Alex's Column 4 September 2025
- NAFA
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
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.
According to Lydia Hebb from TEBS: 41 competitors uploaded scoring fish; 26
competitors uploaded a full bag of five fish; a total of 172 fish were uploaded this
year (85 fish last year); 90 barra measured 50-59cm; 73 barra measured 60-69cm;
and 9 barra measured 70-79cm.
TEBS has two scoring categories each round: Open Class which permits the use of
forward-facing sonar, and Old School which does not.
“Lachlan Markey took out first place with a solid bag of fish measuring 67, 67, 75, 68
and 69cm, and scoring 640 points,” Lydia reported.
“Lachie fished around Channel Island, focusing on flats and snake drains on the
outgoing tide, and using a mix of hard bodies and soft plastics.
“He was able to sight cast at schools of barra as they cruised along the flats and
drains.
“He also used the live scope to spot where fish were sitting in the drains when they
couldn’t be sight cast to,” Lydia said.
“Lachie also hooked an impressive-sized threadfin salmon which would have made a
very yummy dinner if his netter, myself, didn’t knock the hooks out when netting,
whoops…” Lydia confessed.
Kai Hale came second in the Open Class with a bag of 73, 68, 62, 62 and 71cm
barra.
He fished East and West Arms with varying success at both locations, and caught
about 50 barra over the two days of competition.
He sight fished and used his live scope to find fish on the flats and sitting in snake
drains.
Third place in the round went to Gavin Hoult whose scoring fish measured 63, 69,
67, 73 and 62cm.
He mainly fished in Middle Arm and had some of the best harbour fishing he’s
experienced.
“I found the fish in two main areas: on a rock-bar during the dropping tide, and then
in a small creek off the main arm during the low tide and start of the run in,” Gavin
said.
John Keirs Jnr took out first place in the Old School category
His scoring bag consisted of barra between 59cm and 74cm.
“On Saturday, I fished Middle Arm and found schools of fish in the drains and
targeted them with small plastics,” John said.
“We had multiple double hook-ups for about 1.5-2 hours, with lots of fish ranging
from 50-59cm,” he said.
On Sunday, John went straight to the flats chasing upgrades with a good session,
and landing 20-plus fish for the day.
Second in the Old School was Rory Laidlaw-Hall who bagged out with five fish
measuring 58cm to 70cm.
Rory fished the lunchtime lows on Saturday and Sunday around West Arm.
“I struggled to find any good numbers of fish while fishing my usual style of flicking
the drains,” Rory said.
“On Sunday, I tried hitting more drains that have worked for me in the past, thinking
the day before was an anomaly… huge mistake as I didn’t even get a touch!
“Two weeks prior, all these drains were full of fish.
“In desperation, I went to a little creek and scanned a few fish sitting in the middle in
about 3m of water.
“Not knowing if they were barra, I dropped a vibe and got the bite almost
immediately,” Rory explained.
He nervously netted a 70cm barra and then fished this school for the next few hours,
finally filling his bag and calling it a day.
Rounding out third place in the Old School category was John Keirs who landed five
scoring barra bewteen 57cm and 66cm.
John fished Middle Arm drains and flats, using Bombers on high water and prawn
imitations on the low tide.
John and Clayton Archbold caught over 25 fish for the weekend, fishing areas where
they expected fish to swim by.
Peter Cooper is the current leader in the TEBS Open Class and John Keirs is
leading the Old School.
The next round will be in the billabongs on 10-12 October.
