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While barramundi fishing with my mate in the local estuaries, none of our lures were being hit or produced a follow. This occurred even though we cast right deep into the snags and used the seductive twitch retrieve. The last lure I decided to throw into the deep end was my new Rapala Floating X-Rap. The lure was 10cm and a beautiful pale blue with a light top and bottom. This was good because the water was brown and muddy so the natural mullet coloured lures seemed to fade into the water.

For a floating lure, the X-Rap casts like a bullet due to its wait shifting system. It can be used like the regular suspending X-Rap by casting and retrieving or trolling. The thing that sets it apart is its buoyancy which allows it to rise. “Big Whoop” you might think but when you’re fishing right in snags it pays of to have one of these bad boys in your tackle box.



The barramundi and the Floating X-Rap



If you are casting and retrieving your lure and it hits logs or rocks on the bottom, you can pause and allow your lure to float above these structures before commencing your retrieve. This helps prevent the loss of lures and can help increase hook up rates as you are not afraid of loosing a new $25 lure you have just bought.

One of my favourite retrieves that is excellent for fishing around snags with these floating lures is to cast out and let the lure float on top. Give the lure a sharp twitch and it will flick up water and dart down under the surface. The lure then rises up to the surface and you can repeat this action. This is great because it can keep your lure right in the strike zone amongst the snags for a longer amount of time. It also works your lure from the surface, down through the different water columns which is great when trying to hook up on fish that are shut down.

This is the retrieve I used while I was kayak fishing with my mate. It proved to be deadly on barramundi. It also works great with the 10cm Rapala Flat Rap which is a wooden floating lure that has a very small lip. I suggest you should check these awesome lures out the next time you go to your local tackle store.

Measuring the barra on my mates kayak