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ARNHEMLAND BARRAMUNDI NATURE LODGE

Due to the plethora of great sportfish available in our waters, few NT anglers take the time to chase billfish.

For those who do, it seems there are plenty around. The Bathurst Trench is a good place to start if you’re based in Darwin , and the weather is ideal at this time of the year for getting out there in a smaller boat.

‘ Sail City ’, wide of Dundee , is also an established billfish hot spot, and Fenton Wide is always worth a day trip out of Darwin .

On the barra front, the hot weather is continuing to equate to hot fishing.

There have been reports of good numbers of fish from Darwin Harbour and Shoal Bay .

Craig Grosvenor from Got One reports multiple jewfish captures by a couple of crews who fished the reefs out from the mouth of Shady.

They also encountered large schools of blue salmon, and the odd monster cattie.

One of his customers, Brett Polain, fished Myilly Point for barra and salmon, which responded eagerly to the 3” rubbers that he was using.

Craig even found time to get out for a fish himself.

“A quick trip into East Arm on Tuesday was better than my best day at work...didn't catch a lot, but had a ball,” Craig said.

“Hudson Rockbar held decent estuary cod that really took a liking to my Reidy’s Taipan 'nils' coloured lure. First troll...slammed by a big cod...second troll slammed by a barra that immediately drilled me in the snags.

“The barra were relatively quiet, although Snow Dennis must’ve had his butter-fingers on again, dropping four fish in a row,” Craig reported.

Anglers venturing inland to Corroboree have been getting slammed by big catfish and commendable saratoga, but the barra have been quiet.

Offshore, Arafura Bluewater Charters has been putting clients onto some solid fish. With the warm weather, goldies and jewies are coming on the bite, and there are still plenty of macks and other pelagics around.

Steve Compain from Top End Fishing Supplies has received many reports of good barra fishing from Darwin Harbour.

Shoal Bay has produced solid fish up to a metre, and has also been crabbing very well on smaller tides.

This weekend boasts excellent estuary barra tides on both Saturday and Sunday. Launch on the morning high and fish the run-out tide.

Smaller rubbers in light colours are accounting for the most fish at the moment, but don’t be afraid to experiment with colour and size to see what the fish want.

A useful piece of tackle for this style of fishing is a threadline outfit, preferably with a slightly longer rod for casting distance.

The barra are feeding in very shallow water, and it can be hard to approach them. The extra casting distance a good threadline outfit offers can make the difference between presenting a lure to a fish and not reaching it at all..