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.

Top End Barra Series Round 5: The Grand Finale.

Hi there,

Yes this was going to be the last round of the 2011 inaugural Top End Barra Series, the Grand Finale. This round was going to crown the champion.

For my skipper Arrabmundi, and I, it started with an early drive on Saturday morning, full of hope and expectation.

We had seen all the post on the FFF forum, from the previous weeks, about our destination.

And even if none of us had fished the Adelaide River Mouth before, we had all the marks that Cuddelscooper a respected member of this forum had given us, and they were going to be good. 

Nearly all our fishes came from his marks.

But once on the dirt road on our way to the boat ramp, at around 5:00am, the storm begin in earnest, and the rain was going to change a lot of things. 

Not just for us, but for all the competitors in the Round 5 of the Top End Barra Series.

During the peak of the storm, we could not see much further than the bonnet of the car, and we were not sitting in the back of a stretched limo.

But by the time we arrived at Salt Water Arms boat ramp, the storm had mostly passed and was just a drizzle of fine rain on the way out.

At the ramp we saw Dingo, Muntzy, Tissy and a few other, all eager to get on the water and start to search for the big mama Barra.

As soon as we were on the river we looked at the stormy cloud above us, and then, just hoped for the best...

The faraway rainbow was a good sign.

We went through the Narrows, flicking here and there, then direction Wilshire #2, but when we arrived there, and were not too sure of where we were at, we asked to another boat who told us we were in number 3...

So back toward number 2 and there we trolled a bit, flicked a bit and started to search for the elusive Barra.

And we did not find any...

Our answer to that was that this was the rain's fault, it had muddied the water and shut down the fishes.

So we then went to number one for about the same result, but had the opportunity to see 2Rods and one of his sons, fishing at the time, for about the same result as us: Zip, Niet, Nada, Nothing... 

Except a little rat that Arrabmundi caught, and put back in the water for it to grow a lot more.

So we moved toward the narrow again, and started to cast our lure in some small creeks, and along the mangroves.

Mangrove's roots

It is funny how the roots of the mangroves always remind me of the architecture of Gothic cathedrals. Dr. Richard Willan once told me this and since, I am always reminded of Notre Dame in Paris when I see the mangroves.

Any way, as we were there trying, we started to see one boof on our left, so we casted to it.

For nothing...

Then a boof on our right, so we casted toward where it happened.

For nothing...

And this is about then that Moz and Sheeby arrived and we started to have a little chat with them, when a splash in the water on the side of their boat made us all look in the same direction.

Sheeby started to cast a few times to it.

For nothing...

And then stopped. 

So I started to cast a big B52's from Reidy's, a few time roughly where the splash had been.

And then I saw a big swirl in the water not far behind my lure, which I quickly told to Arrabmundi, who replied: "well cast in the same spot again then".

This I did, for nothing on the first cast.

For nothing on the second cast.

For nothing for a few more cast.

And I was starting to think that I was wasting some precious fishing time there when something fast and silvery slashed the water at great speed, and reminded me of a mack strike.

Immediate tension in the line, a jump and yes it is a Barra!

And it definitively looks like it is a legal one...

First he start to run along the mangrove on my right, but quickly turn and go for some snag formed by a fallen tree on my left like if he didn't mind the drag of my small reel.

Two thumb on the spool and a sharp jerk of the rod to try to turn it, and success!

It start to swim around the boat and is now between Moz's boat and Arrabmundi boat, where I am standing full of excitement.

Arrabmundi get the net and start to say that this is a good fish at least in the 70s and maybe in the 80s.

He came once for the net, saw my face and didn't like it, so swam away with a renewed vigour that surprised me.

Arrabmundi says: just swim him in the net straight and that will be good.

Yes well let me tell you that this fish didn't seems to think that this was such a good thing to do and fought against it, but was finally driven into the mesh of the net. 

Victory!

Ho, to say that I was pleased would be more that a slight understatement...

I was really happy: this was my first fish of the day, first of this round, and most of all, first with the new rod that I had won in the previous round!

And it went 81cm, which in my books is nice for a first fish with a new rod.

First fish with my new rod G.Loomis.

But I think that just then I overheard some comments between Moz, Sheeby and Arrabmundi going a bit like that: He can get his own boat now! Yes he is banned from mine! and so on... I just pretended that I didn't heard anything... I was just too happy to care...

And yes this was on one of the mark that Cuddelscooper gave us.

Then we moved to another of the mark that he gave us, and he said that on this new one it was possible to hook on some very big Barramundi and sometime some large Jewfish.

So I changed my rod, and took one with a reel which is supposed to have a much bigger drag pressure than my little Curado...

I put a Classic Barra 20+ lure, put the drag to the max and we started a first nice slow troll in a straight line.

Then a boat came and throw the anchor overboard, just a few meters in front of us and we had to change course to avoid running in their side. I was just thinking that this type of behaviour was pretty close to be rude as we passed next to them, when my rode pulled hard in my hand and the line flew out of the reel. I could not understand what was happening, this reel was supposed to have a stronger drag, yet the line was just peeling out of it like if it has no drag at all. And the rod was like bouncing in my hands.

But all this did not last very long, a few seconds at the most... and the leader broke at the knot...

Ha!

  

I retrieve a floppy floating line still trying to comprehend what had just happened, and Arrabmundi says that it must have been a big jewfish to hit in a so brutal and fast manner. 

I started to be a bit disappointed, as I am yet to get a jewfish on lure, let alone on Barra gears.

So I put another lure on the line and we start a new troll.

As it seems to be my lucky 15 minutes, I got a snag in 20+ feet of water...

As we drive the boat back over the snag I managed to get the lure back and while I am looking at it raising from the depth Arrabmundi and some people in a boat nearby all goes Ho or Ha or Look! and By the time I turn around to look at what is happening, it is all finish.

But Arrabmundi tells me that a very big Barra well over the meter mark just jumped out of the water, nearly all of it's body in the air, with just a small part of the tail in the water. And it shacked it's head and a golden lure flew out of it.

I quickly scan the water surface and easily spot the floating lure. 

We drove to it and I pick it up, sure enough, it is the one that I lost about ten minutes before in nearly the same spot.

It was not a jewfish it was a big momma barra. There is no doubt that this was the biggest one that I ever hooked, and I lost it all by my fault...

First I put too much drag pressure on it, and I did a knot that was not up to the task...

Well, I better have to find either a book or a web site to learn how to tie proper knots...

Now, it is important to always try to find the positive of things in life, and the positive of this story is that I got my lure back...

And I think that this was about all the action that we saw for the day.

Back at the ramp Arrabmundi jumped out of the boat and said to me: just go in the middle of the river and idle over there till I come back with the trailer.

I am not sure if any one can imagine how stressed I suddenly become. I had never been in a boat by myself, and was very afraid that something bad would happen.

To give you an idea he even had to remind me how to operate the boat to move around while he would be back.

And as the local newspaper would have said: Alone in a boat above a crocodile infested river...

I was not too proud by then...

But no, in the end every thing went well.

We made our way back to Darwin and decided to do it all again the following day.

Sunday, I woke up early and saw on my phone that Sheeby had put a video of day one on FB, so I went to have a look at it, and then wasted way to much time on there and made one of the worst sin that a deckie can make I was late for the meeting with Arrabmundi...

Sorry about that...

Any way off we went again, and this time no storm in view so hope of a much better day was filling our heart.

We decided to try more or less to do the same as the previous day, and the water seemed a bit cleared by then.

And the fellow anglers that we started to see on the rivers were telling us that such and such had got a 85 or a 92, or a 78 and we started to want some of it for us.

As we were trolling along a bank that had been indicated to Arrabmundi by a mate of his, I got snagged and he stopped the boat to see if I could free my lure from distance just by giving it a bit of slack. This did not work, but as I was looking in the direction of my timber stuck lure I heard Fish! And Arrabmundi was on!

The tip of his rod was pointing in a totally different direction than the butt of it.

So we made the quick and evident decision do forget about my lure for the immediate and to focus on getting his fish.

Which fought well and hard and in a place full of snag as we could be reminded by my still, branches poking lure.

But Arrabmundi did well and landed a beautiful 82cm Barra!

Arrabmundi 82cm Barramundi.

Now talk about these insensitive skippers with no regards for the self-esteem of young willing and learning deckies...

He trashed me by getting a bigger fish than what I got on the day before.

I am sure that this was his subtle way of reminding me who was the vessel's boss...


Arrabmundi lure had all the hooks bent after such a nice fish in snag country, so he changed them all with some better and stronger ones.
And as this was a good fish, we decided to do a few more troll on the same stretch of water. This is when Arrabmundi got his lure snagged and lost it.
A lure with a full set of brand new hooks...

Nonetheless we continued to troll the same spot, as we could see some fish on the sounder. This is when we both got snagged at the same time!
He got his lure back while mine was still stuck at the bottom of the creek.
Once we came closer to it, we realised that I was not stuck on a branch or a rock, no, my lure was all tangled in the line of the lure that he had lost a few minutes before.
So we delicately got my lure, then grabbed the line with his lure on and finally got his lure back!
How good is that, hard to beat no?

After that we moved to the other side of the river where we saw Dingo and Muntzy and they had just caught a fish.

Dingo and Muntzy happy as.

They seemed happy and were eating some wasabi peas.

They invited us to join in the troll saying that they already had a few fish on this one.

So we obliged and started to troll.

Then this pain in the neck of a horse fly came and stung me on the heel.

So I was trying to shoo her away when my lure seemed to get snagged again...

Yes that looked like another of these 15 minutes of luck moments...

But hey! I was not snag, other was my line would not be moving away from the river bank, and this feisty little Barra would not be jumping at the end of it!

Quick my boy stand up and show him what your made of...

A few jumps and splashes and runs latter this fish was boat side, but once again, it didn't like the look of me.

What is wrong with these fish?

And started for another run, just after a jump so close to the boat that it could have fallen in it.

But in the end it went for a straight line direct to the net and in the boat was lifted.

It measured 79cm.

79 cm of fresh Barramundi.

This one was caught on a lure called The Judge, from Reidy's, and this was going to be my last Barramundi for the round five.

Not long after Arrabmundi got a 55cm which in the condition of fishing for this particular weekend was a point scorer. 

And we were hoping would be the closest one to the mystery size, but that was not.

Then I got a small blue salmon, that Arrabmundi kept for the esky.

Last fish of the weekend.

And then we trolled some more in the same spot where I lost Big Momma on the previous day.

But to no avail. 

Then we went to another mark where there was some rock oysters, and started to cast toward it as it was too shallow to troll over it.

There a quick thing had a go at Arrabmundi lure and we identified it for a small to medium Barracuda.

Then it followed my lure just right to the boat but didn't took it, and went for the one from Arrabmundi and caught it and jumped with it out of the water.

It was definitively a Barracuda. But it got away and we didn't saw it after that.

Not long after we decided to call it a day and to cruise back to the ramp and home.

This was a very interesting round which panned out in a different manner than expected, but with some nice fish nonetheless. And more importantly showed us the potential of this place that both of us had never fished before.

Overall the comp was a great thing through the full event of the five rounds, and I personally really enjoyed it.

I have to say thank you to not only Dingo and Bandit for having the idea of it and organising it. But also to all the people who took me in their boats during this year of the comp, I have meet some great people, thanks.

And I have seen some great places and fished for Barra 5 times more this year! 

Thanks guys!


Now how did I scored in this round? 
Well I finished in fourth, which on the overall scoreboard, put me in third!
Yes not first, but third is still much better than what I expected a bit over ten month ago, when the competition started.
And at least I am on the podium for the final results, and this should make the man who was my first ever fishing sponsor, (Ofmer lures) happy.

   

And to be honest with you, I have to confess that yes, I am a bit sad that this friendly fishing competition has come to an end. Now I just have to hope that it will be on again next year. Till then I will miss the friendly rivalry that existed at each round.

But hey, it could be worse.
Have a good day,
Me.