Trevor Durling caught this barra in Darwin Harbour's Middle Arm Matt
Flynn's Northern Territory Fishing overall has been good but not as good as it can be at this time of year, with strong dry season winds persisting into late last week. The coming spring tide cycle should finally see the barra go wild in the harbour, and with Dinah Beach boat ramp now reopened with an extra lane and better low tide access there's no excuse for staying home. There are two big competitions on this weekend - the Reel Women Barra Classic on the Mary River and the Saltwater Fly Fishing Challenge at Bynoe Harbour. Both have been well attended and it will be interesting to see how the results pan out. A Roper River river competition will be held next weekend from Mataranka Homestead, October 1 to 3. The Barra Bash includes a $1000 prize for the biggest barra - and given the Roper's outstanding record for big barra this event will be keenly contested. Phone 8975 4884 for more information. Top End Fishing Supplies' Steve Compain said offshore fishing had been hard work for his charter boats last week. "At South Gutter on Friday the water was calm and some nice golden snapper were caught,'' he said. "There were mackerel at South Gutter but they were not biting - the water was very clear and we could see them swimming around. "Earlier in the week we did alright offshore but had to go all over the place to get fish - the last three weeks have been hard - the fish are showing on the sounder but you get a couple and have to move on again. "Looking at the diary the same thing happened offshore last year so something seems to happen at this time to slow them down. "Our staffer Mulga went to Middle Arm last week and lost two good barra after they spat the lure." Charlie Chambers at Happy Micks said Darwin HHHarbour had fished well last week with large queenfish and trevally caught off Larrakeyah and the Darwin wharf area. "Anglers are targeting these pelagic fish with small chrome jigs and large poppers,'' he said. "I talked to a customer over the weekend who said he had landed several large queenies from a boat fishing off the Larrakeyah rock wall. "He said for a while he was sight-casting for them but later was jigging slices near the bottom and hooked fish after fish for a good part of an hour. "The largest queenfish was around the metre mark but most were about 60cm. "Barra fishing has been productive this week with reports of six or seven good fish coming from gutters in Middle Arm. "A customer landed an 82cm barra casting into the drains at low tide in Middle Arm. "He said the fish took the lure for a split second, leaving a large swirl on the surface. He quickly wound in his lure only to hook the same fish metres from the boat - he told the story with just a tad of excitement I might add. "The build-up is well under way and things are only going to pick up as far as barra fishing goes." For more see www.happymicks.com.au Got One Darwin's Kane Dysart said Bynoe Harbour had been producing jewfish on the jetty wreck off Crab Claw Island at the change of low tide. "Threadfin salmon to 80cm have been caught around the Indian Island flats in Bynoe with some legal barra among them,'' he said. "Golden snapper have been biting on the reefs on the incoming tide around Indian Island - the fishing in Bynoe seems to have picked up overall, and the fly competition this weekend should do well. "In Darwin Harbour barra have been biting in the Woods Inlet gutters, with fish averaging 60cm. "East Point has had large schools of queenfish working near the high tide - the bigger fish seem to hang down deep. "The freshwater at Shady Camp had heaps of small barra in the lilies along the shallow weedbeds last week. "The Daly River produced five fish to 98cm for a customer who was casting lures into snags. "Shoal Bay has been really firing on the bigger tides with the best method to fish the low tide holes with livebait. "Also on the harbour, Reichardt Creek in East Arm has produced threadfin salmon, barra and queenfish. "There has been masses of tuna out around Bare Sand Island. "The Finniss River has been producing barra by trolling the rockbar that's near the hill several kilometres in from the mouth." Katherine Rod and Rifle's Warren de With said it had been windy at Katherine and in the Gulf and few people could fish offshore. "It has also slowed down fishing in the Gulf estuary and river systems - it has been really windy,'' he said. "There has been a few salmon and jewfish caught at the Victoria River - Friday was the first day it was not so windy, so there is not much to report."
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