see one. I really should work on my surface game, but my small problem is that 80% of my fishing is done with Berkley bass (power) minnows and it has been like this for over 15 years! Old habits die hard.

2 hours ago, dirvin21 said:

Nice catch mate.... maybe next time I go barra fishing I'll just head to Sydney 🤔

🤣 Yep of the first people I sent a pic to was a mate in far north Queensland. He was impressed, but somehow I don't think he's moving back to Sydney anytime soon :D

1 hour ago, Rebel said:

Great catch. Well done.

Top report and photo.

Thanks Rebel.

47 minutes ago, Isaac Ct said:

Wow, that is a stunning catch mate. Veryy well done,

Thanks Isaac.

8 minutes ago, kingie chaser said:

Just as well you took a picture other if you just told this story to someone they would think you were having a lend of them 😄

Nice effort.

Would be nice I they were breeding up in our waters just for the fun factor.

Certainly would be fun! If they were a regular catch, I might even stop targeting flatties!

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GordoRetired SNAPPER

GordoRetired

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Am I wrong to think that any 'religion' that releases a fish into an environment where they are pretty much assured of a slow death as they die because of unlivable water temperatures is just plain Cruel.
BTW, fantastic catch and quite unique although it has happened before.
Here is an article from 2010 where one was caught
https://www.fishingworld.com.au/news/barramundi-caught-in-sydney-harbour
And here is an old article from Fishraider

 

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Little_Flatty BLUE MARLIN

Little_Flatty

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59 minutes ago, GordoRetired said:

Am I wrong to think that any 'religion' that releases a fish into an environment where they are pretty much assured of a slow death as they die because of unlivable water temperatures is just plain Cruel.
BTW, fantastic catch and quite unique although it has happened before.
Here is an article from 2010 where one was caught
https://www.fishingworld.com.au/news/barramundi-caught-in-sydney-harbour
And here is an old article from Fishraider

 

Ah, that's one of the posts I was looking for! That's how I knew it was likely placed there by human intervention.

I am sure that at least one other Raider has mentioned they caught a Barra in the harbour, just can't remember who it was. 

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