NT Fishing Report

With Alex Julius      30 June 2011

Considering we are experiencing record chilly temperatures in June, it is surprising that the annual dry season bream run in Darwin Harbour has not yet started.

Normally, if there is one thing that annually coincides with the arrival of those chilly Darwin mornings, it is the arrival of the northern pikey bream along our coastal bays and up the saltwater creeks.

According to the Fil-O-Fish Waterproof Handbook of Australian Fishes, a second species of bream is supposed to inhabit our waters: the western yellowfin bream.

It’s range is described as from Cape York all the way west down to about Exmouth in WA.

I’ve had a look at many of my bream photos over the years, and they are all pikey bream. Talking to the likes of Ron Voukolos and Phil Newton at Fishing and Outdoor World, they have only ever seen pikey bream.

According to Grant’s Fishes Of Australia, the Bible for this sort of thing, the Western Australian Bream may be a separate species to the Pikey, with its body bright silvery rather than dusky, and with all fins flushed with yellow.

Grant describes this species’ distribution as being restricted to the Western Australian coastline. Any way, the pikey bream is found only in the tropics.

It ranges from Shark Bay in WA, right across northern Australia and as far down the QLD coast as Rockhampton.

It is different to both the popular silver bream found along the eastern seaboard from central Queensland to northern Victoria, and the southern or black bream found along the coast and estuaries from southern NSW right around the bottom half of Australia and up to Shark Bay.

For starters, the inside of its mouth is black and its overall appearance is usually much darker than the silver bream. Although a popular table fish, I don’t think our version is quite as good to eat as the southern varieties…but it’s okay.

Pikey bream are extremely aggressive little predators, readily taking lures and flies meant for other, often much bigger species in the saltwater creeks. I remember once hooking a pikey on fly off a beach south of Darwin. When it came into the shallows, there was another one with it, biting the trailing feathers and glitter of the fly attached to the hooked fish’s mouth.

The pikey bream grows to 560 mm, which would put it over the 4 kg mark, but never seen one even half that size.

Perhaps the reason why the annual bream run hasn’t started is that no one is fishing for them.

Both Darwin Harbour and Shoal Bay are as good a place as any to experience the great bream fishing available at this time of year. If you have a boat, catching them is quite easy.

At Larrakeyah, just anchor in any of the little bays from the point back towards the Naval Patrol Boat Base, preferably late in the afternoon and early into the night, on the last half of the rising tide.

It’s best to use a light line on a suitable rod and reel — 4kg monofilament breaking strain is fine, and an even-thinner braid line, in about 5-6 kg breaking strain, is perfect. With braid, you’ll need a light mono leader. I’d suggest about 7kg breaking strain.

Use just enough lead running on the line to get the rig to the bottom, and bait up onto about a No 4 hook with small, whole prawns. Lure casters should look to small plastic shads, grubs and prawn imitations, preferably scented.

Often the bream are quite small and should be thrown back, but there are plenty of good ones as well, along with the occasional solid ock-ock.

The Shoal Bay Rock can be fished on any tides for bream, but I rather fancy a rising tide in the evening.

Shore-based anglers will have success wherever a rising tide covers rocky foreshore areas.

The pikey bream is a terrific family fish — kids love to catch them. Along the harbour during the dry season, you can catch dozens in one session, but it’s best to take only what you and your family need for a feed.

One good way to prepare and cook them is to gill and gut your fish, scale them, score the sides and then grill them whole, basting with a mixture of lemon juice, lemon pepper and olive oil.

There seems to be a few crabs in Darwin Harbour and Shoal Bay at the moment.

A favourite pub topic amongst amateur crabbers is which bait is the best for enticing muddies into the crab pot. A whole chicken frame is a good one, and also readily available from places like Leonard’s which will sell you frozen packs quite cheaply.

I knew one bloke who swore by cans of cat food based on fish product – he’d poke holes in the side of a tin and tie it in the pot. I tried that a couple of times without success, but it does sound feasible.

A mate of mine uses buffalo bones from the pet meater, and dowses bait with aniseed oil first. I remember when I was a kid people putting aniseed oil on baits for bream and flathead around Sydney.

Personally, I’ll make do with a section of fresh barra carcase any time. I reckon barra and muddies occupy the same waters, so barra flesh is a natural offering.

The northern pikey bream is a dry season favourite in Darwin Harbour and Shoal Bay – now is the time to get out there and catch them.

Annie Taylor with her first ever metrey barra which she caught at the East Alligator River.