Fishing Down Under

Starlo catches up with Major Glen Kushert, fresh back from a tour of duty in Afghanistan, and goes fishing for barra on Yellow Water billabong in the heart of Kakadu National Park. The boys sight-cast some cruising barra in very skinny water with small, hard-bodied lures on light spinning tackle, and have a ball catching them!  

Steve and Jo explore the remarkable Fitzroy / Dawson River catchment west of Rockhampton to chase wild southern saratoga using light spinning gear and surface stick baits. This is topwater sight-fishing at its very best, and the close-quarters, hand-to-fin combat amongst the tangled snags and sticks will definitely get your blood pumping and your casting arm twitching! But as well as being entertained, you'l learn valuable lessons about finding, spotting, stalking and luring sharp-eyed, wary predators. 

Stalking wary fish is a pastime usually associated with high alpine waters and trout, however Alan Philliskirk from Weipa in far north Queensland reckons you can do exactly the same thing in his back yard, although the quarry here are barramundi, sooty grunter, tarpon and saratoga. The rewards are more than worth it, as we’re sure you’ll agree when you witness some explosive surface strikes!  

Shannon goes deep into the tropical rainforests of North Queensland in pursuit of one of our most enigmatic and challenging freshwater natives, the charismatic jungle perch. This is wilderness sweetwater fishing at its very finest. Few places on earth better demonstrate the direct connection between the health of the land, its rivers and the sea than tropical North Queensland. Ed then heads offshore from the rainforest coast onto rich waters armed with light jigging gear, in search of arm-stretching action - and finds it!  

For once Morsie has left his beloved fly rod safely in its tube, as he and Ken Smith work the Macquarie River above Burrendong Dam for Murray cod, using big deep diving plugs and baitcaster outfits. A sudden thunderstorm really turns the action on, and Peter nails a cracker! Starlo and Jo then chase heavyweight Murray cod along the lower Murray River, but the Starlings have chosen to do it a little differently, using their pedal-powered Native Watercraft kayaks instead of a boat! Casting Gangster Spinnerbaits, they methodically work the many snags until finally striking green-mottled pay-dirt in the form of a monster cod.  

Starlo, Jo and their friends Robbie and Sue Wells travel to a remote feeder stream of the upper Fitzroy/Dawson River system behind Rockhampton in central northern Queensland. While lure fishing from canoes and float tubes in some truly beautiful country, they tangle with a procession of hard-fighting sooty grunter and a gorgeous leathery grunter. Uncover some of the secrets of this little known part of the fishing world and learn about its fish and how to catch them.  

Peta joins "Chappy" Lawson, in the New England region of northern NSW to chase a few feisty and very tasty redfin perch. They use hard-bodied lures to target these jumbo perch on the troll, after first locating their schools using a depth sounder. Scott then teams up with some switched-on locals who've made an art out of jigging winter redfin perch on "dead-sticked" lures. The guys catch a heap of lovely reddies and pass on some great impoundment fishing tips in the process.  

Robbie Wells & friends fish the upper reaches of the Burdekin River for hard fighting Sootie & Small Headed Grunter. There’s loads of information on fishing hard body lures, where access is on foot, and the fishing is shorebased. The gin clear water of this river and sight casting to fish cruising over sand and rockbars, will leave you wanting to pack your gear and head out to this spectacular location.