The Rambling Expat.

A little Queenfish.

2013-05-04T18:21:00.001+09:30

Hi there,

This morning, I fished a little Queenfish from one of my preferred land based spot: East Point.
And here is the story of it.

The alarm from my phone took me by surprise, away from a deep and dreamless sleep.
Trying to make as less noises as I could, I got up, made sure not to wake up my little darling or our child, or even our visitor who was sleeping on the sofa in the living room.
Quickly I was on my way, still in the dark, to arrive at East Point before sunrise.
Once there, well I remembered the crocodile that I saw one of the last time that I fished the spot by myself. Tales From The Tinny was playing on the radio, so I stayed in the car listening to this great program till the light started to shine.

Finally got out of the car, got my rock hoppers boots on, a lure on the line and started to walk on the rock platform, till my favourite fishing spot.
Once there, with the water rather calm and not too much wind, before my first cast, I decided that I didn't have the right lure on and changed my chrome slice for a popper.
One long cast to see if everything works.
Satisfied, I started to pop in earnest, for about 5 minutes, and then, just as I was doing it: pop, pop pop, without any pause, as I was after pelagic fishes, pop, pop, pop and nothing...
Nothing, the line came back to me without any pop or the weight of the lure.
What is going on?
Well, the knot had just given away and the popper was floating free of any attach, in a water in which there is no way I was going to swim to get it back...
About fives minutes in, and I was already out of a lure, and by my only fault...
Great, I thought, it look like the fishing mojo is still at large, and that I will just have another mildly frustrating fishing outing...
Yes you know what I mean, when I try to stay polite.
Anyway, I was there, so I just put another smaller popper and started to cast it again.
For absolutely nothing, zero, nada, niet...

This is when I spotted a big pod of Dolphin swimming inside of casting distance.
Don't get me wrong, I was not trying to hook a Dolphin, but in my personal experience, when Dolphin stick around, I don't catch anything.
I believe, that if they stick around, there is food for them, which might be good fishes for me. Except that these smaller fishes then never take my lure, maybe they are just too busy trying to avoid the Dolphins, who knows?

So I moved a bit further along the rocks, and put a chrome slice on my line, after all, this is one of my favourite form of fishing.
And I casted and casted as far out as I could, for not much.

Then I saw a big turtle swimming not very far from the shore.
Thinking about what Sheeby told me one day, that Cobia often swim under big turtle, I tried to cast my lure as close as I could of it, without risking to hook the turtle.
But no Cobia or other fish took any interest to my lure.

Yes this was starting to look like the story of my fishing life, or at least, as to what it is at the moment.
Seeing some great landscape, seascape, animals, but not catching anything.
Thinking about that, I decided to do a cast along the rocks on my left, instead of far out at the front.
That was a nice cast, and as I was retrieving the lure as fast as I could, Ka-Boum!
The line tense, the rod bents, and the line started to peel from the reel which started to sing.
And then I just did the worst ever mushy-washy hook up possible, going all soft when I should have given it hard. The fish did not come to the surface, but went straight for the bottom, gave a few head shake, and spat the lure...
How much I hated myself just right then and there...
I should have got this fish, but as I acted with it like I really didn't know what to do, it took it to its advantage and broke free.
Yes, my story at the moment, too much of mister nice, when I should be kicking some butts.

I was upset with myself, and casted in the exact same spot and reeled in as quick as I could, of course for nothing at all.
I had one chance, and I had blown it.
Did a second cast in the same area, and in anger must have started to retrieved my lure even faster than what I usually do.
And it worked, I was on once again!
This time, I high sticked twice with vigour to make sure that I was driving the hooks home.
Like the previous one the fish, went for the depths and I started to think that it was a GT.
But then my line went all floppy and I understood that I had lost it again. So continued to reel in fast as I didn't want the lure to snag at the bottom. Despite being all floppy, my line was going in a strange direction.
It hits me: I still had the fish, but it had been swimming towards me, and was now turning to go out at sea.
And this it did, and took quite a bite of line from my small reel.
Still I could not see it, it fought as low as it could.
Pumping and reeling I finally got most of my line back, and was starting to see some colour underwater, but could not put an ID on this fish yet.
Finally, just a few meters from me, it made a great jump, the full fish out of the water: it was not a GT, it was a Queenfish!
I got relieved that the fight would be cleaner than with a GT, but even more stressed that I might loose it.
And after its first jump, where it must have seen my face and decided that it didn't like it. It took two big run in a row. It didn't look like a big fish, and I was very surprise by the energy that it showed.
And it started to make a real show of its jumping ability, I loved it.
Step by step, I was gaining my line back, and at every jump it looked a bit closer, and a bit more tired.
Finally, I got it near my feet, taking advantage of a little wave I dragged it in a rock hole full of water near my feet. Put the lip grip in its mouth, and it was mine.
This was my first fish in a long time, and the first one from East Point in an even longer time.
I was so happy that I must have shouted and screamed like an idiot or a mad man just right there.

Knowing that Seano was at work, I couldn't help but to take a picture of this fish on my phone and text it to him, and asked him if he was already at work?
After all, he had done this to me so many times, that it was about time for me to do it...

And then I wanted to take a photo of it with myself holding it...
Well, it become then even more obvious that I hadn't done it in a long time...
The timer on my camera worked but I could not get the right picture, the one I wanted:

First try, bad framing and moving fish.

Second try, didn't had the time to get ready.

I think that you start to understand what I was going through, so lets go the the right image.

Finally my little Queenfish.

And I finally got it right and was very happy with that.

This was no monster fish, but it was one of my favourite fish to catch land based, and it was a while since I had one, so my day was made.

After dispatching this fish, I tried to get another one, but by then the tide had started to rise again.

So happy and content, after a few minutes I decided, five more cast and home I will go.

On the third cast, I hooked another fish!

And lost it in no time.

Cast in roughly the same direction, reel it back, and a big splash just behind my lure.

So I do the last of my five cast in the same spot, but this time nothing happens...

What did any fisherman would do in a case like that?

Five more cast, the five last ones promised!

And that was five more cast full of hope, during which nothing at all happened...

So I did go home.

Just turning around on my way back over the rocks to have a look at a fishing spot that I still like a lot.

East Point rocks in the morning.

I had stayed there for about one hour and an half, had three hits, and landed a fish, this was good in my books. I could still be home, have a quick shower and take my little one to dance classes in time.

This was a great way to start the weekend.

Yes I did miss a few fish and lost a lure, and have not caught a gigantic fish yet.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

Out Fished Once Again.

2013-04-28T17:19:00.000+09:30

Hi There,

Yes I got out fished, once again. Yet, it was still a great day in the Australian outdoors.
Sarrge had invited me to go fishing with him at Salt Water Arms.
We had left Darwin early in the morning, with the plan to get into some Barramundi, and have a good time on the water.
We spent the travel time on the road talking about life, work and stuff. And as soon as we were on the water, the discussion turned to fish, fishing, and... How to catch some fish...

But not longer arrived to one of Sarrge favourite spot in Salt Water Arms, that we saw some bait being harassed by bigger fishes, between submerged trees and mangrove roots.
Quick as a flash, I flicked my lure straight between the branches and started to reel it back in. Nothing...
Sarrge did the same: nothing... But another big boof just against a tree. My lure flew just past this tree, so I could swim it past just right next to it. And... It got firmly stuck to an underwater root, no way I would get it back, the line broke. I was one lure down, and the fish were still smiling...

Sarrge told me to tie the boat to a branch, and we would be able to cast our lure just on the ther side of the tree, where it looked like there was even more action than on our side.
Tie the boat I did, and started to rigging my line with a new lure.
Sarrge, started to work a little walk the dog type of lure, and a Barramundi tried to boof it but missed.
Haha, we must be on the right side of the trees was our reaction.
So he flicked the lure a second time, walking it slowly on the surface, and bang! he was on!
Not to a Barramundi, to a very decent Queenfish who immediately started to go for a few jumps, and a long run. Like Queenfish do.
It went and started to jump near a partly submerged snag, and got Sarrge worried that it would wrap the line around it and break free.
But as worried as he was, Sarrge continued to fight his fish, from the comfort of his chair...

Sarrge reeling in the Queenfish.

This was a good fish, and went for a few more runs before ending close to the boat.

Now I had to net it, and it didn't want to. It turned away from the net a few time, before finally facing it, and guided in it by Sarrge.

Happiness was definitively of the party!

Nice Queenfish on Barra gear.

This was the first catch of the day, and it made us very happy, I even thought that maybe this was the day that my fishless trips was going to end...

Was I wrong...

Anyway, as Sarrge was dispatching this fish for the esky, I had my gears ready and started to cast around a little fizzer, in the hope of a comparable catch.

There was this beautifull colour change, and we could see the Mullets swimming on the edge of it, in the clear water. And once in a while, a Barramundi would come out of the cafe coloured water, swim very slowly towards the Mullets and try to boof one of them. Sometime with success sometimes not.

This was a very exciting sight, well worth the trip in itself.

And of course, one Barramundi, came towards my little lure.

My little lure which was going: Fizz Fizz, pause, Fizz Fizz, Pause.... And as the Barramundi came under it, I paused the fizzer, the Barramundi came really close to it, and boofed!

Just one or two centimetre on the side of it...

It must have been a cross-eyed Barramundi!

The sound of it had been like if someone had used a pistol just next to the boat.

It made me jump, but the fish was far from being hooked, he just swam back in the darker water, taking his time...

Then I put my lure up in a tree...

Luckily, I got this one back, and decided to change it for a small shallow diver.

By then Sarrge was ready to fish again.

And he just showed me how to catch a Barramundi:

Sarrge showing me what a Barramundi is.

Being just 56 cm, this one was put back in the water, to grow a bit more, and become more of a good feed later on.

The funny thing with this Barramundi, was that when I was about to put the net in the water to try to scoop it, it actually jumped out of the water, and landed straight in the net.

With no doubt, the easiest netting I have ever done.

So yes, it was two fish for Sarrge, and none for me.

The day was still young, and I was hopeful to change that...

Yes, hope is a beautiful thing...

With the action seeming to slow down we decided to move and try to troll the narrow, and other place.

This was a great idea, on a tourism point of view, but on the piscatorial front, it was a disaster.

Not a fish, not a hit, just some nice landscapes.

So we decided to go back to where we had been able to glean a bit of glory earlier in the day.

The tide had fallen, big time, and after negotiating our way back to the mouth of the creek, through the sand barre and mud flats, in which we saw a nice stingray making a fast doughnut around the boat, (was it trying to tell me something?). We finally saw the extend of the snaggy terrain over which we fished in the morning.

And I could see the lure that I had lost previously in the day, now high and dry.

So Sarrge "beached" the nose of the boat, and I jumped on Terra firma to go and collect my lure.

Well Terra firma, was rather muddy, but I was able to walk through it and picked up another nearly new lure on my way to mine. So it was nice to get my lure back, plus another one that I had no clues would be on my way.

This plus a special lure that Sarrge had given me for my lure collection on the same day, mean that I now had two more lure, the kind of little thing that keeps me happy.

Walking among the mangrove roots to get the lures back.

(Photo © Sarrge)

After that we trolled a bit for not much and stopped up the creek to eat some sandwiches.

Looking on the mud bank, I saw these little crabs, running everywhere. They were so brightly coloured, that they looked like if they were already cook and ready to eat.

Not cooked, but alive and well.

No, I did not grab one to taste it, but to me they definitively reminded me of a nice big mud crab just cooked. Except that these were much smaller in size.

After lunch, made of soggy sandwiches while dreaming of mud crab and mayonnaise, we started trolling again.

This is when Sarrge, hooked a nice Barramundi, that must have been in the 80 cm.

Yes, the keywords here are: "must have been"...

As the fish made two or three quick jump to show us what it looked like, and then swam straight towards the boat.

But between the fish and the boat was, unknown to us, a nice set of underwater snags.

This is exactly where this Barramundi went.

Sarrge could feel the fish still on the line, with the line rubbing against the branches, and this was not looking good.

After some tussle and some pull and trying from every sides of the snag, the lure freed himself and came back, without any fish attached to it...

And this, was the last action of the day.

Not long after, we started to make our way back in direction of the boat ramp, stoping here and there to have a few cast to some snag, but without any recompense we quickly abandoned and decided to get back home.

Despite, being once again out fished, this had been a great day, with two fish coming onboard, some good laughs, in some very beautiful places. The kind of days that if I was a doctor, I would prescribe to all of my patients.

Thanks again Sarrge for the lure, and for inviting me on your boat.

Yes, I still would love for this fish drought to be broken...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

2013 Top End Barra Series Round 2.

2013-04-20T12:49:00.000+09:30

Hi there,

How was the round two of the 2013 Top End Barra Series?
Well, it was a lot of fun, but not a lot of fish...
It took place early April at the Finniss River, in the Northern Territory of Australia.
And in the week before the event, the Northern Territory Government made an announcement that shocked a lot of anglers in the Territory.
Basically, they said that because they had not been able to get to an accord with the Traditional Owners of the land adjacent to the river, and of the river, most of the river would from now on be off access to non Traditional Owners people.
In practical, it still leave 13km (8.0778255 Miles) from the mouth of the river and up to fish for everybody.
This is a controversial situation, and it is not for me to judge it, I lack way too much information to make a fair and just call about it.
Lets just hope that it will soon be resolved for the best of everyones involved.

So back to our fishing, once again, I teamed up with Nomad, and on Saturday morning we left Darwin, full of anticipation. Wondering how we would do in this round, as none of us had fished this particular stretch of water before.

When we arrived at Dundee Beach for the launch, early as, it was already chaos, with way too many boat in front of us, waiting to be launched. It basically took us nearly two hours to get launched and zooming along the beach toward our fishing destination.

As we arrived, we noticed some boat trolling the channel at the entrance of the river, and some other flicking lures to the mud flat.
We opted for the second and made our way to the mud flat, not knowing exactly where to start.
On finding a little drain with a bit of water trickling to the sea, we decided to cast our lures in the spot.
It didn't take long and Nomad was on a fish...
But it wasn't a Barramundi, and it was not hook properly. It was a Pufferfish, an animal considered to be the second most poisonous vertebrate in the world. So even if it is considered in some part of the world as a delicacy, this one was promptly returned to the water.

Nomad's Pufferfish.

It was still early in the two days round, and we laughed about it, and were still thinking that we would catch a few Barramundi...
But not catching fish on the mud flat we decided to go for a little troll at the mouth of the river, and we didn't do much better. So we went up the river, still in the limits of the newly announced restriction, and saw a nice little feeder creek, with a beautiful eddy and some great colour change.
The place was full of branch and stick, it screamed Barramundi at us. Another boat from the competition was there, and they hadn't done very good, so we stayed next to then for a chat, all the while flicking our lures to the snags.
This is when Billster came and slipped between the two boat for a chat and like us he started to flick his lure to the river bank. And he definitively came with the goods! I first saw the head of the fish came to the surface and grab his lure not long after it had touched the water. My first thought was that such a large fish in the sticks was going to be a very hard battle.
But the big mama Barra went straight for the middle of the river, and showed us her shoulder, she was easily over a meter long. That was a great fish.
But just as I had got my camera ready to record the catch of such a fish, it came back up, put her head out of the water, shook violently her mouth and the lure flew away from her.
It would be fair to say that there and then, even the anglers who didn't had this fish on the line felt disappointed and sorry for Billster.
But as they say, it is called fishing, not catching...

With no more bites coming from there, we drifted a bit down the river, and found another nice eddy, and started to work it with our lure. Nomad made a cast just next to an half submerged mangrove tree, and as soon as his soft plastic hit the river bed, the line went tense. It was a good hit, and the line ran in the water and we called it for a Barramundi. But a Barramundi it was not, it was a rather beautiful Catfish. Which looked more like a koi than a traditional Northern Territory Catfish.

Nomad and his "Koi Catfish".

This was a very beautiful fish, but not what we were after. So we decided to move back to the mouth of the river for a bit of trolling.

Once there, we caught up with the Duff guys:

Duff on a boat!

We rafted up with them for a little while and had a friendly chat. It is good to see that even it the third year of this competition, it is still a very cordial one, where people are more out there to have fun than to be number one.

The light was nice and we went trolling some more...

Keep on trucking as they said...

Afternoon light.

In such a beautiful place, I was bound to get a fish.

And I did!

But it was of the wrong specie, and on the rather small end of the scale...

My only fish of the weekend.

This was a little Catfish, and more importantly it was going to be my one and only fish of the weekend.

The sunset came, and was grandiose.

Grand Sunset on the mouth of the Finniss River.

This is about when the raft up became serious, with some people even trying to get the raft up on the plan... They failed, so I guess that this would be considered as unfinished business and will be attempted again. Who knows?

With the evening we saw our first crocodiles of the weekend.

Or to be more precise, we saw the reflection of their eyes in our head lamps.

We planed to wait for the change of tide in the middle of the night to catch some fish. But it seems that Morpheus had other plan for us, and we fall asleep in no time after dinner. Anchored at the river mouth.

As usual, I woke up early, and started to cast a popper in the dark, one of my favourite form of fishing.

Popping in the morning.

As the day raised, we started to get in line with the other boats and trolled the river mouth.

Nomad got a good hit, and was on, I saw the fish jump and said that it was a Barramundi and a good one. Nomad hadn't seen it jump and wasn't too sure about my call, saying that it might not be a Barramundi.

But it jumped again and this time he saw it but called for a 60, maybe 70 cm. I said it was bigger.

It came to the boat still pretty green, and it took a few try to get it in the net. And I was starting to think that if I was going to miss it with the net one more time, I might be the one ending in the water...

But in the net it went, and on the brag mat. Where it showed that it was 84 cm (33.070866 Inches).

That was a good fish.

Nomad and his Barramundi.

This was a great moment for Nomad, as it was his first Barramundi for the year. And it lifted our spirit, making us think that we were back on the roll...

Well, after that, Nomad caught a very small catfish that was fool hooked, and that was it...

No more fish for the full weekend.

This had been a very hard weekend on the fishing level, but had been great on a social level.

Plenty of laugh, a new place discovered, and an envy to get back in it.

But now where does a doughnut leaves me in the overall score board?

Well, out of the 80 competitors, only 30 registered some fish, this is how though it was.

So With a big zero on the overall score board I am now in position number 37...

It is about time, that I start to perform a bit better...

Obviously, this is not my best year on records...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

2013 Top End Barra Series Round 1.

2013-04-01T09:08:00.000+09:30

Hi there,

Not long ago was the first round of the 2013 Top End Barra Series, and all the action took place at Shady Camp. For the people who don't know Shady Camp, this is like a big fish supermarket, a destination where people goes to break records, or at least try to catch their first Barramundi over the meter mark.
So let's cut to it straight away, I did not catch a meter Barramundi yet, but 8 of them were caught during the first round of the competition. This shows the potential of the place.

For this round I had found a spot on Nomad's boat, thank you Nomad.
We drove early, to be at the Shady Barrage at the same time than the tide, so we could launch, and launch we did. As we were zooming down the river, we heard a strange noise coming from the outboard at the back, as we worryingly turned around to have a look at it, we immediately understood...
The noise was not coming from the outboard, but from a small chopper that was following us at close quarter.

Straight on our tail.

This was in fact one of the choppers from Helifish, a company that photographed most of the competitors during the first day of the round 1. Personally, I have never used their service yet, but if I was to suddenly become rich, that is certainly one of the thing that I would do.

As we arrived at the mouth of Sampan, we were greeted with the view of about 60 boat already trolling the area. Despit the big number of boats fishing the spot during the whole weekend, everybody seemed in a very good mood and well mannered, which is certainly due to the very relaxed and fun spirited attitude that most competitor show in the Top End Barra Series.

And not long after we started to get in the line and had our lures in the water, that Nomad was on, to a nice sized Threadfin Salmon of 85cm (33.464567 inch).

First Threadfin of the weekend.

Just after getting this fish in the esky, Nomad bumped the brag mat in the drink...

We had just started fishing in the competition, and we lost our fish measuring device...

Lucky, he had a spare one tucked in the boat, so we were able to continue.

Yes this was going to be the weekend of the Threadfins. Good mates Seano and Sheeby told me that in the first day they had caught eighteen of them! And many of them over the meter mark...

I had never had a big Thready on the lure yet, and could not wait to hook on one, even if this was a Barramundi competition.

No long after that we saw Rosco, who gifted me a new lure for my little collection.

I am not sure if the lure is a KO Lures, one or not, I will have to ask him the next time that we catch up.

Anyway, Thanks for the lure Rosco, it is a nice one.

We saw Doors Off and Collen both catch a meter Barra. But it had seriously started to slow down for us, and I was starting to wonder if ever I was going to catch a fish...

And also if we were going to be able to dodge the storms that were all around us.

Storm over the mouth of Sampan Creek.

I could see people catching fish all around us, but I could not hook on anything.

We did get a few hit, but couldn't stay connected to any of them...

I had not been able to reel in a single good fish in a long time, and was considering that maybe, I had lost all of my fishing luck, the mojo must have drown...

When I finally got a jolt in the line, and I was on!

Just as we arrived at the end of the troll run, and were about to turn, and my Big B52's in the Guns N Roses had been nailed. At the end of it was fighting a lovely Threadfin Salmon.

I didn't know if I should have been disappointed as this was not a Barramundi, or if I should get excited to get my first Thready on a lure. In the end, a fish is a fish, and I was rather happy with that.

It was just shorter than the one previously caught by Nomad. 84cm (33.070866 inch), but was still so far my first and thus biggest one.

My first ever Threadfin Salmon on a lure.

I was very happy with that, and the spirit shoot back right up.

And we started trolling again.

Then we started to cast at some snag near the creek's mouth, and there we saw another competitor boat a Barramundi.

Get the net ready!

And yes in the background is the early beginning of the round raft up.

The Top End Barra Series raft up have become a bit of a tradition, where a few boat, sometimes over a dozen, raft up together and start to party.

This is generally not conducive to very good fishing, but definitely a very good spot for some great laughs. And a good indicator that there is still a lot of participant in this competition who are there more for the good times than for the prizes.

Then it was the evening, the storms had retired for a little while, and the place become illuminated by one of these end of wet season sunset that makes the Top End a magical place. As most boat were heading to the shelter of the creeks for the night.

Boat heading for the creek.

Fishing in the sunset.

We did the same, went in a nice little creek, dropped the anchor, and had dinner.

We then put some fizzers at the end of our line and started to wait for the tide and the boofs...

But the early start and a fulld day fishing got the best of us, and we just fall asleep...

I woke up at around three in the morning, to the sound of a boof not far from the boat.

In no time I was up, and casting all around.

For nothing else that one boof on my fizzer, and it didn't hookup.

As the day was starting to shine, the rain came with it.

But it did not last long, and as we were then well awake, we started to troll again.

And Nomad, asked me to steer the boat, while he would cast a fizzer at all the fish that we could see surface feeding. Well for the people who know me, steering a boat, is not a thing in which I am highly qualified yet, but at the Barramundi trolling speed, I was able to do it.

Then we saw more and more of the fish feeding on the surface, so with Nomad at the front on the casting desk, I tried to get as close as I could and put in neutral, still twitching my rod with a lure at the back... And Bang I was on! As I was trolling with the spin outfit instead of the bait caster, we heard the ratchet going on, a sound I always like, at any time of the day.

As I turned around to look in the direction of my fleeing line, I saw a nice pice of chrome jumping out of the water. It had fully jumped and I was able to see its entire body, there was no doubt, this was a Barramundi, and it was of legal size.

I was now trying to stay as calm as I could, but was worried that the fish would cut the line on the prop of the outboard, but Nomad told me to not worry about it to just worry about the fish and to reel it in. Which I did.

This was no monster fish, but this was my best Barramundi on a spin reel. It went 81cm (31.889764 inch).

Barramundi from the mouth of Sampan.

As you can see in the photo, it was early in the day, and I was still wearing a jacket. You know that you have acclimated to the tropics, when you need a jacket in the morning...

Just there, I told myself that this was going to be a day that I would remember.

And I am sure that I will remember this day, for some peculiar reason...

I then decided to change my fishing rod, and to get back to a bait caster, but to continue to use the same lure that had caught me my Barra, a Big B52's in the Strawberry and Cream colour. This lure was going to hook on something even bigger a bit latter on...

Then it was Nomad turn to hook and boat a fish. It was a nice Blue Salmon.

Nomad's Blue Salmon.

It was still early in the day, when my rod buckled down and I was on again!

Very quickly I knew that this was another Threadfin Salmon, but I also knew that it was bigger than the one I got the previous day.

I was going to upgrade my personal best Thready on a lure, if i could boat this one.

And boated the fish we did.

As the fish was still in the net, Nomad was telling me to be careful, that these fish sometime go mad in the boat, and that we didn't want any problem with the hooks.

Well you guessed it, not long after he finished to say so, someone got hooked...

It wasn't me, it was him, as he was trying to get the hook out of the fish mouth. He was using a plier, but the fish had suddenly jumped all over the place, and by the scream and expletive coming from Nomad, I knew something was wrong.

One of the treble point was now firmly stuck in one of his finger, way pass the barb.

We had to get the other treble out of the fish, and start to think of what we could do.

Nomad tried to pull it out wit a piece of leader, but it didn't work.

Frenchy from the Tackle Box rafted up to us, and got his first aid kit out. And a little plier that he had for over twenty years, which was absolutely perfect to cut the hook.

Then Seano and Sheeby rafted up on the other side of the boat and came to give us a hand. Seano tried to pull the hook out with Nomad saying: If you hurt me, I will punch you and send you swimming!

So Seano did what any one would have do in this situation, he took the biggest filleting knife he could find, and said with a big smile, no worries, I will just do a little cut on the top of your finger.

After sharpening it with a sharpening stone, he put the blade on Nomad's finger and said, ok, at three I will make a little incision, and we will be able to pull that out. He started counting aloud, but It seemed to me, that he used the knife at two and not at three.

Any way, I don't know if that because he had the knife, but Nomad did not punch him, and Seano was able to pull the remain of the hook out trhought the little cut.

Frenchy passed on an antiseptic liquid from his first aid kit, and some band aid.

We were ready to roll.

Ho and what did the fish that was the cause of all of this, looked like?

Here is it:

Nice and fat Threadfin.

So yes, at 86 cm (33.858268 inch) at the fork this was a bigger Salmon that my previous one, but I still think that the biggest thing that my new lure had caught was Nomad...

And we did joke about it later on.

Nomad who till then had caught all of his fish on a Gold Bomber, decided to change lure, and put a small Taipan from Reidy's, grey with red strips. And that was going to prove a if not an unusual lure for Shady Camp, a very successful one.

On the first troll run he hooked on what we though might be a monster, but it was just a nice Catfish. A nice one, but not a giant one.

A nice Catfish.

Being hooked behind the head, it was impossible to turn the fish, and it did give a very good account of himself. We really believed for a moment that Nomad had hooked on a Jewfish.

So the fish went back in the water, and the lure too.

It didn't take long, and this time it was a monster that took a liking to this little lure.

It hit and run, at great speed. Just one very fast and long run. I was trying to reel in my own lure as quick as I could and was screaming: Thumbs it he's going to spool you!

And before I even got my lure back to the boat it was all over...

This big fish who took the small lure, had made a long run which ended in a little Ping! and there was no line left on Nomad's reel, he had effectively been spool in no time.

This one must have been a big Jewfish, or a monster Barramundi. We will never know, but that was fast and strong, and very impressive.

So we went on a long troll so Nomad could get another eeel and rod ready, all the will I was swimming one of my lures at the back. And fishermen being fishermen, we could not help discussing what the fish that took all of Nomad's line could have been. It was the first time that I saw a reel being spooled under my eyes, and I had some trouble to come to term with the speed at with it happened.

As we were talking about that, Nomad asked me why I hadn't caught another fish yet?

And as I was trying to make some excuse like I was just trying to be nice to him, and not catch a fish just after he lost one... Wham Bam! I was on again.

In very shallow water, and it was heavy as, and I had some problems to reel it in.

No jump, it wasn't a Barramundi, it didn't fight like a Salmon, and wasn't as fast as a Jewfish, what could it be? A big Grouper maybe?

Well no, it wasn't any of these, it was a small stingray, which after the hook in the finger incident, made me think what will happen now?

So when it was at the boat, Nomad netted it:

Stingray in the net.

As we looked at it wondering what to do now, we realised that her barb was stuck in the net:

Stingray barb in the net.

This made things much easier for us, and I got my lure back.

This was going to be my last fish for the weekend, and all of my fishes had been caught on Big B52's, so I think that this will be my go to lure the next time that I will go to Shady Camp.

After that we trolled a bit more, but started to get worried about the tide, and if there would be enough water to get out at the barrage. So we decided to head back. And it was a wise move, as we arrived in very shallow water, and nearly got stuck on the rock, before being stuck on the mud at the ramp.

Thankfully there were other boats and some friends there, and with every bodies helping every bodies, we were able to get the boat on the trailer. Even if in the process both Nomad and I lost our shoes to the mud of the ramp.

We were then back on the road, destination home, when Nomad said: Have you seen the buffalo?

To which I replied that no, I hadn't, so he mad a u-turn, so I could get a photo of them.

We couldn't find them back and just as I was starting to tease him about him having some water buffalo vision, we saw them:

Water buffalo on the track.

And just then a car with some tourist from down south stopped to have a look at them too...

And they got out of their car and started to walk towards the buffalos. We shouted at them not to do that that they could be very dangerous animals, but they didn't really seemed to trust us, and continued to walk in the buffalo's direction, camera in hand.

Luckily for them, the buffalo ran away.

And then it was the road, with more talks about fishing and the ones that got away, and finally home.

It really was a great weekend, and I was very happy to have been invited on a boat once again, and to have been part of the first round of the 2013 Top End Barra Series.

Thank you Nomad.

Score wise, I ended up in place 22, out of about 80 competitors. I will need to lift up my game in the next rounds if I want to do any good.

Yes, poor old Nomad, in this round, lost a brag mat, got a hook in one of his fingers, got spool by a great fish, and lost his shoes in the mud... A hard weekend by all standards.

But hey, It could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

Jason's Leads

2013-02-15T19:55:00.000+09:30

Hi there,

There are many good reasons to add a fishing lure to one’s collection.

It can be because the lure is rare, because it is a really good fishing lure, because it has a story attached to it or because it is a present from a good mate.

Well this lure is ticking the right case in about all of the above…

The lure is a Leads Lures, handmade in Queensland, Australia, by Terry Leadbeater. And yes it is made of timber. People, who love fishing lures, know both, how good these are at catching fish, and how hard it is to find them in the Territory. Despite still being produced today.

My first Leads Lures.

This lure has a story too.

Jason bought the lure around 1997, just north of Cairns.

Then went fishing land based from the rocks, when on his second cast…

Hooked and landed, his first ever meter plus Barramundi on this very lure!

The metery catcher.

Many keen anglers would keep the lure that caught them their first Barra over a meter long as a precious relic. Some would even send it straight to the poolroom. But no, not him, who one day gave me a call saying: I am cleaning the shed, come around with a plastic bag, I have a few lures for you… And there I got my first two Leads (among many other lures); this was one of them.

For someone like me, still dreaming of catching my first metery. It made me wonder what I would do with the lure that will on day, help me to do it…

But more importantly you might have now guessed it, this was a present from a good friend, and this, makes the lure even more special to me.

Thanks mate.

I wanted to add a Leads Lures to my collection for so long.

Look at how beautiful it is:

Lure portrait.

Yes, I know, this lure never again will swim...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

Thank You Rona Green.

2013-02-10T21:36:00.000+09:30

Hi there,

Today as a cultural interlude, just a quick thank you to Rona Green.

Not long ago the great Australian artist Rona Green had a raffle on her blog and her Facebook page, I did enter the raffle, and did not win.
But she was very kind and sent me some little goodies, that made me very happy.
Thank you Rona!
That really made my day, because a few year ago, I was living in Melbourne.
Every day back then, I would walk past an art gallery that had some of her work in the window, and most day I would stop for a few minutes and alway enjoyed looking at them.
I would have loved to buy one, but I was not rich, and could not afford it, so to see her work again was great. (Thanks to Red Hand Prints for that.). And I now have a few little things from her...

So what did I received?
First a set of bookmarks:

Bookmarks and business card.

Then two catalogues of her works:

The two catalogues.

An open catalogue.

And some very cool fridge magnets and badges:

Magnets and badges.

The two white ones on the left are the fridge magnet, and the four coloured ones on the right are the badges.

The magnet will go on the home fridge, and the badges will be shared between the lady of the house, the little one and me.

Yes, it means that I will keep two of them and that they will have one of them each.

This is a great way for me to start collecting some of Rona Green's work, and was a great surprise, thanks again.

If you are interested to know more about her work, have a look at her web site:

ronagreen.com .

So, no fish and no Australian landscape in this post, as previously said, this was just a little cultural intermission.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

First Time At Cahills Cossing.

2013-01-23T22:13:00.000+09:30

Hi there,

Just a mini report about the first time that I went fishing to Cahills Crossing.
I had never been there, and this is a very beautiful place near Jabiru.
We just passed through, but now that I have seen a bit of it, I would love to get back there one day with more time.

Moz, gave me a call one morning, saying that if I wanted, he could pick me up one hour later, and we would drive there for a try at fishing the culverts and maybe the crossing.
I was on it like a kid on an ice cream.
I wanted to see this famous place for so long.

We drove directly to Cahills Crossing, and it was closed, because of the rain from the previous days.

Cahills Crossing, under water.

We first started to flick our lures from the viewing platform. Then Moz spotted a little passage on the left of the road, that lead to some rocks from where it seemed to be safe to fish. With a lot more room to cast. So we went on it and started to fish again from there.

As I was reeling in my lure just next to the rock, I had the feeling that something had followed it. But I was not sure if it was just a shadow made by a nearby tree, waving in the wind.

To be sure of it, I sent my lure where I had dropped it on the previous cast, and tried to retrieve it on the same trajectory. Once the lure was not very far from the rocks, a flash of light in the water, and bang I was on to a vigorous little Barramundi.

Greedy little Barramundi.

This was no big fish, but it made us think that we were in the right spot.

Well about a few hundreds cast latter and no more fish, we weren't so sure anymore, and decided to start to make our way back. With the plan to stop at the culvert we would see on our way home.

The first good looking culvert was already busy with two other fishermen, so we just had a little chitchat with them, and left them at it. They hadn't caught a fish yet.

At the second one, at Magella Creek, I didn't get anything, because Moz stole all the action.

He first started to even the score with a little barra.

Moz and a little Barramundi from the culvert.

And then he got something like five or six hook up, while I was just gave a little swim to my lure...

It is faire to say that both his technic and the spot from where he was fishing were better that mines.

Yes I hear you, for the technic, it is a question of practice and talent, but for the spot, I could have just walked next to him...

Well, to this I will just say no.

He had taken his shoes off, and walked in the middle of the road/culvert to fish straight in the middle of the creek. With the light fading this was to me like wadding in the crocodile causeway. There was no way I was going to get in there, not even for a better fishing spot.

We did see a kangaroo cross the creek behind us, and this was the first time that I saw one of them jumping in the water to cross a creek. The sound and image of it will stay in my memory for a long time. This is part of what makes fishing in the top end so magic.

This was a great little trip, thank you Moz for the invitation.

From Darwin this was a round trip of between 400 to 500 km, and we came back with no fish in the esky. Because the two landed ones were undersize... I know what some people might think...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

My Sunday Fish.

2013-01-15T12:49:00.001+09:30

Hi there,

Yes last Sunday, I went fishing with my good old mate Double Haul.
It was a long time since we fished together, and I was very happy when he called me to go fishing on Darwin Harbour, to try for some Barramundi.
After all, Double Haul, is the man who put me back on the Barramundi fishing, after I had spend a few year not catching any of them, and concentrating on getting some other prey from the rocks around town. It is also with him, that I have caught, my biggest Barramundi so far, and it was the first one I got after my previously mentioned, few year long Barra drought.
The fish was 91cm, and I still remember it.
So this little fishing trip promised to be a good one, filled with laugh and maybe a few fish...

Double Haul picked me at 9:00am, and we were in the water not long after that.
The plan for the day, was to go not very far from the boat ramp, and to try to get some Barra and Salmon, casting small lure against the mangroves and snake drains.
With the morning high tide, the place looked promising, despite a relative lack of bait fish in the water.
But in a very short time, my little Hell Raiser lure had a hit. I had casted just against a tree, and a nice drop off was sitting in front of it. Just as the lure arrived above the drop off, a flash of silver, and I was on. The fish pulled the line, came quickly back to the surface, made a little jump, it was a small Barramundi, it showed us his back fins, and gave a good head shake, and was gone...
I had lost this little guy.
But we hadn't fished for very long, and this made us think that this was going to be a great day full of fish...

Well, nothing much happened, for a little while, some half cooked hits here and there, but no real action.
So we finally decided to move further away, and to go in a creek nearby.
Upon arriving at the creek mouth, we found that the water had already dropped and had to find the channel to get in.
Once in there, we saw some pelicans gorging themselves on fish.
If they were able to get some fish, we would do the same!
Well, that was the plan anyway...
We casted a few thousand times, for not much.
So I changed lure, and put a Little B52's at the end of my line, explaining that I really liked this lure. As I once had a great session with this very one.
And to prove it, on the third or fourth cast with it, I was on!
But the fish didn't fight like a Barramundi, and Double Haul started to have a funny smile on his face...
When the fish came to the surface, I understand why: I had a little catfish.
He had totally engulfed the lure, and just the head and eyes of it were coming out of its mouth. Both treble had found their marks. This was a two pliers job to unhook and release the little critter. And this is only once it was gone that I realised that I had not taken a photo of it.
This made Double Haul laugh, asking me why on earth I would want a picture of a small catfish?

We moved a bit further, and at a little creek/ big drain mouth, we saw some jelly prawns being harassed by some big Threadfin salmons.
Here was something that we wanted to catch!
So we casted left, right and centre, to no avail.
So we changed our hard body lures for some soft plastic ones.
I choose a little green Zman, that was given to me by Arrabmundi.
We were looking where the prawns were starting to show on the surface, and before they really started to go berserk we would flick our lures among them and hope to get a hook up.
This was very shallow water, and we could at time see the Salmon, rolling just under the surface, their sides breaking the water, feeding on the tiny prawns. It was exciting and frustrating at the same time, as we couldn't get them to take our offering.
Then as I had sent my lure to what I was thinking would be a great spot to catch a salmon, it finally happened.
I had left the little soft plastic drop to the bottom, and was just making it skip on the creek's bed, just slowly, a little bit at a time, with pause in between. Suddenly, a little bump on the line, just as I was to give the lure another skip, and the line start to head towards the centre of the creek.
I am on! You got him! Said Double Haul, and I started to get all excited.
The fish was taking line, and I thought that the drag on my reel was free, but no, so I started to hope for a massive Threadfin... Then the line seemed to come near the surface, and in one nice jump, a few feet above water level, the fish revealed itself.
And it was not what I was thinking it was, no.
As we had finally switched off from chasing Barra and were gunning for some Threadies, I got an interesting by catch... It was a Barramundi!
Off course, I then wanted this fish even more, and begin to stress that with just a single hook from a weedless lure, the odds were more in favour of the fish than I.
And yes salt water Barra from the harbour, have great force and stamina. I was surprise at how easily he would take some line. when it finally came close to the net, I started to be more confident. But just on eyeing the net, it put the back burners on, and dived straight under it and went back for the creek. Ha!
Second attempt was rewarded with success and the fish was boated.
I still wasn't sure that it was legal, and Double Haul laughed and said to put it on the brag mat: it went 62cm and some dust (24.409449 inches).
And here it is:

My Sunday fish.

This fish made me very happy, has it was my first legal Barramundi in a few months.

It was going to be good food.

We could have stayed there a bit longer, but a storm was on it's way.

Storm over the creek.

So we decided to get out of the creek, before we got locked in by the falling tide, and to try and get refuge closer to the boat ramp. On our way out of the creek, we saw some poor fellas who didn't negotiated the mud flat very well, and were stranded high and dry.

Waiting for the tide.

They had missed the channel and would have to wait for the tide to get back up, and might have had to weather the storm up there.

This was bad luck for them.

On our way back to the ramp, we saw what the storm really looked like and tried to rush past it.

Here comes the rain again.

But we got rained on and got soaking wet.

To keep warm, and because we saw some splash in the water, I casted a popper with all the vigour I could find. But didn't got any fish game enough to have a go at it.

We then moved closer to the ramp, but had to wait for the tide to be high enough to be able to get to it.

So we cruised up and down the creek casting as we went, as some big Queenfish kept busting all around us.

Then they stopped, and we hadn't got any of them...

The water was high enough, and we felt a bit cold, so we decided to call it a day.

To me that had been a great day, of catching up with a friend, and fishing under the sun, and the rain too, yes. Thanks for the invitation Double Haul.

Now, what happened to this Barramundi I caught?

Well some of it was turned into a delicious fish soup:

Barramundi fish soup.

This was the first time I had a Barramundi fish soup, and now I want some more!

So I guess, that I will have to go fishing again...

And no, we didn't caught any Salmon.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

The HellRaiser Worked.

2013-01-10T18:09:00.001+09:30

Hi there,

Not long ago, I introduced you to a new little lure made by Reidy's, from Darwin Australia, who was yet to be named and released on the market. Well it isn't released yet, but has now been named and its name is the HellRaiser!
I gave it a swim on the first day of the year 2013... And it worked, it caught me some Barramundi.
Here comes the story of my fishing on the 1st of January 2013.

Once again, I was very lucky to be invited aboard Moz fine boat, for a day of fishing on Darwin harbour.
We launched at a very reasonable time, and Moz, tried to teach me how to steer the boat.
That was fun to drive between the moored yachts but I think that I must have been driving a bit slow, so he took back the helm and we quickly crossed the harbour toward the creeks where we wanted to spend the day, relaxing and fishing.

Crossing the harbour on Hard Gore.

As soon as we arrived we found a nice creek, with a lot of mangroves and some calm waters...

The place looked promising and in his second or third cast Moz got a nice little Golden Snapper on the line.

I started to wonder how he could be so fast at catching a fish, and looking at him I understood. He had a secret weapon, in the form of a remote control. That he must have used to direct the fish towards his own lure and away from mine... And yes I have the proof of that in picture:

Moz and his secret remote control.

Not long after that I sight casted to a school of bream and got one on the lure, but lost it not very far from the boat.

We then decided to move to another creek, the water was like glass.

Flat water.

In this new creek Moz repeated the trick and got on in no time, but this time to a little catfish.

Reeling in the kitten.

We moved in the creek, casting to every drain and colour change that we would come across.

This is when Moz got the first Barramundi of the day.

First Barra of the day.

It was not a monster, but it is always nice to catch your targeted fish.

And he wasn't long before he got another one.

Then it was my turn! I finally got a fish in the boat, and it was a baby Barramundi, caught on the new lure made by Reidy's:

My first Barramundi on the Hell Raiser.

Once again, not much size to it, but the satisfaction to catch a Barra on a new lure totally made up for it.

And more importantly, this was my first Barramundi in a very long time, I was breaking the drought.

That made me really happy.

To celebrate, Moz opened a bottle of Barratastic ale, made by no one else than Doors Off.

Enjoying the Barratastic.

It was a hot day and I think that Moz enjoyed the fresh beer, nearly as much as I had enjoyed catching a little Barramundi after being Barraless for so long.

And this was also a good way of thinking about our good friend Doors Off who is actually working overseas, you are not forgotten mate.

We moved to the other side of the river, to start to make our way back. Still casting to every good looking spot. Arriving to a place, where we found at the same time, an eddy, a little run off from a snake drain and a colour change, Moz said that this was a very fishy looking spot.

I casted my lure at the back of the eddy, and it had to cross the eddy, the little run off, and pass through the colour change before being back to the boat. This is finally in the colour change that I felt a sharp thug on my rod handle and that my line seemed to suddenly going away from the boat, instead of quietly coming back to me.

This was going to be my second little Barramundi of the day.

My last Barramundi for the day.

I was now convinced that this new little lure was working well.

From there we moved to a third creek, where once again, just on arrival, Moz got a new Barramundi.

Moz fourth Barramundi for the day.

It was like Moz, knew where to put his lure from the start, at each different location that we visited on the day.

Every times he got his fish in the first few casts, and this made me think that need to learn how to read the creeks a bit better. Which to me is an exciting goal.

In this creek we saw some Barramundi feeding on jelly prawns, and one of them Barra, was a very big girl. We casted many times towards the drain in front of which she was feeding, but could not entice her with our offerings. I even changed my hard body lure for a soft plastic, but to no avail in the Barramundi department.

On the other hand, I did caught a small Star Gazer and this was the first time that I got one in a creek and not on the reef.

The little Star Gazer.

Not long after that, we decided that it had been a good day on the water and that we should head back to the ramp. And a good day it had been, with 5 different species of fish caught. Among them six Barramundi, despite the fact that they had started to feed on jelly prawns. So it is with the sense of a well done job that we started to sail back to port.

Thanks again Moz, it was a great day.

For the people among you who love statistics...

The skipper got four Barramundi on soft plastic, and I got only two on hard body lure.

Yes maybe I should have see the sign earlier in the day, and changed to a soft plastic sooner than in the last twenty minutes of fishing...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

The Day Before Christmas.

2012-12-31T16:44:00.001+09:30

Hi there,

Here comes a true fishing tale, which took place on the day before Christmas, in the land down under.
Knowing that I had changed my holidays plans, and was going to stay at home for the full holidays, good mate Moz gave me a call, and asked if I wanted to go for a morning of fishing on the day before Christmas.
Of course, I said yes. I hadn't really fished for a long time, and I missed it big time.
People who know me, tend to say, that I am rather keen on the fishing thing...

The plan was to hit a few of Darwin Harbour creeks, in search of Lates calcarifer, yes we were going to catch some Barramundi!
We left in the morning, but at a reasonable hour, with the sun already awake.

Morning on Darwin's Harbour.

We found a bit more wind than we had expected, but once in the creeks, it become nice and calm.

So we enter this little creek, and Moz tells me that here is a place where it is best to fish with small soft plastic, lightly weighted. So as he start to fish, from the front left hand side of the boat, I quietly go to the back to change the set up on my line. Getting ride of the clip, and putting a small soft plastic on the line.

Just then I heard Moz saying: Yep! I am on!

So Still crouched over my gears, getting my line ready, I ask without looking if it is a big one. To know if I should drop every thing and get the net. To which Moz reply that no it is just a small one...

And just after that I hear a little Splouf, A louder SH..! and a mega SPLASH!

I quickly turn over to look what is going on?

...

All I can see, is that no one is standing on the bow!

What!?! Now I drop everything and run to the front, look in the water, on the left, nothing...

On the right, nothing... On the left again, nothing!

Now I start to freak out, and to think that the only thing that could have happened, is that a big crocodile, came, jump and got him. Dragged him under water, and is eating him under the boat just right now.

This is in my mind the only explanation, he has been under water for way too long for anything else to make sense... Nothing on the water, even his hat is not floating ... it is calm, I am alone, and my good mate has just been eaten by a crocodile... I shout: Hey where are you? Can you hear me?

Nothing...

Aï aï aï!!!

What I am going to do! Why why why???

Then I see something moving under water, coming toward the surface. Is that the crocodile coming back for second serve? No! It is a hand holding a fishing rod, and just behind, Moz came out gasping for air.

He his passing the rod to me, so I grab it in my left hand and extend my right one to him, and as quickly as I can help him to get back onboard.

Good, I have not soiled my pants, and he is still alive and seems to be in one piece!

His first words are: I am very upset, I lost my sunnies!

To which I say, What?

He then proceed to explain to me that he was thinking that he had a small fish, and was taking it easy on it, then the little fish turned into something bigger and suddenly pulled the fishing rod out of his hands. So without thinking he dived behind it to get it back. (Anyone who knows the Darwin's harbour creeks, knows, that they are inhabited by crocodile, sharks, jellyfish, stonefish, stingrays and god knows what else...)

So he dived, behind his sinking fishing rod, and could not grab it, so swam to the bottom of the creek (3.4 meters, 11.154856 foot, yes I checked the depth sounder as he told me so), and started to touch all that he could touch at the bottom of the creeks, and finally in the darkness of the muddy river, felt between his fingers the fishing rod. Took it and started to get back up, this is at this time, that he felt his sun glasses fall from his face. But was starting to get short on air and had to get back up as quick as he could to the surface, where the city boy that I am was starting to seriously panic.

As he finishes to tell me the full story and to repeat how upset he his to have lost his sunnies, because he really liked these ones, I realise that I still have the fishing rod in my hand, and that there is something happening with it. Yes the fish is still on!

I gave him the rod and he reels in a very fine specimen of Darwin Harbour Barramundi.

The fish that made Moz swim.

At 79 cm (31.102362 inches), it was a nice silver fish, healthy as can be.

We discussed for a few minutes if we should keep it or release it. It finally ended up in the esky.

That will teach him to loose Moz sunnies!

We got many other hits in this creek, but couldn't stay connected to anything.

Then another boat arrived in the creek, and started to troll and cast a cast net here and there.

The hits shut down, and we decided to go and try our chance somewhere else.

We tried the flats around Channel Island for a little while, to no avail.

But a flathead by Moz, which managed to unhook itself just at the boat.

And some sharks that we saw swimming not far from the boat.

Then, passing under the bridge, we saw that we thought were Trevally busting the surface, so we casted to them for a few minutes, before we realised that they were big Milkfish, feeding on some very small fishy prawns white things.

No way we were going to catch them on our had bodies lures...

Off we go to the next creek, passing along a crocodile trap.

As soon as we entered the creek, we saw that it was full of bait, so our hopes went right up once again.

The last creek of the day.

This was going to be the last creek of the day.

Despite all the nervous bait, we couldn't raise a single scale, and it was now nearly 12 o'clock.

So we started to slowly make way to the mouth of it and I was considering that this was going to be another of these days where I can't get a fish...

In desperation I did the longest cast that I could toward a little drain on the side. I had on a little green soft plastic that Arrabmundi had given me with a whole lot of other very cool lures the day before.

I was reeling in this little lure, wondering if I was just lacking focus, and if that was why I could not catch a fish...

Just then out of nowhere, my line suddenly tensed and started to fly away from my reel! It had been brusk and I didn't expected it anymore. The line was peeling, and going for the depth.

I must have shouted much louder that I would normally do, I have a fish!!! I am on!!!

In a split second, nothing else mattered but to try to boat this fish.

The fight was aggressive, and going in every direction. This was not a Barramundi fight, maybe a Catfish, or a Stingray? Then we saw a bit of colour, and I started to wonder if I had finally hooked on my first ever Mangrove Jack. This was no Mangrove Jack, it was a Golden Snapper.

My Golden Snapper.

This might not have been a monster one, but it was so far my biggest Goldie caught on a lure, and that totally made my day.

Moz quickly got the lure out of its mouth and said that they often swim in school so I should recast where I got this one. This is did a few times, and didn't get any more fish. Yet I was still very happy, as this would be great food for my little family.

The fish was gutted, placed on ice in the esky, and we started to go back.

Moz also gave me a big fillet from his Barramundi, so I got plenty of good food, from one very pleasant morning of fishing, on the day before Christmas.

Thank you Moz.

Yes I have never caught a Mangrove Jack yet...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

Just A Quick Update.

2012-12-23T13:56:00.001+09:30

Hi there,

Just a quick update, to let you know that the blog is still alive.
The only reason I didn't post much in December is that early in the month, I was told that in a cost cutting exercise, I had lost my job.
This had me by surprise, and made me feel really down and gloomy.
So the fishing, the lure collecting and the blog took a back seat, for a little while.
I would just say that it wasn't my best December.

This is also why I din't made a Christmas giveaway this year.
Sorry about that.

Anyway, I should be back soon, with hopefully some good stories, pics, and maybe even a new job.

Have a good day, and a very good festive season.

Me.

Just A Little Mackerel.

2012-12-02T13:29:00.000+09:30

Hi there,

This morning I went fishing on the Cullen Bay rock wall, and I came back with just one little Mackerel.
Yet it was a great morning, as I hadn't really fished the place in a long time.
So my plan was to be there at day break, and I arrived there...
Well, let's just say a bit after day break, when it was already full day light...
The first thing that I saw on arrivals was a big sea turtle quietly swimming around along the rock wall.
Good sign I told myself, if the wildlife is there, I might get some action.
So I started to cast a small popper that I had modified around.
Waiting for the big hit to arrive, hoping for a Queenfish or a Trevally.
But instead after about 15 to 20 minutes of casting, I made a nice long cast, and the popper flew away very far... Much further away than it should have, and that was because my leader had broken and it was free of any line to slow it down...
So there I am, not half an hour into the morning fishing and I lost a little lure that I had put a bit of work in it...
I wasn't too impressed with myself, and started to wonder if that would be one of these days, where everything goes wrong.
So as calm as I could I walked by towards my fishing bag, sat down on the rocks, and started to put a new leader on my line and to wonder what lure I could use after that.
I went for a DUO Beach Walker.
As I was attaching the lure to the end of my line, another fisherman arrived behind me and said hi.
We had a bit of a chat, and it turned out that it was a follower from the FFF forum.
He had arrived in Darwin from Tasmania only 4 month ago, for work, and with a contract nearly at its end, was bound to get back to Tasmania in the next few week.
He was fishing soft plastic and I was fishing hard body.
He also had a baited line in the water a bit on the side, and I also had a fishing rod ready with a metal slug in case of a bust up.

As there was not too much action I walked to the end of the rock wall, and casted from left to right covering as much water as I could.
I started to be more and more confident that this was going to be another day without fish, or that I should go and change my lure.
Ok, a few more cast and I might move away...
And then bang!
I was on, It wasn't pulling very hard and didn't seems very heavy, but it looked to be silvery in colour and I wanted to land it.
Only when it arrived close to the rock did I realised that it was a small Mack, and I started to hope that it would not cut my line.
But it did not and I landed it:

Mack on the DUO Beach Walker.

This wasn't a big fish, but it sure put me in a good mood, and a nice little lunch it was going to be.

I was going to eat some fish today!

Yummy little fish.

After that I didn't land anything else, but twice I saw some fish coming for my lure and turning off just at the last second when they had the nose on the lure.

And that was enough to keep me happy.

I had changed my leader after the first fish, as it seemed to me that the knot was a bit on the light side, and I was still hoping for the big strike.

And I did get a nice strike, from what I believed to be a big Queenfish, it hit hard and gave a nice pull on the line.

But didn't stay connected and I lost this fish in about 2,23 seconds...

Ha!

once I got the lure back, a I wanted to check if my hooks were still sharp.

Yes they were still sticky sharp, but my new leader was half destroyed, it wasn't a nice Queenifsh, but a reasonably good Mackerel that had hit the lure.

There must have been a few around this morning.

In fact we did see 4 bust up of little bait being harassed by predatory fish well under casting distance.

Don't ask, yes I tried to throw my chrome slice in there, and didn't get a single hit.

The other guy had three hits, but didn't connect a single time.

We also saw two other bust up that were a bit too far for me to cast to, but someone with a better technic or better gears would have been able to cast to them.

I also saw a Barramundi that would have been just legal or very slightly above legal, swimming against the rock wall, hugging the rocks as close as he could.

But I was not able to tempt him.

The other guy, (sorry I forgot his name) got a nice hit on a baited line that he had put a bit on the side of where we were casting, and picked it up.

It came tight and it fought heavy and down, so he called it for a stingray.

But as it come closer, it showed itself as a shark, not huge but big enough to give a bit of a work out to anyone.

And big enough to eat...

But just on the rock it chewed the leader and swam away...

Ha!

Then I sarted to be a bit hot and thirsty, I had finished my water bottle and decided to go back home.

All in all it wasn't a bad morning, saw a lot of fish, got a little one, and meet a member of one of my favourite forum.

I did loose a lure.

But hey, it could be worst.

Have a good day,

Me.

ABU Hi-Lo

2012-11-30T22:25:00.000+09:30

Hi there,

Just a very short story about some lures that I like...

As a child, I remember sitting at the kitchen table and listening with great attention, to my father and his friends, talking about a lure that could swim at different deep. To find the fishes wherever they would be hiding. This to me was magic and resonated in my mind as the fisherman ultimate tool. I wanted one.

Today I have a few in my collection, and in fact they are still being produced.

ABU Hi-Lo.

The Abu Hi-Lo is a well-known lure that has been used by many.

It is nearly a look-alike of the Heddon Vamp Spook from America. But it had something more, it has an articulated bib.

The articulated bib.

It first appeared in 1955 at a time when the Swedish company was called AB Urfabriken. It then arrived with a bib adjustable in five different positions. In 1958 it gained one more and now offers the choice of six different angles for the bib. Giving the lure the ability to swim from very deep to very shallow, it can be used as a surface lure, a bit like a popper.

The real collector will look for the pre-1958 version, easily recognizable for not having any patent marking on the belly.

Mines, all have a marking on the belly.

It has been available in five different sizes, included the jointed version.

As a floating, slow sinking or sinking lure.

Originally built in Sweden, the production moved to Asia in 1981.

They have since been made in Japan, Taiwan and China.

Not that many lure models have been produced for over fifty year, and are still being used now. It still sells very well overseas with Pike fishermen, and I was told that there is still some passionate using it down south. But today, for many up here, it has lost its flavor.

Still, I definitively like them…

Here are a few of them:

Three sizes and a jointed one.

Blue and all alone.

Two brothers.

Yes I know, none of my Hi-Lo were made prior 1958, so all the lure that I show you in this post are not really collector lures...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

My First Archerfish.

2012-11-25T13:56:00.000+09:30

Hi there,

Moz kindly invited me to go fishing with him aboard his boat, and this is when I caught my first ever Archerfish...
Thank you Moz.
After a very good post from Arrabmundi on the FFF forum, about how to catch some Barramundi on the upper Adelaide River, by dropping some soft plastic lures among the submerged timber, we decided to have a try at it.
And went with the goal for the day, of fishing only weedless soft plastics in the snags.

The plan was to take it easy and be on the water at around 10:00am, and cruise to Goat Island for a Burger with chilli sauce for lunch, and then start fishing.
And this is what we did, had a good burger and a chat with Kai to get all the good oil on the fishing...
And basically he told us that the fishing had slowed a bit these last few days...
And he was right, with a water temperature just over 32 degrees Celsius (89.6 Fahrenheit), the fish were not as numerous as we would have loved.
Yet we quickly started to get some hits on the first few cast. Moz was the first to score, with a fiesty little Barramundi:

First Barramundi of the day.

This put us in a good mood, we then thought that we were doing the right thing with the good lures...

It was still early in the afternoon and our optimism went back right up.

Now, I wanted a fish of my own, and it was to happen.

But it was not one of the targeted specie, yet it made me very happy.

It was an Archerfish, and that was the first time ever that I caught one, and that was on a lure.

My favourite form of fishing.

My first ever Archerfish.

There is something very pleasant in catching for the first time a fish from a specie that had eluded you till then. It was also very interesting for me, as I believed that they would feed on insect only, but obviously once again, I was wrong.

So despite what you could call a by catch it made my day, sometimes simple little things are what matters.

We continued to have regular hits, but lost all the fish that were having a go at our lures.

Then I finally got a little Barramundi too. My lure was way out of the snag and was pretty close to the boat when my line suddenly tensed and I got all excited, as it made a little jump and I saw that it was a Barra. A rat some would say, but to me a Barramundi is a Barramundi.

My baby Barramundi.

Yes it was just a baby, and didn't offer much resistance to the locked drag that I had set up my reel to, in anticipation of a bigger fish. It was still very green in the boat and started to jump a bit all over the place, so a quick photo and in the water it went back.

We tried again in a few different place, and when we finally saw a place that to us screamed: Barramundi lives here! We moored the boat to a branch coming out of the water and started to cast all around us.

And Moz started to get hits after hits, sometimes a few in just one retrieve.

Being who I am, I casted in the total opposite direction he was casting at...

And I got a fish!

My second Archerfish, it must have been the day for it:

Last fish of the day.

This was going to be the last fish of the day.

We continued to cast here and there, and even tried to troll for a few minutes in a spot that Arrabmundi had showed us, and which really produced in the past. But to no avail.

We did get a lot of hits on the soft plastics, but nothing more stayed connected.

With a storm coming and a slow action on the fishing front, we decided that it might be time to call it a day, and go home.

Storm on our way.

As we zoomed back down the river, we passed through a bit of rain, but quickly got on the other side.

Like if the storm was going the opposite direction from us, which was nice.

Rain clouds on the Adelaide.

Back at the ramp, Moz asked with a big smile if I could jump in the water to hold the boat while he was going to fetch the car... No! I said, and he burst out laughing and handed me the rope to hold the boat from the safety of the top of the ramp, I felt better immediately.

On the way back we discussed the day, and what happened. We got a large amount of hits that didn't materialised in a catch, but were they hits from big fish?

Well it is hard to say, because with soft plastic lure, it is often just a little taps on the line that signal a hit from a nice fish. A very different feeling than a strike on a hard body lure.

So I smiled, and decided that they were hits from enormous Barramundi...

We didn't got the numbers that we would have loved too but this to me was still a great day in the Australian outdoors.

We did get some good laughs, a great time and the water. Moz showed me how to, and fixed one of my reel that was making strange noises, thank you for that too Moz.

And now it may have to wait for a few month and the run off before the next trip up the Adelaide River.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

The New Reidy's.

2012-11-23T21:28:00.000+09:30

Hi there,

Today I am going to show you a fishing lure which is yet to be named...
The lure is made by Reidy's Lures in Australia.
It is a lure that look like it would be great to use on the mud flat, or land based above the shallow rock of the shore.
Maybe even just above some weeds bed.

So what does it look like?
Here it is:

The new Reidy's.

Yes this is nearly like a Little Lucifer...

But look at the bib, it is much shorter...

This is a very shallow Little Lucifer.

Except that it doesn't have a name yet, so it is not the shallow Little Lucifer.

In fact, Reidy's has a little competition going on at the moment, where people can send them some idea of names. The winner will see this very lure named after his or her idea, and will for this recieved a very cool prize from Reidy's.

Where to send the names you may ask?

To the following email address I would tell you:

info@reidyslures.com

Now, don't go telling that I never do anything for you...

Good luck to all, even if you beat me to it. And yes, I know that the odds are not in my favour.

But hey, it cold be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

P.S: Ho and yes, I was lucky enough to score one of these lures before they get released on the market, so I can't wait to go and give it a swim, to see what it look like in the water...

Thank you Reidy's.

A Request From The Museum.

2012-11-11T19:20:00.000+09:30

Hi there,

I just received a request from the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory.
They asked me if I could relay on my blog their need for some very specific catfish...
So here is the email that I just got from them:

Hi Rambling Expat,

The Museum is keen to get some genetic samples of eel-tail catfish (Plotosids) from around Darwin in Salt Water (have plenty from freshwater rivers). They are an interesting group and occur from muddy estuaries to reef habitats including rock pools. If anyone should come across any we would be grateful if they could pop it in the esky then freezer and bring it in – I would happily provide a behind the scenes tour at the same time and perhaps a special edition lure J (or can arrange to pick them up).

Here’s some pictures borrowed from the net of some of the different species, they vary in size from 10cm to about 30cm, and would be grateful if you could mention this on your blog.

Cheers

Michael

So here are the links to some of these great little fish:

Fish Number One

Fish Number Two

Fish Number Three

Fish Number Four

All these links (blue text) redirect to the images of a great Australian web site called Anima, wich is a great destination of fish imagery. A great place to ID a fish, or order a hand signed print.

So if you are fishing in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, this is for you.

And as I am sure many of you would have said or heard in the past: This is all in the name of science!

And this is why, they also would love to get as much information as possible in regards to where the fish were caught, dates and times, in what kind of depth, with lure or bait. Even GPS marks would be welcome.

Also did you catch it land based or from a boat?

If you catch one and bring it to the museum in good condition, that would be great, thank you.

Your name would then be kept for posterity as a donor to the museum collection.

Think, at how much bragging right that would give you to face the grand kids...

Yes I know, this is a post without any nice fishing photos...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

The Commemorative Rapala.

2012-11-01T22:23:00.000+09:30

Hi there,

I was offered a commemorative fishing lure, made by Rapala for a local tackle shop.
And by no one else than the winner of the 2012 Top End Barra Series, Mr. Gregory Shields.
Thank you Gregory, this is much appreciated.

It was during a nice evening at the Ski Club in Darwin, for the end of competition event.
Just by the sea, under the palm trees it was a great night.

Early evening at the Ski Club.

With the moon in the sky.

I really like this place, it is a great spot to relax at the end of any day.

But back on topic, I got a new fishing lure...

As part of his winning prizes as the 2012 champion, Gregory received this beautiful lure.

The very thing that I wanted to win in the last round of this friendly competition, but it had eluded me.

Knowing that I collect fishing lures with advertising on them, Gregory came towards me in the evening and asked me if I wanted it.

I was so surprised, that at first I believed that he was joking.

But no, he was being honest and generous and for my great pleasure, gifted it to me.

Thanks again.

The lure is a commemorative Rapala, made for the 40 years of Fishing & Outdoor World, the oldest fishing tackle shop in Darwin, NT Australia. And in a place like Darwin where fishing is an integral part of the local culture, this is saying something.

In fact, it is even my favourite shop in town.

The shop opened in 1972 and 2012 marked the 40 years anniversary...

I wonder what they will do in 2022 to mark the 50 years...

So, want to see it?

Here it is:

The commemorative Rapala.

This is the X-Rap SXR-10. It swims to 1,2-1,8 meter (4'-6'), weight 13 grams (7/16oz.) and is 10 cm (4") long.

The colour is FOW of course!

I love to collect advertising or commemorative fishing lures, and this is my first one from Rapala, so I am very happy with it.

Yes I know, this is a blog post about a fishing lure, in which there is two photos of palm trees, and just one of the lure...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

And The Winner Is...

2012-10-28T17:44:00.000+09:30

Hi there,

So last month I started a little giveaway for one great KO Lure to be won.
The giveaway address was just this, if you want to see what it was all about.

The winner had just one thing to do, and that was to tell us what is his/her favourite fishing lure colour is, and then I was to draw the winner, with the help of Random.org.

I have to say that I am a bit surprised by the very low number of people who entered the raffle.
It was pretty easy to enter and I got a number of 1499 visitor during the duration of the giveaway competition.
How many people entered?
A grand total of 4... So they each found themselves with a 25% chance of being the winner, not bad odds when you think about it.

So who won you may start to wonder...
Wait no more, for here is a screenshot of the draw made on Random.org:

Yes this is the number one!

You could say that it is a case of first in, best served.

Congratulations Fish Whisperer, you love Blue and Silver fishing lures, and you just won a blue and silver one, with a bit of gold thrown in the mix.

So please, just send your contact detail of where I should send the lure to the following email address:

iwon1lure@hotmail.com

And your lure should be posted in the coming week.

Yes, this very lure:

The big bad KO lure.

KO lures is a new brand of Australian fishing lures, with a headquarter in Darwin, NT, Australia.

It is interesting to note that of the four entries, two were from Australia, and two from overseas.

And we also had a very poetic entry, thank you Mud.

To the people who didn't win, sorry guys, hopefully your will be the winner and grinner of the next one.

And just remember, as I often say...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

2012 Top End Barra Series Round 6.

2012-10-21T23:08:00.000+09:30

Hi there,

Not long ago was the 2012 Top End Barra Series round 6, the grand finale, the round where the champions would rise.
The round was taking place on Corroborre Billabong, a very beautiful place.

Sunrise and flying geese on the billabong.

For this bout I was not to fish with Arrabmundi, my usual skipper, as he was in the process of moving interstate, and was a few thousands kilometres away when the event took place.
Instead I was fishing with Moz, with whom I had already fished on the Adelaide River earlier in the year.

Full of anticipation.

As we launched in the cold early morning of the first day of competition, we were full of hope and anticipation.

Corroboree Billabong is truly a beautiful place, and having fished there only twice in the past, I couldn't get enough of the stunning sunrise.

Sunrise at Corroboree Billabong.

Being originally a big city boy, this is the kind of show that make me appreciate the move to the slower paced life style that I now live.

We quickly motored to a spot called The Rock Hole, where we started to troll some small lures.

And it didn't take too long for Moz to catch a nice Barramundi.

Moz and a nice Billabong Barramundi.

He was on the board, and a first fish in the boat is alway a relief, we were in for some good action.

Or so we thought...

Because the rest of the weekend was going to be spent catching the wrong fishes, and missing the right ones...

I did miss a few Saratoga not very far from there, I just couldn't stay connected to them.

Yet it was still going to be a great warm weekend on the water.

When I say warm, I could say hot, or even stinking hot.

The first day saw a temperature of 37 degrees celsius and the second day of 39 ( 98.6 and 102.2 fahrenheit ).

Not much breeze, and not that much shade, made it for what we would call a warm weekend on the water.

Even the crocodile were getting a bit cranky with the heat.

As we were doing a slow troll along a bank of water lilies, a big one surfaced just at the green edge of the aquatic vegetation and aimed straight for our boat. We didn't ask for anything, we just increased the speed of the outboard and moved along, out of there.

We did went fishing in a little canal, where we saw two young guys coming and fishing just next to us.

They explained that they were new to the territory, and that this was only their second time fishing here.

Seeing us stoping there they thought that it must be a good stop and had decided to stop too...

You guessed it, beginers luck was on their side, as the guy who was the closer to us was explaing all of this to us suddenly hooked on what seemed to be a nice fish.

It was a nice fight in the narrow canal, and the fish was finally netted, with the young angler shooting: "It is a metery it is a metery!"

To wich Moz replied: No, it is 87cm long. (34.251969 inches).

So the lucky guy went and got his tape.

The fish was 87cm long on the dot!

Now if this is not a good guess estimate, I don't know what is...

We left not long after thinking that we should have got this fish, but hey, this is fishing.

And the joy on this guy's face was still a great thing to see, this was his biggest Barramundi to date.

Water lilies near the little canal.

Then we saw what was like the start of a bush fire, just along the bank of the waterway. We wondered what could have started a fire in this isolated and dry place, and continued our troll. On turning back wa saw that the fire was now full on and that two chopper had started to try extinguished it.

This was the first time that I saw some helicopters water bomb a fire, and what a show it was. I nearly emptied my camera's battery taking pictures of it.

Big smoke on the river.

Filling up the water bucket.

Water bombing the fire.

In the heat of the day, this was a very impressive display.

But off course, this was not very good fore the fishing, so we moved a few kilometres away, to try our luck a bit more.

And Moz got a catfish...

First catfish of the weekend.

By then it was starting to be the end of the day, so we decided that our best luck would be to cast some weedless soft plastic in the lilies.

There instead of the targeted Saratoga we started to land a plague of little fresh water Tarpon.

Tarpon on the frog.

Another little Tarpon.

We couldn't get a Saratoga, Yet a bot that must have been about 200 meters from us was catching them with no problems...

The boat that was catching them.

Yes this boat was catching them and not us...

So when they left, in our grand wisdom, we decided to go just where they were, and to catch some ourselves...

Well, we went there, and didn't caught any... We got a few nice hits, but nothing stayed hooked.

So being human, we did what most humans would do: we decided to have dinner.

Moz stormed a great curry, spicy and all.

Yummy Curry.

Yes this was a delicious and well earned meal after a long day under the sun.

We were starting to relax in the relative dark freshness of the evening when we heard a sound that makes anyone standing on the water edge, or in a boat think quick about his or her next move.

Our hair raised and our senses started to work in overdrive.

It was the sound of a big salt water crocodile snapping his jaws in a clear warning that it wanted us out of its territory.

We didn't argue about who was going to put his hands in the water to wash the dishes, we just pulled up the anchor and moved a few kilometres away from that nice little spot.

We found a nice spot not very far from a house boat, and decided to set up camp just there.

In the morning we woke up to a fantastic scenery.

First light of the day on the billabong.

The light was just beautiful, and with the day rising we could start to see the mist on the water around the houseboats.

Morning mist and houseboat on Corroboree Billabong.

Not long after this photo was taken, and not very far from it, I started to cast a plastic frog in the lilies, hopping to snare a nice Saratoga... I did get plety of hits, but lost all the fish. All on surface action, one of the most exciting form of fishing.

Then Moonman arrive in his boat, and told me that this is because I have the wrong lure...

He told me that his lure is better and do a cast to show me. And on his first cast, he got hit, hook up and landed a Saratoga...

This was not my day.

He then gave me a lure similar to the one he had just used in front of us.

I tied it up on my line... And didn't got a single hit on this very rod for the rest of the day...

No, not my day, not my weekend.

Later on, one of the competitor in the Top End Barra Series got the propeller of his electric motor chomped up by a big crocodile.

So yes we knew that the crocodiles were starting to become a bit aggro at this time of the year.

We then went back to the little canal from the previous day, and there we caught up with Peter and his deckie fishing the canal land based.

The deckie and Peter, fishing from the land.

Peter knowing that I love advertising lures, had one for my small collection that he gave me.

Thanks Peter.

The Bacardi Rums lure.

The gift from Peter was a lure with the logo of Bacardi Rums, one that I didn't have yet.

This is a very welcome addition to my little accumulation of advertising fishing lures.

We then moved around trying to find the fish, but couldn't get a thing to stay connected.

Then, I got a hit, and the hookup seemed to be strong.

Reeling the fish, I was just hopping that the fit would be of legal size.

Then it came to the boat, and I realised that its size didn't really matter, it was of the wrong specie. It was a catfish.

My last fish of the weekend.

This was going to be my last fish for the weekend.

It was starting to be late and we decided to get back to the ramp and then home.

The dirt road, on the way back to civilisation.

When we dropped the boat back at Moz's place, he gave me a big Jack Fruit that grew on a tree on his property. At least, I would still have something to feed my family once back home.

That was the first time in over two year, that I went fishing a full weekend for Barramundi, and didn't landed a single one of them.

Every rounds of the 2012 Top End Barra Series, I had climbed a bit more on the overall score board.

This time I was to go down.

I started the finale round in the fourth position, and finished it in six.

I was slightly disappointed but was still in the top ten, which was my aim at the beginning of the year. And I still had a great time on the water, with many good laugh, and in a fantastic place. Thank you Moz for having me on your boat for this round.

Now, I can't wait for the 2013 Top End Barra Series to start.

It will be even more difficult to finish in the top ten next year, as the number of participant in the competition will be higher than this year. This is a great testament to the success of the Top End Barra Series and how much people enjoy fishing it. So I am not really sure that I would be able to do as good next year...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

P.S: And don't forget the fishing lure giveaway...

My First Tripletail.

2012-10-16T22:32:00.000+09:30

Hi there,

Not long ago I caught my first ever Tripletail (Lobotes surinamensis).
And this is the story of it.

I was very lucky to be invited with my friend and colleague Gavin, for one day of fishing on Peter's boat: Barradiction. Now every times that I went fishing on this boat, it has been from an angling point of view, absolutely memorable. This time it was going to be even better.

Our target for the day was to be the great Barramundi, and the location was to be some costal creeks not far from Darwin.

We sailed early in the morning full of anticipation, hopping for some good Barra action.

Sunrise on the way.

We arrived to our destination, and on the first snag, Gavin landed a nice little Mangrove Jack on what might have been his first or second cast. This was the first Mangrove Jack that I saw in the flesh, this could only be a good sign. I then missed a little Barra from the same snag, and Gavin got a little cod. Then I got a small Snapper from it. This was a great mixed bag in a very short time, from the one spot.
How promising was that!

My little Snapper.

I was very happy to have caught this little Snapper on a DUO lure that I was trying for the first time, it worked well.

The fish coming from that snag were numerous, but rather on the small side. So we left them biting, and went on the search of bigger prey.

Peter and Gavin and a few fishing rods.

We started to troll, and some blue salmon were quickly snatched from the depth, but like spoiled kids we wanted our Barramundi and nothing else.

Then a bump in my line, followed by tension and a bent in the rod, and a feisty little Barra started to jump at the end of the line.

Not even of legal size, but big enough to let us know that indeed, Barramundi inhabit these water.

First Barramundi of the day.

Sometimes little fish can be sweet, and this one was one of them.

Just after that I got a small Blue Salmon, so we knew that a lot of them were swimming around.

Blue Salmon.

Peter managed to get a good Barramundi not long after that.

Peter fighting the fish.

And Boated!

Peter, then started to show us how it is done, and why a few years of experience always make a difference.

He got a few Thready Buster lures, he offered the grey one to Gavin and took the pink one, I had another yellow lure...

Peter first caught a blue Salmon, then another one, Gavin and I got nothing...

Gavin being a man of science then asked if in the interest of science, he could have the pink one and Peter the grey one.

This was to prove a great move for Peter, as he used this grey lure to land the Barra of the day, a nice 95cm (37.401575 inches) Barramundi.

Pure chrome Salt water Barramundi.

This fish was as beautiful as they get, pure chrome in colour, fit and healthy.

I do not know if this was by pure unconscious dejection or by accident but not long after Gavin broke his fishing rod. Never a good feeling when this happen, either to you or a good mate.

I was then hopping that he would soon get a good fish to bring back a smile on his face.

It happened, and what a fish it was:

A nice Threadfin Salmon.

Here was a very fine specimen of Threadfin Salmon (Polydactylus macrochir).

It went directly in the esky.

Not long after that I got my last Barramundi for the day.

Happy fisherman.

Yes I was very happy with this small fish, as it was my first Barramundi on a Reidy's Goulburn Jack a lure that I was testing for the first or second time only. I kept this fish to feed my little family.

Out the mouth of the creek, we saw some birds cartwheeling over the sea and went to investigate the commotion. Being a very keen spinner, I could not hold it very long and casted a chrome slice in there...

And a little Spotty Mackerel came back with my lure.

My first Spotty ever.

This was really a day of first, and the best was yet to come...

Pretty close to where this little Mack was caught, Peter being the good skipper that he is, noticed a few tree branches floating on the water.

He motored toward them, and gave Gavin and I a baitcaster each.

This was our chance to try for a Tripletail. We knew that the museum in Darwin would have been happy to get a new one for its fish collection, and I was super eager to catch my first one ever...

On my first cast we saw four of them swimming behind my lure, and one of them detached itself from the group and went for it. I was on! And what a surprise it was to see how easily it went back in the branches, like if the drag on my reel was just a minor inconvenience. It managed to bury me in the wood and to freed itself. I had though that because of the location I didn't risk to be snagged and hadn't put my drag too high. Realisation had been rapid and brutal, I should have got it a bit stronger.

And this I did.

We turned around the floating pieces of wood, and casted with not much success. So we swapped our hard bodies lures for some soft plastic ones, but that was not much better. And now we had a little shark turning around the boat, looking for a free feed.

Peter made us change lure once again, and we went for some scented Gulp, with relatively heavy jig head. The reasoning behind that was that we might have spooked them by now, and they might have got down a bit deeper in the water column, so we needed to get our lures in front of them if we wanted to have any chance to get one of them.

And this we wanted.

We came in line with the biggest branch, and I told Gavin: You cast on the right and I will cast on the left, so one of our lure is bound to fall on their nose.

That was a good plan, for me, as it was my lure that was nailed.

A short but fierce battle and Peter netted the fish!

My first ever Tripletail.

It was not only the first tripletail that I caught, it was also the first one that I had ever seen.

And because it was destined to the museum collection, it was also the first time in my entire fishing life that I had hooked on a fish that was going to end-up in a museum. Now this might sounds childish to some of you, but at the end of this great fishing day. Even if I had caught this one and only fish, I would have been very happy and that would still be one of my more memorable fishing trip. I had caught a fish for a museum!

Even if that meant that I would not be able to taste this fish which is supposed to be delicious, I was still happy like a kid who just caught his first minnow.

It was then time to get back home.

Peter and I on the way back home.

It had been a great day on the water, with some very good company where once again, I learned a bit more about fishing.

Thanks Peter and Gavin for inviting me to fish with you.

Yes it is true, that now I dream of my own 95cm Barramundi, and of another Tripletail...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

P.S: And don't forget my little competition to win a free lure, just click here to see it.

The King Codder Fishing Lures.

2012-10-14T23:07:00.000+09:30

Hi there,

When a lure maker calls to tell you that he has two vintage fishing lures for you, you know that you are in for a treat. So when Tony the maker of the Barra Guru lures called me, I was rather excited and faster than a fleeing baitfish, I found myself at his place.

The present came to me in the form of two King Codder.

Two King Codder fishing lures.

In an old newspaper from down south (The Age), dated from the 30 November 1962, I found an advertisement and some information about them.

They are Australian fishing lures that were made by DK Union Tackle Co. in Melbourne.

At the time Union Tackle had up to a dozen metal lures, but the King Codder were made of timber. Certainly with some big Murray Cod in mind. So how did these two ended up in Darwin is any one guess. Albeit seeing how robust and well built they are, they would have been very good lures in the pursuit of our local champion, the mighty Barramundi.

King Codder came in only two sizes and two colours. Red fin and Trout or if you prefer, Gold and Silver.

By offering me the gold ones in the two available sizes, Tony had given me half of the full set. What a great way to start collecting a lure that I had never heard of.

The colour pattern of the gold ones would certainly have been of great efficiency on the Barramundi. As this is a colour scheme still very popular on today’s modern lures.

The large one.

The small one.

Detail of the small one.

Little treasures can be as varied as the different people who own them.

To my these four small pieces of wood, have become part of my precious…

And now, I would love to find the two silver ones.

And it might take a very long time...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

If It Smells Like Rain.

2012-10-04T11:28:00.000+09:30

Hi There,

If it smells like rain, it will probably rain...
I should have remembered that.
We got the first rain of the season, and of course, it happened on a day when I was going to spend just a short time fishing in a new spot.

A member of the FFF forum called called Olfart, said that he would show me around the traps of Lee Point.
Lee Point as a good reputation on big Queenfish and Trevally, for land based anglers.

So at around 5:15am, I was there waiting for him, and in the darkness, I could not yet see the sky...
This should have been the first warning sign, as it was supposed to be nearly full moon.
But hey, I was so happy to go fishing in a new spot that I wanted to try for a long time, that I din't even think about it.

Olfart arrived and we went on the beach where the day was rising...
What a sight...

A cloudy morning.

We were yet to get any rain yet this year, and these clouds just seemed to be passing through.

Still when My fishing buddy started to walk in the water, to commence fishing, I should have known better, just looking at the sky.

Heavy sky.

We fished for a little while.

And he kept saying, ho maybe we should get out of here before the rain hit.

And I was like, no we will be fine, way too early in the year for the rain to come.

So after a bit of unfruitful fishing, he told me, Hey turn around and look behind us:

Clouds to the top of the sky.

We were surrounded by a sky leaden by dark clouds.

That was the first day this season that the havens looked so cloudy.

Which finally made me come to my senses, it was time to pack up if we din't want to get drenched.

We packed up quickly and started to walk back along the beach, and the sky then unlashed some serious rain on all the unsuspecting anglers and walkers who had stayed there.

And we were not to the car yet...

First rain of the year!

So we rushed to the car, and headed back home as there was no way that we could have continued fishing there in these conditions.

I had to drive very slowly and carefully as it was hard to see what was going on.

The first rain was not messing around, it was falling hard.

Driving in the rain.

Now don't get me wrong, the first rain is generally welcome and the end of the dry season.

But why just at the time when I was fishing a new spot for the first time.

Now, I may have to wait the start of the next dry season to fish that spot again.

Waiting all the time, with an imagination full of big fish...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

P.S: And don't forget about my international giveaway by clicking just there, time is running out...

My First Richo Lures.

2012-09-28T22:04:00.000+09:30

Hi there,

One day Ronj, a member of the FFF forum contacted me and said that he had a Richo Lures for me, with the advertising for a fishing competition on its back.
Ronj knew that I love fishing lure with advertising on them.

Not long after that I received in the mail a fishing lure from a brand that I was yet to have in my little collection, a Richo Lures.
Richo Lures are handmade in Queensland (Australia), by a man going by the name of Ken Richardson.

Here is what it looks like:

My first Richo Lures.

A nice long profile, made of white beech this model is named The Extractor. Presented here in the colour number 10 in the Richo range and called Fluro Yellow.

With some advertising on the back.

The Rocky Barra Bounty is a fishing competition taking place on the Fitzroy River, you have guessed it, in Queensland. It is a catch and release competition.

The belly of the lure.

The lure is very well finished, and seems robust enough to target some angry Barramundy. A pin under the chin is used to secure the bib, a nice touch on a bib towed lure.

If I had to, I would have now problem to fish this lure with confidence. Yet I have to be honest, it will stay dry and in the collection, no way I am going to take any risk with this one.

And knowing my liking of fishing lures with advertising, Ronj also sent me two Classic Barra with the same advertising on them.

Two Classic Barra.

These two Classic Barra are in the Guns 'n' Roses colour, one of the most popular in the Top End.

So I really appreciate the present, as many fishing aficionados would have kept any lures in this colours.

Thank you Ronj, as most Aussie would understand: These are going straight to the pool room!

And if you like fishing lure, don't forget to leave a comment on my lure giveaway, for a chance at winning a nice one.

Ok, now I will have to find a place to display these lures...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

One KO Lures To Giveaway.

2012-09-22T13:53:00.001+09:30

Hi there,

This post is all about giving away a free, brand new fishing lure.
I was very fortunate to won a door prize at the last event of the Top End Barra Series, and this prize was a voucher to go and pick up some gears from KO Lures.
Ko Lures, is still a new and young brand of fishing tackle, a company started here in Darwin.
Being made in Darwin, KO Lures caters mostly for people fishing in tropical waters, making some very strong and robust gears.
KO Lures is one of the sponsors of the 2012 Top End Barra Series.

So what did I pick for myself?
Easy to guess, some more lures!
But the truth is that I got these lures, because Dean, a competitor in the 2012 Top End Barra Series had made a generous donation to the lure company, so they could offer this voucher as a door prize.
And my chance didn't start or stop there, no.
Sheeby, another competitor, and a good fishing buddy of mine, won the door prize...
But as he had finished the round second and got a very nice reel for his effort, he decided to put the prize back in the hat for a redraw, a very kind gesture on his part.
And yes, the person whose name was called after that, was happy me.
I have never fished with a Ko Lure yet, but I can hardly wait to go and give a swim to the ones I got for myself.

One model of the lures that I picked up, is a big Barramundi lure, and I took two of them.
So I will give one away to a reader of this blog.

Want to see it?
Here it is:

Are you ready for a KO?

This is a large lure of about 19 cm (7.480315 inches) and it comes with some whopping sticky sharp hooks.

Look at the eyes, it says KO.

With a nice pattern on the back.

This lure is made with a wire through construction, so the fish of a life time should not get away.

Nice isn't it?

So what do you have to perform to win this lure?

Very easy, you do not even need to follow this very good blog of mine, or to live in Australia. You can be from any country in the world, if you are the winner, I will send you this lure free of charge wherever you live on this planet.

You just need to leave a comment, in which you tell me your name and what is your favourite lure colour.

Don't leave any contact detail yet, Only if you win, I will then need your contact.

Just remember if you are not a follower to keep an eye on this very blog, at the end of October 2012, to know if you have won.

This is not a tricky question, I will not give the lure to the person who as the same favourite colour than I, simply because I change my mind too often when it comes to lures colours.

I will use the help of Random.org to draw the winner.

You can leave a comment from today till the Saturday 27th of October 2012.

So you have about a month to do it, but if you do it today, you will not forget...

Good luck to all!

There is just one lure to be given away, so there will be only one winner, sorry about that.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

2012 Top End Barra Series Round 5.

2012-09-19T22:57:00.000+09:30

Hi there,

Last weekend was the 5th round of the 2012 Top End Barra Series, and it was taking place on the Drawin Harbour.
Being able to fish on the harbour of the very city where ones lives, is nearly a luxury in today's world, and trust me it was much appreciated by most of the participant.
My usual skipper was interstate for work, so I gladly accepted the offer from Dean's to be his deckie for the round.
We started reasonably early at around 6:30 am on the Saturday morning, and were greeted by a glorious sunrise as we arrived at the boat ramp.

Dinah Beach boat ramp in the sunrise.

We went to one of the harbour arm in some spot where Dean had caught some good fish on some previous set of tides.

And he did get a little Barramundi, not big enough to be a point scorer, but big enough to get us excited, thinking that we were at the right spot...

Dean's first Barra of the weekend.

Well this little fish was the first one and the only one for a little while...

Enough in fact for us to wonder what was going on.

As we were changing from one spot to another one, either trolling or flicking our lures at any snags or rocks that we could see, I got what seemed to be a hit.

Something had grabbed my lure, and was flapping in the water behind the lure. Yet whatever it was, it was not giving me a fight similar to anything that I had seen in the past.

I called it for a small fish tangled in some seaweed.

But not it was a different kind of surprise:

Mud crab on the lure.

This Mud Crab was a female, and was full of eggs, so it was released as quick as possible.

Basically as soon as I could get my lure out of its claw.

In all my time of fishing this is only the second time that I have a crab catching one of my lures while it is moving. Both time it was during a round of the Top End Barra Series.

So we moved a bit further and trolled a favourite spot of Dean, in a little harbour creek.

Dean got a good whack on the line, but it didn't connect.

Then it all happened, he got the strike and stayed connected.

The Barramundi jumped at least four times, high and clear of the water. This was a good fish with a gusty temper. Jumping and making runs all over the place, constantly changing the direction of his attempted escape. In the end it was close to the boat, but still had it in him, not to surrender.

Each time that I was thinking that he was ripe for the net, he would dive and make another run for it.

But the run were shorter and shorter, and finally in the net it was.

Scream and shout of joyce must have ben heard from one end of the creek to the other.

We had a fish in the boat that was a point scorer:

Dean's biggest fish of the weekend.

At 71 cm (27.952756 inch), this was a good and healthy harbour fish. In the Esky it went.

Dean described this fish as fighting and jumping like a Doberman on acid, and that was a fitting description of the fight that he gave.

The monkey was off Dean's back, now we just needed to get me a fish... This was going to prove itself more difficult than planed.

First Dean was going to catch a nice little Flathead:

Darwin Harbour Flatie.

This one was not big enough to won a prize, but it was a nice fish nonetheless. It was put back in the water, to grow a bit mpore till the next time.

By now the afternoon was starting to make itself known, and after talking to Mozz and Liam, we decided to scout towards Muntzy to catch up for a little chat.

Zooming on the ocean.

Mozz and Liam through the waves.

We did meet up with Muntzy, and not long after Chris arrived from the opposite side, followed by Sheeby and Cuddlescooper on another side.

We ended up five boats who rafted together, for a little chitchat and some refreshment.

Well it started this way anyway.

And it was in the end four boat who stayed tied to each other till the following morning, drinking, singing and cooking. While the fifth one took the fishing competition more seriously, and went in the pursuit of better fish.

For the four vessels that stayed together, I was on one of these. But I think that what happens on the raft-up of the Top End Barra Series, should stay on the raft-up. A bit like what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas... So I will apply some kind of media black out, and not show on this family orientated blog, any of the picture that I made during that night...

Being a non drinker myself, I was one of the first to wake up, and as so far I only had for my name a big fat donut, I started to flick a lure around in the hop to catch a fish while every body else was still sleeping.

It didn't work, but I did caught a strange little worm on a popper:

Worm on the hook.

At one stage, there was literally hundreds of them swimming around the boat.

I didn't taste it to see if it was tasting like fish or not, I just dropped it back in the water.

Then every body woke up, some had a light breakfast, some other didn't felt like it.

Then, simply because boys will be boys, one of the lad started to run some donut on the river with is boat:

Yeeehaaa!!!

Dean and I went to explore some new spot in the hope of doing better than on the previous day.

And there, on my first cast of the day, using a Terrif DC-9 Bullet by DUO Lures, the same lure that got me a crab the day before, I finally got my first fish in the boat!

No, it was not a Barramundi, it was just a baby Rock Cod, but that was enough to make me happy:

My baby Rock Cod.

I then told myself that this was a good sign, surely it was going to be a day filled with numerous catch!

Well it didn't exactly panned out like that. It was a great day on the water, but not filled by numerous captures.

We went to another creek for not much apart a dropped Barramundi for me, and a few little Trevally for Dean. Then moved to another one, where we saw Billster, and started to troll the same troll line than him.

On the bank of this creek we saw a Jabiru and I wanted a quick photo of it as we were going to pass next to him. I put my rod in the rod holder, and walked at the front of the boat to take a quick pic:

The juvenile Jabiru.

I had not yet made the photo that I wanted, but glanced in the direction of my rod: The rod was totally bent in the rod holder! But not bouncing up and done like when a fish is starting a fight and gives some serious head shake. No, it was just bent and the line was peeling from the reel.

I told Dean that I must have got snag on something, to which he replied that no he thought that I had a fish on.

So I grabbed the rod, and give it a jerk, thinking that I was going to prove my point...

The line started to fly of the reel twice as fast and still no head shake or splash like a Barramundi would do. So I called it for the mother of all Catfish. Dean said that no, he believed that this might be a Barra.

The fish didn't came to the surface, and was very heavy, every time that he was close to the boat, he didn't came up and jump, but just dived a bit more, and took some more line again.

At one stage I started to panic and said that I was going to be spooled! Dean in a very calm way, looked at my reel and said: "No don't stress about that, you still have plenty of line on your reel, at least 10 meters" and burst out laughing. Typical of the kind of thing that I needed to keep my cool!

It was time for some serious rod work and under the good advices of Dean I got it back to the boat. Where for the first time it came close to the surface for a very short time and Dean said: It is a Barramundi, did you see it, it is a Barra! We got even more excited, and I started to think that I had just hooked the biggest Barramundi ever. Or at least my personal best. This fish was delivering me the best battle that I had ever encounter. Just as it was under the boat, one of the hook popped and the rod had a little jump in my hand when it happened. Even Dean saw it and said that I must have popped a hook.

Just another way to stress you even more when you are fighting what you are now sure is your biggest barra ever.

Dean got the net ready and on the first scoop got the fish in it.

It was suddenly very hard not to shout very loudly how happy I was.

This had been the best fighter I had ever had on the line while chasing Barramundi, even if it wasn't my personal best.

My super rocket fish.

Yet at 76 cm (29.92126 inch) it was my best Darwin Harbour Barramundi. I was not going to have a zero fish round in the harbour and I was full of joy.

Also, I was going to get some good fish for my little one, and this made me happy too.

So head first it was pushed in the esky.

Billster came by and joked that they had been trolling this stretch all morning for not a single fish and that on our first troll in there we had a decent fish: totally unfair from his point of view.

I nearly apologised, but was too happy for it, that wouldn't have ringed true.

We did get a few very nice hit in the same creek, one of them bending the hook of my lure, straight on the hit, without even the hint of a brawl. I just didn't got the time to do anything... This made me think that maybe, just maybe, I should ease my drag a little bit...

Then Dean got a nice little Queenfish:

Queenfish in the sky.

It was released, and we could see Muntzy who had joined us in this creek, getting some nice fish.

Dean then got a rat of a Barra, it was definitively too small to give him any point. But we had fun making a photo like if it was a very big fish:

The giant little fish.

Mutzy just to show us how to do it, got another fish:

Muntzy with a point scorer.

Fishing solo, he was doing a great job at steering his boat, reeling in and netting his fish all by himself.

But it was the end of the day, it was time to call it a day and to go back to port.

The wind had picked up a bit but it was still a nice trip on the harbour:

Homeward bound.

This had been a great weekend, with a lot of laugh, and some good fishing too.

After all getting fish like that just next to a capital city is still a really cool feeling.

Thank you Dean for taking me onboard of your boat.

Then at the prize presentation, I didn't get any prize for my fishing, but I got a lucky door prize!

And when I say lucky, it was more than lucky.

Dean had got some really cool prizes in the previous round and had made a donation toward a prize for the round five. Sheeby won the door prize, but because he had won the second place in the round five, and had already received a very nice reel, he said to redraw the door prize so someone else get a chance at it. And that was me!

Here is what I got for my door prize:

KO Lures.

A voucher to be spent in the KO Lures shop in Darwin.

For those of you that don't know KO Lures, this is a new brand of fishing tackle accessories, by a Darwin company. I have not yet fished with any of their lures, but they do look good and very robust, so I can't wait to try them.

Thank Top End Barra Series, Dean, Sheeby and KO Lures.

The two little soft plastics at the bottom were a present as a bonus from the boss of KO Lures, very kind of him, I will swim them as soon as I can!

How and what was my score in this round?

Well I arrived in seventh position for the round, and this placed me in number four on the overall scoreboard.

One point higher that at the last round.

This is great, but I will not be able to climb higher on the ladder, as the three first ones, have way too much advance for me to catch up with them in the next and final round. Even if I was to win the next round (which I don't believe I can), I would just stay in the fourth position.

And realistically, there is a lot more chance of me loosing a few point in he next round, which will take place in a billabong where I have fished only twice in the past.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.