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Samantha and Michelle Tates, from Adelaide, caught this mackeral last weekend, after putting up a good fight.
This was their first sea fishing experience and after some hard work they managed to get it into the boat. Dad, Tony, was surprised, as there was no wire trace used. The girls had a great time. While they did not catch any other mackerel, a catfish and shark were caught. To top it off, they couldn't catch another mackeral that was swimming in the berley trail.

Matt Flynn's Northern Territory
fishing report: July 17, 2005

Also available in the Darwin Sunday
newspaper, Sunday Territorian


The bluewater action was spectacular last week with calm weather and swarms of big mackerel showing up at the usual haunts.

Barra have been surprisingly good too despite the cool temperatures, and mud crabs to an astounding 21cm in carapace width have been taken from Shoal Bay.

Happy Micks Jason Deigan said Shoal Bay was fishing well for barra and big threadfin salmon up the Little Howard River.

"Lures have been working up the top at Spot 6 while livebaiting the low tide holes has worked best downstream,'' he said.

"Shoal Bay has been best for mud crabs: we caught one that was 21cm across the back last Sunday.

"Charles Point has been fishing well for big jewfish and the area near the small Larrakeyah rock wall near the Navy boat ramp has been fishing well for GTs and queenfish on chrome slices.

"There have been some good mackerel on the far side of the Vernon Islands and quite a few mackerel in the harbour.

"We caught a coral trout off the Larrakeyah rock wall the other day - they show up from time to time in shallow water."

Top End Fishing Supplies' Chris Rainbird said Steve Compain went to Lorna Shoal on Wednesday and cleaned up on big mackerel.

"There were none under 15kg - they were all good sized fish and they were caught on livebaits and pilchards,'' he said.

"They caught heaps of golden snapper on the first drop but they stopped after that as they were too busy catching mackerel.

"There have been some nice mackerel about Lee Point too - one bloke caught a fish of more than 20kg."

Got One's Craig Grosvenor said Bowra Shoals produced mackerel on Laser Pro 160s in gold last week.

"A sailfish was landed out that way as well,'' he said.

"There are still lots of jewfish being caught at the Dundee jew hole.

"The rock patch out the front of Stage One at Dundee has been producing heaps of blue salmon on bait and small chrome lures.

"We fished the Rick Mills Reef off Lee Point and were bitten after hooking small mackerel on soft plastics - we also caught a little cobia and a big stingray.

"Cahills Crossing on the East Alligator River has been fishing really well for barra.

"There have been consistent reports of cobia in the harbour.

"Threadfin salmon to 70cm have been around Sadgroves Wharf and Fishermen's Wharf.

"During the recent Got One Trailer Boat Club Kids Classic 2005 a 12kg tuna was landed of Larrakeyah, a couple of 5kg jewies were landed off Angler Reef and mixed reef fish were also caught.

"There are still heaps of mud crabs about in the harbour arms and Shoal Bay.

"Weedless frogs are still working well in Hardies Lagoon and Corroboree Billabong on saratoga."

Fishing and Outdoor World's Ronald Voukolos said tour guide Rob Marchant had been getting some good barra - 13 on one day and eight on another - while fishing at Corroboree last week.

"There's heaps of saratoga too,'' he said.

"Mick Winterton of Fishing Therapy said Bass Reef was boiling with big mackerel last week with triple hookups on 12kg to 15kg fish.

"Mick said he thought the bigger fish might slow down during this weekend's neap tides though.

"There have been thousands of what appear to be yakkas off Darwin which I though was unusual - I have not heard of them being so far north.

"Queenfish are being caught around the Darwin wharves, and jigging chrome lures around the pylons has been very effective, using clear leaders that the fish can't see.

"In fact, even out at Bass Reef where there will be several mackerel chasing a lure you get more hits using mono trace, even if you do get bitten off sometimes.

""There have been plenty of mud crabs in the harbour and a lot of small snapper up Pioneer Creek."

Shoal Bay Boat Hire's Cliff Watkins said there had been quality barra caught last week, and a large number of salmon.

"We have had mackerel appear at The Rock,'' he said.

"Crabs have been pretty good on the big tides but will probably slow down on the neaps.

"The bay has been full of bait lately.

"Barra to 87cm have been caught, even on lures.

"We haven't seen any jewies for a week or so.

"A few crew have been targeting bream and whiting and doing well and we saw a 56cm flathead landed here last week."

Katherine Rod and Rifle's Warren de With said there had been a lot of tourists coming through but not a lot of barra were being caught in the colder weather.

"The have been jewies and salmon caught at the Victoria River but at the Roper River it has been hard,'' he said.

"Even cherabin have been hard to find in the Roper River because of the lack of the wet season.

"We had along weekend in Katherine this weekend with the tides perfect for the Roper, Daly and the Vic."

Leaders Creek Fishing Base's Chris Edwards sent in a swag of photos of big mackerel caught around the Vernon Islands.

The Vernon Islands are traditionally an excellent place to fish in July during calm weather and small to medium tides.
     

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