Clarence River: Maclean - Harwood

Author: josh

Category: Trip Reports

Created on Tuesday, 29 December 2009 07:48

Written by Josh

After straining my shoulder whilst doing battle with a manta ray, which came close to writing off the rest of the Xmas break, I did manage to sneak out again on Monday afternoon, but only for a sleepy river cruise. Loaded with 3 rods (one with a trolling lure, one with a plastic lure and one with a bare hook ready for a livie. The plan was simple - to launch onto the water and let the river current do all the work. As the tide was moving out I drifted downstream towards Harwood bridge (known for it's jewfish population), staying close to the river banks the entire way. I spent the 1st hour of this drift towing a an Ecogear lure but later switched to a Berkley Frenzy, which seemed to do the trick. As I neared the bridge bites became more and more active and by the time I'd reached the bridge I was landing fish almost every cast.

But being pint-sized tailor, these weren't the fish I was looking for. The jews, however, were likely to be close and for sure, I did note some interesting readings on the sounder. But aside from a few modestly sized bream and at least 40 baby choppers I was unable to raise any target fish.

It wasn't long after reaching the Harwood bridge that the tide changed so after I gave up trying for jews, I simply let the current (now backed with some steady winds) blow me back to Maclean. Upon returning I decided to do a quick recon paddle over to Rocky mouth, where I was surprised to find a distinct lack of fish. This is usually a pretty fishy part of the river but not this afternoon. Maybe the tide change put them off. Normally I'd be more than satisfied catching so many fish, but in this instance I failed to catch what I planned for (Flathead) and hoped for (jewfish).