FISHING
NEWS FROM NORTH AUSTRALIA
With Alex Julius - 6 January 2005
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The combination of a brilliantly-positioned low pressure system and a puny little cyclone has given us a blinding start to the wet season.
Last week, the monsoon descended upon the Top End, centering itself about halfway between Jabiru and Maningrida, and dumping a huge volume of water on parched black soil floodplains all the way from Kakadu to the Victoria River.
Then, as the low drifted south, category-one Cyclone Raymond formed in the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf and quickly crossed into the Victoria River District whereupon it dumped many more gigalitres of water.
As a low-pressure system, it meandered across the Top End, in its wake flooding one river after the other.
As of yesterday, it was hovering over the Gulf district and hardly moving.
By coincidence, on Tuesday this week I flew over all the big rivers from Arnhemland to Darwin, so I was able to witness firsthand the impact of this terrific monsoon.
The East Alligator was well and truly flooding, with feeder creeks pumping nicely.
I saw some colour change on the South Alligator River, but much more impressive was the amount of water on the floodplains.
Judging by the virtual inland sea immediately east of Brook Creek near the mouth of the South, that wonderful run-off system must surely go off with a bang in the next two or three months.
The Mary River most definitely failed to escape a monsoonal hammering.
I hear the river is over the car-park at the Mary River Bridge, and I can tell you it is just as flooded further downstream.
Also not surprising is the amount of water on the Adelaide River floodplains.
Over the last week, Adelaide River East registered 395 mm of rain while Adelaide River West had even more at 405 mm.
You can check out river heights and rainfall figures on the Bureau of Metreology’s great website: www.bom.com.au.
That’s where I checked out what’s happening on the Top End’s most important recreational fishing river, the Daly.
John Wyllie caught this toothy barracuda in between the storms over the New Year break at the Arnhemalnd Barramundi Nature Lodge.
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Terry Doley was justifiably rapt when he caught this 16 kg black jew on Classic 120 lure fishing for barra in Leeders Creek. Yesterday morning, the Daly River Crossing was 11.46 m and rising which means we are now assured of another year of incredible barra fishing on this beautiful waterway.
It seems that plenty of Darwin anglers are anxious to wet a line.
For those intent on intent on checking out accessible rivers like the Adelaide and the South Alligator, tactics are straightforward: look for colour changes at the feeder creek mouths and toss everything you’ve got at them.
The size, colour and depth of the lures you use are critical around the feeder creeks, so it’s not a bad idea to begin a fishing session with each angler in the boat using something different.
For example, it there are three of you, one might use a tiger-lily Bomber and work the first metre below the surface, one might use a fluoro or a black tiger-striped Killalure Barra Bait, which swims around 2.5 metres on the cast and retrieve, and the final angler might go deeper with a Classic 120 10+ in gold Bobby Dazzler or some other bright, contrasting arrangement.
If none of those work, switch to soft plastics like Blue Fox Squidgies and work them all the way to the bottom.
By the way, if you decide to head for one of the rivers, and find yourself poised at a fast-flowing creek mouth, don’t go charging up inside it unless you have some real experience under your belt.
Particularly on a falling tide, with floodwater charging down from an elevated floodplain, some of those narrow, winding feeder creeks can be lethal.
With strong wind warnings current across the whole Top End, a trip out on the bluewater is out of the question.
But the tides are perfect for Darwin Harbour where barra, salmon and even Mangrove jacks are biting in the arms.
That’s because those tiddly prawns are still swarming around the gutters and across the shallow mudbanks.
Tiddly prawns are what some people refer to as “jelly” prawns.
Only recently I learned that the 2 cm tiddlies we see flicking about on the surface are actually fully grown.
Good news for budding fly fishermen is that Australia fly-fishing icon, Rod Harrison, will be in Darwin this weekend to conduct several fly casting sessions.
Rod is being brought to Darwin by X Factor Fly Fishing.
There will be two 2-hour sessions on both Saturday and Sunday and bookings are essential.
The venue is Lake Alexander on East Point and the cost of tuition is $50.00 per session.
Phone George Voysey at the X Factor Fly Fishing shop on 8941 3955.
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