Tag Archives: Northern Territory

Rats on the Chew

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It’s been since March that I got my last barra keeper. This was the 16th time that I have gone out and targeted them without personally pulling one in. I was up at 4.30am, it was very hot on the boat (it’s November after all) and we put in some serious hours on the water.

Mud got two barra, the biggest was 47cm. I got one, though technically not landed, I might have put more of an effort in had it been size, I would estimate 35cm. So it wasn’t all bad.

We headed to Salt Water Arm, we even got a Tales from the Tinny report from Shane Compain for SWA on the way there. Last weekend he got 30 fish, 20 keepers, it was as healthy as he had ever seen it, all we had to do was…

So we followed his advice, without much luck.

One thing we realised on the way there that TEBs was at SWA and there were going to be boats everywhere. My only consolation at my current cold streak is that I spoke to quite a few boats, and it seemed much the same. Three didn’t have any barra at all, three had a single keeper, all barely legal.

Well I am off to the tiwis next weekend and if I can’t get barra there, I will have to think about a retirement… maybe start targeting tiny cod, I’m good at that.

Got:
Me: 35ish barra*
Mud: 47cm barra, 40ish barra

Random story of the trip
It is possible I hooked a monster fish at the narrows, but I am still pretty sure it was the ground. Mud thinks line was peeling off to fast to be a fish, but it was about 2 seconds before the line snapped, so who knows.

Snap

Katherine Canoeing

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The wife and I had plans to go down to Katherine and do their dinner cruise, however the mechanics that replaced suzi’s radiator had other ideas. It appears that they did not replace the thermostat, which meant we got half way down and ended up leaking water and overheating. We called the AANT, and they came down to tow us. We ended up having to stay for Sunday night as well, so despite missing the dinner cruise we did get a chance to do some canoeing down Katherine Gorge.

AANT premium membership is highly worth it.

Due to the nature of the trip I wasn’t game to take my camera with me, but here is a one from a previous trip to Katherine Gorge.

Promises Lead Nowhere

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A very early wake up to be on the water at first light. We headed to a coast creek near the boat ramp, about a third of the way to where Brian usually fishes, I didn’t want to go the full trip because of the afternoon wind. Things started pretty well, hit some snags and Brian pulled out his first barra, 47cm. He pulled out two cods before I got my trademark small cod of the day, but soon the water receded and across the low we didn’t think we would catch anything. The signs were good, bait was around, every now and again a large fish would jump, or we would hear a barra boof.

We waited and waited for the fish to charge up the river like they did the last time, but it never happened.

Things got more quiet as the water came in, the bait were gone and nothing was happening. We decided to head back and in desperation I stuck a line out to troll back. Nothing happened and I was about to give up before BAM I was on.

It resisted at first but allowed itself to be wound into the boat, so I was thinking catfish. But suddenly it was peeling off line like there was no tomorrow. It kept up this trip for a while, it was impossible to bring to the surface, it wouldn’t over resistance but as soon as it was near the surface it would peel off. If I wasn’t in 1m of water I would have thought a GT. Brian was hoping for a barra but without the jump I didn’t think so.

Anyway, it was soon worn out, and it revealed itself to be a nice sized Queenfish. The reason it was acting so strange was because I had hooked it through the top of its back, meaning it was impossible to turn its head. But hey, it was great fun, it has been a while since my line got peeled off, and I personally love the taste of Queenies. I’ve got some Nummas (Cerviche) in the fridge as I type.

I was really disappointing that the barra weren’t on, as this time I was prepared with a bent minnow and a popper. But oh well, still a fun day on the water, and I’ve got a feed for this week.

Last week will be my last trip for a while, I need to stack up the freezer soon!

Got:
Me: Nice queenie, small cod
Brian: 47cm barra, 2 small cods

Random story of the trip:
The queenie had a little fly hook in the corner of his mouth.

Snap

The Day they Got Away

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It has been far too long since I have caught a legal barra, so I decided to get a little remote and hit Bynoe Harbour for the day. Mud and Alice came along, we had really good tides, so we were pretty optimistic.

The first thing we did was start casting at some snags and Mud hooked a barra but it spat it straight away. A good sign the were on the bite. Another decent hook up in a few minutes had us optimistic. Then not much happened four a few hours…
We tried the drains and there were some amazing looking ones. But zero fish. We found a few rock bars to troll over, I pulled up a reasonable golden snapper, and Alice pulled up a reasonable cod. So that was good.

As the tide turned we tried the drains again, it is my experience they work best about an hour or two after the turn. Suddenly we had a lot more action. Alice first got a bite but it failed to hook up, Mud then did the same thing. Alice then had a large threadfin follow her lure all the way to the boat but decide not bite.

Frustrating.

Another bite on Muds lure that didn’t hook up and the drain we were at went quiet. Went to another where we could see the swirl of a barra, so we peppered him lures and BANG I hooked up! After about 30 seconds of fighting… it managed to spit the lure. I was devestated, it would have been a 70cm fish I think.

We were running out of time at this point so we tried a few more without sucess and we started to head home. Mud wanted to visit our favourite rock bar on the way so we did that and we trolled around. I filleted the snapper to save time and while the rod was in the holderI managed to hook up! At first I thought it was the bottom but it soon revealed to be an impressive cod. I don’t know I deserved this fish given I flicked the bail arm off at first thinking it was the bottom, but given the dissapointing day of barra refusing to hook up, I guess I was due.

Cod and Golden Snapper for dinner. Could be worse.

Got:
Me: Impressive cod, reasonable golden snapper
Alice: Reasonable cod, small stargazer
Mud: Small stargazer

Random story of the trip:
I spent $40 on an OSP Bent Minnow with the promise that it would be killer to barra. After promising I wouldn’t sucumb to these fads and prices I failed. And I didn’t get a single bite on it.

Snap

An Unconventional Feed

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Mud and I decided to head out again, once again with somewhat awkward tides. We took some bait and decided to chase some Jewies out at Leeder’s creek.

Started with a troll for some barra on the way there, but it was quiet. We found our hole and down some bait and pulled out one or two smaller catfish. After that we moved out to the mouth but it was quiet. Suddenly, both Mud and I were on with decent fish.

I could tell that mine was most likely a large catfish which was disappointing, but his definitely wasn’t. It was charging all over the place, making me hope we had the elusive Jewfish. As it turned out it was a good sized black tipped reef shark.

I think sharks are good eating, most Victorians tend to agree. It isn’t that common in Darwin for some reason, I guess because there are a lot of good eating fish here. I asked Mud if he was going to eat it, and to my surprise, he was on board with the idea. He agreed that sharks are damn tasty.

I am not sure if this inspired me or muddled my brain, but the next thing you know I am necking the catfish, everyone says those golden saltwater ones are good eating… I think I am going to call it cobbler from now on. Sounds better, right?

Otherwise it was fairly uneventful. Some catfish were caught, plenty more trolling for barra happened, a bit of flicking, and that was the day.

Got:
Mud: A good shark, catfish
Me: Catfish
Alice: Catfish

Random story of the trip:
When Mud went to get the cat and I was in the boat, I noticed some swirls of water near the rocks. Had a cast and I pulled out a small cod. I had nearly gone the trip without getting one, what can I say, I am the small cod whisperer.

Snap:

Two plain white fillets of cobbler