Alex's Column 7 August 2025
- NAFA
- Aug 8
- 3 min read
On the Saturday, it seems competitors were fortunate to have overcast skies
and glass-out conditions for most of the day, giving excellent water clarity on the flats and clean water up the arms.
However, on Sunday strong winds from mid-morning, caused challenging conditions and lumpy seas for most of the day.
“Water temperature in Bynoe is always a factor, and the temps were ‘okay’ – it certainly wasn’t cold,” Clayton explained.
“Fishing overall was pretty good with 119 barra caught, 35 competitors scoring fish, and 15 competitors getting a bag of 5.
“This was considerably up on the previous few Bynoe rounds, so overall it was a great result.”
Open Class Round 3
Tian Nichols took out top honours in the Open Class with a cracking bag of five barra, topped by the biggest fish of the round at 80cm.
His weekend started slowly: Saturday’s fishing with a mate was hampered when his forward-facing sonar unit played up, and they only landed one undersized fish.
However, on Sunday, with the tech-fault fixed and plans with his dad falling through, Tian went solo and hit the same spot again.
His persistence paid off.
The first scoring fish came aboard around 11am: an 80cm beauty from deep timber.
Using a soft plastic prawn with a stinger, he worked the area for five scorers measuring 54-80cm.
It was a brilliant solo effort for his first win of the year.
A regular contender, Peter Cooper came in second in the Open Class with quality fish measuring 58-70cm. 70, 64, 64, 62 and 58cm.
Peter said he focused on the Indian Island flats, sight-casting on Saturday to a steady run of barra, with several 60s and some heartbreak drops over 70cm.
He fished hard, staying out through the night targeting bigger fish around the 1am low, but they wouldn't bite.
Sunday was tough too, with only five worth casting at among a sea of “rats”. His 70cm fish came from a drain he patiently staked out at low tide.
Kai Hale and partner Josie Hausler launched late Saturday after an early big-red fishing mission offshore.
By 11am they were on the water at Bynoe and into the barra, scoring fast over the low with Bite Me 5-inch wedge tails.
They backed it up Sunday near Indian Island, bagging more fish before exploring creeks where the bite was hit or miss.
Kai secured third in the Open Class, with Josie just behind in fourth – a top result for the duo.
Old School Class Round 3
Craig Latimore took out top spot with an impressive bag of five barra: 59-68cm.
Saturday’s clear, calm conditions were ideal for Lats’ unique ladder setup – strapped to the front of his boat – allowing him to sight cast from 3m above the waterline.
He had his full bag by 9.40am and 28 fish landed by day's end, half of which were legal.
He estimates seeing up to 200 barra on the flats that morning, picking them off with weedless Z-Man soft plastics.
He even climbed the ladder for a night session but drew blanks in the dirty low tide water.
Sunday proved tougher with wind and poor visibility, but he still managed four, including two legals.
Craig’s creative ladder tactic earned him the win, and most-likely sore legs from climbing all weekend.
Clayton Archbold was second in the Old School Class, launching at the gentleman’s hour of 8.30am with deckie John Keirs, and bagging barra measuring 53-66cm.
Clayton reckons on Saturday he saw barra swarming in the shallows chasing bait, and the duo sight cast their way to 25+ fish, with 8 in the esky.
Best bite times were around low and again on the incoming tide.
Sunday, however, was a bust: wind ruined visibility, the fish shut down, and they scraped together just one upgrade.
Sharing the boat with Clayton, third-placed John Keirs mixed it up with four rods and lure types: from hard-bodies over timber to soft prawns in the shallows.
His adaptive approach and solid hook-up rate helped seal a podium finish in what was one of the pair’s best days ever on Bynoe.
The next TEBS round is in Darwin Harbour on 23-24 August.
