FISHING
NEWS FROM NORTH AUSTRALIA
With Alex Julius - 28 April 2005
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The old adage Little Fish Are Sweet is an apt description of proceedings at last week’s Barra Nationals on the Daly River.
A huge number of fish were caught by the impressive field of 60 teams, but the vast majority of them were around the 45-55 cm range.
In fact, only one barra over a metre was caught (102 cm) and there were only a sprinkling in the 80s and 90s.
It was a pretty close finish too, with Team Polar Bears taking out the Champion Team trophy at only its second attempt.
That team comprised Peter and Jimmy Politis and Bert Woodward.
I spoke to Peter this week and he told me the team caught around 110 fish with the biggest only 76 cm.
He attributed the Polar Bears’ success mainly to Classic 120s for trolling and a variety of soft plastics for casting.
“Basically, we trolled the snags and cast to gutters where fish were feeding,” he told me.
Peter wished to pass on his congratulations to the Palmerston Game Fishing Club for an outstanding organisational effort.
I also spoke to tournament co-ordinator, Paul Williams, who appeared to be still twitching from the monumental feat of putting 60 boats on the water without a hitch.
But it seems that’s exactly how it went.
The reason for such a large field was to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Nationals, and Paul expects it will drop back to 45 next year.
However, the smart move of increasing the fishable area all the way down to Clear Creek meant that the 60 teams were spread out along the river to the extent that the competitors I spoke too reckoned there was less competition for water than in previous years.
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Paul also surprised me when he reported that, even though the boats could travel quite a few kilometres further down the river, they actually used less fuel than last year.
One thing that I would like to congratulate the Palmerston Game Fishing Club on was the innovation of making non-knotted Environets compulsory for this catch-and-release tournament.
It’s a fact that the bigger barra in particular split their fins in knotted nets.
The tails are particularly susceptible to splitting as the fish’s body forces the tail through the knotted mesh.
Paul said there was a lot of opposition to start with because these nets are harder to push through the water and are not suited to chasing fish but, once competitors got used to using them, the complaints died away.
The bottom line is that, if everyone is using an Environet, then no team has an advantage.
Hot on the heals of the Barra Nationals is the NT Barra Classic which kicks off on the Daly River this weekend.
Also held from the Banyan Farm Tourist Park, the Classic is hosted by the Darwin Game Fishing Club.
This will be the 24 th Barra Classic and competitors from all over Australia will compete.
The best reports over the last week have come from the bluewater.
It seems red emperor have been turning up from North Gutter to right down past the Peron Islands.
Perhaps the best bluewater action has been out from Dundee Beach where quality golden snapper, trickies and the occasional coral trout have been keeping bottom bouncers busy.
If you’re planning on heading to Kakadu for a last shot at a tidal river barra, then it seems the East Alligator River is a better proposition than the South Alligator.
A 115 cm barra was caught at the East Alligator this week.
Mind you, Yellow Water, which is a famous landlocked billabong on the South Alligator system, has been producing barra around 70-80 cm.
Closer to home, the Adelaide River has been fishing okay.
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