Daly River 12th - 13th April

On the road just after 3:00 am and on the water by 6:30, no deckie this trip and planned to overnight on the water.
Pulled up at a little creek just down from the ramp and pretty soon had a 57cm and a 60cm barra in the esky, my favourite eating size barra, both caught with a Sqidgie Mongrel.

Continued on to Catfish Creek and joined the flotilla of boats trolling between Catfish and Elliot and Hares Rockbar. The big girls were turning it on with meteries being caught one after the other up till around 2:00 oclock when it finally slowed down. Unfortunately none of them were on my boat, I only managed to land a 94cm, which I successfully returned, but I lost three others the same size or bigger.

Decided to camp up at Lookout Creek, so anchored up and tried casting the Mongrel to pick up my last keeper for the trip without a touch, tossed a Big B52 out the back as a stroller while setting up the boat and picked up a nice 84cm barra which was also successfully released.

Set up the mozzie net and hammock and after a steak and salad and a couple of Bundies, hit the sack.

Up early for brekkie and back into the troll.

No luck at Hares, so headed down for a look at Moon and back to Alligator Point where a smaller flotilla of boats were trolling. Once again saw a few big girls being caught, but managed to pick up a little 60cm to get my bag limit for the trip.

Headed back to Hares  for a couple of runs before heading back to the ramp and home.

No meteries for me but still a couple of good fish and 3 freezer size to take home to the Boss.



Top End Barra Series round 2 .. Shady Camp

Round two was held at Shady Camp. Round card was emailed early Friday morning  so around 10 am, Shane and myself headed off to Shady Camp. Arrived safely and launched quickly, no waiting in line unlike later arrivals.
Headed straight to the mouth of Sampan and started trolling amongst about 8 boats. It wasn't long before something grabbed my lure and started running. After a tough fight a nice silver barra was in the net and onboard. After a quick measure, 95cm, and photo we started swimming her to revive and release. Unfortunately after an extended attempt, she would not come good and so even though I usually release any fish 80cm or more she ended up in the esky.

95cm biggest for the year

Looking back, I can't help but feel that this Shady Lady had placed a curse on me with her last gasps.
Back into the conga line again and on to another hookup, this one only a 65cm.

That was it for the day despite trolling for the rest of the afternoon, so decided to head into the mouth to set up for the night.
Pulled up next to Dean and Luke with intention of spending the night, however later on we came adrift and while they reanchored at the same spot , we decided to camp up on the other side of the creek where we could anchor in the current in deeper water.
After a quiet night we woke to see the others had ended up high and dry, so it was just as well we had moved.

After the usual bacon and eggs brekkie it was back into the conga line.
Despite me getting a couple of good fish the day before, it seemed the curse of the Shady Lady had struck. We tried Sampan mouth, Swim Creek and back to Sampan, and even though Shane managed two nice fish, a 76 and a 78, out of 4 fish caught I could only manage two scorers, a 52 and a 53.
At the end of the day it was back to our camp spot for the night.

Shanes 76

Shanes 78

One of the scorers

Unlike the previous night, this time we were hit by two nasty storms, so rose in the morning feeling a bit worse for wear and pretty damp. Still after the usual brekkie we were back into it hoping to improve my lack of fish the day before.
Despite hitting Sampan, Tommycut and up near the dead forest, all we could raise was a 49cm barra for Shane, so around 1:00 oclock it was decided to pull up stumps and head for home.
The curse of the Shady Lady had well and truly put paid to this round, hopefully by round three it will have worn off.

Results after round 2 now put me at 20th position.

Top End Barra Series Round 1

Round one of the Top End barra series 2012 was held on the Daly River on the 3rd and 4th of March.
Unfortunately the weather gods were against us and due to some heavy upriver rainfall we were going to be fishing a rising river, so the decision was made to fish as far downstream as the competition allowed, namely the Palmerston Island area.
Picked up James around 3 pm on the Friday and headed off to the Daly.After an uneventfull road trip we launched and headed downstream, intending to hook up with Bill and Jason Luck to overnight around Clear Creek before heading further down in the morning. Arrived at Clear in the dark and after a few slow touchy feely approaches with sand bars around the mouth managed to get there and found Bill and Jason. Tied up to their boat and proceeded to enjoy quite a few beverages whilst enjoying Bill's selection of music on his in boat sound system,( note to self, could be a good thing to have in Draco )

Up at sparrows for bacon and eggs breakie before heading downstream, all new territory for James and myself from there on.

Eventually arrived at Palmerston Island and after a quick discussion with Bill started exploring this area.
Turned out to be a slow day with lots of time between fish, but we managed to land 6 barra, from 57cm to 88cm and a small Salmon. Bill and Jason had similar luck but with a lot more Salmon.  Finally set up camp in a nearby creek and had a feed, a few drinks and after a pretty hard day and late night before, we all hit the sack reasonably early.

Heres a few pics of the better fish.

88cm, my biggest so far this year

Up early again for those great bacon and eggs and back into trying to find more fish. Unfortunately, apart from one hookup which I lost in the sticks, we were unsuccessful and so around midday we started upstream to head for home.

Only saw a few other boats on the way back so assumed that they had either caught heaps or had given up.

Round one results .....

Of the 58 competitors,

19 competitors did not score.

10 others did not fish.

I came 10th with 445 points

Bill came 14th with 345 points

Jason came 19th with 130 points

James, who is not competing this year would have ended up with 520 points around 7th.

It was a great weekend, even better in that we had avoided any rain, and I can't wait for round 2, Shady Camp, heres hoping we have some more rain before then to get those creeks pumping.

Daly River Trip Addition

Just a short video from the last trip.

Daly River 13-14th Feb

James and myself went on an overnight trip to the Daly to prepare for the first round of the Top End Barra Series next month.

Most of the first day was spent exploring the river from No Fish down to Croc Creek, picked up a few at various spots and ended up back at Elizabeth Creek early for the night. Turned out to be a good move as the barra turned it on for the rest of the day.

These are a few from the first day.





After a reasonable but hot night we headed back down to Moon Outlet to check the run out on the bottom of the tide.

Got there a bit too late as the water coming out was really muddy, unlike the nice tea colour of earlier, so headed back to Elizabeth for a few more fish before heading home.



James outfished me over the two days and also had largest fish of 78cm until I landed the last fish of the day of 80cm which was also my biggest for the year.



Probably ended up with about 40 fish all up most being size .

Can't wait for the next trip, Round 1 of TEBS2012, back on the Daly on the 3rd & 4th March. 

21st Jan. Finniss River

Decided to try Finnis Fresh. Vague recollections of fishing there 15 years or so ago.
Arrived at ramp to find only 4 trailers already there, thought that was pretty good.

My deckies were Jaysen and Ebony, and as Ebony was not experienced in casting it was to be a day of trolling and investigation of this beautiful little system.

After an easy launch we headed off downstream to try our luck.

After about 15 minutes I had a solid hookup and after a short but hard fight netted a nice 78cm barra.

 It looked like it might be a good day, however there was only one other hook up all day, but that one managed to throw the hooks.
Sighted quite a few free swimming rats and ran into a 70-80cm barra that was sunning itself just on the surface and found lots of promising snags for next trip.





19th Jan. Wilshires

Jaysen had his daughter, Ebony, visiting and so it was decided to head across to the Wilshires to see if we could get her and Jaysen their first Barramundi.
It proved to be a very quiet day, but eventually Jaysen hooked and landed his first Barra. Unfortunately it was undersize and so was released to grow some more.

Not long after it was Ebony's turn, this one being a legal size of 56cm.



These were the only fish we caught that day, but I think Ebony was extremely happy with the results.

Nov 2011 - Jan 2012

Just quick update of the last couple of months.

Nov 5th.

Attended the "I Float and I Vote" rally protesting the establishment of marine parks in the Territory.

There was a good turn up of participants.

17th Dec

Took part in the FFF Mates Day, where members of the Fish Finder Forum volunteered to take Variety kids out for a days fishing. Each kid was also presented with a rod, reel and tackle box to take home.

Even though there were no monster size fish caught I think the kids had a great time. At the start they were a bit apprehensive of being in a boat, but by the end of the day it was " Go faster, go faster".

6th Jan

Heard there were a few fish being caught in the Wilshire Creeks, so headed over to check it out.

The Gunn Point road was surprisingly good for this time of year, a few lumpy sections, the usual washouts which were signposted and one wet spot which was easily bypassed.

A 5.00am start saw me on the water by 6.30 for the short boat ride from Saltwater Arm ramp to the creek I usually fish. Soon after arriving I opened my 2012 barra account with a 45cm rat.

It turned out be a fairly slow day fish wise, ended up with 4, two undersize, a 62cm amd a 70cm.

Weather wise it was perfect and I can't think of a better way to spend a day. Even better, I didn't see another boat in the creek all day. "Ah the tranquility"

I have also entered into the Top End Barra Series 2012, this is a comp of six rounds in various places throughout the year, so I will keep you updated on its progress.

That's it for now, hopefully I will get out again soon.