Barramundi has been and would probably remain as an “Icon of Sport Fishing” @ School of Fish, Singapore. Simply because of the spectacular fights presented by this sport fish. Over the decades we have been hunting for this species in Australia, Singapore and Thailand. There is no doubt that this sport fish would present an unrivalled type of fight unseen in other types of fishes. The Barramundi is equipped with the weaponry of the “abrasive” lips, which can easily snap braided lines and fray mono & fluorocarbon leaders. If the angler fights a deep-throat Barramundi where the lure or hook is in the throat, he cannot help but worry if his leader can withstand the abrasiveness of the lips of this fighting fish. Many times we have seen the fray on our leaders after a short fight and if our leader is not of suitable quality, the line may just give way. We cannot afford to not re-tie the lure knot after the abrasion of a fight because you never know the size of your next catch. Often anglers would just loose because of the lax or complacency of their part. Equipped with strong jaws, there have been times that we have seen our hard plastic lures smashed apart to be left with a beak on our leader. Hooks can come apart or straighten due to its strength of stretch of its massive jaws. The gill cover has a jagged edge blade on both sides that can just cut through lines or predators including our hands and so beware not to handle via gill cover plate…or we can end up with a nasty cut like any jagged kitchen knife.
But, nothing can cause more thrills than the jumps that these fighters can present. When hooked on the mouth, these Barramundis can leapt out of water to try to shake off lure, stretch the lure and smash its mouth into mud or against snags which can leave you stuck on a tree. I got my lure stuck on my knee once when the Barramundi leaped out of the water and smashed the lure onto my knee…nasty. The flight of the Barramundi is indeed spectacular and we love it when it leaps even if it risk us loosing the fish while we know that there are many “food” fishermen who would resist the jumps by dipping the rod in water or lowering the line/rod just to present resistance and weight on the setup. At School of Fish, Singapore…we love the jumps and would fight the fish like its meant to.
