In northern Australia the barramundi is king. Barras are the most popular fish chased by thousands of anglers in tidal rivers, billabongs, coastal headlands and across a wide range of environments. Every angler, visiting and local, wants to catch a barramundi. The dominance of the barramundi means there is less focus on the large number of other desirable species that can be caught in the same areas. This article is about some of the other species found in tropical areas and how to target them. From mangrove jacks through to tarpon there is a huge variety of interesting species to chase in northern Australia. This article concentrates on the species of fish that will eat lures.
MANGROVE JACKS
Mangrove jacks are found from around Coffs Harbour north and are a very popular sportfish. The key to finding mangrove jacks is to find areas with both rocks and structure. Mangrove jacks grow up in the estuaries before moving offshore to coastal reefs when they are about 45 to 55cm long. In the tropics most mangrove jacks encountered are about 40cm long.
These fish have a reputation of slamming a lure hard before almost instantly burying into rocks and snags and busting off. I’ve lost
