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Geoff Penney with a Sadgroves Creek barra, with Darwin in the background

Matt Flynn's Northern Territory
fishing report: November 2, 2003

Also available in the Darwin Sunday
newspaper, Sunday Territorian

Last week's massive tides went as low as 0m on Tuesday, leaving much of the harbour high and dry.
With such huge tidal run, offshore fishing was bound to be average - and it was - but many barramundi were caught inshore.
Lure hunters did well combing the rarely exposed rocks, snags and wharf pylons, and one fishing guide even managed to find an expensive rod a customer had lost a few days earlier.
There was little news from the big rivers. Lure One Fishing Charters' Chris Hurt said a client from Melbourne lost a rod overboard back on October 10.
"I was above a rockbar at Bleesers Creek on an outgoing tide at the time, so we couldn't stay and look for the rod on the day,'' he said.
"Last Monday there was a really low tide, so I was up there with some good boots, and at the top of Bleesers at such a low tide you can walk on the bottom.
"So I wandered up there and found the rod in a corner eddie.
"The reel, a Curado, was a little corroded but the rod is what I really wanted because you can't buy the particular model any more and I really like it.
"I pulled the reel to pieces and cleaned it out and it works fine. "Losing rods is a hazard of the job as a fishing guide, as many customers are not very experienced fishermen - I had the same rod thrown overboard twice by two different clients a couple of weeks ago.
"I now have a little clip with some chord that attaches to the rod and the client, so that it doesn't happen - if they use it."
Chris reports that fishing is East Arm has been good.
"I fished Monday and Tuesday at the deep step at the top of Bleesers and we caught fish on both days,'' he said.
"We fished on Saturday with fly and we caught four barra.
"One was 65cm, caught at Reichardt Creek. A good fish boofed near where we were fishing and I had a shot with the fly rod and got it ... it was 80cm which is good for that area.
"Then we went to the other side of the creek and got a 75cm.
"Towards the bottom of tide has been best at the top of the creeks.
"The fish do not seem to be feeding for very long on the early incoming tide, although I have noticed some big fish coming into the mangroves on the flats at about half tide.
"I spooked two very big fish near Sadgroves last week too." Fishing and Outdoor World's Matt West said many people caught barra to 75cm in Darwin Harbour last week.
"There have been some good queenfish and small mackerel off Emery Point, and a big golden snapper was caught in the deep water there,'' he said.
"Small mackerel seem to have been everywhere in the harbour this year." Katherine Rod and Rifle's Warren de With said he had not heard a lot from the rivers as last week's big tides kept a lot of river fishermen at home.
"The tides are good this weekend though,'' he said.
"The big tides last weekend scared people away.
"But the mud crabs are running at the Victoria River and a lot of people have been heading down there.
"Many are heading down to the Roper and the Limmen Bight rivers this weekend to chase all species - not just barra.
"But it's still as dry as a wooden chip in Katherine - it's not even build up weather yet - there has not been any thunderheads, and it is not humid.
"The weather seems strange." Top End Fishing Supplies' Steve Compain said offshore fishing was extremely poor last week despite the best efforts of the shop's charter boat crew.
"Normally we can get fish on big tides, but something just turned them off on those really big tides,'' he said.
"We did a million miles and worked hard but it was terrible ... we were flat out getting a feed of spanish flags.
"We went to Middle Reef, Loee Shoals, Bass Reef and Lorna Shoals and they were all dead.
"But yet we saw the fish on the sounder - they just would not feed.
"The tides were huge and the water very dirty.
"This week will be good however - the neap tides building up have been best for us.
"We took some American service people out recently and they were really excited just to catch sharks." Happy Micks' Mick Chambers reports that Darwin Harbour's Town Hall fished well at sunset for jewfish over 15kg, but that was just before last week's big tides.
The good news is that the tides tomorrow and Monday are perfect for more jewfish.
"I also heard of a few nice barramundi taken off the rocks at Channel Island,'' Mick said.
"The biggest was 73cm and the smallest 60cm."
He said the best time to fish Channel Island was first thing in the morning on an incoming neap tide.
Mick said harbour tuna seemed to have gone wide.
"I think we've seen the last of them for this season. On the other hand I keep hearing about the amount of school mackerel still in the harbour,'' he said.
"A customer of ours was telling me how he got onto a school off Larrakeyah and stayed with the school for a good part of an hour picking up several nice fish.
"He said the biggest was about 4kg but on 6kg line they put up a good fight.
"I have also seen some good macks working the tide mark off the Cullen Bay sandbar and wider.
"This year has been good for pelagic fish because of the lack of fresh water in the harbour.
"The macks and tuna come in earlier and closer when we have a poor wet season.
"Unlike other years, this year there were quite a few tuna caught from the Darwin wharf."
He said snapper were caught in good numbers around the Six-Mile Buoy area.
"There have been talks of a very big golden snapper (7kg plus) caught off a wreck in the harbour last week."
For more see www.happymicks.com.au Chris Edwards at Leaders Creek Fishing Base reports there had been some good captures last week from 95cm barra to metre-long threadfin salmon.
"There has been an increase of fisherman over the past few weeks and most of them have enjoyed good fishing,'' he said.
"One couple hired a boat and spent the day in Leaders Creek ... they caught several barra trolling and casting lures.
"The biggest was a 65cm barra and most of were around the legal size."
Chris also reports some barra up around the metre mark being caught last week.
He said the best was a 95cm fish and another was around 92cm.
Chris said jewfish were thick at the mouth with 15kg jewies caught trolling the bottom for barra.
One 20kg jewfish was brought in.
Snapper and queenfish have also been on the bite with reports several being caught every day near the Vernon Islands. Darwin Harbour enthusiast Chad Clancy reports a school of big queenfish working Talc Head near Woods Inlet on the top of the big tides last week.
"The fish were feeding very aggressively, and were bigger than average harbour fish,'' he said. The Darwin and Palmerston Sun's Dave "Mad Mullet" Magner reports whopper barramundi being taken from Manton Dam at night on the last build-up to the full moon by fishermen trolling lures with an electric motor.
Dave said the 1m-long, fat freshwater fish were apparently fully aerobatic, just like their leaner saltwater cousins, and fought all the way to the boat.
The build-up to the full moon has proved to be a good time to fish stocked Queensland impoundments, so it is good to know Manton Dam - a difficult waterway for many - is following a similar pattern.

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