Hi there,
Just two weeks since I was back, and I got a call from from Double Haul asking if I wanted to go Barramundi fishing at shady camp?
What a question!
Just two weeks since I was back, and I got a call from from Double Haul asking if I wanted to go Barramundi fishing at shady camp?
What a question!
Of course I wanted to, I had never been there, but kept reading about the massive Barramundi that get caught there on the FFF forum and in magazines.
So it was said that we would go there and have a go at the big Mommas that roam the sandpit...
Did we get the big Mommas?
Well if we did I would have already told you about it, but nonetheless, it was truly a great weekend, thank for the invitation Double Haul.
So as I was at the 2010 FFF Barra Challenge drinks at the Ski Club, I was trying to be part of it, but my brain was already somewhere else...
Trying to imagine what it was like, and what it would take to pull one of these big ladies out of the water.
And yes it is true too, I wanted to see my little one and put her to bed, before leaving for the weekend. So I did miss a big part of what seemed a great event, but if I hadn't, I would certainly have been very sorry the following morning when my skipper came to pick me up.
It was good to be in the car on our way, and to listen to Tales of the Tiny one more time.
To talk with Double Haul of what's happened around the traps during my nearly three months of non fishing, and to just have a chat in general, just thinking of what was to come: Fishing at Shady.
We stopped at the last tavern on the road and as it was raining, I bought a yellow poncho...
Well it was a very good buy, as it warned the rain off, and we didn't get any at shady, except at night so no worries on this side.
But the graded road was wet and when we arrived, the white car had changed of colour.
So it was said that we would go there and have a go at the big Mommas that roam the sandpit...
Did we get the big Mommas?
Well if we did I would have already told you about it, but nonetheless, it was truly a great weekend, thank for the invitation Double Haul.
So as I was at the 2010 FFF Barra Challenge drinks at the Ski Club, I was trying to be part of it, but my brain was already somewhere else...
Trying to imagine what it was like, and what it would take to pull one of these big ladies out of the water.
And yes it is true too, I wanted to see my little one and put her to bed, before leaving for the weekend. So I did miss a big part of what seemed a great event, but if I hadn't, I would certainly have been very sorry the following morning when my skipper came to pick me up.
It was good to be in the car on our way, and to listen to Tales of the Tiny one more time.
To talk with Double Haul of what's happened around the traps during my nearly three months of non fishing, and to just have a chat in general, just thinking of what was to come: Fishing at Shady.
We stopped at the last tavern on the road and as it was raining, I bought a yellow poncho...
Well it was a very good buy, as it warned the rain off, and we didn't get any at shady, except at night so no worries on this side.
But the graded road was wet and when we arrived, the white car had changed of colour.
And this is a four wheels drive door...
We quickly launched, and as I was waiting for Double Haul return from the parking lot, holding the boat with my feet in the water, I could not help but look on my right, on my left, behind me, and behind the boat... But no croc in sight, all was good.
Then zoomed through the river and arrived at the mouth of Sampan...
A few boat were there, but no where in the number i imagined, from all I was told, and that was good too.
I was then instructed to put my biggest green lure on my line and we started the first troll run of the day...
And before I could even start to really take the place into consideration...
Double Haul rod bent violently, and he just got up and said, get the net if you want it, it is just a small one...
Didn't even get rid of his cigarette, just got the fish to the boat, nice and easy, like if it was just some bait for his billfish mania...
Netted the fish, he didn't want it, said something like already haviing some Goldies in the freezer, and offered me to keep it.
I said yes of course! A nice piece of fresh chrome directly out of the water, thank you very much!
So it was bled quickly measured and was in the 80s...
Yeah right, just a little one...
If I had catch it myself, that would be my second best one...
Now I really wanted to see what the big ones looked like...
By now the water was glass, it was very impressive, at least to me.
Calm seas is what I like...
And the Threadies moved in...
100s of them, just rolling on the surface every where around the boat.
And they kept hitting our lures, but doing just that hitting them without getting hooked.
We tried every thing from subsurface lures to soft plastics, and different colours, but to no avail...
And still we could see them all around us, and we could feel them on our lines...
Every few minutes I would jump thinking that I had a fish...
Which brought out quite a few laugh from Double Haul...
To which I answered: I am in control, calm and zen...
And just as I would finish to say it, I would jump again...
Honestly it was frustrating, but good fun at the same time.
Then with nothing else being caught we went to a little river on the right of the mouth where we did not catch anything, but heard a big splash in the water not very far from us... A croc feeding, he must have caught more fish than us...
So with no fish for us there, we returned to see the Threadies and hopefully Barras from the mouth of Sampan.
As we arrived, there was nearly no boat left trolling the place, and we didn't see as many Threadies either.
But we continued to get some hit that did not transform themselves in hook-ups.
So I put a little B52's that Matt Flynn had given me a few months ago, and guess what?
I was on!
To a nice little blue Salmon!
So I decided to keep it for the mother in law, as I was not sure to get anything else...
Then we started to slowly make our way back to the barrage.
First we stopped on the flat for a bit of casting.
Where I hooked a very feisty little thing, that made two jump, shaking his head like mad, and spitted the lure on the second one...
Didn't even had the time to ID it as it was just to fast...
Not big, but full of energy.
Still was fun, and again on the same lure that the one I caught the Blue Salmon.
I start to like this lure!
Then to a few different spot trying on soft plastic, Double Haul even got a little barra, and a croc made a dash for it! But it was in the boat just in time to escape the jaws of death and was released alive.
100s of them, just rolling on the surface every where around the boat.
And they kept hitting our lures, but doing just that hitting them without getting hooked.
We tried every thing from subsurface lures to soft plastics, and different colours, but to no avail...
And still we could see them all around us, and we could feel them on our lines...
Every few minutes I would jump thinking that I had a fish...
Which brought out quite a few laugh from Double Haul...
To which I answered: I am in control, calm and zen...
And just as I would finish to say it, I would jump again...
Honestly it was frustrating, but good fun at the same time.
Then with nothing else being caught we went to a little river on the right of the mouth where we did not catch anything, but heard a big splash in the water not very far from us... A croc feeding, he must have caught more fish than us...
So with no fish for us there, we returned to see the Threadies and hopefully Barras from the mouth of Sampan.
As we arrived, there was nearly no boat left trolling the place, and we didn't see as many Threadies either.
But we continued to get some hit that did not transform themselves in hook-ups.
So I put a little B52's that Matt Flynn had given me a few months ago, and guess what?
I was on!
To a nice little blue Salmon!
So I decided to keep it for the mother in law, as I was not sure to get anything else...
Then we started to slowly make our way back to the barrage.
First we stopped on the flat for a bit of casting.
Where I hooked a very feisty little thing, that made two jump, shaking his head like mad, and spitted the lure on the second one...
Didn't even had the time to ID it as it was just to fast...
Not big, but full of energy.
Still was fun, and again on the same lure that the one I caught the Blue Salmon.
I start to like this lure!
Then to a few different spot trying on soft plastic, Double Haul even got a little barra, and a croc made a dash for it! But it was in the boat just in time to escape the jaws of death and was released alive.
The shifty croc that went for the hooked Barramundi.
Then, the visit of the Great Wall of China (A man made barrage mad e of big rocks), and view of the Sampan that gave it's name to the river. That was a great story and is part of the Territory history, who said that there can't be any cultural interlude in fishing?
Ok, we did not stop to sip some Chardonnay...
Ok, we did not stop to sip some Chardonnay...
The boat that gave it's name to the creek.
The back at the barrage, where Double Haul asked me with a smile if I wanted to do a bit of land based fishing from the barrage...
Well, those who know me, might have guessed my answer to this one...
No way! Too many crocs around for my feet to stand there in the water...
So back to camp where we installed the tents before dark and made a quick dinner of some good pork chops.
The mosquitos were not as bad as I had been told by many people that they would be.
And as soon as darkness set in... I had to excuse myself for being so bad company, but was really exhausted and was in serious need to get some sleep.
Yes for the soon to be parents... This is one of the side effect of this wonderful things that kids are...
Yet before I went to bed, Double Haul told me again that fishing at night from the barrage is a very good way to land your first metery...
Honestly, as much as I would love to get one... Not from there, thank you very much!
The following morning we woke up nice and early, but not too much, it was just right.
Put the boat in the water after a quick breakfast, during which I equipped a green soft plastic from Reidy's with a long split ring and a nice brand new treble under the belly... Yes I wanted a second round with the Threadies if they were to continu teasing us... And off we went, in quest of a vengeance...
As we arrive, we found the water not as calm as the previous day, and still a few boat trolling the place.
And we did see some people starting to land some fishes.
Among them a boat full of young lads yahooing when catching what seemed a rather nice Powertail...
And speaking of Powertail...
Once again Double Haul rod, bent in half, and this time the line started to peel at a rather fast peace...
So just as I finished to quickly retrieve my lure out of the water to take the wheel and steer the boat toward the fish...
Hu ho when was the last time I did something like that? I am sure I did it before but just can't remember when...
How do you do that?
Why when I try to steer the boat to the right is it going on the left?
But step by step it was in the right direction, mostly.
And as line was gained, I was still saying: That must be a big Barra!
The reply was short and to the point: It is not a Barra! It's a stinking Caty!
I was then told that it hit like a train but did not made any jump and stayed at the bottom so that is was crtainly a Cat fish...
At first it had nearly spooled the Calcutta reel...
And yes it was a Caty, and it was not even lifted out of the water to be released.
Yet this fish with his powerful hit and run and managed to destroy the swimming action of a new big Bomber...
Bad luck that is, after that the lure would alway go on the right, and end up on my side of the boat.
So change of lure for Double haul and then I am on!!!
And the question I was asked was: Did you got a snag?
But the snag jumped and it was, in my books a nice Barra.
It came to the boat after a few jump and I am not kidding but literally made his last jump straight in the net, where it landed ready to be lifted out of the water. Once on the deck it was clear that he was still pretty green and tried to trash around as I was trying to grab the lure that was hanging from under it's jaws. Double Haul rapidly told me: Don't put your hand in there, and in retrospect, that was very good advice, as the animal was still jumping around in the net.
When asked if I wanted to keep it, I just asked if it was legal...
Yes it was it was 78cm... (Around here they get legal at 55cm).
So in the esky it went.
Well, those who know me, might have guessed my answer to this one...
No way! Too many crocs around for my feet to stand there in the water...
So back to camp where we installed the tents before dark and made a quick dinner of some good pork chops.
The mosquitos were not as bad as I had been told by many people that they would be.
And as soon as darkness set in... I had to excuse myself for being so bad company, but was really exhausted and was in serious need to get some sleep.
Yes for the soon to be parents... This is one of the side effect of this wonderful things that kids are...
Yet before I went to bed, Double Haul told me again that fishing at night from the barrage is a very good way to land your first metery...
Honestly, as much as I would love to get one... Not from there, thank you very much!
The following morning we woke up nice and early, but not too much, it was just right.
Put the boat in the water after a quick breakfast, during which I equipped a green soft plastic from Reidy's with a long split ring and a nice brand new treble under the belly... Yes I wanted a second round with the Threadies if they were to continu teasing us... And off we went, in quest of a vengeance...
As we arrive, we found the water not as calm as the previous day, and still a few boat trolling the place.
And we did see some people starting to land some fishes.
Among them a boat full of young lads yahooing when catching what seemed a rather nice Powertail...
And speaking of Powertail...
Once again Double Haul rod, bent in half, and this time the line started to peel at a rather fast peace...
So just as I finished to quickly retrieve my lure out of the water to take the wheel and steer the boat toward the fish...
Hu ho when was the last time I did something like that? I am sure I did it before but just can't remember when...
How do you do that?
Why when I try to steer the boat to the right is it going on the left?
But step by step it was in the right direction, mostly.
And as line was gained, I was still saying: That must be a big Barra!
The reply was short and to the point: It is not a Barra! It's a stinking Caty!
I was then told that it hit like a train but did not made any jump and stayed at the bottom so that is was crtainly a Cat fish...
At first it had nearly spooled the Calcutta reel...
And yes it was a Caty, and it was not even lifted out of the water to be released.
Yet this fish with his powerful hit and run and managed to destroy the swimming action of a new big Bomber...
Bad luck that is, after that the lure would alway go on the right, and end up on my side of the boat.
So change of lure for Double haul and then I am on!!!
And the question I was asked was: Did you got a snag?
But the snag jumped and it was, in my books a nice Barra.
It came to the boat after a few jump and I am not kidding but literally made his last jump straight in the net, where it landed ready to be lifted out of the water. Once on the deck it was clear that he was still pretty green and tried to trash around as I was trying to grab the lure that was hanging from under it's jaws. Double Haul rapidly told me: Don't put your hand in there, and in retrospect, that was very good advice, as the animal was still jumping around in the net.
When asked if I wanted to keep it, I just asked if it was legal...
Yes it was it was 78cm... (Around here they get legal at 55cm).
So in the esky it went.
And if I don't smile on the photo, this is just because of the sun hitting straight in my eyes.
But trust me I was very happy!
78 cm of joy.
We tried a bit longer for the big Mommas, but they didn't want to play with us.
So I put the "Super charged" soft plastic at the end of my line, and I got...
Another blue Salmon...
Then I put back a hard body, still trying for the big one, and just as I put my rod in the rod holder to grab a drink in the esky, I heard Double Haul saying something about jelly and my rod, so I glanced at my rod and it was at a nice angle with the water, bent and all!
So I jumped grabbed it and start to reel, to a funny strange feeling, not like a Barra, that's for sure...
I should have given more attention at what I was told... I was hooked to a Jelly fish...
The positive in that?
Well this had never happened to me before, so now I can talk about it...
A bit more trolling, then it was time to slowly make our way back towards the harsh reality of life...
So I put the "Super charged" soft plastic at the end of my line, and I got...
Another blue Salmon...
Then I put back a hard body, still trying for the big one, and just as I put my rod in the rod holder to grab a drink in the esky, I heard Double Haul saying something about jelly and my rod, so I glanced at my rod and it was at a nice angle with the water, bent and all!
So I jumped grabbed it and start to reel, to a funny strange feeling, not like a Barra, that's for sure...
I should have given more attention at what I was told... I was hooked to a Jelly fish...
The positive in that?
Well this had never happened to me before, so now I can talk about it...
A bit more trolling, then it was time to slowly make our way back towards the harsh reality of life...
On the way back home.
The lure that got me a Barra, a Big B52's from Reidy's.
And at the boat ramp we saw a broken fishing rod in one of the bin...
Someone must have had a bad day.
So it was a very good weekend where I discovered some new part of the Northern Territory of Australia, even if we did not get any of these very big Barramundi that we came for.
But hey, it could be worse.
Have a good day,
Me.
No comments:
Post a Comment