Jungle Perch Fishing FNQ - Cooper Luce

The weekend had finally arrived, no schoolwork for two whole days, finally! Myself and a mate decided this was the perfect opportunity to get isolated up an incredible rainforest creek in far north Queensland, chasing the elusive Jungler Perch and the hard-fighting Sooty Grunter. We headed out the next morning and 15 minutes in the car later we were at a creek ready for action. After putting on the trusty SCF x Cast Mag Performance Jersey and getting in the water the fishing was slow to start but after an hour or so we started to see some action, the first couple of fish to smash our lures were Sooties, and although they weren't big, they fought hard on the light gear. Soon we came upon a prime undercut bank with tree cover and after placing a cast in the perfect spot I was on, once the fish was subdued I got it to my feet we saw that it was a sick-looking Khaki Grunter.

After the Khaki, the fishing heated up, and not long after the first jungle perch of the day fell to the plastic and spinner blade combination. Even though it wasn't huge, even small JP's hit with incredible aggression.

After walking for a while without a fish we began to wonder if they had shut down completely, I was so distracted that it wasn't until the massive eel bolted out from the weeds next to my foot that I saw it. After crapping my pants from fright and jumping into the air I was brought back to reality and saw the pool we were approaching. Staying under the cover of the trees I flicked a cast right into where a smaller creek met the big one and instantly I was on. A quick but aggressive fight produced a nice high 20's JP, which smashed the paddle tail plastic so hard the tail was ripped off. This was the turning point for the day, the fishing only got better and after a few smaller JP's, a cast right to the top of a pool and a few turns of the handle turned into a screaming reel and bent rod, the Sedona 1000 loaded with 10lb and TD Hyper 1-3 kg was put through a workout but after a  strong fight the fish was subdued and a nice high 30's JP was landed.

This wasn't the end though, not long later with a nice cast into the backwater of a nice pool and the drag was screaming again. Another good fight and aggressive runs produced an even bigger Perch, this one very close to the 40 mark.

After that fish there was only time for one more pool, so we continued a little further up the creek to a prime-looking pool that would have to hold a good fish. sure enough first cast towards the head of the pool and bang, the last fish fought all the way to my feet and it was a good JP too. Unfortunately, it started raining too heavily and we had to end our day there or take the chance that the creek flooded. Here are some more images of the numerous fish caught that day - Cheers Cooper

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