Featherback

Arowana

I have never extensively targeted this species and catches of mine are mostly attributed to by-catches. Very well known to be a top water feeder, the arowana will readily hunt down surface lures such as poppers, pencils and swishers. The arowana will also actively feed on insects that unwillingly drop onto the water surface and as such, presentations of soft plastics in the form of crawdads/creatures will easily entice a strike from this prehistoric fish.

Besides top water baits and soft plastics, the conventional minnow or crankbait has also accounted for arowana catches, especially when they are holding in deeper water. Lipless cranks are also worthy lures to try during the mid-day period when the water temperature is high and the fishes are hanging out at the bottom column.

Creeks and tributories are the places that consistently have a healthy population of arowanas so it is definitely worth covering with various types of lures.

Barramundi

The perfect example of an opportunist, the barramundi (aka kim bar lor) can be readily found along all regions of our coastline while exhibiting a prolific existence along the northen shores. The barramundi has a bucket-like mouth thereby accounting for its ability to go for preys that is close to the size of the hunter itself. Hookinh upon one gurantees almost an aerial display of acrobats as they would exhibit leaps and jumps out of the water during the fight, pound-for-pound, the barramundi is a worthy adversary.

To target these fishes locally, do not worry with regards to using larger lures as the barramundi is not size-shy at all. For my barramundi fishing, the most universal kind of lure would be a 12cm length, 1 - 1.5m diving depth minnow. Slowly working these genre of lures would easily entice a strike from the barramundi. The fundamental key here is the speed of retrival, or rather the lack of it. Crank too fast and the barramundi will most likely ignore your offering.

It is also worthy to mention that the barramundi is a struture-hugging species, so any prominent structuces such as jetties, pylons etc would be worth checking out. To fish such structure, a slow sinking swimbait would be ideal as this lure can be presented as close to these structures as possible.

If you find that the fishes are finicky and/or lethargic, tie on a soft plastic (shads and paddle tails work particularly well) and try working the lure extra slowly and/or near the bottom of the water column.

Good luck catching them.