MF 40 rocks Weipa.

Barramundi on MF40

Waking to an uncomfortable 20 knot breeze, I started to think that I was destined for another day up the creeks. In the build up to the north’s wet season, fishing the creeks produces a lot of barra as well as a lot of sweat. Hot, muggy creeks are fine but after about a month of constant wind, I was starting to get sick of them.

Never the less, I hitched the boat to the back of the car and drove the couple of hundred metres down to the end of my street and launched the boat. My local ramp has a small man made rocky break wall so deciding to stay away from the creeks, that was where I stayed.

Half expecting a queenfish or trevally, I started out with a 3” Bass Minnow and soon had a school of those very annoying small queenfish jumping all over it. I love big queenfish but little ones play up way too much, jumping around like lunatics and with a nasty habit of bleeding that, when combined with the exaggerated flicking, coats the boat and angler with little red spots of blood.

Thinking that there may have been something bigger feeding under the queenfish, I broke out my first MF40. I did play around with a couple of prototypes when Matt Fraser was first designing the MF40 but that was done on bream and flathead in Southern Queensland so it was time to play with the real thing in Far North Queensland.

Rolling the lure slowly along the bottom with the odd pause to keep in touch with the rocks and broken weed beds below, the little MF40 was soon nailed by something a little more substantial then a rat queenfish. Connected to the fish via 4lb FireLine and a 12lb leader, I was giving the fish all that I was prepared to give when the head of a good sized barra came out of the water.

After I spotted the barra, I adjusted my technique, more so to get my MF40 back than land the fish. I’ve spent a lot of time catching barra on light bream gear due to flicking 2”prawn Gulps at snags with tiny 1/32oz jig heads. I was in fairly open water, apart from just a few submerged rocks but the further we got into the fight, the more we drifted into wide open water so the drag was backed right off, to the point that the only way I could gain line on the fish was to place my finger on the spool, pull the rod back while being conscious of keeping it low to avoid the fish leaping and then winding in as the rod returns back to it original location. If the fish turned to dart off, I could release pressure from the spool and let it run. Having a firm drag on the 12lb leader could spell disaster if it ever comes in contact with the fish’s razer sharp gill rakers so releasing a lot of the tension saves the line from being cut but enough tension has to remain to insure the lure doesn’t fall out.

I’m not sure if it is the bright green Polycraft or not but for some reason, as soon as a fish spots the boat, it gets its second wind and is out of there. Eventually the barra was exhausted and came gliding into the net. I was a little disappointed with the size once it was placed on the ruler. I think that after such a difficult fight, the fish looked a lot bigger in the net but the truth stick revealed 78cm of barra. Still, landed on 4lb main and a light leader made it a better fish that what the ruler suggested.

I went onto land another barra, get still another follow the MF40 all the way to the boat and also land half a dozen blue salmon along with more rat queenies than I care to remember. Never has my bream gear provide so much excitement, all within a cast from the end of my street.

I hear people talking about the fishing in north Queensland in terms of sheer numbers of fish but when I eventually leave Weipa I will remember it by the exciting light tackle sportfishing that exist here. Unless you are fishing tight into structure, never upgrade your terminals, just downgrade your line class. Bring on the bigger versions of this lure Matty.

Mark Ward.

The larger MF baits that Mark refers to are the MF 50, due for release December 2009 and the MF60 due for release March 2010. Both baits will be available in more colours [one picturede here] than the MF40.

Test fishing has once again proven their worthiness in any serious anglers lure kit.

Dinger.