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.
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