My New Sunglasses.

Hi there,

I have just received my new polarised sunglasses that I will use for fishing.
And they have already been tested with success last weekend...

But first what are they, and how did I get them.

They are Tonic Eyewear sunglasses, and the frame name is Shimmer (mines are gloss black).
With high contrast copper photochromic glasses.
The kind of glasses that I was dreaming of, but was alway buying the much cheaper one, as I could not afford these ones.
So why did I finally got a pair of them?
Well, the Top End Barra Series also have prizes for the best picture of each rounds...
And the shop The Tackle Box NT, is offering a pair of sunglasses for the winner.
And lucky me, one of my pics ended with the most like.

So, what do they look like?
Here is a little pic of them in action, with my best Saratoga ever:

Tonic sunglasses and Saratoga.

In fact you are going to see this image in my next post again...

Because it was during the fifth round of the 2013 Top End Barra Series, and this very fish, won me the biggest Saratoga of the round, for which, I will receive, a new fishing shirt and fishing hat from the Tackle Box!

How cool is that?

This is a shop that I must visit one day, as it have the reputation of having one of the most extensive range of exotic fishing lures in town. And yes, people who have been reading this blog for a little while, will know that I like fishing lures...

Oh, and what was the photo that won?

You have already seen it, but here it comes again:

Beautiful light in Wilshire Number one.

And this is all for today.

It was a long time since I didn't win anything, and it might be a long time before I win again.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

Barra Trooper Galore.

Hi there,

Not long ago, I had the chance to meet Dave, the maker of the fishing lures Barra Trooper.
He was extremely generous, and gave me some very nice  fishing lures.
Here comes the story of them.

First is the original Barra Trooper, but in a new colour, soon to be introduced on the market. The colour is called X RAY and you will, with no doubt understand why:

Barra Trooper X RAY.

Now, this is not just any lure in the new colour, no...

This is the very first one that was made for production. It is signed on both sides of the body of the lure, on the bib, and with a hand written note on the back of the card.

Here comes a close up of it's face:

Mean looking skeleton.

You can see the signature on the cheek of the lure. And yes, as you can read on the card, it is of course, a hand made timber lure, like all the Barra Trooper.

The evening I got this lure, I could not help, but send a photo of it with my phone to another fishing lure collector in Darwin, just to show it to him, even before doing a post on the blog.

After that came a Barra Trooper in a colour that he normally do only for himself.

The special colour.

I might be wrong, and that would not be the first or last time... But I think that this would be a great colour to target Mangrove Jacks. A fish that till today has managed to elude me. Classy in burgundy and gold, with black strips, this one makes me think of an old fashioned Chicago gangster. 

Then come a smaller lure, with a different shape that than the traditional ones made by Dave.

And it is a real little beauty:

Black and yellow like a hornet.

I have already said in the past, that one of my favourite colour for timber lures, is black and yellow.

For a reason that I don't really understand, this combination of colours remind me of a cafe racer motorcycle, and I really like that. It has to me a retro feel, that I don't get with other colours.

The finish on it, is just great:

Beautiful finish.

As an icing on the cake, this lure came to me, with a very special top up.

Three wooden pieces, that show how it was crafted:

Three steps to a good lure.

This is actually the first time that I have the wooden shapes, of a lure at different stages. This to me, is a very interesting piece added to my little collection. One could say that it has an educative purpose.

Finally, Dave gave me a prototype of a lure that he had been working on.

The overall shape resemble the traditional Barra Trooper, but is a bit shorter, a tad fatter and the tail is slimmer.

Have a look at it:

New prototype of Barra Trooper.

The photograph, don't really shows the depth of the paint job. It has a brown back, with a brass belly covered in gold spots. It is a beautiful and subtle paint work.

Portrait of a fishing lure.

And of course, like all the other ones, it is signed on the belly:

Signed on the belly.

Here they are, my precious little Barra Trooper lures, a very appreciated addition to the stable.

Thank you Dave, these will never see the water, but they will still be taken care of with great attention. 

I know that fishing lures are made to swim, and that most lure makers craft them in the hope that they will catch the fish of a life time... But those four compagñeros will definitively stay dry.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

Exploring A Little Creek.

Hi there,

Last weekend, I had the chance to be invited on Sarrge's boat. To explore a little creek in the vicinity of Shoal Bay, in the pursuit of Mr Barramundi.
What a fine little creek it happened to be.

The perfect creek.

Jim, had been pretty happy with the results he got from this creek and told us about it, and gave some basic information about it to Sarrge, who decided that it was worth a try.

Upon arrival, this seemed to be like the perfect creek. Not too small, but not too big either.

Plenty of snags and mangroves. 

So we started with soft plastics, but nothing happened...

Except that on one cast, Sarrge's spool nearly flew away from his reel, and in doing so, created the mother of all bird nest. Not a nice sight on a bait caster: spool half way out the side door, and line all over the place.

He didn't seemed to be violently happy about it, I would even suggest that he was rather upset in fact.

So when I asked him if he wanted a photo of it, and saw him grab a filleting knife, I started to wonder if I hadn't once again said something profoundly stupid...

But no, he took it on his line and cut two big chunks out, and started to see a bit more clearly throughout the mess that was. And in no time was able to say : and voila!, and was ready to fish again.

All the time he had be asking me why I hadn't caught any fish yet, while the competition was busy...

I simply replied that I was trying to be polite, and that it would have been of bad taste to ask him to drop every thing to net a fish for me, while he was so engrossed in the fixing up of his reel...

In reality, I just could not get my lure to pass in front of a starving Barramundi, not for the life of me.

Once he started to fish again, he had made a change to a hard body lure.

And in no time got his first Barramundi of the day. A beautiful 64cm specimen of salt water chrome and healthy fish.

Sarrge first Barramundi of the day.

This was a nice fish, who had totally smacked the lure at full speed, and given a very good account of himself.

He went in the esky, to be dinner.

After that we dropped two crab pots... For zilch, nothing took interest at the bait we had placed inside the traps.

Seeing that Sarrge had a fish and me not, I did what anybody else would have done. And changed my lure and too, put a hard body at the end of my line.

And yes it worked, I got a fish too!

A bit on the small side, but a Barra on the lure, is a Barra nonetheless.

Barramundi on the Rapala X-Rap.

As this one was just a little guy, in the water he was sent back.

But one of the thing that made me happy about it, was that I got it on a lure that I had found at Shady Camp, fishing with Arrabmundi. I had never really fished with it, but had changed the hooks on it recently, and decided to try it in this little creek, thinking that if I lost it to a snag, that would not be too bad, as it was a found one.

And to be honest, having never really fished with it I was not overly confident with it... Now, I don't want to loose it!

But any way the lure of the day, was the golden one that Sarrge was using.

We were drifting with the tide, further and further into the creek, when he got his second fish of the day:

Sarrge second Barramundi of the day.

This was on a nice little snag, and made us very happy, this was a good day!

In the drink the fish went back.

I was busy storing the net at the back of the boat,  Sarrge put his straw hat on, flicked his lure and screamed: "I Am On!"

What?

Yes, he had another fish on, before I was even ready to fish again!

Basically it was a case of two cast two fish...

Well done!

So, I dutifully netted his third fish, just wondering if he was going to do that all day long?

Sarrge third Barramundi of the day.

After that, I don't know if it was because I was told that Barramundi have a serious tendency to jump or what, but it looked like my lure ended up in the trees more often than in the water...

I was wasting some precious fishing time there, and of course didn't catch anything in the trees.

But Sarrge caught a fourth Barramundi, yes, in the water...

Sarrge last fish of the day.

We then checked the crab pots again, for the same result as we previously had: Nada, Zero... No crab.

Oh well, we had just caught some fish and had a great day on the water, so decided to get back on the way home.

Durring which, we looked for Tuna, but couldn't spot a single one.

We were left wondering where are the Tuna this year?

But we did see a big sea turtle:

The sea turtle.

And we were back at the boat ramp, after a nice day, fishing a new creek for the first time, and catching fish in it.

This was going to stay as a good trip in my books.

All the fish had bashed our lures big time, no half bite there. These were definitively hungry fish smashing lures with gusto.

And Sarrge had got all his fish on the same lure... One that I might try next time, because of course, I had the exact same one in my bag, but didn't use it.

Thank you Sarrge, that was a great day.

So yes, I did get largely outfished, once again, and now have one more lure that I don't want to loose, because I know that it works.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

The Wedding Lure.

Hi there,

It is not often that a fishing lure is found on a wedding table.
But when half of the party is coming from the family of one of the most famous Australian fishing lure designer's, no one should be surprised to see a few lures invited to the marriage banquet.

Not long ago, as I was packing up an office in which I worked for many years, I decided to send back to Rob Gaden two lures that he had graciously lent for an exhibition project I had worked on.
Messages were sent to Mr. Gaden, asking him where I should mail the lures.
His reply was that I could keep one of them for myself, and send him the other one.
That in itself was already a great present, thanks Rob.
But it doesn't stop there.
He told me to call his daughter and to give her the lure in Darwin, instead of sending it interstate.
So I called her...

A few days later, she came to pick up the lure, and had a present for me.
And what a present!

Her dad had asked her if she could give me one of the lures he had done for her wedding guest, the previous year.
This might seem not much to some of you, but to me, it was an absolutely great present.

Taryn had married Phil in July 2012, and her dad had a series of the famous Classic Barra +10 in a special colour, with a special packaging made for the occasion.
Want to see it?

The Wedding Lure.

The writing on the back of the lure says: Taryn & Phil - July 2012.

The back of the packaging says that it is to celebrate their marriage, has some short information about both of the families, and the exact date of the wedding.

I will be honest with you, when Taryn gave me the lure, it was such a surprise that I got some goose bump and the hairs of my arms started to stand straight. 

This to me was a very nice present, from a very personal moment in her life.

I now feel really privileged to have one in my collection, and you can be sure that this one will never be taken out of it's packaging.

Thank you Taryn and Rob, this will be a very precious addition to what my partner call my addiction.

I know some of you might say, that a lure is made for fishing and that I should try it, but I will not.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

2012 Top End Barra Series Round 5.

Hi there,

Last weekend was the 5th round of the 2012 Top End Barra Series, and it was taking place on the Drawin Harbour.
Being able to fish on the harbour of the very city where ones lives, is nearly a luxury in today's world, and trust me it was much appreciated by most of the participant.
My usual skipper was interstate for work, so I gladly accepted the offer from Dean's to be his deckie for the round.
We started reasonably early at around 6:30 am on the Saturday morning, and were greeted by a glorious sunrise as we arrived at the boat ramp.

Dinah Beach boat ramp in the sunrise. 

We went to one of the harbour arm in some spot where Dean had caught some good fish on some previous set of tides.

And he did get a little Barramundi, not big enough to be a point scorer, but big enough to get us excited, thinking that we were at the right spot...

Dean's first Barra of the weekend.

Well this little fish was the first one and the only one for a little while...

Enough in fact for us to wonder what was going on.

As we were changing from one spot to another one, either trolling or flicking our lures at any snags or rocks that we could see, I got what seemed to be a hit.

Something had grabbed my lure, and was flapping in the water behind the lure. Yet whatever it was, it was not giving me a fight similar to anything that I had seen in the past.

I called it for a small fish tangled in some seaweed.

But not it was a different kind of surprise:

Mud crab on the lure.

This Mud Crab was a female, and was full of eggs, so it was released as quick as possible.

Basically as soon as I could get my lure out of its claw.

In all my time of fishing this is only the second time that I have a crab catching one of my lures while it is moving. Both time it was during a round of the Top End Barra Series.

So we moved a bit further and trolled a favourite spot of Dean, in a little harbour creek.

Dean got a good whack on the line, but it didn't connect.

Then it all happened, he got the strike and stayed connected.

The Barramundi jumped at least four times, high and clear of the water. This was a good fish with a gusty temper. Jumping and making runs all over the place, constantly changing the direction of his attempted escape. In the end it was close to the boat, but still had it in him, not to surrender.

Each time that I was thinking that he was ripe for the net, he would dive and make another run for it.

But the run were shorter and shorter, and finally in the net it was.

Scream and shout of joyce must have ben heard from one end of the creek to the other.

We had a fish in the boat that was a point scorer:

Dean's biggest fish of the weekend.

At 71 cm (27.952756 inch), this was a good and healthy harbour fish. In the Esky it went.

Dean described this fish as fighting and jumping like a Doberman on acid, and that was a fitting description of the fight that he gave.

The monkey was off Dean's back, now we just needed to get me a fish... This was going to prove itself more difficult than planed. 

First Dean was going to catch a nice little Flathead:

Darwin Harbour Flatie.

This one was not big enough to won a prize, but it was a nice fish nonetheless. It was put back in the water, to grow a bit mpore till the next time.

By now the afternoon was starting to make itself known, and after talking to Mozz and Liam, we decided to scout towards Muntzy to catch up for a little chat.

Zooming on the ocean.

Mozz and Liam through the waves.

We did meet up with Muntzy, and not long after Chris arrived from the opposite side, followed by Sheeby and Cuddlescooper on another side.

We ended up five boats who rafted together, for a little chitchat and some refreshment.

Well it started this way anyway.

And it was in the end four boat who stayed tied to each other till the following morning, drinking, singing and cooking. While the fifth one took the fishing competition more seriously, and went in the pursuit of better fish. 

For the four vessels that stayed together, I was on one of these. But I think that what happens on the raft-up of the Top End Barra Series, should stay on the raft-up. A bit like what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas... So I will apply some kind of media black out, and not show on this family orientated blog, any of the picture that I made during that night...

Being a non drinker myself, I was one of the first to wake up, and as so far I only had for my name a big fat donut, I started to flick a lure around in the hop to catch a fish while every body else was still sleeping.

It didn't work, but I did caught a strange little worm on a popper:

Worm on the hook.

At one stage, there was literally hundreds of them swimming around the boat.

I didn't taste it to see if it was tasting like fish or not, I just dropped it back in the water.

Then every body woke up, some had a light breakfast, some other didn't felt like it.

Then, simply because boys will be boys, one of the lad started to run some donut on the river with is boat:

Yeeehaaa!!!

Dean and I went to explore some new spot in the hope of doing better than on the previous day.

And there, on my first cast of the day, using a Terrif DC-9 Bullet by DUO Lures, the same lure that got me a crab the day before, I finally got my first fish in the boat!

No, it was not a Barramundi, it was just a baby Rock Cod, but that was enough to make me happy:

My baby Rock Cod.

I then told myself that this was a good sign, surely it was going to be a day filled with numerous catch!

Well it didn't exactly panned out like that. It was a great day on the water, but not filled by numerous captures.

We went to another creek for not much apart a dropped Barramundi for me, and a few little Trevally for Dean. Then moved to another one, where we saw Billster, and started to troll the same troll line than him. 

On the bank of this creek we saw a Jabiru and I wanted a quick photo of it as we were going to pass next to him. I put my rod in the rod holder, and walked at the front of the boat to take a quick pic:

The juvenile Jabiru.

I had not yet made the photo that I wanted, but glanced in the direction of my rod: The rod was totally bent in the rod holder! But not bouncing up and done like when a fish is starting a fight and gives some serious head shake. No, it was just bent and the line was peeling from the reel.

I told Dean that I must have got snag on something, to which he replied that no he thought that I had a fish on.

So I grabbed the rod, and give it a jerk, thinking that I was going to prove my point...

The line started to fly of the reel twice as fast and still no head shake or splash like a Barramundi would do. So I called it for the mother of all Catfish. Dean said that no, he believed that this might be a Barra.

The fish didn't came to the surface, and was very heavy, every time that he was close to the boat, he didn't came up and jump, but just dived a bit more, and took some more line again.

At one stage I started to panic and said that I was going to be spooled! Dean in a very calm way, looked at my reel and said: "No don't stress about that, you still have plenty of line on your reel, at least 10 meters" and burst out laughing. Typical of the kind of thing that I needed to keep my cool! 

It was time for some serious rod work and under the good advices of Dean I got it back to the boat. Where for the first time it came close to the surface for a very short time and Dean said: It is a Barramundi, did you see it, it is a Barra! We got even more excited, and I started to think that I had just hooked the biggest Barramundi ever. Or at least my personal best. This fish was delivering me the best battle that I had ever encounter. Just as it was under the boat, one of the hook popped and the rod had a little jump in my hand when it happened. Even Dean saw it and said that I must have popped a hook.

Just another way to stress you even more when you are fighting what you are now sure is your biggest barra ever.

Dean got the net ready and on the first scoop got the fish in it.

It was suddenly very hard not to shout very loudly how happy I was.

This had been the best fighter I had ever had on the line while chasing Barramundi, even if it wasn't my personal best.

My super rocket fish.

Yet at 76 cm (29.92126 inch) it was my best Darwin Harbour Barramundi. I was not going to have a zero fish round in the harbour and I was full of joy.

Also, I was going to get some good fish for my little one, and this made me happy too.

So head first it was pushed in the esky.

Billster came by and joked that they had been trolling this stretch all morning for not a single fish and that on our first troll in there we had a decent fish: totally unfair from his point of view.

I nearly apologised, but was too happy for it, that wouldn't have ringed true.

We did get a few very nice hit in the same creek, one of them bending the hook of my lure, straight on the hit, without even the hint of a brawl. I just didn't got the time to do anything... This made me think that maybe, just maybe, I should ease my drag a little bit...

Then Dean got a nice little Queenfish:

Queenfish in the sky.

It was released, and we could see Muntzy who had joined us in this creek, getting some nice fish.

Dean then got a rat of a Barra, it was definitively too small to give him any point. But we had fun making a photo like if it was a very big fish:

The giant little fish.

Mutzy just to show us how to do it, got another fish:

Muntzy with a point scorer.

Fishing solo, he was doing a great job at steering his boat, reeling in and netting his fish all by himself.

But it was the end of the day, it was time to call it a day and to go back to port.

The wind had picked up a bit but it was still a nice trip on the harbour:

Homeward bound.

This had been a great weekend, with a lot of laugh, and some good fishing too. 

After all getting fish like that just next to a capital city is still a really cool feeling.

Thank you Dean for taking me onboard of your boat.

Then at the prize presentation, I didn't get any prize for my fishing, but I got a lucky door prize!

And when I say lucky, it was more than lucky.

Dean had got some really cool prizes in the previous round and had made a donation toward a prize for the round five. Sheeby won the door prize, but because he had won the second place in the round five, and had already received a very nice reel, he said to redraw the door prize so someone else get a chance at it. And that was me!

Here is what I got for my door prize:

KO Lures.

A voucher to be spent in the KO Lures shop in Darwin. 

For those of you that don't know KO Lures, this is a new brand of fishing tackle accessories, by a Darwin company. I have not yet fished with any of their lures, but they do look good and very robust, so I can't wait to try them.

Thank Top End Barra Series, Dean, Sheeby and KO Lures.

The two little soft plastics at the bottom were a present as a bonus from the boss of KO Lures, very kind of him, I will swim them as soon as I can!

How and what was my score in this round?

Well I arrived in seventh position for the round, and this placed me in number four on the overall scoreboard. 

One point higher that at the last round.

This is great, but I will not be able to climb higher on the ladder, as the three first ones, have way too much advance for me to catch up with them in the next and final round. Even if I was to win the next round (which I don't believe I can), I would just stay in the fourth position. 

And realistically, there is a lot more chance of me loosing a few point in he next round, which will take place in a billabong where I have fished only twice in the past.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

I Have Been Spoiled.

Hi there,

Yes I have been spoiled, and by no one else than DUO Lures Japan.
Not long ago, they had a photographic competition, and I was with one guy from Portugal and another from the UK, one of the three winners.
If you really want to know which photo I had sent to win, you can have a look at their web site...

And yes I was happy about that, because as a prize, they sent me some really cool fishing lures.
Look at what I saw when I opened the parcel that I received:

Look at all the goodies!

There is too many great lures in there for me to do a full list with names and specificities of each one of them, so I will just show you the photos of them, and talk just a bit about a few of them.

This should be a good salt water Barra lure.

And this is his big brother.

Now this is a lure that I can't wait to test on the shallow, as it inspire great confidence in me. It is 15 cm long, and look just like a sea Mullet... It should bring home the bacon.

A Realis Jerkbait 120SP.

And another one.

This one is a suspending lure, and I love suspending lures.

Because, you can work them super slow, and yet they stay in the strike zone.

Just what you need to wake up a big Barramundi, when other lures don't produce.

A Beach Walker 120MD.

This is a lure that I have already fished (albeit in another colour), and it produced the good. It was a day, fishing land based from the rock, and it was the only lure to catch some fish on the day.

A Tide Minnow.

And another one.

Now why do I like the Tide Minnow?

Because the photo that made me won all these lures, had a Tide Minnow in it. With a nice Barramundi attached to it...

A Bay Ruf V-90.

I didn't had any lure like that one , and I am now very happy to have one.

At 40 grames, it get down deep when the fish are hiding in a hole and will only take a lure that is bumping in front of them.

And the kid in me, loves the fact that it glow in the dark!

Terrif.

This is a Terrif Radical Swim Edition, and the bib is made of titanium...

In fact I am not sure that I will use this one, or keep it for the collection.

Tide Vib Slim 140.

I can't wait to either troll this one fast, or cast it to a school of pelagic, and spin it back like a maniac. This, is to me a really exciting lure.

A really cute little Popper.

I might use this little Pocopoco when targeting bream, or whiting from the shore.

Realis Crank 48SR.

This one I want to use, either in the billabongs, or to try to get some Flathead in salt water.

The Manic.

When I saw it, I though that this one was just too cool to be fished, and would end up forever on my desk. But realistically I have to see how it swim, so I will fish it.

The Terrif DC-9 Bullet.

Here comes a lure, which I believe will shine when chasing some Barramundi on the mud flat or in some shallow drain. Hopefully I will be able to test it very soon, and I am sure that it will be a beauty. I already have a DUO Lure in this colour, and it proved to be incredibly efficient. Outfishing all the other lures that were tested the day I fished it.

This to me look like a Barramundi lolly.

and I also got a super neat little box to store all my little accessories like swivels, clips and hooks.

The Realis box.

So thank you very much DUO Lures, I am feeling real happy with all these toys, and hope to soon build some great memories with the help of them all.

My only problem about all these lures, is that since getting them, I didn't really had the time to try them...

But hey it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.