FISHING
NEWS FROM NORTH AUSTRALIA
With Alex Julius - 21 April 2005
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It seems there is no shortage of adventure for the 60 teams competing in the Barra Nationals down the Daly River this week.
As reported last week, the river is much shallower than in past years; not because the level is lower but because a less-than-average wet season has failed to wash away much of the siltation that has built up during the latter half of last year’s dry season.
Let’s hope it’s not what many long-time regular Darwin anglers feared: the extent of land clearing along the upper reaches of the Daly may well have resulted in more soil erosion, the impact of which would be felt with the first poor wet season to come along.
For competitors in the Barra Nationals, it’s meant several boats running aground on new sandbars, outboards hitting new underwater snags that were not washed all the way out of the river, and one unlucky team which actually hit a rockbar that tore the leg off a 150 hp outboard.
After two days of competition, it’s a fair bet that an ultra-cautious approach to navigating a very-dangerous Daly River is being taken by most teams.
The fishing has been tough going too.
As we knew, most of the barra are small fish from last year’s recruitment, and at time of writing there has not been a barra in the 90s landed.
The biggest – still a great fish in major competition – is Theo Agelis’ 89 cm barra caught on the first day.
Theo followed up with an 81 cm barra on the second day which, combined with smaller fish, gave him a commanding lead in the individual section.
Theo and Ian Ball are fishing in Col Cordingley’s Boral Concrete team and were coming second on 819 points after two days.
In front are the Polar Bears team of Jimmy and Peter Politis and Burt Woodward with 868 points.
It’s likely that the number of bigger fish will increase as the tides get bigger over the last couple of days of the Nationals.
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With the Barra Classic less than two weeks away, no doubt the Darwin Game Fishing Club is already formulating a strategy for keeping the teams and boats as safe as possible.
I suppose I’ve been biting my tongue a bit too long on this one, so I’ve decided this week to put forward my opinion about legalising crocodile hunting.
I’ll start off by stating that, for my money, one of the most intriguing natural experiences you can have on one of our big rivers or inland billabongs is to see a big old croc in its natural habitat.
It’s an experience partly fueled by the fact the North Australian saltwater crocodile is the biggest living reptile on earth; and it’s also because a big crocodile will eat you given less than half a chance – the thrill factor.
The trouble with legalised crocodile hunting – and in fact crocodile culling of any sort – is that the big old crocs are the prime targets.
Ask any fishing tour operator and he will tell you that every single client from interstate or overseas who has never seen a wild crocodile has that experience well up on the holiday agenda…and the bigger the crocodile, the more profound the experience.
In respect of the actual shooting of crocodiles, there’s something that hasn’t been clarified properly for me yet.
Are they to be shot while they’re sunning themselves on a mudbank, or are they to be shot while they are in the water?
In either case, what measures are to be put in place to make sure every carcase is collected?
I’m quite baffled by this because a crocodile has a tiny brain and it’s not even between its eyes.
Anything other than a kill shot will more than likely send a wounded croc scurrying for the water where it can swim away and die slowly.
A croc shot in the water is already there so it will definitely disappear below even with a kill shot.
When crocodile hunting for skins was legal before 1971 when our two species – Crocodylus porosus and Crocodylus johnni – were shot freely for their skins – an era I call the Crocodile Holocaust – some professional hunters would dive on the croc as soon as they shot it.
They did this because the dead animal would otherwise sink, whereupon they would have to wait a couple of days before the carcase bloated with gases and floated to the surface.
The point is that, unlike game shot on land which can be followed and finished off, a lot of shot crocodiles are never going to be seen again.
Surely that is an important consideration.
The bottom line is that this amazing animal that can live for more than 100 years is far more valuable to the Territory as a target for a well-aimed camera shot than .308 magnum.
Alex Julius Fishing Media
PO Box 571, Howard Springs NT Australia 0835
International phone: (618) 89832167
International fax: (618) 89831914
Fax (from within Australia): (08) 89831914
E-mail: AJFM@hotspot.com.au