My Biggest Barramundi So Far.

Hi there,

This is the story of how I caught my biggest Barramundi to date.

• We fished at Shady Camp.
• We both got some big Barramundi.
• We got all the big ones trolling hard body lures.
• The good fish were caught on hard body fishing lures.

I saw on FaceBook that Craig was looking for a decky, to go fishing at Shady Camp with him on Friday and Saturday. Luck was with me from the start, my boss at work had just given me the Friday off. So I raised my hand and was picked.

I had never fished with Craig, but we had meet a few times before, so it was a new boat for me.

Going to Shady Camp, is always meet with a lot of anticipation, and a good dose of hopes and dreams.

This is the place where every year big Barramundi are caught, and early in the season a lot of people go there just for that.

And this year was no different, Seano with whom we caught up on the water, counted about 70 boats when we arrived at the mouth of Sampan Creek. That is a lot of lines and lures in the water. 

But among all the crowd, we saw Dean catch a very nice 98 cm (38.582677 inch) Barramundi:

Dean and his Barramundi.

Dean had caught it on one of his own home made lure, kudos to him for making such good fishing lures as a hobby.

We then started to think that they were fish in the water...

Then we saw Peter's boat, and it didn't come as a surprise to see that they were on a fish too, as his boat always bring the bacon home.

The boat Barradiction in action.

But after a few hours of just about two hits, good ones but for no hook up, it started to be a bit too much for us. We got sick of playing dodgem cars with other boats, some of them all over the place, so we decided to head for Tommy Cut. Despite the reports coming from there; not being so good.

Once at Tommy Cut, we went straight in the creek, without stoping at the mouth, and we found fishing in there, Dave and a mate of his. They had caught many Barramundi in the day, and showed where and on what type of lures. Seeing people on the water who are ready to share the good oil, is alway a great advantage , and this was very kind of them.

Putting on lures that were about the same sizes, colours and deep of the ones they were using with success, we started trolling.

Not long in the troll I got a good hit, and the line started to peel, I was on!

but then the fish didn't seemed to offer a big fight and I was able to reel in faster than I expected...

We called it for a small Barra...

In fact we should have realised that it was maybe swimming with the current, towards the boat.

Because that is exactly what it did until it was under the boat, where it suddenly jumped. Craig then said, oh it is bigger than I thought, it is even probably a metery!

Now, I have only ever caught just one metery, and this was just what I needed to start to get a bit nervous. It went for the left, jumped and made a beeline for the right, the bank side of the creek, where all the snags were.

Seeing that, I thumbed the spool of my reel as much as I could, and gave a big whack in the rod, to try stopping it a few centimetres from the very visible snags.

It worked, it stopped it, it turned instantly, made a great jump, shaked her big head, and spat the lure...

Maybe, just maybe, I had been slightly too violent in my action...

And this is certainly why I lost this very beautiful fish...

But of course, I put it on my hooks being a bit blunt, and put another lure with brand new hooks on the end of my line.

We started trolling again, and this time Craig got a strong hit and the Barramundi jumped behind the boat. But sadly the fight was short and that was another fish swimming away after just a few jump.

Not discouraged, we persisted, and you know what they say: 'Those who put the time in get the rewards'. Well it worked.

My lure found a fish, and it was not a bad one.

When it started to jump, I said, it is smaller than the last one, but I don't want to loose this one too!

Craig put the boat in the middle of the creek so I wouldn't get in trouble with the snags, and got the net ready in no times. The fish did her thing, jumping and running when I thought that she was ready to be scooped up. But finally came close enough to be netted and I had my first Barramundi of the trip!

First Barramundi of the trip.

At 93cm (36.614173 inch), this was now my second biggest Barramundi caught.

But this was not going to be for very long...

To say that I was happy, would be a slight understatement. She was beautiful, chrome and fat, a very healthy Barramundi, maybe even a mama to be.

With the mood now on super sunny we continued to troll, and I got another fish.

But this one was from the start a smaller one. 

I was just unsure of what kind of fish it was, It is only when it came close enough that we saw that it was a small Threadfin Salmon.

My little Treadfin Salmon.

At 60cm (23.622047 inch) it was no monster, but would still offer two good fillets, and Craig kept it.

By now we had boated two fish and had one in the esky, the sun was nearly down, we decided to catch up with Dave to setup camp on the river.

We rafted up and started to exchange tales of fishing, and discus other things. I did try to cast a surface lure a few time, but was starting to be seriously exhausted and as soon as the food was ready and eaten, started to fall asleep on my seat.

So when the time to actually sleep arrived, it didn't take me long to fall in Morpheus arm.

I had a rod at the ready, in case the Barramundi would start to boof around us in the middle of the night. Many time I woke up, and listen attentively but the only boof I heard was far away and I didn't used the rod during the night.

The morning came, as beautiful as they can be on a Northern Territory creek:

Sunrise on Tommy Cut creek.

Without loosing any time, we decided to have a troll, starting nearly where we slept.

I casted my lure, on the bank side of the creek, made sure that I had a convenient distance of line out, and put the rod in the rod holder. Picked up another rod to store it away, when the one in the rod holder started to bent like crazy, and my first thought was that I had hit a snag. Which would have made sense since we were trolling a bank full of mangrove. But when I picked up the rod, I could feel head shake in it. I tried to reel in a bit of line, and a nice feisty little Barramundi started to jump and splash in front of us.

I was on straight from the start!

This was was a quick fight, quick but sweet.

Morning Barramundi.

Coming in at 64 cm (25.19685 inch), it was perfect eating size, and ended up in the esky.

Such a good start made us think that the day was going to be a cracker.

And it was going to be...

Not long after, in the same stretch of the creek, Craig said in a tone just a bit louder than the conversation that we were having: Yep!

And I could immediately see the sudden curvature of his fishing rod and some commotion in the water at the back of the boat.

I reeled in my lure as fast as I could and Craig then asked me to get the boat in the middle of the creek...

I am not really use to steer a boat but I managed, nervously, to get if not in the middle, at least between the two side of the creek. Then the net came in ready, I didn't want to do anything wrong on his fish, which seemed to give a really good fight.

Jumping and pulling line as soon as it was close to the boat. It took a bit of time to get her in the net, and that is when I got surprised by her weight. She was a fat Barramundi that is for sure.

Craig first Barramundi of the trip.

At 91cm (35.826772 inch) it was a very respectable fish, and was put back in the river as soon as we could. She swam away strongly, and no monkeys were left on the boat.

Yes, this was a good day.

We resumed trolling as this was how we got all our fish so far. Yet passing all these beautiful snags was to hard to resist, and I had to put a weedless soft plastic on another rod, and flick it as we drove past all the submerged trees and roots. 

At one stage, I saw this branch coming about a foot out of the water, and a submerged log about 40/50 cm away from it. In my mind, this was the perfect ambush post for any Barramundi with a bit of self-respect. So I did a cast, and for once, my lure landed where I wanted. Just after the branch, a few centimetres along the submerged log.

The log erupted out of the water as soon as the lure landed next to it, it was not a log.

It was a big crocodile that must have been around the 4 metres mark. And it was obviously not happy, I reeled in my lure as fast as can be, and the croc dived and disappear. 

I may have aged a bit more than normal in these few seconds...

But I continued to cast, but from now, as far as I could from the boat.

And between a little snag and the bank, my line came tight.

A juvenile Barra started to trash about, and I brought it in.

once boat side, I just grabbed the leader and pulled it onboard for a quick photo before putting it back in the drink.

Smallest Barramundi of the trip.

This one was certainly undersize and was not even measured. Hopefully it will grow big enough before being recaptured.

Then Craig got another fish, which didn't need the net too, but nearly gave us a hard time.

By jumping and trashing around on the boat's floor, it stuck the hooks of the lure in Craig's trousers leg.

Yes pretty close to the skin, that would not have been good.

A human and a Barramundi on the same lure.

Once unhooked it was time for a quick pic, and back in the river.

Craig and another Barramundi.

This one was just one centimetre above the minimum legal size, but we still put it back in the water, so it can grow a bit more.

On the following troll, I caught one of the most dreaded fish in our waters: The Mighty Catfish...

This one was just a kitten...

Kitten of a catfish.

To ajout insult to the injury, I had not even caught it, I had foul hooked it, by the tail.

There is no question about it, it was released.

With time flying fast, we decided to go and troll the mouth of the creek, on the incoming tide, before slowly heading home.

This, was going to be a good move.

A few boat were there, but nothing compared to the number of boat seen on the day before at the mouth of Sampan creek.

We could see some fish on the sounder and were really hopping that one, or a few, of them would take a liking to our lures.

We saw Jason who was trolling too, but with not much success yet.

The weather was beautiful, and so far we had avoided the rain, so our spirits were still flying high.

The boat had just made a u-turn in the troll to make its way back toward the creek, when a fish decided that my lure looked like a tasty morsel.

It was a good hit and it jumped straight away, fully out of the water. I saw that it was not a bad fish, and hoped that I would not loose it.

Loose it I did not, and after a little battle, it was netted:

Another good Barramundi.

Exactly like the one I had caught on the day before, it came in at 93cm (36.614173 inch). I can't say if it was the same fish, but it still made me very happy. That was two good fish in two days, I liked that.

Once again it was released alive.

Catch and release is nearly a must for most fisherman in the Northern Territory when it comes to big Barramundi. Which might explain why we still have such a good fishery. 

Jason came around and we joked about which lure I was using, with me telling him that I could sell him mine. For him to pull the exact same one out of his tackle box.

So we started a new troll...

First troll after my second 93 of the trip.

About two minute in the troll and a very sharp jerk in my rod, surprised me by its violence. I had never had such a hit before what was going on?

I had just sat down to chat with Craig and something was pulling on my line, with a determination rarely seen.

A big head came out of the water, just the head, not even the shoulder, just the mouth and eyes, the big mouth opened and shaked.

All I could say was: This one looks bigger...

Craig rewinded his lure quick smart, and got the net ready.

The fish was still far away from the boat and it came out again, not fully but more than on the first time, and Craig said: What a beauty! That is a metery mate!

And then I knew it was big. 

Now I know that Barramundi can grow much bigger and I have friends who have caught bigger ones... But to me, this looked like the biggest I ever had a chance to land.

Now it was the time to not mess up with this one chance.

The fish was far away, and still taking line, her run seemed to never finish.

Luckily for me, there was a lot less boat than at Sampan, and people seemed very well behaved. Once it become clear that I was hooked on a nice fish, most boat left a lot of room around us so as not to cut my line, or hinder the fight. 

I could not believe it, I had just caught what was my second personal best Barramundi, and now i was fighting what looked like it could be my biggest one ever. If only I could get it to the boat...

This was easier said than done.

I even started to panic a bit that I would get spooled, and asked Craig if he could follow her a bit with the outboard, as I was not gaining any line at all on her.

She was swimming towards the sea, and didn't seem to want to come back.

But she turned and came straight for the boat. Seeing that, I reeled in like an absolute maniac, trying to keep some tension in the line. Once near the boat she didn't stay there, and went for the bank and the shallow waters. This would be at my advantage, not hers.

She was now on the left hand side of the boat, between us and the bank, in very shallow water. I could see her back breaking the surface. She didn't like the tight spot she had put herself in, and dived under the boat. My rod was bending like it had never before, and I was sure that she would break the line under the boat in the best case scenario, or the rod at worst.

I kept saying: Oh she will break my rod, she will break my line, I will not be able to land this fish!

As she went under the boat and resurfaced on the other side, swimming for the middle of the channel, I had to jump on the casting desk, while my rod was half under the boat, and try to get the line past the bow of the boat, under the electric motor (Which was horizontal then), and be back in the action. Craig was cheering.

It was epic and scary, her weight on the line was not something that I was used to. She did a few more runs, shorter and shorter, but still very powerful. Finally came back on the left side of the boat, then back to the right side.

Craig had the net in the water, all the wile keeping and eye that we didn't end up stranded on the bank.

She saw the net and tried to go away from it, but not very far, and finally it is with relief that I could see her head approaching the opening of the net.

But once her head was inside of the net, she slightly slipped outside of it, and then I had a moment of incredulous and plain stupid fear: She is too big for the net!!!

But she was not, she slipped back in it, and the rubber net expanded and she fitted right in.

Craig had to grab the net opening with both hands to lift her up, the rubbery net expanded for almost a foot before the fish even started to get out of the water.

She was a very fat Barramundi, and she was now mine.

111cm of salt water Barramundi.

Once on the brag mat she measured at 111cm (43.700787 inch)! 

This was definitively the biggest Barramundi that I had ever caught.

If you look at the smile across my face on this picture, I think that I slept and woke up the following day with the same smile.

I do think that I got very lucky to land her, as my line had gone straight in the gills, and I could not unhook her without cutting the line first, as it went from the mouth, throughout the gill.

But after a very quick measurement and a very quick photo, she was released.

We had to swim her a bit, but in the end, she kicked and bitted and swam happily away.

Swimming her before the release.

Kicking away.

This had been to me, an incredible experience.

Between the sheer strength and force of the fish, and her weight, it had me exhausted and happy.

And now I want another one!

Even if I realise that it might take a very long time before I am able to get as lucky as I got on the afternoon of the 31st of January 2015.

Seeing that in just two troll runs, in twenty minutes apart we had got over two metres of Barramundi in the boat, we decided to try for more.

But as we looked on our side we saw what I would call a rather nice storm coming our way:

Tropical storm coming for us.

In no time it was upon us, and we had to resort to the rain coats:

Is that tropical fishing?

The rain fall upon us with no mercy, and we couldn't really see that far no more.

Rain in the creek.

With the intensity of the rain, we decided that we already had been blessed with two really good day of fishing, and that we should start to make our way back.

We then sailed towards Sampan creek, to arrive there under a beautiful and warm sun.

We then trolled the mouth of it long enough to dry our shirts and made our way in direction of Shady Barrage and the boat ramp.

On the way I was looking at the landscape and was thinking that we are very lucky to live in such a beautiful country.

Sampan creek.

At the boat ramp, we were met by more boats than we had expected. Yet it didn't take that long to get the boat on the trailer and to get rolling.

When we finally left the dirt road and arrived on sealed road, the mud had got the car and boat just a bit dirty:

Dirty car and boat.

Yet, I still believe that it was worth it. This was a great fishing trip, thank you Craig for inviting me on your boat.

Now, what does the lure that got me these big Barramundi look like?

Well, here it is, it is a Reidy's Big B52 in the 008 colour:

My lucky lure.

Yes, I am going to retire this lure.

As the Australian saying goes, 'it will go straight to the poolroom'!

After the success I have had with this very lure over the past few years, it has caught me most of my good sized Barramundi, it deserves to be preserved.

But that also mean, that I will now have to buy another one just like this one.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

2013 Top End Barra Series Round 1.

Hi there,

Not long ago was the first round of the 2013 Top End Barra Series, and all the action took place at Shady Camp. For the people who don't know Shady Camp, this is like a big fish supermarket, a destination where people goes to break records, or at least try to catch their first Barramundi over the meter mark.
So let's cut to it straight away, I did not catch a meter Barramundi yet, but 8 of them were caught during the first round of the competition. This shows the potential of the place.

For this round I had found a spot on Nomad's boat, thank you Nomad.
We drove early, to be at the Shady Barrage at the same time than the tide, so we could launch, and launch we did. As we were zooming down the river, we heard a strange noise coming from the outboard at the back, as we worryingly turned around to have a look at it, we immediately understood...
The noise was not coming from the outboard, but from a small chopper that was following us at close quarter.

Straight on our tail.

This was in fact one of the choppers from Helifish, a company that photographed most of the competitors during the first day of the round 1. Personally, I have never used their service yet, but if I was to suddenly become rich, that is certainly one of the thing that I would do.

As we arrived at the mouth of Sampan, we were greeted with the view of about 60 boat already trolling the area. Despit the big number of boats fishing the spot during the whole weekend, everybody seemed in a very good mood and well mannered, which is certainly due to the very relaxed and fun spirited attitude that most competitor show in the Top End Barra Series.

And not long after we started to get in the line and had our lures in the water, that Nomad was on, to a nice sized Threadfin Salmon of 85cm (33.464567 inch).

First Threadfin of the weekend.

Just after getting this fish in the esky, Nomad bumped the brag mat in the drink... 

We had just started fishing in the competition, and we lost our fish measuring device... 

Lucky, he had a spare one tucked in the boat, so we were able to continue.

Yes this was going to be the weekend of the Threadfins. Good mates Seano and Sheeby told me that in the first day they had caught eighteen of them! And many of them over the meter mark...

I had never had a big Thready on the lure yet, and could not wait to hook on one, even if this was a Barramundi competition.

No long after that we saw Rosco, who gifted me a new lure for my little collection.

I am not sure if the lure is a KO Lures, one or not, I will have to ask him the next time that we catch up.

Anyway, Thanks for the lure Rosco, it is a nice one.

We saw Doors Off and Collen both catch a meter Barra. But it had seriously started to slow down for us, and I was starting to wonder if ever I was going to catch a fish...

And also if we were going to be able to dodge the storms that were all around us.

Storm over the mouth of Sampan Creek.

I could see people catching fish all around us, but I could not hook on anything.

We did get a few hit, but couldn't stay connected to any of them...

I had not been able to reel in a single good fish in a long time, and was considering that maybe, I had lost all of my fishing luck, the mojo must have drown...

When I finally got a jolt in the line, and I was on!

Just as we arrived at the end of the troll run, and were about to turn, and my Big B52's in the Guns N Roses had been nailed. At the end of it was fighting a lovely Threadfin Salmon.

I didn't know if I should have been disappointed as this was not a Barramundi, or if I should get excited to get my first Thready on a lure. In the end, a fish is a fish, and I was rather happy with that.

It was just shorter than the one previously caught by Nomad. 84cm (33.070866 inch), but was still so far my first and thus biggest one.

My first ever Threadfin Salmon on a lure.

I was very happy with that, and the spirit shoot back right up.

And we started trolling again.

Then we started to cast at some snag near the creek's mouth, and there we saw another competitor boat a Barramundi.

Get the net ready!

And yes in the background is the early beginning of the round raft up.

The Top End Barra Series raft up have become a bit of a tradition, where a few boat, sometimes over a dozen, raft up together and start to party.

This is generally not conducive to very good fishing, but definitely a very good spot for some great laughs. And a good indicator that there is still a lot of participant in this competition who are there more for the good times than for the prizes.

Then it was the evening, the storms had retired for a little while, and the place become illuminated by one of these end of wet season sunset that makes the Top End a magical place. As most boat were heading to the shelter of the creeks for the night.

Boat heading for the creek.

Fishing in the sunset.

We did the same, went in a nice little creek, dropped the anchor, and had dinner.

We then put some fizzers at the end of our line and started to wait for the tide and the boofs...

But the early start and a fulld day fishing got the best of us, and we just fall asleep...

I woke up at around three in the morning, to the sound of a boof not far from the boat.

In no time I was up, and casting all around.

For nothing else that one boof on my fizzer, and it didn't hookup.

As the day was starting to shine, the rain came with it.

But it did not last long, and as we were then well awake, we started to troll again.

And Nomad, asked me to steer the boat, while he would cast a fizzer at all the fish that we could see surface feeding. Well for the people who know me, steering a boat, is not a thing in which I am highly qualified yet, but at the Barramundi trolling speed, I was able to do it. 

Then we saw more and more of the fish feeding on the surface, so with Nomad at the front on the casting desk, I tried to get as close as I could and put in neutral, still twitching my rod with a lure at the back... And Bang I was on! As I was trolling with the spin outfit instead of the bait caster, we heard the ratchet going on, a sound I always like, at any time of the day. 

As I turned around to look in the direction of my fleeing line, I saw a nice pice of chrome jumping out of the water. It had fully jumped and I was able to see its entire body, there was no doubt, this was a Barramundi, and it was of legal size.

I was now trying to stay as calm as I could, but was worried that the fish would cut the line on the prop of the outboard, but Nomad told me to not worry about it to just worry about the fish and to reel it in. Which I did.

This was no monster fish, but this was my best Barramundi on a spin reel. It went 81cm (31.889764 inch).

Barramundi from the mouth of Sampan.

As you can see in the photo, it was early in the day, and I was still wearing a jacket. You know that you have acclimated to the tropics, when you need a jacket in the morning...

Just there, I told myself that this was going to be a day that I would remember.

And I am sure that I will remember this day, for some peculiar reason...

I then decided to change my fishing rod, and to get back to a bait caster, but to continue to use the same lure that had caught me my Barra, a Big B52's in the Strawberry and Cream colour. This lure was going to hook on something even bigger a bit latter on...

Then it was Nomad turn to hook and boat a fish. It was a nice Blue Salmon.

Nomad's Blue Salmon.

It was still early in the day, when my rod buckled down and I was on again!

Very quickly I knew that this was another Threadfin Salmon, but I also knew that it was bigger than the one I got the previous day.

I was going to upgrade my personal best Thready on a lure, if i could boat this one.

And boated the fish we did.

As the fish was still in the net, Nomad was telling me to be careful, that these fish sometime go mad in the boat, and that we didn't want any problem with the hooks. 

Well you guessed it, not long after he finished to say so, someone got hooked...

It wasn't me, it was him, as he was trying to get the hook out of the fish mouth. He was using a plier, but the fish had suddenly jumped all over the place, and by the scream and expletive coming from Nomad, I knew something was wrong.

One of the treble point was now firmly stuck in one of his finger, way pass the barb.

We had to get the other treble out of the fish, and start to think of what we could do.

Nomad tried to pull it out wit a piece of leader, but it didn't work.

Frenchy from the Tackle Box rafted up to us, and got his first aid kit out. And a little plier that he had for over twenty years, which was absolutely perfect to cut the hook. 

Then Seano and Sheeby rafted up on the other side of the boat and came to give us a hand. Seano tried to pull the hook out with Nomad saying: If you hurt me, I will punch you and send you swimming!

So Seano did what any one would have do in this situation, he took the biggest filleting knife he could find, and said with a big smile, no worries, I will just do a little cut on the top of your finger. 

After sharpening it with a sharpening stone, he put the blade on Nomad's finger and said, ok, at three I will make a little incision, and we will be able to pull that out. He started counting aloud, but It seemed to me, that he used the knife at two and not at three. 

Any way, I don't know if that because he had the knife, but Nomad did not punch him, and Seano was able to pull the remain of the hook out trhought the little cut. 

Frenchy passed on an antiseptic liquid from his first aid kit, and some band aid.

We were ready to roll. 

Ho and what did the fish that was the cause of all of this, looked like?

Here is it:

Nice and fat Threadfin.

So yes, at 86 cm (33.858268 inch) at the fork this was a bigger Salmon that my previous one, but I still think that the biggest thing that my new lure had caught was Nomad...

And we did joke about it later on.

Nomad who till then had caught all of his fish on a Gold Bomber, decided to change lure, and put a small Taipan from Reidy's, grey with red strips. And that was going to prove a if not an unusual lure for Shady Camp, a very successful one.

On the first troll run he hooked on what we though might be a monster, but it was just a nice Catfish. A nice one, but not a giant one.

A nice Catfish.

Being hooked behind the head, it was impossible to turn the fish, and it did give a very good account of himself. We really believed for a moment that Nomad had hooked on a Jewfish. 

So the fish went back in the water, and the lure too.

It didn't take long, and this time it was a monster that took a liking to this little lure. 

It hit and run, at great speed. Just one very fast and long run. I was trying to reel in my own lure as quick as I could and was screaming: Thumbs it he's going to spool you!

And before I even got my lure back to the boat it was all over...

This big fish who took the small lure, had made a long run which ended in a little Ping! and there was no line left on Nomad's reel, he had effectively been spool in no time. 

This one must have been a big Jewfish, or a monster Barramundi. We will never know, but that was fast and strong, and very impressive.

So we went on a long troll so Nomad could get another eeel and rod ready, all the will I was swimming  one of my lures at the back. And fishermen being fishermen, we could not help discussing what the fish that took all of Nomad's line could have been. It was the first time that I saw a reel being spooled under my eyes, and I had some trouble to come to term with the speed at with it happened.

As we were talking about that, Nomad asked me why I hadn't caught another fish yet?

And as I was trying to make some excuse like I was just trying to be nice to him, and not catch a fish just after he lost one... Wham Bam! I was on again.

In very shallow water, and it was heavy as, and I had some problems to reel it in.

No jump, it wasn't a Barramundi, it didn't fight like a Salmon, and wasn't as fast as a Jewfish, what could it be? A big Grouper maybe? 

Well no, it wasn't any of these, it was a small stingray, which after the hook in the finger incident, made me think what will happen now?

So when it was at the boat, Nomad netted it:

Stingray in the net.

As we looked at it wondering what to do now, we realised that her barb was stuck in the net:

Stingray barb in the net.

This made things much easier for us, and I got my lure back.

This was going to be my last fish for the weekend, and all of my fishes had been caught on Big B52's, so I think that this will be my go to lure the next time that I will go to Shady Camp.

After that we trolled a bit more, but started to get worried about the tide, and if there would be enough water to get out at the barrage. So we decided to head back. And it was a wise move, as we arrived in very shallow water, and nearly got stuck on the rock, before being stuck on the mud at the ramp.

Thankfully there were other boats and some friends there, and with every bodies helping every bodies, we were able to get the boat on the trailer. Even if in the process both Nomad and I lost our shoes to the mud of the ramp.

We were then back on the road, destination home, when Nomad said: Have you seen the buffalo?

To which I replied that no, I hadn't, so he mad a u-turn, so I could get a photo of them.

We couldn't find them back and just as I was starting to tease him about him having some water buffalo vision, we saw them:

Water buffalo on the track.

And just then a car with some tourist from down south stopped to have a look at them too...

And they got out of their car and started to walk towards the buffalos. We shouted at them not to do that that they could be very dangerous animals, but they didn't really seemed to trust us, and continued to walk in the buffalo's direction, camera in hand.

Luckily for them, the buffalo ran away.

And then it was the road, with more talks about fishing and the ones that got away, and finally home.

It really was a great weekend, and I was very happy to have been invited on a boat once again, and to have been part of the first round of the 2013 Top End Barra Series.

Thank you Nomad.

Score wise, I ended up in place 22, out of about 80 competitors. I will need to lift up my game in the next rounds if I want to do any good.

Yes, poor old Nomad, in this round, lost a brag mat, got a hook in one of his fingers, got spool by a great fish, and lost his shoes in the mud... A hard weekend by all standards. 

But hey, It could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

2012 Top End Barra Series Round 2.

Hi there,

Last weekend was the second round of the 2012 Top End Barra Series, and the location was Shady Camp.
Everybody in the comp had some big expectations, as the area is known for it's very large Barramundi.
And yes I did get a Shady metery, but I will tell you  more about it in due course...

Once again for this event I teamed up with Arrabmundi, that was as usual a productive association and full of good laughs. We decided to leave Darwin on Friday night, as to be on the water very early on Saturday, to make the most of the two days of fishing allowed for the competition. Arrabmundi had arranged for us to be in an accommodation literally 300 meters from the boat ramp.
Which was great because the area is renowned for the huge amount of mosquitos and other bugs that make camping a proverbial pain.
To give you an idea, in the evening once we were in the safety of our accommodation the sound of the bugs bumping on the windows to try to get in and feast on our blood, sounded like if it was raining outside...

Any way, we were on the ramp, ready to launch at around 5:45 am on Saturday, and started to navigate the river with the help of a big spotter light, in which we could see the gleaming eyes of the river's resident crocodiles.

We arrived to our first fishing destination just before day break, the water temperature was around 32 C (89.6 Fahrenheit). This was the mouth of Sampan Creek and already a few boats were trolling the waters. So we started too.
And very quickly Arrabmundi was on:

Hooked at daybreak.

We got excited, but it was just a Caty, not a huge but still a nice Catfish:

First fish of the day.

A bit disappointed we started trolling again, trying to see the positive in it, and it was that the lure worked...

Not long after I was on, and yes it was on a Barramundi, the first one of the weekend:

First Barramundi of the weekend.

At 73 cm (28.740157 inches) it was in my books, not a bad fish to start the weekend with.

In fact it was going to be one of my five top fishes for the round 2. This fish I kept for our dinner in the evening.

I was happy to get the monkey off my back, now it was Arrabmundi turn to get on the board, and he did it in no time:

Arrabmundi first Barramundi of round 2.

This was a better fish than mine, it measured 81cm (31.889764 inches).

It was a nice and healthy fish, we let it go back in the water.

Most boats around us were getting some fishes, but despite having some very good hits on our lines, we could not boat another fish for the morning...

So at around 12:00 pm, we went just inside the mouth of Sampan Creek and had a little chat with Dingo and Muntzy, they were having lunch. 

We left them and started trolling just there and then, when I got a good whack on the line and was on again.

But I lost the fish not very far from the boat. The boat behind us was on too and netted their fish, so we decided to give the area a little work out and started trolling it in earnest.

This was a very wise move and we both got our five fish required to get a good score in the comp in the first afternoon. These weren't big fish, but still it was good, and step by step we started to upgrade our bags of fish.

The fishing was hot and we got our first double hook up of the weekend:

Double hook up result.

This was the first time that I was on a boat and that we had a Barramundi double hook.

And not long after that we got a Barra that I don't know how, but it  had managed to get hooked on both our lures:

Whose fish is that?

Even Dingo and Muntzy started to get on the fish.

We had been fishing the place for a few hours, getting fishes in the 70's cm when a boat came out of nowhere, cruised through and got a nice fish in the 90's on their first troll...

Just after that another boat arrived did their first troll and got a metery, the type of fish that we were all after. The prised Barramundi of one meter or more...

We did try a bit more but could not get such nice fish.

So Arrabmundi said to put some very shallow lures and that we would troll just on the edge of the mangrove to see if any fish were hiding in there.

This resulted in our second double hook up of the weekend.

And my fish had been caught on one of the Gone Fishin' lure:

Fish on the Gone Fishn' lure.

Not long after that we decided to call it a day, and to go back to the ramp and to the accommodation before night time.

And guess what we had for dinner in the evening? 

Smoked Barramundi.

I had taken with us my small smoker, so we could have some fresh, smoked Barramundi for dinner. We had also taken some pasta with us, just in case we didn't catch any fish...

But to me, this was much better than pasta!

After that we went to bed early as we had planed to get up very early for the second day of fishing. We wanted to be on the water one hour earlier than the previous day, and this is what we did.

When we arrived at the ramp on Sunday morning not a single other boat was in the line, so we launched in a record time.

The brief for the day was to start like on the day before by trolling the mouth of Sampan, and then to head for the inside of the Creek.

So we started trolling, and I was wondering if the fishes could  see my lure in the dark...

I was suddenly sure that they could, because my rod started pulling in my hands and line was peeling off my reel.

Yes we thought, the Barra are on!

Well, after a bit of a fight I got a small catfish near the boat, as a repetition of the Saturday, we were starting the day with a Caty...

The positive in that?

I then knew that the fish would be able to see my lure...

And I did hook a Barramundi not long after that.

And then another one :

Morning Barramundi.

At 78cm (30.708661 inches), this was going to be my second best Barramundi of the weekend.

Arrabmundi was now due for a fish, and he did deliver, we had just started to troll, my lure was not yet being pulled by the boat that he was already on to a fish that on the first jump seemed to be a nice one:

Best Barramundi of the weekend.

This Barramundi was 83cm (32.677165 inches), and was going to be the best fish to come aboard our boat for the weekend.

When it was close to the boat I started to get ready and to lower the net in the water, when the Barra jumped clear of the water and fell back with a big thump straight on my hand.

In retrospect, I was very lucky that none of the three trebles on the lure got stuck in my hand, as this could have been pretty nasty.

I followed with a massive catfish, which bent the hooks of my lure.

Then a smaller but still pleasant 74cm Barramundi. (29.133858 inches).

Salt water Barramundi.

The surprising thing with this Barra, was that he destroyed a split ring on my lure, and pulled it away.

This being a good lure, I took the split ring and the hook from another lure and putted them on it...

Not long after while we were trolling I said: I am snagged! Because my lure had totally stopped in its track, and the line was not peeling from the reel. It was more like a big dead weight at the end of my line...

Then, Bang! Bang! Two big sharp and very close to each other jerk on the line, and it went limp. The braid had be broken before I could even realise that I had in fact hooked a very big fish. Still I have no clues of what it was, but it certainly was my biggest fish of the weekend.

Not long after that we went back in the inside of the Creek to see if we could repeat the session that we had on the prior day.

And what a session we got!

It started slow but study, to become fast and furious.

At one stage I even managed to hook a fish at the start of the short troll, get it to the boat, unhook it while the boat was still on the troll and throw the lure back in the water, to catch another Barramundi before the end of the troll run.

This was my best Barramundi fishing session ever. 

We managed to boat over twenty Barramundi in the course of the weekend. 

I then picked up a 71cm Barramundi. (27.952756 inches).

Happy fisherman.

And then I got a massive hit, aggressive and violent, which took me by surprise, as it made some very fast runs and fought like no Barra had this weekend.

I started to get all nervous thinking that this was it, I had a big Shady Camp's lady on the line. I kept saying: This one has some weight to it!

And when finally netted, in was a 69cm Barramundi... (27.165354 inches).

This one fought well above its weight and really tricked me into thinking that it was a huge one...

We were starting to say that we would have to go soon, that we still had a long road to get home, when I finally got my best fish of the weekend:

My best fish of the weekend.

At 83cm (32.677165 inches) this fish made me really happy.

And of course, after that we had to do a few more trolling runs.

What was the lure that caught me all these fish inside the creek mouth?

It was a Classic F18 in the Elton on Chrome colour.

I had never really fished with these lures, but Rossco had told me that this was one of his favourite lure, so I wanted to try one...

I liked it, thanks Rossco!

Outside of the Sampan Creek mouth, the only lures that worked for us were the Big B52's and the Big Arse B52's from Reidy's.

So my five best fish for the weekend were: 71- 73 - 74 - 78 - 83.

How did I ended up with these?

I came in fifth place, which was a very good surprise for me, as I was just hopping to be in the top 20.

And on the overall score board, I am now in 7th position, with four more rounds to go.

I want to thanks once again, Arrabmundi for taking me aboard his boat and allowing me to fish in some fantastic places. And to Dingo, Bandit and Rossco for organising such a friendly and social fishing competition.

Ho, and what about my Metery?

I did get a Shady Metery, but it was a Caty...

So no Barramundi over the magic meter mark for me yet.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.