Fishing guide Rex Berry with a fine Daly River barramundi Matt
Flynn's Northern Territory The much-awaited big barramundi are starting to show up in Shoal Bay, with several metre fish landed last week. Jewfish are also on the prowl in the harbour, and there are big mobs of blue salmon along the Cape Hotham foreshores. Smaller barramundi have been reliable in Darwin Harbour. Happy Micks' Charlie Chambers said went to the harbour's Middle Arm on Tuesday and caught seven species on soft plastics. "We got jacks, snapper, barra, salmon, queenfish, trevally and a cod,'' he said. "We were using Power Bait soft plastics in the mullet colour, trolling them very slow along the bottom and casting into snags. "The biggest barra was 75cm - we caught 12 barra. "We also saw a lot of mud crabs along the river banks on the incoming tide - over an 800m trolling path we saw six crabs - they were in shallow water and on the move. "Hardies Lagoon has been fishing well with one group reporting fish of 70cm caught on Bombers trolled at night. "There was a 95cm barra caught on a brown and yellow Classic lure at Hardies last week. "Jewfish have been good around Charles Point Patches and on harbour wrecks - a lot have been caught on the River2Sea squids with a glow stick inserted in the lure - they are simply jigged on the bottom." Got One's Kane Dysart said the fishing last week had been very good. "I was out at The Rock last Sunday and we caught three barramundi about 90cm and a 10kg mackerel fishing at low tide first thing in the morning - I also heard a report of a bloke catching a cobia there the day before, so it's not just a barra spot. "A tourist who has never caught a barra before also went out there and amazingly caught three barra around a metre. "There have also been reports of big barramundi from Shoal Bay's Meckitt and King Creeks and Hope Inlet. "In Darwin Harbour some anglers have been getting barra to 90cm on black fizzers and Halco Skin Deeps at a secret location in Middle Arm - all I know is that it is over a shallow rockbar. "Good numbers of jewfish were caught in Darwin Harbour last week off the wrecks with the shipping containers best (Wreck R in North Australian Fish Finder 5th edition, page 110). "Big schools of giant trevally have moved into the Fenton Patches wrecks and these have been good fun with non-stop action on lures - one crew caught 30 fish from eight to 15kg - but because of the trevally other reef fish were hard to come by. "The Vernon Islands fished well on the last neap tides with a customer catching 13 jewfish in an hour on imitation squid jigs and also fresh local squid baits. "There were also some big golden snapper caught at the Vernons. "The Peron Islands have been good with Bateman Shoal producing a big batch of red emperor, coral trout and tricky snapper for one boat, with the largest red going an impressive 6kg. "Corroboree Billabong has been on and off with one day good and the next day not so good." Top End Fishing Supplies' Steve Compain said he went to Middle Arm on Sunday and caught a 57cm barramundi and six crabs. "Five of the crabs were big bucks so I was happy,'' he said. "The pots got stuck at low tide so I went back again a day later to get them and got another five crabs. "South Gutter has been producing jewfish and snapper but last weekend there were that many tinnies there our charter boat had to keep moving away. "Lorna Shoals has been fishing well. "There has been good reports of fish to 1.05m at The Rock in Shoal Bay. "My skipper's brother Matt Hyland caught a 95cm and 85cm barramundi on Tuesday. "Our staffer Mulga was at Bynoe Harbour on Monday and Tuesday and caught a couple of jacks and barra but nothing too flash. "People have been fishing the billabongs at night and doing alright. "DNA Barra Fishing did well at the South Alligator River mouth on goldies and jewies, and they also caught 22 barra to 97cm during the week, but the fishing was good only at certain times of the tide." Fishing and Outdoor World's Matt West went to Hardies Lagoon last Sunday and said the water level was up a little and the fish were not biting. "The track in was starting to deteriorate after recently being graded because the road was covered in water - I think they will close it soon if it keeps raining,'' he said. "Shoal Bay seems to be the place right now. "Chris Hurt of Lure One Fishing Charters has been getting salmon and barra at his usual haunts in East Arm. "There seems to be a lot of threadfin salmon around. "The rain was good last week - hopefully it heralds a good start to the wet season." Katherine Rod and Rifle's Warren de With said there was little bit of rainwater pushing down the Katherine River. "There have been barra biting in the Katherine River, with the tannin water on the move before the dirtier red-coloured water flushes through later - this is a very good time to fish,'' he said. "The fish are sitting wherever there is a colour change - people are also casting flies, soft plastics and shallow lures around the various rapids, rock barriers and weirs. "The Victoria River was good on last weekend's neap tides with a 1.11m fish landed and a lot of fish from 60cm to 70cm, and also good numbers of mud crabs. "Last weekend a lot more mud crabs would have been caught but crocodiles are stealing a lot of pot floats - they like to chew off the floats - I think anything that bobs up and down seems to attract their attention. "The Roper River is fishing well in the freshwater and last week the biggest I caught was 91cm - we caught and released 17 fish. "The size of the fish caught depended on how you were fishing - the bigger fish seemed to move into the deeper water during the middle of the day. "We caught eight to 10 big fish off one snag, but now the rain will cut the road off to our secret spot fairly soon." Leaders Creek Fishing Base's Chris Edwards said there had been plenty of fish last week with one boat landing several big mackerel between the South West Vernon and the mainland. "They just said they ran into mob of them - the biggest went 20kg,'' he said. "Melville Island produced snapper, barra and salmon last week. "There have been mixed reports from Cape Hotham. "There is still the odd crab being caught in the creek. "An 85cm and 70cm barra were caught in the creek last Tuesday. "But Leaders Creek guru Chris Errity says more rain is needed to get the barra really biting in the creek. "There are a lot blokes who go to the small Cape Hotham creeks chasing barra at this time of year. "One customer came back with a number 8 fish hook stuck in his mouth - he reckons he had a shark on and it spat the hook at the boat and it ended up stuck in him - he didn't look too happy about the situation when he drove off. "Last weekend's neap tides were productive with a lot of jewfish caught in the deep channel next to the mainland. "I was out on Monday around the East Vernon Island and we caught some good snapper and nannygai - there are plenty of queenfish, trevally and even milkfish around the islands now too." Dundee Blue Water Charters' Des Puddey said there had been some rain out Fog Bay way, but the big storms passing through seemed to have produced a lot of wind and not much rain. But the offshore fishing was good. "We went out twice last week - Sunday and Tuesday - and Tueday we did really well with big golden snapper up to 60cm plus,'' he said. "We also hit a big school of scarlet sea perch to 1.5kg, and some horse tricky snapper, cod and bluebone. "The week before we lost a big cobia which was gaffed in the tail and hooked but still managed to get off and swim away. "They are still catching the odd barra around the foreshore rocks but there has not been many jewfish caught at the Dundee jew reef - I have not heard of many jewfish being caught there for a while - and not many people seem to be going there now." |
