Fishing out of a kayak while drifting down a pristine freshwater river is only made better by seeing the raw power of a fish as it attacks your lure. Last week we experienced our best kayak fishing to date. It was a really early start for Affie and myself, as we had to meet with Luke at 5:00 am to begin the long journey over the Sarina range to chase some Saratoga (Spotted Barramundi).

We got to the spot just on sunrise and it looked absolutely amazing, so we quickly unloaded the kayaks and headed down to the water. Luke put in the first cast while we were standing on the bank. Not even two seconds later, wham! A Saratoga had hooked onto his lure. And just as quick as it struck, it was gone.

Seeing this promising sign Affie and I cast out and had strikes at each of our lures but no hookups. The next cast as I was working my popper out from a snag, something erupted out of the water and smashed the lure. I was optimistic that it could have been a Saratoga however after a short fight I had achieved one of my personal fishing goals of catching a sooty grunter on a popper.

Affie and I both landed another sooty grunter before we all decided to start down the river. It was as if we were on a mirror and was made better by seeing an abundance of fish breaking the surface. I was using a Bolt Ballistic 50 popper and Affie was using the Berkley Scum Dog. We all began fishing the snags along the bank and managed to pull out a few nice sooty grunters each.

After about 30 minutes we were wondering where the Saratoga were hiding, it was then when I decided to cast out at one of the busts in the middle of the river. The cast was perfect and landed just over where the break had occurred. I twitched the lure twice before something broke the surface and absolutely engulfed the lure. I could tell it was a better fish and loved every minute of the fight on the 6lb braid with my 2500 series Sienna. It wasn’t long before I had another fish for the day, catching my first Saratoga.

Luke was next to hook one of these incredible fish. Using a Megabass Dog-X, and after a short fight he landed his first Saratoga of the day. We kept travelling down the river and as the early morning bite had quieted down, we began casting at the bank into the shadows. This is where the Saratoga prefer to sit during the heat of the day rather out in the middle of the river. We kept travelling down the river landing a sooty grunter here and there and hooking up to the occasional Saratoga only to lose the fish seconds later. This is because they have very bony mouths, which make it difficult for the hooks to set properly. Affie was certainly finding this out the hard way having hooked up to multiple fish, but dropping them shortly after.

Once we got to what we thought was the end of the river something caught our eye. A perfect little stream that looked loaded with fish and it did not disappoint. We decided to use the ever faithful Berkley gulp pumpkinseed and fished the stream for about 20 minutes and between us pulled out at least 20 sooty grunters which put the cherry on top of what had already been an awesome day. Our gear preformed exceptionally, the company and location was great. The only negative being the fact Affie didn’t manage to land a Saratoga.

On the positive side it means that we will just have to go back and have another amazing day. Hope you enjoyed the report and until next time- See you on the water!

Affie and Matty