FISHING
NEWS FROM NORTH AUSTRALIA
With Alex Julius - 5 October 2006
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Have you ever wondered how well-known fishing spots came to be named?
Perhaps on the Territory barra scene more than anywhere else, there is a plethora of creeks, submerged rockbars, exposed rockbars, river bends and river holes which have been named after anglers who either found them, made one or more memorable catches on them or simply fished them far more than anyone else.
The iconic Daly River tops the list in this regard – it has so many “people”-named spots that it could justifiably have its own Place Names Committee.
Cords’ Hole, for example, is the stuff of legend. It was justifiably named after the maestro of the Daly, Col Cordingley, because he found it in the mid-70s, and caught heaps of truly big barra at the spot. I remember Cords telling me about the day his Mum and Dad caught a 20 kg and a 24 kg barra respectively in two trolls up and back over Cords’ Hole. That’s 44 lb and 52 lb on the old scale, and they also caught a bunch of other barra around the metre.
In those days, his boat was a 3.3 m job powered by an 8 hp motor, and catch-and-release fishing was not part of angling lingo then. “We couldn’t get on the plane and it took hours to get back up the river,” Cords told me.
Right down river on the Daly, there’s a sharp bend in a particularly wide section, and during the run-off invariably there is a huge swirling eddy behind the bend. The spot came to be known as Willie Dawes Corner after the talented Dutch angler, who always fished on his own, caught a monster 26 kg barra a year after Cyclone Tracy. He had no gaff (nets weren’t part of the lingo then either), so he dragged it over the side by the gill-covers.
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ARNHEMLAND BARRAMUNDI NATURE LODGE
Chris Errity and mate caught 60 barra at Melville Island , then Chris bagged this chubby 84 cm barra at Leeders creek on the way home.  Leading Australian female angling writer and television personality, Leeann Payne from Brisbane , renewed her acquaintance with Top End barra last week whilst visiting the ARNHEMLAND BARRAMUNDI NATURE LODGE
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More recently, a rockbar just up from Catfish Creek on the Daly came to be known as Harey’s Rockbar following a Barra Classic when Tony Hare fished it for five days straight and did exceedingly well in the process.
I also have a spot named after me on the Daly, but you wouldn’t know it. It’s called Diesel’s Creek, and actually appears on NT Fisheries maps that way.
I’m not really proud of that one, but here’s the story anyway. At the very first Barra Classic in 1982, I picked the wrong drum at the makeshift fuel depot on the banks of Corroboree, and filled my tank up with diesel. I cleaned the spark plugs a dozen times before I could get the motor right again, and you should of seen the plumes of blue/grey smoke wafting down the billabong.
The early ‘80s was when mates and I camped up the bank above a small creek that drained a swamp off the floodplain during the annual run-off. The mozzies were six to the kilo and there must have been tonnes of them. But we had some awesome sessions at the mouth at night on poppers and fizzers, and it was just a hop, skip and a jump in a small tinnie down to some other fabulous run-off creeks on the Daly.
So it’s fair to say I put my moniker on it, but for a couple of years then, people were affectionately calling me Diesel, and that creek will be called Diesel’s long after I’m gone.
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It’s back to whopping great tides this weekend, and they coincide with a full moon on Saturday night.
Last weekend on the neaps, there were enough reports of great catches to fill a fish market.
Bag limit catches of big goldies and metre-plus black jew, and big numbers of tricky snapper and succulent coral trout were reported from right along the coast and around Melville and Bathurst Islands .
However, with around 7 m of movement on both Saturday and Sunday, bluewater bottom bouncing will be a challenge in the strong currents and cloudy water.
However, the way both Darwin Harbour arms and Bynoe Harbour fished for barra on similar tides a fortnight ago, why look further?
Tiny soft plastics were the go then, and they might well be again; that is, if the balls of little herring are still floating in and out of the estuaries.
On the inland scene, I hear Corroboree is almost in shut-down mode, but the top lagoon at Shady Camp is still fishing exceptionally well.
Further afield, all the lagoons in Kakadu are worth a shot.
Four Mile Hole has been firing for weeks, as have Alligator and Bucket Billabongs.
If it gets too hot for you during the day at these beautiful waterholes, try a bit of night fishing, either trolling slowly with big minnows or working poppers along the edges on the cast.
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