Episode 49: Corroboree Billabong Saratoga With Jo Starling

Jo’s Top Saratoga Fishing Tips

• Saratoga like to be in the shade of lilies and respond well to being teased by creating a commotion with your lure on the lily pads, then twitching the lure off the edge of the pad to the waiting fish. Unlike the eastern species, it’s very rare to be able to sight fish northern toga, but the are easily found by fishing the structure.
• When the weather has been dry and the lilies are dense, saratoga can be both plentiful and aggressive, but they’re dirty fighters and can be difficult to extract from the vegetation. Fish into small pockets between the lily pads and pick the path you plan to bring the fish through. Keep the rod high and the drag locked. Your only chance is to keep them from burying you in the lilies.
• Toga have a hard, very bony mouth, so you need to set the hooks properly and it is normal to miss a lot of strikes that don’t convert to hookups.
• Jo likes to colour the tails on paddle tailed soft plastics to increase contrast and elicit more strikes.
• After a flush, saratoga in Corroboree Billabong often take up position in the dead stalks of lilies that have been scoured by the floods. As there is no shading of the water, these fish will tend to stay deeper and are best fished using sturdy spinnerbaits such as those produced by Gangster spinnerbaits.
• The northern saratoga at Corroboree will take a soft plastic sunk vertically to the roots of pandanus and other vegetation, especially during periods when there are few lilies for them to hide beneath. This is a key difference between the Northern and Eastern saratoga species.
• Saratoga are more active and aggressive when the water is warm, but can be fished year-round subject to access. During the wet season Corroboree Billabong is closed and inaccessible.

Jo’s Saratoga Fishing Outfits

• For close quarters fishing near Jo uses a Shimano Exsense DC digital baitcast reel that she won during a “Secret Womens Business” comp at Corroboree Billabong. She pairs this with a 6′ Zodias rod, 30 lb braid and a 40lb leader.
• For stealthier work such as long casting to the lily pads, Jo uses a Nitro Baby Viper rod coupled with a 3000 size Shimano Stradic Ci4 reel, 20lb braid and a 30lb leader.
• Barramundi are a very welcome by-catch in this style of fishing, so all tackle must be “barra-capable”.

Jo’s Best Saratoga Fishing Lures

• The Squidgy Ridgeback is Jo’s top choice for teasing Corroboree saratoga from beneath the lily pads, but sadly is not made any more. It’ a hollow belly lure that works well with wide gape worm hooks fished unweighted.
• Squidy Mongrel is a hollow belly paddle tail soft plastic rigged weedless on a wide gap worm hook work well for teasing fish from the lily pads. A small ball sinker is added to the loop knot on the leader and is sized just large enough to make the tail of the lure work on a free fall.
• A spinnerbait is a great way to catch fish that are down around pandanus roots or in the dead stalks of lilies after a decent wet season flush.