I cast flies to barramundi in the tropical north of Queensland several years back. It was rainy and windy and I’d heard so many horror stories about inshore saltwater crocodiles, that I kind of psyched myself out. I never connected to a barramundi, but I did manage some jungle perch in a crystal-clear high-mountain stream where the crocs, while still deadly, were of the freshwater variety.
After watching the film above, I wish I’d been a bit braver. Angler Jonathan Jones (aka Red Beard) shows just how much fun these fish can be when floods come in and push the big predators up on the grass flats. Barramundi can live in fresh and brackish waters, and they’re ideal ambush predators that will slam a streamer or a popper and put one hell of a bend in a stout 9-weight.
Maybe next time…
— Chris Hunt