NT Fishing Report
With Alex Julius 24 March 2011
By all accounts, last week’s annual Kakadu Barra Klash was every bit a success.
Held at the Aurora Kakadu Resort, it seems that a moderating weather pattern happened just in a nick of time, and the good old South Alligator River turned it on for most of the competitors.
According to Dave Silva, who fished with his son Ryan and multiple-Klash winner, Col Cordingley: “The river was high but not too high.”
“All the creeks were pumping furiously up the top, and there were lots of rats to catch.”
The Klash operates on a system of one fish per team being entered for each of the three days of competition. Each team enters its biggest fish each day by photographing it on a brag mat with a supplied competition camera which is handed in each evening.
Judging by the results this year, there wasn’t an abundance of those bigger 90cm-to-metre-plus fish that sometimes make the Klash an absolute rip snorter.
You can see this in the scores posted by the tied third-place teams: Team Daiwa (Graeme Wrightson, John McGuiness and Mathew Rawlinson) and Team Rule 303 (Geoff Bishop, Carl Davies and Luke Hanton). They each scored 230 points for an average of 77cm per fish per day. No doubt there was an 80cm or two in that catch.
Ever-consistent Team Fusion (Michael Dickinson, Richard Dickinson and Geoff Green) came in second with a score of 246 cm, but that included Richard’s 108cm barra on the last day – the biggest barra of the tournament.
That equates to a pair of 69ers for the first two days.
However, one team did find quality barra each day: Top End Tackle World (Shane Compain, Bryce Neal and Jamps Gregory) which registered a comfortable win in this year’s Klash.
It seems team captain, Shane, was a hard task master for this event. He drove their E-TEC-powered boat at a blinding speed, each day covering the distance from the South Alligator boat ramp to Brooke Creek at the river mouth in just 45 minutes.
And his primary tactic was simple: cast, cast and keep casting, even if your arms feel like falling off.
With five minutes to go on day one, the tactic paid off when Jamps connected to a one-metre barra which gave the team the lead right from the start.
That pattern continued into day two when Bryce caught an 88cm barra, the overall biggest for that day. With an 89cm barra on the last day, and a team total of 277 points, the tournament was in the bag.
In fact, I understand the lads went back to the pub at lunchtime after catching that fish – their reasoning being that the team running second going into the last day would need to catch a 126cm barra to win…fair enough!
Interestingly, Aurora Kakadu has switched to BP’s new, improved Opal unleaded fuel which was developed to eliminate issues arising from young children petrol sniffing. According to the staff at the resort, there was not one complaint.
By all accounts, including from my own experiences at the Arnhemland Barramundi Nature (where the new Opal was tested), this improved version requires no additives and both 2-stroke and 4-stroke outboards have no issues with it.
In case you hadn’t heard, after a great deal of soul-searching, nail-biting and seriously-stressful deliberation, the Palmerston Game Fishing Club has announced that this year’s Club Marine Barra Nationals will go ahead as planned on 10 April.
The great worry of course was the lateness of this big wet season, and the significant flooding that has taken place down the Daly River.
Over the past few weeks, the committee has sought advice and counsel from former organisers, long-term competitors, skippers, The Banyan Farm owners, as well as scientists from the Bureau of Meteorology and the Department of Natural Resources.
According to Tournament Co-ordinator, Ray Colley: "We have also carefully considered the preparedness of the venue following the flood events of February and March 2011.
"The analysis of the logistical issues around roads, food, fuel, condition of the boat ramp and the readiness of our pontoon system was taken into account in assessing the situation.
"Competitor safety has been at the forefront of our risk analysis; given the information at hand we believe the tournament will be a safe and fun event.
"We thank those teams and sponsors who have offered logistical support, equipment, their labour and additional funding to ensure everything is done to ensure the event is equal to if not better than those we have enjoyed over the past 15 years," Ray said.
Late last week, the club sent out a “situation report” to all those entered and to all the sponsors for this year’s Nationals.
Clearly, in making the decision, the biggest concern has been safety.
Team Top End Tackle World, Bryce Neal, Jamps Gregory and Shane Compain, with the spoils of victory after winning last week's Kakadu Barra Klash.
Team Fusion's Michael Dickinson, Richard Dickinson and Geoff Green came second thanks to Richard's 108cm barra, the biggest of the tournament.