Alex's Fishing Report 26 May 2011

There’s a lot to be learnt from fishing competitions that can be applied to everyday, non-competitive fishing. With that in mind, I took the opportunity to discuss with John Millyard from the Barra Classic-winning Classic Warlock Team exactly how they went about fishing the Daly River.

Bear in mind that this is the third time in six years that this team of John, Trevor Robb and Justin Jones has won the Barra Classic.

They’ve also won the Barra Nationals and are red-hot favourites to do it again this week.

This is what John had to say: “If we’ve done a pre-fish, we then know what’s happening with the tides and where to go.

“We’ve got a lot of good spots we can go to – a lot of history to call on.

“We pick one spot where we start – always a spot where we’ve done well before – and where the trolling is not too difficult,” John explained.

“We can get our lures through most snags but don’t see the point in trolling where it’s impossible.” Lure selection is important and John said that one team member – usually John himself – will have a Classic 120 15+ in Guns n’ Roses colour on all day.

“Trevor and Justin will swap lures around until they find one that works – usually a Flatz Rat 15+, a Warlock 80 or a Classic 160 in the new pink glass colour,” John said.

“We also do the speed trolling, hunting big barra, with Bomber 16As and 17As, but that can be wasting time because those big Daly River fish can be so difficult to land.

“I hooked two and couldn’t stop them – I didn’t even see them and I locked up with smoking thumbs.

“Really though, if you’ve got 40 boats in one area, trolling all over each other, it’s just not worth it.

“When we fish, Trevor drives the boat while Justin is the steadying influence, the cement that holds the team together.

“My knowledge is limited re the tides so I just rely on the other two to pick the spots at any given time,” John admitted.

John was adamant that the team’s boat and outboard played a big part. The rig is a 6m bass-style boat fitted with an E-TEC 225HO.

“We cruise at 80-90kph at about 4800rpm. We can do 120kph but that’s not a good idea on the Daly.

“What amazed us is just how slow and quiet we can troll with the big motor.

“The boat’s fitted with a 36V Minn Kota electric outboard which we’ve previously used to troll, but the big E-TEC crawls along at 500rpm and we find we don’t need the electric to troll.

John also raved about fuel consumption on the river: “Even with all our running around at pretty quick speeds, we still only used about 90L a day.”

The Classic Warlock’s win was even more impressive when you take into account the fact the boat hit a log on the second day, bending the propeller shaft and completely removing one blade.

Not many teams take a spare boat with them to a fishing tournament, but that luxury was afforded to the Classic Warlocks because John’s old boat had been on sale and had still not sold.

“We took it down as well to show people and it was available if anyone had a breakdown – unfortunately it was us.

“So it cost us only three hours because someone going to Darwin towed the new boat to Territory Marine to get a new outboard leg and prop fitted.

“That evening at 6.30, we rendezvoused at Adelaide River where the boat was waiting for us to tow back to the Daly – Steve Blair and his team were amazing,” John said.

Fishos are asked to avoid the fishing grounds around Lee Point for the next three weeks while work takes place to extend the artificial reef structures. The project involves barges working in the area lowering large concrete culverts into the sea.

Small boat owners should stay well clear of the work which, in any event, will make fishing conditions less than ideal until the sand and mud settles.

This certainly is an impressive project. Uranium miner, Energy Resources Australia, donated 600 surplus reinforced concrete culverts to the Northern Territory Government’s artificial reef program.

The culverts are 6 metres long, about a metre in depth and width, with steel reinforcement that will provide long-lasting fish-attracting structures.

This new reef will be the biggest ever established in the Territory, and should become a terrific, close-inshore fishing stop in the years ahead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
The Classic Warlock’s boat cruises at 80kph and has a top speed of 120kph.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tim Pel bagged his PB 115cm barra at the South Alligator.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lucas Pel scored his first metre barra at the South Alligator.