Alex's Column 18 September 2025
- NAFA
- Sep 19, 2025
- 3 min read
The 20 th annual Secret Women’s Business Barra Challenge was held last Friday
and Saturday at Corroboree Billabong, and what a beauty this one was.
By all accounts, Corroboree hasn’t been fishing well this Dry season, but
competitors in this prestigious fishing competition sure changed that.
A total of 224 barra were caught over the two days, including some hefty
specimens amongst them.
As always, the venue for the SWB Barra Challenge was Corroboree Park
Tavern.
Size Matters – Savannah Barz, Emily Melville and Paige Watteau – was a
convincing Champion Team with 30 fish and 3248 points.
Leila Bartolo, Delisa Bell and Jessica Walker in The Slippery Gyspsies were
Runner-up Champion Team.
For the 13 th time, Palmerston Game Fishing Club’s Kristen Noble was
competition co-ordinator.
“I forecast about 200 barra but, after all the barra caught on day one, I thought
it might have ended up to be many more,” Kristen said.
“It shut down Saturday – they caught fish all day but it was just noticeable.
“I was marshalling on Friday and you could see people catching at different
locations but there wasn’t nearly as much action on the second day.
“There were some good fish caught, including the biggest barra, Libbee
Carroll’s 90cm fish and Kate Triska’s 88cm barra,” Kristen said.
Paige Watteau in Team Size Matters was Champion Angler, and team mate
Emily Melville was Runner-up.
Absent this year were the big numbers of saratoga with only 80 caught over
the two days.
Rocky Edwards and Kelly Brand caught the two biggest saratoga at 63cm each.
This year there were 20 new anglers and Libbee Carroll was the Staunch Crab
Rookie of the Year.
“Size Matters won for the first time,” Kristen told me.
“A lot of fish were caught on the troll this year, and the main billabong fished
the best for sure.
“The Rockhole had only small fish and it was dead on day two,” Kristen
explained.
It seems most of the better barra were caught first thing in the morning up to
about 10.00am.
“The water level was higher than it normally is – nearly to the top of bank at
the cutting,” Kristen told me.
“The barra were very silver, and there wasn’t a huge amount of lilies – the
‘bong didn’t have the huge coverage you normally see.
“It was really hot on Thursday which might have contributed to the good
fishing on Friday.
“The girls were more laid back this year with the focus much more on the
fishing.
“On Friday night, most went to bed early because of the good numbers caught
that day; they were keen to get up bright and early.
“We just didn’t see the toga numbers this year; I thought we’d see at least 300
but there were less than a 100,” Kristen said.
It’s not surprising to see such good barra catches.
Many teams have been fishing this competition for years, they have a great
deal of experience and just about all the top teams pre-fish several times for
weeks ahead.
“The girls who did well pre-fishing went on to try new things,” Kristen
explained.
“The women are getting more savvy and trying new tactics.
“Forward-facing sonar was part of it, although a lot of teams didn’t use it at all.
“There was a really relaxed vibe this year which I put down to the weather.
“A lot of the girls were really tired after pre-fishing on Thursday when it was
really hot,” Kristen said.
There you have it: Corroboree can be put back on the list as a go-to spot
before the Wet season arrives.
