Last weekend was the Top End Barra Series round 2, and it was going to be a Barramundi bonanza.
Well, yes it was a great weekend, with some great fishing and some great people!
Thanks again to the guys who put their energy in organising this thing for all of us to enjoy!
So basically it started at around 3 am on Saturday morning for me (I later on learned that this was the time at which some went to bed at the Banyan farm, after doing what they calls Party Tricks, I don't know what they're talking about...) , when I was enjoying a very fresh morning breeze, waiting on the footpath for a taxi to take me to Bullet's place.
Bullet is a member of the FFF forum and had offered me a spot as deckie on his boat.
Then a drive trough the night, and voilas! We were at the Woolianna public boat ramp.
This is not long after that that I had the freshest boat ride I ever had since moving to Darwin!
A beautiful and cold morning.
I then made a mental note to have some socks on the next morning, and lucky you their is no pics of that. And as they say in the fishing world, if their is no pics, it didn't happen!
Fishing with socks on in the tropics?
Then we started to fish in earnest and found some lures floating around or stuck in some snag, and Bullet must have caught the first 5 fish when I started to tell myself: "This is ok, he is the skipper, it is normal that he get more fish than I, he knows what he is doing... But still I really would like to get one too! Even if it's a rat!"
Bullet working a fish.
And I finally got one!
He pulled good and brought a good level of satisfaction to me, I was on the board!
But at 67cm only I am not sure that it would be enough to keep me on the board of the Top End Barra Series, as I was already sure that some were going to get some better fish. So I had to get back into it.
My first of the weekend.
But this first one was going to be my best of the weekend.
All my other fish were slightly (Or way) smaller than that.
Yet this first fish had given me one more first in my fishing journey: It was hooked inside of the gill.
Neither Bullet or I had seen one hooked like this before, so I made a photo of it.
Has any of you seen that before?
Hooked inside of the gill.
Got a fish with it!
Don't you like it, when you find a lure, try it on the same day and get a fish with it?
We continued to explore, and it was cool to be on the river, and see other people wearing the same shirt pass us by, and wave to us and all ready to talk about the day's fishing. And to tell us how it was going and where they got some fish or not. It was nice to see so many people in the search of the same goal exchanging tips and information so freely and in a friendly manner. This showed that none of the people that we met during the day were taking themselves too seriously and were more there to have a good time in the company of like minded people.
The river was full of both salt water and fresh water crocodiles.
A salt water crocodile.
A fresh water crocodile.
We also saw Bandit's boat, and they were on a very hot patch, were they were pulling a fish at every pass, and told us to get into it too in the same troll than them, thanks guys!
Dingo and Bandit are the two organisers of this very friendly comp.
At the camp in the evening, well it was all what a camp full of fishermen and fisherwomen can be...
And like in Vegas, what happened there should stay there, I am sure that certain people would appreciate that.
Some drank a lot, and others drank a lot more.
I don't drink, so I ate and I ate too much...
And with a belly so full that I couldn't eat any more, I went to bed in my tent. Were I slept till around 4am after what I started to wonder when were we going to fish again? Impatient like a kid...
Then we went, and sailed to much closer grounds that the previous day, but caught roughly the same amount of fish than on the first day. I even upgraded a 55 and a 61, with a 62 and a 64cm.
Now I can hear some of you starting to grumble: "What a weekend at the Daly and his three biggest fish were only a 62, 64 and 67cm?"
Well, let me tell you that on a level of consistency, this is not that bad you know...
My last fish of the weekend.
Of the fives keepers that I boated, I kept only two, so there is some Barramundi there who are growing for the next time.
the number of smaller ones that we got was pretty impressive, and made me think that in this river the Barramundi population must have been really healthy.
We must have boated in excess of 20 Barramundi over the one day and an half that we fished there.
Yes we always hear about these 100 fish session...
But honestly over 20 fish is already a pretty pleasant score.
Just as we were leaving we saw a Varanus mertensi more commonly called a Merten’s Water Monitor. Apparently it is becoming rarer to see them in this area now, where they are becoming endangered. This is due to the cane toad invasion.
The endangered Varanus mertensi.
It was then time to go back and at the boat ramp we saw a big cherabin basking in the shallow.
And we hit the road to Darwin.
What a great weekend it was!
Thanks again Bullet for taking me aboard your fine vessel, I had a really good time.
Between the scenery, the fishing and putting new faces on some of the forum names, it was well worth getting out of bed early!
View from the water level.
So yes I did not enter the Metery Club yet (people who catch a Barramundi over a meter [3.2808399 feet], in length),
But hey, it could be worse.
Have a good day,
Me.
