NT Fishing Report
With Alex Julius 20 October 2011
If you want a shot at a big barra this weekend, then you should be rubbing your hands with glee. The tides this weekend, falling as they do after some sweet, rain-laden storms this week, are spot on for several locations.
These are neap tides of course – almost dead neap except that they will be just starting to increase in size. So, even though tidal movement will be minimal, on both Saturday and Sunday it will be more than the day before.
Given we are well into the Build-up – which, for my money, offers more top-notch barra fishing opportunities than the Run-off – this combination of tides, weather and time of year is virtually unbeatable this weekend…but not everywhere.
Forget about Darwin Harbour, for example; you’ll need far more tidal movement to get those slender harbour salties on the chew.
However, looking towards the other side of Darwin, and assured as you are of excellent water clarity, the lower reaches of the Adelaide River are a special on these tides.
Simply launch at the new Saltwater Arm Ramp and head down and out of that small system, and straight into and up the mouth of the Adelaide.
If you do that around daybreak on both Saturday and Sunday, you’ll have ample opportunity to get settled into your chosen spot in time for low tide.
Trolling either side of the Narrows, where there are some terrific rocks, may not yield you a bag limit catch of barra, but you might catch a metrey…and maybe a runaway black jew to boot. Here’s a tip: use the Killalure River Rat 20+ at the Narrows, and just stick to the Elton John colour.
Moving up from the Narrows, you have a beaut – and often ignored – ripper little creek on the left side. Lots of metre-plus barra have come from this creek over the years.
Here’s another tip: troll in to and out of the mouth with Classic 120s in what is colloquially referred to as the “dog’s dick” colour (that’s black with a red head).
Next up on the left side is Wiltshire No 1. This is a particular favourite of mine as I bagged a 120 barra up inside it a few years ago, and I’ve seen plenty more metreys come over the side of the boat too.
There are lots of spots to fish in this big creek, but try casting and trolling the upriver bank just as you lose sight of the creek mouth. Otherwise, pick the usual haunts up the creek, including the two junctions that you can’t miss.
Wiltshire No 2, just a bit further up, went bananas at this time last year, especially on similar tides to this weekend.
Wiltshire No 3, again not too much further up, is where to try if you haven’t found barra in the aforementioned spots.
If you only have a few hours to spare and still wish to target a big barra, try Leeders Creek on Sunday afternoon.
Basically, you’ll be fishing across the mid-afternoon high tide, trolling the right-hand bank heading down in about 3-5m.
The actual spot is the long bend down near the mouth, basically working from the mouth to about a kilometre upstream. Classics, Reidy’s The Judge and Killalure deep Barra Baits all work on this troll run.
If you’re up for a bit of travel, would you believe that the Daly River is still fishing well. Old mate Tony Hare and his brother Cliff were down there last week on the springs. They fished in the arvo at the Rock-bar and caught eight barra trolling right in the gap on the left side going down.
Tony reckons there wasn’t another boat on the river and the water was clear all the way down to the top of the S-bend.
On the tides this weekend, the Daly should be fishable for a long way downstream…and metre-plus barra are a definite possibility.
Finally, according to Steve Compain from Tackleworld, Manton Dam has been fishing well on soft plastics. A 101cm barra was caught there this week and plenty of others in the 80s and 90s.
Getting away from barra for a moment, Fishing and Outdoor World’s George Voukolos told me the mackerel are biting like mad offshore from Bynoe Harbour at places like Bass Reef and near Indian Island.
There’s nothing like catching a PB barra, which is what world-class chef (check the pants out), Marc Besnard, did when he bagged this 90cm silver beauty in Wonjy Creek.
Russell Manning’s Corroboree 80cm barra was caught on a Killalure Terminator.