NT Fishing Report
With Alex Julius 7 July 2011
And the bite goes on!
I was asked this week by a mate from down south whether the great wet season this year converted into a terrific Run-off and great fishing after that.
I explained to him that it is as if the quality of barra fishing we had in the Run-off has carried on right through to the middle of the Dry.
If you hadn’t heard, what’s happening down the Daly River is crazy. It’s cold both above and below the water, and yet the barra will eat you out of the boat on the neap tides.
There have been reports of upwards of 70 barra caught by one boat in one day, and all trolling. Soon-to-be-ex-local gun angler, Dave Silva, and mates landed 220 barra in four days.
“I can’t believe how well it is fishing,” the dual Barra Classic and Barra Nationals Champion Angler told me.
“There were barra in every snag, and sometimes we’d hook one and keep trolling until we caught two more,” Dave said.
But there are also lots of big fish lurking round every bend from above No Fish Creek to below Alligator Head.
Only last week, Brian Hearne was down the Daly fishing with Dave Silva and old mate John Clark from the Gold Coast, and bagged a big one.
Brian is the Chief Operating Officer for Xstrata Zinc in Australia, which keeps him off the water much more than he would like.
“The first fish was a rat around 45cm but on the first troll in the snags I thought we might have a couple of good days after Dave’s effort the week before,” Brian told me.
“The second troll I hooked and landed a 98cm fish but not without incident – I had the fish jumping well clear of the water a few times and could see it was well hooked in the mouth because the green Poltergeist lure was not even visible.
“The fight started getting ugly though when I had the fish heading for the boat; the net was ready but about 10m out the reel fell off the rod.
“There was not much more to do at that stage but to give the rod and reel to Dave and say ‘can you fix this old mate’ as I hand-lined the fish to the net…not much fun with 6kg braid and no gloves.
“We managed around 20 fish for the day with John landing an 89 and still keen to get the better of me – no competition of course,” Brian joked.
“The first troll the next day was a fast troll up the middle with the tide coming in.
“About 100m into the troll, I hooked the 117cm fish.
“When it came clear of the water on the second jump, John said ‘I give up’.
“The fish was landed with a great net shot from Dave and, after a few photos, it was released to fight another day.
“I might even try to get out for another day this coming weekend,” Brian said.
The big fish took a Reidy’s B52 Big Ass lure which has certainly been the stand-out big barra lure so far this year.
The trio hooked other big fish as well.
Dave Silva told me: “We lost two fish which I reckoned were even bigger than Brian’s 117.
“One that Brian hooked stuck its shoulders out of the water, then took off and nearly spooled him.
“I managed to back down on it just in time as he only had a couple of wraps left on the reel, but we lost it anyway,” Dave explained.
Barra also continue to bite well at Corroboree Billabong, Darwin Harbour and from the Fannie Bay rocks at East Point.
Fishing and Outdoor World’s George Voukolos told me that metre-plus queenies are moving into the harbour on the bigger spring tides.
The hotspots are the Larrakeyah rock wall and Mandora, including from the jetty.
It seems plenty of anglers took my advice last week and are out chasing bream with reports of good catches from both the harbour and Shoal bay.
Brian Hearne had plenty to celebrate after landing this Godzilla 117cm Daly River barra on a Reidy’s B52 Big Ass lure.
