Out Fished Once Again.

Hi There,

Yes I got out fished, once again. Yet, it was still a great day in the Australian outdoors.
Sarrge had invited me to go fishing with him at Salt Water Arms.
We had left Darwin early in the morning, with the plan to get into some Barramundi, and have a good time on the water.
We spent the travel time on the road talking about life, work and stuff. And as soon as we were on the water, the discussion turned to fish, fishing, and... How to catch some fish...

But not longer arrived to one of Sarrge favourite spot in Salt Water Arms, that we saw some bait being harassed by bigger fishes, between submerged trees and mangrove roots.
Quick as a flash, I flicked my lure straight between the branches and started to reel it back in. Nothing...
Sarrge did the same: nothing... But another big boof just against a tree. My lure flew just past this tree, so I could swim it past just right next to it. And... It got firmly stuck to an underwater root, no way I would get it back, the line broke. I was one lure down, and the fish were still smiling...

Sarrge told me to tie the boat to a branch, and we would be able to cast our lure just on the ther side of the tree, where it looked like there was even more action than on our side.
Tie the boat I did, and started to rigging my line with a new lure.
Sarrge, started to work a little walk the dog type of lure, and a Barramundi tried to boof it but missed.
Haha, we must be on the right side of the trees was our reaction.
So he flicked the lure a second time, walking it slowly on the surface, and bang! he was on!
Not to a Barramundi, to a very decent Queenfish who immediately started to go for a few jumps, and a long run. Like Queenfish do.
It went and started to jump near a partly submerged snag, and got Sarrge worried that it would wrap the line around it and break free.
But as worried as he was, Sarrge continued to fight his fish, from the comfort of his chair...

Sarrge reeling in the Queenfish.

This was a good fish, and went for a few more runs before ending close to the boat.

Now I had to net it, and it didn't want to. It turned away from the net a few time, before finally facing it, and guided in it by Sarrge. 

Happiness was definitively of the party!

Nice Queenfish on Barra gear.

This was the first catch of the day, and it made us very happy, I even thought that maybe this was the day that my fishless trips was going to end...

Was I wrong...

Anyway, as Sarrge was dispatching this fish for the esky, I had my gears ready and started to cast around a little fizzer, in the hope of a comparable catch.

There was this beautifull colour change, and we could see the Mullets swimming on the edge of it, in the clear water. And once in a while, a Barramundi would come out of the cafe coloured water, swim very slowly towards the Mullets and try to boof one of them. Sometime with success sometimes not.

This was a very exciting sight, well worth the trip in itself.

And of course, one Barramundi, came towards my little lure.

My little lure which was going: Fizz Fizz, pause, Fizz Fizz, Pause.... And as the Barramundi came under it, I paused the fizzer, the Barramundi came really close to it, and boofed! 

Just one or two centimetre on the side of it...

It must have been a cross-eyed Barramundi!

The sound of it had been like if someone had used a pistol just next to the boat.

It made me jump, but the fish was far from being hooked, he just swam back in the darker water, taking his time...

Then I put my lure up in a tree...

Luckily, I got this one back, and decided to change it for a small shallow diver.

By then Sarrge was ready to fish again.

And he just showed me how to catch a Barramundi:

Sarrge showing me what a Barramundi is.

Being just 56 cm, this one was put back in the water, to grow a bit more, and become more of a good feed later on.

The funny thing with this Barramundi, was that when I was about to put the net in the water to try to scoop it, it actually jumped out of the water, and landed straight in the net. 

With no doubt, the easiest netting I have ever done.

So yes, it was two fish for Sarrge, and none for me.

The day was still young, and I was hopeful to change that...

Yes, hope is a beautiful thing...

With the action seeming to slow down we decided to move and try to troll the narrow, and other place.

This was a great idea, on a tourism point of view, but on the piscatorial front, it was a disaster.

Not a fish, not a hit, just some nice landscapes.

So we decided to go back to where we had been able to glean a bit of glory earlier in the day.

The tide had fallen, big time, and after negotiating our way back to the mouth of the creek, through the sand barre and mud flats, in which we saw a nice stingray making a fast doughnut around the boat, (was it trying to tell me something?). We finally saw the extend of the snaggy terrain over which we fished in the morning.

And I could see the lure that I had lost previously in the day, now high and dry.

So Sarrge "beached" the nose of the boat, and I jumped on Terra firma to go and collect my lure.

Well Terra firma, was rather muddy, but I was able to walk through it and picked up another nearly new lure on my way to mine. So it was nice to get my lure back, plus another one that I had no clues would be on my way.

This plus a special lure that Sarrge had given me for my lure collection on the same day, mean that I now had two more lure, the kind of little thing that keeps me happy.

Walking among the mangrove roots to get the lures back.

(Photo © Sarrge)

After that we trolled a bit for not much and stopped up the creek to eat some sandwiches.

Looking on the mud bank, I saw these little crabs, running everywhere. They were so brightly coloured, that they looked like if they were already cook and ready to eat.

Not cooked, but alive and well.

No, I did not grab one to taste it, but to me they definitively reminded me of a nice big mud crab just cooked. Except that these were much smaller in size.

After lunch, made of soggy sandwiches while dreaming of mud crab and mayonnaise, we started trolling again.

This is when Sarrge, hooked a nice Barramundi, that must have been in the 80 cm.

Yes, the keywords here are: "must have been"...

As the fish made two or three quick jump to show us what it looked like, and then swam straight towards the boat.

But between the fish and the boat was, unknown to us, a nice set of underwater snags.

This is exactly where this Barramundi went. 

Sarrge could feel the fish still on the line, with the line rubbing against the branches, and this was not looking good.

After some tussle and some pull and trying from every sides of the snag, the lure freed himself and came back, without any fish attached to it...

And this, was the last action of the day.

Not long after, we started to make our way back in direction of the boat ramp, stoping here and there to have a few cast to some snag, but without any recompense we quickly abandoned and decided to get back home.

Despite, being once again out fished, this had been a great day, with two fish coming onboard, some good laughs, in some very beautiful places. The kind of days that if I was a doctor, I would prescribe to all of my patients.

Thanks again Sarrge for the lure, and for inviting me on your boat.

Yes, I still would love for this fish drought to be broken...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

2012 Top End Barra Series Round 6.

Hi there,

Not long ago was the 2012 Top End Barra Series round 6, the grand finale, the round where the champions would rise.
The round was taking place on Corroborre Billabong, a very beautiful place.

Sunrise and flying geese on the billabong.

For this bout I was not to fish with Arrabmundi, my usual skipper, as he was in the process of moving interstate, and was a few thousands kilometres away when the event took place.
Instead I was fishing with Moz, with whom I had already fished on the Adelaide River earlier in the year.

Full of anticipation.

As we launched in the cold early morning of the first day of competition, we were full of hope and anticipation.

Corroboree Billabong is truly a beautiful place, and having fished there only twice in the past, I couldn't get enough of the stunning sunrise.

Sunrise at Corroboree Billabong.

Being originally a big city boy, this is the kind of show that make me appreciate the move to the slower paced life style that I now live.

We quickly motored to a spot called The Rock Hole, where we started to troll some small lures.

And it didn't take too long for Moz to catch a nice Barramundi.

Moz and a nice Billabong Barramundi.

He was on the board, and a first fish in the boat is alway a relief, we were in for some good action.

Or so we thought...

Because the rest of the weekend was going to be spent catching the wrong fishes, and missing the right ones...

I did miss a few Saratoga not very far from there, I just couldn't stay connected to them.

Yet it was still going to be a great warm weekend on the water.

When I say warm, I could say hot, or even stinking hot.

The first day saw a temperature of 37 degrees celsius  and the second day of 39 ( 98.6 and 102.2 fahrenheit ).

Not much breeze, and not that much shade, made it for what we would call a warm weekend on the water.

Even the crocodile were getting a bit cranky with the heat.

As we were doing a slow troll along a bank of water lilies, a big one surfaced just at the green edge of the aquatic vegetation and aimed straight for our boat. We didn't ask for anything, we just increased the speed of the outboard and moved along, out of there.

We did went fishing in a little canal, where we saw two young guys coming and fishing just next to us. 

They explained that they were new to the territory, and that this was only their second time fishing here.

Seeing us stoping there they thought that it must be a good stop and had decided to stop too...

You guessed it, beginers luck was on their side, as the guy who was the closer to us was explaing all of this to us suddenly hooked on what seemed to be a nice fish.

It was a nice fight in the narrow canal, and the fish was finally netted, with the young angler shooting: "It is a metery it is a metery!" 

To wich Moz replied: No, it is 87cm long. (34.251969 inches).

So the lucky guy went and got his tape. 

The fish was 87cm long on the dot!

Now if this is not a good guess estimate, I don't know what is...

We left not long after thinking that we should have got this fish, but hey, this is fishing.

And the joy on this guy's face was still a great thing to see, this was his biggest Barramundi to date.

Water lilies near the little canal.

Then we saw what was like the start of a bush fire, just along the bank of the waterway. We wondered what could have started a fire in this isolated and dry place, and continued our troll. On turning back wa saw that the fire was now full on and that two chopper had started to try extinguished it.

This was the first time that I saw some helicopters water bomb a fire, and what a show it was. I nearly emptied my camera's battery taking pictures of it.

Big smoke on the river.

Filling up the water bucket.

Water bombing the fire.

In the heat of the day, this was a very impressive display.

But off course, this was not very good fore the fishing, so we moved a few kilometres away, to try our luck a bit more.

And Moz got a catfish...

First catfish of the weekend.

By then it was starting to be the end of the day, so we decided that our best luck would be to cast some weedless soft plastic in the lilies.

There instead of the targeted Saratoga we started to land a plague of little fresh water Tarpon.

Tarpon on the frog.

Another little Tarpon.

We couldn't get a Saratoga, Yet a bot that must have been about 200 meters from us was catching them with no problems...

The boat that was catching them.

Yes this boat was catching them and not us...

So when they left, in our grand wisdom, we decided to go just where they were, and to catch some ourselves...

Well, we went there, and didn't caught any... We got a few nice hits, but nothing stayed hooked.

So being human, we did what most humans would do: we decided to have dinner.

Moz stormed a great curry, spicy and all.

Yummy Curry.

Yes this was a delicious and well earned meal after a long day under the sun.

We were starting to relax in the relative dark freshness of the evening when we heard a sound that makes anyone standing on the water edge, or in a boat think quick about his or her next move.

Our hair raised and our senses started to work in overdrive.

It was the sound of a big salt water crocodile snapping his jaws in a clear warning that it wanted us out of its territory.

We didn't argue about who was going to put his hands in the water to wash the dishes, we just pulled up the anchor and moved a few kilometres away from that nice little spot.

We found a nice spot not very far from a house boat, and decided to set up camp just there.

In the morning we woke up to a fantastic scenery.

First light of the day on the billabong.

The light was just beautiful, and with the day rising we could start to see the mist on the water around the houseboats. 

Morning mist and houseboat on Corroboree Billabong.

Not long after this photo was taken, and not very far from it, I started to cast a plastic frog in the lilies, hopping to snare a nice Saratoga... I did get plety of hits, but lost all the fish. All on surface action, one of the most exciting form of fishing.

Then Moonman arrive in his boat, and told me that this is because I have the wrong lure...

He told me that his lure is better and do a cast to show me. And on his first cast, he got hit, hook up and landed a Saratoga...

This was not my day.

He then gave me a lure similar to the one he had just used in front of us.

I tied it up on my line... And didn't got a single hit on this very rod for the rest of the day...

No, not my day, not my weekend.

Later on, one of the competitor in the Top End Barra Series got the propeller of his electric motor chomped up by a big crocodile.

So yes we knew that the crocodiles were starting to become a bit aggro at this time of the year.

We then went back to the little canal from the previous day, and there we caught up with Peter and his deckie fishing the canal land based.

The deckie and Peter, fishing from the land.

Peter knowing that I love advertising lures, had one for my small collection that he gave me.

Thanks Peter.

The Bacardi Rums lure.

The gift from Peter was a lure with the logo of Bacardi Rums, one that I didn't have yet.

This is a very welcome addition to my little accumulation of advertising fishing lures.

We then moved around trying to find the fish, but couldn't get a thing to stay connected.

Then, I got a hit, and the hookup seemed to be strong.

Reeling the fish, I was just hopping that the fit would be of legal size.

Then it came to the boat, and I realised that its size didn't really matter, it was of the wrong specie. It was a catfish.

My last fish of the weekend.

This was going to be my last fish for the weekend.

It was starting to be late and we decided to get back to the ramp and then home.

The dirt road, on the way back to civilisation.

When we dropped the boat back at Moz's place, he gave me a big Jack Fruit that grew on a tree on his property. At least, I would still have something to feed my family once back home.

That was the first time in over two year, that I went fishing a full weekend for Barramundi, and didn't landed a single one of them. 

Every rounds of the 2012 Top End Barra Series, I had climbed a bit more on the overall score board.

This time I was to go down.

I started the finale round in the fourth position, and finished it in six.

I was slightly disappointed but was still in the top ten, which was my aim at the beginning of the year. And I still had a great time on the water, with many good laugh, and in a fantastic place. Thank you Moz for having me on your boat for this round.

Now, I can't wait for the 2013 Top End Barra Series to start.

It will be even more difficult to finish in the top ten next year, as the number of participant in the competition will be higher than this year. This is a great testament to the success of the Top End Barra Series and how much people enjoy fishing it. So I am not really sure that I would be able to do as good next year...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

P.S: And don't forget the fishing lure giveaway...

If It Smells Like Rain.

Hi There,

If it smells like rain, it will probably rain...
I should have remembered that.
We got the first rain of the season, and of course, it happened on a day when I was going to spend just a short time fishing in a new spot.

A member of the FFF forum called called Olfart, said that he would show me around the traps of Lee Point.
Lee Point as a good reputation on big Queenfish and Trevally, for land based anglers.

So at around 5:15am, I was there waiting for him, and in the darkness, I could not yet see the sky...
This should have been the first warning sign, as it was supposed to be nearly full moon.
But hey, I was so happy to go fishing in a new spot that I wanted to try for a long time, that I din't even think about it.

Olfart arrived and we went on the beach where the day was rising...
What a sight...

A cloudy morning.

We were yet to get any rain yet this year, and these clouds just seemed to be passing through.

Still when My fishing buddy started to walk in the water, to commence fishing, I should have known better, just looking at the sky.

Heavy sky.

We fished for a little while.

And he kept saying, ho maybe we should get out of here before the rain hit.

And I was like, no we will be fine, way too early in the year for the rain to come.

So after a bit of unfruitful fishing, he told me, Hey turn around and look behind us:

Clouds to the top of the sky.

We were surrounded by a sky leaden by dark clouds.

That was the first day this season that the havens looked so cloudy.

Which finally made me come to my senses, it was time to pack up if we din't want to get drenched.

We packed up quickly and started to walk back along the beach, and the sky then unlashed some serious rain on all the unsuspecting anglers and walkers who had stayed there.

And we were not to the car yet...

First rain of the year!

So we rushed to the car, and headed back home as there was no way that we could have continued fishing there in these conditions.

I had to drive very slowly and carefully as it was hard to see what was going on.

The first rain was not messing around, it was falling hard.

Driving in the rain.

Now don't get me wrong, the  first rain is generally welcome and the end of the dry season.

But why just at the time when I was fishing a new spot for the first time.

Now, I may have to wait the start of the next dry season to fish that spot again.

Waiting all the time, with an imagination full of big fish...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

P.S: And don't forget about my international giveaway by clicking just there, time is running out...

Did you fish over the weekend?

Hi there,

So did you went fishing over the past weekend?
Personally my fishing was pretty short lived, in big parts due to bad tides timing, and for not wearing my rock hopper boots when I should have worn them...

I started to walk along one of my favourite rock ledge wearing my plastic clog, while the proper footwear for this kind of place were in the backpack that was just on my back...
Silly no?
I was just thinking that I would put them on, once at the end of the ledge.

So I slipped on some wet rock and loose my right shoe and trying not to fall I put my naked foot forward... That is just where was waiting for the tip of my toes, a rock full of sharp oysters...
A burning sensation was immediately felt, and blood stained the rock around my foot.
And that was it, most of my weekend plans had to be reworked.

cut and bruised toes.

I think that I will now remember to wear them at all time on the rocks.

After all that is what I bought them for.

So limping, painful toes and no fish for the week.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

Fishing The Shady Camp Barrage.

Hi there,

This fishing trip started with a few text messages between 5 of the land based guys from the FFF forum, and I was one of them.
A few options were talked about and finally the consensus was that we should go to fish from the Barrage at Shady Camp...
That was Mud idea, not mine...

As soon as I texted that I was going to be part of it, Seano called me and started to go on and on about how the place was dangerous, that it was the place with the biggest numbers of crocodiles over four meters in length in the world and other scary things like that...
It took me a moment to realise, that he was really enjoying telling me all that, and listening to me becoming more and more calm on the other end of the line...
Basically he was having fun, knowing how sensible I can be in regards to the crocodile subject...
And to be honest, already before his phone call, I was wondering why I had said yes, but after hearing all the things that he said...
It is my own sanity that I was starting to question...

Any way I was quite exited, as I was going to fish with my spin reel for the first time since it had been serviced by Justin, and he had told me that my drag was going to be better. I don't know if it was actually stronger than it originally was or if I had been fishing with a worn out drag for long enough to forgot what a good drag is on a spinning reel. But yes it was going to prove being very strong...

So, I tried as good as I could to put all this Crocodile business behind me and on the D-day, Mud picked me up, and we caught up with Sarrge and his son Steve.

Seano and Sheeby, who both were making fun of my "irrational fear" of crocodiles, were unable to come because they had to work on a Sunday evening...
Yeah right! How funny is it that the two who mocked me the most suddenly had a very good excuse not to come...
  
Ok, maybe they really had to work.

So we were in the car all talking of big fish, Shady, fishing lures, techniques and crocodiles.
When finally every body fell in a near meditative state that is a sign of anglers focused on the task to come.
And at this stage I got stirred out of my bubble by a strange noise, which was definitively not mechanical...
Someone was snoring, and snoring big time.
No, I will not give any names, but it wasn't me and after quickly checking, it wasn't  Sarrge either, which was good as he was driving.
Who was it?
Well actually, I do have a rather good video of it, but it would be unfair to show it to the world, as the Master snorer was to shine even more when it would be time to catch some fish.
Thinking about it, it must have been his own way of getting psyched for the action that was waiting for us.

So as we arrived the first thing that I noticed was a large sign, which I had tried to forget all about:

Yes, Beware of the Crocodiles...

But the barrage itself was pretty dry, in contrast of the only other time were I had seen it. Back then it was totally under water.

Water on the fresh side.

And no water on the salt side.

This had a reassuring effect on me.
Once we passed the fence, something caught Sarrge attention and he showed it to me, I don't know why this fish had been hanged in the trees just there?

Croc bait?

And so we started fishing and Sarrge got two small Barra in no times, starting to say that he had the thing well worked out.
We could see a few croc swimming or basking on the banks of the fresh side.
Then a brown dog came running through the bush, started to enter the water till his belly was wet, and looked at us with a slight growl.
I said: Hey guys, look at the dog!
To which Mud responded: no it's a pig...
To which I replied: No it's a dog.
Mud: It's a pig... Ho no your right it's a dog! He should get out of the water smart quick!
Because yes just a few meters from where this dog was standing in the water, we had seen a croc, which we couldn't see any more.
But we could clearly see a big croc that was on the bank for a long time, that had now turned in the direction of the dog, and was looking at him.
Eventually the dog got out of the water and ran back to his owner who was shouting at him.

Two of the many crocs who had a good look at the dog.

Being who I am, even if I had been told that I would get some better results with soft plastic lures, I had put on my line a hard body lure, fitted with just a single hook at the back...
Why making it simple when... .... ...
So I was enjoying casting this lure in the hope to catch a big Barra, when something happen, my line broke and I lost the lure which was nicely swimming under water.
The lure floated back to the surface, and I tough for a while that it was going to float toward me.
But it didn't, the line must have been snagged in a branch or something under water.
And if ever someone would have had the stupid idea of entering the water to pick it up, as after all it was not very far...
We were quickly reminded that this is no swimming waters, when a croc started to swim in direction of the lure, and nudged it with the tip of his snout. Before getting away from it with no more that a passing interest.

The crocodile looking at the fishing lure.

I did offer $5 to the person who would go and get it, but obviously no one needed the money...

Mud got a nice hit and no fish, but just a scale on his hook, so we knew he wasn't lying...

The proof in image.

Just after that he got a rat, and throw it back with disdain.

Like a spoiled kid, never happy.

Then the water started to move in, and the night to fall upon us, the real action was going to start.

Sunset on the Shady Camp barrage.

And then I couldn't see the crocs any more...
It was still twilight when Mud got the first good fish of the evening, a 60cm Barramundi.

A nice land based caught Barramundi.

Caught on a soft plastic of course, not a hard body like I was trying to use... 
So I finally came to my senses and agreed to use a soft plastic...
Well as I was just retrieving a big Squidgy in the Drop Bear colour, and jigging it like a flick bait, when I got a very fast and angry fish going for it. It immediately pulled a bit of line on the bite, like if he had taken it on the move. Stopped, and pulled again. I was exited to test my just serviced reel to its full potential... But I must have had the drag too tight, as the hook bent and the big fish swam away in not enough time to have a real fight. I think that there is an expression that go like: Short and sweet, well it was nearly that, but more of the bitter sweet kind...

I bent the hook back with a plier, and casted roughly in the same direction for a little while when...
Wham I was on again!
And the hook bent again, I must have forgotten to loosen my drag...
Slow learner is the most polite term that came to mind...

Then Mud hooked what must have been an absolutely massive one.
His fish, just stopped the lure in its track, then realised it was hooked started to pull hard and I could see his rod bent to the max and hear the sweet sound of the drag screaming for mercy.
The fish came to the surface and one way or another got ride of the hook.

Latter on the way back in the car we would discuss of the empty feeling you get when you just missed a big fish...

In the darkness now fully descended on us we could hear the splashes of some rather big crocs on both sides of the barrage.
Courageous me, I alway made sure that there was always someone between me and the water. You could basically say that I was fishing over the shoulders of others... Not very brave I know, but hey, I never said that I was not afraid of crocodiles, and they were all around us.

At one stage we were the four of us on one side of the barrage, and three (yes 3) crocodiles were crossing the barrage on the other side.
We could hear their bellies sliding on the concrete floor and see them in the light of our head lamps.
I went very calm, and did not walk closer to have a good picture.
I couldn't get a good one with the lousy flash of my point and shot camera, but too bad, I was not going there.

Then as we were starting to talk about folding the nigh away, Steve hooked a nice 61cm Barramundi that put him on the board and was the best fish landed for the day.

Some chrome in the night.

For a guy who had never caught a Barramundi a few weeks ago, I am sure that he was enjoying his time in Darwin.

It was then time to get back after all it was nearly Monday morning and some of us had to go to work latter on...

It was a great afternoon/evening land based fishing trip. 
Would I fish from the barrage again? 
Not really sure on this one, specially since I heard about a place called Cahill Crossing or something like that (It was late by then) where you can fish standing 4.5 meters above the water. The place sounded like paradise after spending a few hours so close to the water edge.
So maybe Cahill is the next spot to discover on the list, who knows...

Durring the evening, three lures were lost to some crocodile who took them.

Now I have to admit, that once again, I was fishless, while two of my mates were going home with some very good food...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.