NT Fishing Report

With Alex Julius               27 May 2010

Last week I wrote that boats had been raising huge numbers of sailfish down Dundee way, the same as happened last year. One boat skippered by John Sykes landed 10 sailfish in one day, which would even raise eyebrows over at Broome which has the best sailfishing available in Australia.

I then wrote: “Bloody hell, will one of our gamefishing clubs please get a dedicated billfish tournament happening from Dundee?” Well, the old adage that great minds think alike is definitely applicable here.

The day after my column was published, I had a call from old mate Wayne Baldwin, who is on the committee of the Darwin Game Fishing Club.

Wayne explained that the club had actually been looking at the options to run a DGFC billfish competition at Dundee early next year.

“This year we are already locked in for October 1, 2 and 3,” Wayne said.

“What we are trying to do at the moment is to determine what our options would be if we encountered poor weather/sea conditions if the comp is set early, as we may have to reduce fishing times if we experience strong winds.

“As with most blue water comps, we would have to include the option in the rules to ensure safety was the main factor and, if necessary, delay lines in until the wind abates and or if necessary call it off for the day as a last resort.

“We are basically looking to obtain information on billfish raised, hooked and tagged by the hour from – say 0700 to 5pm including the weather conditions; lines in may also be extended depending on where and how the comp is set up,” Wayne explained.

“If we obtain sufficient information, we will be able to determine whether we think the comp could be set early in the year and, if we experience ordinary conditions, sufficient billfish may still be encountered in a shorter timeframe to make it worthwhile for competitors and keep everybody happy little campers…the last thing we want to do is set ourselves up for a flop,” Wayne told me.

That sounds fantastic to me, but there were more great minds thinking alike.

On Saturday night I was chatting with another old mate, Peter Deinhoff, who told me he and other keen game fishing friends had also been discussing how good it would be to have a game fishing club billfish tournament down at Dundee, and then laughed the next day when he read it in the paper. In line with Darwin Game’s research intentions, Pete and Dean Shaw fished Dundee for sails last Sunday and Monday.

Guess what – it was game on again!

Pete said they kept a log as follows: Sunday 13 raised for 3 captures; Monday 4 raised for 1 capture; total 17 raised for 4 captures.

“It was all around low tide for two or three hours early in the morning for both days,” he said.

“The action all took place two nautical miles north-west of Bowra Shoals, which some people call Bowra Wide, and you could still see Point Blaze quite clearly.

“We only used 20L of fuel to get there from Dundee.

“We went out to Sail City for the high tide in the afternoon on Sunday, but there was no activity, so Monday it was back to Bowra Wide and more sailfish action, although not as good as the day before,” Pete told me.

“I don’t know why Monday was slower – they did have a lot of rain on Saturday night at Dundee which may have poured out the Finniss on Monday.”

Pete said: “They weren’t big fish – all about the 1.5-1.7m range…the big ones seem to be closer to Darwin at Fenton Patches where Phil Hall has been catching them.

“There were eight boats chasing sails on Sunday and I spoke to Chris Jones from Rivers and Reef who told me his boat had enjoyed similar great fishing to our own.

“Honestly, there were pods of sails between the boats, and once all four of our rods went off,” an excited Pete reported.

“When we hooked up, we would leave the boat in gear until another rod went off.

“We had a double hook-up on for quite some time,” Pete said.

The fish was actually l and Natalie Ker (My wife) was in the boat as well.

Also out at Bowra Wide were Darwin Game Fishing Club President, Josh Ker, with his wife Natalie and Martin Brain.

“Martin caught his first-ever sail and Natalie actually caught her first as well,” Josh told me.

“We caught three for the day, had weight on another four or five but probably saw at least 30 or more free swimming and feeding on very small baitfish…pretty awesome stuff,” Josh reported.

Well, there you go: early dry season, neap tides and just out from Dundee is quite clearly the recipe for amazing billfish action.

I’m sure Darwin Game Fishing Club’s planned billfish tournament off Dundee next year will attract a huge field.

Chris Makepeace from AFANT emailed me to explain that new signs and a loud speaker system are going up at Larrakeyah on the breakwater and rock wall at HMAS Coonawarra.

“It is actually good news as it means the Navy recognises the need to keep fishers informed,” Chris wrote.

“ADC Commander Donnelly and I met before he sent us a letter explaining the new signs, so there were no surprises.

“The new signs do not involve any additional general restrictions on recreational fishers around Larrakeyah but will give the Navy authority to impose restrictions during periods when very high security is required.

“The loud speakers are also a good idea as they can warn any boats if they are potentially in the way of any Navy boats coming or going at Larrakeyah,” Chris explained.

This is one of four sailfish caught off Dundee last Sunday by Peter Deinhoff and Dean Shaw.

Martin Brain gets a helping hand from Josh Ker to display his first-ever sailfish, caught at the prolific Dundee grounds last Sunday.

Natalie Ker and husband Josh with her first sailfish caught from more than 30 sighted in one day.