Got One girl Brooke Sheehan and Craig Grosvenor with a Corroboree barra Matt
Flynn's Northern Territory It's hot but the fishing is great. Smarter anglers are heading out in the mornings and evenings to beat the heat, although it is generally comfortable on the water as long as there is a breeze. However up the creeks at low tide where there is no breeze it can quickly become almost unbearable around noon - unless the fish are really biting. Barra are the best bet now, with golden snapper biting best offshore. Jewfish have gone a bit quiet. Fishing and Outdoor World's Matt West said Shoal Bay was the pick of the spots, with good reports from The Rock and the Howard River. "Shoal Bay regular Ray Padovan caught a 1.05m barra and lost a bigger one last week,'' he said. "Offshore Equinox Fishing Charters reports that jewfish are a bit slow but there are plenty of tricky snapper and golden snapper. "Billabongs have been a bit slow with lots of fish sighted but they are often not taking lures. "Bynoe Harbour has been OK with loads of threadfin salmon on the flats, and quite a few goldies and jacks around the rockbars. "George Voukolos Sr hit Darwin Harbour early in the week and caught lots of jacks and goldies. "The harbour seems to be a bit quieter than usual for barramundi this year. "There are still a few people doing well at the Daly River with the Panther Martin's Vivif's soft plastics working really well." Leaders Creek Fishing Base's Chris Edwards said there were some big jewfish lost in the creek last week. "One boat lost four, two around the anchor rope and the others just snapped the tackle,'' he said. "Another boat caught some nice salmon and another boat lost two big barra at the first big creek on the east from the main creek mouth. "A couple of people who overnighted here caught eight crabs including some big bucks, and two barra. "People fishing out wide have caught mostly small jewfish and bigger snapper out around the deep channels. "On the weekend a fly fishing club was out and they caught loads of queenfish and trevally around the islands - they had a great time. "Apart from that it has been quiet because of the big tides. And there has been no rain out here yet." Shoal Bay Boat Hire's Bob Morris said barramundi fishing had been steady. "The mouth of King Creek has been good and that would be the place to be this weekend,'' he said. "There have been fish caught up the Little Howard River up to about half way but not many right up the top of the river. "The Howard River rockbar has produced some fish and a customer caught a 103cm barra at Hope Inlet the other day. "There are still salmon about. Crabs are steady, and mostly jennies. "But the barra fishing has been bloody good yet not many people are coming out here _ I don't know why _ we had two days last week without a customer and not many people are fishing The Rock, which is unusual for this time of year. "There are a lot of sawsharks around at the moment, we got one the other night that was 2m long on a livebait. "I would highly recommend that people try trolling medium to deep lures in the holes at the mouth of King Creek on these building tides, mainly fishing the low tide - one bloke got two 95cm barra there on Tilsan lures and there have been many in the 80s and 90s." Got One's Craig Grosvenor said the last set of springs brought multiple reports of barra in Middle Arm. "One customer landed 14 barra in one session on Bombers, fishing around Channel Island, with the biggest 85cm,'' he said. "There have been large numbers of threadfin salmon working the flats in the harbour arms. "Trevally and queenfish have been busy along the rock walls of Larrakeyah and East Arm - there seems to be loads of queenfish in the harbour right now. "I did a quick trip to Dundee last Monday and fished a high tide of 7m and caught a 90cm barra from the rocks on a Classic 120 and dropped another of similar size. "Shoal Bay's Howard River rockbar, on the last set of spring tides, produced fish over a metre on Rapala Skitter Pops in the early evening. "The neap tides this weekend should be good around the Vernon Islands for jewfish and snapper with rigged jigs and squid baits the best option. "Wide of Dundee there will be mackerel and tuna schools available on floating pilchards and chromies." Top End Fishing Supplies' Mulga said offshore fishing had been consistent for golden snapper and jewfish. "The barra situation has been good just about everywhere,'' he said. "Most of the better fish are being caught on the big tides - there are plenty of metre fishing being caught but customers are not saying where. "The new Panther Martin Vivifs soft plastics in the medium size in the maroon colour are blitzing barra. "The Wilshires Creeks on the Adelaide River should be worth a look this weekend and the South Alligator River is firing at the mouth. "Crabs appear to be back on the go in the harbour, which is good news." Katherine Rod and Rifle's Warren de With said a lot of people were heading to the Victoria, Roper and Daly River this weekend. "They have been getting good fish at the McArthur River and there are not a lot of tourists there right now so the locals can have it to themselves,'' he said. "There is hardly anyone on the Daly River either so now is a good opportunity for the locals to go and have crack at the fish without all the tourist boats around. "The Katherine River has produced a few good fish too as rain has discoloured the water a little and stirred the fish up, with an 80cm fish caught last week and some in the 70s. "There should be interesting reports from the Victoria River this week as the tides are ideal." |
