Favourite Lures for Barramundi

[Luke]

If you had to pick 5 lures to take estuary barra fishing what would they be in order of your favourites?
Cheers Luke

[Muzzy]

Gold bomber shallow

Tiger lilly bomber shallow.

Nils master spear head. blue and white is good, also any of the ones with green stripes on them (I personaly believe that nils master spear heads have caught the most barra out of any lure ever)

An elton john coloured diving lure or a gold one say either a halco sciopion or river rat (bout 4 meters)

Tilsan barra in the fingerling colour or a tilsan bass (same colour).

I might also put in my list a Big white marabou jig and also a renouski shad (spelling? a fish shaped rubber bait).

I reckon if casting then the bomber lures would get the most work. If I were trolling then I would alternate between the others depending on debth and fish activity. But I normally only troll spear heads or the like while fishing the darwin harbour for barra. And very rarley do I cast any thing other than those two bombers I might cast out the green on also!

Muz

I have a big bag full of lures and cast about ten of then alot the others are there just in case or to use out of frustration.

[Slates]

G'day Luke.
I've only been on a couple of barra trips so can't add anything with conviction.
But - had an awesome strike - the best of my fishing career -using a topwater/stickbait type lure in crab creek (trib. of the Mary River) about 2 years back.
The lure is about 3 inches, prism silver and floats with it's nose out of the water. You cannot buy this thing in Australia - I bought it yonks ago from Bass Pro.
It casts like a champ and looks nothing short of sensational by darting odd directions all over the surface like a poddy mullet.

Anyway, we were fishing crab creek flood plain (about 2- 3 ft deep). The other blokes were castin at a lone stick and had a few swirls behind the surface lures (we were actually targetting tarpon). I cast this little ripper at the swirl when the boat swung and presented me with a shot. It had no more than 3 twitches when there was a massive BOOF and it dissapeared in an explosion of water about the size of a 5lt bucket. Ths turned everyone's heads in the boat just as (about) a meter of chrome barra launched full-length out of the water and with one flick of the head, the lure went the other direction!

Awesome stuff!

The lure was called a "Spittin' Image"..

Cheers, Slates

[Muzzy]

Mate you can buy a sort of version of that lure design from kmart. i think it comes from the intruder guys and it does exactly the same thing a the mullet do on the surface (swim eyes out). Heydon sarra spooks do the same thing, and they do catch barra.

But like I say and will say till I die show me a lure that has caught as many barra as a spear head from nilsmaster, I reckon the gold bomber would be the closest and then all the spinn off colours that we use (I'm hooked on the tiger lily bombers).

Barra also take fizzers with alot o gusto (especially in the freshwater at night) but you get spat doing that surface type fishing and also they hit behind the lure cause they are stupid and cant see for the life of them. You cant over look poppers they work black ones are good.

But if I could only take five lures to an estury and chase the cows then the ones I posted above would work, That i do know.

when it comes to flies Pink thing and a Pink thing spinster have caught barra on surface flies, crazy charlies and clowsers bomber flies but the pink bitch is best!

Muz

[Slates]

yeah, I can vouch for all you selection. I cast most of those lures around when we were up there, but the fish were kind of quiet. Not to say others werent catching fish on the same lures we were using! >:( ;)
Dad and his mates really cleaned up this March though. Got a couple over 1m at the mouth of the Mary.
His best - 18kg - took one of those massive $26 prawn imitations cast out and let drift downstream.

Those deep scopions really suck down off a cast rod and stay down all the way to the boat - first 'wild' barra on one of those! ;D
You got a pic or link to that tiger lily bomber?
not that I'm going barra fishing in the next 12 months anyway... :(

Where do you get your little spinster blades anyway?

I'd be keen to give these a run on the mulwala codlets..

Cheers, Slates

[Muzzy]

Most of the tackle stores in brissie have the blades as they are bass freaks over that way. I mainly only use the smaller blades and colorado bldes are better that willow ones, the french blades do okay but seem to spin faster and its not so much the spin that gets the fish more of a wobble like a pendulum. The tackleware house in brissie was the last place I got some and I am starting to run out again.

Reckon they will slay the cod mate, I never threw on at them, and am kicking my self side ways now because.

I dont have a link for the lure off hand. It is the same shape swim of the gold one. Except it is sort of clear with a reflective scale pattern and black stripes, looks dead set like a tarpon in the water.

Mate I posted some thing to use on mozzies in the camping section also baby oil and detol mate mixed 50 50, sounds suss but works like it works at shady camp untill they are right out and about then nothing but a tent works.

Next time you are throwing lures at barra, try and really stall your retireve pauuse in between twicths for up to 5 sec or the lure floats to the surface you will be supprised how many fish strike a lure that was moving but is now still.

Muz

P.S spinsters are the ducks nuts on fresh water barra and toga have also caught sotty grunter, catfish, sleepy cod and tarpon if I catch a long tom on on then that is every fish that swims in corrobree will take a spinster!

[Luke]

Thanks guys,
I've actually grabbed few gold bombers, scorpions, terminator 2's, husky jerks,stumpys mostly in gold colours and Tilsan Barras in blue/white. It's good to hear what you suggest for trolling and casting. No doubt my cousin won't bring to many with him so it gives me an excuse to build the collection up. ;D Slates, spittin image lived up to it's name hey. :-[
Luke

[Muzzy]

A new lure to watch and may be use are the Gaden classic just unders (same as the classic 10+ but shallow runner)

in the cold times I.E dry season/winter small lures are the go especially in the fresh water, the likes of the little lucifer from riedy's is a cracker in the lagons here in the top end.

When fishing an estury try and concentrate on fishing the low tide say two hours before the bottom of the tide through till mid tide on the way up. That usually see's the fish gathering at creek mouths and gutters as the bait is forced togther due to low water. Easy way to think is less water and the same amount of fish there means less casts (thats the plan but hey they are fish)

[dazza]

Hi Guy's

Why is it that everyone seems to have a tackle box full of lures. I have got a fair collection but only use about 7 or 8 of them regularly. It is something about them. Just can't have enough ;D ;D ;D
Favourite 5

1. Tilsan Barra- Brown/Yellow. I put a size 6 treble on the back, and is sinks very slowly. It is dinamite. Low tide down the face of a rockbar. Also a great lure to troll. It can be dragged through pretty thick timber without too many snags.

2. Tilsan bass in pink. Does the same as the above. Have got a spare, just in case.

3. Scorpion 90mm it was silver top blue bottom with black stripes, now it dosen't have any paint on it at all. It is just a yellow/whiteish colour with flecks of silver & blue.

4. Lime green mad mullet

5. Blue and white spearhead.


dazza

[Steve_Ooi]

I hard to beat the lures that Muzzy mentioned , and Muz knows his barra….
One of the thing to consider when choosing the lure is the type of area you are going to fish, as the success of the lure depend on the environment.
As Muz said the gold bombers are one of the great barra lures and they really work well with an erratic retrieve # (a jerky stop /start retrieve) over shallow areas and especially in murky water conditions.
At time rubbers (renoksy shads, DOA’s) are a better method when fishing a snag and the fish tend to hold in close to the structure. #Typical trolling lures tends to be larger and if you want big barra, trolling seems to be the preferred option. Large lures such as the predatek vipers, halco scorpions 125/150 mm, and large nilsmasters. (Wish I had a dollar for every tackle box in NT that had a nils in it).
The Tisan barra is a top lure with its suspended action it can be twitched through the snags with devastating results.
Fizzers ( such as bills bugs) are one of those lures that causes a lot of commotion, extremely fun to use but ,there is the down side on the poorer hook up rate, to me they are still one of those must have lures in the tackle box. Theres nothing like a barra taking something off the top , it send shivers down my spine…..oh yeah
The little lucifers as Muz mentioned are a top lure , their tight action , audible rattle #and good depth reaching abilities, make for a lure that a lot of fish find hard to pass up. Along with little lucifers I also have a soft spot for Small scorpions , especially the fluoro green ones.
The Yozuri crank n shad is another lure that has found a place in my tackle box of recent, its suspended action, ability to twitch it #and keep it in the strike zone and as well of the fact that it doesn’t tend to snag easily , makes it great for barra.

There are plenty of lures on the market that are proven barra takers ,a lot of the time it knowing when to use what lure, and knowing how to work it to properly to gain the best results.

Regards Steve Ooi

[Muzzy]

I have a box full for different situations ie fresh water billabong/tidal river/local harbor esturies.

Sure I only use about 4 or 5 of them all the time

But I would not go fishing with only them 5, why limit your self if you dont need to.

It would also be pretty hard to jig a bibbed minow that floats now wouldnt it? again a different fishing situation you could find your self in fishing for barra.

But one lure and one lure only in the tidal salt would have to be a either a bomber lure or spear head any colour I just like the gold and blue and white

[Brett_Finger]

Luke,
Gold Bomber.(barry cross style)

Tillson Barra, (fingerling)

Junior Prawn-Star (clear)

Strike-Zone 4" Intruder (pink)

Halco Deep Diveing Scorpian (crome multi)

Hookin, Brett

[Luke]

Thanks everyone,
good variety there with some definate similarities between what people use. Brett I'll just have to stock up on some of them good leaders now. ;D
Luke

[Travis]

My favorite lure over the last few weeks are the reidy's the little lucifer,then the taipan deep and shallow colours are gold and quantas they really swim hard and eratic.

The tilsan barra is a winner also,followed by the RMG 90 they are a tad bouyant but did the job,and if l have to pick a favorite prawn the RIO's to me is the best l finally got a couple of good jacks on the gold fleck 4 inch .

And last of all for the shallow waters the halco lazer pro 125 in the gold was as good as the bomber if not better.

And finally the poonboys correct in saying the best fizzer on the market are the bills bugs l like the black dark colours and he liked the greens

good fishing

Travis

[Luke]

Thanks all. Thanks for giving me some mental pictures on what to look for Muz. Has anyone used the Nils Invincibles. Are they better for trolling than casting?
Cheers Luke

[Muzzy]

Top lure either trolled or cast.

If you find one say in the 6 inch varriety in the colours of a rainbow trout they are like hens teeth here anyway.

But they work, my opinion is the guys at nils master have mastered the mullets swim thats whay they work so well.

Fish with faith and you cacth more.

Muz

[Luke]

Gday Muzzy,
mate I got a couple of Nils Invincibles, one is gold fleck and the other is yellow/green and red about 6 inch. Any more info is good mate as I'm a good learner and the best fisherman (dam snags,I reckon that was a good fish, pass me a torch,can someone cut this lure off me nose) so fill me up with what ya know ha ha.
Luke

[nilsmaster]

Well bloke ive caught heaps of barra as i live in the gulf of carpentaria I would say that the pick of the lures we use would be any version of nilsmaster,gold bombers RMG scorpions,jindavicks(boomerangs)tinaroo lures or leads.All these are constant barra takers and the colour depends on the fish at the time your there.hope this helps you in some way.I have well over 100 lures and these are the most popular selections in my box. Regards Mick

[davo]

My best wild barra lures have been C lure Barra Pro in the full and mini size,
colour chrome bleading mullet. The Tilsan barra in the Jaffa colour, and the little Spearheads in the blue/white. Another lure I only used in impoundments is the River2 Sea Triho. They suspend, are strong and carry 3x hooks well. As well they are a lot cheaper than Bombers

[Rev]

Gold Bomber B16A :D :D

Green Bomber B16A :D

Pearl Bomber B16A :D

Prism Side - Olive Backed Bomber B16A :D ;D :D ;D :D ;D

Tiger Lilly Bomber B16A :D :D(discontinued) :'( :'(

B16A are the bigger of the Bombers.


Rev.

[Brett_Finger]

Let me see now.... ;D
# DK - Scale Razer.
# Bills Bug Fizzer.
# 125 Scorpian.
# DK - Snagmaster.
# Glod Bomber.
there is also a couple more in the box as well but these seem to preform the best for my style of fishin.
Hookin,Brett

[clutter]

Two that I haven't seen mentioned are the Richo's Extractor and the Richo's Little Terror.

Clutter,

[Mad_Barry]

jeez,, talk about "patterns emerging" ;D

Mine would be

shallow - The tiger lilly bomber, (I don't think I'd bother buying a regular flaky paint gold bomber anymore, as these things are just so durable, with the internal "prism" effect )

Mid around 2m-The Tislan barra in "spotted herring" or one of Lou's hinchinbrook hunters.

Deep or trolling - DK scaleraza's, or crazy deep scorpion.

around or after sunset- ,,,jeez,, the bills bugs put on a good show if they're on the chew,,,, as mentioned previous,, crappy hook up rate,, but damn addictive style of fishing ;D

[theone]

Lucinda lures
stump jumpers
ferrets
and squidgies