NT Fishing Report

With Alex Julius         31 March 2011

It seems the Top End’s first Godzilla of the year was captured last Sunday at the mouth of Sampan Creek.

Old mate Geoff Browne was the lucky, and talented, angler who made the score. As always, he was fishing with his lovely wife, Debby.

“Debby and I have just got back from a four-day mothership trip to Shady on board the Bathurst, a new boat I brought up from Brisbane in September last year,” Geoff told me.
“There were plenty of fish around and crowds to go with them…I counted 34 boats at Sampan Sunday morning.
“We saw a few fish good caught on the Saturday, with Debby catching her personal best of 99cm on a big, olive-coloured Bomber, so we went there early Sunday morning but the fish didn't happen until the tide was up a bit,” Geoff explained.

“We moved closer to the mouth as the flats covered and got an 85cm.

“We did a couple of runs later in the same area, and then the big one got on.

“I didn't get a good look at it at first as I had about 50m of line out, plus it came towards the boat easily until about 15m out…then it launched itself straight up and what a hog!” Geoff exclaimed.
“It made a few more heart-stopping jumps 2m from the boat and then was safely netted, with the tape measuring 130cm!
“I didn't get a weight but it was fat and solid, so I reckon it easily went 60 pounds…my new personal best!

“What do you reckon Alex – fish of the Run-off so far?” Geoff asked.

Well, if it’s not, I’d love to hear from anyone who has caught a barra that might challenge it (email ).

By the way, Geoff’s Godzilla was caught on a big Reidy’s B52 in gold-and-bleeding-mullet colour.
Also fishing the mouth of Sampan Creek last Sunday was Tackle World Darwin owner, Steve Compain.

Steve and son Shane were hosting a fishing day for Tackle World shop owners from around the country who are here in Darwin for their annual conference, being held at the new Medina Vibe.

There were two metreys in their catch, but their main concern was to put special guest, Rita Lv, onto a good barra.

Rita is a fishing tackle manufacturer from Weihai in Shandong Province. She was testing out the Strada lure range she has developed with the Tackle World group.

According to Steve, another aspect to the mission was to give her an understanding of the tough hardware required to be fitted to lures intended for Australian conditions, especially for barra.

It was mission accomplished when an 83cm barra smashed Rita’s Strada Tera 180, and she battled it expertly to the boat. It was by far the biggest fish she has ever caught.

On a related note, although there has been considerable banter about the number of boats fishing around the mouths of Sampan and Tommycutt Creeks, this has actually been going on for several years now.

For three years in a row in the early 2000s, I commissioned a mothership to anchor at the mouth of Tommycutt, and professional guide mates and I looked after up to 8 clients at a time, fishing the two big creek mouths and along the coast.

Back then, it was still nothing to fish amongst 20-30 boats, and our groups landed dozens of metreys, including several barra longer than 120cm.

Steve Compain rightly explained it this way: “It’s not really a problem because the area fished is up to a kilometre offshore and, as long as the boats display some etiquette when they are trolling, there’s room for everyone.”

Of course, in the early-to-mid-90s – before the Mary River was massively environmentally damaged by the construction of many dozens of earthen barrages to pond water for cattle – there was no need to travel the coast to chase big barra because they swarmed up the river following the now-decimated mullet schools.

At that time, there were private and guide boats concentrating from Shady Camp down to around the S-Bend, and they caught and released mega numbers of monster barra before their numbers were recklessly reduced by annual fish kills hidden behind barrages as the ponds dry up later in the year.

I should know as I filmed and was part of the incredible action often enough for Channel Nine’s Fishing North Australia television series which, by the way, is still available on DVD.

Is this 130cm Sampan Creek mouth barra the biggest so far this Run-off? It’s smiling captor, Geoff Browne, reckons it might be.

Steve Compain nets an 83cm barra for visiting Chinese tackle manufacturer, Rita LV.

Rita Lv’s Sampan Creek barra was many times bigger than her previous PB fish.