2017 Top End Barra Series Round 1

Hi there,

Last weekend was the first round of the 2017 Top End Barra Series.
For the ones amongst you who don't know yet, the Top End Barra Series is a very social and friendly Barramundi fishing tournament.
Made of six rounds over the year, in different locations at different times of the year.
Each round last for a full weekend.
The competition is now in its seventh season.

Once the last round of the year is done and dusted, most of the anglers who fish the Top End Barra Series, can't wait for the next year first round and all the thing to restart again.
And this was the case once again, with this year what a lot of people expected to be a much better fishing than the last few years, as we finally have the first good wet season since 2011.

Like for the last few years, the destination of the first round was Shady Camp.
A place known for its potentially very big Barramundi. This is where everyone goes hoping to catch the much sought after Barramundi over the meter in length.

Now as some of you might remember, I do not have a boat.
So for this round, I was to be fishing with Jason on the first day, and as he was going to leave in the afternoon of Saturday, I was going to jump into Rossco's boat for the reminder of the round.

Jason, picked me up at 4:00am, I had been up since 1:45am, unable to sleep du to the excitement of going fishing for the full weekend.
Yes I was going to be really really tired on Saturday night...
But it was worth it!
We had planed to take some ice and refill the petrol at the last station service on the road...
Well you know that thing that they say that sound a bit like "Don't wait until the last minute to do the things you got to do"... That was a bit of a case of just that...
The last service station was closed, and we had to go back to fill up.

Still we arrived at the Shady camp barrage at sunrise:

Launching at Shady Camp Barrage.

For me launching there has always been a bit scary, du to the large quantity of very big crocodile that inhabit the area. So I do prefer when there is already a bit of light than in total darkness.

From there we zoomed without stoping to the mouth of Sampan River to troll.
To our surprise, not that many boats were trolling the mouth.
Just a few in fact.
Once we started to troll it, we quickly understand why...
It was a bit choppy.

Chop at the mouth of Sampan.

We had made two passes and decided to troll a bit further, about two kilometres out.

On the turn, I changed lure and put a Classic Barra 160 +10 in the Green Dazzler colour on the end of my line.

A lure that had never yet produced for me at Shady Camp.

And this is where I would love to tell you that, I spent a few seconds to read the sea and the waves, Made the perfect cast, of 32, 7 metres in length, so my lure would drop just in the dip of a wave.

I waited for the sun reflection to flash on my lures, and gently twitched it in front of a nice Barramundi that I had spotted just there, who eagerly wolfed it down...

But this is not how it happened...

With this lure that I had received as a present from my friend Peter, I made the biggest cast that I could as far away from the boat as I could, and it was not far enough. So still in free spool I let the line run and looked at my lure which seemed to be further and further away from me.

When I started to think that it should be enough, I clicked the reel's drag on, and in less than a wink, just as the lure made its first move, a fish took it in earnest!

I first thought that it must have been a big Salmon, as I saw the splash but hadn't been able to put an ID on the fish. The first run was long, and the fish heavy, I could not stop it. Then it jumped, it was a Barramundi!

Just right then, I felt the pressure rise a few notches. Jason had practically finished to reeled in his lure, and was looking at what I was doing.

I told him that this fish was heavy and taking all my line, that I feared that it would spool me.

Jason put the boat in reverse, and this is how I first gained a bit of line.

When we finally saw the fish, Jason started to say that it might be in the 80s. When it was closer, I could then see the lure on the outside of the Barramundi mouth and started to stress that it was going to be able to escape my capture.

And then Jason said, "oh he might be a good 90s"...

Finally it arrived close enough to be scooped in the net, and on the deck.

The monkey was off my back and I may have danced a little bit on the boat.

It was a nice fish:

My First Barramundi of the weekend.

Coming in at 97cm (38.188976 Inches), caught before 9:00am, this was going to be my third biggest Barramundi ever.

Oh yes I was happy and I still smile thinking about it.

She did take a bit of time to be revived and to swim away strong, but in the end thanks to the perseverance of Jason, she was fit and kicked away.

We deducted from this catch than instead of trolling fast as most people do at Shady, we would try to troll slow:

With a storm in the back.

Well this didn't work very well and just confirmed that Lady Luck had just been very kind to me when she gave me that fish.

So it was time to change tactics, and we moved back into the river.

There we started to flick soft plastic lures to the snags.

I got a hit, Jason got a hit. We could see prawns being stressed and chased by some predators.

we casted some more and Jason line went tense, he was on!

It was a nice fat little Barramundi:

Jason's Barramundi.

At 57cm (22.440945 Inches) It was no monster in length, but it did make up for it in weight as it was as fat as a happy piglet. So it might not have be bacon, but in the esky it went nonetheless, as it was perfect size to be eaten.

By then, it was time for Jason to go back toward the city.

We looked for Rossco and found him, his boat rafted up with another one.

We went next to them and I passed on my gear from one boat to another. Said goodbye and thank you to Jason, and jumped in Rossco's boat.

And just then the sky opened up and the rain fell upon the hearth and the rivers...

Rain over Sampan Creek.

It did fall hard, but not for very long, and once it stopped, we decided to troll our lures around the joint.

Which resulted in a very nice little Threadfine Salmon for me:

Little Salmon.

This one was also perfect plate size and as Rossco like his Threadfine, I gave it to him.

By then it started to be a bit late, and we had made plans with Peter and Rob to catch up in Tommycut, so we headed that way, in the sunset...

Stormy sunset.

We got lucky enough to not get rained on over the trip there. But we still ended up drenched, because of the wind and the waves:

Rossco steering his boat.

Once there we quickly found Peter and Rob, and rafted up the two boats together, in a nice and calm little spot. We had dinner and some good laughs. But once the night had fallen, I started to feel the the weight of a long day on my shoulders, and quickly crashed to catch as many Z as I could.

Night time over Tommy Cut.

As the morning arrived we were greeted by a rainbow and a drizzle:

Cloudy morning and rainbow over Tommycut.

A very quick breakfast and we were fishing again.

After a short troll run, Rossco said that we were now in front of a little feeder creek where one of his sons had caught some Barramundi in the past.

So we started to flick some lure in there.

Looking at the bait that we could see swimming around, I decided to change my lure, and to downsize, opting for a Junior B52 from Reidy's in gold and orange.

It took just a few cast and I was on to a feisty little barra.

When we saw it we both hoped that it would be a point scorer, but said that it wasn't sure...

Well it was 50cm (19.685039 Inches) on the dot.

So too small to keep, but just a point scorer:

Little Barramundi and Chupa Chups.

Yes, even if it was on the smallish side, I was still very happy to have a fish in my hands, for a quick photo and a release.

Noticing the quick success I got with the Junior B52, Rossco didn't waste anytime changing his lure.

He went for a Junior B52 too, but his was in the gold and black colours.

Well with that he nearly immediately hooked on a Barramundi.

But it was not exactly the mother of all Barramundi, it was rather the cute little brother, and little is the keyword there...

Reeling in a cute little Barra.

This one was too small to be a point scorer, but it definitively offered a great photo opportunity:

Baby Barramundi.

We had a good laugh about it thinking that if anyone saw us taking a picture like that they would have thought that we were crazy. Sometimes you don't need much to laugh.

The tide was falling and we still had regular hits.

This is about then that we saw Seano and Gavin passing by, and they stopped for a little chat.

They told us that like ourselves, they did find the fishing hard. Seeing fish on the sounder, fish that didn't what to eat anything. And on top of that, Seano had a few battery trouble on his boat.

As they left we restarted to cast  our lures and in no times, Rossco was on!

This time the fish seemed a bit bigger and gave an honest fight.

It was a better fish:

Rossco's last Barramundi for the weekend.

Coming in at 62cm (24.409449 Inches) it was going to be a good point scorer for Rossco. And a delicious fillet for me, as Rossco kindly shared the bounty with me. Once again, I was going to feed my family a fish caught by someone else.

Because the only fish that I caught after that was a small Catfish, which of course I let go.

We then made our way back to the mouth of Tommycut, trolled around for a little while, I did get a very strong hit, but it didn't stay connected.

We took the opportunity of a break in the wind to go back to Sampan.

There is was a bit of fishing again, but with not much success.

So we made our way back to the ramp, asking along the way to a few people if they were going back toward Darwin and could give me a lift, as it would have allowed Rossco to stay one more day to fish.

Alas, no one was going back so Rossco could not stay for the following day and he drove me back to the city.

The road back towards civilisation.

What a weekend it had been!

First round of the 2017 TEBS, as it is known by many.

I had fished from two different boats, thank you Jason and Rossco for offering me the chance to fish for a full weekend.

I had caught my third biggest Barramundi so far.

And I had a very good time in very good company.

When is the next round???

And yes, this is where it hurts, the next round is in about two months...

Two long months before being again in the ambiance of the Top End Barra Series, and a full weekend of fishing... 

This will be a long wait.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

2016 Top End Barra Series Round 4.

Hi there,

Not long ago was the fourth round of the 2016 Top End Barra Series.
Here is the story of it.

• It was at Corroboree Billabong.
• Lots of crocodiles, few fishes.
• All my "good" fish were caught with soft plastics.
• It was truly a good weekend.

For this round I was fishing from Rossco's boat.

Thank you for inviting me on your boat for the weekend Rossco.

At 5:30 am his car and boat were in front of my home, and it was great to see him after so long.
It was still dark, and the road to the billabong was spent talking about fishing and catching up.

On the rod again.

It is only a short journey to Corroboree Billabong from Darwin, and we were soon able to launch the boat, at a near empty boat ramp.

Early morning launching.

Most of the participants in the fourth round of the 2016 Top End Barra Series had already launched, on the Friday evening, to spend a night between mates on the water, before the competition start.

The weather was typical of a dry season morning: Cold!

Cold morning on Corroboree Billabong.

It might have been cold, but there is some kind of magic to this place. The seemingly peaceful waters, full of big crocodiles... 

It is beautiful, and it keeps you on your toes at the same time.

Peaceful morning.

In fact it was so cold, that when we saw the first boat that was part of the competition, they were dressed for the cold. And remember that this is tropical Australia...

Fishing in the tropical winter.

The crew of the Liquid Diet Boat, was to give me a very nice present in the form of two fishing lures painted especially for me:

Two fishing lures painted Bleu Blanc Rouge.

I already had one lure in this colour that had been made by Dean B. the maker of the Barratastic Lures, and he had named the colour Pecheur.  I will soon do a post about all my lures in the Pecheur colour.

Rosso also gave me a beautiful Lee's Lures made of Timber at the same time. It will too be in a post on this very blog soon, watch this space!

With the sun slowly rising, the resident crocodiles started to make themselves visible. Trying to get a bit of warmth in their cold blood.

Salt Water crocodile warming up.

We had some intel telling us where in the previous week, a few nice Barramundi had been caught in full daylight, and we went to the spot.

Pandanus on the bank.

Yes this is the spot.

We did spot a few fish there, even got a few half baked hits, but nothing to write home about. Sometimes in fishing a day can makes all the difference.

Yet it was good to be there, and enjoy the relative peace of the place.

Water Lily flower floating away.

When I say relative peace of the place, it is of course because of the numerous crocodiles that were lining the spot. 

Yes, there was fish in the water, but the crocs knew it too, and were around for a feed.

In fact later on in the evening, we got chased from this very spot by a cranky big crocodile and had to move away.

But during the day, it was easier to keep an eye on them, and we started to cast weedless lures deep in the lilies.

I was using a weedless soft plastic lure in the Drop Bear colour, and had just flicked it as far and deep in the lilies as I could. I had let the lure drop to the floor of the billabong, and was bringing it back by little successive jumps very close to the bottom. When the line tensed, and the fish came straight to the surface: It was a Barramundi!

Lucky me, instead of trying to go further away in the deep water, it swam near the surface, and straight to me. Rossco was quick to put it in the net, and I had a fish on board!

First Barramundi of the weekend.

For a billabong fish, it wasn't too bad of a fish, coming in at 62cm (24.409449 inches).

Most of all, it was our first fish in the boat, and it showed us that everything was still possible.

It was early afternoon, we hadn't caught a fish in all the morning, but now we were talking.

Or saw we thought. 

Yes, it was hard fishing especially when you see where the first fish came from:

This is where we had to cast our lures.

After this, it was to be a no more Barramundi kind of day.

The sunset arrived and was as great as they can be on the billabongs, event in the middle of the dry season.

Sunset on Corroboree Billabong.

It was photo time:

Rossco, snapping the sunset.

From there, we tried a bit of night trolling, but to no great result, only a few little tap on the lures, with nothing staying connected. Some other participants in the round achieved great results by night trolling. A 92cm (36.220472 inches) Barramundi was caught, and it is a great billabong fish. 

But for Rossco and I, it was going to be a long time until the next Barramundi.

As darkness fell upon us, we caught up With Dean who was fishing with his son.

We rafted the two boats, had a bit to eat and drink, and talked of all the very important matters that fisherfolk  talk about when they catch up... I will let you imagine what it could be...

While talking I cold not help but flick a fizzer here and there, to try to catch a surface Barramundi in the dark of night. One very exciting for of fishing. The only fish having a go at my fizzer were Tarpon:

Night time Tarpon.

They were great fun, but not the targeted specie. One Barra did boof my lure, but must have missed by a few centimetres and didn't even inhale the lure, so not a chance in the world to be hooked.

After a little while, everybody on both boats was deep asleep.

Despite waking up a few times during the night, I could not hear any fish feeding activity near us, and went back to sleep each time, hoping for the sound of boofs.

Finally the morning arrived.

First light on the water.

It was beautiful but cold, and I stayed in my sleeping bag a bit longer.

Cold morning at Corroboree Billabong.

The only thing that could keep me warm in this cold morning, was to move.

What kind of movement can you do on a boat?

Well it is pretty simple, I got in on the action, and started to flick my lure. Doing the longest cast that I could, at the back of the lilies, trying to get warm in the raising sun.

When far away, deep in the cold water, a fish found my lure.

But this one had decided to fight dirty, and went straight for the bottom, trashing in the lilies underwater stems. After a bit of tussle, he was next to the boat. Yet still green and ready to fight some more, he wrapped the line around a few lilies, just a feet or two from us. This is when I truly believed that this fish was lost to me. It was at netting distance from the boat, but every times that Rossco tried to put the net under it, the lilies stems blocked the net, with the other fish moving to the opposite side.

The stems looked green and strong. 

Both Dean and his son had jumped into Rossco's boat to see what was happening from a better vantage point. 

Dean realised what was going on, and brought his long lips gripe to try to secure the fish.

But just then the combination of Rossco pushing on the stems with his net, and the line sawing in them, made them break, and the fish was in the net!

What a fight that had been!

The dirty fighter Barramundi.

at 67cm (26.377953 inches) it was going to be my best Barramundi of the weekend.

But not the last, and it had been caught on the same lure than the previous one too.

In the background of the photo, you can see from which terrain this Barramundi came from.

It was still early, and a fish so soon in the morning was a good sign for the day to come.

The four of us, quickly finished our breakfast, said goodby to people from the other boat and went our way.

It had been a very good night and morning, in great company.

It is nice to see people bringing their child with them for the weekend. That is what I would call real quality time, and it would for sure build in the kids some great memories for the rest of their life.

Dean & Son, going for another day of fishing on the billabong.

I say good on you to the parents who can bring their child for a weekend of camping in nature.

So this first fish brought our expectations to a new level of fishing envy.

Yet, it was nearly a fluke, as the next catch was going to take a long time to come to fruition.

Another of all the iconic fish that we have around Darwin is the Saratoga. 

This is a fresh water fish, and as such was part of the target fish for the weekend. It a beautiful fish, and I love to see them. I did caught one, but a very small one:

My little Saratoga.

Despite being on the smaller side of sizes, this fish totally destroyed my lure and I had to use another one after it.

It was again a hot day, the wind had started to blow, and made the fishing difficult.

We had to look for sheltered spot, where we hoped to find some fish.

Finally, less than one hour before it was time to get the lines out of the water, casting against Pandanus roots, I retrieved my lure, in a very steady way. Slow, but without any jig or jerking of the line, I was remembering how Brett alway tells me to stop jerking that lure! So I was trying to be a good student. And it worked, I got my last Barramundi of the day.

At first I called it for another Saratoga, due to the yellowish colour I saw when it hit the lure. Rossco was calling it for a Barramundi and me for a Saratoga.

And lucky me there was not to many snag around, as this fish was strong and kept taking line and making runs every time I had it to the boat.

Finally it was netted:

Last Barramundi of the weekend.

The last Barramundi of the weekend came at 62cm (24.409449 inches), just like the first one of the weekend.

Some people might say that I am easily amused, but yes I did find that funny.

After that we tried to see if I could get another fish in the last twenty minutes of the round, but it was not to be.

We then quietly made our way to the ramp, enjoying the evening light and profiting of the last moment of peace for the weekend, before going back to civilisation.

That is when we caught up with a boat of Tebsies.

Fellow Participants in the 2016 TEBS.

They too had found the fishing a bit hard over the weekend. But one of them had caught the second biggest Barramundi of the weekend at 91cm (35.826772 inches). So the smiles were still on their boat.

It had been a great weekend on the water, thanks Rossco, but it was getting dark and it was time to go home.

Evening light at the boat ramp.

Rossco had been in pain during most of the round, and had been unable to cast his lure as often as I did. Yet he allowed me very generously to fish all over the weekend, when most people would have just gone home to try to mend their pain. 

During this round, I used, eleven different hard body fishing lures, and 4 soft plastic ones.

My first two Barramundi had been caught on the same lure.

And when it was destroyed by a little Saratoga, I really missed it, and cursed myself for not having brought with me the other similar one that I had at home.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

Two Stuckeys Lures

Hi there,

Not long ago I received my first two Stuckeys lures.
These are Australian hand made timber fishing lures.
From what I was told the man who produce them, made only 15 of them per week, so it is fair to say that they are a rare commodity.
They come from the state of N.S.W, (Australia).
I was naturally very surprised and tempted when Angry from the FFF forum contacted me to ask me if I wanted to swap some of my little Rapala lures for some Stukeys.
I told him that I didn't want to swap them all, as they were a present from a good friend of mine, but one or two would be ok, and also reminded him that these Rapala were only 3 cm long.
He very generously replied that he didn't want them any more, because he thought that the Rapala were the 5 cm models. But that he was still going to send me some Stuckeys lures, as I have what he calls the Luresicosis, which is a form of Fishing Lure Collecting illness...

I got afraid that my new found illness was bad, but was glad to see that even some people that I had never met, would be trying to help me with my problem.

So I sent him a 5 cm Rapala that I had since 1985 and very rarely used, so it was in tip top condition. An a little spinner.

After that I waited with impatience...
But not for long at all.

Rossco, another member of the FFF forum was fishing with Angry and brought me back the lures, which were then hand delivered to me.
And Rossco being aware of my liking for fishing lures with advertising on them even gave me a cool little lure as a surprise present.

So what does the stuckeys look like?
Just like that:

With single hooks.

I like the single hooks set-up, I alway found that a better look than the treble ones.

I even sometimes change the treble of some of my chrome slices for a single hook.

With Treble hooks.

And a darker one, so it is nice to have two very different looking lures in the same range from the same maker.

They are about 5 cm long, and I presume from the size of the bib, deep diver.

But I think that I am just going to keep them at the office...

And what kind of advertising lure did Rossco gave me?

Have a look:

The Valvoline rattler.

And this was a great surprise too, as I had heard of this lure but never seen it before.

So this was a very good trade, and I am very happy with these lures.

Even if I know now, that I have Luresicosis...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.