Fishing In The Mangroves.

Hi there,

Yes, I went back to Channel Island...

• I fished in the morning.
• At Channel Island.
• Even small fish are sweet.

I arrived at Channel island earlier than usual. As I wanted to fish a different spot than the one that I usually go to there.

Every times that I went fishing on Channel Island land based, I walked past a small clearing in the mangrove. Both Theosodius and Arrabmundi had told me that they got fish in that clearing. I needed to try it.

It is a beautiful little place:

Arriving near the mangrove.

To arrive at the mangrove, you first have to walk on the rocks, and this is the hardest part of the walk.

Luckily it doesn't last very long. Once there, it is like a small oasis, or the tropical mangrove version of it:

I fished from there.

It is a great little spot. Without much room to flick a lure from, every cast there is for me a mini challenge.

Yet I was thinking that I could manage to get a fish from there, and was rather optimistic about it.

In fact I keep waking up in the night leading to it, being as exited as the average kid on the night before Christmas. No I don't have a fishing problem, I just like it...

Anyway, perched on this little outcrop made of mud and roots, I had a great view of what was swimming in this waterhole. And I felt relatively secure crocodile wise, yet I wasn't too cocky. And was definitively not going to get down in the water if my lure had been stuck on a submerged pice of timber or anything else.

This was good thinking as Theodosius told me later on that he had seen a crocodile in this very spot in the past...

For me still looking for a spot where I could take my child for her to have a go at Barramundi fishing, where I would not fear for her to be taken by a crocodile... This was not going to be the spot, that is for sure.

So all seemed good, except that there was no bait swimming around, and that the spot seemed strangely calm...

Not a single hit on the line...

Starting to be a bit bored, I went to look at the rocks from where I previously fished on.

Once there I immediately saw that the tide was still way too high, and that I could not fish there.

Back to the mangrove was the plan.

It was still very quiet, the only difference was a couple of big diamond scale mullet lazily floating around. No jitters in these fish, obviously no-one was trying to make a meal out of them. At one stage I was even starting to take photographs of the mullets, that how fast paced the action was.

Relaxed Mullet.

Oh well, I was there, I had a fishing rod and a few fishing lures. I might as well practice my casting, and lob my lure as close as I could of the underwater roots opposite me.

Doing so, I retrieved my lure in a rather mechanical kind of way, looking at the marks of the receding tide on the wet trees. When a sharp jerk in my line made me focus back quick and sharp on why I was there in the first place. But the only thing I saw, was a big silver flank followed by a large yellow tail, waving goodbye to me.

After all this time I finally had a hit from a Barramundi, and totally missed it.

I tried to see the positive side of it. At least, I was in the right spot, using the proper lure.

With my attention back to the task at hand, I noticed that baits had entered the mangrove, and that the occasional boof or splash could be heard around the place.

Optimism was back in full force, and I concentrated my casting near a half submerged snag.

I was watching my soft plastic moving in the water, in an injured fish manner. When I saw the Barramundi come out of the snag, and attacking from the side, swallowing the lure.

I hooked him up by raising sharply the rod, and he seemed a bit surprise, not moving, just staying on his side. Then just like that, it hit the burners and made a line for the mangrove. I thumbed the spool, and pulled on the rod. Luckily it wasn't a big fish and this made him change direction and head straight for the middle of the water pool. From there a short fight in zigzag across the water separating us, and the Barramundi was at my feet. I grabbed the leader and pulled the fish out of water.

It wasn't a big one, but when you have been trying for a few hours, even small fish are sweet.

My little Barramundi of the day.

It was too short to be kept, so it was released to grow a few more centimetres before next time.

By now the water had really gone down, and it was too shallow for me to continue fishing there.

This brought me back for the second time of the day to go on the rocks from where I fished on my previous visits to the place.

From there, with a clear view on the harbour, I realised that a storm might be about to hit.

I still wanted a bigger fish and tried to fish there. After just a little while, I saw a guy pass in from of me on a kayak, with two fishing rods in the holders.

Fishing from a kayak.

It was clear to me that this guy was much braver than I.

Between the approaching storm and the risk of meeting a crocodile, I would not have swapped place with him for anything in the world.

A few minutes passed and I began to feel the cold wind, and see the mangrove trees behind me starting to bent and move a bit too much for my liking. The storm was closing in.

It was time to leave, and fast. A brisk walk got me back to the car, just as the first raindrops commenced to fall.

The storm upon me.

So I didn't get a big Barramundi, and the fishing was cut short because of the storm.

I really would like to eat some good fresh fish.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

First Try At Kayak Fishing

Hi there,

Yes last weekend, I had my first real try at fishing from a kayak.
And I loved it.

• I fished from a Hobie Kayak.
• The kayak belong to my friend Aaron.
• We fished at East Point.
• I used a DUO lure.
• I made a short video about it.
• It is a very exciting form of fishing.

Aaron had sent me a message, asking me if I wanted to go fishing from one of his kayak the following day. He just had a great morning fishing, and wanted to do it again the next day.

I love fishing, yet I was not too sure about doing it from a kayak. Above waters in which crocodiles and sharks are swimming.

Yet it is a long time since I had some fresh smoked fish, and the idea of it made me say yes.

We arranged to meet at 6:30 am at East Point, one of my favourite land based fishing spot in Darwin. With the day rising and the cold of the dry season on us, (it was actually on the coldest night/morning of the year so far). We started to get the two kayak ready, loaded with all the fishing gear that we would need, for just a quick trip on the water.

And just on sunrise we launched the two small embarkations, in direction of the fishing grounds.

Kayaking at sunrise.

This was at the same time beautiful and relaxing, but with a tiny edge of nervousness. I have many times seen crocodiles around there, and I was not overtly comfortable entering their territory, and being so close to the water at the same time.

Close to the water.

Fishing from the rocks on the water edge is one thing. But being literally sitting a few centimetres above it, is another.

Aaron told me that as soon as I would get a fish, I would be alright and forget all about it.

Well, it didn't take long, 19 minutes after launch, I was battling a Queenfish that had taken my lure. I know that it was only 19 minutes after launch, because I had turned my video camera on just as we were launching, and on the movie, the hit came in at 19 minutes on the dot.

We were fishing in close proximity of each other, as they said that there is safety in numbers.

When we saw a school of Queenfish, following and trying to take hold of Aaron lure.

As we both screamed about it, I immediately casted my lure toward the watery commotion and reeled in as fast as I could. To absolutely no results. Aaron did a second cast, and as he was retrieving his lure at high speed, I casted too. Just as I had casted my lure, who was still flying in the air, I saw once again the Queenfish having a go at his lure, and this time very close to his kayak.

I could only exclaim with a big Ah! Thinking that I may have now casted my lure way too far from the school of hungry fish to stand any chances to entice one of them to chew on my offering.

Yet, I still tried to get my lure in as fast as I could. And not far from the kayak, I first saw a fin tail, a bit of a boil in the water, and I could not reel in my lure anymore, it was being taken away from me at great speed.

I was on!

The fish didn't take long to make a nice little jump, and then I knew for sure that it was a Queenfish.

I think that I must have then started to shout and screamed like an over excited kid. Who has never fished before and has just caught his first fish ever.

Yes, sometimes when fishing, I can act a bit like a happy child...

Bringing in the Queenfish.

On the kayak in the background was Tristan, who had just arrived in time to see that the fish were there. This Queenfish wasn't one of the biggest ones. But it was healthy and gave a very good account of himself. Once it was near the kayak I was afraid that it would dive under and resurface on the other side. Luckily, it didn't happen. The little Queenfish was boated, photographed, and released.

Released, when I wanted to eat some fresh fish?

Well yes, it started so well, that I decided to wait for the next fish before I kept one...

Will I ever learn?

That was the only fish I caught on the day, and if I want to eat some fish this week, I will have to eat some frozen one...

Anyway, here is my little fish:

Queenfish caught from the kayak.

Yes, this is definitively a very exciting form of fishing, where you are in very close contact with mother nature. I was starting to love that.

Aaron for his part got a nice little Trevally, which he released too.

Aaron fishing from his kayak on Darwin harbour.

Aaron has now written a few magazine article about fishing from a kayak, and is a great advocate about it. His passion for it is contagious, and he has even talked about it on the local radio.

Thank you Aaron for inviting me to fish from one of your kayak, this was a great morning session.

One of the funny thing about this fishing trip, is that in his messages Aaron had told me to take some popper and some skipping lure or stick bait.

Now, I have some popper, but don't have any skipping lures or stick bait. So what did I take with me?

A walk the dog lure, and used it as a stick bait, reeling it in very fast.

And it worked.

I had already caught smaller queenfish with that very lure, but using it as it should be, walking the dog. Just a bit faster than normal, but still walking the dog style. In fact I have caught Barramundi, Trevally, and Queenfish on this lure so far, so I really like it.

This is what it look like:

The DUO Realis Pencil 110.

And because you have been reading so far in this post, now you can see the little video of our morning fishing, from the kayak, like if you were seated in it:

Fishing from the kayak.

Yes, it is a short film of only four minutes, And I am definitively no Stanley Kubrick, I need to make a lot of progress in the video department, I know. But it is four minutes of angling bliss.

It would have been better if I had a film with more fishes in it.

So you would all get excited and would want to go and fish from a kayak too.

But hey,

it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.