The Game plan

 Tomorrow your going fishing, this usually gets plenty of  pictures in the brain, often unrelated to ability, We,being the stuff that dreams are made of consider this.Having a reasonable knowledge of how estuarys function is imperative if you want the best results.

I liken an estuary to a farm,all the inhabitants follow established patterns according there species,because 95% of the time I'm looking for a visual I will deal with the sheep and cows (not the rabbits and snakes).Barra, Threadfin in the dry and in rest periods shelter everywhere there is cover and little movement..Hunt these species when the water leaves the shallows. Regardless if they're feeding or not,they have no choice but follow this timeless ritual, tide height only depicts the boundary of there accessibility 3.5 lows are the start, giving you the last line of trees access,lower means they start having to move in to the open or leave totally. Knowing the hills and gullys will dictate where you should be first.and last.

Bring your Girlfriend with me once and she will be there every year 

Queenfish and Trevally: are in the main are High Water predators,reef structure,Trees with high flows are where they are showing up,consider they just sat out the low tide in some boring  hole waiting for this point in daily momentum.These fish are visual hunters so clearer water is best,always start on the leading edge of flow i.e where water strikes first. Thats school fish,so what what was that monster Queenfish that just swam by,he is like an old Roo kicked out of the mob feeding and hunting on his own till he dies, over the years I have guided 13 of these over 20lb on shallow flats,seeing many more .

The Game Plan:  comparably, that mob of sheep you're looking for could be at the top gate or down near the water tank, the Cows wont feed into the wind where the grass blows straight in there eyes, if what you want to catch  needs its eyes, stay out of dirty water.Chasing Barra on a windy dirty flat might not stop their ability to eat but they usually leave because they really hate bobbing up and down.
The more you frequent the paddock the more you observe the game trails,there is far more country then inhabitants,I put this to great effect in 1998 when I first started at Crab Claw, I studied the front yard and the roads and trails that led there, only then did I move to the back country and the dreams beyond..
These days after 17 yrs it doesn't matter where I start I know 5 routes from there on, if I am unable to locate them there, I'm sniffing down their access trails just looking for the signs.
I never mind people asking me where? Bynoe for instance is full of wheres, discovering the when will undoubtedly determine far better results overall.

Questions. Hunting Barra and Threadfin why do they ignore me even when I see them?
Two things the speed of water i.e the drop determines activity, a 3.0m lows means they can have a dozen naps on the way out often treating anything with disdain, a 1.0 m low will leave a mud trail as they realise, "WTF! get out of my way". Secondly like all fish any change in temperature upsets them, doesn't matter if its 30 or 25 its the actual change that bothers them, they will get used to it. Having said that above 32 and below 23 I might as well go home or find something else not so pedantic.

Flies: I'm not game to get into that other then to say they need to be castable, (sailfish flies are hard to cast to a Barra) achieve some sort of generic relationship, (not the whole feather duster). They achieve the desired depth, (heavy eyes in 200mm of mangrove sticks is a no no) and most important you think its the best fly .

Great tides coming 3rd to 9th of June, good luck

Cheers Graeme