NT Fishing Report
With Alex Julius 29 April 2010
Judging by the stories from weary, despondent competitors, this year’s Barra Classic was probably the toughest of the last two decades.
A total of 45 teams and 135 anglers plied the beautiful waters of the Daly River for five days, and managed to catch, tag and release on 328 barra.
This scenario was predicted by some following unseasonal late rains in the Katherine region that had the river rising as the tournament commenced.
A new rule was instigated this year by the Darwin Game Fishing Club which hosts the Barra Classic: boats were not allowed to be anchored or stationary against the bank, and in fact had to be making forward progress at all times.
The new rule was brought in following the success in recent years of teams which relied solely on anchoring and casting soft plastics.
Traditionally, the Barra Classic has been a trolling tournament although, in its formative years dating back to 1982 when it started, the Classic was considered to be at the forefront of developing new fishing styles and techniques for catching barra.
Without entering the argument about whether the new rule was a wise one or not, clearly the Classic can no longer be regarded as a leader in pioneering new barra fishing techniques…or can it?
Ironically, the very technique that was targeted with the new rule was the technique used for practically 100 per cent of the time by the eventual winning team, and it did that without breaking the new rule at all.
Perhaps aptly calling themselves The Mongrels, the team of Tom McCullough, Matt West and Ben Wall brutalised the rest of the field by utilising the latest technology in electric outboards and casting soft plastic Squidgy Slick Rigs into the snags and gutters.
Basically, it works like this: the new Humminbird I-Pilot electric outboard holds a boat in the one spot and can be operated to move forward at a minute pace, especially against the prevailing currents of the Daly River.
Boats equipped with one of these electrics were able to operate practically as if they were anchored, getting several casts away and working a spot thoroughly before the boat angle changed significantly.
The Mongrels scored 2145 points to win Champion Team.
There were also three Runner-up Champion Teams in the Barra Classic: The Daly Dogs, comprising Stuart Foote,
Garry Braithwaite and Andrew Darby were Champion Local Team; The Warlocks, comprising John Millyard,
Trevor Robb and Justin Jones, were Champion Mixed Team; and The Pilbarians, comprising Mark Cottrell, Justin
Neil and Justin Leech, won Champion Visiting Team.
The Mongrels were nearly 800 points ahead of the second-highest scoring team, The Warlocks. Stuart Foote caught the biggest barra at 107cm.
Matty West was also a convincing Champion Angler, scoring 1185 points including 550 on the last day. He reckoned there were several factors in helping The Mongrels win so convincingly.
“The I-Pilot really made a difference,” he said.
“Also, Tom’s new boat was fitted with a 175 E-tec, so we could do 88km per hour, and with no wake because the boat’s out of the water.
“One day we went from Alligator Head to No Fish Creek in 14 minutes.
“But those 110 Squidgy Slick Rigs were definitely the lure choice, especially the Evil Minnow colour,” the top angler told me.
Matty used a G.Loomis GLX CR723 matched to wither a Shimano Core 100 or 50.
“For soft plastics, the Core is so light and the GLX so sensitive that you can really feel what the lure is doing at the other end,” he said.
Apparently The Mongrels had a funny moment when Matty netted a 76cm barra for Tom.
At that moment, Ben hooked a ripper 85cm fish, but a hard-body lure attached to another rod got caught on the net. There was total pandemonium as Matty tried to get the lure unstuck from the net.
They were yelling to each other and Matty stepped backwards and fell over, while Tom stubbed his toes on a seat stem. He’d only just had a knee reconstruction and screamed out loud.
Suddenly the fish was beside the boat and Tom grabbed the net, complete with lure, G.Loomis rod and Shimano Calcutta 200DC attached and thrust the lot into the water to net the fish.
“”We’ve got to get this one!” he cried out loud as $1000 worth of fishing outfit disappeared in the drink.
As luck would have it, they got the fish, and the rod and reel back…and they had two beauties flapping on the deck. Apparently anglers fishing nearby nearly fell out of their boats, they were laughing that loud.
The Barra Nationals kicks off down the Daly next Monday, but it’s expected the river will be in a completely-different mood.
It should certainly be lower and, hopefully, plenty of big barra will have moved up and will be keen to jump on competitors’ lures.
Tom McCullough nets Ben Wall’s 85cm barra, and a $1000 Shimano outfit, into the boat for the winning Mongrels team in the Barra Classic.
ET fished the Barra Classic and caught this terrific 98cm fish.