Top End Barra Series, Round 2. Upper Adelaide River.

Saturday 22nd March, after a 3:00 am pickup we were on the water just after 4:00 am and heading downstream to Black Jungle Creek.
Daybreak, we arrived at Black Jungle and started casting around the mouth.

 

It looked good at the mouth, with a nice colour change and bait moving around. We had only been there for a little while when another boat arrived and headed upstream, we had been getting a few touches so continued at the mouth, slowly working our way into the creek and upstream.
After I dropped two rats and James one, another boat (Tackleworld) came past, so we decided to head up and check out the top of Black Jungle.
Eventually found both boats tied up opposite a feeder, but there being insufficient room for a third boat we headed back to the mouth and back upstream in the Adelaide.

Black Jungle Creek

 

 

To cut a long story short, what followed was unspectacular to say the least, we spent the rest of the day working our way upstream, checking any likely looking creeks from Black Jungle to the  rockbar past Manton Creek including up Scotts Creek and the top of Marrakai and despite numerous lure changes and trolling and casting did not get a single touch.

So it was that after over 12 hours on the water, covering around 210 km and using about 125 litres of fuel, we decided that the Adelaide River had defeated us and we headed home.

Round two was a failure for us, we can only hope to be more successful in the future rounds.

Round three, the Daly River, scheduled for the 7th and 8th June is next, hopefully I can get in a few trips before then.

Until next time, tight lines all.


Top End Barra Series, Round 1, Shady Camp.

Friday 7th March, finally time for the opening round of the Top End Barra Series 2014 at Shady Camp.
James rang around 2:00 pm to let me know he had finished work and was ready to go, so I loaded up and set off to pick him up and head out for round 1.
A good trip out saw us launching at the barrage and heading for the mouth of Sampan by 05:30.
Arriving at the mouth we saw the sea wasn't too choppy and so headed straight out and across to Tommycut where we were planning to fish for the weekend.
On arrival at Tommycut, decided to troll in, so connected a Deep River Slim and cast out. It didn't seem to take long before I was on and after a short fight had a nice 83cm Tommycut barra in the boat, what a great start to the weekend.

83 cm

 

 

evening troll Tommycut



evening troll Tommycut

 

 

After a few more trolls with no results we headed upstream to set up camp for the night.

 

Saturday morning saw us up after a quiet night and following bacon and eggs brekkie we were trolling the mouth by 07:15.

 

The Deep River did its thing again and I was on to a good fish just after 07:30, this one gave a good account of itself but after about 10 minutes James netted a great 96cm barra to open my account for the competition.

96 cm

 

It looked like it was going to be a good great weekend.

 

Continued trolling the mouth for a while with no success and there didn't seem to be many others catching fish either, so decided to head upstream and try some spots that had held fish the previous week.

Fished for most of the day upstream for no results and finally headed back to the mouth for a final couple of trolls before calling it quits. Finally, just before 7:00 pm James hooked up and landed a 58cm barra.

As we set up camp that night things weren't looking all that good, but we had noticed that most were doing it hard during the day,

 

Sunday morning dawned and we were back trolling the mouth. There seemed to a lot more action this morning with quite a few fish being caught all around us, unfortunately we could not seem to get any joy.

After about an hour of frustrating trolling, we decided to start moving upstream, Dean Blackman told us he had been getting a few just up from the mouth, so I tied on a Deep River Mugil and took a run past the spot to hook up and land a nice 62cm barra.

62 cm

 

 It seemed as though the fish were coming on the bite and so instead of crowding Deans spot, I decided to head back upstream to see if they had come on there as well.

Not long after starting upstream, I hooked and landed a good 73cm barra.

73 cm

 

We had found a patch of fish at last and over the next hour James landed three barra, 55, 61, 58 from the same spot before it went quiet again.

55 cm

61 cm

58 cm

I was starting to think I had passed my mojo to James and when my next hit was a mudcrab  caught on the troll with a big B52 I guess I was right.

Unlucky muddy

 

 



Once again it had gone quiet and so we continued trolling upstream trying to find more fish. After about an hour, James had another hookup, and it seemed to be a good fish going by the fight it gave him, it didn't jump at all but took a few deep circuits of the boat before finally allowing me to net it, a really nice 83 cm barra to give James his first five fish tally for the TEBS comp.

83 cm
 

Returned to trolling for about another hour, as we had decided to head home around 12:30, without getting any more hits.

The seas out the front were once again only slightly choppy and so we made good time with the crossing and back to Shady for a quick retrieve and uneventful trip home.

 

Scores have been posted for round one, resulting in 605 points for 12th place for me and 485 points and 26th place for James.

 

A great weekend and satisfactory start to TEBS 2014, Round 2 is just around the corner, fishing the top of the Adelaide River, so until next time, tight lines all.

 



 



TEBS 2014

Round 1 Prefish, Shady Camp

Headed out to Shady on the 25 Feb with mate Phil White to do an overnight prefish for round 1.
Picked Phil up at 5:00 am and after an uneventful trip arrived at Shady Barrage around 7:30.
Managed to launch without too many hassles and were on our way to the mouth by 8:00.
There were about 8 boats trolling Sampan, and after 1 run and not seeing any fish caught decided to make the run across to Tommycut.
On arriving at Tommycut we joined the 4 boats trolling the channel. This worked out for us and after a few runs we had caught a couple of legal barra and a few salmon.

65 cm

70 cm

 

78cm

 

Met up with Ross and Lee Abraham and after a quick chat resumed trolling Tommycut mouth.
Highlight of the day was watching Lee land a 119cm barra.

We then decided to head upstream and try trolling a few of the bends and creeks.

Checked out a few likely spots with a couple of good hits which failed to stay connected until Phil hooked and landed a nice 92 cm to finish the days fishing.

92 cm

 

Met up with Ross and Lee with the intention of rafting up overnight, but the swell running up the creek made it too difficult so decided to split up, probably just as well because after a feed and a few rums I was more than ready to hit the hammock.

 

Up with the sun after a good nights sleep, the breeze kept the mozzies at bay and no rain overnight.

Headed back to mouth, but it was pretty choppy out there so we decided to resume our tactics from the previous day.

Once again this seemed to work in our favour with Phil landing  a 105 by 7:30.

Phil's 105cm

We continued this for the next 5 hours or so with Phil and I seemingly taking it in turns to hook up.

90 cm

90 cm

62 cm


We had planned to be home by around 6:00 pm, so just after 12:00 we decided to pack up and head for Sampan. After a quick stop to catch up with Ross, Lee and Dean we headed out of the mouth of Tommycut.

Going straight out of Tommycut was pretty choppy with plenty of spray coming on board, but once we turned right along the coast it wasn't so bad although we had to keep the speed down until turning into Sampan mouth for the run back to the barrage at top speed.

As usual getting the boat back on the trailer at Shady was a pain, but we managed in a reasonable time. After packing up we had a few nibblys, (salami, chilli cheese, chilli pickled onions etc) before heading home.

Tally for the two days was five barra for me and six for Phil, all legal size from 57cm to 105cm, dropped a couple of good fish each and landed  a couple of Salmon, even throwing the tread on one of the trailer tyres on the way home couldn't spoil the way we felt.

 

What would the coming week have in store for me, will the fish still be around ?

 

Will try to keep blog updated over the whole competition, so until next time, tight lines all.

 

 

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.