Saturday, September 17, 2016

2016 Top End Barra Series Round 5.

Hi There,

Last weekend the fifth round of the 2016 Top End Barra Series took place at the mouth of the Adelaide River.
Here comes the story of it.
  • It was very hard fishing.
  • I used many lures.
  • And it was a dress up round.
I was going to fish this round with Seano, who did very well in that round in the previous years.
But being earlier in the season, the fishing was much harder than in the previous years.
We could see fish, and big ones on the sounder, but they didn't want to bite.

Still it is with great optimism that we launched at Leaders Creek and made our way along the narrow water way.
Arriving at day break.

Leaders Creek mouth in the morning.

It was one of these morning, where every things seem to be in place for a good day of fishing.

It looked like a fishing commercial.

It looked great, and soon we saw a friend getting on a good Jewfish:

Kel on a good fish.

It was Kel, he was the first that we saw catching a fish on the weekend.
And it would be a long time before we saw another fish being caught.
We tried trolling big lures at the mouth, using vibes in the creek or where ever we saw fish on the sounder. But to no avail.
Luckily, it was a dress up round, and it was fun to see the attire that some people had chosen.
Personally, I had gone for the French fisherman look:

My attire for the first day.

Other had gone for different looks:

The Carrot and the Disco Fisho.

All this was fine and fun, but the fish were missing at the party.
Seano and I, still fishless toward the end of the day, finally moved to some smaller creeks, with the idea to try to find fish in the snags.
And it worked!
First snag that we stopped at, Seano got a Barramundi on his first cast:

Barramundi on the old Nilsmaster.

Just like that, our spirits started to fly high again.
From the same snag, I too got my first fish of the weekend:

My first Barramundi of the weekend.

This one was too short to be a point scorer, but still it made me really happy.
I got it by casting an old Gold Bomber, with a lot of paint missing on its body. Yet, it still worked.
Not long after, I finally caught my first point scorer, and we then both had a fish on the board.
The table had turned.

But that was to be it for the day. 
The night was near, and we decided to try one last time at the mouth.
Where we saw some more dressed up participants:

Mario and Luigi went fishing...

Last troll run of the day.

Lady luck had decided to try to avoid us for the day.
It was time to go, sleep and get ready to change that the following day.

The first thing that I heard on the Sunday morning, was the sound of grilling bacon.

Best alarm clock in the world.

This was a great sound to wake up to, and it didn't take me long to be ready.
We had talked with Cuddlescooper, and he told us that he got a full bag the previous day in Salt Water Arm, so we decided to launch from there.
The water was perfect:

Calm sea in the morning.

From there we moved to a small creek, which looked like a good spot to catch a few fish:

One of Salt Water Arm's many creeks.

But the fish must have swim past before we arrived, as we didn't get any action in there.
Another creek, not far away was going to bring us more luck.
It started with Seano getting a Croaker:

A croaker from a little creek.

From there we got a few smallish Threadfin Salmon, and even more Catfish.
To the extend that when I got a good hit, and that my line started to go for a big arc circle on the water, I said that I must have just got a better Catfish.
What a surprise it was to see a little Barramundi coming splashing at the surface.

My best Barramundi of the weekend.

This was still no giant, but it was going to be my best fish of the weekend.

With the fishing slowing down, we warmed some meat pies.
And as you sometimes do, used lures trays as plates:

Meat pie and fishing lures.

We then started to make our way back towards the boat ramp.
Stopping for a chat with every mates we saw on the water:

Sean and Cuddlescooper having a chat.

Because one of the best success of the Top End Barra Series, is that even in its 6th year, it is still very much a social event. Where participants chat to each other more than a hard core competition.
Kudos to the organisation members for keeping it like that.
And a big Thanks to Seano for inviting me on his boat for the weekend.

As a bonus, here is a little photo of me, in full Pecheur Dress up...

Dressed up for the round.

Yes I know, this attire didn't bring me the luck I was hopping for.
Despite using 17 different fishing lures over the weekend, I caught a grand total of three Barramundi, of which only two were big enough to be point scorers.
Next year I will definitively need to find a better costume to attract the fish. And hopefully one that cover my arms a bit better, so I don't get as sun burned as I ended up this year.

But hey, it could be worse.
Have a good day,
Me.

Monday, September 5, 2016

The Colour Pecheur.

Hi there,

Today I will present to you three beautiful fishing lures, in the colour Pecheur.
But what is the colour Pecheur?
You might ask...

Well, a few years ago, my good friend Dean gave me a handmade timber lure, that he had done especially for me, and painted in the flag colours of the country I was born in.
And Pecheur had been my alias, or nom de plume in online fishing and lures forum for a long time.

So what does it look like?
Here is a look at the first one:

The colour Pecheur.

This one was given to me by James P. The lure is a Bomber 15 Long A, in a colour that you will not find in shops.
This lure has a special marking on the head:

Fishing lure with team marking.

Now why on earth is the #TeamSlootz, and why would James give me a lure in this special colour with the team marking on it?
Well from what I understand, #TeamSlootz is a very tight group of rather good fisherfolks from around Darwin. (And no, I do not claim to be part of this tight community, I am just lucky enough to have one lure with the team marking). This secretive group, compete between themselves for a year, and the person who will have caught the biggest fish of the year, will have for a full evening, his drinks paid by the other members of the team at the end of the said year.

What did I do to deserve this lure? (And another one, just wait until you see it).

That was pretty easy really, in the second round of the 2016 Top End Barra Series, I hooked my lure, on a lure that was snagged on some underwater tree branches. I got both of them back, and one of them was a rather big and expensive one, no not mine, but the one I had just brought back with it. And it had the #TeamSlootz marking on the head. 
Once I learned that a guy that I know was a member of the team, I offered to give the lure back.
I exchange I was offered two lures in the colour Pecheur. That was very kind of James, I was not expecting anything really, and that was a great surprise. Thank you James.

The other one that James gave me?
Here it is:

Reidy's in the colour Pecheur.

This one is a Reidy's Big Ass, one of my favourite fishing lure when it comes to Barramundi fishing.
But this one, off course, will go straight to the collection, and will stay dry.

And now the one that Dean gave me, the one that started the colour Pecheur:

The Tastic Lures in colour Pecheur.

Yes, this is the one that started the colour Pecheur, at least for me.
It is a very beautiful handcrafted timber lure, made in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
A lure made with the Barramundi and nothing else in mind.

Handmade in Darwin.

As the card says, this one was the number 1 in this colour. And is now to me a very precious lure in my small collection.

And to finish in beauty, the final bouquet:

Three version of the colour Pecheur.

I feel very privileged to have mates who painted these lures just for me, thank you guys.

James told me that he would like to see one of them in a Barramundi mouth...
I am not really sure that this will happen.
Sometimes I think that I could use the Bomber one to fish and retire it as soon as it would have caught a fish.
(There is absolutely no way that the other two will get near the water, ever).

But then I think that it will be scratched, damaged and all...
I don't want that to happen!

But hey, it could be worse.
Have a good day,
Me.