2013 Top End Barra Series Round 4.

Hi there,

Not long ago was the fourth round of the 2013 Top End Barra Series, it took place at Salt Water Arm, and it was great.
Why you may ask...
Well, let me tell you the story of it.

It started a bit on the wrong note. As I got a call just a few days before the event, from the skipper of the boat I should have boarded. Saying that his outboard was broken...
He was not able to get it fix before the competition, so I had a very short time to find a post of decky on another boat.
Lucky me, Rossco, one of the organiser of the Top End Barra Series, gave me a call on the same day, and offered me to be a passenger on his vessel.
That was one thing sorted, now we would have to find the Barramundi.

Rossco picked me up at rather early time on the Saturday morning, and we quickly were on the road, full of hope and joy.
When we arrived at the ramp, other people had already arrived, but we were not the last ones, far from it.
The weather was perfect, and it was neap tides, what a glorious day, I told myself...

Launching at Salt Water Arm.

It was a rapid launch, and we went straight for the Narrows, where we spent a short time trolling before making our way towards the Wilshire Number Two. The little creek where we were to catch over twenty fish over the weekend...

It started very fast with Rossco getting on the action, in no time:

First Barramundi of the weekend.

Rossco was on the board, his first fish was a point scorer, and he could already start to relax and take it easy.

Which he did, by catching another Barramundi!

Two in a row.

That was it, I had to do something...

So I caught a fish too:

My first little Barra of the weekend.

It was not a big fish, but at least I had caught one and it made me happy.

It was such a long time since I had caught a Barramundi, that it was like Christmas.

And then I was on a lucky strike, and caught a few fish, one after the other:

Barramundi number two for me.

Even small fish are sweet.

This one must have been one of the smallest Barramundi that I ever caught.

A bit better.

And my third Barramundi for the day, was finally a point scorer. Not a big one, but big enough to put me on the board too. This round was not going to be a donut for me.

After catching three Barramundi, I had to have what I would call a luck realignment...

And I got a small Catfish on the lure...

Catfish on the F18.

On this photo, you can see the lure, which one I caught all my fish during this round. I did try over ten different  fishing lures, but always came back at the one that was catching, ever and ever.

In fact, at the end of the weekend, I noticed that the bib of the lure had been deformed, and that the lure could not swim properly anymore, I will have to get a new one. 

I did try with timber hard body, plastic hard body, surface lure, plastic lures, but alway came back to the Classic F18 in Elton on Chrome colour. It was the outstanding performer over the two days of fishing.

After that, Rossco came back in the game, and snared another Barramundi:

Barramundi joy.

It is hard to describe how much joy can be derived to catching small Barramundi.

But to have them hit the lure in an aggressive manner, peel a bit of line and jump around, is just great. 

So I got another one too!

Happy Barramundi fishing.

Then Rossco got a beautiful Koi Catfish...

The Koi Catfish.

Ok, this is not a Koi, but it was a really beautiful fish, and it was the first time that Rossco had one like this, so this was a very nice bonus for the weekend. In all of my time fishing in the Top End of Australia, I must have seen this type of Catfish only two or three time.

Rossco strike again.

It was the last fish of the first day, and what a day it had been. In fact, the day wasn't exactly finished...

First we had to sail the boat in the sunset, to join the Raft Up.

Sunset and fishing lure.

Just at twilight we found the other boats who had already started the raft up.

The light was fantastic.

Beautiful evening light.

The boats were in Wilshire number One, and a party mood was already on the cards.

But as always, what happens in a raft up, stays in the raft up, so no photo, no gossips...

Just a picture from the morning after, and the reason of the good smell on the river:

Moz and Dean with Egg and Beacon.

Yes they were cooking in the early morning, best way to get your energy back.

Now, these two chaps, are not just two guys participating in the same tournament than me.

They are a lot more, first they are good mates of mine, but on top of that, both have started to make their own lures. Beautiful hand made wooden fishing lures. And have caught a lot of fish throughout the event with them. Dean caught all his fish with them, and finished fourth, that says a lot about the quality of his fishing lures.

And the icing on the cake?

They both gave me one of their lures, which I am not showing you now, because they will deserve their very own post very soon, so stay tuned for it.

The morning light seemed like a good omen too, it looked like the fishing gods were in our favour.

Sunrise on the creek.

It was one of these morning were you feel happy to be alive. Not because you have just escaped a certain and painful death. No, but simply because the world is beautiful.

To celebrate, I caught a little fish:

First fish of day two.

Yes, I do not look like I am fully awake yet... But trust me, having even a baby Barra on the end of the line, is a sure way to wake up quick smart.

It felt so good, that I did it again:

Another little Barramundi.

It might not have been a monster fish, but it was still the eleventh Barramundi to be boated for the weekend. There is something very satisfying when you target a certain specie and you manage to find them. Even if you only found the small ones, at least, you know that the fish are around.

And after my showing off from the early morning, Rossco decided to show me what he was made of, and managed to catch 5 fishes in a row.

Even little fish makes you smile.

A bit bigger.

This fish wasn't exactly a giant, but I wanted to get a photo of all the fishes that we would get over the two days event. So we photographed them all. Just as we were doing the photo of this little fella, a boat with a few people in it, passed us on the river... We had a good laugh at how they must have tough that we were desperate to take photographs of such a small fish.

But as I often said, even if I dream of catching a very big one, one day. I still prefer a day with ten smaller ones than a day with just a large one... So yes it was some happy times, with plenty to entertain us.

just another rat Barramundi.

And one more.

And then to mix things up a bit, it was a different specie:

Threadfin Salmon.

Threadfin Salmon are often a great by-catch when targeting Barramundi. Rossco, didn't want this one, so he offered it to me. To which I replied that it would be a nice present for my mother in law, as she like a fresh fish when I can get her one. And it would keep me in the good books...

So I brought it back for her.

Seeing all the fish that he was getting, I wanted some of the action too, so I kind of wake up, and jumped in it, so to speak. It was now my turn to catch the little critters.

Back in the game.

A nice little guy.

Three in a row.

This was my last fish of the weekend, and I was very happy with the score.

Rossco was still to catch his best of the weekend, and he did it:

Silver salt water Barramundi.

This was a nice piece of piscatorial chrome, and we cheered this fish like if it had been a much larger fish.

It was the last Barramundi of the weekend.

It was now time to head back home, with our hearts full of joy and our head, already thinking about all the fish that we would get the next time...

I had a very good weekend, thank you Rossco, for inviting me on your boat.

So yes, some people could say that we got the quantity, but no biggies...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

My First Chilton Lure.

Hi there,

Last year I got a crazy coloured fishing lure.
A lure made by Blair Chilton from Karalee in Queensland, Australia.
Due to some unsuspected circumstance, it took me a long time to do a post about it. Also because I wanted to make some photographs that would give it the credit that it deserves.
It has already been too long, so in the end, here it comes.

But first things first: a bit about the story of this very lure.
I first saw a similar one on the internet, and contacted Blair, asking him if I could buy it.
His reply was that he had only made a single one lure in this shape and colour, and that it was a gift for his daughter.
Yet, he offered to make a second one for me, telling me that it would be the second and last one of these...
So I said yes!
He got to work on it, and I got to wait. But not for long, the lure arrived earlier than I had expected. And it was looking even better than I had hoped for.
Without further delay, here it is, my first Chilton lure:

Left side.

Right side.

View from above.

For a handmade, hand-painted lure, this is a rather uncommon shape and colour. Even the bib is unusual.

This is a lure, that I really don't want to scratch.

Signed and dated on the belly.

To think that there is only two of this one.The first one was for his daughter, and then he accepted to make the second one for me, a guy that he had and has so far never meet. It is hard to express how happy I am to have this lure.

Who is Blair Chilton you may ask... 

Well, he is a young lure maker from Queensland, the birthplace of so many great fishing lures. I first saw his lure, all crafted like little art pieces, on Instagram. This is where I saw the sibling of my lure, and made contact with him. Since then, he as opened his own FaceBook page, on which you can see more of his lures.

Close up of the paint work.

The paint job is so good, that I have to show you a last one for the road. How beautiful is that?

when you have the lure in your hand, it look like it is made of fine china, and not timber.

I know, I know, three post in a row about fishing lures, and not much in the form of fishing in the past few weeks... 

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

A Lure Signed by Bear Grylls.

Hi there,

A while ago, I was lucky enough to be gifted a fishing lure signed by Bear Grylls from the TV show Man vs. Wild.

Who in its right mind, would gift me such a great present you may ask...
Well no one else than Mario, the producer of the great fishing radio show Tales From The Tinny.
One evening at the Ski Club, he said that he had a signed lure to give me. It didn't take me long after that to give him a call, and tell him that we should catch up one day for lunch.

So we met up for a quick lunch, and share a few fishing stories, with me impatient to see this lure that Mario had told me about.
When he pulled out of his pocket this great big black Bomber 16A, hand signed by Bear Grylls himself. While he was in Darwin for the filming of a segment of his television show. A big smile, I could not hide.
Without any more teasing, here it is, still in the box:

The signed Bomber in the box.

Yes, for the purpose of this post, I did open the box, and made a photograph of the lure by itself, so you could see it better.

Bear Grylls signed black Bomber.

In the box it quickly went back, just after the photo, and from now on will stay in there.

Because, yes this is another lure that will never swim. Even if one of my fishing buddies told me that it would be great to see it hanging from the bucket mouth of a big Barramundi. There is no way I am going to risk losing it.

The only problem that I have with this  fishing lure, is that I now have another sub-section in my little collection: the celebrities signed fishing lures...

And that I have only one in this category.

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.

Head-Cam First Try.

Hi there,

Haven't posted in a long time, things with the work situation might change for the better in the next few weeks, so I should then be able to get back into it.

Ok so first a very quick thing about the round 3 of the 2013 Top End Barra Series...
It was not long ago, it was on the famous Daly River, and it was real hard fishing...
74 participants, fishing day and night over a full weekend...
Only twelve Barramundi over the legal size caught over the weekend...
None by me...
But still had a very good time!

Now back to what this post is mostly about, my first try with a video head-cam.
I got one for free, and wanted to try it.
With my luck on the fishing side, seemingly on holidays very very far away at the moment, I decided to  do the testing with a top water lure. In case no fishes were interested in my effort. A popper producing big splashes on the water surface, would give me a few minutes of interesting footage anyway.

So I went to one of the city rock wall early in the morning of a public holiday, and started to flick away and go pop pop pop on the water.
Nothing happened, and I quickly wanted to try a chrome slice, as it is one of my favourite form of fishing.
The chrome slice was pulled out of the bag, and casted away a few hundred times, for nothing.
Then a hard body lure was tried without any better results.

Thinking that I would have to go home soon, I decided to try the popper again, now that the light was a bit better.
But for some reason, I could not get it to pop properly, and started to be sure that it would be a no fish day, with not many interesting footage from my new toy.
Yet, I could see at the end of the rock wall, some mullet getting rather nervous, if not outright stressed, the poor little things.
I could see a change in the water, where the current line break on the end of the rock.
Very flat on one side, and just a tiny little bit choppy on the other side.
This is where I casted my popper, I had often been told that this the kind of places where Queenfish and Trevally could be found.
And I was not lied to, as I got one!

Visioning the film back home showed me that I still have a lot to learn about how to use a video, the film is of pretty poor quality to say the less, I still have to practice, so my films show more water and less sky.
But it is my first one and it made me happy, so here it is:

Darwin Harbour's Queenfish.

All along I din't think that it was a Queenfish, as it didn't mad a single jump.

But I was very happy when I saw that it was one.

The gentleman with a british accent who was fishing next to me, and that I had never meet before, proposed to gaff the fish for me, and did it well, on the first attempt. As I was starting to fillet the bounty, I asked him if he wanted a fillet of it to thank him for his help.

To which he agreed with visible joy. He even asked if he could have the frame of it.

Now I was the happy one, and just finished to cut my fillet and gave him all that was left.

Telling him that he could have it all.

He then asked me if I was going to try for another one, but no, I did not.

I replied that I had enough fish to feed my little family and was happy with that for the day.

Just as I said so, a big splash happened right at our feet, and we could see a few bigger Queenfish cruising the water at speed.

He started to cast a chrome slice toward them, as I left.

I had caught a fish on my first try with my new and first ever video camera, that was going to be the best film in the history of film making!

Well, when I arrived home and looked at it I was slightly disappointed by what I had produced, to be honest. I had a good fish to eat, but obviously needed a lot more practice before making a good film...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.