2012 Top End Barra Series Round 4.

Hi there,

Last weekend was the round 4 of the 2012 Top End Barra Series, and it was all happening at the Adelaide River Mouth.
Once again I teamed up with Arrabmundi, for a weekend of fishing.
We started early, leaving home at 4:00am on Saturday.
It is said that the early bird get the worm, but in this case it was the early fisherman get the fish.
As Arrabmundi got the first fish, just as the sun was about to rise:

Hooked in the darkness.

The fish had been hooked deep in the river, and we were full of anticipation, waiting to see it's colour.

And that was a nice surprise, as this was a fish that none of us had caught in the past:

Arrabmundi and the River Jew.

Not being sure if this fish was good to eat or not, it was put back in the water...

Later one some mates fishing the Barra Series too, told us that it should have been put in the esky, not back in the water... Well we will know it for the next time.

Any way, just after this nice capture, we started a little troll run, and I casted my lures at the back of the boat. Let some line out, to troll a fair way out, then put the reel on and started to wait for the lure to go down... But it didn't went very deep, as it was crushed by a little Barramundi as soon as in started to dive.

A quick and clean fight and the fish was in the boat!

First Barramundi of the weekend.

It wasn't a monster fish, but at 70cm (27.559055 inches), it was going to be my best Barramundi of the weekend. Yes the fishing was going to be hard. 

Still it was not yet 7:00 am, the sun was rising, and we already had boated to nice fishes, spirits were flying high.

Sunrise on the creek.

Then things slowed dramatically, and it was hard work to get a fish.

Yet, the landscape made up for it, this is another beautiful place for a bit of fishing.

Mangrove in the morning lights.

But after some more trolling, some more casting, and no more fish, we had a little meeting with two other boat involved in the competition, and decided to have a brainstorming in the best boardroom in the world:

Summit meeting in the boardroom.

After that we head to the creek number 2, where we saw Rossco and Lincoln.

Rossco gave me a cool little lure for my collection, thanks Rossco.

Then it was back to it, and Arrabmundi got a nice little Blue Salmon:

First Blue Salmon of the weekend.

This was the only Salmon for the day, but not the first of the weekend.

And this was a double hook up too!

Even if my fish was a bit smaller I was still very happy, because it was on a lure that I had never tried before. And double hook up are alway fun.

Snapper on the Tomahawk.

These Snapper taste real good, but this one being on the small side, I put it back.

At least it did give me confidence in the lure. It is always a good thing to catch a fish on a new lure, even if it is not of the targeted specie.

Some more trolling, some more casting and finally Arrabmundi got a Barramundi too:

Second Barramundi on board.

At 57 cm (22.440945 inches) this was a great relief for the two of us as we were now both on the board.

So we decided to get an early break, and stop fishing before sun down, in fact by mid afternoon. This would allow us to get back at the boat ramp before the low tide. So we could navigate the rock bar.

So at the end of day one, we both had a fish in the bag, and were discussing how to improve on that the following day.

The plan that was hatched was to come much later on the sunday, and to stay later on the day.

Bassically, to do the opposite of what we did on the first day.

Sunday saw us getting on the water at around lunch time, once again full of hopes and dreams.

We started by trolling a very little rumble in the middle of the Narrows, and it was nearly a Blue Salmon a pass.

It started with Arrabmundi getting one, then me, then hime again.

And on and on...

A little Blue Salmon.

And another one.

They were hitting pretty hard and giving a very good account of themselves in the rapid flowing current. And more that once we believed that we had hooked on a nice Barramundi, just to see that it was not once the fish neared the boat.

But it was still very good fun.

I even got a small Rock Cod in the middle of all that, but we couldn't get a Barra.

So we moved back to the Creek number one.

There, Arrabmundi got a very nice Snapper:

Snapper caught on lure.

And I finally landed my second Barramundi of the weekend!

Little Barramundi.

But it was 2cm (0.78740157 inches) short to be a point scorer!

Ha!

So I put it back hoping for better.

And do you know what I soon got in guise of better?

A Catfish, that is what I got, a small Catfish...

Ho, and we were both having a sever case of Dropsie, and dropped a few fish that we would have loved to net...

Then not long after that, at the end of a troll run, we had just started to retrieve our lures, when I got a hook up.

Not a massive thing, but it did make a nice swirl on the surface.

The pressure was not super strong, but I could feel it pulling on the line.

Then the fish took some serious speed and swam from the back of the boat to the side of the boat in no time.

Ho ho, was it finally my big Mama Barra that I have been dreaming of for so long, getting ready to take off for the centre of the river and deeper water?

I started to get excited and wanted to see what it was.

Then I saw it...

It was just a small Queenfish...

Little Queenie.

This one I kept for Double Haul, who often ask me to get hime some small queenfish, so he could use them as skipping bait for Marlin fishing.

It was starting to be late, and we really wanted to catch some Barramundi.

And it finally happened, as we were casting some soft plastic in some snags, Arrabmundi started to drop one more fish, then he was on.

But the fish took him directly in the timbers for a dirty fight.

At one stage it was stuck between some submerged branches and mangrove roots.

But Arrabmundi did very well, and got it out of there, and swimming on the other side of the boat. Where I was waiting with the net and in the boat it came!

Last fish of the weekend

At 62cm (24.409449 inches), this was a good upgrade for Arrabmundi.

It is funny how even a day like that, even if it is not your fish, but your mate fish, it still makes you very happy. And happy we were.

But it was starting to be late, and with the sunset approaching we decided to call it a day, and to head toward the boat ramp and home.

Sunset over the weekend of fishing.

On the way back, it was starting to be dark, and the water was much lower than we had anticipated, we nearly didn't make it pass the rock bar, and had to zigzag over it to find the deeper waters that would allow the boat to sail through.

And once at the ramp, we were surprise by the big step at the bottom of it and were wondering how we were going to negotiate that.

Well the trailer was put pass the step, and the boat winched on it. Then the four wheels drive pulled the lot out of it and we were all safe on terra firma.

We didn't get all the Barramundi that we were hoping for, but we got a very nice mixed bag. We got some Blue Salmon, River Jew, Rock Cod, Snapper, Catfish and of course a few Barramundi. This to me was a pretty good weekend of fishing, thanks again Arrabmundi for inviting me on your boat, I had a really good time.

And were do I stand in the comp after this round?

Well remember after the round three, I ended up in 7th position. 

After this round I and now in 5th place, so it is not so bad in the end.

But I am not sure with two more rounds to go, that I will be able to stay this well placed on the overall scoreboard...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.