All Terrains in the Shallows

With the barra season still closed, I have been resisting the temptation to flick hardbodies at snags so a lot of my trips have involved chasing mangrove jack, reef fish and pelagics around rocky points and shallow reefs. Weipa is loaded with rock bars so finding the structure isn’t the issue but getting tackle to work well amongst the stones is the trick.

I have often taken the lazy option and tied a popper on and skipped it over the top of the stones but a Gulp Shrimp worked on a 1/16oz head has proven to irritable to everything that swims the estuary systems of Cape York. Rigged on a standard jig head, the little prawn was doing its job but after numerous re-rigging episodes, I tied an All-Terrain head to 15lb Trilene fluorocarbon leader and turned what was looking like a knot tying session into a red hot bite.

I’m embarrassed to admit that it has been a couple of years since rigging with All-Terrains. Not having an exposed hook will reduce the hook-ups but getting in amongst the gravel without snagging up produced some excellent fishing.

It was a number of years ago now but I fished with some of the first All-Terrain jig heads to come out of Matt Fraser’s moulds and loved them. The originals were small 1/32 and 1/24oz heads designed for the bream and bass fishing scene. Matt and I spoke about the potential for a bigger version for fishing breakwalls and shallow reefs. Not long after that conversation, I was fishing with 1/4oz All-Terrains in the Gold Coast Seaway and landing everything from jacks to kingfish.

The reefs that I have been targeting in Weipa are little more than a metre deep but are loaded with so many species that unless it comes flying out of the water early in the fight, it is a real guessing game as to what you have just hooked into to. I seem to be excellent at catching cod but every now and again, I manage a nice coral trout or mangrove jack so certainly worth putting up with hard hitting estuary cod.

The technique I use on the shallow reefs is simple. I can’t ever bring myself to used heavy tackle so it is 8lb braid with 15lb leader. I do get smoked from time to time but love the sport of it all. A light threadline reel with a seven foot 2-4kg rod is my preferred outfit which sounds extremely light for Cape York but by going gently on big fish, I regularly land barra around the 70-80cm mark. Although to be honest, this particular trip with the All-Terrains saw me lose a big barra that managed to wear to leader down on the rocks but being closed season, I am happy to see them go while still in good condition.

Working the All-Terrains allows me to keep in touch with the bottom. My preferred plastic is a 3” Gulp Shrimp which suits the larger All-Terrain heads. Allowing it to settle on the bottom before doing a couple of small hops before allowing it to settle again is all I do. Keeping in touch with the bottom tends to lure the fish out of the little rock caves that they hide in, which is why I catch so many cod but this is where coral trout and mangrove jack tend to hide as well. The technique reminds me of a gentle version of flathead jigging. Species caught this morning in a single session on the All-Terrains were barramundi, queenfish, cod (seems like hundreds of them), mangrove jack, stripies, moses perch, trevally and parrot fish. Unfortunately no coral trout or fingermark but they are a real option on these shallow reefs. The A/T jig heads do have a slower hook-up rate than standard heads however, while the hook-up rate might be halved, keeping the lure down in the strike zone means the bites are tripled.

Wardy