Tribute to the Third Best Barramundi Lure ever made!!
Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2010 12:23 am
This is not the third best Barramundi lure ever made.
This is a tribute to the third best Barramundi lure ever made.
The story goes like this. Coming back from a fishless trip to the South a couple of years back I stopped off at one of the many culverts (cant remember which...west of wildman) for a last desperate throw. Young Tristan (15 y/o) who had been with me on that forlorn trip leapt out with his gear and followed me down to the nearly still water. "Will this work dad?" He held up a small green celtic spinner lure that had been mixed up in some cheap multi lure Kmart pack. "You bet it will" I lied smoothly "Used to catch Redfin Perch by the bucket load on them when I was a kid" (cleverly smudging my fib with a bit of truth). He wasnt going to catch anything anyway. I say that confidently because I had the second best lure ever made on my leader and if that culvert held any kind of barra he was going to eat my Mr Twister double tail long before eating anything out of a Kmart pack lol!
I flicked a back hand cast under the road. The Mr Twister arced beautifully an inch from the bridge landing far side of a pylon which ensured the retreive would be straight through the only likely strike zone in a small patch of fishable water. Sink, lift, lift, twitch, sink, lift, lift, twitch, sink, lift, lift, twitch, and suddenly....it was back at my feet with no barramundi, just an apologetic look on its stoopid jig head.
Three more casts convinced me that the culvert was devoid of barramundies. I started back to the old white Hilux preparing my excuses when Tristan said "Hang on dad..I just tied this on." "Yeah go on mate..." I replied "...its good practice".
While he went down to try and throw his little celtic under the bridge i decided that the situation called for nothing less than the Best Barramundi Lure Ever Made! I pulled out the diamond encrusted gold box, lifted its lid allowing the golden light to pour forth and reverently lifted the Nilsmaster Spearhead in the Bleeding Mullet Colour from its bed of silk.
"Im on"
"Huh?" I said admiring the subtle lines of the magnificant spearhead...how it caught the light just so....
"Im on Dad Im on!"
"WTF! Seriously?"
He was too! A great silver baramundi thrashing the culvert to a puddle with a stoopid spinner hanging out of its gob. Not for long. Tristan wound in his empty line and held up the little celtic forlornly...two hooks dead straight.
"I'll get him" I declared stamping down the bank weilding the best lure ever made. It took just twenty to thirty casts for me to realise that the fish was spooked and probably in Timor by now. I never got a touch.
Tristan returned with re-bent hooks and oddly enough on his first cast hooked up again!! Go figure. The barra busted him off. Curiouser and curiouser. To anyone watching they may have gained the impression that the spinners were out fishing the best lure in the world. This of course is ridiculous and not at all possible.
"I got another one" he said breathlessly. Five minutes later he was back with a smaller red mepps spinner looking tweeny on his forty pound leader. Thirty seconds later he was on again. This time he got it in. A beaut 70cm chrome barra. I knew that it was a retarded barra because otherwise it would have taken the best and second best lures but by gum I think I've found the third best!
Well to cut a long story.....I chased up the biggest spinner I could find, a Mapsa Deva-4 and sent away for a handfull. When they arrived I took off the stoopid hooks and put on something that would stay bent. Then I took the stoopid body off it and replaced it with a 6mm socket. A couple of serious beads, some solid split rings and some red wool to simulate injury and I had what I thought might work on a bazz.
Did it what. Every time I went out it out fished every other lure in the boat. Sometimes ridiculously so. The spinner seemed to be able to entice strikes from barramundi that you would swear were comatose with the usual lures. Something about the hum of the blade...you can feel it through the rod...just got them all reved up. whatever, they work. My fishing buddies all started using them. they ran me out of them!!
They are not for every situation....you cant work them through snags...but for still water fishing, either fliicked or trolled...you should have one in the tackle box. Not the gold box. Or the platinum one.....remember its only the Third Best Lure Ever Made.
Anyone else tried spinners on barra?
PS If you are in the territory its effeminate to polish lures with brasso......cut and polish compound or scraping with the back edge of a hunting knife is acceptable.
This is a tribute to the third best Barramundi lure ever made.
The story goes like this. Coming back from a fishless trip to the South a couple of years back I stopped off at one of the many culverts (cant remember which...west of wildman) for a last desperate throw. Young Tristan (15 y/o) who had been with me on that forlorn trip leapt out with his gear and followed me down to the nearly still water. "Will this work dad?" He held up a small green celtic spinner lure that had been mixed up in some cheap multi lure Kmart pack. "You bet it will" I lied smoothly "Used to catch Redfin Perch by the bucket load on them when I was a kid" (cleverly smudging my fib with a bit of truth). He wasnt going to catch anything anyway. I say that confidently because I had the second best lure ever made on my leader and if that culvert held any kind of barra he was going to eat my Mr Twister double tail long before eating anything out of a Kmart pack lol!
I flicked a back hand cast under the road. The Mr Twister arced beautifully an inch from the bridge landing far side of a pylon which ensured the retreive would be straight through the only likely strike zone in a small patch of fishable water. Sink, lift, lift, twitch, sink, lift, lift, twitch, sink, lift, lift, twitch, and suddenly....it was back at my feet with no barramundi, just an apologetic look on its stoopid jig head.
Three more casts convinced me that the culvert was devoid of barramundies. I started back to the old white Hilux preparing my excuses when Tristan said "Hang on dad..I just tied this on." "Yeah go on mate..." I replied "...its good practice".
While he went down to try and throw his little celtic under the bridge i decided that the situation called for nothing less than the Best Barramundi Lure Ever Made! I pulled out the diamond encrusted gold box, lifted its lid allowing the golden light to pour forth and reverently lifted the Nilsmaster Spearhead in the Bleeding Mullet Colour from its bed of silk.
"Im on"
"Huh?" I said admiring the subtle lines of the magnificant spearhead...how it caught the light just so....
"Im on Dad Im on!"
"WTF! Seriously?"
He was too! A great silver baramundi thrashing the culvert to a puddle with a stoopid spinner hanging out of its gob. Not for long. Tristan wound in his empty line and held up the little celtic forlornly...two hooks dead straight.
"I'll get him" I declared stamping down the bank weilding the best lure ever made. It took just twenty to thirty casts for me to realise that the fish was spooked and probably in Timor by now. I never got a touch.
Tristan returned with re-bent hooks and oddly enough on his first cast hooked up again!! Go figure. The barra busted him off. Curiouser and curiouser. To anyone watching they may have gained the impression that the spinners were out fishing the best lure in the world. This of course is ridiculous and not at all possible.
"I got another one" he said breathlessly. Five minutes later he was back with a smaller red mepps spinner looking tweeny on his forty pound leader. Thirty seconds later he was on again. This time he got it in. A beaut 70cm chrome barra. I knew that it was a retarded barra because otherwise it would have taken the best and second best lures but by gum I think I've found the third best!
Well to cut a long story.....I chased up the biggest spinner I could find, a Mapsa Deva-4 and sent away for a handfull. When they arrived I took off the stoopid hooks and put on something that would stay bent. Then I took the stoopid body off it and replaced it with a 6mm socket. A couple of serious beads, some solid split rings and some red wool to simulate injury and I had what I thought might work on a bazz.
Did it what. Every time I went out it out fished every other lure in the boat. Sometimes ridiculously so. The spinner seemed to be able to entice strikes from barramundi that you would swear were comatose with the usual lures. Something about the hum of the blade...you can feel it through the rod...just got them all reved up. whatever, they work. My fishing buddies all started using them. they ran me out of them!!
They are not for every situation....you cant work them through snags...but for still water fishing, either fliicked or trolled...you should have one in the tackle box. Not the gold box. Or the platinum one.....remember its only the Third Best Lure Ever Made.
Anyone else tried spinners on barra?
PS If you are in the territory its effeminate to polish lures with brasso......cut and polish compound or scraping with the back edge of a hunting knife is acceptable.