FISHING
With Alex Julius 23 September
I had to chuckle at a great bit of feedback I received from Peter Dienhoff following my column last week. Pete emailed as follows:
“Hi Alex, we took your advice and watched the mighty Pies thrash Geelong Friday Night,
then went out for a billfish Saturday and Sunday in a lead up to the XXXX Gold Billfish Tournament.
“Ended up at the (Bathurst) Trench on Saturday afternoon.
“Between two boats we had three fish up around 1pm. Terry Davis caught one estimated at 20-25 kg.
“It took a swimming mullet after crashing a skipping gar.
Terry was pretty happy…first Billfish for 10 years!”
That certainly augurs well for Darwin Game Fishing Club’s XXXX Gold Billfish Tournament to be held 1 October which is the weekend after next.
According to Ron Voukolos from Fishing and Outdoor World, there have been sailfish sightings all the way down to the Peron Islands. Fingers crossed that the winds will be kind for the billfish tournament.
They’re looking good for this weekend, but the big tides aren’t as conducive to chasing billfish of Darwin.
Mind you, who could forget the great report of amazing sailfish action experienced by members of the Darwin Fly Rodders earlier this year.
That took place in the vicinity of Dundee, out near Sail City, and they were big spring tides that weekend.
Ron reckons the mackerel are still biting well out wide at regular haunts like Lorna Shoal. Got One’s Craig Grosvenor verified the mackerel action offshore.
“Mackerel Mal couldnt miss a trick at Fish Reef with mackies on song all day,” he reported.
“First drop with a paternosta rig resulted in an immediate game over – the swivel snipped by a decent fish.
“This clue was a dead giveaway that mackerel were swarming below and, on the next drop, the Reidy’s Knife Jig got annihilated, and then started coming over the gunwales on every cast, the biggest nudging 18kg!” Craig said.
No matter what type of fishing you are planning, this weekend is shaping just fine.
Combined with not-overwhelming spring tides on both Saturday and Sunday, the scenario is outstanding for harbour barra fishing, and even better for Bynoe Harbour.
At this early stage of the build-up, the best fishing in the harbour arms is often around the rock-bars, mainly casting but also trolling on the making tide.
Casting the mud flats adjacent to mangroves on the early making tide can be exciting, especially if the water’s clear enough to sight your fish.
If you’re casting, you’ll find the shallow-running minnows the most productive, especially on the flats. A good tip is to use the Just Under lure in predominately green colour.
It’s quite light and can’t be cast far against the wind on a baitcaster, but it gets chomped pretty quickly by estuary barra, and is especially deadly if used on a light spin outfit.
Other shallow-runners that consistently produce in the harbour arms are fluoro green, gold and tiger lily Bombers, chromed Storm Thundersticks, silver B52s, Classic 97s with the small bib and, for just a bit more depth, proven favourites like the Terminator and Spearhead in brown tiger stripe and tiger lily.
If you can get tomorrow off, the tides are not too shabby bad for The Rock in Shoal Bay and the Howard River. You might also consider venturing up the Howard itself, and also up Tree Point Inlet, and fish one or more of several holes that form on the low tide.
As with the Rock, it’s a case of stranding yourself for a few hours over the low tide, and anticipating a barra bite from when the tide officially turns according to the charts, until it climbs the sand and mud flats and flows into the holes.
In those holes up the river itself, don’t be afraid to use soft plastics. In the early ‘80s, when I used to spend much of my barra fishing time up the Howard, mates and I enjoyed huge success with blue Vibrotails. You’d chuck them out and wind them in slowly so they bumped along the bottom, and the barra would slam them.
Nowadays there is an endless array of tantalising soft plastics to choose from.
If a feed of saltwater barra is not on the agenda, but you’d still like to tangle with a few barra anyway, then the inland billabong scene is definitely the answer. Corroboree and Hardies on the Mary River are both yielding barra.
The best action seems to be along the grass beds, particularly on the longer straights. The trick is to cast with snag-free soft plastics rigged on worm hooks. Pick the gaps and edges and don’t be afraid to chuck right into the vegetation as this lure – rigged correctly – will pull through unimpeded 9 times out of 10. Trolling snag-free plastics has also been producing at Corroboree.
Spinnerbaits also work well in the submerged green stuff. They are designed to get through aquatic vegetation and saratoga absolutely love them.
The Darwin Fly Rodders Saltwater Fly Fishing Challenge was held from Saturday to Monday last. The venue was Bynoe Harbour, with competitors staying at Crab Claw Island Resort. Luckily, the strong winds held off over the weekend but Monday it howled.
Champion Angler was Scotty Mitchell, closely followed by his partner Dave Bowring, so that pair combined to win Champion Team convincingly.
Terry Davis (left) and Peter Dienhoff went practising for the XXXX Gold Billfish Tournament and landed this ripper at the Bathurst Trench.
Jodie Simpson and Lauren Mitchell show off their 92cm barra caught at night at Corroboree Billabong on a Got One Bling Special Classic 120.