Jireena Yellas - a foray into the fresh
words and photos by Richard Wallace
one of four healthy yellas
|
A pretty little barcoo grunter
|
"The locals are catching yellow belly and barcoo grunter, so bring your fly gear," announced my brother-in-law, Roger. We had planned to visit Roger's 60,000 acre property "Jireena" south of Prairie for a while. Now seemed a good time. I packed the 7wt and 8 wt outfits wondering if the reality would match the reports. Off we set. We overnighted at Charters Towers and travelled on with Roger and his wife the next morning.
It was late March 2012 and the country looked good. Summer rains had produced lots of feed for fattening cattle. Bird life, including water birds were flocking all around. Just below a crusty surface the black soil was still boggy. Roger took us on a tour of the property. There were cows in calf, and weaners and steers. The property had run sheep until dogs became a problem, but a tumbled down shearing shed still stood. Would have been hard to work in that low roof shed, six shearing stands and pens made of acacia stakes.
The rains had started a hatch of Golden Orb spiders whose spreading webs caught motor cycle mounted ringers rounding up cattle. We saw the "beach" a raised stretch of land with adjacent country falling away metres below it, right across to the NT . Marine fossils were numerous in the lower country.
It was late March 2012 and the country looked good. Summer rains had produced lots of feed for fattening cattle. Bird life, including water birds were flocking all around. Just below a crusty surface the black soil was still boggy. Roger took us on a tour of the property. There were cows in calf, and weaners and steers. The property had run sheep until dogs became a problem, but a tumbled down shearing shed still stood. Would have been hard to work in that low roof shed, six shearing stands and pens made of acacia stakes.
The rains had started a hatch of Golden Orb spiders whose spreading webs caught motor cycle mounted ringers rounding up cattle. We saw the "beach" a raised stretch of land with adjacent country falling away metres below it, right across to the NT . Marine fossils were numerous in the lower country.
|
|
Saturday afternoon we headed for the yellowbelly holes. This was Towerhill Creek. A small weir led down to two waterfalls the lower one a 3 metre drop. There was a good run of water and a large pool below it followed by a smaller one.
I fished zonkers, and woolly buggers for a while standing on a sand spit bouncing flies off an opposite rock wall with a low cave beneath. I aimed at rock eddies, and whatever structure I could find, all the time watching a local dad and his boy land fish using bait from the rock wall. They were not large, but real fish.
After some time they left and Roger suggested a move. We clambered around a rock face (the short cut) and I tied on a golden olive chenille body vampire with green and chartreuse wing. Roger was catching grunter on steak under a bobber float. Then I got a hit, and landed a grunter. Snags were intermittent and freed by using pressure to open the 34007 hook. Darkness was on its way, then another heavier hit. This was a yella. My first. It turned hard for its protected home, but steady pressure kept it coming. Handlining the last 3 metres vertically up the rock face was necessary to land it.
I fished zonkers, and woolly buggers for a while standing on a sand spit bouncing flies off an opposite rock wall with a low cave beneath. I aimed at rock eddies, and whatever structure I could find, all the time watching a local dad and his boy land fish using bait from the rock wall. They were not large, but real fish.
After some time they left and Roger suggested a move. We clambered around a rock face (the short cut) and I tied on a golden olive chenille body vampire with green and chartreuse wing. Roger was catching grunter on steak under a bobber float. Then I got a hit, and landed a grunter. Snags were intermittent and freed by using pressure to open the 34007 hook. Darkness was on its way, then another heavier hit. This was a yella. My first. It turned hard for its protected home, but steady pressure kept it coming. Handlining the last 3 metres vertically up the rock face was necessary to land it.
|
|
We returned the next afternoon, and I scored another 4 Yellowbelly . On one snag my 8wt inter line snapped. It had been badly scarred when I caught it around the prop during a Hinchy trip. That was not all, the whistling recoil of the breaking line flicked the top section of my TCX off and with no fly to stop it, it fell into the waters below and floated, tip-top down, bobbing away in the current. Roger clambered around a rock face, broke off a dead branch and coaxed the tip section in. Rod saved. So I broke out my 7wt outfit and landed my largest yella just after sundown. This was on a light purple chenille body vampire with black and purple wing.
The Jireena trip proved a surprisingly successful freshwater foray.
The Jireena trip proved a surprisingly successful freshwater foray.
|
|