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The largest fish caught by Steve Cootes of Team Power Corn at the Kakadu Klash. Apparently the boys had a chat to Charlie Chambers at Happy Micks the day before the competition about a spot at Nourlangie Creek, and it worked

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

Also available in the Darwin Sunday
newspaper, Sunday Territorian

Fishing overall was superb last week, with some astounding run-off barramundi sessions reported.
Early birds into Corroboree Billabong did well on loads of mostly smaller barramundi, a great omen for the dry season ahead.
That's not to say everyone caught barra last week, despite excellent conditions.
Fish have limited stomach space and physically can't eat all day, every day - and the notoriously greedy barramundi loves to doze in the sun or in eddies between feeds.
You have to be there when the fish are "switched on", or just work plain hard annoying the dozers with lures.
Many people have been surprised by how quickly the rivers fell in the past few days.
There is now just 500mm over the bar on the Roper River, while the Daly River was at 9m and dropping 500mm daily late last week after being at an impressive 12.7m the week before.
The Adelaide River still had some run-offs last week but many creeks were drying up.
This Easter weekend looks set to produce fine fishing all round, although the water level on the Daly will be better for fishing just after Easter.
I fished Chambers Bay last Monday, and it was a quiet day except for four bust-offs on the jewie reef out from Sampan, an hour-long fish-a-cast session on hungry 50-70cm barra at Swim Creek, and a 1.02m barra we trolled up at Sampan Creek.
Keep in mind that as the feeder creeks dry up on the big rivers, there will be an extended trolling period into May, as the tonnes of fresh water flowing downstream will keep water clarity high.
Katherine Rod and Rifle's Warren de With said fish were being caught everywhere.
"There were 15 barra caught by one lot at Donkey Camp on the Katherine River and another 10 fish the next night,'' he said.
"They were mostly juvenile fish with the occasional 70cm fish.
"The Roper River is going off at the bar with big fish being caught and it is going to be full-on over Easter.
"They are getting fish to 15kg and the bar is only 500mm over now, which is ideal.
"The Daly River is down and it is already fishing well with lots of fish to 80cm.
"The Victoria River is fishing reasonably well with some good fish last weekend, the biggest going 118cm, and they are catching them up and downstream.
"Once the Vic clears on the next set of neaps it will be right for trolling. "Lure sales now are unbelievable, it is up 50 per cent up on last year, thanks to the big wet season, and the tourists are already arriving."
Reidys Lures' Cheryl Reid said Jeff Reid and friends caught 20 barra on the Adelaide River last Sunday.
Top End Fishing Supplies' Steve Compain said there were now mackerel mixed in among the big jewfish and snapper offshore.
"The guys in the shop had the day off on Tuesday and went out on the big tides and caught mackerel to 12kg,'' he said.
"There were also plenty of goldies and jewfish.
"We found them in 20m of water out near Lorna Shoals.
"The mackerel were there all day, and there were a lot of big spaniards among them.
"The barra fishing Corroboree Billabong is already going really well already.
"One group caught 70 fish and another lot got 100 fish to 80cm.
"But most of the fish were dark.
"I went to the Adelaide River on Wednesday and there were good colour changes but there were only small fish around.
"Shoal Bay has been producing some good crabs."
Woolianna on the Daly's Stan Traczynski said the Daly River was falling fast.
"There have been a lot of people coming down since last Monday,'' he said.
"They are fixing the road as I speak and there have already been quite a few fish caught.
"We are right for Easter - it's all go now and we are booked out.
"By next week should have many fishing reports."
Banyan Farm's Kerry Draper said 25 fish were caught up around Haywood and Schilling Creeks on the Daly River late last week.
"And there were at least two one metre fish caught on Tuesday far downstream,'' she said.
"Its dry now and the road in is fine."
Got One's Craig Grosvenor confirmed Corroboree Billabong was already producing barra.
"My customers are catching them there to 73cm,'' he said.
"The Daly River is due to go off ... fishing guide Rex Berry caught an 85cm barra that weighed 9kg, which means it was really fat.
"The South Alligator River at the top of Brook Creek worked well for one angler with a 1.2m and 1.25m fish on the high tide and first hour of outgoing tide.
"Three other customers have told me the same thing about Brook.
"Up the top of Nourlangie Creek there have been fish to 75cm caught in large numbers on soft plastics and B52s.
"The barrages at Shady Camp have been going spastic.
"One bloke who fished last Tuesday said they caught 160 fish but the biggest was only 73cm - he was using redheaded soft plastic lures, as well as greens.
"The freshwater side of the main barrage has been working well right up at the top for heaps of smaller fish.
"The Tommycut Creek mouth last Sunday produced fish to 1m with several 90cm.
"Sampan Creek also produced late last week. For 2.5 hours there were 15 boats there enjoying fishing chaos with everyone catching fish, mostly around 90cm, and it did not matter which lure you used.
"The Bottlewasher produced eight jewfish to 10kg for a boat last weekend, and there have been numerous other jewfish reports from the usual places."

Shady Camp Boat Hire's Wayne Turner said everyone was catching fish, and there were perfect conditions, and you did not have to go far from the Shady Camp barrage to catch them.
"You can catch shiny silver fish right up near the barrage,'' he said.

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