NT Fishing Report
Fishing
With Alex Julius 9 December 2010
As the threat of an early, early start to the wet season continues to affect all but very-short-term planning of fishing trips, a check of the tide book tells me this weekend’s intermediate tides offer a host of estuary and bluewater fishing options.
Halfway between the springs and the neaps, water clarity will be improving and there will still be enough tide movement for those species which like a bit of current to feed in.
Perhaps the best local spot to chase a barra on these tides is the Howard River. The Howard has been fishing exceptionally well this build-up, and not just on the low tide, which is generally accepted as the premium time of day to target barra.
Some very big fish are moving up the system on the last half of the incoming tide, and feeding voraciously right at the top.
The Howard River is an intriguing waterway. Basically, it has three arms: the main Howard on the Darwin side, the Little Howard which is a tributary of the Howard proper, and Tree Point inlet which is further to the north.
The entire system runs into Shoal Bay which is also home to three smaller creeks on the Darwin side: King Creek, Meckitt Creek and Buffalo Creek.
There are extensive swamps across much of the Howard’s catchment area.
These swamps hold heaps of freshwater which flows steadily into the system during the wet season and well into the dry season.
If there is one thing common to all great barra rivers, it is the large volume of freshwater which feeds into them.
That is likely the key to why barra – in both numbers and size – are being caught at high tide near the top of the Howard, its arms and the smaller creeks in Shoal Bay: it’s where the salt meets the fresh and where smaller fish and prawns which barra love to chew on abound.
A good tactic on the weekend is to fish across the low tide in one of the holes, then hightail it out as soon as there’s enough water to blast.
Saturday afternoon’s earlier 1.95m tide is definitely the pick of the weekend, but still don’t expect to get out of the system much before dark, so storms across the bay in the evening have to be taken into account.
Unfortunately, since the demise of Shoal Bay Boat Hire, and its launching facility, the closest access point to the Howard system is Buffalo Creek so, if you decide to fish until after low tide, make sure you take something to hide under and some food and water to get you through the night…just in case you have to hole up inside the mangroves should a storm hit.
To get into the Howard River, you’ll need to head up it by about 11.00am.
Once inside, it’s a matter of choosing one of several holes that will get close to being landlocked as the tide drops.
There’ll be barra in these holes, and you can target them on both hard-bodied lures and soft plastics.
If you can use a throw-net, take one and catch some live mullet baits and prawns, both of which are guaranteed to catch you a barra or three.
One of the best baits to use is a strip of blue salmon, and you’re always a chance of catching one of those in the Howard.
I haven’t done this for a few years, but my experience has been that the barra come on best for the last half hour before the incoming tide reaches whichever particular hole you’ve stranded yourself in.
I can’t remember exactly how far from the boat launching facility the biggest hole is, but I can tell you it is about 500 metres below the T-junction.
This hole is actually long and deep enough to troll, and it holds metre-plus barra at times.
Most years, the T-junction itself has a good hole near it, and there’s often another one about 300m along the right arm.
Hopefully you will have nailed a few saltwater barra by the time the tide surges in, and then you can head back to Buffalo Creek – hopefully, storm free.
Whatever you do, don’t forget your insect repellent.
AFANT is about to activate a new communication aid for fishers and boaters in the Darwin area.
“VHF radios are the most suitable and affordable form of small boat communications but their effectiveness is limited by the relatively short range — virtually line of sight — signal of the VHF system,” said AFANT Committee Member Paul van Bruggen.
“That range can be greatly extended through the use of repeater stations placed on elevated sites and we now have one of these located in the Darwin area.
“The repeater will operate on VHF Channel 21 and, depending on conditions, may be effective for boat-to-boat communications up to 30 kilometres from the repeater site which means coverage of all of Darwin Harbour and offshore fishing areas from Gunn Point to Charles Point including Fenton Patches and North and South Gutters.
“Coverage will vary greatly depending on the location and the on-board equipment and antennas used by boaters so people should do their own communications tests in the areas they usually fish to check how effective it will be for them.
“AFANT is operating the repeater to make it easier for fishers and boaters in the Darwin area to keep in touch but people must not rely on it for safety or search and rescue purposes as AFANT cannot guarantee the coverage of the service or that it will be operational at all times.
“We want to thank the Darwin Amateur Radio Club, the guys from the Fish Finder forum and businesses around Darwin for their help in getting this facility up and running,” Mr van Bruggen said.
Beautiful silver barra like Vicki McGeoh’s 99cm barra caught last month are always on the cards up the Howard River and in the Shoal Bay system.
Darren Kilkeary’s black jew took a lure meant for a barra.