For the first time, I went fishing the Elisabeth River, Thanks to an invitation from Brett.
- I had never fished the Elisabeth River before.
- The main target was Barramundi.
- I got badly sunburnt.
Brett had told me on the phone to meet him at Palmerston boat ramp on the Lizzie River.
Now, after arriving in Darwin a bit over 19 years ago, I still didn't know where was the Palmerston boat ramp or the Lizzie River...
Looking for Palmerston boat Ramp on Google Maps gave me another ramp.
Looking for Lizzie River boat ramp, gave me a boat ramp on Elizabeth River, close enough, that must be the one.
I made my way to the ramp and arrived a bit earlier than planned, but Brett was already on the water, so all was good.
With the tide still a bit high, Brett decided to show me a spot where Queenfish always go feeding on a big tide.
And yes, they were around in big numbers, feeding like hungry chickens.
Brett started to get some fish on the fly rod:
Brett getting a Queenfish on the fly rod.
This was getting real fun, with double hook up happening on a regular basis.
Even if I kept loosing my fish.
I was using a small Rapala Skitter Pop and the surface strikes were very visual and exciting.
I finally got a fish to the boat and released it, and immediately started to cast again.
Got another nice small Queenfish on the same lure:
Queenfish on Rapala Skitter Pop.
This one I keep for a feed.
I then tried to put a chrome slice with a single hook on my line. The idea was to let it sink, and then try to bring it back in an as erratic as possible way, on the baitcaster, to see if bigger fish were swimming deeper down the water column.
I was getting hits on the drop, and finally got a fish to stick to the lure.
It was a small Trevally.
It was great fun and I could have done that for a few hours without getting bored. But the tide had started to slow, and it was time to go and try for some Barramundi.
The plan was to fish some little creeks sight casting to the Barra.
One of the many little creek on Elisabeth River.
The first Barramundi that we saw, was on Brett's side.
He made a perfect cast just a bit in front of it, and swam the lure past its nose.
The Barramundi didn't think twice and boofed the little lure with gusto.
Once it realised it had been tricked, it jumped out of the water and showed us his nice chromy sides, that was a healthy fish!
Now, netting a Barramundi is not exactly rocket science, but for some reason I had to have a few go at it, and it is only on the third try that the fish finally went in the net. Which was about time, as I was starting to stress that it was going to chew on the thin leader used by Brett.
A nice salt water Barramundi.
That was a good fish and it made us very optimist for the rest of the morning.
Well, we did see numerous other ones, to which I flicked lures, but without any good results.
I just was too excited to see the Barramundi swimming in clear shallow waters. I casted too far, or too close, when it was not behind the fish.
I missed my casts, I spooked the fish, and I didn't catch any on them.
With the wind starting to blow, we decided to go in another creek.
At the entrance of which was a crocodile trap.
Crocodile trap in the creek water.
Let's just say that it must have been a very clever croc living in that creek.
And that instead of taking the bait in the trap, he had eaten all the Barramundi of the creek.
At least that will be our excuse for not finding any fish there.
The creek.
It was a beautiful creek, but we couldn't catch any Barramundi in there.
By now it was the morning's end, and I had told my daughter that I would take her shopping early in the afternoon. It was time to go back.
Thank you Brett for inventing me on your fine boat, I had a great time on the water, and saw new places that I had never fished before.
Yes I know, I have to learn to stop being excited as a kid in a lolly shop, when trying to sight cast at some Barramundi.
But hey, it could be worse.
Have a good day,
Me.
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