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Craig Grosvenor with a Fog Bay foreshore silver barramundi. Picture: GOT ONE 

Matt Flynn's Northern Territory
fishing report: January 2, 2005

Also available in the Darwin Sunday
newspaper, Sunday Territorian

Darwin received its usual Christmas gift this year - the monsoon - which often sets in at the end of December.

Last year of course was exceptional, with the Daly River already in flood at Christmas, and it stayed in flood for three months, with spectacular fishing through the following year as a result.

The Daly and Roper crossings fished well early last week as the rivers rose but the water has now risen well over the crossing and the fish have moved on.
With a monsoonal low pressure system over the Top End this weekend, fishing opportunities will be limited by rough weather.

However this is the price Top End fishermen happily pay - flooded rivers mean good fishing later on, and fewer lilies in the billabongs during the dry season.

For those who need a fishing fix right now, there has been some good fishing in sheltered waters, with big jewfish taken from the Town Hall Hole in Middle Arm, Leaders Creek and King Creek in Shoal Bay.

Goldies are still biting in the creeks, and probably will be until really heavy rain sets in and turns tidal creeks to fresh.

Barra and salmon are about but have been feasting on prawns.

Queenfish are about in vast numbers in the harbour - as many as people can remember, surely a tribute to the closure of the harbour to barramundi netting - but they are also feasting on prawns and can be hard to catch.  

Katherine Rod and Rifle's Warren de With said that on Monday and Tuesday Roper Bar fished really well but it was now too high.

"Down the Roper River people were catching 10 fish in a row over   80cm - most people went on Wednesday though and it was already too   high,'' he said.

"The river may drop again if the weather breaks but will of course   keep rising if the rain continues.

"People were queuing here to get lures on Wednesday to go to the   bar, but they missed out on the good fishing.

"The river fished well on Monday and Tuesday because the bar started   to rise.

"Fish over a metre were caught but once it was over 400mm at the   rcossing it was too high and the fish left.

"The Daly River crossing also fished well with 80cm to 90cm fish   caught on Monday and Tuesday - it's also too high now and the fish   will no longer be there - there were plenty of 55cm to 65cm fish   coming out of the Katherine last week.

"The Katherine River is at 4m and will probably stay about the same   way with the current rainfall.

"We have been getting good overnight rain but no consistent heavy   rain.

"This time last year the Daly was at 10m and stayed up for two or   three months, hence the really good fishing we had last year.

"The Daly will probably continue to rise - it will be worth trying   the downstream creeks now - the fish will pull up at creeks on the   way down and have some good fishing at different places along the   river."  

Fishing and Outdoor World's Ron Voukolos said the steady rain was   welcome and a reasonable start to the wet season.

"I have been fishing afternoons chasing queenfish in the harbour at   East Arm wharf, the Cullen Bay rock wall, the Larrakeyah rock wall   and the sandspit,'' he said.

"All the way along there are schools of queenfish - they are being   pretty fussy though because they are feeding on prawns and I had to   scale down to the smallest lures to get some fish.

"One guy used livebaits and pulled two big queenfish after he could   not catch them on lures.

"Matt and Mark West hit Middle Arm last week and they caught a 7kg   barra on a popeye mullet popper.

"There are plenty of goldies in the harbour arms - they do not seem   to mind the rain - if the creek gets too much rain and goes fresh it   does not do so well.

"The Town Hall has been fishing well for jewies with Aaron Heath   catching four and dropping a couple - he said they were all between   10kg and 15kg - they had gone out to Charles Point but it was too   rough so they fished the sheltered Town Hall.

"Another customer said he could only get barra in East Arm on the   pearl DOA prawn - other luress were not touched.

"We must not complain about heavy weater and monsoon - the less   fishing time we get now the better it will be later on."

Ronald noted that the shop was busy over Xmas, but nothing beats   Easter sales when the fish are biting at their best.

"When the fish are really biting people buy armfuls of lures -   that's why it is so important for the recreational fishing economy   that we keep our rivers healthy with lots of fish,'' he said.
 
Top End Fishing Supplies' Steve Compain said Christmas holiday   charters were hit by bad weather.

"We had 12 people out on one but nine were seasick - the other three   caught some good goldies but the rest of them were begging to go   home,'' he said.

"We have cancelled charters now because it has been too rough -   there is a really big ground swell out there.

"We have a lot of charters booked this week but I don't like the   look of the weather.

"Inland, there have been a lot of good reports from the Daly River -   people have been fishing Bamboo and Browns Creek and getting fish on   the Vivifs in red-maroon colour.

"Blue and white Nilsmasters have also been working well, with one   group catching them off the bank at Browns, however some big crocs   are at Browns Creeks so people are taking risks fishing off the bank   there."  

King Kontis Fishing Tours' Tom Kontis said had been goldies and    salmon up West Arm last eek.

"We got barra last Friday up Woods Inlet but nothing big,'' he said.

"We also landed a 5kg threadfin up Woods just before the rough   weather started.

"This week would have been perfect with the tides but it is too   rough now.

"I have been targeting snapper and barra in the more sheltered   waters.

"Jelly prawns have been about - I saw three barra near the boat and   we cast at them and never got a hit - they are not biting on what we   are offering - but the customers get to see the fish and that is   good.

"We did get some barra one day on the blue and white Nilsmaster   Spearheads."

Tom warned that anchor lines on a large boat moored outside Cullen   Bay had a red warning buoy missing and presented a hazard for   passing boats.   Shoal Bay Boat Hire's Bob Morris said the fishing had slowed a   little with the heavy rain.

"I went to the Little Howard on Friday morning and there were plenty   of fish up there feeding - I thought they were feeding on prawns   which were thick but the prawns weren't in the cast net,'' he said.

"We got a good feed of prawns to 75mm earlier in the week.

"There have been some buck crabs showing up in the pots.

"There are salmon about and there have been several big jewfish   caught in King Creek on the first rockbar - in the past three weeks   I have heard of at least a dozen caught there.

"They have been getting them on lures and baits and on low and high   tide.

"The biggest one I saw, 19kg, was caught at low tide.

"Wheaties Creek before the rockbar in the Howard River has had some   nice barra but the holes at Scrubby Creek have silted up and there   is not much water there at low tide at the moment - there used to be   several deep holes there and now there is just one - it needs to be   flushed out again - the bay changes from week to week.

"There were no huge barra reported this week."   Got One's Kane Dysart said the Golden Mile on the Daly River fished   well last week with many 60cm to 70cm barra caught mostly by casting   at snags.

"Landbased fishermen at the crossing were catching 20 fish a night   at one stage,'' he said.

"Shoal Bay has produced the odd report of fish being caught on big   tides at the top of Number 6 creek.

"On the harbour there are threadfin salmon everywhere eating jelly   prawns.

"There have been loads jewfish on the harbour wrecks."  

Happy Micks' Jason Deigan said there were a lot of barra, salmon,   queenfish and trevally feeding in Middle Arm with a couple of 80cm   barra reported.

"The harbour has fished well all year - there are so many small   queenfish about - hopefully they will get bigger,'' he said.

"I fished the naval base rock wall at Larrakeyah last week and   landed a 60cm barra casting at the rocks and dropped two the same   size - I got them on the RMG Scorpion 90s in gold."

Happy Micks' Aileen Chambers said there were a lot of logs coming down the Daly River and fishermen in boats had to be careful.  

Dundee Blue Water Charters' Des Puddey said he was turning down   charters because of the weather.

"We went out on the Monday last week and it was a beautiful day and   we caught a box of fish including three nice red emperor around 6kg,   a haul of goldies, a cobia, a mackerel on the bottom, and were   finished by 3pm,'' he said.

"So the fish were there before the weather turned.

"Since then the days have been pretty ordinary and on Friday it was   like a washing machine out in front of the Lodge of Dundee."   Leaders Creek Fishing Base's Chris Edwards said there were quite a   few fish caught in the creek during the week but only the brave are   going fishing now.

"There was a 98cm barra caught and also some big salmon,'' he said.

"Last weekend one boat caught two big jewfish out the front.

"But it was blowing like hell here on Friday - a mog came back from   Melville Island and they got hammered coming back - the waves nearly   swamped their boat."        

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