My First Bad Rash Lures

Hi there,

Here comes my first Bad Rash Lures.
A lure made by Daniel, with some beer lids, recycling at its finest if you asked me.

First a few photos, then a text sent to me by Daniel.

In the packaging.

Yes, they do come in a nice little plastic bag, with a picture of a Mangrove Jack fished on a Bad Rash Lures. And I got lucky, the one on the pic is made with the same lids that the one I got.

Out of the bag.

Yes, made with the lids of the very well known XXXX Gold, a beer made in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, since a very long time. In fact it is the most popular beer in nearly all of Queensland.

Bad Rash Lures.

And now the text sent to me by Daniel, which explain how Bad Rash Lures came to be:

        "The idea of using beer lids to catch fish is nothing new, the concept has been around for quite some time. I have been making lures for as long as I can remember. I first started making lead slug type lures out of barrel sinker to cast at schools of Mackerel and Tuna in Moreton Bay about 25 years ago. Next came some timber lures for catching anything from Bass and bream through to Mangrove Jacks and Barra some of which I still use today. I had quite a spell from making lures and the bug came back about 3 years ago. 

I started to produce some lures that were quick and easy to make and started producing beer lid poppers. They consist of a beer lid glued to a tapered cork, wire and a hook and do not take too long to make, and are quite effective. I have not used them consistently but have caught some noteworthy fish on them including Trevally, Barra and Mangrove Jack. 

The idea of beer lid lures was always in the back of my mind but I never bothered until October this year. Why I started making beer lid lures now I do not have a clue, I think I just wanted to prove to my mate Pete that I could out fish him with all of his fancy gear.

I first started making them just as single lid lure by punching two hole at either end of the lid adding two size 4 split rings and then a size 4, 3X strong VMC treble and a few rocks for weight.
The first time I used them I managed to hook six and land two Saratoga from a small creek standing on the bank.
Next came a solo trip to a local billabong where I managed to catch 21 fish in just over 3 hours. The bulk of them were Saratoga, a total of 17 for the morning, a personal best. These were all caught on a Coopers Pale Ale jointed beer lid lure. Two beer lids were joined via a split ring with a second treble attached in the middle.
I then had a good trip up to Sandy Creek to test them out on some saltwater species. The most noteworthy fish was a Queenfish around the 9kg mark that I had hooked on a jointed Coopers Pale Ale. The fish was caught casting and retrieving the lure across that surface at speed and was hooked for a good ten minutes when we went for a tail grab and it swam off with the rear part of the lure. 
To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. What I found had happened and it happen again on a good Trevally was that the split ring was working its way along the crimped edge of the beer lid until it completely undid. Design fault.

I thought about how I could get rid of the split rings altogether and make the lures stronger from a wear perspective. The holes are only punched in the edges of the beer lids.
I still had some 80lb Mason Downunder stainless steel wire that I was using to make the beer lid poppers. I started to make the current lures that I have now and found that they are performing well so far.

To date I have caught a total of 149 fish on the beer lid lure with the following species and numbers being my most recent tally:

Saratoga - 54
Archerfish - 4
Barra - 9
Tarpon - 24
Fork tail Catfish - 10
Brassy Trevally - 10
Big Eye Trevally - 1
Golden Trevally - 1
Queenfish - 14
Blue Bone - 4
Cod - 2
Bar Tailed Grunter - 1
Spaniards - 2
Mangrove Jack - 1
Sooty Grunter -
8 Spangled Perch - 1
Long Tom - 1
Bass - 2"

And that is it for Daniel text.
Impressive no?
Now, do you want to know about another impressive thing?
Well let me tell you how I got this lure…

Last December, the local newspaper, ran a story about a few of the lures that I have in my small collection.
Daniel saw the article, and just happened to be in town on the day it was published.
He called the paper and asked for my contact, saying that he would have a new lure for me.
A few phone call later, and he dropped by my place and gave me this very lure, saying Happy Christmas !

I call that pure Territory goodness!

Thank you Daniel, I will not swim it, but I will take care of it, be sure of that.
I know that some of my readers will say that a lure is made for fishing and that I should use it…

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

Wallaby Rescue.

Hi there,

Yes today I am going to tell you the story of an Agile Wallaby rescue, in a blog that is usually mostly about fishing.
But bear with me, it has to do with fishing…

It started with a wrongly timed trip on the Adelaide River, near Darwin. A river known for its very large concentration of big salt water crocodiles, Crocodylus porosus.
Jim and I had gone fishing, hopping that the river would have started to drop, but drop it didn't.
In fact we should have been able to see it straight at the boat ramp. I had never seen the water so high on it, while going fishing:

Boat ramp on the Adelaide River.

We couldn't find any calm and clear water anywhere, except in a few little creek flowing in the Adelaide.

The causeway on Goat Island, was under water.

Jim estimated the water  to be flowing at around 15 km per hour. (9.3205679 miles per hour).

So we first started to slowly make our way back, still trying to flick our lures wherever we hopped to find a Barramundi.

When we saw the approaching storm, we decided that a quick run to the ramp was in order.

Storm coming on the river.

Jim went on full throttle, and the mix of rain and wind, made us feel rather cold, to say the least or to stay polite. I bowed my head, trying to protect myself with my hat while Jim was trying to see the floating logs, so no crash would happen.

When suddenly, he stopped and turned the boat around.

Raising my head I asked what was the matter? Jim pointed to a floating, moving thing in the water and said:"there is a possum or something swimming in there".

I looked, and saw the little head bobbing in the water. As soon as it realised that we had turned for him, he started to swam in earnest, in direction of the boat.

I first thought that I should take a photo of it swimming in the fast flowing waters. But remembering that we were basically where they do the jumping crocodiles show, I scooped it quickly in the net. Before it become someone's snack.

Jim pulled out a nice little joey from the fishing net:

Jim and the dripping wet Agile Wallaby.

This was a very nice little guy. Yet in Jim's arms, it soon went a bit feral, started to make funny noises, tried to scratch and bite.

Wallaby onboard.

Quick thinking was needed, I was laughing, so Jim did it, and he emptied a small cooler bag, and presented it to this little guy, who without too much persuasion dived in it head first.

Wallaby in the cooler bag.

It instantly calmed down, so much in fact that we started to worry that he might have suddenly died.

But when trying to pull him out, he showed in no uncertain ways that he was still very much alive.

So we decided to leave him in there until we would be back at the car.

What's in your bag?

And this photograph, is with no doubt the best advertising for Jack Daniel's, Territory style…

At the car Jim put him in a dry beach towel, where it fell asleep, exhausted little thing.

Cute as a button, a sleeping joey.

From there we took it to an animals refuge who in turn would hand it to the local prison. There as part of a program, the inmates will take care of it and put him back in good shape. After what it should be release in the wild.

As a bonus, here is a photo of yours truly, to show you that I was really there:

Holding a wallaby joey.

Thank you Jim for inviting me on this trip.

This is how an otherwise uneventful fishing trip, turned into one that is definitely a memorable one.

Even if once again, I came back home fish less…

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

The Darwin Dart.

Hi there,

The Darwin Dart is a lure close to the heart of many Territorians. Yet it was made in Narooma, NSW. So, why so much love in the North?

To start you have the name: Darwin Dart, clever marketing …

And then came its fish catching ability.

A quality due to the passion for fishing from its maker: Mick Elliot.

Mr. Elliot started to make his own lure as a teenager in Queensland. After his family had moved to NSW. With the help of his father and brother, Mick started to produce his lures for the commercial market, in 1983. First carved by hand from White Beech wood, the success and demand for the Darwin Dart quickly become too much for the trio. They had to use a copy lathe to respond to the popularity of their product. The ever-growing success of the timber lure prompted the Elliot family to finally decide to change the whole process and start to make plastic molded lures. The metal bib was replaced by a plastic one, and become integral part of the lure. A rattle was added in the belly of the lure. The success continued.

The Darwin Dart. 

The production has stopped a few years ago. The word on the street is that the molds have all been destroyed when the production ceased.

Portait of a Darwin Dart.

This was a popular lure for Barramundi, Mangrove Jack and other Top End scaly critters. 

An old timer, once even told me that he loved to troll them at speed for Mackerels. Saying that the lures would then flip over and come skipping on the surface, this was how he caught some of his best Macks. Until one bigger than usual, who swam in the sunset with it, took away his last Darwin Dart.

Memories.

This timber Darwin Dart, might not be in perfect condition, but I will sure take care of it, and it won't swim no more.

Yes they are missed in many fishing tackle boxes.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

First Barramundi In 2014.

Hi there,

I finally got my first Barramundi for the year 2014.
Not a big one, but a fish is a fish, as they say. And to be honest, I was still very happy with that, as I had nearly forgotten what it feels like.

Jim had offered to take me on his boat, to some of his secret spots, I was hopping to finally break the drought and catch a Barra.

We launched at around 10:00 in the morning, a big change from all the trips that require a 4:00am start.
And just after the launch, we sailed along the mangrove, toward our destination.

Along the mangrove in the morning light.

But once arrived there, we didn't catch a single fish. We did saw a few Barramundi and sight casted in their direction, but without success. At one stage Jim got a good hit, but the hit didn't transform in a hooked fish. Yet navigating in a tight creek, with mangrove on bot side, was really pleasant, something that I had missed.
I realised very quickly, due to the amount of times my lure ended in the trees above the banks. Instead of the water where the fish are supposed to live, that I had become a bit rusty, this was clear.

So we decided to try our luck, at another spot. On our way there, we trolled our lures, in the hope to snag a stray Barra. I had a Gold Bomber on, and was just thinking that I had never done any good with them. When I got a smallish hit on the line, and started to get excited. I reeled in  the line, sure that I finally had a baby Barramundi and the end of it. Alas no, it wasn't a Barramundi, it was a Pufferfish.
And worse of all, it hadn't try to have a go at my lure, no, the poor little thing had been hooked, near its back side…
I can't find the picture anymore, or I would have shown it to you, honest.

Then we tried to cast at some snag along the bank of another creek, and Jim landed a Cod, but it was no monster:

First cod of the day.

This cod was taken on a Reidy's B52's, in a colour that I had never seen, not even on the Reidy's catalogue. But obviously, that was a good colour, as in no time, Jim got a second little Cod.

Two in a row.

Seeing that I decided to change my lure for a smaller one, in white.

And in no time, I too was on the Cod board, with an even smaller model:

My baby Cod.

All these little Cod were returned alive to the water, as they definitively needed to grow a bit more before anything else.

Oh, and this photo is also the why I should not try to bear the beard…

The water clarity was pretty good, and we saw a very little snake swim in the water, Jim put his lure near it to give you an idea of size:

Snake (Hydrelaps darwiniensis) and fishing lure.

My friend the snake specialist, B. Schembri, has since told me that this little guy is a black-ringed mangrove sea snake (Hydrelaps darwiniensis) and that they get to about 50 cm long. 

(19.685039 inches).

With such stellar results, we decided to make our way back, and maybe stop at a last creek on the way, depending of the tide.

On our arrival to the last creek, the water looked good, clear, with some snag and some colour change in places.

In my second or third cast, I got a hit and missed it before seeing it, but to me, that felt like a Barramundi, no doubts about it. I said to Jim: I got a hit! Just there, close to the boat, just in this spot!

So Jim, cast roughly in the same direction, and got nailed by a feisty little Barra! I asked if he needed the net, he said that no, this was just a rat and he would deal with it by himself. 

Well, he didn't really had the time to, as just at the boat, the Barramundi spat the lure and swam away without asking any question.

Ha!

Anyway, we were now in the right spot, for sure we were going to catch some nice Barramundi.

Hope is a beautiful thing, isn't it?

Well Jim got another hit, from what he believed was a better fish. We then went as far as we could in the creek, keeping in mind that with the tide going down, we should be carful not to get stuck.

We saw Mullets and bait, but no Barramundi.

On getting out of there, we tried again where we got the three hits before. Jim casting at the front of the boat, and me at the back. When I finally got a hit that stay connected.

I quickly realised that this fish would not beat any records, but I was still surprised by its energy.

Jim got the net ready, and my little fish made another small run, he really didn't like the look of the net. Or maybe my attempt at growing a beard…

But in the end, in the net it went, and I finally had my first Barramundi for 2014.

First Barramundi of the year.

Not a fish of gigantic proportions, but still enough to make me smile. But being an undersize model, I gently dropped it back in the water, for him to grow big and fat, and hopefully we will met again in the future.

This had been a very pleasant half a day trip, and got me my first fish of the year.

Thanks Jim for inviting me on your boat.

And yes, once again I didn't bring back any fish home, and my little one said to me in a sad voice: "Daddy, you never bring any fish home any more, for me to eat…"

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

New Hooks from P E Tackle.

Hi There,

Just a quick post, to say thank you to P E Tackle, for sending me a few very deadly fishing hooks.
They had a small giveaway on their FaceBook page, and I did enter the very simple competition.
Basically, you had to be in the first ten to send them your address to win…
No rocket science there, and I was able to make it.

To be honest I had never heard of them before.
They are a new online fishing tackle  company, based in Australia.
It is good to see a new entrant in the game, who try to have only very high quality gear. A nice change from all the people selling cheap import.

So what does these hooks look like?
Here they are:

Thank you for the present.

Yes, I said thanks for the present, because they arrived in my mail box on the 24 of December.

How good a timing is that?

My favourite ones are the chartreuse ones.

Here is another photo of just one lot:

PE Tackle hooks.

I can't wait to test them, I was even thinking to try to put one or two behind a jig to see what would happen…

So yes, I know, no fishing post in a long time…

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

Quick Bait : Very Good Looking Fishing Lures.

Hi there,

Some times ago, I received some very good looking fishing lures made by Quick Bait.
And when I say good looking, this is really what I mean.

Look at that:

The deep Buster.

What did I told you, isn't it nice?

This is the Quick Bait Buster, the deep version, and it is in my favourite colour from the Quick Bait range.

Look at a close-up portrait of it:

Portrait of a deadly lure.

From all the lures that Quick Bait kindly sent me, I think that this is the only one that I will not use…

Simply because I like the colour too much to take the risk to lose it.

The Buster also exist in a shallow version, and her it comes:

Shallow Buster by Quick Bait.

I can see this lure being very efficient, either in the billabongs, or on the harbour muds flat.

Can't wait to catch a fish on it.

The deep version swims at 4 m and the shallow one at 1-2 m.

Talking of fishing the harbour, there is another lure that should do well, this is the Zig Zag:

Quick Bait Zig Zag.

This one, I think will be interesting to work, when targeting Queenfish or Trevally.

It's action, is as its name point to, is made of continuous zigzag in the water. This is a sinking lure, so can be worked at speed, and should be fun with the small pelagic fish from the shore of Darwin Harbour.

Then comes the Slash, and no we are not talking guitar hero here, but fishing lure…

The shallow version of the Slash.

This is actually the only one that I really had the time to try, and not for very long.

It swims at 1-2 meter deep.

Between the bad weather, and other thing that have creeped in my life lately, I was not able to fish as much as I wanted/needed to. This will have to change.

Any way, as I said, I was once able to troll this lure behind a friend boat, once, for a very short time.

It was on a day, of difficult fishing, when no lures had taken any fish. But just a few minutes in the troll run and this one got me a little Catfish.

Catfish on the Quick Bait Slash.

So at least, I know that these lure look the goods from the fish point of view.

The Slash also came in a deep version that swim at about 2.5m deep.

The deep ones look nice too:

Quick Bait Slash deep version.

Quick Bait Slash deep version.

These two lures, I am sure, will catch me some good fish.

I have a good mate who when talking about fishing lures colour, often says: "If you are not using green, you are not trying."

Yes, I think that this green one, will prove to be a very attractive lure for the fishes…

And last but not least, came the Tinto.

The deep version of the Quick Bait Tinto.

This version is swimming at 4m. A shallower version exist, and it swims at 2m.

And now, if you are still trying to find Nemo… Look no more, because here he is:

Quick Bait Tinto.

How beautiful is that!

The Quick Bait range is not moulded plastic like so many mass produced fishing lures today. It is made by foam injection, a bit like the surf boards.

This mean that they have no rattles and should then work very well, when the fish are a bit shy and a silent lure is needed. And they are handmade too!

Thank you Quick Bait for sending me these fishing lures to test, I am sure that I will have a great time in their company.

Now, I know, I have not posted a lot on the blog lately, and I apologise for it. Sorry about that, but life has been a bit complicated. Things should finally start to be on the right pass from now on, or soon from now.

I will then be be able to regal you with more posts about beautiful fishing lures, and some stories about fishing trips.

But that might still take a few weeks…

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

2013 Top End Barra Series Round 5.

Hi there,

Not long ago the fifth round of the 2013 Top End Barra Series took place on the very picturesque Corroboree Billabong, not very far from Darwin.

Nomad was not sure if his boat would be fixed in time for the round, so I was very lucky to be offered a spot on Peter's boat.
It was still dark when Muntzy picked me up, and on the road to the billabong we went, To catch up with Peter and Dingo at the boat ramp, picking up Dean on the way.

Last year round at Corroboree, had been an absolute fishing failure for me.
With just a minuscule Catfish caught in two days of very heavy fishing. I had not hooked a single Barramundi, and had been hit by countless Saratoga, but could not stay connected to a single one of them. For a full year, I had been waiting, to take my revenge... And more than anything else, I wanted to catch a few Saratoga, and if possible a good one.
Well, yes, for me during this round, it was going to be the year of the Saratoga.

Arrived at the ramp, before we launched the boats, in the morning light, Dingo gave me the Tonic Sunglasses that I had won for a photograph that I had made in the previous round.
The sunglasses, were going to prove themselves to be very helpful during the weekend.
They are great,  simply the best fishing sunglasses I ever had.

We went straight to the Rock Hole, to do a bit of trolling first thing.

The Rock Hole in the morning.

I love the place, it is beautiful, with always a lot of wildlife to look at.

Other competitors were doing the same thing:

Trolling along the Pandanus.

Trolling a hard body lure along the pandanus, is a great way to get into some good Barramundi.

The technic worked fort the boat in the above photograph, as it caught the biggest Barramundi of the weekend.

It even worked for us, but not on the Barramundi front...

Peter and the first fish of the weekend for our boat.

In no time Peter got a hit and we got excited... He reeled in a little Catfish, yes, there is a lot of them in the waters of the billabong. But a fish is a fish, and we, or at least I was very happy, as I believed that this was proof that we were onto a fishy patch.

Well it would be a bit of time before the next fish.

Between the first one and the second one, we were lucky enough to spot a rather large buffalo, having a bit of a bath at the water edge.

Water Buffalo having a chill out time.

And not long after, Peter got a Tarpon:

Peter's first Tarpon.

This was Peter first ever Tarpon, and it is alway very satisfying to catch a new specie.

The mood was on the happy side of things.

Then, one more time, it was going to be a few hours before we get some fish on boards again.

To the extant, that we had a mini raft up with three or four other boats, chatting away, talking fishing and general fisher people's banter. All the while most of us were flicking lures towards the bank. Many of my friends, got hit by fishes, but none of them boated a fish on this occasion. I was the only one, to not get a single hit, this seemed very wrong to me. Most of them had already earlier in the day, caught either a Saratoga, a Barramundi or any other fishes that live in these landlocked waters.

But not me, I was yet to get a single hit, and was starting to question my choice of lure.

After spending so long thinking of a technic that would help me to have a better hookup rate than last year, I decided to stick to it a bit longer. 

That may have been my wisest move of the weekend.

As the raft up disintegrated itself, with everyone going in opposite directions, to get on with the business of catching some fish. Just our boat and Nomad's boat, which had been fixed just in time to enter the round, were still tied together, and as we drifted to the other side of the billabong. Peter, Nomad and I exchanging jokes about anything and everything, with me being the only one still casting my fishing lure around.

This is when I got my first Barramundi of the weekend, while I was targeting the mighty Saratoga:

My first Barramundi of the weekend.

They both said that it was rude of me, to catch a fish while we were having a deep and meaningful conversation... Of course I did not share their point of view...

The fish was 61cm (24.015748 inches), not really a giant, but it was one of the mystery sizes of the event. So it won me a prize!

Seeing that I had caught a fish, both Nomad and Peter started to fish too, and Nomad got a Saratoga!

This was a nice fish, and made us think that it was time to take things a bit more seriously, so we untied the boats and fished in earnest.

I got another hit, I hooked up and I then reeled in a new personal best for me. But it was not a Barramundi or a Saratoga. No, it was the biggest Archerfish I had ever caught.

A rather nice Archerfish.

I don't know if it was pure greed, or territorial or familial protection that pushed this fish to hit my lure, but seeing the size of the lure, compared to the size of the fish, I was in admiration for it's determination.

After three fishes had been caught in the same area, we though that we were on the right spot at the right time, and decided to work it a bit longer. This resulted in a fish that made me very happy, my first Saratoga of the weekend.

My first Saratoga of the weekend.

Yes it was a Barramundi competition, but I really wanted a Saratoga. And in fact, there was also prizes for the best Saratoga of the round. Secretly, I hoped to get one of the top three Saratoga of the event.

The first one was a good one, but I thought that I needed better for that.

So I persevered, and got a second one! Albeit a bit smaller.

A smaller Saratoga.

This one was smaller, but started to make me think that I might be able to catch another one, that would hopefully be better. Still casting in the lilies, I got a hit, it connected and it pulled stronger. Was this the big Saratoga that I was pinning for? It jumped out of the water, and I could see that it wasn't, yet it was exciting nonetheless: it was a Barra!

A little Corroboree Billabong Barramundi.

At only 48cm (18.897638 inches), it was 2cm short to be a point scorer... I felt a bit like sitting on it, to see if that would make it longer, but instead, released it to grow a bit more for the next time.

This was fun fishing, getting the fish out of the lilies, on a soft plastic lure. I am more of a hard bodies lures type of guy. But flicking a lure among the lilies and Pandanus roots, I felt a lot more comfortable with a weedless soft plastic lure.

By then it was late in the afternoon, nearly evening and we decided to catch up with other people participating in the round, to see where the night raft up would be. With the time that it took us to find them, and to join the ones who had already started to raft up, it was night time.

Food was eaten, tales were told, and the party started.

All I will say, is that some loud music was played, and some multi-coloured  disco lights were seen. 

it must have been past midnight by the time I fell asleep. And the music was still going strong, lucky, there is not too many neighbours on the water...

It was a good raft-up, with enough boats to keep it alive.

Some coming and leaving as the night progressed.

But soon enough, it was morning, and the call for action sent some very tired fisherman, in search of their prey.

The morning on the billabong is always a sight to admire.

View from the boats before the rising sun.

DUO pocopoco  and sunrise over Corroboree Billabong.

With its matinal warmth, the sun finally came up, before grilling us for the rest of the day.

Quickly, I rigged my line, with the same lure that had worked on the previous day, a weedless Gulp soft plastic.

Weedless Gulp soft plastic.

Not only I usually prefer to fish with hard bodies than soft plastics, but to top it up, the Gulp really stinks. From all the soft plastic that I have ever used, they are certainly the ones with the worst smell. Yet  one of the main reason I wanted to used them, is that they are biodegradable. Having read about the destructive power of the Saratoga bony mouths, I thought that if they were to destroy my lures these ones would left less, if none pollution in the billabong water.

As a bonus, they proved to be very effective, for me on this occasion.

On the Sunday morning, we started to troll, on the edge of the water lilies. I could not resist and stepped   on the cast deck at the front of the boat, and began to flick again, straight in the lilies and other snags. 

While I had a rod trolling a hard body at the back of the boat.

As my trolling lure from the Saturday had not produced any results, I changed and put a little lure that had been offered to me by Peter Z.

And it worked I got a fish! it is just that, it was another Catfish...

Catfish on the Tilsan.

This was going to be the only fish I caught on a hard body and on the troll for the full weekend. All my other fish had been caught on a soft plastic, casting towards the Pandanus roots or in the lilies.

It was definitively exciting fishing.

And yes the Saratoga were on again:

I love fishing for Saratoga.

Double portrait.

We saw a few very large crocodiles during the weekend, and tried to alway be on the lookout for them.

One of them swam past not very far from the boat, but by the time I got my camera ready it was well past us.

Corroboree Billabong crocodile.

Then I got one of these little fish that I really like.

A Mouth Almighty, this is a rather small fish, but with great character.

It is a mouth brooder, the male keep the eggs in it mouth to protect them.

When Barramundi are very young and small, it is one of their worst nightmare, but as soon as the Barramundi become bigger, the roles changes, and Mr Barra then feast on the poor little Mouth Almighty.

And here is mine:

Mouth Almighty or Glossamia aprion.

Despite their small size, they are considered a very good table fish. But I let him go, he was a nice little fella.

Peter, had decided that he didn't want to fish anymore, and was very happy to just steer the boat around, driving me to the best spot, so I could fish, enjoy the moment, and hopefully get to upgrade my fish from Saturday to a better one. This was very kind of him, and I asked him a few time if he wanted us to go back to Darwin. To which he alway replied that no, he was having a great time too, just sailing the billabong. It is true that it is a very beautiful place.

Then I got another Saratoga:

Little Saratoga.

And I finally caught a better Saratoga, which I was hoping would get me in the top three biggest Saratoga of the weekend:

My biggest Saratoga so far.

This was my personal best Saratoga, at 72cm (28.346457 inches).

I know that they can grow much bigger, but this one was in fact going to be big enough to be the biggest of the round! It won me a prize too, this was two prizes for the round. It was a long time that I had won a prize for catching a fish, so two in the same weekend made me more than happy.

And also the fact that I finally had a revenge on the Saratoga that had proven so elusive to me last year.

I was indeed, very happy.

As a little extra, I then managed to catch a little Sleepy Cod:

Sleepy Cod from the Billabong.

This is another excellent eating fish, but I let it go too.

It made me happy that between Peter and I we had caught such a mixed bag of fishes. It shows that the system is very healthy, with a wide variety of fish living in it.

But by then, it was nearly mid afternoon, so we decided to catch up with other participants, for a little chat, and see what they had caught. We saw Moz, who had caught all his fish of the weekend, with his home made fishing lures. This was a great effort, and demonstrated the quality of his work.

We then left them fishing and headed for the ramp, then the road towards home.

On the road again.

This in my books, will stay as a great weekend. 

Thank you Peter, for the invitation to fish from your boat, I had a ball!

Even if, yes I know, I have done the rude thing of out fishing my skipper...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.