Barramundi is also known as Barra, Silver Barramundi, Giant Perch, and Palmer Perch. Adult Barramundi have a bright silvery grey upper body colour whereas fish found in freshwater areas billabongs and impounds have a darker greenish bronze upper body progressing to silvery sides and belly area. Juveniles are mottled brown to dark brown with a distinctive white stripe from the dorsal fin to the snout often fragmenting to white dots or blotches. Most barramundi begin their lives as males and change to females as they become much larger. Barramundi can grow up to 60kg however most commonly caught up to 6kg.

Distribution
Queensland, Northern Territory and Western Australia.

Tackle
Light tackle Medium Tackle and Heavy Tackle depending on your fishing situation

Lures
Poppers, Minnows, Soft Plastics, Saltwater fly, Jigs and chrome lures

Baits
Barramundi are mostly caught on variety of live baits including Mullet, Garfish, Herring, Prawns, Cherabin and Freshwater Yabbies

Sex Change

The barramundi is known to have a hermaphroditic life cycle. The fish are all born as males and remain so for the first few years of their life. Then. they change sex to become functional females in the larger sizes. To sustain a viable population, a complete cross—section of sizes is obviously needed. This sex change normally takes place at weights of between 5 and 8 kg, but certain populations of barra exhibit changes at much smaller weights. and sexually mature females as light as 2 kg have been recorded.

Great Allrounder

It’s hard to imagine a fish of greater appeal to fishos than the mighty barramundi. It grows to as much as 50 kg. though fish of more than 30 kg are extremely rare these days, and inhabits both estuarine and freshwater habitats. It is an excellent table fish. a predator which responds to many different types of lures and live baits yet remains a wary sporting opponent and is a fish of handsome appearance which leaps and fights and often escapes.

Barramundi Spawning

The adult fish move down into estuary mouths during the start of the monsoonal floods. where the eggs are released. juvenile fish then gradually move upstream, swimming against the flow of floodwaters and moving into tidal creeks. freshwater pools and billabongs as far as dams or waterfalls will allow. Some mature fish will also move upstream. but the majority at this time will be caught in the estuary. The juvenile barramundi uses these sheltered habitats in holes and freshwater swamps as nurseries in which to grow, pending the next season’s rains.