Barra, Bass & Bream #15 is out

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ARNHEMLAND BARRAMUNDI NATURE LODGE

Dan Naujok from Dan’s Fishing Adventures apparently put a client onto a 27 kg fish that measured 136 cm.

The best action has been at the mouth on big Bombers and Classics, with casting and trolling both yielding great fish.

Guide Mark West even fished Shady on Anzac Day — not surprisingly, he was the only boat on the water!

Despite the impending cyclone, his clients landed some good barra, and Mark brought new meaning to the expression ‘fishing mad’.

Good reports also came from the upstream section of the Adelaide River , mainly

from anglers who were prepared to wait for the tide to start running out.

Darwin local Barry Learoyd showed impeccable timing – he fished Last Cast Creek on the way back to the ramp and managed five fish to 85 cm.

He used 10 cm Squidgies and Classics, with gold being the common denominator.

With the passing of Monica, river levels are coming back up yet again.

The Mary is now flowing over the Arnhem Highway , so options will be limited over the next week.

A good option is to give the Mary River Bridge Lagoon a go as soon as water levels allow.

Before the recent rain, good barra were being caught at a feeder creek upstream, and it should fire again as soon as access is possible.

The second surge of high water should be a good thing.

For starters, it will definitely clear some of the lilies out of Corroboree Billabong which has become increasingly choked with aquatic growth over the last few years.

Further afield, the Daly has been fishing well.

Good colour changes at downstream feeder creeks were holding numbers of barra, but Monica will probably have changed that scenario for the timebeing.

Prior to this latest drenching, soft plastics cast up into the creeks and worked slowly back across the bottom were highly effective, whilst at night poppers and fizzers produced heart-stopping surface action.

Hopefully, the seas will have settled by the weekend because the jewies will bite even more ferociously after another major flush.

Wrecks in Darwin Harbour are chockers with jewies, and only last weekend Charles Point went jewie beserk.

Ronald Voukolos from Fishing and Outdoor World reports that some of his customers cut short their trip on Sunday because they got sick of catching big jewies!

The big tides this weekend will reduce the window of opportunity for wreck fishing, but they’ll still be there if you pick your times.

In my experience, the harbour fishes best for jewies on big tides right on the turn, so it’s important to be in position and anchored up early.

Craig Grosvenor from Got One reports that more anglers are relegating bait to a fall-back option, and jigging for these magnificent fish.

Large chrome/pink slices and River2Sea squid imitations are both popular choices.

Land-based anglers are getting onto some quality fishing very close to Darwin .

Nightcliff Jetty is the place for squid jigging; even barra are smashing them up on the surface at night.

At this time of the year, it is worth having a closer look at anywhere that is well lit at night.

This tends to attract baitfish, followed by predators like barra.

Small queenies and salmon are hitting metal baitfish profiles retrieved at high speed all around the rocky foreshores of Darwin .

Fannie Bay has been fishing very well on the rising tide for blue salmon.

The secret to tempting these fish is a good supply of fresh sardines for bait.

Last weekend, a bloke tossing a popper off East Point rocks caught a 15 kg GT.

The humble pilchard also accounted for some good trevally and queenies off East Point , either cast unweighted or floated out under a float.