Mario Vieira with a monster jewfish from Cobourg Peninsula Matt
Flynn's Northern Territory The sun is getting a sting in it, and as can be expected, barramundi fishing is improving as the water warms. The cool mornings will soon be gone, and once that happens build-up barramundi fishing will be in full swing again. It seems like every year goes past a little faster. Charlie Chambers at Happy Micks said Darwin Harbour was fishing well for barra. "Darwin Harbour is a big place and when I say to people that the harbour is fishing well for barra they tend to give me that look like 'where','' he said. "Darwin Harbour is broken into three major areas. You have West Arm, Middle Arm and East Arm. "East Arm and Middle Arm are the most popular spots by anglers due to the location and the protection from the wind. "Middle Arm and East Arm are the most fished part of water in the harbour and this explains the reason why it pops up in most fishing reports. "The West Arm area isn’t fished as much because of distance and navigational problems inside West Arm. "Both Middle and East Arm provide a range of rockbars and snake drains which provide perfect habitats for hungry barra. "They also hold deeper areas where jewfish and snapper can be found. "Both areas have been fishing well this week with reports of some action packed sessions coming from Reicharts and Bleesers Creek on the flats. "A 92cm and 85cm barra were caught at the East Arm rock wall last week. It took more than 10 minutes to land the big one and it took him into every rock in the vicinity. "Middle Arm has also been producing barra and salmon. There are plenty of places to fish with more than 12 creeks in the arm. The better ones are at the mouth adjacent to the islands. "There was a 7.2 kg threadfin salmon caught from Pioneer Creek. This fine specimen was hooked on a live mullet near the mouth of Pioneer Creek on the turn of the incoming tide. "These tides are great for fishing the harbour for snapper and jewfish." For more see www.happymicks.com.au. Got One's Craig Grosvenor said he caught a mackerel at Lee Point on Wednesday on the incoming tide. "It was not on the change of the tide as is usually the case,'' he said. "I went out there for the morning and caught the mack on the incoming tide, and I caught a coral trout as well. "Then I went to the harbour and fished a reef near Larrakeyah and caught some good goldies around 50cm long. "We also caught a heap of saddletail so that was alright - but all of the fish were taking tuna flesh and they would not touch squid. "There have been other macks caught at Lee Point to 15kg. "One of my younger customers, Max Treloar, 9, reports fishing Bynoe Harbour and catching five moonfish to 30cm and some small coral trout caught on squid and fresh flesh baits, and also fishing the Howard River upstream and catching five barra casting small soft plastics. "The Daly River appears to be firing again with barra to 90cm caught trolling 15+ Classics below the S-Bends. "Tourists are still catching good fish on live cherabin - one customer said his family caught 48 fish in four hours, but only eight were keepers - he said it took him an hour before he could get his own lure in the water because his kids were hooked up all the time. "Stokes Hill Wharf has produced loads of squid on small Yozuri jigs at night. "Mandorah wharf is producing GTs and the odd tuna on floated live sardines. Corroboree Billabong has been sporadic." Top End Supplies Steve Compain said that on Thursday his charter boat Tere-Tiki did well at The Pinnacles off Lorna Shoal with a catch of cobia, mackerel, GTs, golden snapper and trevally. "And Ocean Fox went out on Thursday night and fished South Gutter and brought back two boxed of big goldies,'' he said. "In the harbour crabs have been very quiet - I have been out three times in the past week or so and have caught two. "I got some nice barra though - Cheryl and I got four fish to 75cm in West Arm fishing the rockbars. "Small green Bombers have been good for barra in the harbour. "I haven't heard much from inland. "Mulga has been fishing Middle Arm and getting lots of little fish. "I have not heard much else - the next spring tides should produce really well. "The harbour rockbars should be really good soon." Fishing and Outdoor World's Matt West said fishing guides at the Daly River were catching some good fish around 80cm mainly using soft plastics. "Off Dundee there are still mackerel in numbers,'' he said. "Locally it has all quietened down a bit. "There are many barra around the harbour. "I caught a 1.05m barra off the rocks at Rapid Creek. I have been using a small spin outfit with small lures and catching fish. "It was Saturday night on the outgoing tide. "My brother worked Bynoe Harbour last week and caught a lot of barra and salmon. "Crabs are quiet - a lot of people are scratching their head wondering why there are no crabs around. "Jewfish were fairly quiet last week." Shoal Bay Boat Hire's Bob Edwards said barra were being caught in bigger numbers. "It is definitely improving,'' he said. "Really big live mullet baits seem to work best. "There were a load of big barra at the Howard River rockbar on the last big tides - they were boofing everywhere. "There are plenty of salmon. "Crabs are terrible - there are lots of small crabs and lots of jennies. "But barra have been encouraging this week." Leaders Creek Fishing Base Chris Edwards said mackerel were caught between Knight Reef and the East Vernon Island last week. Melville Island has apparently been quiet in the creeks. Cape Hotham was good last weekend for salmon and barra. Crabs started up good last Saturday and they just died in a heap - they seem to have gone on holiday. That's about the limit of it - there have not been many fishermen out here lately. Katherine Rod and Rifle's Warren de With said fishing had started to pick up. "The Daly River is still fishing really well,'' he said. "Warren White has been getting fish all last week on cherabin and the relatively new Panther Martin soft plastics. The Panther Martin's have a much bigger paddle tail. "The water temperature is now about 26C at the Daly. "There have been some good reports out of the Kakadu billabongs ... a tourist told me he caught about 20 a day at Red Lilly Billabong. "The Roper River has been producing fish on lures and cherabin."
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