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Happy Micks Mike Chambers pulled this barra out of Darwin Harbour on fly

Matt Flynn's Northern Territory
fishing report: January 11, 2004

Also available in the Darwin Sunday
newspaper, Sunday Territorian

January is living up to its reputation as a tough time to catch fish across the Top End, with choppy seas offshore and fluctuating river levels inshore.

Also, barramundi tend to be less abundant on river run-offs in January than later in March/April, and it is believed the fish start moving up the rivers in the latter half of the wet season.

But January blues and heavy rain is not stopping barra-mad fishermen, who have been out on the water in numbers.

Most people are reporting only average run-off fishing despite some excellent colour changes on the rivers.

The best fishing to date has been at the South Alligator River above the highway bridge.

Anglers who work hard to locate fish have been reporting some good catches, while less diligent fishermen go fishless.

The secret is to fish lots of drains and keep moving until fish are found.

The Adelaide River has produced a few fish upstream of the highway bridge.

The Adelaide's downstream run-offs, though looking good, held very few fish last week.

The Daly, Roper and Victoria Rivers were still too high, with more rain likely.

Aurora Kakadu's Peter Wilson said the South Alligator River floodplains were full of bait and barramundi were being caught.

"There has been steady rain out here,'' he said.

"There's plenty of tadpoles and baitfish but now we also have cane toads on the eastern side of the river.

"A lot of people have been caught on the sandbars, six boats that I know of last week, as the river has been flushed and all the sandbars and mudbars have moved.

"You have to be careful near low tide.

"We pulled some guys off a mudbank who had been fishing the river for 25 years, so anyone can be caught out.

""The tip to catch barra now is fish as often as possible, and find the creek channels on the plains and then follow them until you find fish.

"The river is not totally in flood - it is only the top third of the river past the Arnhem Hwy bridge that is in flood.

"Back eddies and colour changes are also fishing well."

Fishing and Outdoor World said Hooked on Fishing's Mark West went to the mouth of the Adelaide River last week and caught six barramundi in Saltwater Arm.

"But it is a hit and miss at the moment, with water levels changing daily,'' he said.

"There have been a few good barra caught up the top of the South Alligator.

"A customer who went to the South Alligator on Wednesday caught six small fish.

"In the harbour there have been some good caught fish off the rock walls at Frances Bay including blue salmon and flathead.

"There have been jacks caught at the top of Sadgroves Creek on live mullet.

"There are still loads of bream around too, but there is a lot of freshwater in the harbour.

"January is always quiet on the rivers. The fishing will improve later on, usually in March."

Katherine Rod and Rifle's Neil Croft said there had been some land-based action in the Katherine River.

"The river is high though and you have to know the spots to go to,'' he said.

"One bloke caught nine fish, the biggest 77cm, and he was fishing off the bank.

"Other than that the Roper River is too high and the Victoria River is rising and will probably cut the highway.

"The Katherine is up and down and it is raining heavily now.

"But we are looking forward to some good fishing ahead."

Top End Fishing Supplies' Steve Compain said the weather had been too rough for blue water charters.

"We have had no shortage of bookings but we can't get out,'' he said.

"Dennis Walsh has been fishing the top of the South Alligator and did well with small black tadpole-style lures.

"He caught 60cm to 80cm fish but had to work hard to find them.

"The fish showed up only in some spots - you had to work the gutters until you found them.

"The mouth of the South Alligator has been quiet but it should go off soon.

"I went up the Adelaide River last week but the tide was pushing in and we did not get any fish.

"I like the Adelaide better on neap tides as there seems to be more run-off pushing out then.

"Even the rockbars seem to become more exposed on neaps for some reason than on the big tides."

Crab Claw Island Fishermen's Village Lou Sarchese said there had been mud crabs caught over the Christmas and New Year period.

"That was a big surprise,'' she said.

"But it has been to too rough for fishing most of the time.

"But the road is open to 4WD vehicles and people can still come and stay, and when it is calm the fish are there.

"The creeks across Fog Bay Rd are up and down so you have to wait sometimes to get across."

Tony Kaissis at Shoal Bay Boat Hire said two one-metre fish were caught last week even though most customers had bypassed Shoal Bay and headed out to the big river run-offs.

"One of the fish was caught at the croc trap at Scrubby Creek and the other was at Hope Inlet,'' he said.

"The Shoal Bay floodplains have a good layer of water over them and it should fire up this Sunday and during the next week.

"I am also expecting big things on the next set of springs.

"There is a lot of bait out on the flats.

"The road in is not boggy, just wet, so people can still get in and fish."

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