Alex's Fishing Column 14 May 2026

Some trips are gold, and the one friends and I did recently to Davidson’s Arnhemland Safari Lodge was nothing short of 24 Karat.

Located at remote Mt Borradaile in north-western Arnhem Land, Davidson's Arnhemland Safari Lodge sits on a privately-leased 700 square kilometre Aboriginal-owned wilderness area adjoining the Arnhem Land escarpment.

It’s about a 50-minute light aircraft flight from Darwin, with seasonal 4WD access available during the Dry Season.

However, we opted to drive to Jabiru and take the short scenic flight to the Lodge.

From the moment Lodge Manager and our guide for three days, Greg Nation, welcomed Peter and Michele Giesser, Christine Mansfield and myself with his trademark smile and left-eye wink, I knew we were in good hands.

I visited Davidson’s nearly 30 years ago, towing a boat and filming for the then Fishing North Australia Channel Nine television series.

At the time, it was good to catch with my old mate, Max Davidson, who opened the Lodge in 1986 through joint arrangements with the country’s traditional owners.

Max and his wife Philippa – both now sadly gone – developed it into one of the Northern Territory’s best-known wilderness and cultural lodges, with the imposing Mt Borradaile at its centre.

Nowadays it is operated by their daughters Lee and Di who further developed this primarily-eco-tourism  Lodge with ensuite safari cabins and a host of modern amenities.

The Mt Borradaile landscape itself is world famous for its extensive Aboriginal rock art galleries, and we visited some spectacular sites before adjourning to the main reason for our visit: the fishing.

Part of the Cooper Creek system, there are extensive floodplain waterways across the Mt Borradaile region, and they are literally chockers with barra.

In that regard, Greg is a veritable Wikipedia of where and when to fish in the area.

“The Waterfall is going off,” he announced with a wink at the start of our trip.

After dutifully visiting the signature Rainbow Serpent site, and other ancient galleries, Waterfall bound we were.

This is very rocky country and, for me at least, called for a slow and steady gait.

There is a neat platform just below and to the side of the waterfall which cascaded down from a height of about 10m.

The barra were tucked up hard against the rock wall on the opposite side to us and 10 good casts would generally yield a fish.

Peter caught his first-ever barra at the Waterfall and, as he brought it to just below us, something happened that I’d never seen before: a large freshwater crocodile came from nowhere and grabbed it.

Accompanying guide Kit quickly hit the top of the freshy’s head with the net while Greg ripped at the leader.

It worked and Pete’s first barra was landed, albeit with blood streaming down its side.

Another thing which I’ve never experienced before was catching two sleepy cod in two short trolls, and in the space of 10 minutes.

Our fishing sessions were both casting and trolling, with both being highly productive.

One spot produced a lot of barra with the late-afternoon sun and the backdrop of Mt Borradaile providing a spectacular postcard vista.

In my opinion, the combination of dramatic escarpment scenery, wildlife and low fishing pressure gives the Davidson’s Arnhemland Safari Lodge a reputation as one of the Territory’s more unique wilderness fishing destinations.

If you’re into adventure, nature, ancient culture and certainly fishing, it truly is a bucket-list destination.

1. Peter and Michele Giesser with a typical lagoon barra at Davidson’s Arnhemland Safari Lodge.

2. Mt Borradaile is the centrepiece at Davidson’s and, as Christine Mansfield reckons, a great postcard backdrop to some frenzied barra fishing.

3. Davidson’s Arnhemland Safari Lodge Manager, Greg Nation, with a fat sleepy cod, a common bycatch when you’re barra fishing.