Lionel Egan caught this coral trout off Darwin's East Point Matt
Flynn's Northern Territory It was strangely windy last week - much like the rest of the year - with fishing hopes mostly dashed. The October to November doldrums did not really happen this year and many charter operators have noted that it was a windy year for Darwin. Shoal Bay looked like firing coming off the neap tides from Monday to Wednesday last week, but a strong westerly stirred up the bay and sent the incoming neap tides flying up the creeks, with only a few barra caught. But there were some good fish, including a 20kg jewfish taken from King Creek on a trolled barra lure. Only a few boats ventured offshore in the rough weather last week. Fishing and Outdoor World's George Voukolos said there were still plenty of golden snapper about. "There were also big jewfish caught at the Town Hall Hole in Middle Arm at night during the neap tides,'' he said. "The Six Mile Buoy has produced lots of goldies and redfish when it is isn't blowing. "There have been some barra around Channel Island. "The larger tides this weekend will be good for harbour barra in Middle and West Arm. "Overall the harbour this year has been OK for harbour barramundi but next year all the barra fingerlings that were released by NT Fisheries should start showing up in catches - by the middle of next year they should help lift harbour catches - there should be a lot of barra around Channel Island if the young fish have stayed near where they were released. "Most of the billabong tracks have closed now because of the rain, so there aren't many inland reports." Happy Micks' Charlie Chambers reports that Kevin Eccles, Tony Hare and himself fished the Daly River last Wednesday. "We were told by other fisherman it had been fishing well over the past few weeks with reports of 20 fish a day from the main rockbar to below the S-bend,'' he said. "They said they had been catching fish of good size, some of which were over 90cm so we thought we would have to check it out. "We got to the S-bend only minutes before the change of tide in the early morning and hooked and lost a decent barra on the second troll through. "For the next two hours we hooked almost every fish besides barra, including sharks. We landed eight barramundi for the day and not one of them was legal although we lost three fish over legal size and a couple of strikes felt like good fish. "We landed more than six sharks on lure, which I have never seen before. "The water was green down as far as Elizabeth Creek and crystal clear as far as the main rockbar. On the way home we saw a rockbar that is almost always invisible because of low water clarity. It looked good for a couple of fish but for some reason we didn’t get a sniff. "But the Daly River is fishing well ... I believe we just had one of those days. "Shoal Bay has fished well over the week with big fish coming The Rock and King Creek. The Rock produced some nice fish including two barra around a metre and a couple of 10kg jewfish on soft plastic lures. "The holes in the Howard and Little Howard Rivers will fish well this weekend. The tides on Sunday would be my pick. Bait is thick up the Little Howard and Hope Inlet." For more visit www.happymicks.com.au Top End Fishing Supplies' Steve Compain said the shop's charter boats had cancelled for three days during the week because of strong winds. He said he fished Shoal Bay's King Creek during the week but strong winds made fishing hard, with the neap incoming tide pushing muddy water in from the bay. Top End's Mulga said fishermen were keen to get out this weekend after a week of strong winds. "This week offers some of the best harbour barra tides before Christmas,'' he said. Katherine Rod and Rifle's Warren de With said the Victoria River fished well last week, with clear water and loads of barra. "The mud crabs thinned out, but they will move back up the river if there is not much rain over the next few days,'' he said. "There were good numbers of barra, salmon and jewfish caught in the Vic and even a big mangrove jack ... it is fairly unusual for mangrove jacks to be caught in the Victoria River. "The water has been very clear in the Vic, which is good for trolling - Growlers Rockbar went well last weekend - one boat reported 20 trolls with a hook-up, but there were some pretty big sharks down there that were hammering the fish. "They are also reporting a lot of sharks in the Daly and Roper Rivers - it always seems to happen at this time of year with loads of small sharks in the rivers at the first sign of rain - even the bait bucket hanging over the side is not safe - this is one of the reasons tethering fish is illegal, because it attracts crocs and sharks. "We haven't had much rain in Katherine - it is not the normal build-up conditions you anticipate for December - and there has not been the thousands of lavender beatles and other insects about that you usually get at this time - we normally have to vaccuum thousands of lavender bugs out of the house at this time but there has not been one this year." Shoal Bay Boat Hire's Bob Morris said that with the westerly winds the Little Howard and Howard River fished better than the creeks out the front of Shoal Bay. "A 20kg jewfish was caught in King Creek on Tuesday at the first rockbar,'' he said. "A couple of crew had a fat time on threadfin salmon to 80cm at a junction near Fish Finder's Spot 6 creek - that was over the neap tide on Sunday. "No one from here has been fishing The Rock much because of the wind. "We went on Thursday night up a local creek and hooked a good fish but then got hit by a storm and the fish stopped biting." Got One's Craig Grosvenor said Leaders Creek was fishing well with jewfish to 10kg caught trolling the creek in just 2m of water. "There were some good barra caught at Leaders Creek on Classic 120s at the change of low tide,'' he said. "Shoal Bay had some big fish late last week with a 1.14m barra landed in King Creek on soft plastics and another 85cm fish on livebait. "The mouth of the South Alligator River has produced jewies to 12kg and snapper to 6kg around the islands on Monday. "The Mauna Loa wreck in Darwin Harbour frustrated a few people with big fish busting them off - the biggest jewie reported from the harbour last week was 12kg, taken from the shipping containers. "At Bynoe Harbour there were some good jewfish and snapper caught in the deep holes. "I am looking forward to the next set of building tides which, with the ultra-warm weather should fire up the saltwater barra. "There were some big barra hooked under Stokes Hill Wharf at night - they responded to large soft plastics on a slow retrieve, and a couple were hooked on live herring and mullet, but most of the good ones are lost around the pylons." KIng Kontis Fishing Tours' Tom Kontis said his customers caught a 15kg jewfish on the turn of the tide in Darwin Harbour on Friday, as well as some goldies and mixed reef fish. "The winds have been strong this week with strong north-westerly moving across to westerly winds - it has made it difficult with the occasional seasick customer on the rough days,'' he said. "The fishing was patchy last week with jewies biting one day and then none the next - when they are there they are biting right on the turn of the tide. "We have been fishing the wrecks these past few days because it is too rough to fish the middle of the harbour where the natural reef is. "This weekend's tides look good though." Leaders Creek Fishing Base's Deneise Edwards said there had been a lot of barra and jewies taken in the creek, all of them caught on lures. "There were barra over a metre caught last week,'' she said. "Most barra have been caught near the mouth, and there have been a lot of threadfin salmon too. "Chris (Edwards) went to go outside on Wednesday but it was too rough, but before the windy weather the big golden snapper were biting well outside. "Crabs seem to be quiet again. "We had a few millimetres of rain on Thursday night, but the road in has just been graded again."
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