2016 Top End Barra Series Round 2.

Hi there,

Here comes the long awaited story of the second round of the 2016 Top End Barra Series.

• It was on the Daly River.
• The water was very dirty.
• The fishing was real hard.
• The camaraderie was great.
• I fished it with Jason.

This year the second round of the TEBS as it is known around our part of the world, was taking place on the mighty Daly River.

And what a round it was... The water was really low for the season, despite the Daly round being much earlier than on years gone by. A few people damaged their props or got stuck on the sand. And more than should have been, came back without having caught any fish at all...

Not even some little cat fish.

But that was not our story, we did get some fish!

Now how dirty the water was?

Well take a look:

Daly River.

As you can see, the river was dirty and dangerous.

Dangerous for boat's outboards, and for lures that got snagged on so many drifting pieces of wood.

Yet, as we arrived near this spot, we caught up with Brett and his mate Karl. And Brett told us that he had caught four Barramundi the previous day, and to troll just there with a +10 lure.

Naturally I put a Reidy's Big Ass in the 008 colour, one of my all time favourite, at the end of my line and we started trolling.

We must have been trolling for about 10 to 15 minutes when I got a massive hit!

The hit was sudden, and the line immediately started to fly from my reel at great speed.

I could not stop it, no question about that.

It lasted a few seconds, then the line went slack, the fish had spit the lure...

This must have been a really big one and we both called it for a metery.

Wow, we thought, if it is starting like that, it will be a cracker of a weekend!

Well life is not like that, and it was indeed a great weekend, but with not many fish to play with.

It was going to be a long time before the next fish bite.

We then saw Brett and Karl again:

Paparazzi everywhere!

Yes they were getting ready to take some pictures, but not of us...

In fact they were getting ready to photograph Pete who had just caught a nice Barramundi:

The photographers at work.

And yes, I did take a photo too:

Pete with a nice fish.

This was a weekend where Pete was going to shine. Being one of two only to get his full bag of Barramundi (5).

Catch and release in action.

At least it showed us that their was still some Barra in this stretch of water.

This brought us to trolling it a bit more.

I was by then using a lure that I had found a bit earlier, floating by. It was a Classic +10 and as the saying goes: " A found lure is a lucky lure". I got a hit.

The line tensed and started to pull a bit on my rod.

We got all excited and I was afraid that the fish would go in one of the numerous snags bordering the river. But we got it in the boat, thanks to a great netting action from Jason. And I was on the board!

My first Barramundi of the weekend.

At 71cm (27.952756 inches), this was no monster, but still made me feel very content.

This newly found lure was a lucky one.

And look at the chrome on this fish!

It was release too, to grow bigger and fight another day.

Not long after, Jason got a rat of a Barramundi, too small to be a point scorer.

And that was about it for the day...

The river was as beautiful as it can be:

The daly river in the afternoon.

But it was time for us to go back to the camping ground.

On the way we saw some TEBS participants who had elected to sleep in their boat. Straight on the river ready to fish at night if the fish were to come on the chew.

But with what seemed to be a storm coming we went for the safe option.

Sailing back to camp.

The rain was only very short, and after a good shower and a steak at the camp, we fell asleep pretty quick. Yes fishing is exhausting...

On the following morning, the light gave a sensation of end of the world, or maybe new beginning...

Morning light at the Banyan Farm.

This is what I saw as I was getting out of my tent. 

And then we went to the boat ramp:

Light at the boat ramp.

There the light was a bit different, but still quite impressive.

No wonder I love going fishing so much. At any time of the day, there is something to look at.

Just wait to see...

Jason drove the boat past Brown Creek, a spot of very low water, where a few boats ran into trouble:

Jason driving his boat.

Not long after that, we were at the spot where I had caught my Barramundi on the day before.

And Jason line got stretched!

He was on!

The fish started by taking a good run, and quickly as I could, I opened the net.

Yes this was going to be the biggest fish of the day, but after a good fight we saw what kind of fish it was.

And Barramundi it was not...

Shark on the lure.

Yes the Daly too is a river with a healthy population of shark.

Even if we both felt slightly disappointed that it was not a Barramundi, we did have a good laugh about it. These sharks can give you a good work out on Barra gear.

Not long after I got my second Barramundi of the weekend.

As soon as it hit, I thought, Oh this is not a big one, but please be at least 50cm...

But it was only 48cm, not even a point scorer.

Still a fish is a fish, and it definitively made me smile.

It was on the same lure than my last fish too, the lucky found lure.

As we were cruising along the river, either trolling or casting our lures to snags and fishy looking spots. We kept an eye on all the crocodiles that we were seeing. Yes the Daly has a big population of large salt water  and fresh water crocodiles.

We then spotted a salt water one, that seemed to swim a bit strange.

So we went closer, once we realised that it looked pretty much dead.

And dead it was:

Dead crocodile on the Daly River.

It was floating along with the tide, and was really smelly. In fact you could even say that the thing stank like there was no tomorrow!

Now I don't know what killed it, but if that was another crocodile, it must then have been a very big one... Scary...

And this, was the story of the 2016 Top End Barra Series Round 2 from my own point of view.

The fish that I caught put me in the ninth position for the round and 19th on the overall scoreboard.

Which for me is not that bad really, even rather good.

We still had a great time, it was good to catch up with some mate, and to fish on that river where I don't go very often.

Thank you Jason for inviting me on your boat.

Yes we could have caught more fish...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

2015 Top End Barra Series Round 3

Hi there,

Some time ago was the third round of the 2015 Top End Barra Series.
And it was great fun.

• For this round we fished the Daly River.
• We got all our fish on soft plastic lures.
• We did much better than last year in the same round.

This year the third round of the Series was taking place on the mighty Daly River.

With the memory of the big fat donut that we had scored last year in the Daly round, Brett and I teamed up again, with the hope of doing better this year.

And better we did.

We left Darwin on the Friday afternoon, so we could have a little pre-fish on Friday evening, and start early on the Saturday morning, once the friendly competition was started.
As soon as we got on the water, we were reminded that in now ways, this is a river in which you go for a swim. The number of crocodile in there is just incredible.

A fresh water crocodile in the Daly River.

A Jabiru and a salt water crocodile at the Daly River.

The fresh water crocodile also known as Crocodylus johnsoni or Crocodylus johnstoni and the salt water crocodile or Crocodylus porosus, are two very different species, found in the Daly River. The salt water specie being the most dangerous one.

Yet, this should not makes us forget how beautiful this big river is:

Bank of the Daly River.

I don't fish this river very often, maybe once or twice a year if I am lucky. But I really like going fishing there, and there is always the possibility of catching a big Barramundi in the Daly.

But in the cold morning, the first thing that I caught, was not a big Barramundi.

It wasn't even a fish!

I got my line tangled in the propeller of the electric motor...

First catch of the trip for me.

What a shame job that was...

But hey, it could be worse...

And in fact, not very long after that casting a soft plastic lure against the bank, I finally got my first Barra for the round:

First Barramundi of the round three.

At 52cm, this was going be my smallest fish of the weekend. Yet it was enough to get me on the board, and I was very happy with that. Not knowing yet that this was going to be my only fish for the first day.

Just a bit further from where I had caught this fish, we saw another salt water crocodile on the bank:

Salt water crocodile on the river bank.

This one was on a very step bank, and is a good reminder, that in some place, it is better not to get out of the boat for a walk on the bank.

With the action on the fishing front being a bit slow, we caught up with some other participants in this very social competition, and had a midday raft up:

Rafting up on the Daly River.

Raft up are an integral element of the Top End Barra Series, and is part of what keeps it such a friendly and social event. It is a time to share fishing tales, and other banter, with various people, most of them addicted to fishing.

We did try to get a fish after that, but it was hard fishing.

Brett did get his first fish for the round too, on a vibe:

Brett's first Barramundi of the weekend.

Now we both had a fish under our respective names, and no donut on the boat, we could start to relax.

This was near a pile of big snags, where a few grey nomads were fishing with cherabin (Large fresh water prawns) and pulling some good fish from the said snags. This looked like a good spot, but too many people were already on it, we decided to keep it in mind for the next day.

Moving a bit upstream, we did find a spot full of small Barramundi. Brett actually managed to get maybe twenty of them, all from the same snag. But alas, they were all very small juvenile fish. Yet they were great fun and we enjoyed the action, after a day of rather quiet fishing. We even saw a big Mangrove Jack coming after the little Barramundi. 

Brett catching one of the many little Barramundi.

This was fun but with the evening light descending upon us we decided to head to camp. Have a shower, and a great roast for dinner, served at the Banyan Farm.

On the Sunday morning, we decided to try our luck a bit closer than where we had been down on the river the previous day. And that was going to be a good move. We went back to the big pile of snags where Brett had got his fish on the Saturday. This time no one was there yet, we had the place for ourselves. 

Among the snags, just behind an half submerged tree trunk, was a nice little colour change in the water. This is where I wanted to flick my lure:

Snag and colour change.

Just in the shade, the colour of the water was changing, due to the little creek entering the big river.

This spot looked really attractive to me, but also like a fishing lure grave yard.

So I decided to use a weedless plastic lure, that look a bit like a cherabin, to try to emulate the success the grey nomads were having the day before. 

I also decided to use my Ugly Stick fishing rod, instead to my more fragile St-Croix. The reason being that I was thinking that if I was to get lucky enough to hook a fish in there, I wanted to be able to high stick the rod, to try to get it out of the treacherous snags as quick as possible. Before it get the time to rub my line on all the underwater branches and cut it. It was going to affect my casting distance, but in this case, I didn't need to flick my lure very far.

The combination of the heavy rod and a weedless cherabin lookalike lure proven successful as I quickly got a hit. Sadly it didn't connect properly and the fish was lost in less than two second.

Yet, it proved to me, that this was the right gears in the right spot, so I persevered.

It finally happened, and the hit came fast and brutal.

I shouted that I was on and raised my fishing rod as high as I could, reeling in at the same time.

Still, there was this half submerged tree trunk between us on the boat, and the fish in the water.

Brett, quickly put the front of the boat on the first branch of the trunk, grabbed his net, and extended the handle to the maximum. It just reached behind the last branch in the water. The Barramundi was trying to dive under the branch, but putting my finger on the spool, and raising my fishing rod over my head, all the while screaming that "He's going to get break my line!!!"

But we managed to slide this fish in the net, and Brett brought it to the boat.

Barramundi plugged from the snags.

At 69cm it was going to be my best Barramundi for the weekend.

And seeing where it came from, made me very happy.

Seeing the result, Brett quickly put a similar lure at the end of his line, albeit in a different colour, and  started to cast in the same spot.

And the same thing happened.

First a hit that didn't deliver.

Then a solid hook up and a fish in the boat!

Brett's second point scorer Barramundi of the weekend.

It looked that we had found the right spot.

Sadly, no more fish were to be had from this very snag.

But all was not lost, as we both got fish about one hundred meters from there.

As we were moving just a little bit downstream, Brett started to use a vibe lure again, but it got snagged at the bottom and he lost the lure.

After putting another vibe on, he continued to cast toward the same snag, being persuaded that a fish might be in it...

And he did snag something, but it wasn't a fish.

It was the lure that he had just lost, and he got it back!

Brett and his vibe that caught the lost vibe.

About one hundred meters from where we had caught some fish, there was a smaller snag where we saw a fly fisherman caught a Barramundi earlier in the day.

We started to cast to it, and Brett soon came up with the good, his third fish for the third round:

Brett's third Barramundi for the round.

As we were still casting vibe lures to this small snag, I thought that I should try to do a few cast toward the middle of the river, just in case a big mama Barramundi was cruising past with the tide.

And on the second or third cast my line came tense, and started to peel from my reel.

Yes it had worked, I had found a passing fish.

It was not the big mama that I had hoped for, yet it was still a decent fish that made me very happy:

My last Barramundi of the weekend.

This one came in at 63cm, enough to get me a good score in this round.

But it was already early afternoon, and we decided to have a quick look at the spot where we had fun with all the babies Barra on the previous day. 

With the difference in tide, the action was not has ferocious as it had been, but it was still great fun, and we still had hop that a big Barra was among them.

In fact a very nice one came and swam behind Brett's lure, but didn't take it.

So we decided to go back, clean the camp and go home.

The Banyan Farm boat ramp.

For this round, we stayed in a cabin at the Banyan Farm, where we also had our dinner.

This is a great place to stay, and would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone. The staff there is very friendly and welcoming, the food is great and at a reasonable price, the cabins and the camping grounds are very pleasant. They even have a swimming pool now, so after a long day fishing it is a really good place to unwind.

Thank you Brett for inviting me on your boat.

I alway love fishing on the Daly river, even if it is not alway an easy place to fish.

And now I might have to wait for another year, before I am back there.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

2014 Top End Barra Series Round 3.

Hi there,

Recently the third round of the 2014 Top End Barra Series was on.
It was taking place on the mighty Daly River, and what a round it was!

Brett, had invited me on his boat for this round, and picked me up, early on Saturday morning.
The Daly River is reputed for its numerous big Barramundi, and our hope were high.
Well don't hold your breath, you will not see any big fish in this post.
Yet, we still had a really good time, catching up with many good mates, and plenty of good laugh!

We launched at day break after dropping some gear at The Banyan Farm, and quickly caught up  on the water with other participants from the competition.

Catching up on the Daly.

In fact they were rather happy to see us, as they had never fished the Daly before, and needed someone to guide them through the divers rock bars and other obstacle hidden in the flowing waters.

Brett knows the river like the back of his hand, and zoomed us all to a place to troll:

Morning troll.

Meeting no success there, we went to another spot to try casting lures at a creek mouth: nothing there either.

We had a small raft-up with two other boats for a little while, swapping fishing stories and other tales.

After all the social aspect is one of the more important thing that makes the Top End Barra Series what it is. A very friendly competition.

We spent the rest of the day searching for elusive fishes, that we could not find.

But we did see a lot of crocodiles:

Salt Water crocodile on the mud bank.

From there we decided that it was time to get back to the Banyan Farm, for a shower and a meal.

And a great meal it was: all you can eat roasted lamb! It is with a full tummy that I went to bed, to find a much needed sleep. 

The morning chill had a savage bit to it. It was a long time since I had been so cold while going fishing.

Sunrise at the Banyan Farm.

On the water, it was beautiful, and as cold as on land:

Early morning on the river.

In such conditions, we had no other alternative than to cover up:

Brett's piloting.

Your's truly.

No, we were not gangsters on our way to a high sea robbery, just peaceful fishermen on our way to catch some elusive Barramundi.

It was in fact so cold, that I even had to wear a pair of sock!

Socks in the Crocs.

Not very elegant, but oh so comfortable. In fact so comfortable, that it is only when we went back to the boat ramp in the evening that I remembered to take them off… I will put that on the fishing focus …

But let's stop talking fashion and let's get back to the important stuff: fishing for Baramundi.

Well we did find a school of Barra deep down the river's guts:

Barramundi on the sounder.

Seeing them we decided to tie the boat to a snag and cast to them, as we could not entice them to take a lure on the troll.

We casted so many different lures to them, for no success that it started to be slightly frustrating.

Then Brett put a small soft plastic, in the reddish colour, and he was on!

That was a beautiful Barramundi, easy in the high 80 cm and he fought strongly. Brett got it to the boat, I had the net ready, and… The hook bent…

Not a thing that you would wish to anyone during a fishing competition, specially when it is your skipper, and that it is the first good fish hooked in the weekend.

I felt bad, but there was nothing I could have done, this Barra was just to strong for the hook of the small soft plastic lure.

So I put on my line a big soft plastic, with a big hook…

And a very good fish took it. It peeled the line from my reel, like if it didn't had any drag. In fact the drag was practically locked to the maximum, as we were fishing in very snaggy country, and the goal if we hooked would have been to get the fish in the boat, before it took us to the snags.

But after two very powerful, but short runs, it spat the lure, and I never saw this fish.

Which in fishermen language, just makes it even bigger, trust me.

And finally I hooked a small Barramundi on a 5 inch Reiddy's rubber:

My best Barramundi of the weekend.

It was definitively too small to be a point scorer, it was in fact so small that it would have been illegal to keep it. So in the drink it went back. Yet, as you can see on the image, it had really tried to scoff the lure. little fish are still good to catch, when they are the first of the weekend.

we did try some more, but no more fish we caught…

So we went back to camp, to rest for a few minutes, before going to the camping's restaurant for a Chicken schnitzel. That was the biggest Schnitzel that I had ever seen! I did finish my plate, but felt like I would not need any more food for a week. Basically, it was enormous and delicious.

I liked the Banyan Farm for the camp ground, now I like it even more for the food.

But during the evening meal, we learnt about a man who had been taken from his boat by a crocodile, while fishing another river from the Northern Territory.

It did put a bit of a chill in all of us.

Every body went to sleep.

The following morning we decided not to fish and to make our way back to Darwin.

We took the touristic road, if I may say, so Brett could show me a haunted bridge, and the Daly River crossing. Two place that I had heard a lot about in the fishing circle, but never seen yet.

It was great to see them.

From the Daly River crossing.

It was nice to finally see these places in real, and not in a fishing magazine.

I did lost a few lures to snags during this round. But was lucky enough to have Rosco giving me a still in the box Classic Four X for my little collection of fishing lures. And Brett gave me a DUO Realis Pencil 110, a lure that I wanted to try since a long time. I will use it in the upcoming rounds of the Top End Barra Series, and hopefully get a few point with it.

Here are the two lure, thank you Rosco and Brett:

Two good Barramundi lures.

And as I don't have any good fish pictures in this post, here comes a little film done with the video function on my point and shot still camera. Definitively not a Kubrick movie, but it shows a bit how beautiful is the Daly River:

Thank you again Brett, that was a great weekend, even if we didn't catch many fish, we had some good laugh.

Yes, this was my first donut of the year, and maybe not the last one too.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

2012 Top End Barra Series Round 3.

Hi there,

Yes last weekend was the third round of the 2012 Top End Barra Series.
And ho boy, was I sick... I woke up at around 1:00am on the Saturday feeling pretty bad, but did not want to let my mates down.
Arrabmundi had said that he was going to pick me up at 3:00am and take me aboard his boat for the Saturday. Then has he could not fish on the Sunday, I was to fish the second day from Nomad boat, a vessel on which I had never set foot yet.
I could not at the last minute, let down two skipper in one go.

So at 3:00 am I was saying hi to Arrabmundi and we left in direction of the Daly River.
As we arrived there and launched the boat at around 6:30am, the mist was so dense that it was at time impossible to see the other side of the river.
So we decided to proceed with caution. To go slow, and as we had to do so, we took the opportunity to trow two lures at the back, just in case...

Arrabmundi steering through the mist.

Then a boat past us, not at great speed, but definitively faster than what we were doing.

We though that these guys knew what they were doing and decided to follow them...

They suddenly slowed right down and took a sharp turn to the left: they had been heading straight for a cliff. We decided that the Daly River is definitively not the place for a swim, and slowed down too...

Following a boat in the mist.

As the sun rose, the mist left place to a nice blue sky and we started to see some of our fellow competitors and mates going down the river.

We went strait to Harry's rock bar were we started to troll, and on what must have been the first or second troll, Arrabmundi was on a good fish!

And the good fish swam away before being brought to the boat...

The positive in it was that we knew then that there were some fish to be caught in this river, and we had now an idea of the lure to use.

Yeah right... How wrong could we be...

We didn't got any thing more there, so we moved a bit further down. 

As we started another trolling run I decided to use my Classic F18 in the Elton on Chrome that had been so successful at Shady Camp and put it on the line. I had changed all the split rings and hooks in prevision of the 3rd round, and was ready for the hit.

The hit came and I landed what was going to be my only point scoring fish of the weekend: 

First Barramundi of the weekend.

This was the first Barramundi that we boated on the weekend, at 81cm (31.889764 inches), by 9:45am we started to be optimist again...

In fact this fish hit the lure so hard, that he partly destroyed my lure, and I can't use it anymore. I liked this lure, and might keep it just as a souvenir. 

And from there, things started to go slower and slower...

I started to feel the effect of the flu that had me up way to early, and the fishing started to look more like boating on a beautiful river, than a fish catching expedition.

At one point, we even saw a crocodile that didn't acts very shy and for a short time swam toward the boat. We didn't stay in that spot for too long.

Daly River salt water crocodile.

Swimming towards us.

Arrabmundi had to return to Darwin early , so we started to slowly make our way back up river, and fishing a bit here and there.

Then Arrabmundi was on again and fought the fish to the boat. It wasn't a huge fish, but it might be a point scorer. Just as the fish was about two rods length of the boat, a big shark came from nowhere and tried to snatch it from the line. Quick thinking, my skipper raised his line as high and fast as he could and "jumped" the fish in the boat. 

We put this little Barramundi on the brag mat: 49.5cm (19.488189 Inches), 0.5 cm short of a point scorer! Not fair... So in the drink it was put back.

Then we trolled a bit more and Arrabmundi got snagged on the bottom of the river.

As we drifted back in direction of the snag, I was retrieving my lure, when I got a hit and was on. To a fish that must have been approximately 22cm (8.6614173 Inches) on a 12cm (4.7244094 inches) lure... 

Talk about a greedy little fish.

Still I was very happy with it, as it was on a lure that my little five year old had re-painted for me, and it was nice to see that she did a good job, that her custom colours worked.

Then it was time to wrap up the day one and we left.

Arrabmundi dropped me at the Banyan Farm, where I was to set my camp for the night and meet up with some of the other fishing the round three.

As it was around 3:00pm, I put up my tent, had a shower, a little to eat, and a little nap. Not a nana nap, a power nap...

Well when I woke up, as some of the guys were arriving under the mangoes trees, I felt more like I needed to sleep five more days to get better than anything else, but got up to have a chat and learn how every body went on the first day.

I learnt that Colleen had got a 103cm (40.551181 Inches) and Damien had got two 102cm (40.15748 Inches) Barramundis... Some people had obviously done much better than I: congratulation to them! Especially to Colleen for it was her first Barramundi over the magic meter mark. And Damien for being the first one in the Top End Barra Series to  boat two meteries on the same day, during a round of this friendly competition.

In the evening, I tried to stay up as late as I could, but must have been the most boring of them all, as between the flue and asthma, I had real trouble to breath, which severly limited my conversation. So after a while, I just went back to sleep.

After a night where the sleep was of very moderate effect, it was time to get back into fishing and try to update the score with some more fish...

This was my first time fishing with Nomad, and his navigator, Charlie the dog.

Charlie the navigator.

Charlie did well, and we did not end up on any big log, sand or rock bar.

But he did not put us on many fish.

Or should I say more honestly: we did not make the most of the opportunities he drove us to. As both Nomad and myself, got some very good strikes, with the fish sometimes stripping a bit of line from our reels, and fighting for a few second. But we lost them all.

We spent the day trolling and doing a bit of casting for a big fat donut. 

Zero, nada, null, no fish in the bag.

This was still a pleasant day, were we had the time to discuss world affairs, and how to rebuilt a better world.

And the river was, as usual very beautiful.

Thanks again to Arrabmundi and Nomad for having me on board their respective boats for this rounds, that was really appreciated. 

Afternoon on the Daly River.

With the action being on the slow side of things, we decided to call it a day, and to head back to Darwin.

On the way back, my eyes were burning, and the following morning I woke up with a full blown conjunctivitis.

Yet, this is still a weekend that I am happy not to have missed, even if I would have loved to catch more fish, and to finally catch myself a metery.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

P.S: Ho, and how did I fare in the competition after all that?

Well I ended up in the sixteen position for the round three, and that leaves me still in seventh place on the overall scoreboard. 

As I often say: it could be worse.

2012 Top End Barra Series Round 1.

Hi there,

Last weekend was the first round of the 2012 Top End Barra Series, and it was taking place on the great Daly River.
As for last year, each round will last for two days, a full weekend.
But I was not able to fish the complete weekend, as my little one got real sick and had to be taken to the hospital in the week prior to the event. So I wanted to spend the Saturday with her, to make sure that all was well.
Satisfied with her condition, I fished on the Sunday, and this is how it went...

It was no gentlemen hour start, my pick up time was 3:45 am, not an hour to leave your beloved alone in a warm  and comfy bed...
But someone had to go fishing, and the hope and anticipation were high when Arrabmundi arrived with the car and boat in tow, and we were quickly on our way.
I have been fishing on the Daly River only 3 or 4 times before, and this is a place that I really like.
It is a large and strong river, full of fishes and other animals.
Where the fishing during the run off can be magical.

We arrived with the rising sun, to find a river totally flooded, with water at a height that I was yet to see on the banks of this famous river. Never I had seen so many water on the Woolianna boat ramp.

Water nearly to the top of the ramp.

And the river is known to flood a lot more, it is even a rather dry year for it so far...

So we decided to zoom on the water, destination the fishing ground.

The Daly River.

We caught up with some of the competitors, some of them had spent the night in their boat, in the hope to catch more fish... It didn't work for some, and they looked tired and ready to call it a day. But the rumor on the water was that a crew had a great session and got forty fish from one single spot during the night.

We didn't know what to believe, the ones that told us that the water was too cold and that no fish were to be caught, or the ones that bragged numerous and large fishes...

Some of the fishermen that we talked to, had a very tired face, and looked like they had been partying all night on the river...

So we started to look for our own honey spot, and found a nice little drain, with a bit of a colour change in the water coming out from it.

Arrabmundi said that any drain could be worth a few investigative casts, and we started to cast in this very small channel. 

It was still morning, and between the early rise and the drive to the river, I have to confess that I was half asleep, half daydreaming and casting the best I could in there...

When just a few metres from the boat my line suddenly tensed for a fraction of a second and a nice Barramundi Jumped clear of the water, without any lure in its mouth, and disappeared in the cafe latte coloured water...

This happened so fast and without warning that it really gave me a jolt, and I was suddenly well awake, on full alert. Arrabmundi got a good laugh, and me too, in retrospect.

In the very same spot, we nearly got our revenge, when just a few cast latter, it is Arrabmundi who scared a fish by dropping a lure on its back, and this fish too leaped out of the water.

But this was to be our most exciting action for the morning, which was going to be nice and warm...

The heat was starting to making itself felt, when a welcome small shower of rain came to refresh us.

After what we had our lunch and started again to look for some elusive fishes...

We went as far as the river side of Palmerston Island, it was a beautiful place, but none of us had been that far on the river before, and we decided to make our way back up. Towards some fishing ground that we would recognise. 

We zigzagged up the river, going from one side to the other, each time that we spotted a little creek to explore.

It was all very nice, but the fishes didn't really want to play...

Arrabmundi finally got a 62 cm Barramundi in the boat, we had avoided the big fat doughnut!

We hoped that with the turn of the tide, maybe they would be back on the chew.

In the mouth of a little creek, my lure got snagged to a line under water, we pulled it and a brand new soft plastic from a very famous brand was still attached to it.

Now, I do not know if you are like me, but to me,  often a found lure is a lucky lure...

So I put it on one of my rods, and every time that I was to use a soft plastic, I would use it.

We finally arrived to the place where we saw Bandit, Lincoln and Rossco in the morning, by now they were gone. So we decided to try this spot. 

As in the morning  When we saw them they were all fishing with soft plastic I decided that this would be the go in this location.

Another boat was there and they said that they didn't got anything and left...

Big mistake...

Not long after they left, I finally got connected to my first Barramundi of the day!

Not a huge one, but it was giving a fair fight for its size. Staying down and not jumping, he came to the surface, head first, just to have a look at us, must have found us pretty ugly and dived straight back down.

But this fish was very close to the boat and I started to feel the excitement of victory running through me...

Do not count your chicken before they are hatched they said...

They were right!

This fish which by all mean wasn't a monster fish, quite simply bent the hook of this lure that I had found...

This was not a lucky lure after all, as the fish just swam away before being netted...

And to think that this was a lure designed for Barramundi fishing...

Dejected, I put an old faithful Reidy's rubber on, a 5 inch in the Green Tigger colour, and it worked!

I finally landed my first fish of the day, it must have been around 3:30pm, and we had been fishing since around 7:00 am...

On the board!

It wasn't a big fish, but it put me on the board and we now had a fish each to our name.

The spirits went back right up!

It was a 56cm (22.047244 inch) Barramundi, and he had in him the fight of a much bigger fish.

The proof of it, is what it did to my brand new lure:

Where is the plastic?

Yes it totally destroyed the lure.

But still, I let him go, as at 56 cm, he was still a young fella, in need to see the world.

Then I put my last one of these on my line and started again.

And in no times, I got snagged...

I could feel that it must have been snagged on a submerged branch, and not on a rock or big log. 

I tried every tricks that I know, and finally got the lure free.

Happy to feel my swimming again, I gave it a good jerk to try to get it away of the snag as quick as I could...

And at the end of the jerking motion, something happened. Something pulled ferociously on my line.

And a nice Barramundi jumped out of the water, with my lure deep in its mouth.

It must have been attracted by the commotion in the snag, or been sitting just under it, and when I gave a quick jerk to the free lure, it must ave pounced on it thinking that it was a bait fish trying to flee.

This one was a better fish, not enormous yet, but able to take some line with not too much problems, he quickly came to the rear of the boat to launch itself in the current, to turn it to its advantage.

Half laughing half panicking I asked Arrabmundi to get the net ready, which he promptly did...

As the fish came back toward the boat it was quickly netted and a few yahoo escaped from our enthusiasm! Only once the net and fish were on the deck, did we realise that a lure that was lying around in the boat had the hook stuck in the outside of the net's mesh and had taken a dip and was now sitting back in the boat. It was rather lucky that we didn't loose this lure.

But this fish, how big was it?

Big like that!

My best fish of the day.

At 72 cm (28.346457 inch) this was to be my best Barramundi for the day.

But one again my lure was destroyed in the fight.

This fish I kept for the esky.

I had to put a smaller one, in another colour, and it resulted only in some missed hits and a 47cm (18.503937 inch) Barra. Still it was fun to get all these hits.

I did get a fish that could have been a point scorer, but just at the edge of the boat, it jumped sent the lure flying on the right, while he went on the left. 

Then it nearly ended well has he landed on the boat gunwale but it went horribly wrong and he bounced back in the water... 

Lucky bugger of a fish!

Arrabmundi got another Barramundi, on a soft plastic from KO Tackle.

Last Barramundi of the day.

At 54 cm (21.259843 inch) it was a point scorer in this comp., so it was measured, photographed and set free. 

This fish was caught on a soft plastic made by KO Tackle, a new Australian brand of fishing tackle.

I had never seen their product, but now after seeing them in action, I want to get a few of their lure to try them.

We stayed there a little more, but soon it was time to go back home, as we still had a long road ahead of us.

So we opened a packed of crisps, two drinks and started our way back up river in direction of the boat ramp. 

In the evening light with the rain approaching, the river now empty from most of the people who had cruised it earlier was a fantastic sight.

On the Daly River.

This is a great place, and I do hope that it will not suffer from over development in the future.

This is the kind of place that makes you feel alive and makes you want to come back, again and again.

Then as we were at the boat ramp, I was left in charge of holding the boat while Arrabmundi was going to get the car. Just before living me there he said: "And don't get eaten by a croc!"

Just what I needed... I took in my hand the rope at the front of the boat, and walked back as high as I could on the hill, as fare as I could of the water. There was no slack in this rope, believe me.

And then he came back, reversed the trailer and just waded in the water to attach the boat...

And then it was the road again back to Darwin...

On the road again.

Most of the trip back home was spent trying to revive the adrenaline rush that we had when the fishes bit the lure... 

To me this was another great day fishing on a very beautiful river.

Thanks Arrabmundi for taking me aboard your boat, once again.

Now, how did I score in this first round of the Top End Barra Series?

Well I ended up 16 on the overall scoreboard. 

This is far from the first ones, but considering that we fished only on one day of the two days round, I and still happy with that.

Even if I still don't have a Metery with my name on it...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.