Alex's Fishing Column - 30 April 2026

I went for a fish with friends down the Adelaide River last week.

My intention was to try a couple of spots not far up from the river mouth.

Normally, you access the bottom end of the Adelaide by launching at Saltwater Arm and heading down and out from there and then scooting across a couple of kilometres of less-sheltered water and entering the river mouth.

As you enter the Adelaide, the first spot you fish is The Narrows which is aptly named.

There are submerged rock-bars on either side of The Narrows, and the chance of catching a big barra on the troll is very real, especially at this time of year.

The best time to fish is right on the turn of the low tide; while the tide is still running, the current and fast-eddying water can frustrate your efforts, and can also be dangerous for small boats.

The fishing is a lot easier inside the three Wiltshire Creeks; ie Wiltshire One, Two and Three.

Both trolling and casting produce barra, often in numbers.

The Wiltshires can fish particularly well during the Runoff.

Sometimes you can find good colour changes up inside these three major creeks.

There are barra to be caught in Saltwater Arm, but I rate it more as a crabbing system, and also very good for catching small golden snapper on the bigger tides.

I’d heard horror stories of anglers driving to the Salwater Arm boat ramp.

Apparently, there are three treacherous bog holes, and plenty of cars towing boats have come unstuck… or should I say “stuck”.

I wasn’t the least bit interested in checking it out, opting instead to launch at the Adelaide River below the bridge on the Arnhem Highway.

At the ramp, I had a quick chat with a young bloke who drives one of the croc-jumping boats.

He told me that anglers he’d spoken to had been “catching”.

“Not a lot, but everyone has been getting a few,” he said.

That was promising.

From the ramp, it’s a long run down to the mouth, easily 100km of circuitous, twisting river.

You pass one of the croc-jumping tour pontoons and the Humpty Doo barramundi aquaculture farm, and then it’s just endless mangroves.

We decided to try spots in the Wiltshires first, especially where there was a nice colour change.

As luck would have it, the first spot I went to looked mint.

There was nice colour coming out of the creek, and mullet were evident on the surface.

Even better, my Lowarnce Active Target 2 showed barra swimming about below the surface.

With me were Tim Pel – visiting from North Qld – and Christine Mansfield, and Tim hooked up on his second cast.

It wasn’t a huge fish but it set the scene for a quality session.

“Welcome back to Territory,” Tim said as his barra was netted aboard.

From then on, there was a barra every 10-15 minutes, each 50-65cm

Finally a better fish jumped onto Christine’s line, and fought all around the boat.

It was very narrow where we were fishing and, at one point, she had to go hard on it to keep it clear of the mangroves.

I netted it aboard and the brag mat revealed a neat 80cm job.

By 1.30pm, we were on our way back up the river, my crew nodding off while I navigated the two-hour journey.

It was a good day.

Christine Mansfield had quite a tussle with this beaut silver barra in the Adelaide River.

Tim Pel from North Qld renewed his acquaintance with Territory barra on his second cast back here.