This year is at full steam ahead! This is the year to explore new systems and crack a few PBs in the process! We have had some good rainfall, which is great because it brings life back into many of the systems that have been struggling in the past. This is awesome for all the sweetwater systems as the fishing really begins to fire up! 

Sooty grunter are a favourite among many lure fishing anglers. They are a tough Aussie critter that provide hours of entertainment and can put your light line fishing skills to the test. Spinnerbaits produce the results when targeting these beasts, and a great way to rig up is to attach a grub to your stinger hook. This help keep your stinger hook on the spinnerbait, and the grub tail makes this presentation absolutely deadly, not to mention basically snag-resistant, giving you plenty more opportunities to be right in the strike zone.

They are also suckers for surface lures, so cast your surface offerings out as far as you can and work them slowly. The surface strikes from a big aggressive sooty can be simply amazing! 

All this humidity and water movement in the rivers send the mangrove jack into overdrive! Smaller grubs and paddle-tail plastics are the perfect presentation for the smaller sweetwater models. Work your presentations as naturally as possible, using the flow of the water to drift your presentation in front of the snags and hold on tight! They will hit hard and fast! A nice tight drag is a must. My favourite lure for this is the ZMan 2.5’’ GrubZ. These fish are stunning to look at, and when juvenile their white stripes and vibrant blue markings under their eyes truly stand out against there deep red colours. Even the small ones go hard, and they’re so much fun on the light gear! 

Jungle perch can certainly be targeted with great success all year round, but I like to go search for the bigger models around now. All this extra flowing water really gets them on the chew! Systems get a good flush out and this keeps them flowing. I really enjoy making the trip into rain forest country and exploring all the little magical systems that the jungle has to offer! JP will eat just about anything that will fit into their mouth, so take a wide range of lures with you. Surface lures work best, and like most sweetwater predators, JP sure put on a show, especially in the crystal clear waters! On many occasions when pulling my lure out to release them, I have come across some interesting finds inside their mouths including lizards, mice, bats and even a live green tree frog!

Get out there and enjoy the adventure! See you all next month.