My First Tripletail.

Hi there,

Not long ago I caught my first ever Tripletail (Lobotes surinamensis).
And this is the story of it.

I was very lucky to be invited with my friend and colleague Gavin, for one day of fishing on Peter's boat: Barradiction. Now every times that I went fishing on this boat, it has been from an angling point of view, absolutely memorable. This time it was going to be even better.

Our target for the day was to be the great Barramundi, and the location was to be some costal creeks not far from Darwin.

We sailed early in the morning full of anticipation, hopping for some good Barra action.

Sunrise on the way.

We arrived to our destination, and on the first snag, Gavin landed a nice little Mangrove Jack on what might have been his first or second cast. This was the first Mangrove Jack that I saw in the flesh, this could only be a good sign. I then missed a little Barra from the same snag, and Gavin got a little cod. Then I got a small Snapper from it. This was a great mixed bag in a very short time, from the one spot.
How promising was that!

My little Snapper.

I was very happy to have caught this little Snapper on a DUO lure that I was trying for the first time, it worked well.

The fish coming from that snag were numerous, but rather on the small side. So we left them biting, and went on the search of bigger prey.

Peter and Gavin and a few fishing rods.

We started to troll, and some blue salmon were quickly snatched from the depth, but like spoiled kids we wanted our Barramundi and nothing else.

Then a bump in my line, followed by tension and a bent in the rod, and a feisty little Barra started to jump at the end of the line.

Not even of legal size, but big enough to let us know that indeed, Barramundi inhabit these water.

First Barramundi of the day.

Sometimes little fish can be sweet, and this one was one of them.

Just after that I got a small Blue Salmon, so we knew that a lot of them were swimming around.

Blue Salmon.

Peter managed to get a good Barramundi not long after that. 

Peter fighting the fish.

And Boated!

Peter, then started to show us how it is done, and why a few years of experience always make a difference. 

He got a few Thready Buster lures, he offered the grey one to Gavin and took the pink one, I had another yellow lure...

Peter first caught a blue Salmon, then another one, Gavin and I got nothing...

Gavin being a man of science then asked if in the interest of science, he could have the pink one and Peter the grey one.

This was to prove a great move for Peter, as he used this grey lure to land the Barra of the day, a nice 95cm (37.401575 inches) Barramundi.

Pure chrome Salt water Barramundi.

This fish was as beautiful as they get, pure chrome in colour, fit and healthy.

I do not know if this was by pure unconscious dejection or by accident but not long after Gavin broke his fishing rod. Never a good feeling when this happen, either to you or a good mate.

I was then hopping that he would soon get a good fish to bring back a smile on his face. 

It happened, and what a fish it was:

A nice Threadfin Salmon.

Here was a very fine specimen of Threadfin Salmon (Polydactylus macrochir).

It went directly in the esky.

Not long after that I got my last Barramundi for the day.

Happy fisherman.

Yes I was very happy with this small fish, as it was my first Barramundi on a Reidy's Goulburn Jack a lure that I was testing for the first or second time only. I kept this fish to feed my little family.

Out the mouth of the creek, we saw some birds cartwheeling over the sea and went to investigate the commotion. Being a very keen spinner, I could not hold it very long and casted a chrome slice in there...

And a little Spotty Mackerel came back with my lure.

My first Spotty ever.

This was really a day of first, and the best was yet to come...

Pretty close to where this little Mack was caught, Peter being the good skipper that he is, noticed a few tree branches floating on the water.

He motored toward them, and gave Gavin and I a baitcaster each.

This was our chance to try for a Tripletail. We knew that the museum in Darwin would have been happy to get a new one for its fish collection, and I was super eager to catch my first one ever...

On my first cast we saw four of them swimming behind my lure, and one of them detached itself from the group and went for it. I was on! And what a surprise it was to see how easily it went back in the branches, like if the drag on my reel was just a minor inconvenience. It managed to bury me in the wood and to freed itself. I had though that because of the location I didn't risk to be snagged and hadn't put my drag too high. Realisation had been rapid and brutal, I should have got it a bit stronger.

And this I did.

We turned around the floating pieces of wood, and casted with not much success. So we swapped our hard bodies lures for some soft plastic ones, but that was not much better. And now we had a little shark turning around the boat, looking for a free feed.

Peter made us change lure once again, and we went for some scented Gulp, with relatively heavy jig head. The reasoning behind that was that we might have spooked them by now, and they might have got down a bit deeper in the water column, so we needed to get our lures in front of them if we wanted to have any chance to get one of them.

And this we wanted.

We came in line with the biggest branch, and I told Gavin: You cast on the right and I will cast on the left, so one of our lure is bound to fall on their nose.

That was a good plan, for me, as it was my lure that was nailed.

A short but fierce battle and Peter netted the fish!

My first ever Tripletail.

It was not only the first tripletail that I caught, it was also the first one that I had ever seen.

And because it was destined to the museum collection, it was also the first time in my entire fishing life that I had hooked on a fish that was going to end-up in a museum. Now this might sounds childish to some of you, but at the end of this great fishing day. Even if I had caught this one and only fish, I would have been very happy and that would still be one of my more memorable fishing trip. I had caught a fish for a museum!

Even if that meant that I would not be able to taste this fish which is supposed to be delicious, I was still  happy like a kid who just caught his first minnow.

It was then time to get back home.

Peter and I on the way back home.

It had been a great day on the water, with some very good company where once again, I learned a bit more about fishing.

Thanks Peter and Gavin for inviting me to fish with you.

Yes it is true, that now I dream of my own 95cm Barramundi, and of another Tripletail...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

P.S: And don't forget my little competition to win a free lure, just click here to see it.

The King Codder Fishing Lures.

Hi there,

When a lure maker calls to tell you that he has two vintage fishing lures for you, you know that you are in for a treat. So when Tony the maker of the Barra Guru lures called me, I was rather excited and faster than a fleeing baitfish, I found myself at his place.

The present came to me in the form of two King Codder.

Two King Codder fishing lures.

In an old newspaper from down south (The Age), dated from the 30 November 1962, I found an advertisement and some information about them.

They are Australian fishing lures that were made by DK Union Tackle Co. in Melbourne.

At the time Union Tackle had up to a dozen metal lures, but the King Codder were made of timber. Certainly with some big Murray Cod in mind. So how did these two ended up in Darwin is any one guess. Albeit seeing how robust and well built they are, they would have been very good lures in the pursuit of our local champion, the mighty Barramundi.

King Codder came in only two sizes and two colours. Red fin and Trout or if you prefer, Gold and Silver.

By offering me the gold ones in the two available sizes, Tony had given me half of the full set. What a great way to start collecting a lure that I had never heard of.

The colour pattern of the gold ones would certainly have been of great efficiency on the Barramundi. As this is a colour scheme still very popular on today’s modern lures.

The large one.

The small one.

Detail of the small one.

Little treasures can be as varied as the different people who own them.

To my these four small pieces of wood, have become part of my precious…

And now, I would love to find the two silver ones.

And it might take a very long time...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

If It Smells Like Rain.

Hi There,

If it smells like rain, it will probably rain...
I should have remembered that.
We got the first rain of the season, and of course, it happened on a day when I was going to spend just a short time fishing in a new spot.

A member of the FFF forum called called Olfart, said that he would show me around the traps of Lee Point.
Lee Point as a good reputation on big Queenfish and Trevally, for land based anglers.

So at around 5:15am, I was there waiting for him, and in the darkness, I could not yet see the sky...
This should have been the first warning sign, as it was supposed to be nearly full moon.
But hey, I was so happy to go fishing in a new spot that I wanted to try for a long time, that I din't even think about it.

Olfart arrived and we went on the beach where the day was rising...
What a sight...

A cloudy morning.

We were yet to get any rain yet this year, and these clouds just seemed to be passing through.

Still when My fishing buddy started to walk in the water, to commence fishing, I should have known better, just looking at the sky.

Heavy sky.

We fished for a little while.

And he kept saying, ho maybe we should get out of here before the rain hit.

And I was like, no we will be fine, way too early in the year for the rain to come.

So after a bit of unfruitful fishing, he told me, Hey turn around and look behind us:

Clouds to the top of the sky.

We were surrounded by a sky leaden by dark clouds.

That was the first day this season that the havens looked so cloudy.

Which finally made me come to my senses, it was time to pack up if we din't want to get drenched.

We packed up quickly and started to walk back along the beach, and the sky then unlashed some serious rain on all the unsuspecting anglers and walkers who had stayed there.

And we were not to the car yet...

First rain of the year!

So we rushed to the car, and headed back home as there was no way that we could have continued fishing there in these conditions.

I had to drive very slowly and carefully as it was hard to see what was going on.

The first rain was not messing around, it was falling hard.

Driving in the rain.

Now don't get me wrong, the  first rain is generally welcome and the end of the dry season.

But why just at the time when I was fishing a new spot for the first time.

Now, I may have to wait the start of the next dry season to fish that spot again.

Waiting all the time, with an imagination full of big fish...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

P.S: And don't forget about my international giveaway by clicking just there, time is running out...

My First Richo Lures.

Hi there,

One day Ronj, a member of the FFF forum contacted me and said that he had a Richo Lures for me, with the advertising for a fishing competition on its back.
Ronj knew that I love fishing lure with advertising on them.

Not long after that I received in the mail a fishing lure from a brand that I was yet to have in my little collection, a Richo Lures.
Richo Lures are handmade in Queensland (Australia), by a man going by the name of Ken Richardson.

Here is what it looks like:

My first Richo Lures.

A nice long profile, made of white beech this model is named The Extractor. Presented here in the colour number 10 in the Richo range and called Fluro Yellow.

With some advertising on the back.

The Rocky Barra Bounty is a fishing competition taking place on the Fitzroy River, you have guessed it, in Queensland. It is a catch and release competition.

The belly of the lure.

The lure is very well finished, and seems robust enough to target some angry Barramundy. A pin under the chin is used to secure the bib, a nice touch on a bib towed lure.

If I had to, I would have now problem to fish this lure with confidence. Yet I have to be honest, it will stay dry and in the collection, no way I am going to take any risk with this one.

And knowing my liking of fishing lures with advertising,  Ronj also sent me two Classic Barra with the same advertising on them.

Two Classic Barra.

These two Classic Barra are in the Guns 'n' Roses colour, one of the most popular in the Top End.

So I really appreciate the present, as many fishing aficionados would have kept any lures in this colours.

Thank you Ronj, as most Aussie would understand: These are going straight to the pool room!

And if you like fishing lure, don't forget to leave a comment on my lure giveaway, for a chance at winning a nice one.

Ok, now I will have to find a place to display these lures...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

One KO Lures To Giveaway.

Hi there,

This post is all about giving away a free, brand new fishing lure.
I was very fortunate to won a door prize at the last event of the Top End Barra Series, and this prize was a voucher to go and pick up some gears from KO Lures.
Ko Lures, is still a new and young brand of fishing tackle, a company started here in Darwin.
Being made in Darwin, KO Lures caters mostly for people fishing in tropical waters, making some very strong and robust gears.
KO Lures is one of the sponsors of the 2012 Top End Barra Series.

So what did I pick for myself?
Easy to guess, some more lures!
But the truth is that I got these lures, because Dean, a competitor in the 2012 Top End Barra Series had made a generous donation to the lure company, so they could offer this voucher as a door prize.
And my chance didn't start or stop there, no.
Sheeby, another competitor, and a good fishing buddy of mine, won the door prize...
But as he had finished the round second and got a very nice reel for his effort, he decided to put the prize back in the hat for a redraw, a very kind gesture on his part.
And yes, the person whose name was called after that, was happy me.
I have never fished with a Ko Lure yet, but I can hardly wait to go and give a swim to the ones I got for myself.

One  model of the lures that I picked up, is a big Barramundi lure, and I took two of them.
So I will give one away to a reader of this blog.

Want to see it?
Here it is:

Are you ready for a KO?

This is a large lure of about 19 cm (7.480315 inches) and it comes with some whopping sticky sharp hooks.

Look at the eyes, it says KO.

With a nice pattern on the back.

This lure is made with a wire through construction, so the fish of a life time should not get away.

Nice isn't it?

So what do you have to perform to win this lure?

Very easy, you do not even need to follow this very good blog of mine, or to live in Australia. You can be from any country in the world, if you are the winner, I will send you this lure free of charge wherever you live on this planet.

You just need to leave a comment, in which you tell me your name and what is your favourite lure colour.

Don't leave any contact detail yet, Only if you win, I will then need your contact.

Just remember if you are not a follower to keep an eye on this very blog, at the end of October 2012, to know if you have won.

This is not a tricky question, I will not give the lure to the person who as the same favourite colour than I, simply because I change my mind too often when it comes to lures colours.

I will use the help of Random.org to draw the winner.

You can leave a comment from today till the Saturday 27th of October 2012.

So you have about a month to do it, but if you do it today, you will not forget...

Good luck to all!

There is just one lure to be given away, so there will be only one winner, sorry about that.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

2012 Top End Barra Series Round 5.

Hi there,

Last weekend was the 5th round of the 2012 Top End Barra Series, and it was taking place on the Drawin Harbour.
Being able to fish on the harbour of the very city where ones lives, is nearly a luxury in today's world, and trust me it was much appreciated by most of the participant.
My usual skipper was interstate for work, so I gladly accepted the offer from Dean's to be his deckie for the round.
We started reasonably early at around 6:30 am on the Saturday morning, and were greeted by a glorious sunrise as we arrived at the boat ramp.

Dinah Beach boat ramp in the sunrise. 

We went to one of the harbour arm in some spot where Dean had caught some good fish on some previous set of tides.

And he did get a little Barramundi, not big enough to be a point scorer, but big enough to get us excited, thinking that we were at the right spot...

Dean's first Barra of the weekend.

Well this little fish was the first one and the only one for a little while...

Enough in fact for us to wonder what was going on.

As we were changing from one spot to another one, either trolling or flicking our lures at any snags or rocks that we could see, I got what seemed to be a hit.

Something had grabbed my lure, and was flapping in the water behind the lure. Yet whatever it was, it was not giving me a fight similar to anything that I had seen in the past.

I called it for a small fish tangled in some seaweed.

But not it was a different kind of surprise:

Mud crab on the lure.

This Mud Crab was a female, and was full of eggs, so it was released as quick as possible.

Basically as soon as I could get my lure out of its claw.

In all my time of fishing this is only the second time that I have a crab catching one of my lures while it is moving. Both time it was during a round of the Top End Barra Series.

So we moved a bit further and trolled a favourite spot of Dean, in a little harbour creek.

Dean got a good whack on the line, but it didn't connect.

Then it all happened, he got the strike and stayed connected.

The Barramundi jumped at least four times, high and clear of the water. This was a good fish with a gusty temper. Jumping and making runs all over the place, constantly changing the direction of his attempted escape. In the end it was close to the boat, but still had it in him, not to surrender.

Each time that I was thinking that he was ripe for the net, he would dive and make another run for it.

But the run were shorter and shorter, and finally in the net it was.

Scream and shout of joyce must have ben heard from one end of the creek to the other.

We had a fish in the boat that was a point scorer:

Dean's biggest fish of the weekend.

At 71 cm (27.952756 inch), this was a good and healthy harbour fish. In the Esky it went.

Dean described this fish as fighting and jumping like a Doberman on acid, and that was a fitting description of the fight that he gave.

The monkey was off Dean's back, now we just needed to get me a fish... This was going to prove itself more difficult than planed. 

First Dean was going to catch a nice little Flathead:

Darwin Harbour Flatie.

This one was not big enough to won a prize, but it was a nice fish nonetheless. It was put back in the water, to grow a bit mpore till the next time.

By now the afternoon was starting to make itself known, and after talking to Mozz and Liam, we decided to scout towards Muntzy to catch up for a little chat.

Zooming on the ocean.

Mozz and Liam through the waves.

We did meet up with Muntzy, and not long after Chris arrived from the opposite side, followed by Sheeby and Cuddlescooper on another side.

We ended up five boats who rafted together, for a little chitchat and some refreshment.

Well it started this way anyway.

And it was in the end four boat who stayed tied to each other till the following morning, drinking, singing and cooking. While the fifth one took the fishing competition more seriously, and went in the pursuit of better fish. 

For the four vessels that stayed together, I was on one of these. But I think that what happens on the raft-up of the Top End Barra Series, should stay on the raft-up. A bit like what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas... So I will apply some kind of media black out, and not show on this family orientated blog, any of the picture that I made during that night...

Being a non drinker myself, I was one of the first to wake up, and as so far I only had for my name a big fat donut, I started to flick a lure around in the hop to catch a fish while every body else was still sleeping.

It didn't work, but I did caught a strange little worm on a popper:

Worm on the hook.

At one stage, there was literally hundreds of them swimming around the boat.

I didn't taste it to see if it was tasting like fish or not, I just dropped it back in the water.

Then every body woke up, some had a light breakfast, some other didn't felt like it.

Then, simply because boys will be boys, one of the lad started to run some donut on the river with is boat:

Yeeehaaa!!!

Dean and I went to explore some new spot in the hope of doing better than on the previous day.

And there, on my first cast of the day, using a Terrif DC-9 Bullet by DUO Lures, the same lure that got me a crab the day before, I finally got my first fish in the boat!

No, it was not a Barramundi, it was just a baby Rock Cod, but that was enough to make me happy:

My baby Rock Cod.

I then told myself that this was a good sign, surely it was going to be a day filled with numerous catch!

Well it didn't exactly panned out like that. It was a great day on the water, but not filled by numerous captures.

We went to another creek for not much apart a dropped Barramundi for me, and a few little Trevally for Dean. Then moved to another one, where we saw Billster, and started to troll the same troll line than him. 

On the bank of this creek we saw a Jabiru and I wanted a quick photo of it as we were going to pass next to him. I put my rod in the rod holder, and walked at the front of the boat to take a quick pic:

The juvenile Jabiru.

I had not yet made the photo that I wanted, but glanced in the direction of my rod: The rod was totally bent in the rod holder! But not bouncing up and done like when a fish is starting a fight and gives some serious head shake. No, it was just bent and the line was peeling from the reel.

I told Dean that I must have got snag on something, to which he replied that no he thought that I had a fish on.

So I grabbed the rod, and give it a jerk, thinking that I was going to prove my point...

The line started to fly of the reel twice as fast and still no head shake or splash like a Barramundi would do. So I called it for the mother of all Catfish. Dean said that no, he believed that this might be a Barra.

The fish didn't came to the surface, and was very heavy, every time that he was close to the boat, he didn't came up and jump, but just dived a bit more, and took some more line again.

At one stage I started to panic and said that I was going to be spooled! Dean in a very calm way, looked at my reel and said: "No don't stress about that, you still have plenty of line on your reel, at least 10 meters" and burst out laughing. Typical of the kind of thing that I needed to keep my cool! 

It was time for some serious rod work and under the good advices of Dean I got it back to the boat. Where for the first time it came close to the surface for a very short time and Dean said: It is a Barramundi, did you see it, it is a Barra! We got even more excited, and I started to think that I had just hooked the biggest Barramundi ever. Or at least my personal best. This fish was delivering me the best battle that I had ever encounter. Just as it was under the boat, one of the hook popped and the rod had a little jump in my hand when it happened. Even Dean saw it and said that I must have popped a hook.

Just another way to stress you even more when you are fighting what you are now sure is your biggest barra ever.

Dean got the net ready and on the first scoop got the fish in it.

It was suddenly very hard not to shout very loudly how happy I was.

This had been the best fighter I had ever had on the line while chasing Barramundi, even if it wasn't my personal best.

My super rocket fish.

Yet at 76 cm (29.92126 inch) it was my best Darwin Harbour Barramundi. I was not going to have a zero fish round in the harbour and I was full of joy.

Also, I was going to get some good fish for my little one, and this made me happy too.

So head first it was pushed in the esky.

Billster came by and joked that they had been trolling this stretch all morning for not a single fish and that on our first troll in there we had a decent fish: totally unfair from his point of view.

I nearly apologised, but was too happy for it, that wouldn't have ringed true.

We did get a few very nice hit in the same creek, one of them bending the hook of my lure, straight on the hit, without even the hint of a brawl. I just didn't got the time to do anything... This made me think that maybe, just maybe, I should ease my drag a little bit...

Then Dean got a nice little Queenfish:

Queenfish in the sky.

It was released, and we could see Muntzy who had joined us in this creek, getting some nice fish.

Dean then got a rat of a Barra, it was definitively too small to give him any point. But we had fun making a photo like if it was a very big fish:

The giant little fish.

Mutzy just to show us how to do it, got another fish:

Muntzy with a point scorer.

Fishing solo, he was doing a great job at steering his boat, reeling in and netting his fish all by himself.

But it was the end of the day, it was time to call it a day and to go back to port.

The wind had picked up a bit but it was still a nice trip on the harbour:

Homeward bound.

This had been a great weekend, with a lot of laugh, and some good fishing too. 

After all getting fish like that just next to a capital city is still a really cool feeling.

Thank you Dean for taking me onboard of your boat.

Then at the prize presentation, I didn't get any prize for my fishing, but I got a lucky door prize!

And when I say lucky, it was more than lucky.

Dean had got some really cool prizes in the previous round and had made a donation toward a prize for the round five. Sheeby won the door prize, but because he had won the second place in the round five, and had already received a very nice reel, he said to redraw the door prize so someone else get a chance at it. And that was me!

Here is what I got for my door prize:

KO Lures.

A voucher to be spent in the KO Lures shop in Darwin. 

For those of you that don't know KO Lures, this is a new brand of fishing tackle accessories, by a Darwin company. I have not yet fished with any of their lures, but they do look good and very robust, so I can't wait to try them.

Thank Top End Barra Series, Dean, Sheeby and KO Lures.

The two little soft plastics at the bottom were a present as a bonus from the boss of KO Lures, very kind of him, I will swim them as soon as I can!

How and what was my score in this round?

Well I arrived in seventh position for the round, and this placed me in number four on the overall scoreboard. 

One point higher that at the last round.

This is great, but I will not be able to climb higher on the ladder, as the three first ones, have way too much advance for me to catch up with them in the next and final round. Even if I was to win the next round (which I don't believe I can), I would just stay in the fourth position. 

And realistically, there is a lot more chance of me loosing a few point in he next round, which will take place in a billabong where I have fished only twice in the past.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.