Apparently, we’re in the middle of, or about to experience, a tropical monsoon. The Sky Weather Channel reckons it’s happening, and there’s a low pressure system around the middle of the Top End, but I’m not so sure we’re actually getting a monsoon, or that one is just round the corner. Frankly, this is always a tricky time of year, and rainy weather comes and goes in the twitch of a lure. Sure we had a cyclone speed past the Top End and leave some rain, but it really seems t

Forgetting for a moment how good it would be to catch a Million Dollar Fish worth just that – $1 million – there’s still time this month to catch a $40,000 Sportsbet-tagged barra. That’s because the Reel of Fortune spin for December includes an extra $30,000 for the biggest $10,000 tagged barra caught. Also during this 11 th  season, the spinning wheel will unlock extra monthly challenges and bonus incentives which include a $15,000 top-up for the first two tagged fish caught

Last week I wrote about my Italian friends, Marco and Fero, who had been visiting me as part of their international fishing travels. As it turned out, they hightailed it out of here to Bali earlier than planned as they saw no point in hanging around for Cyclone Fina… and who could blame them? However, one trip that did go ahead as planned was a day offshore from Dundee with Barra or Blue Fishing Charters. The trip took place on the Wednesday while Fina was hovering threatenin

I had an interesting trip to Shady Camp recently. It was a good week before Cyclone Fina turned up and I’d been scratching my head about where to take two mad-keen anglers who were visiting from Italy of all places. They were Marco Soldini and his good friend Fero. I’d met Marco in PNG black bass fishing the year before Covid, and we’d kept in touch. Marco is one of those larger-than-life characters who owns Italy’s biggest beach club: Papeete Beach. This is a non-stop party

It was a full house at the AFANT AGM last week. Sadly, I was unable to attend but I had a great chat with AFANT CEO, David Ciaravolo. Deputy Chief Minister and Fisheries Minister Gerard Maley attended the meeting and David said that AFANT was very pleased that the Minister was so forthright about the Government’s intention to complete the closure of commercial barramundi gillnetting by the end of its current term. “He was very clear about that and made several positive statem

If you fished the NT Barra Classic or the Barra Nationals in the 1990s and early 2000s, chances are you crossed paths with John “JP” Mondora. His recent passing marks the loss of a genuine giant of Australian recreational fishing — a man whose honesty, humour and straight-shooting words helped shape the sport nationwide. JP had a long love affair with the Northern Territory. He competed in the Barra Classic and later the Barra Nationals many times, not only as an angler but a

If you only fished the Top End Barra Series this year, you still managed to experience some of the most iconic barra locations in the Territory. From Shady and the Daly to Bynoe and Darwin Harbours, to billabongs and the Adelaide River, TEBS once again delivered six rounds of pure Top End flavour across wildly different waters. The final round of the 2025 TEBS was held on the first weekend of November at Saltwater Arm and the Adelaide River mouth, a venue famous for producing

Typical for this time of year, this weekend’s tides have around 7m of difference between the high and the low. In fact, it gets right down to 0.2m in Darwin Harbour on Saturday afternoon, then peaks at 7.8m around 8.30pm. On Sunday, it goes from 0.5m to 7.4m, so marginally less movement. I don’t mind extreme tides like these for fishing Darwin Harbour. On Saturday, the low tide at 1.47pm is great for each of East Arm, Middle Arm, West Arm, Little West Arm and Woods Inlet. Sun

With October nearly over, I’m pleased to report that it’s been a pretty good Build-up month as far as our expectations go for the coming Wet season. It’s also been warmer than average. The Build-up this year has been characterised by some good storms, particularly to the west of Darwin, but also on the floodplains east to Kakadu. That explains why some billabongs have poor water clarity. It’s ironic that, as both the air and water heat up towards the end of the year, and the

If the only fishing you did during the year was to compete in the Top End Barra Series, you’d get to fish six completely different and iconic locations. That’s because TEBS is held over six rounds at the following locations: Shady Camp, Daly River, Bynoe Harbour, Darwin Harbour, Mary River billabongs and the lower Adelaide River and adjoining estuaries. What’s more, if you’ve been competing in all, or most of, the TEBS comps over the past several years, I’d imagine you’d have

The Build-up is a busy time of year for Top End fishing competitions. In the last few weeks, we’ve had the Secret Women’s Business Barra Challenge, Corroboree Park Challenge, Territory Saltwater Fly Fishing Challenge, Top End Barra Series Billabongs Round and the Alure Ladies Fishing Classic. I haven’t reported on the Alure comp before, but by all accounts it’s another successful women’s fishing competition. It’s held every October on the Victoria River, which is interesting

Yesterday was the first day of Million Dollar Fish Season 11. However, I’m writing this on Tuesday this week so I can’t report or comment...

And along came the Build-up! Darwin weather burst into the Build-up season last Sunday when blanket grey-cloud cover and heavy rain...

The 20 th annual Secret Women’s Business Barra Challenge was held last Friday and Saturday at Corroboree Billabong, and what a beauty...

Any port in a storm has been the motto this week, with strong winds whipping up some uncomfortable sea conditions. Currently, there is a...

Thanks to mainly calm waters across Darwin Harbour, there was a record number of barra caught in Round 4 of the Top End Barra Series....

For the most part this dry season, the winds have been favourable offshore from Darwin. This weekend, there will be a low-pressure system...

What a windy and cool dry season week this has been. The mornings have had a chill factor to them and it’s been gusting with emphasis...

With no high-pressure system forecast to cross the Great Australian Bight in the coming days, the wind should stay down this weekend,...

On the Saturday, it seems competitors were fortunate to have overcast skies and glass-out conditions for most of the day, giving...

Each year I attend the Australian Fishing Trade Show on the Gold Coast. It’s an event I look forward to enthusiastically because it gives...

There is no more iconic fishing destination in the Top End than Shady Camp on the Mary River. However, on any given day, when there may...

Territory anglers may soon see better fishing thanks to a new locally-made artificial reef system being trialled in Darwin Harbour....

With spring tides peaking early-to-mid morning over the coming weekend, there are some good fishing options to consider. For the...

It’s Territory Day 1 July as I write this column, so I thought I would tell you about my first fishing experiences in Darwin which,...

It appears that, so far this dry season, there hasn’t been the intensity of the strong easterlies that normally stifle opportunities for...

Notwithstanding this year’s weird wet season, there has been an explosion of baby barra across much of the Top End. Our two most-popular...

The second “Old School Barra Catch Up” was held last month along the iconic Daly River, bringing together a group of seasoned anglers...

Darwin anglers can look forward to increasing tidal movement straight after the neaps this weekend, as well as the ideal opportunity to...

The dynamics of this year’s weird wet season had a significant impact on the Runoff; namely that it continued so late. Also impacted was...

If you're keen to see some cracking Top End barra action, jump on YouTube and check out Oldson Fishing.Oldson is actually Brad Moody, and...

Last week’s NT Barra Classic and Barra Classic Masters were both highly contested down on the Daly River. Run by Darwin Game Fishing Club...

It seems last week’s Barra Nationals ran smoothly and produced plenty of big fish. According to regular competitor, Greg Shields, the...

There’ve been mixed reports over the last week. Down the Daly River, competitors in the Barra Nationals have definitely been experiencing...

The weather just keeps on blind-siding us. The low-pressure system that tracked across the Gulf of Carpentaria, skimmed just north of...

Easter is here, and the Easter Bunny has delivered more than chocolate: anglers have scored excellent fishing conditions for the...

The vagaries of scheduling barra fishing competitions in the Runoff can often result in less than favourable conditions, sometimes even a...

With all this rain around and the big rivers on the rise, now’s the time to start thinking about teeing up some more solid Runoff...

It seems that every column for the last few weeks I start by writing about the vagaries of this year’s wet season. It’s been coming and...

Last weekend, 50 anglers competed in round one of the 2025 Top End Barra Series held from Shady Camp, including the coast and creeks from...

It looks like there were barra being caught all over the place over the past week or so. Not wanting to miss out on the action, last week...

It was the catch of a lifetime for Kin (Akim) Lay, whose early morning fishing trip on Saturday 15 February turned into a whopping...

Last week I wrote that the lack of serious monsoonal activity across the Top End did not stop many locations from achieved average or...

I think we’ve all given up on getting a typical wet season, one with two or three significant monsoonal bursts, with blinding rain,...

Now I know what a Clayton’s Monsoon is: it’s the monsoon you’re getting when you’re not getting a monsoon. That is pretty well the...

By my reckoning, the monsoon arrived in Darwin at 5.00am Tuesday. I can’t remember such a precise monsoonal burst happening; normally, it...

It’s hard not to commence writing this column without alluding to the lack of serious rain. Here we are at the end of January and still...

Monsoon or no monsoon, it looks like we’ve been getting enough rain to break out the Runoff fishing tackle. You won’t get across to the...

The onset of the first monsoon is now nearly three weeks later than normal, and it may not arrive until the end of the month. Normally,...

Another Christmas and New Year have come and gone and, hopefully, you found some shiny new fishing tackle under the tree this holiday...