Category Archives: Nothern Territory

Barra going Nuts

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I was supposed to be going camping this weekend, even took the Monday off work, but as it turns out the car got a crack in the radiator. I found this out on Friday. Meanwhile Brucesta had just moved from WA to Darwin and had asked me about some fishing. Since I didn’t have anything planned we made some last minute decisions to go barra chasing for the 11.30am lock in.

At first it was slow going, I hooked a few small cod (I seem to have a knack for it). A few hours of not much and it was across the low Brucesta managed to hook a fish that buried itself under a log. Since it was 1m deep it took me about 10 minutes of fishing around with the net under water to dislodge it, actually we gave up, but when Brucesta tried to break his line off he managed to get the fish out. Turns out it was a 38cm barra, his first NT one, and at least we were on the board.

As the water started to roll in we heard the occasional boof and we trying to hook something up. We were at a branch in a creek where the craziest thing happened. About 5000 tiny mullet came pouring into the creek. For about 5 minutes we were hearing a boof every 30 seconds. Then for 2 minutes after that, it was a boof every 2-3 seconds. 5 minutes after that it went back a boof every 30 seconds, before dying off. You could physically see the 60-80cm barra jumping. Over and over. It was crazy, they were everywhere!

And yet… they would not hook up. I have never seen anything like it, if I had of known feeding frenzies could go like that I would have assumed it would be easy to get a fish. But we got nothing. Another boat near us got 2 whilst trolling so we swapped to that, I got a decent blue salmon but no barra.

I still just can’t believe I saw that. I wish I had a go pro or something as it was just so insane. And yet no barra from it. It was the most disappointing thing that happened that day, and I’m a North Melbourne supporter.

Got:
Brucesta: 38cm barra
Me: Blue salmon for dinner

Random story of the trip:
A boat in that creek had their nose about 2 metres in the air whilst motoring, their outboard was 75% under water.

Snap

Litchfield Trip – the last?

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Claire’s friend Reb was up so we headed to Litchfield. Did the normal trip, photos at Wangi and Florence, swim at Sandy Creek falls and the Buley Rockholes.

The trip was great fun, perhaps a little sad as I am not sure if we will return again to Litchfield. Very unlikely we will return to Sandy Creek falls (Tjaynera) which is my favourite place in Litchfield. The build up is coming, the storms will hit soon, the barra will be biting… and we have the impending move to Melbourne.

It was a great day, though Claire had forgotten about the 1.7km walk to the waterfall, and she wasn’t happy with it. Nice to have a drink or two at the Buley Rockholes in the afternoon, it was the first time that I had drank at Litchfield, but I have to say clearly an amateur at it with my two XXXX Gold cans, most of the boys at the rockholes were carrying cases of bundy.

No complaints from me, apart from Reb and Claire ganging up on me music-wise, you try a few hours of clubland…

 


Sandy Creek Falls


Buley Rockholes

Boating around the Harbour

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Claire and I finally had a Saturday together, so we decided to go out on the boat. Claire had actually never been out on the boat before, we weren’t sure how she would go.

I decided to hit a few more blue water locations, as it was across the low and therefore a bit prettier. It wasn’t a fishing trip, but I was planning on having a bit of a cast around.

We hit this nice area of exposed rocks and I flicked around a bit. Got a few small items like a cod and a blue bones. Finally hooked onto something decent, but it spat the lure half way through. Really wish I had of known what it was. Soon we stopped for ‘elevensies’ and Claire had some beer, water, and food. Then the wind kicked up. It wasn’t long before she started to feel sea sick, and that was the day. We tried to go up some mangroves, that stopped her feeling sea sick, but the sun was out and so were the bugs.

So we decided to call it a day. Cracked my first can at the car wash.

 

Kakadu without the camping 2

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Claire’s sisters visited us so we took them to Kakadu.

The usual locations, Nourlangie, Ubirr, Maguk, Ikomarrwa, Bukbuluk

A lot of fun

Stayed in Jabiru as we didn’t really have the equipment to camp for the four of us.

Plus it is a bit easier when it is an single night.

Great trip, played some cards against humanity on the Saturday which was good for a laugh

The Gunlom walk was closed as it was burnt out… still amazed at the lack of people at Maguk. The most underrated spot in Kakadu!


The three sisters in Maguk


Claire and me at Ubirr

Billabong Dreaming

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Mud had done well recently at billabong, so we decided to head there in the boat and see what we could get. The plan was to get there before dark and fish it first thing in the morning. That didn’t work too well as Mud managed to get robbed the night before. Not too much was taken, but a set of keys were. So he got some locks changed and instead we got there in the arvo and fished until dusk. A lot of wildlife around, wallabies, jabirus, a few very pale crocs. Yeah, the fishing was that bad I am now discussing wildlife. Anyway Mud managed to get a decent Toga, we both got some large archer fish, but no barra.

I like to look at the positives of a trip… no bait, freshwater, no fish = quick clean up.

Got:
Mud: Toga, archer fish
Me: Archer fish

Story of the trip:
I had to steer the boat into the perfect position so my deckie could take the perfect selfie… what is the world coming to?

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