An Afternoon On The Adelaide River.

Hi there,

Last Sunday afternoon was spent fishing on the upper Adelaide River with Arrabmundi.
Here comes the tall tale of it.            

• We fished the upper Adelaide River.
• We got a few Barramundi.
• We got all our fish on the cast.

Arrabmundi picked me up at my place a bit after lunch time, no need to get up early.

Still I woke up at 6:00 am, wondering if I should check my fishing tackle bag one more time, you know, just to make sure that I had everything needed, and that nothing got forgotten.

But the time arrived and on the road we were.

The journey to the river was as usual spent talking about fishing, big fish and all the ones that got away.

A bit like high elite athletes having a prep talk before an event...

Nah, just like two totally obsessed fisho really!

As we arrived the water was a bit lower than planned, but we launched quickly enough, to realise once on the water that we had forgotten the fishing lures in the back of the car...

Back to the ramp presto and off again, in direction of Goat Island.

Zooming up Adelaide river.

The water colour was very good, and not a ripple was to be seen.

Calme water on the Adelaide.

This photo was made from a boat going full throttle, as you can see it was very calm water.

In no time we were at Goat Island, just for a little chat with Kai, whom neither Arrabmundi or I had seen on a long time. But we didn't have the time for one of his famous burggers, we had other priorities we were there to catch some fish...

So back in the boat and we pushed still higher on the river.

Practically in the first spot where we stopped, I got a nice silvery Barramundi on my lure.

The little guy jumped all over the place, and I lost it at the boat. But for us, this wasn't a failure, it was a very good sign that the fish were around, and that we were to catch plenty.

Or something a bit like that. Something that you tell yourself when you lost a fish early in the trip.

And for once, it was going to be true. 

Even if it was to be a bit of time until the next fish.

We were casting soft plastics against a bank, Arrabmundi was telling me to let my lure sink, that a big snag was placed between the bank and us. He said that often there are fish hiding in this snag, and that your lure has to go through the branches of it to get a hit.

So I let my weedless soft plastic go to the bottom, and started to reel it in slowly, scraping some submerged timber on the way back. I felt a bit of a hit on the lure, but no hookup, and nearly immediately after that... Bang I was on!

I short fight latter and I had a small Barramundi jumping near the boat.

Now, not wanting to have the same result I had previously, I just lifted the rod and the fish, straight into the boat.

And voilas! I had my first little fish of the day:

Sweet little fish of mine.

This one was too short to keep, but I hadn't caught a Barramundi in a few weeks, and that was definitively something to make me happy. Simple things are sometimes the best...

We missed a few more fish there, before going to try our luck somewhere else.

By now the water had changed colour, but was still very calm.

Flat as a pond.

We saw fish on the sounder, in a deep hole, and tried to troll some deep diver over them, for no results. So we stopped, put the electric motor on, and sent heavier soft plastic in the deep hole, still no fish. Then we decided to try some vibe: no fish either.

This deep hole must have been a bedroom full of sleeping Barramundi, as we couldn't even get a tiny small hit in there.

What to do then? 

Well that is simple, go to another spot. This we did. And we found a few fish there...

First Arrabmundi came up with the first legal fish of the day:

Arrabmundi with the first legal Barramundi of the trip.

A keeper is a keeper, and that fish went in the esky, no more school for him.

I then got another rat:

Fishing selfie.

Yes, as you can see from this pic, I am not very good at selfie...

Which is why many of the small fish I got after that I didn't photograph.

And to be honest I didn't photograph the little ones caught by Arrabmundi either.

We did get a few fish there and were happy with ourselves.

And we started to slowly make our way back down river, the weather was perfect for this time of the year:

Adelaide River in November.

It did get a bit hot, but not too much, and we didn't get caught in a storm.

It was perfect fishing weather.

We stopped at another of Arrabmundi spot, hoping to augment our tally...

And catch fish we did...

First Arrabmundi got hits after hits casting against a log in the water.

The fish kept having a go at his lure, but never fully connected. 

And finally he said: Got it!

And a nice silver barramundi game trashing at the surface. Quick as I could I got the net and the fish found himself in a boat above water.

Arrabmundi with his best fish of the trip.

Yes Arrabmundi finally got this fish that was teasing him. And it was going to be his best fish of the day, sweet revenge.

There the technic was the same, send your lure as close as you can from the bank, let it sink, and hang on once you are hooked on, because the fish won't have long to go to brick you in the snag... You already caught it at the heart of the snag...

And that is exactly how I got my best fish of the day too.

But lucky me, it came straight for the surface, and tried then to swim around the boat to get to the middle of the river, instead of back in it's snag.

My best Barramundi of the afternoon.

It wasn't a monster fish, but it was still going to be the fish of the day. 

And like all fisho who suddenly, even if it is for a short time, gain some bragging rights, I was really happy with that.

Not to be undone, Arrabmundi got his third keeper of the day, just to show me what he could do:

Third keeper of the day for Arrabmundi.

By then we decided that we just had a good session, and that we would head back.

But on the way, Arrabmundi couldn't resist and showed me another of his secret spot.

A seemingly unassuming place, where he flicked a lure under a tree, and immediately got a beautiful little fish, with was promptly released.

I lost a fish  who spat the lure at me, just after. This was the confirmation that this was indeed a good spot. 

Then I got another hit.

The fish grabbed the lure, and swam straight back in the invisible snag and got me bricked before I could do anything. 

Of course in my mind, this fish was much bigger than the one I had just seen spat my lure in the same spot a few minutes before. After all, he had taken my lure and stuck it in a branch before I was able to turn it back. This was a story that I would tell for a long time...

Well maybe not...

Arrabmundi used the lure retriever to unstuck my lure, and told me that he believed that the fish was still on... And yes I could feel something pulling on my line. 

Excitedly, I cranked my reel back in action, pumped the rod, and...

A nice, very small Barramundi came to the surface. Certainly the smallest fish of the day...

In fact it must have taken the lure while it was in the centre of the snag, and just turned it's head to the side to get stuck in a branch. Making me believe that I had just hooked a huge fish...

Ha!

We had a good laugh about it, and said that by now we must have spooked all the fish in this snag by getting my lure back with the retriever. So we went back to the ramp in earnest. With just a very short stop at Got Island for another short chat with Kai. To know how other anglers had done during the day on the upper Adelaide. It seemed that with our ten fish we did well.

Arrabmundi new boat just fly on the water, and it was a quick trip back to the ramp.

The night was falling upon us, and the river seemed peaceful.

Sunset on Adelaide River.

One could have easily forgotten that these waters are full of big crocodiles.

Thanks again to Arrabmundi for inviting me on his boat, I had a ball of an afternoon.

It was a long time that I hadn't see so many Barramundi up close.

The only problem with these kind of fishing trip, is that they are addictive...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

Fishing Corroboree Billabong In Winter.

Hi there,

Yes fishing Corroboree Billabong in winter is not often a synonym of success, and now I know why.
Yet it was a great day in the Australian outdoor, worth of a little post on this blog.

My good friend Jason Arrabamundi who now lives interstate, was in Darwin for a few days last week.
He had rented a car and a boat to go and fish at Corroboree Billabong for a full day, and had invited me to tag along.
It was a long time since we fished together, and I was more than keen.

At about 5:00am Jason picked me up and on the road to a new fishing adventure we went.
It was great to catchup viva voce in the car, and the mood was flying high.
Then the adventure part started, with a punctured tyre.

The flat tyre.

This photo was made in day light, but the puncture happened way before any light was seen shining anywhere...

It was in fact closer to a bit before 6:00am when we first stopped to inspect this now unusable front wheel, and decided to try to change it.

Yes I wrote try, because try we did, and then we quickly realised that the rental company had not put the adequate tools in the trunk of the car, to change a tyre... Oh, they had put some tools in there, but because of the alloy mag wheels, we needed a special size socket to unscrew the wheel studs. And the special size socket was now where to be seen. We looked from the glove box to the boot, and could not find anything remotely similar to what we needed. Slightly irritated we decided to call the rental company, Jason did it, better than I would have, for sure.

And they replied that the guy to help us would be with us in about one or one and an half hour...

So we started to wait, and to pass the time, to make some photos of the rising day on the bush. Instead of the billabong where we had planned to see the sunrise, and start to get some early fish.

(Early fish was definitely not going to happen anyway).

Early morning on the Australian bush.

As a side note, this is not the sun, but the moon that you can see in this photograph.

These two first photographs, were made with my phone, as I was trying to preserve the battery from my camera, for all the fish that we were to catch later on... Yes, optimist me...

Anyway once the day had fully set, a bit before 9:00am a Toyota Troopy with three local indigenous stopped near us and asked if we needed any help. We didn't say no to them, but we explained that we needed a special size socket... One of them said, " Oh yes I might have that in the back. I was going to get my tools out of the car before we went hunting, but left them in."

We were in luck! The guy had all the tools we could need and the change of wheel was quickly done.

One of them seeing the fishing rods in the car said: "Hey, your fishing god must be laughing at you right now!" It made everybody laugh, Jason and I included. With the wheel just changed, not long after 9:00, as the three helpers were going to go, we saw the mechanic from the car rental company arrive with a big smile, in a big truck, just after the battle...

Jason gave $20 to the guys who helped us, and had a short talk with the mechanic, and off we went to catch all these fish...

Well once on the water, it didn't went exactly according to plan either.

Nothing bad happened, but all the fish were hiding from us...

I had even prepared a lure especially for this trip. A fishing lure that I was thinking was going to be dynamite on the Saratoga. Well, I did get a beautiful hit on the first or second cast with it. But that was it, a hit and nothing else, no hook up... 

The customised Mepps.

The idea was that by cutting off the treble and replacing it by a single, it would spin and be weedless. Which should have been perfect for fishing at Corroboree Billabong. Maybe next time, but not on this day. I will give it another chance, at the first occasion. 

I was in fact going to be 1:45pm before the first fish was going to be boated.

And I was very excited, because it was by me!

And what a fish! A Tarpon, one of the cutest ones that I had ever seen. Why cute? Simply because he was very small. Normally nothing to write home about. But a fish is a fish, especially if it took you half a day to hook it...

My prized Tarpon.

You may have understand by now, that this was not exactly what we had expected. But when you are with a good mate, catching up, with him telling me all about the Giant Trevally that he his now targeting near his new home. That we had in fact a good laugh at this greedy little fish who had taken my lure.

Of course, I could not help but to say that so far, I had caught the biggest fish of the day.

Not very long after that, Jason was on to a nice and feisty little Saratoga:

Jason reeling the Saratoga.

This didn't look like a monster fish, so I asked him with a smile, if he wanted me to grab the net or call the press first? He laughed and just pulled it in.

The only Saratoga for the day.

It was not a bad fish and was actually going to be the biggest fish of the day.

After a quick pic, it was released, like all the fish that we caught on this fishing trip.

We continued to fish, with about the same amount of success. A few hits, but nothing was staying connected.

At one point as we were flicking our lures all around us, we spotted a reasonably sized crocodile, and a little bird walking just in front of him:

Corroboree Billabong crocodile and a bird.

I got the camera ready, waiting for the old crocodile to pounce on the bird. But no, he must have had a full belly as he just looked at it pass under his nose without even making a try for it.

Maybe it was this bird lucky day.

And then it didn't take long for things to take a turn for the better, I caught a billabong Barramundi!

But once again it was no monster fish, far from it:

My best fish of the day.

Yes it was going to be my best fish of the day, as it was so much bigger than the Tarpon I got before...

Ok, it was just a rat of a fish, but it still made me smile. I guess that once again it must have been the cute factor...

And we had finally found the honey hole as Jason was on too, and in no time. He too boated a majestic Barramundi:

Jason's Barramundi.

Yes, it needed just one hand to be handled, it too was a rat of a Barramundi.

But we laughed that now I was not the only one with a Barra any more.

And that was going to be it fish wise, not that we stopped there and then, but just that we would not be able to boat anymore of these massive fish.

Yet it was a great spot to be, as beautiful in winter than it is in spring or summer:

Casting to the weeds bed.

Finally it was starting to be late in the day, and we had promised to the lady from whom we had rented the boat, that it would be back at 4:30pm. It was time to head back towards the pontoons.

The wind had stop, and in the serenity we could nearly have forgotten that the place was full of crocodile.

Corroboree Billabong in winter.

It was great to spend a day talking about the destructive power of the Giant Trevally while laughing at the small size fish that we were catching. Thank you Jason for inviting me on this trip. I am ready to do it again!

Even if we didn't catch that many big fish.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

Jason's Leads

Hi there,

There are many good reasons to add a fishing lure to one’s collection.

It can be because the lure is rare, because it is a really good fishing lure, because it has a story attached to it or because it is a present from a good mate.

Well this lure is ticking the right case in about all of the above…

The lure is a Leads Lures, handmade in Queensland, Australia, by Terry Leadbeater. And yes it is made of timber. People, who love fishing lures, know both, how good these are at catching fish, and how hard it is to find them in the Territory. Despite still being produced today.

My first Leads Lures.

This lure has a story too.

Jason bought the lure around 1997, just north of Cairns.

Then went fishing land based from the rocks, when on his second cast…

Hooked and landed, his first ever meter plus Barramundi on this very lure!

The metery catcher.

Many keen anglers would keep the lure that caught them their first Barra over a meter long as a precious relic.  Some would even send it straight to the poolroom. But no, not him, who one day gave me a call saying: I am cleaning the shed, come around with a plastic bag, I have a few lures for you… And there I got my first two Leads (among many other lures); this was one of them.

For someone like me, still dreaming of catching my first metery. It made me wonder what I would do with the lure that will on day, help me to do it…

But more importantly you might have now guessed it, this was a present from a good friend, and this, makes the lure even more special to me.

Thanks mate.

I wanted to add a Leads Lures to my collection for so long.

Look at how beautiful it is:

Lure portrait.

Yes, I know, this lure never again will swim...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

The Day Before Christmas.

Hi there,

Here comes a true fishing tale, which took place on the day before Christmas, in the land down under.
Knowing that I had changed my holidays plans, and was going to stay at home for the full holidays, good mate Moz gave me a call, and asked if I wanted to go for a morning of fishing on the day before Christmas.
Of course, I said yes. I hadn't really fished for a long time, and I missed it big time.
People who know me, tend to say, that I am rather keen on the fishing thing...

The plan was to hit a few of Darwin Harbour creeks, in search of Lates calcarifer, yes we were going to catch some Barramundi!
We left in the morning, but at a reasonable hour, with the sun already awake.

Morning on Darwin's Harbour.

We found a bit more wind than we had expected, but once in the creeks, it become nice and calm.

So we enter this little creek, and Moz tells me that here is a place where it is best to fish with small soft plastic, lightly weighted. So as he start to fish, from the front left hand side of the boat, I quietly go to the back to change the set up on my line. Getting ride of the clip, and putting a small soft plastic on the line. 

Just then I heard Moz saying: Yep! I am on!

So Still crouched over my gears, getting my line ready, I ask without looking if it is a big one. To know if I should drop every thing and get the net. To which Moz reply that no it is just a small one...

And just after that I hear a little Splouf,  A louder SH..! and a mega SPLASH!

I quickly turn over to look what is going on? 

... 

All I can see, is that no one is standing on the bow!

What!?! Now I drop everything and run to the front, look in the water, on the left, nothing...

On the right, nothing... On the left again, nothing!

Now I start to freak out, and to think that the only thing that could have happened, is that a big crocodile, came, jump and got him. Dragged him under water, and is eating him under the boat just right now.

This is in my mind the only explanation, he has been under water for way too long for anything else to make sense... Nothing on the water, even his hat is not floating ... it is calm, I am alone, and my good mate has just been eaten by a crocodile... I shout: Hey where are you? Can you hear me? 

Nothing...

Aï aï aï!!!

What I am going to do! Why why why???

Then I see something moving under water, coming toward the surface. Is that the crocodile coming back for second serve? No! It is a hand holding a fishing rod, and just behind, Moz came out gasping for air.

He his passing the rod  to me, so I grab it in my left hand and extend my right one to him, and as quickly as I can help him to get back onboard.

Good, I have not soiled my pants, and he is still alive and seems to be in one piece!

His first words are: I am very upset, I lost my sunnies!

To which I say, What?

He then proceed to explain to me that he was thinking that he had a small fish, and was taking it easy on it, then the little fish turned into something bigger and suddenly pulled the fishing rod out of his hands. So without thinking he dived behind it to get it back. (Anyone who knows the Darwin's harbour creeks, knows, that they are inhabited by crocodile, sharks, jellyfish, stonefish, stingrays and god knows what else...) 

So he dived, behind his sinking fishing rod, and could not grab it, so swam to the bottom of the creek (3.4 meters, 11.154856 foot, yes I checked the depth sounder as he told me so), and started to touch all that he could touch at the bottom of the creeks, and finally in the darkness of the muddy river, felt between his fingers the fishing rod. Took it and started to get back up, this is at this time, that he felt his sun glasses fall from his face. But was starting to get short on air and had to get back up as quick as he could to the surface, where the city boy that I am was starting to seriously panic.

As he finishes to tell me the full story and to repeat how upset he his to have lost his sunnies, because he really liked these ones, I realise that I still have the fishing rod in my hand, and that there is something happening with it. Yes the fish is still on!

I gave him the rod and he reels in a very fine specimen of Darwin Harbour Barramundi.

The fish that made Moz swim.

At 79 cm (31.102362 inches), it was a nice silver fish, healthy as can be.

We discussed for a few minutes if we should keep it or release it. It finally ended up in the esky.

That will teach him to loose Moz sunnies!

We got many other hits in this creek, but couldn't stay connected to anything. 

Then another boat arrived in the creek, and started to troll and cast a cast net here and there.

The hits shut down, and we decided to go and try our chance somewhere else.

We tried the flats around Channel Island for a little while, to no avail.

But a flathead by Moz, which managed to unhook itself just at the boat.

And some sharks that we saw swimming not far from the boat.

Then, passing under the bridge, we saw that we thought were Trevally busting the surface, so we casted to them for a few minutes, before we realised that they were big Milkfish, feeding on some very small fishy prawns white things.

No way we were going to catch them on our had bodies lures...

Off we go to the next creek, passing along a crocodile trap.

As soon as we entered the creek, we saw that it was full of bait, so our hopes went right up once again.

The last creek of the day.

This was going to be the last creek of the day.

Despite all the nervous bait, we couldn't raise a single scale, and it was now nearly 12 o'clock.

So we started to slowly make way to the mouth of it and I was considering that this was going to be another of these days where I can't get a fish...

In desperation I did the longest cast that I could toward a little drain on the side. I had on a little green soft plastic that Arrabmundi had given me with a whole lot of other very cool lures the day before.

I was reeling in this little lure, wondering if I was just lacking focus, and if that was why I could not catch a fish... 

Just then out of nowhere, my line suddenly tensed and started to fly away from my reel! It had been brusk and I didn't expected it anymore. The line was peeling, and going for the depth.

I must have shouted much louder that I would normally do, I have a fish!!! I am on!!!

In a split second, nothing else mattered but to try to boat this fish.

The fight was aggressive, and going in every direction. This was not a Barramundi fight, maybe a Catfish, or a Stingray? Then we saw a bit of colour, and I started to wonder if I had finally hooked on my first ever Mangrove Jack. This was no Mangrove Jack, it was a Golden Snapper.

My Golden Snapper.

This might not have been a monster one, but it was so far my biggest Goldie caught on a lure, and that totally made my day.

Moz quickly got the lure out of its mouth and said that they often swim in school so I should recast where I got this one. This is did a few times, and didn't get any more fish. Yet I was still very happy, as this would be great food for my little family.

The fish was gutted, placed on ice in the esky, and we started to go back.

Moz also gave me a big fillet from his Barramundi, so I got plenty of good food, from one very pleasant morning of fishing, on the day before Christmas.

Thank you Moz.

Yes I have never caught a Mangrove Jack yet...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

My First Archerfish.

Hi there,

Moz kindly invited me to go fishing with him aboard his boat, and this is when I caught my first ever Archerfish...
Thank you Moz.
After a very good post from Arrabmundi on the FFF forum, about how to catch some Barramundi on the upper Adelaide River, by dropping some soft plastic lures among the submerged timber, we decided to have a try at it.
And went with the goal for the day, of fishing only weedless soft plastics in the snags.

The plan was to take it easy and be on the water at around 10:00am, and cruise to Goat Island for a Burger with chilli sauce for lunch, and then start fishing.
And this is what we did, had a good burger and a chat with Kai to get all the good oil on the fishing...
And basically he told us that the fishing had slowed a bit these last few days...
And he was right, with a water temperature just over 32 degrees Celsius (89.6 Fahrenheit), the fish were not as numerous as we would have loved.
Yet we quickly started to get some hits on the first few cast. Moz was the first to score, with a fiesty little Barramundi:

First Barramundi of the day.

This put us in a good mood, we then thought that we were doing the right thing with the good lures...

It was still early in the afternoon and our optimism went back right up.

Now, I wanted a fish of my own, and it was to happen.

But it was not one of the targeted specie, yet it made me very happy.

It was an Archerfish, and that was the first time ever that I caught one, and that was on a lure.

My favourite form of fishing.

My first ever Archerfish.

There is something very pleasant in catching for the first time a fish from a specie that had eluded you till then. It was also very interesting for me, as I believed that they would feed on insect only, but obviously once again, I was wrong.

So despite what you could call a by catch it made my day, sometimes simple little things are what matters.

We continued to have regular hits, but lost all the fish that were having a go at our lures.

Then I finally got a little Barramundi too. My lure was way out of the snag and was pretty close to the boat when my line suddenly tensed and I got all excited, as it made a little jump and I saw that it was a Barra. A rat some would say, but to me a Barramundi is a Barramundi.

My baby Barramundi.

Yes it was just a baby, and didn't offer much resistance to the locked drag that I had set up my reel to, in anticipation of a bigger fish. It was still very green in the boat and started to jump a bit all over the place, so a quick photo and in the water it went back.

We tried again in a few different place, and when we finally saw a place that to us screamed: Barramundi lives here! We moored the boat to a branch coming out of the water and started to cast all around us.

And Moz started to get hits after hits, sometimes a few in just one retrieve.

Being who I am, I casted in the total opposite direction he was casting at...

And I got a fish!

My second Archerfish, it must have been the day for it:

Last fish of the day.

This was going to be the last fish of the day.

We continued to cast here and there, and even tried to troll for a few minutes in a spot that Arrabmundi had showed us, and which really produced in the past. But to no avail.

We did get a lot of hits on the soft plastics, but nothing more stayed connected.

With a storm coming and a slow action on the fishing front, we decided that it might be time to call it a day, and go home.

Storm on our way.

As we zoomed back down the river, we passed through a bit of rain, but quickly got on the other side.

Like if the storm was going the opposite direction from us, which was nice.

Rain clouds on the Adelaide.

Back at the ramp, Moz asked with a big smile if I could jump in the water to hold the boat while he was going to fetch the car... No! I said, and he burst out laughing and handed me the rope to hold the boat from the safety of the top of the ramp, I felt better immediately.

On the way back we discussed the day, and what happened. We got a large amount of hits that didn't materialised in a catch, but were they hits from big fish?

Well it is hard to say, because with soft plastic lure, it is often just a little taps on the line that signal a hit from a nice fish. A very different feeling than a strike on a hard body lure. 

So I smiled, and decided that they were hits from enormous Barramundi...

We didn't got the numbers that we would have loved too but this to me was still a great day in the Australian outdoors.

We did get some good laughs, a great time and the water. Moz showed me how to, and fixed one of my reel that was making strange noises, thank you for that too Moz.

And now it may have to wait for a few month and the run off before the next trip up the Adelaide River.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

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.