FISHING
NEWS FROM NORTH AUSTRALIA
With Alex Julius - 8 June 2006
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Who would have thought that there would still be runoff in June?
If only the water was a bit warmer to really fire the inland barra up. There’s still plenty of good fishing on offer though.
The Daly continues to produce the goods for anglers fishing at night, with good catches of barra up to a metre reported. One crew made the trip to the mouth of the Daly, and cleaned up on barra and big threadfin salmon.
Other spots that are worth a try are Shady Camp, Mary River Bridge Lagoon, Corroboree and the South Alligator.
There have been good barra caught from all these locations, but anglers have to work hard to get the fish to bite.
Try using smaller lures like the Classic 97, in bright colour schemes with a good loud rattle to attract the attention of the fish. Soft plastics are also good in these conditions, fished with a light jighead to stay working in the strike zone as long as possible.
If you’re downsizing lures, make sure that you upgrade the hooks where appropriate. Nothing exposes a weakness in your terminal tackle quicker than a leaping, thrashing barramundi.
Corroboree is fishing well for tarpon and saratoga , as well as barra. Weedless lures and flies cast into thick cover are accounting for good saratoga , while tarpon are responding to small soft plastics with a predominantly white colour scheme.
Mal Strong from Got One fished Corroboree on the weekend, and landed good numbers of barra using the new ‘green rainbow’ Classic Barra 97. Reidy’s Little Lucifers in a bleeding mullet pattern were also attractive to the resident fish.
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ARNHEMLAND BARRAMUNDI NATURE LODGE
 Michael Reiter put in a nighttime session on the Daly, and came up trumps. |
Susanne Marsh and Tom Dunnett fished a Kakadu billabong for this healthy 87cm barra, which took a soft plastic rigged on a weedless hook. As soon as the water temperatures rise a touch the inland barra fishing should really go off.
Out on the bluewater the recent run of good jewfish is still happening. You just need to travel further out to find the fish, with jewies to 20kg coming from wide of Dundee and Charles Point.
With strong winds forecast for the weekend, the afternoon will be a better time to get out there as the winds drop off.
The various charter boats operating out of Cullen Bay are reporting golden snapper and jewies in good numbers from South Gutter and Fenton Patches. There are also a lot of big coral trout coming aboard, which is great news.
Matt West from Fishing And Outdoor World has had reports from customers of sailfish off Dundee.
One crew raised 17 fish, and caught 7. They had the most success switchbaiting, using hookless teasers to bring the fish close to the boat before substituting a fresh bait.
There is plenty of untapped potential for sailfishing up here, but the numbers of other species mean that few boats put in the effort to specifically target them.
Also off Dundee, it is now a common sight to see big manta rays cruising effortlessly along. Cast in behind the rays, as they are often accompanied by cobia. One angler proved this recently with a hefty 19kg cobia on a soft plastic.
Rick Mills and Angler reef off Darwin have been turning on the pelagic action, with big GTs, mackerel and the occasional tuna showing up. Trolled lures are outperforming drifted dead baits, according to Craig Grosvenor from Got One. Halco Laser Pro lures in red and white are a popular choice.
Tuna and macks have also been showing up in Darwin Harbour, but are flighty and hard to get close to. Small feather jigs seem to be the best choice if you can find a working school. If the wind permits, tuna are more reliable off Lee Point and East Point.
The Rock at Shoal Bay is producing catches of salmon, trevally, jewies and the occasional barra. Live bait is the best for barra and jewies, but the salmon have been taking fresh prawn baits.
I find that fresh coral prawns are excellent for bait fishing, and almost always outperform those packets of frozen prawns you can buy.
The best fresh bait can be obtained by taking a cast net with you – a few good throws will see you set up for the day.
If you want to fish Shoal Bay this weekend, launch early to fish the runout tide in the morning. The low tide at around midday is the time to fish The Rock, or one of the many low tide holes around the area.
Drop in a couple of crab pots if you want some muddies, as there have been plenty coming from Shoal Bay recently.
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