2012 Top End Barra Series Round 3.

Hi there,

Yes last weekend was the third round of the 2012 Top End Barra Series.
And ho boy, was I sick... I woke up at around 1:00am on the Saturday feeling pretty bad, but did not want to let my mates down.
Arrabmundi had said that he was going to pick me up at 3:00am and take me aboard his boat for the Saturday. Then has he could not fish on the Sunday, I was to fish the second day from Nomad boat, a vessel on which I had never set foot yet.
I could not at the last minute, let down two skipper in one go.

So at 3:00 am I was saying hi to Arrabmundi and we left in direction of the Daly River.
As we arrived there and launched the boat at around 6:30am, the mist was so dense that it was at time impossible to see the other side of the river.
So we decided to proceed with caution. To go slow, and as we had to do so, we took the opportunity to trow two lures at the back, just in case...

Arrabmundi steering through the mist.

Then a boat past us, not at great speed, but definitively faster than what we were doing.

We though that these guys knew what they were doing and decided to follow them...

They suddenly slowed right down and took a sharp turn to the left: they had been heading straight for a cliff. We decided that the Daly River is definitively not the place for a swim, and slowed down too...

Following a boat in the mist.

As the sun rose, the mist left place to a nice blue sky and we started to see some of our fellow competitors and mates going down the river.

We went strait to Harry's rock bar were we started to troll, and on what must have been the first or second troll, Arrabmundi was on a good fish!

And the good fish swam away before being brought to the boat...

The positive in it was that we knew then that there were some fish to be caught in this river, and we had now an idea of the lure to use.

Yeah right... How wrong could we be...

We didn't got any thing more there, so we moved a bit further down. 

As we started another trolling run I decided to use my Classic F18 in the Elton on Chrome that had been so successful at Shady Camp and put it on the line. I had changed all the split rings and hooks in prevision of the 3rd round, and was ready for the hit.

The hit came and I landed what was going to be my only point scoring fish of the weekend: 

First Barramundi of the weekend.

This was the first Barramundi that we boated on the weekend, at 81cm (31.889764 inches), by 9:45am we started to be optimist again...

In fact this fish hit the lure so hard, that he partly destroyed my lure, and I can't use it anymore. I liked this lure, and might keep it just as a souvenir. 

And from there, things started to go slower and slower...

I started to feel the effect of the flu that had me up way to early, and the fishing started to look more like boating on a beautiful river, than a fish catching expedition.

At one point, we even saw a crocodile that didn't acts very shy and for a short time swam toward the boat. We didn't stay in that spot for too long.

Daly River salt water crocodile.

Swimming towards us.

Arrabmundi had to return to Darwin early , so we started to slowly make our way back up river, and fishing a bit here and there.

Then Arrabmundi was on again and fought the fish to the boat. It wasn't a huge fish, but it might be a point scorer. Just as the fish was about two rods length of the boat, a big shark came from nowhere and tried to snatch it from the line. Quick thinking, my skipper raised his line as high and fast as he could and "jumped" the fish in the boat. 

We put this little Barramundi on the brag mat: 49.5cm (19.488189 Inches), 0.5 cm short of a point scorer! Not fair... So in the drink it was put back.

Then we trolled a bit more and Arrabmundi got snagged on the bottom of the river.

As we drifted back in direction of the snag, I was retrieving my lure, when I got a hit and was on. To a fish that must have been approximately 22cm (8.6614173 Inches) on a 12cm (4.7244094 inches) lure... 

Talk about a greedy little fish.

Still I was very happy with it, as it was on a lure that my little five year old had re-painted for me, and it was nice to see that she did a good job, that her custom colours worked.

Then it was time to wrap up the day one and we left.

Arrabmundi dropped me at the Banyan Farm, where I was to set my camp for the night and meet up with some of the other fishing the round three.

As it was around 3:00pm, I put up my tent, had a shower, a little to eat, and a little nap. Not a nana nap, a power nap...

Well when I woke up, as some of the guys were arriving under the mangoes trees, I felt more like I needed to sleep five more days to get better than anything else, but got up to have a chat and learn how every body went on the first day.

I learnt that Colleen had got a 103cm (40.551181 Inches) and Damien had got two 102cm (40.15748 Inches) Barramundis... Some people had obviously done much better than I: congratulation to them! Especially to Colleen for it was her first Barramundi over the magic meter mark. And Damien for being the first one in the Top End Barra Series to  boat two meteries on the same day, during a round of this friendly competition.

In the evening, I tried to stay up as late as I could, but must have been the most boring of them all, as between the flue and asthma, I had real trouble to breath, which severly limited my conversation. So after a while, I just went back to sleep.

After a night where the sleep was of very moderate effect, it was time to get back into fishing and try to update the score with some more fish...

This was my first time fishing with Nomad, and his navigator, Charlie the dog.

Charlie the navigator.

Charlie did well, and we did not end up on any big log, sand or rock bar.

But he did not put us on many fish.

Or should I say more honestly: we did not make the most of the opportunities he drove us to. As both Nomad and myself, got some very good strikes, with the fish sometimes stripping a bit of line from our reels, and fighting for a few second. But we lost them all.

We spent the day trolling and doing a bit of casting for a big fat donut. 

Zero, nada, null, no fish in the bag.

This was still a pleasant day, were we had the time to discuss world affairs, and how to rebuilt a better world.

And the river was, as usual very beautiful.

Thanks again to Arrabmundi and Nomad for having me on board their respective boats for this rounds, that was really appreciated. 

Afternoon on the Daly River.

With the action being on the slow side of things, we decided to call it a day, and to head back to Darwin.

On the way back, my eyes were burning, and the following morning I woke up with a full blown conjunctivitis.

Yet, this is still a weekend that I am happy not to have missed, even if I would have loved to catch more fish, and to finally catch myself a metery.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

P.S: Ho, and how did I fare in the competition after all that?

Well I ended up in the sixteen position for the round three, and that leaves me still in seventh place on the overall scoreboard. 

As I often say: it could be worse.

Halco Birthday

Hi there,

Ok, the birthday happened two years ago, but it was nonetheless an important milestone for the Australian lure company Halco, as they turned sixty...
Yes they have been making fishing lures for sixty years.
And why do I write about it only now you may ask...
Well because in my great wisdom, I learned about it only two weeks ago. When I was very generously offered by nobody else than the great fishing photographer and writer, Peter Zeroni himself, a commemorative lure of this anniversary.
Thank you Peter.

The lure is a Halco Twisty 40g Chrome.
I had what was my best Mackerel session so far on a Twisty 40g, so this is a lure that I already liked a lot.

Let me introduce you to the birthday lure:

In the box.

The back of the box.

The back of the box reads:

" TWISTY 40g Chrome (LIMITED EDITION)

Halco's Twisty was one of the first lures produced when Halco started operation 60 years ago in Fremantle, Australia. Over the years, modern manufacturing techniques have made the Twisty stronger, smoother and shinier. Now Halco produces Australia's greatest range of hard plastic, timber and metal lures as well as a large range of terminal tackle.

This limited edition lure celebrates Halco's 60th year. "

I know, I could have put the back of the box last, but I just wanted to tease you a bit...

And it also gives you a bit of background information about this very lure.

So here finally comes the lure:

Halco Twisty 40g Chrome.

Close-up of the engraving.

Isn't it beautiful?

Even if the Twisty is one of my favourite metal lure, this one is sure to never ever get near any piece of water. I will keep it safely among the few other who form my little collection.

The more I look at it, and the more I think, that it has been a very long time since I went fishing...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

A New Reel, Then ...

Hi there,

Not long ago, I got a new fishing reel.
And it is so far, a good story from start to finish.
Actually, I didn't bought the reel, but won it in a competition.
The North Australian Fishing and Outdoors, magazine had a competition to win a Daiwa Cosatal Barra 135 bait caster reel, and I won it.
The competition has been running for some time, with a reel being given away every month, and is still going strong in the current issue of the magazine. (If you tried, you could be the next winner of a Daiwa Reel).
For a few month in a row, I had entered the comp., hopping to win, as I have never owned or fished with a Daiwa reel, and they are supposed to be very good.
It is then very easy to understand how excited I was upon learning the good news, and I couldn't wait to received my new reel.
It arrived and was beautiful, blue and gold, but catastrophe! This is a right handed reel, and I use left handed ones...

Daiwa Coastal Barra 135.

The reality of it hit me hard, this is a reel that only come in the right handed version...
It was smooth and the spool seemed to turn for ever with just a little push from the thumb...
But the handle was definitively on the wrong side...
What to do?
I started to think that maybe I could swap it for a fishing rod, to replace the one that I broke the previous month.
So I started to monitor the FFF forum and other places to see if any one had a fishing rod for sale, hopping to propose a swap.
And it happened, a member for the FFF wanted to get ride of a G.Loomis GL2 baitcaster rod, and I was after any good fishing rod. This one would have fitted the bill perfectly.
Once contacted the fellow was in fact very interested in trading his rod for a brand new reel, and even offered to come to my place in the very same afternoon to close the deal.
And this is how I got a new rod to replace my broken one.

My new fishing rod.

It was impossible to wait, I jumped on my pushbike and went to the closest beach where I could to try it. Fannie Bay was the destination, and the rod is here coupled to an Abu Garcia Revo Inshore reel. 

It casted very well, and I am now rather impatient to test it with a fish at the end of the line.

Here is a little photo to show you the beautiful place where I was doing my field testing. Yes it is hard, but someone had to do it...

Fannie Bay, Darwin Northern Australia.

Yes there is some more unpleasant place to go to for a quick flick, just to test a new fishing rod.

The only thing that bugs me a little in all this... Is that I have still never fished with a Daiwa fishing reel yet, even if I owned one for a few days...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

One New BarraGuru.

Hi there,

Yes I have been very lucky, I was offered one more BarraGuru fishing lure.
And once again, it is a very beautiful timber one.

How come I got this lure?
Well it is very simple, I was having a little chat with Tony B. the maker of the BarraGuru lures, and of course it is very easy to guess what we were discussing...
You are right, fishing lures, yes...
And as I was showing him one of his lures in a display, I told him that I really liked the colour and shape of this one, as for some obscure reasons it made me think of an old cafe racer. It was a yellow lure with a black head.
I don't know what chord it strung with Tony, but he smiled at me and said: "I will make you one like that".
This was music to my hears, and I thought that if I was lucky, in a few weeks, maybe months, I would be the happy recipient of a new great hand made fishing lure.
Well, bite me, but in the same week, (talk of a spoilt kid) Tony got this great lure delivered to me.
Thank you Tony.

Here it comes:

My second BarraGuru.

This one to me, will be the cafe racer of my little collection.

Don't ask why, but it remind me of these old motorbikes from the 1960's.

From above.

To me the head and bib look a bit like an ace of spades. And every time that I see an ace of spades, this old song from when I was a tad younger, came back in the back of my head... The song of course is called Ace of Spades by the band Motörhead... 

A tune that I really liked as a kid, which has stuck to some recess of my memory.

Signed under the tail.

Yes 2012 seems to be a very good vintage for the BarraGuru production.

The face.

This is a very well finished wooden fishing lure.

This one too, is made from the Red Cedar that had been stocked by Eric Moller, under his house for his own production. And was later given to Tony by Eric Moller grandson.

The wood this very lure is made from, was stocked in far North Queensland before being moved to Darwin in the Northern Territory, to finally being transform in a beautiful fishing lure.

The origin of the wood, combined with the great work from Tony, make this a very special object in itself.

Now, with this lure, I have decided to do a thing that I normally would never do with any of the lures from my collection...

I will actually try to catch a fish with it.

I would love to be able to give Tony a photograph of a fish caught with one of his lure.

It would be just one fish, and back to the display case.

I know that the lure, might be scratched, and may loose a bit of its original paintwork...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

Hot From The Press.

Hi there,

Three of my photographs have been published in the fishing magazine North Australian Fishing & Outdoors.

Hot from the press.

This is in this very magazine , the May/June/July 2012 issue.

You may have already seen the photos in one of my previous post on this blog.

The Stonefish story.

The story was also posted on the FFF forum, where the editor of the magazine, Matt Flynn, saw them, and asked me if he could have them for the magazine...
I said yes even before thinking about it.
This was an opportunity to join two of my passion in one go: photography and fishing.
It might sounds childish to some of you, but for me to see some of my photographs in a fishing magazine, is like a kid's dream happening in real life.

And I will also soon have another very cool story to tell you about this magazine...
But you will have to wait a little bit more before anything transpire...
And after all patience is every angler best asset.
Sorry but you will just have to kill a bit of time, and you will soon know.


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

The Classic Scorpion.

Hi there,

Here comes my first ever Classic Scorpion, a very neat fishing lure.
I have had some Classic Barra, or some RMG Scorpion before, but never a Classic Scorpion till this one.
The lure was given to me by Seano from the FFF Forum.
Many thanks Seano!

And because it is a beautiful and tough lure, we are going to start with the photos before the historic...

The Classic Scorpion.

In a very nice black, and green chrome colour.

The Classic Scorpion logo.

It is wearing the Classic Scorpion on one side, and the RMG Lures on the other side.

The RMG side.

One of the differences with the Scorpion made by Halco today, is the tow point, straight on the nose of the lure. Today's Scorpion are bib towed.

Eyes and tow point.

Another difference is that this lure is not moulded plastic, but made by foam injection, it is made of urethan. 

Here comes a bit of historic about this lure:

The lure is a RMG Classic Scorpion 150 Urethane. 

It is chrome plated, then dye-painted over chroming. 

They were made by Rob Gaden between 1994 and 1996 in urethane. Then the business was sold to Halco, and soon after the lures were converted to ABS 2 pieces plastic. 

All of this took place while Rob lived in Glen Innes, NSW, before moving to Darwin, NT.

There were about 8-10 000 of the 150mm Scorpion made by Rob, (moulded by Lively Lures).

During that 2 year period, 80% of these were sold through one shop in Darwin: Fishing & Outdoor World by George Vokolous. 

This shows the confidence Darwin's anglers got in this lure, in the pursuit of Barramundi and other scaly critters. 

I would love you to believe that my knowledge about fishing lures is without limit. But no, I have to confess that when it comes to lures culture, I am just an absolute beginner...

All of this I learned by asking directly to the renowned Australian lure designer Rob Gaden, the very man who produced this lure.

Thank you Rob for your patience and replies to my many questions.

Ok, just one last image for the road:

Nice, isn't it?

So, I have just one of them, while there has been around 10 000 of them wandering out there...

I can't help but to wonder how many are left, forgotten and languishing in some dark backyard sheds, collecting dust, remembering some happier days...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

Never High Stick On A Fish ...

Hi there,

As the title says, never high stick on a fish, especially if this fish is resting on a step mud bank... Because this is the story of how I broke one of my favourite fishing rod.
But let's start from the beginning.

on a Saturday morning, I received a phone call and a text message from my good mate Seano, asking if I wanted to go fishing with him latter on in the afternoon.
If you know me, you could easily have guessed that I said yes.
So of we went, to one of his secret spot, and rest assured that his secret spot is safe with me. As we had to drive for a relatively long time in the four wheels drive, through the bush, with the aid of the GPS unit to arrive to the location. Definitively not a place I could go to on my pushbike.
Once the car had stopped in the middle of nowhere, we made our way to a mangrove, and started to walk through it for a little while.
I always found walking inside the mangrove a bit eerie and pleasant at the same time.

Mangrove trekking.

If it wasn't for the mosquitos that would have been a very pleasant walk, but they were out in numbers and apparently starving. We had to reapply insect repellent at very regular intervals.

But in the end we arrived to this beautiful fishing spot, and it was well worth the effort.

The river.

The river was nice and calm, with now and then some ripples on the water, indicating that life was abundant under the surface.

Before the first flick of my lure, I found a lure, a B52's from Reidy's in a colour that I had never seen before, stuck in a tree. Someone must have fished here not that long ago.

In the first few cast we started to have some strikes, but no hookups. 

Then Seano got unlucky and snagged his lure on the other side of the river. 

This is not a large river, and any average swimmer could crosse it in no time, but with the number of crocodiles that live in there, in no way someone would try it. So he had to break his line and loose the lure.

I had decided that for this trip, I was only going to fish with the Duo Lures that I was sent by Duo Australia not long ago, this was going to be a test. And what a test it was going to be.

At first I put a Tide Minnow SLD-F at the end of my line...

And it worked so well, that I left it on the line t'ill we went back home, and haven't yet tested the other ones.

Has Seano was re-rigging his outfit I casted this new lure in the water, and got my first fish of the day!

Now this was not a huge Barramundi, but I will still remember this fish for a long time...

As it is the one on which I broke my fishing rod...

It was only 53cm (20.866142 inches), not even of a legal size! I could not have a revenge on it by cooking it, I had to release it...

Ha!

The rode breaker.

In fact, it was sorely due to my own fault. Has I had the fish on the mud, standing a few metres from the water edge, because of potential crocodile, I high sticked the rod instead of having it at a low angle, and tried to pull the fish which was stuck in the mud...

The result was a great fishing rod, full of good memories for me, snapped in three pieces.

That was really upsetting, but we had just been driving and walking for long enough to arrive there, and we had just started fishing. So I could only try to take it as best as possible, and continue to fish, with a very very short rod...

At least, even if I was to not catch anything else, I knew that the lure worked.

And it continued to work.

Seano was now ready to fish and we were both casting our lures all around the place.

And getting a lots of hits, and loosing many fishes, but we got a few little one, all just under the legal limits.

Here are a few of my fishes:

Fish number two for me.

Fish number three.

With Seano hard at work, in the background.

Barramundi number four.

Yes I didn't need to change the lure, it was working very well.

We were fishing and now and then, walk a bit along the river.

At one stage Seano pointed out to me a Bull shark cruising in front of us, another good reason not to enter the waters.

Not long after the appearance of the shark, the fishing slowed down in a big way.

We walked a bit further down, Seano got the only legal fish of the day at 59cm (23.228346 inches).

And me, guess what I got?

Yes I did get a hit from a very nice Barramundi, that would have been more than legal, but lost it on the first half jump...

Now what I finally got on the line and hooked proper, was a little shark...

Little shark on the lure.

I brought it up on the bank, and looked for my pliers, I had lost them.

They were old and rusty pliers, but would have come very handy at this very time.

In the end it was with the help of my fish scaler that I was able to unhook this little critter. 

This was my last fish of the day.

And now, here is a photo of my broken rod, to give you an idea of what I was using to fish after it broke.

R.I.P dear fishing rod.

Yes this short rod, didn't had a lot of flex to fight the fish that I hooked after it got broken. At one point we even joked with Seano, that anyway, flex was for soft anglers, and that I was going to fish hardcore, with no flex and a full on drag.

Sometimes you have to make the most of what you have, and laughter often help.

So to me this was a trip from which I came back without a feed, despite the very good results obtained with the DUO Tide Minnow SLD-F.

Where I lost my pliers, and broke one of my preferred fishing rod. The one that Double Haul had got for me at the opening night of the Barra National 2010.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.