Alex's Column 23 October 2025
- NAFA
- Oct 24
- 4 min read
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 a pretty good understanding of
how to fish these locations.
TEBS Round 5 was the Billabong round, and competitors were allowed to fish
Corroboree Billabong, the Rock Hole, Hardies Lagoon, Mary River Bridge
Lagoon and Shady Fresh.
TEBS competitor John Marrington wrote in his report: “Unlike other TEBS
rounds, the Billabong round commences at 6pm Friday, and many entrants, if
not most, take advantage of being able to fish these waterways on the Friday
night.
“Billabongs can be temperamental fisheries, particularly during daylight hours,
so having the extra night to target larger fish and take advantage of those extra
night ‘bite windows’ is often critical for a successful weekend.
“Weather conditions were generally favourable with light winds persisting over
the weekend, keeping temperatures bearable.
“On Saturday night, however, the skies were ablaze with spectacular lightning
and there were brief but typical Build-up-season dumps,” John reported.
I can certainly vouch for that.
I went to Mary Bridge Lagoon late Saturday afternoon to try out my new
Lowrance Recon electric outboard.
I had never seen so many cars and trailers parked there and launching; there
must have been a dozen, and we put it down to Million Dollar Fish.
Around 5pm, a grey-and-black storm came down the lagoon spitting fire and
we made the only sensible decision to get the hell out of there, which we did
before the storm descended on the ramp.
Once out of the water, I ran into occasional fishing mate and regular NAFA
contributor, Craig “Lats” Latimore.
Lats was competing in the TEBS round – which explained all the boats – and
was waiting for the storm to pass before launching.
The poor bugger had lost a metery the night before, but he did well in the
comp, coming second in the Old School category with a nice bag of five fish
caught trolling at night with Reidys lures.
Jeffery Dawson won the Old School category with fish of 91, 83 and 58cm.
According to John’s report: “Whilst Jeff registered only three fish, two of the
three were of exceptional size for an angler choosing not to use forward-facing
technology.
“Jeff and his better half started their weekend on Saturday morning at Bridge
Lagoon and, after a quiet start, Jeff trolled up his 91cm fish on a small Rapala.
“He reported that a number of attempts were made to lose the fish at the
boat; however, it was eventually netted.
“Jeff and his partner were off the water by 10.30am and returned that evening,
whereupon he boated his 58 and 83, with the 83 being taken on a Jackall lure,”
John reported.
Leigh Jefferies – third in the Old School – and friend Kim Johnson fished Shady
Fresh for the maximum five fish bag.
They trolled Reidy’s Little Lucifers and cast Irukandji lures.
The TEBS open Class – where forward-facing sonar is permitted – was won by
David Bates.
David and his son fished Corroboree on Friday night for an awesome catch of
barra measuring: 94, 86, 79, 83 and 86cm.
David’s quality fish came before the moon rose, and he used 6-inch Bite Me
soft plastics.
TEBS veteran, Peter Cooper, always seems to be in the mix, and came second in
the Open Class with his awesome catch of barra measuring: 81, 90, 80, 90, and
82cm.
He certainly earned those barra, fishing Hardies, Mary Bridge and Corroboree
over the weekend.
Peter did best very early on Saturday morning, sounding up barra on his
forward-facing sonar and nailing them with 5-inch Panic Stations Mullet, Fuze
Seaducer Mullet and Skitter Pop lures.
Mitchell Northey came in third in the Open Class, his bag comprising 80, 63, 88,
68 and 74cm barra.
John’s report described this as a remarkable effort considering it was Mitchell’s
first visit to Corroboree.
He caught his fish at a rock-bar on an Irukandji Sicario lures.
Mitchell reckoned the secret was dropping his lure to the bottom and
retrieving with short jig twitches.
John Marrington had more than just barra to report.
He fished with his daughter Sally and they were aghast when they discovered a
snake in their boat in the pre-dawn hours of Saturday morning.
“Not knowing one snake from another, we assumed the worst and that one
bite would mean instant death,” John explained.
“I was able to tease the snake to the front of the boat with a pole and
eventually lifted it and flicked it over the side.”
The 41 anglers who competed in the Billabong round registered 144 eligible
barra, ranging from 51cm to a noteworthy 94cm.
With only one round to go, there are several contenders in both the Open and
Old School categories.
The final round is Saltwater Arm on 1-2 November.
