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A Darwin Harbour jewfish

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

Also available in the Darwin Sunday
newspaper, Sunday Territorian

Mackerel and tuna fishing was the main game last week, with Lee Point producing some big fish.

Jewfish were about off Lee Point too, but barramundi have slowed down.

Many fishermen are turning to bream and whiting fishing during windy spells, a craze which really caught on in Darwin about three years ago - the fish might be small, but they are abundant and kids love catching them - and they make great tucker.

There is still small barramundi to be caught in the rivers, with live cherabin baits and verticle jigs dropped among the snags now the best way to catch them.

Lure One Fishing Charters' Chris Hurt said he caught a spanish mackerel off Lee Point last Sunday of about 13kg.

"Something bigger ate my spinning teaser but I didn't see what it was,'' he said.

"We caught the fish almost at high tide on a pilchard.

"I fished there again on Wednesday and we got one smaller fish and missed a couple of other runs.

"We had runs on garfish baits on Wednesday - but I like using big pilchard baits that have a lot of silver on them.

"There were schools of baitfish coming through with the tide.

"At the mouth of Bleesers Creek on Friday we caught three barra on fly - you had to work for them though - and we got a couple of milkfish near Doctors Gully in the morning."

Top End Fishing Supplies' Steve Compain said last night one of the shop charter boats put a client onto a big mackerel at Middle Reef.

"They also caught nine jewfish between the two boats and some goldies and they dropped quite a few big fish too,'' he said.

"It has been fairly quiet for barra but there are plenty of whiting and bream around and mud crabs have been very good.

"We sell heaps of beachworms and prawns - all you need for bream and whiting is a 4kg threadline outfit to catch whiting off the beach - people laugh when you say you are going whiting fishing but is good fun and you can do it any weather and they taste great.

"There were reports of good mackerel earlier in the week off Lee Point and one customer reported tuna schools around the Six Mile Buoy.

"We landed a 7kg longtail tuna on the charter boat around Middle Reef.

"People are now buying cherabin pots to catch livebait to tempt the sluggish winter barra.''

Fishing and Outdoor World's Matt West said the focus was now on bluewater fishing as the Daly River was finally off the boil, although still producing barra.

"It's mainly macklerel off Lee Point now,'' he said.

"I saw some tuna on Wednesday morning off Stokes Hill Wharf but they were a bit out of casting range.

"The guys on Equinox (charter boat) have been having some good days on jewfish.

"Barra are slower now with the Four-Mile Hole on the Wildman still the pick of the spots.

"There have been small macks and queenfish at Mandorah."

Katherine Rod and Rifle's Warren de With confirmed barra had been quieter with the cold weather.

"There are a lot of small fish still being caught on the Daly and the odd bigger fish,'' he said.

"One boat got 23 in a week with the biggest 99cm but they were all on cherabin livebaits.

"Jigging soft plastics, Tremblers and Rattling Spots in the snags works really well in the cold too.

"Soft plastics swim straight down the verticle snags and the fish often take them on the drop.

"The fish are now tucked right into the snags and if you drop down a soft plastic the fish will grab it if it is close enough.

"It's knock them down and drag them out fishing with heavy line but don't lift your rod too high and pull it down on itself because it could snap the rod.

"On the Towns River they have only been catching small barra. On the Roper River good fish are still being caught using cherabin baits.

"Tourist numbers have been slightly down this year at McArthur River and I think that is because the fishing has been so good futher north at the Daly - word was out among the tourists.

"There are still occasional big fish being caught in the Katherine River with the biggest a 75cm barra caught at the mouth of Two Mile Creek.

"Tony Hare fished the Kimberley region recently and caught a lot of big barra fishing the line between the murky water and the blue water in the bays and at the mouths of rivers - he said it was superb sight fishing."

Got One's Kane Dysart said the Four-Mile Hole produced barra to 78cm last week trolling Little Lucifers in colour G1X, with late afternoon most productive.

"Corroboree Billabong has been slow with mainly saratoga on Scum Frogs and small soft plastics - barra have been quiet with a few caught at night.

"Shady Camp fresh water has been fishing well with gold Bombers and Little Lucifers producing well on a slow troll.

"At Yellow Water in Kakadu barra are being caught at the junction on shallow lures in green and cold.

"Cahills Crossing on the East Alligator River has been producing the odd barra to 70cm.

"There have been heaps of small barra caught up the Adelaide River on rockbars and snags above Goat Island.

"Tuna are in the harbour but they have been hard to get near.

"Macks are still on the chew at Lee Point with livebait best such as spanish flag or garfish.

"Jewfish have been caught on fresh squid baits on the Bottlewasher Reef.

"The Town Hall Hole produced several jewfish to 15kg on live mullet.

"Saltwater Arm on the Adelaide River has been producing big mud crabs - one crew caught 10 big bucks in two hours.

"The Daly is quieter but there are still smaller fish to be caught."

Tackle Up's Joan Miller said two customers went to Middle Arm last week and caught 18 big crabs.

"They were all full of meat but nearly all jennies,'' she said.

"Some others went to the Lee Point reef the other day and caught 10 bream to 30 cm and five tusk fish.

"Another crew went wide of Dundee last week and caught a dozen mackerel to 15kg and a dozen jewfish as well, and snapper too - they said there were fish everywhere.

"Another customer reports catching lots of bream in Rapid Creek."

Shoal Bay Boat Hire Peter "Lockie" Lock said there were plenty of mud crabs about.

"They are getting them in King Creeks, the Little Howard and Scrubby Creek,'' he said.

"Up to the high tide seems most productive for crabs.

"Barra have still been a little quiet - there were some nice salmon caught last with a 97cm fish landed last Sunday.

"It's been very busy lately with lots of campers overnighting."

King Kontis Fishing Tours' Tom Kontis said on Friday when I called that he was fishing the harbour and it was "so calm you could ski".

"You could barefoot right now - it's almost build-up weather - I noticed that even the water temperature has gone up one degree from Thursday,'' he said.

"Today we got a good selection of mixed reef fish and some big spanish flag.

"We got a 10kg mackerel yesterday and the day before we a caught a 9kg tuna.

"These are all while we are fishing for reef fish around the Six Mile Buoy area.

"We had been getting goldies during the week and towards the end iof the week the goldies slowed down and other reef fish started.

"I reckon we are in for a real treat of fishing this weekend."

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