FISHING
NEWS FROM NORTH AUSTRALIA
With Alex Julius - 28 February 2007
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Better late than never! That’s the refrain from anglers, as welcome monsoonal rain continues to fall.
What we need now is a few weeks of solid rainfall to fill up the rivers and floodplains.
As water levels start to rise, it’s a good opportunity for adventurous land-based fishos to search out the many creeks and culverts that hold barra.
Perhaps the most famous of these is Culvert Creek on the South Alligator, which can be easily fished from the Arnhem Highway just past Aurora Kakadu.
Plenty of good fish are caught there every year, but there are also a multitude of accessible locations in and around Darwin.
Almost any of the culverts and drains in Darwin’s rural area can hold fish at times, with a lot of the better locations kept a closely-guarded secret by cluey locals.
A couple of years ago, I remember seeing one bloke pull 4 good barra in a row from a roadside drain at Tortilla Flats, using an unorthodox but effective trolling technique.
He simply cast out a battle-scarred minnow lure attached to a heavy handline that looked more suitable for jewies, and then (s)trolled the length of the drain by walking along the edge.
When a fish struck, it was unceremoniously deposited on the bank before it knew what hit it!
Visit our incredible fishing destination:
ARNHEMLAND BARRAMUNDI NATURE LODGE
Darwin local Des Fry caught this enormous 123 cm (55lb) barra, casting a Classic 10+ in the guns’n’roses colour.
How’s that for a cuda? Chris Errity caught this monster on a trolled lure. |
The Blackmore and Darwin Rivers both have fishable water up the top, and can be reached at a number of spots where they intersect roads.
The best approach if you want to find your own honey-hole is to invest in a good quality map, and get out for a drive on the weekend to prospect likely-looking spots.
Soft plastics are the lure of choice for anglers wanting to ping a barra off the bitumen. Colour doesn’t seem to be so crucial in the often dirty water, and I have had success with both shad tails and grubs in green and white colour schemes.
They don’t snag up as much as hardbodied lures, and allow you to work a pool thoroughly, even with a strong current.
If necessary they can be rigged weedless on a worm hook for even more snag-proofing.
The ideal conditions last weekend saw many boats fishing the bluewater.
Crews fishing Charles Point were rewarded with some good golden snapper, as well as a few jewies around the turn of the tide.
The various reefs out from the mouth of the Mary also produced jewies, with one local crew suffering repeated bust-offs from these aquatic bull dozers.
According to Craig Grosvenor at Got One, North Gutter held big spaniards, GT's, queenfish and snapper that responded well to deep water jigging.
One crew drifted their way across ideal bottom jigging 75gm Bumpa Bars and slammed fish for hours using this technique.
The jigging outperformed bait on the day, and there are now two more converted fisho's that were aboard, amazed by success of jigging under the right conditions.
There were mixed reports from the Daly over the last week. It was all go one day and quiet the next. No Fish creek was the most popular spot.
Shady Camp was also up and down, although I have heard of at least 3 metre plus barra caught from Tommy Cut Creek.
Fishing off the Shady Camp barrage is worth a go, with some anglers connecting to good numbers of smaller fish, with the occasional model to 80cm. Fishing at night is the most productive at the moment, but watch out for those big lizards.
AFANT ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Don’t forget the AFANT AGM this weekend. All existing members are encouraged to attend, and new members can join up on the day for only $10.
The 2007 Annual General Meeting of the Amateur Fisherman’s Association of the Northern Territory will be held at 10:00 am this Sunday 4 March at the Aviation Institute, Charles Eaton Drive , Marrara.
For further information visit www.afant.com.au or call AFANT on 8945 6455.
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