Kayak: Baffle Creek

BRISBANE Charlie Klein

I recently visited Baffle Creek, along with over 30 other keen kayak fishers from the Qld Hobie Crew. Our Baffle Creek trip is an annual event that incorporates a great group of people, who are mad about fishing, and a social fishing comp amongst friends.

It’s hard to summarise these trips, as the combined stories of the group could fill the entire magazine. My time at Baffle was a blast, but also a great lesson in how not to prepare for a trip away! Hopefully, you’ll learn from my mistakes. In the following are six essential preparations I should have made for such an epic trip: 1. If you’ve got two long weekends to prepare, Zack with the competition target species. There were just under 30 jacks caught in the few days preceding the comp day, but they were strangely absent when the scorecards came out!

This wasn’t a monster, but as the author’s first ever saltwater barramundi, it was a special moment.

do more than just sort lures out and put new hooks on. I replaced hooks on about 15 lures. I took 6 boxes of said lures and only used 8 in total. The new ones I bought for the trip mainly remained in their packaging, as I went with the old faithfuls. Meanwhile I neglected to check the rest of my gear, as I hadn’t used the kayak for a few months. Every connection on my battery and sounder had corroded. I only discovered this, after spending a session on the water without a sounder and having to rely on my faded memory of last year’s sounding. Luckily, I bought a box of tricks and

managed to ‘bodgy it’ for the weekend. It will most likely stay like that until next year! 2. When you’re planning meals and you’re not close to shops, you need to not only pack enough, but think about when you’ll eat each item. Eating all of the ‘good stuff’ on day 1 and 2, can really leave you wanting for the rest of the trip. You can end up with some really odd meals, but as a result I’ve discovered that fried potato, onion, sausage, salami, cheese and eggs mixed into a single wrap taste quite nice. 3. Take care when grabbing your pile of clothes, which you stacked carefully on your bed. In my case, accidentally grabbing the pile intended for a charity bin meant I had some interesting outfits for my stay. Skin-tight tee shirts and a variety of fashion-fails made me look like a wannabe hipster! Oh boy, was that underwear tight! 4. Don’t rely on Google Maps. “Go through Gin Gin and cut across, it’s not far from there”. In this instance, you also shouldn’t rely on the words of the lead driver! 20km of dirt road, some great scenery aside, made me pass my intended coffee and breakfast stop on the way home. 5. When you choose your tent, make sure it’s big enough to fit that fancy new camping bed. It may be a funny sight when your feet

are sticking out the tent flap, but the local insect life has an easy meal. 6. Don’t fish with Dan, if you don’t like pain. OK, you don’t know Dan, but I’m sure you have a mate just like him… He may be called, Bill, Fred or Jim, but whatever the name, you know the guy! In over 50 years of fishing, I’ve only ever had two hooks embedded all the way to bone. Each time, Dan has been my co-fisher and on both occasions, has needed to do the removal work. I blame Dan for the initial hook-up, so I don’t feel bad asking him to remove the hooks!

Despite my poor preparations, and questionable choice of fishing mates, my time at

Zack with a more modest fingermark. Sorry Zack, your dad beat you again!

Not a bad by-catch for Dan. Who could be disappointed with a queenie?

Baffle Creek was worth the effort. With only four days of fishing, at a time when locals stated it wasn’t fishing to its potential, I managed a mixed bag. Day one was only a short afternoon trip from our camp at Baffle Hideaway, which was uncharacteristically quiet until my last cast resulted in a 67cm flatty off the rocks. After a tough little session, it

was a nice finish to the day.

Day two was magic. Fishing with father and son duo Shane and Zack, there was early excitement when Zack’s rod loaded up and he instantly called it as a ‘barra’. Having fished with the two regularly, I instantly thought queenie, but Zack made a good call. One in a row, Zack! It was the first saltwater barramundi I’ve seen and I was stoked for him, until Shane also hooked into one.

I was beginning to feel a bit left-out and was sulking a little, but while the dynamic duo were fist pumping and taking selfies, I also hooked up. I had concerns about how well my light gear would hold up against a mighty barra, but the Samurai rod did an awesome job, the 30lb leader survived and my FG knots held strong. The hooks of my Fish Trap were well embedded in the fish and after a solid fight, I pulled in my first saltwater barra. At 70cm, it wasn’t breaking any records, but it was a heap of fun. I can only imagine catching it, after it’s grown for a few more years. To cap off a great day, Zac hooked into another. I need to give these guys some credit, as barra was our target and they certainly delivered.

Our third day was done at a more relaxed pace, which was reflected in some slower fishing. Dan and I went downstream and we had a few nice fish. I got my first fingermark and Dan had an epic battle with a 40cm+ trevally on 6lb line. Luckily they seem to run back out of snags when hooked. Dan

also added to the impressive Jack total with a pup, but a jack is still a jack, though!

Day four was competition day, although some take the event more seriously than others. Event organiser Ron Hess decided that a café breakfast and coffee was more enticing than fishing, but secretly, we all knew he didn’t want to embarrass us by winning his own competition. While Ron was enjoying a respite from kayaking, we pedalled downstream with a relaxed attitude and no serious intent to win. When a trevally hit my popper before it even had a chance to move, the enticement of surface fishing became my priority. Switching between the popper and a Splash Prawn, I was casting without success over the shallows, until a swirl on the opposite bank caught my eye. Casting

across the bank, I only had time for two ‘bloops’ across the surface, before a 57cm queenie became my first mark on the scorecard. At this point, my relaxed attitude disappeared and my competitive streak surfaced! Casting the edges for flatties with a ZX40, I was having no luck until a splash deep in a snag got my attention. With a big ‘Hail Mary’ cast into the mangrove, I was expecting to lose my lure in the sticks until a modest jack struck, swimming away from the snag and saving me $20 in the process. It was great to join the list of crew anglers who caught a jack, even if it wasn’t huge, but it was even sweeter knowing it saved me from being snagged in the mangrove roots. There were no prizes for me, but it was still a great day and opportunity for some banter around the campfire.

Our final day in camp saw us get damp from some rain, but it was easily ignored when several bust-ups around the rocks had us again reaching for the surface lures. Between us, we added a couple of queenies and a few trevally, with the aerial acrobatics of Dan’s queenfish a highlight.

Sadly, all great things come to an end, so our camp was packed and we headed home. The long drive was

made easier by the memory of a great trip and inspiring fishing, while sharing time with an amazing group of people. If you’re a Hobie owner and couldn’t make it this year, get planning for next year. Until then, tight lines!

This jack saved the author $20, as his ZX40 was skipping into the snag before it scoffed it off the surface! Jacks may have been the target, but Dan had a ball with the queenies.

Baffle turned it on for the Brissie-based yakkers, including this cracking fingermark caught by Shane. On a day of firsts for a few, Zack added to the tally with his first saltwater barra.

Watching these great fish swim away strongly is even more satisfying than catching them. Zack was surely thinking about the prospect of catching this barra again in a few years.