My First Saratoga

Hi there,

I finally got to catch my first ever Saratoga, and this is the story of the day it happened.
For a long time I had heard of these fish and seen photos of them.
Most of my fishing buddies had caught some, but I was Saratoga-less, if such a word exist.
Till the day when my good mate Mud gave me a call and asked me if I wanted to go fishing with him at Corroboree Billabong the following day.
This is a place where I had been just once before, and loved it.
The scenery is fantastic, and this is a good place to fish for Barramundi, and Saratoga.
A place where one need to be ready to cast his or her lure among the lilies and that is something that I always wanted to try.
So to Corrobore Billabong we went.
Once there, Mud told me to put a weedless lure on my line and to start casting as far as I could in the lilies...

Lilies and jumping fish.

And in no time doing just that, he caught the first saratoga of the day. Which you can see jumping on the end of his line in the above photograph.

I was amazed to see him catch a fish in such treacherous waters full of potential snag...

But he reeled it in with no worries and the first fish of the day was onboard.

First Saratoga of the day.

This is a specie of fish that I find very beautiful, and this was only the second one that I was able to see in the flesh.

Maybe 2 or 3 cast after I got a really good hit, nearly as soon as my frog hit the water she was taken by a good fish. So early in the swim that it made me jump in surprise.

But it didn't stay connected and swam away scott free.

Ha!

We then moved a bit further away in the billabong, and Mud caught some more Saratoga.

As he had told me that most of the hits should happen far away from the boat, I was trying to do the longest cast that I could make. 

With my lure now in clear sight of the boat, I told myself that I was out of the strike zone, so I started to reel in my lure faster, just to get it out of the water and cast it away in the distance again.

And this is when just below our eyes a Barramundi had a go at my little frog and totally inhaled it. I was on! this was a short battle as the hookup took place so close to the boat, and it was a still very green Barra that ended in the boat.

Frog down the throat.

First Barramundi of the day.

This was my first fish on a frog lure, and I was very happy with that.

As the fish had obviously been in the billabong for a long time and was a bit dark on the back, I decided to put it back in the drink, and hoped to catch another cleaner one...

Here is the little lure that I used to catch this fish:

The frog lure.

By then I was definitively confident in the lure, which after all had got me a good solid hookup on the second hits only.

We moved to another place, where we didn't get any joy on the fishing front.

But the place was still very beautiful, and very relaxing, a really peaceful location.

Lilies and Pandanus.

Again we scouted to another of Mud favourite spot, and this was going to prove a place full of action, and full of tough lilies.

The lilies.

Can you imagine casting your lure in there?

Well, that is just what we did. All the time thinking that if we were to hook a good fish, drama might come screaming in our sorry ears...

As we drifted a bit we arrived in the shadow of some pandanus and casted against the tree roots. We started to get hits after hits, both of us. Mine were usually pretty strong but never stayed connected. Mud's ones were staying connected... Experience I guess.

But despite staying connected to his fishes, he would often loose them as they started to go ballistic in the lilies. In which case we often had to go and get the hook out of the lilies stems, where the fish had placed them... 

This is when I first noticed a rather large croc, coming for my lure, that was dangling from a lillie pad. Lucky I got the lure back before the croc.

Seeing that, we decided to move a bit further away, and Mud started to land Saratoga, like if this was an easy job.

Mud and another Saratoga.

At one stage he hooked on a very nice fish, which immediately started to make his reel sing. Like if the drag system had not been invented yet. But the fish went in some mix of pandanus and lilies root, and got lost. This was upsetting as it could very well have been the best fish of the day, without much doubt. 

Then he got one who got stuck on an underwater snag. But he managed to get it out of the snag and to reel it toward the boat.

I was still reeling in my lure from the back of the boat and Mud was at the front.

This is when I heard him shout: "He's going for it! He's going for it!"

To which I replied: "What?"

And his answer sent a jolt through my whole body: "The croc!"

As I turned my head to these words, the only thing that I saw was the inside of a big white mouth full of teeth approaching the boat at great speed, followed by a big black scaly tail. Then bang! It hit the side of the boat, and in no time Mud and I found ourselves standing exactly in the middle of the  boat.

We could hear it hissing and being upset under the gunwale, but none of use went to have a look...

Mud said: "Start the engine! Start the motor!"

But did it himself at the same time that he was saying it, and got us out of there as quick as he could, and I still thank him for that.

From his estimate the crocodile was between 3.5 meters to 4 meters. (11.48294 to 13.1233613.12 foot). This would have definitively be big enough to give us some worries if one of us had fallen in the water.

After that, we decided to move away from this very good fishing spot...

And Mud started to get some more Saratoga.

Then I got a hit and as it jumped I saw a little Saratoga pulling on my line!

I got really excited and was afraid that it would spat the hook before being in the net.

I was between laughing and stress, as I really wanted to get this little fish.

And it finally came close to the boat, I grabbed the leader and pulled it over the boat side, I had my first Saratoga!

My first Saratoga.

It might have been just a baby one, but ho boy, I was as happy as if it had been a monster one!

And I got in on a small weedless lure that I had seen Arrabmundi use with great success on my prior visit to this very billabong, nearly a year ago.

I will use these lures again.

And Mud continued to get some more Saratoga:

Sunset and Saratoga.

Between the scenery and the fishing, this is really a great place to wash your mind from all the worries of the week.

With the night falling upon us, Mud said that we were to do a bit of trolling.

He put a little Spear Head on his line, and I put a Big Lucifer on mine.

And in no time he got a little Tarpon.

First little Tarpon.

Which was rapidly followed by another one, one more time by Mud.

I was starting to wonder if I should change my lure, when I got a good hit.

The strike was frank, and I said maybe more loudly that I would have liked: "I'm on!"

As the line was peeling from my reel, I got up and steadied myself ready for the fight, when the line even if still tight, was much easier to wind back.

So I said: "Ho this is not a monster, this is a small one, maybe even just a Tarpon."

Deep inside I was starting to think that I would have loved a nice clean Barramundi, one that I could have brought back home. Not too far from the boat it jumped, and in the light of Mud head torch I saw it. It was actually a bit bigger that I believed it to be. On nearing the boat, it found back some energy and took some line again, like if this was no problem for him.

In the end it was close enough to be netted and Mud did a pretty good job at it.

In the boat was my second Barramundi of the day.

The last Barramundi of the day.

At 72cm (28.346457 inches), this was no monster, but it was bigger and cleaner than the first one. In fact it was even to big to be placed in any of the two small esky that we had.

Mud remedied to this by quickly dispatching and filleting the Barra, and in the esky it went.

I was going to be able to feed my little family.

We tried a few other places, casting mostly in the lilies again, but without much success.

So we had to try one last place for one last cast, you know how it is... Just one last cast...

This is when in full sight of us, real close to the bow of the boat, we saw a big thing, engulfing my little surface lure.

And it started to take some line, like no other fish that I had hooked on this very day.

But it didn't jump...

Yet it was still very exciting to fight this thing in the darkness and to try to guess what it could be.

Regularly, I thought that I had it, and it would make another run for it.

In the end, it was boat side, but still underwater and we hadn't seen it's colour yet.

Then it surfaced and we saw it, the thing that had grabbed my surface lure was a rather nice catfish.

Not really a kitten. 

After the croc that we saw earlier in the day, there was no way that we were to try to unhook this fish in the water at night time.

So in the boat it came, and we got very carful as to were we placed our feet.

I was still excited from the capture, and didn't know if I should laugh or get worried about how to get my lure out of this catfish gob. In the end this might have helped me and it was a rather quick and easy process.

Then a quick photo for posterity, and a release, so it can go and make millions of other little catfish for other people to catch.

So this is the story of the day I caught my first Saratoga.

I really had a great time, which brought to me some much needed head space, thank you Mud.

But when I look at the photos of it... I really need another hair cut...

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.

Another crocodile at my fishing spot.

Hi there,

Yes today I saw another crocodile at my favourite fishing spot.
And I also believe that this the first time that I may have been stalked by a croc, and that I was aware of it. I say may because maybe it was just curiosity from his part, but it freaked me out all the same...

So this is how the story goes.
I went to East Point one of my all times favourite land based fishing spot.
It was a bit late in the morning, but it was good to be on the water edge, and to do a bit of fast spinning, with light gears and some 40 gr. chrome slices.
When I saw what seemed to be a rather large crocodile swimming a few hundreds meters away. I try to get a photo of it, but by the time I got the camera ready, he had dived and I could not see it any more.
Being on the rocks, I told myself that every things was ok because he was way too far to be dangerous...
So I continue to cast my little chrome slice in the sea in front of me, when just 4 or 5 minutes latter this big croc surface just a few meters from me. He was looking straight at me, close enough for me to see his eyes.
It seemed to me like if the distance between us was less than his size.
And I honestly got frankly scared and used some expletives that I would not write on this blog.
I very quickly walked backward on the rocks, keeping eye contact with it and trying to get my camera out of my belt bag at the same time.
He then turned away still on the surface, dived and swam away.

So I did not get a good shot of him, but decided to go home any way, didn't feel like staying there.
This crocodile was definitively not shy.

So here come the photos, not very good I know, but have you ever tried to take a photo has you walk backward on some rocks?  The first one as he just had turned his head away, yes I was not fast enough to get the camera ready, sorry about that...
And the second he's underwater by then, but it gives you an idea of how close of the rocks he had been.

He's just turned away.

To get a bit of perspective...

On the bottom right corner of the last photo, you can see a bit of the rock where I was standing not long before.

So yes I went fishing and came back without a fish.

But hey, it could have been worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

Bad luck car crash.

Hi there,

So last Sunday I was in some sort of little car crash while on my way to my Unicycle lesson.
Bad luck more than anything else, but as always I had my seat belt and that I am sure, made a difference in the final result.

I have to thank Ms K, my unicycle instructor, as she was quickly on the spot after I called her to say that I would have to cancel the day lesson.
She was very supportive and took care of our car by getting it under cover at her place.
That was a great help at a time when Ms Frugal and I needed it.
Ms K acted as a true friend, at a not so easy time in her own life, thank you for that.

Ms. Frugal did a post of the story on her blog, so I won't write about it for too long.

Basically I was just slowing down to let a big Blue Tongue cross the road when a guy hit the back of my little car with his four wheels drive.
This will teach me to care for our wild life...
Just kidding...

The truth is that i am just very happy to still be able to walk on my feet.
I am just a bit worried about the whiplash now.

Even if we don't have a car any more, as it is a total write-off...

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

The Barbie truck...

Hi there,

So my little one really believe that the garbage truck is a Barbie truck...
Honest, I have absolutely not a clues as to where that comes from... ??? ...

But any time that the garbage truck comes down the road in the morning, to pick up our wastes, or when we see one in a street during the day. She becomes very exited and start screaming: "The Barbie truck! The Barbie truck! Look daddy the Barbie truck!"

And she then wave frantically to the guys in the truck.
Firemen, sometimes policemen are more used to this treatment, but garbage truck operators, or Garbo as they are called down here, are usually a bit surprise to see a little one waving to them with a big smile.
And often seem very happy and wave back. Some of them must think that my little one must have some family in the industry, or that here is a little girl who really appreciate their hard work.

And I am happy with that, if she gives them some happiness in their routine of taking everybody else trash, it is not a bad thing in itself.

The only thing that worry's me a tad, is that one day she might do it at school in front of her little friends or in front of someone who might then tell her off and say to her that this is not Barbie's truck, but the stinky rubbish truck.
And that would be a shattering news for her I am sure...

So what should I do as her daddy?
Tell her the truth, or let her live in a perfect world where Barbie often come down the road in her big blue truck? (I mean, not even pink?  ). 
I tell you what, it is not alway easy this parenting thing...

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

How cruel is that?

Hi there,

So two days ago, I was quietly plodding along at work, when this message from my mate Sheeby came in:

Hey mate,

I was at East Point cliffs all morning...there are a lot of fish around!

I had the worst luck today.

First I hooked up on to a GT and then it spat it just after. Another had a go at the lure (a stick bait) but missed and flew a couple of meters into the air.

Next there were good macks around the rocks. Some were easily a meter long. I had a live gar out and it kept getting bitten in half just before the hook! A guy and his son fishing beside me were having the same problem but they eventually hooked and landed a 1m spanish mackeral.
I had a big queenfish chasing my gar around but it wouldnt take it! Agggggh!

Once the tide dropped right down ( about 3 foot deep over the flats) there were big fish cruising around. I had a live bait out which got smashed by a small mack when I was on the phone and I missed it. I put a bit of dead gar on and casted near a dark shadow swimming past. The shadow turned and ate it and I was on. It was a BIG barra and it charged out over the flats, stipping a good 50m off the saltist...The 60lb LEADER snapped!!!! 

I think anyone within 500m would have heard me swearing.
The mackeral must've bit the line and weakened it and I hadnt noticed.

Ended up with two huge longtom. 

I have a score to settle tomorrow.

Oh How is work 

I just replied: "Work is great thank you!"

Now how mean and cruel is that to send me this kind of message while I am trying to get some work done...

Ok, he is the guy who gave me a just caught Mackerel last weekend... Still... I then spend the day thinking about fishing.

The following day, I got a call at work from another mate, to go fishing in the evening , with a third bloke.

So we went to a river that I had never fished before...

Well, let me tell you that the place had Big Crocs written all over it, and around 10 billions of hungry mozzies... Very hard for me to relax and enjoyed the moment, thinking about what might be lurking under the muddy waters.

And between the three of us we didn't raised a single scale...

We said that it was because of the storm we went trough on our way to the river, it had cooled down the water temperature and shut down the fishes...

View from the car on our way to the river...

Good fishermen always have a valid excuse...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

Don't go there!

Hi there,

Yesterday morning as I was leaving the nest to go to work, my little one asked me: "Are you going to work Daddy?"
I replied: "Yes, and today I will even go to the hospital for a meeting with.."
And she started to cry and said:" No Daddy don't go there! Don't go to the hospital, I don't want you to go to the hospital..."
So I had to tell her, that I was not going to see a doctor and that I would not get a big needle in my back, that I was going there for an important meeting to talk about data storage and archival... That it was ok that I was fine and happy to go there...

Poor little thing, she's afraid of doctors.
Which I can understand, as most of the time she had seen them so far it was for her injections...
It is funny/strange the things that we take for granted and easy but that can still be terribly scary for a little one...

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