FFF Seadogs 2016 Prize.

Hi there,

Yes, I was lucky enough to win a round of the FFF Seadogs 2016.
And not any round but the last one, basically I really got in by the skin of my teeth.

So first what is the FFF Seadogs competition?
It is a friendly fishing competition organised by the FFF fishing forum, in Australia.
The competition is made of eleven rounds, and the angler with the best fish in a round win this round.
At the end of the year, the person who had the biggest number of points (Allocated by the sizes of fish entered in the competition each rounds) win the Grand Prize of Seadog of the year.

Now, I have entered this competition since it's beginning, and it is only the very first time that I win a round in it. This is a testament to the quality of the many anglers who compete in it every years.
And my win was I believe due more to sheer luck than anything else.
But hey, I will take it anyway.

So what did I win?
This:

Yes, all of this!

Now let's have a closer look at all these goodies.

First the Rapala:

Three Rapala fishing lures.

Yes, note one, not two but three Rapala fishing lures.

One Max Rap and two X-Rap XR-12.

The Max Rap swim at 03 to 09M (1-3FT.). And the two X-Rap dive to 1,2-2,4M (4 to 8 FT.).

Then come the Halco / RMG:

Three fishing lures from Halco / RMG.

This lot is made of a 40g Outcast in white, one of my favourite lure when fishing for Queenfish and other small pelagic from the shore. It cast like a bullet and fish love it.

Second is a Laser Pro 120MT, with a swimming depth of 1M. I have never fished with a Laser Pro, but many of my fishing buddies told me that they love it for Barramundi, so I will definitively try it.

And third is the ever reliable Poltergeist 80. A great little lure, which already caught me plenty of fish, and that I rate highly.

Then come the Reidy's:

Two of my favourite Barramundi fishing lure.

One of them is a B52...

Yes, I have said it before, my first ever Barramundi on a lure was on a Reidy's B52.

I have since always had some in my tackle boxes, and always make sure to have a few with me when ever I go fishing. 

The other is a Little Lucifer, these are great lures when fishing the billabong, or at the start of the run off season, when the bait is still relatively small. I have caught some fish with this lure too.

And then came the timber lure:

Deep River Lure.

This one is a Deep River Lure Mugil.

Deep River Lures are handcrafted in Queensland, and are very well finished. I already had two of them, and really like them, even if they are nearly too beautiful to be fished.

They are even signed under the belly:

Deep River Lure Mugil.

But what does the average angler would be with shiny lures and nothing to attach them to?

So here come the fishing line, from Platypus:

Platinum+ Braid by Platypus.

This comes just at the right time. It is here the beginning of the run off season. The time when I get my reels serviced and change the lines that need to be changed. With 300 years of 30lb braid, I will be ok for a little while. Platypus fishing lines are made in Australia and as such are well suited for the harsh condition under which we fish.

And last but not least, the Tonic sunglasses:

Tonic Evo polarized sunglasses.

Each round winner for 2016 was supposed to chose the frame of their choice, and they should have come with polycarbonate lenses. But the guys at Tonic Eyewear decided to give us a nice surprise, and send the glasses with real glass photochromic lenses.

Now that is some super cool stuff!

I already owned a pair of Tonic glasses with photochromic lenses, but I had them for several years and they have suffered the bad treatment that I inflict on my fishing accessories. So a brand new pair is more than welcome.

Oh and what kind of fish did I catch to get rewarded with all these nice things?

Do you remember a post I did in December 2016 about a Barramundi that broke my fishing rod?

That the one!

Yes it did broke my fishing rod, but it brought me a lot more.

I would like to give a big shout out to the FFF Forum for organising this great fishing competition.

And to all the sponsors in no particular order:

Reidy's, Halco / RMG, Rapala, Deep River Lures, Platypus fishing lines, and Tonic Eyewear.

Thank you all, you are making this competition even better.

Now what are my chance to win a round in the FFF Seadogs 2017?

Well, I wouldn't ask you to hold your breath on this one...

As so far I am yet to catch a Barramundi in 2017...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

The Reidy's Anaconda.

Hi there,

I had seen online that the fishing and sports goods shop called Anaconda, in Darwin was going to stock some Reidy's lures in a colour made especially for them, with the Anaconda marking on them.
I wanted one to go in my little collection of advertising fishing lures.
Two of my mates work in that shop, so I asked both of them to let me know when they would be on the shelf.
When the message that they finally had them in the shop arrived, I went there in the same week.

And once there, I got a very good and nice surprise.
One of my mates was there and he laughed as soon as he saw me walk in. Saying that he knew that I was going to come and look for these lures.
He then introduced me to Gavin, the store manager.
And Gavin, made me a very nice present.

But first thing first, what does the colour look like?
Here have a look:

The Anaconda Colour.

On this first image is the Reidy's B52 in the Anaconda Colour.

The B52, is by itself an iconic Barramundi fishing lure, I myself caught my first ever Barra on a lure with the help of a B52. It was on a Gold with Black back (H-GB is the colour's name) and I still have it, as a memento of my fishing in the Northern Territory. Yes, it is part of my nerdy side, one can't help it.

Now back to the lure on the above photograph, it is the only one of the lot that I got on the day, that I paid for. Yes you read that right, the others came free.
And I got a nice little lot, with a very special one thrown in.
Here are the lures I got:

Three sizes of B52.

Here are three sizes from the B52 line's.

The B52, the Big Ass B52, and the Big Ass 200.

Yes, the Big B52 is missing from the line up, but wait and you will see...

Here you can see the Anaconda Marking on the lures:

Branding on the back.

Yes, with the branding on their back, these lures will never swim. Instead they will rejoin my other advertising lures. The family is getting bigger.

And now, here comes the piece de resistance...

The lure that was used as a colour prototype...

The Anaconda Colour prototype.

This one is without hooks or split rings, because it was just made as a prototype for the colour, and brought from the Reidy's factory to the shop. For The shop people to see if they would be happy with it. 

They must have been happy, as the ones on the shelf are very close colour wise to this one. The prototype is just a bit clearer, not as dark as the final product, but still very close to it.

So there you are, this one will go in the box of the rare ones...

And here view from above:

View from the top.

Thank you Gavin and the guys at Anaconda, this in my books, is a very nice present.

So yes it is a very nice set of lures and none of them will ever swim.

I know that some people would find it sad and say that fishing lures are made to be used and fished...

But hey, It could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

The Reidy's Lures Winner

Hi there,

In each issue of the North Australian Fishing & Outdoors Magazine (NTMAG), a fishing report posted on the free fishing forum FFF, is reprinted and earns the writer a $150 fishing lure pack courtesy of Reidy's Lures.
And guess who won it this time around?

The Magazine cover and page 7.

Yes it's noted on page 7 that I won the Reidy's Lure Pack.

This was a great surprise and honestly it did make me very happy.

I love fishing lures, and Reidy's lures are right up there among my favourites to fish the local waters of the Australian Top End. They have a wide range of strong lures, with great action and colours. Basically the team are locals to the area and as such make the best lures when it come to catching the local fish. 

And because I am good at loosing my lures while fishing, it is always nice to get a few new ones.

I contacted the people from Reidy's via Facebook to ask when I could drop by to pick up my prize. Karen kindly replied that despite the fact that they close before I finish work in the evening, she would be happy to stay a bit longer for me to have the time to drive there and choose my lures.

Now talk about a great service, not only they offer the prize, but they were ready to accomodate my time schedule so I could pick them up!

So off I went to the factory that very day. Yes I couldn't wait! I was like a kid before Christmas, I wanted to get there as soon as possible...

The Reidy's factory.

Just on the outskirt of Darwin, the factory is just a short drive away and it didn't take too long to get there. Once there, I felt like Willy Wonka in the Chocolate Factory...

Lures, fishing lures everywhere... 

I didn't know where to look, my attention could not focus on any in particular, there was so many of them.

First I had decided what lures I was going to choose, then I would pick two of them.

Yes every lure would come as a pair.

Why?

Well it's rather simple really. The fishing report on the FFF Forum was the story of a fishing trip on Brett's boat and I had decided to share the bounty with him as a thank you.

After much inner debate, I made my selection and was able to walk out of the factory with a great bag of lures:

My favourite sort of party bag.

What is in the bag, some of you might wonder...

Here it is:

First two Big Lucifer in the H-CHAR colour:

The Big Lucifer.

I really like this colour, and think that it might be slightly underestimated by a few anglers.

I already had the B52 and the Junior B52 in this colour, but didn't have any lures in the Big Lucifer size. 

Now I do.

I really like the Big B52, simply because my best Barramundi so far was caught on a Big B52 and the fish measured 111cm (43.70 Inches).

This is why I went for the Big B52 in a newly released colour:

Big B52 in Midnight colour.

Karen had just told me that if I was after a certain colour in the range and couldn't find it on the shelves to ask for it, and that she might have it at the back.

Immediately I asked for this one and she got it from the factory storage area for me. I really wanted one like that and nearly took all the lures in the Midnight colour.

I never had a hardbody lure in black before.

Now I do.

Another lure that has been released only a short time ago is the Renegade:

Renegade in the colour 008.

As some of you might know, the colour 008 is my all time favourite in the Reidy's range.

If I had to have only one colour for all of my lures that would be the one.

When the Renegade was released I went to the shop to get one, and I wanted it in this very colour.

They didn't have it in this colour yet at the time, so I didn't get one.

Now I do.

For the grand final, I chose the biggest B52 that you can find, the B52 Big Ass 200:

B52 Big Ass 200.

This one is the largest of the B52's family, as its name suggest it is 200 mm long (7.87 Inches).

The lure is building a solid reputation as a big Barramundi lure, and can also be trolled fast for pelagic. In other words, a good all rounder, it was released in 2015.

I chose this one in the colour called Purple Rain.

Why did I choose to take it in this colour?

Well I didn't have a single lure in this colour...

Now I do.

And here is the full loot of fishing lures:

My Pack of Reidy's Lures.

Big thanks to the FFF Fishing Forum and Reidy's for this win! You guys made my day.

Now, I realise that on the first photograph of this post you can't read the full story that allowed me win these great lures...

Well you can buy the North Australian Fishing & Outdoors Magazine or go on the FFF forum to read it there. There is even a blue link to take you directly to the forum at the beginning of this post.

As to the quality of the photographs in this post, well please be indulgent, as this is the first time that I written a post, where all the images were produced with only my mobile phone.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

The Colour Pecheur.

Hi there,

Today I will present to you three beautiful fishing lures, in the colour Pecheur.
But what is the colour Pecheur?
You might ask...

Well, a few years ago, my good friend Dean gave me a handmade timber lure, that he had done especially for me, and painted in the flag colours of the country I was born in.
And Pecheur had been my alias, or nom de plume in online fishing and lures forum for a long time.

So what does it look like?
Here is a look at the first one:

The colour Pecheur.

This one was given to me by James P. The lure is a Bomber 15 Long A, in a colour that you will not find in shops.

This lure has a special marking on the head:

Fishing lure with team marking.

Now why on earth is the #TeamSlootz, and why would James give me a lure in this special colour with the team marking on it?

Well from what I understand, #TeamSlootz is a very tight group of rather good fisherfolks from around Darwin. (And no, I do not claim to be part of this tight community, I am just lucky enough to have one lure with the team marking). This secretive group, compete between themselves for a year, and the person who will have caught the biggest fish of the year, will have for a full evening, his drinks paid by the other members of the team at the end of the said year.

What did I do to deserve this lure? (And another one, just wait until you see it).

That was pretty easy really, in the second round of the 2016 Top End Barra Series, I hooked my lure, on a lure that was snagged on some underwater tree branches. I got both of them back, and one of them was a rather big and expensive one, no not mine, but the one I had just brought back with it. And it had the #TeamSlootz marking on the head. 

Once I learned that a guy that I know was a member of the team, I offered to give the lure back.

I exchange I was offered two lures in the colour Pecheur. That was very kind of James, I was not expecting anything really, and that was a great surprise. Thank you James.

The other one that James gave me?

Here it is:

Reidy's in the colour Pecheur.

This one is a Reidy's Big Ass, one of my favourite fishing lure when it comes to Barramundi fishing.

But this one, off course, will go straight to the collection, and will stay dry.

And now the one that Dean gave me, the one that started the colour Pecheur:

The Tastic Lures in colour Pecheur.

Yes, this is the one that started the colour Pecheur, at least for me.

It is a very beautiful handcrafted timber lure, made in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.

A lure made with the Barramundi and nothing else in mind.

Handmade in Darwin.

As the card says, this one was the number 1 in this colour. And is now to me a very precious lure in my small collection.

And to finish in beauty, the final bouquet:

Three version of the colour Pecheur.

I feel very privileged to have mates who painted these lures just for me, thank you guys.

James told me that he would like to see one of them in a Barramundi mouth...

I am not really sure that this will happen.

Sometimes I think that I could use the Bomber one to fish and retire it as soon as it would have caught a fish.

(There is absolutely no way that the other two will get near the water, ever).

But then I think that it will be scratched, damaged and all...

I don't want that to happen!

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

The Renegade.

Hi there,

Do you remember the 21st March 2011?
On that day, on this very blog, I introduced you to the prototype of a fishing lure made by Reidy's in Darwin...
At the time the lure was called The Big Judge, but that was not the definite name...
the lure was to be named the Renegade, and it finally hit the shops on this beautiful month of August 2016.

What did the prototype look like?
Like this:

The prototype.

This lure was a present that I received while visiting the Reidy's factory on the outskirts of Darwin.

I have never used it and kept it very preciously. 

But this week, I went to a shop, and bought my first Renegade as soon as I could.

And here it is:

The Reidy's Renegade.

I choose it in the kryptonite colour as it was the closest one to my favourite colour from the Reidy's range, the 008, which is not available yet for the Renegade.

Yes the prototype and the retail version of the lure are very similar.

Prototype and retail version of the Reidy's Renegade.

If the seems slightly different on the above image, it has more to do with the photograph and light than with reality. The prototype is at the top and the retail lure on the bottom of the pic.

The real difference come in the eyes, and the built of the lure.

For the eyes it is pretty obvious, but for the built? Well what I mean by that is that all the tow point and hook hangers are much beefier on the retail one than on the prototype.

Look by yourselves:

Eyes and tow points comparison.

As you can see once again the prototype is in the top part of the image while the retail one is in the lower part. And clearly, the tow point is much stronger on the retail version.

I don't know if it is because during the testing phases, the lure encountered bigger fish than planned? One can only ponder...

But I do know that with such a tow point, it should be able to bring back some pretty big ones.

For the hook hangers, judge by yourself:

Back hook hangers.

The retail version is on the left and the prototype on the right. You can easily see which one is stronger.

The Renegade is a big lure, which can be trolled slow or fast, to a depth of about four metres.

From March 2011 to August 2016 may seems a long time, but I believe that it took in fact longer in research and development to get the lure to shops. All the kudos to Reidy's for not rushing a product out of the factory doors, without making sure first that it was truly tested and ready.

Now I just hope that it will not take me as long to be able to swim and test mine. I can't wait to catch my first fish on it. When it come to play with a new lure, patience is not my stronger point...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

The Channel 9 Prize.

Hi there,

Luck was on my side, and I have just won the Channel 9 Catch Of The Day prize.
What is it, you may ask.
Well it is a very simple kind of thing. You send a photograph of a recent fishing catch, in the landscape, or horizontal format to Channel Nine in darwin. With a few words to say what kind of fish it is and how or where you caught it. And if your photo is selected, it goes on television at the end of the news segment in the evening, during the weather forecast.
This is great way for Channel nine to interact with the Northern Territory community.
And in exchange, when your image is selected, you win a prize.
The email address to send your photo is: newsphotos@nine.com.au
Just put Catch of the day in the subject line, and Voilas!
If you live in the Northern Territory of Australia, you should do it, it is fun and if you have kids, this is an easy way to make them proud.

What is the prize?

• A Channel 9 backpack.
• A Channel 9 fishing hat.
• A Channel 9 fishing shirt.
• A Channel 9 branded Reidy's fishing lure.
• A first aid kit from St. John Ambulance Australia.

Now, what photograph did I send to win all these cool stuff?

This one:

Queenfish from East Point.

You might remember this photograph and the short video that went with it, from my post called First Try At Kayak Fishing.

This first experience in a kayak had been great, and suddenly had become even better.

And here comes the prize:

The Catch Of The Day Prize, courtesy of Channel 9.

Of course, my favourite in all this is the Reidy's fishing lure:

Channel 9 branded Reidy's fishing lure.

The lure in question is a Judge by Reidy's lure.

I love both Reidy's and this particular lure in their range of offering.

And yes, I am still collecting fishing lures with advertising on them, So I am very happy to have this one. As I didn't had a Reidy's with Channel nine advertising on it before, in my little collection.

This also means that this lure is going directly to the "collectors cabinet", and will never swim.

I can already ear all the people that say that lures are made to catch fish and not to stay dry in a display...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

Two Reidy's Prototypes

Hi there,

I am showing you today, two soft plastic prototypes, from the reputed fishing lures company Reidy's.
Reidy's is an Australian fishing lures manufacturer, based in Darwin, Northern Territory. Their lures are very popular with Barramundi fishermen in the Top End of Australia, but are also gaining momentum on a national and international level.
All thanks to the dynamism of Colin, the director of Reidy's; and his team.

Well Colin was kind enough to visit me last evening, and gave me these two prototypes.
Yes they are prototypes, and might well go through a few modifications before being put on sale, yet they already look pretty good to me.
Do you want to see them?
Here they are:

Two Reidy's soft plastic prototypes.

On the first look, they look rather similar to the traditional rubbers from Reidy's, yet look at them a bit closer...

The first obvious thing is the size of the paddle at the end of the tail: it is enormous!

As such it should provide a deadly action, even in the slowest retrieve possible, or just on the drop.

Talking about the drop, the weight is lighter on these new lures. So they should have a slower dive speed, but still have good action on the dive, because of the previously mentioned big paddle finishing their tail.

Now the eyelet to put a stinger hook, under the chin of the lure, seems to be a bit larger than before too.

Here come two more photos:

Prototype in the Karens Pearl colour.

Prototype in a colour unknown to me.

Yes, the second one look a bit like the Yellow Belly colour, but with a see through belly...

I don't know much more about them, except that they have already been tested in Mackay, Queensland, where they proved very effective on big Barramundi.

Now, I can't wait to go and test them, and hopefully catch a nice Barra with them.

In how long will they hit the shelves of your favourite tackle shop?

No idea about that, honest.

Which is a pity, because I would love to get a full bag of them for the incoming season.

And I am afraid that they will not be fully ready and available before the run off...

Oh and please, be indulgent with the quality of the photos.

I was so excited about these lures, and wanted to do a post so urgently, that I just did the pictures with my phone instead of getting a proper camera...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

Another Wedding Lure.

Hi there,

This is only the second wedding fishing lure to come into my possession, and it is once again a very special one to have.
This one being a Reidy's B52, a local production, makes it even more special.

So who are the lucky couple?
Colleen and Nathan, they married in 2012, and I have had this lure for nearly a year in my collection, but life and other things got in the way of it and this very blog, sorry about that.

One morning last year Nathan gave me a lift to a fishing competition and in the car, told me that he had a present for me.
And what a present it was, a very limited edition fishing lure, that he had asked Reidy's to produce for his wedding to his sweetheart Colleen.
And here it is:

The Wedding Lure.

Yes, it is still in the box.

But lucky you, for the purpose of this blog post, I have taken it out of the box. Where it went straight back once the photo session was done.

This lure is marked on three sides, and you are going to see them all.

The happy couple names.

The importante date on the back.

And on the last side, a motto that should be followed by many people:

What it is all about.

I sometimes think that it would be nice to show them a photo of a nice sized Barramundi hooked to their wedding lure. And make no mistake the B52 is a very good Barramundi lure, one of my favourite in fact. As my first ever Barramundi on lure was caught using a B52, on the South Alligator River about seven years ago.

But there is no way in the world that this is going to happen. This lure is back in its box, and not getting out of it, not even for a courtesy swim.

Thank you Nathan, and Colleen to have given me this lure from your special day, this is much appreciated.

Yes there are other wedding lures out there, and I really would love to have in my small fishing lure collection, a section specialised in wedding lures. But so far I have only two of them…

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

The New Reidy's.

Hi there,

Today I am going to show you a fishing lure which is yet to be named...
The lure is made by Reidy's Lures in Australia.
It is a lure that look like it would be great to use on the mud flat, or land based above the shallow rock of the shore.
Maybe even just above some weeds bed.

So what does it look like?
Here it is:

The new Reidy's.

Yes this is nearly like a Little Lucifer...

But look at the bib, it is much shorter... 

This is a very shallow Little Lucifer.

Except that it doesn't have a name yet, so it is not the shallow Little Lucifer.

In fact, Reidy's has a little competition going on at the moment, where people can send them some idea of names. The winner will see this very lure named after his or her idea, and will for this recieved a very cool prize from Reidy's.

Where to send the names you may ask?

To the following email address I would tell you:

info@reidyslures.com

Now, don't go telling that I never do anything for you...

Good luck to all, even if you beat me to it. And yes, I know that the odds are not in my favour.

But hey, it cold be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

P.S: Ho and yes, I was lucky enough to score one of these lures before they get released on the market, so I can't wait to go and give it a swim, to see what it look like in the water...

Thank you Reidy's.

Two New Advertising Lures

Hi there,

Last week I was very lucky to get offered two new advertising fishing lures, for my little collection.
It was a message from Blinky from the FFF forum that brought me the good news, I just had to go and pick them up, easy as that.
Thank you Blinky.
And I was rather happy with that, as both are decorated with the logo of a company that has changed it's name, since these lures were made.
So it will now be very hard to find these ones...

Both are Reidy's lures, the local guys, made in Darwin Australia.
And here they are:

A Taipan and a Goulburn Jack.

The one in the foreground is a Taipan and dive to a deep of 3,5 m. (11.48294 foot).

The one in the background is the Goulburn Jack and dive to a deep of 5 m. (16.404199 foot).

Both are nicely coloured little Barramundi lures, but none of them is going to swim anymore, at the office they will stay.

Forever dry is the future of these two little guys.

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.