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Fishing guide Darren Nickolls with a Daly River barra

Matt Flynn's Northern Territory
fishing report: August 1, 2004

Also available in the Darwin Sunday
newspaper, Sunday Territorian

Strong wind most of last week slowed fishing down, but crabs were abundant in Shoal Bay with several catches of a dozen or so big bucks.

There have been loads of tuna off Lee Point, with the occasional big mackerel mixed in.

In sheltered waters, there are hordes of golden snapper on the rockbars, which is great news for years ahead.

Shoal Bay Boat Hire's Cliff Watkins said crabbing had been excellent with quite a few people out on Wednesday and Thursday getting a dozen or more.

"At the moment the crabs seem to be out the front on the mudflats,'' he said.

"There have been some big thumping bucks caught.

"I got a 79cm barra on Tuesday, but the barra have been fairly sluggish.

"But there have been plenty of people chasing fish - salmon and crabs are the best bet."

Top End Fishing Supplies' Chris Rainbird said it was now mostly small fish biting down at the Daly River.

"There are some barra being caught at Corrboreee Billabong by fishing guides,'' he said.

"There are still loads of mackerel off Bass Reef and out wider but it has been too windy for most people to go there.

"There have been loads of tuna at Lee Point but few mackerel.

"There were quite a few mackerel-tuna out there last Sunday.

"There are crabs in Shoal Bay and a few are being caught in the Elizabeth River."

Fishing and Outdoor World's Ronald Voukolos said there were mixed reports of tuna in the harbour.

"During the week there were a lot of tuna from Lee Point right across to Gunn Point,'' he said.

"There were some big tarpon off the East Arm Port last week, which are good fun to catch, and the tiny little Squidies have been working really well on them and fingermark and bream, by casting around the rock walls.

"It's amazing what's you catch when you scale down the presentation of the lure.

"There seems to be a lot of juvenile golden snapper around now which is a good sign.

"Rob Marchant from Tour Tub has been doing really well over at Bynoe Harbour.

"There are heaps of mackerel out the front of Bynoe Harbour when the weather is right.

"I've heard good reports from the top lagoon at Shady Camp and the Four-Mile Hole. Corroboree and Hardies have been quieter."

Got One's Craig Grosvenor went out on Thursday and said the weather was beautiful at the Bottlewasher Reef off Lee Point.

"A 20kg mack was landed at low tide just before I got there on live gar,'' he said.

"The water was nice and clear and it was calm in the afternoon.

"I had live gars, fresh pilchards and everything else out and I had one good run, which I lost.

"I went for a quick trip one morning up the Adelaide River and did not see any barra - the water very dirty.

"Roche Reef in Fog Bay produced jewfish, spanish flag, cod and goldies for one crew who were jigging chrome 60g slices - they were locating bait schools at mid-depth and jigging below them.

"There have been macks out there to 20kg caught by casting and retrieving fast, with a giant trevally of 20kg landed also.

"There have been plenty of queenfish off Dundee taking maribou jigs and chrome lures.

"Old Man Rock off Casuarina has had tuna around it with one angler floating pilchards on the seaward side and catching big fish.

"I have had reports of barra to 85cm on the Daly and barra to 83cm at Corroboree.

"The sheltered side of Indian Island in Bynoe Harbour has been producing barra and salmon to 86cm on shallow diving minnows."

Leaders Creek Fishing Base's Chris Edwards said crabs had been consistent.

"Everyone's been getting some,'' he said.

"The crabs seem to be down around the bottom of the creek.

"There were two big jewies caught through the week and one was 131cm - they were caught at the mouth of the creek on squid.

"There have been some big threadfin salmon caught on livebait.

"Someone fishing out the front got a really big cod.

"The winds are supposed to be dropping this weekend.

"The graders are on the road right now, so it should be smooth for the weekend.

"No one has been able to get out for spanish mackerel because of the wind.

"There have been some big golden snapper caught at night, as the wind usually drops off at night."

Katherine Rod and Rifle's Warren de With said there was not a lot to report.

"The Daly River has dropped 4C in the past week which has slowed the fishing down,'' he said.

"The Roper River has also gone quieter with the cold weather, although there are lots of people trying.

"I have not heard of too many reports of the crabbing in the Gulf of Carpentaria this year after last year's poor season, but it still does not seem to be anything to get excited about.

"I think a lot of visitors are struggling to catch a barra at the monent. It is now bluewater fishing time but this is limited too with the wind.

"There are plenty of people going through Limmen Bight Fishing Camp and McArthur River and there has been a lot of people camped at the Tomato Island boat ramp on the Roper."

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