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ARNHEMLAND BARRAMUNDI NATURE LODGE

Look for trolling runs in 3 m of water or less to maximise your chance of hooking a saltwater barra, and troll as slowly as possible. An electric motor is great for this sort of work, or throw your outboard out of gear regularly to reduce trolling speed.

Using these tactics, wellknown local angler Kevin Eccles nailed more than 30 harbour barra over the last week.

Observing that feeding fish were terrorising small herring, he switched to a small white soft plastic with instant positive results.

This is a prime example of ‘matching the hatch’, and a reason why you should keep a close eye on your surroundings to see what bait is in the area.

Harbour regular Roger ‘Mr Prawn’ Sinclair also had success with smaller soft plastics in white and pearl.

Mal Strong from Got One caught some great mangrove jacks up East Arm, rounding off his session with a few golden snapper.

East and Middle Arms have returned barra to 75 cm on the famous green Bomber, once again in smaller sizes.

Threadfin are around in numbers at the moment, but as usual they can be fussy about which lures they will take.

Smaller poppers and soft plastic prawn imitations are taking their share of threadies, while bait anglers are having success with prawn and cut fish baits, such as mullet fillets.

Still on bait fishing, anglers live baiting with mullet have recently scored good barra in Shoal Bay by fishing deeper holes on a runout tide, as well as around the famous Rock.

This weekend will be no exception, with a well presented live mullet a dynamite bait for barra and a host of other species.

Offshore, jewies and golden snapper are biting on the bottom, while some hefty Spanish mackerel continue to succumb to trolled deep diving lures, or baits drifted in a berley trail.

Local fisho Paul Ritzen took a trip with Des from Dundee Bluewater Charters and nailed a swag of good fish, including some red emperor, always a welcome sight coming into the boat.

Craig Grosvenor from Got One also reports schools of blue salmon slamming squid and prawn baits on an outgoing tide along the Dundee foreshore.

Inland, Kakadu billabongs are fishing well for barra and saratoga . Spinnerbaits work very well on the local saratoga population, and the single shielded hook means they are fairly snagproof and therefore perfect for throwing into the lilies.

Warren De With from Katherine Rod and Rifle reports that the warmer weather is also firing up the barra a bit further south.

The Roper is returning barra for anglers, both on lures and the traditional favourite, a live cherabin.

Fished near the snags, no barra can resist a cherabin floating past.

The Victoria River is fishing fairly well, but will continue to improve over the next couple of weeks. There are good numbers of mud crabs around for anyone who wants to set a couple of pots.

Katherine River is also seeing a few barra caught, providing an option close to town for Katherine residents.

The seasonal closure of waters below the barrage at Shady Camp and downstream on the Daly starts on October 1, so this Saturday will be your last chance to have a go at these famous locations.

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The recent Squidgy Night held at the Darwin Trailer Boat Club was a great success. Close to 450 people came along to hear angling identity Steve ‘Starlo’ Starling talk about soft plastic lures, rigging and techniques, as well as some new tackle innovations from Shimano.

It really highlighted the enormous interest in fishing that exists in the Top End, with questions still coming well after Starlo’s presentation had finished.

For the record, his favourite lure up here is the Squidgy Slick Rig in Technicolour Yawn colour.