Exploring A Little Creek.

Hi there,

Last weekend, I had the chance to be invited on Sarrge's boat. To explore a little creek in the vicinity of Shoal Bay, in the pursuit of Mr Barramundi.
What a fine little creek it happened to be.

The perfect creek.

Jim, had been pretty happy with the results he got from this creek and told us about it, and gave some basic information about it to Sarrge, who decided that it was worth a try.

Upon arrival, this seemed to be like the perfect creek. Not too small, but not too big either.

Plenty of snags and mangroves. 

So we started with soft plastics, but nothing happened...

Except that on one cast, Sarrge's spool nearly flew away from his reel, and in doing so, created the mother of all bird nest. Not a nice sight on a bait caster: spool half way out the side door, and line all over the place.

He didn't seemed to be violently happy about it, I would even suggest that he was rather upset in fact.

So when I asked him if he wanted a photo of it, and saw him grab a filleting knife, I started to wonder if I hadn't once again said something profoundly stupid...

But no, he took it on his line and cut two big chunks out, and started to see a bit more clearly throughout the mess that was. And in no time was able to say : and voila!, and was ready to fish again.

All the time he had be asking me why I hadn't caught any fish yet, while the competition was busy...

I simply replied that I was trying to be polite, and that it would have been of bad taste to ask him to drop every thing to net a fish for me, while he was so engrossed in the fixing up of his reel...

In reality, I just could not get my lure to pass in front of a starving Barramundi, not for the life of me.

Once he started to fish again, he had made a change to a hard body lure.

And in no time got his first Barramundi of the day. A beautiful 64cm specimen of salt water chrome and healthy fish.

Sarrge first Barramundi of the day.

This was a nice fish, who had totally smacked the lure at full speed, and given a very good account of himself.

He went in the esky, to be dinner.

After that we dropped two crab pots... For zilch, nothing took interest at the bait we had placed inside the traps.

Seeing that Sarrge had a fish and me not, I did what anybody else would have done. And changed my lure and too, put a hard body at the end of my line.

And yes it worked, I got a fish too!

A bit on the small side, but a Barra on the lure, is a Barra nonetheless.

Barramundi on the Rapala X-Rap.

As this one was just a little guy, in the water he was sent back.

But one of the thing that made me happy about it, was that I got it on a lure that I had found at Shady Camp, fishing with Arrabmundi. I had never really fished with it, but had changed the hooks on it recently, and decided to try it in this little creek, thinking that if I lost it to a snag, that would not be too bad, as it was a found one.

And to be honest, having never really fished with it I was not overly confident with it... Now, I don't want to loose it!

But any way the lure of the day, was the golden one that Sarrge was using.

We were drifting with the tide, further and further into the creek, when he got his second fish of the day:

Sarrge second Barramundi of the day.

This was on a nice little snag, and made us very happy, this was a good day!

In the drink the fish went back.

I was busy storing the net at the back of the boat,  Sarrge put his straw hat on, flicked his lure and screamed: "I Am On!"

What?

Yes, he had another fish on, before I was even ready to fish again!

Basically it was a case of two cast two fish...

Well done!

So, I dutifully netted his third fish, just wondering if he was going to do that all day long?

Sarrge third Barramundi of the day.

After that, I don't know if it was because I was told that Barramundi have a serious tendency to jump or what, but it looked like my lure ended up in the trees more often than in the water...

I was wasting some precious fishing time there, and of course didn't catch anything in the trees.

But Sarrge caught a fourth Barramundi, yes, in the water...

Sarrge last fish of the day.

We then checked the crab pots again, for the same result as we previously had: Nada, Zero... No crab.

Oh well, we had just caught some fish and had a great day on the water, so decided to get back on the way home.

Durring which, we looked for Tuna, but couldn't spot a single one.

We were left wondering where are the Tuna this year?

But we did see a big sea turtle:

The sea turtle.

And we were back at the boat ramp, after a nice day, fishing a new creek for the first time, and catching fish in it.

This was going to stay as a good trip in my books.

All the fish had bashed our lures big time, no half bite there. These were definitively hungry fish smashing lures with gusto.

And Sarrge had got all his fish on the same lure... One that I might try next time, because of course, I had the exact same one in my bag, but didn't use it.

Thank you Sarrge, that was a great day.

So yes, I did get largely outfished, once again, and now have one more lure that I don't want to loose, because I know that it works.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

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.

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.