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View Full Version : Mishaps, Missed Strikes..........MY GOD!!



richieboy
18-04-2008, 03:53 PM
G'day folks,

been a little flat stack at work and with the dry season finally upon us up here and water temps down around 27 degrees I havn't been targeting the Barra much.
Been playing with the Trevs and odd queenie tho. Great fun on the light stuff.
Anyways decided to hit the harbour creeks this morning with the return of the springs and 4m of tidal movement.
Launched at the Navy base and had a little mishap straight up. I'd launched the boat over some rocks and tied off, before driving back up to park and make my way back down. Got chatting to a bloke for 10 mins and when I got back to my boat it was high and dry on some rocks! Friggin kidding me. After much huffing old mate came down and helped me lift old Shrek into the drink and I shot off to my fav little creek.
Water temp was down to 27degrees and I didn't think there'd be much of the sesh today. Made my way up to a nice little junction that is always jammed with bait. Yep, bait was everywhere but the barra wern't. A few large threadies breaching around me but they were into Jellies and I knew better than that boys. Wasted an hr up there with a lone solitary boof before shooting back toward the mouth to work the snake drains.
Bait was still in abundance and not long after arriving I started to see the odd BOOF.
Decided to commit the cardinal sin and chase Boofs. (big no no RICHIE!) Heard one behind me so proceeded to cast. 3rd cast and my hopes were lifted after connecting to a solid chromey only to pull hooks! >:(
Move on and more casts when another boof up a little feeder creek got my attention. Motored right up into the shallows and was suitably rewarded with a 64cm salty dispatched into the well for dinner.
Back out onto the flats where I dropped a few more. Tide was starting to push back in fast and I had this nagging feeling that my special spot was gonna fire. :-/ :-/ Why wasn't I hitting the drains earlier??
Leccy up and drove to the little creek dropping the Min Kota at the entrance. Just enough water to push up. ;D
Made my way up and in the distance saw a little BOOF and a few bow waves on the surface.......HMMMMMMM???
As I got closer my jaw just dropped as I stared at around 10 large barra fully breaching and rolling on the surface in about 5cm of water. They were stacked up on a little mud bank in the centre of a junction stalking little mullet and going crazy whenever one swam past with frothing boofs!!
Never seen anything like it before as I drifted to within 10m of em.
Wern't spooked at all.
Noticed some big fish amongst em judging by the breaches so straight up cast over a bruiser which looked around 90cm and rolled the classic past his nose. BOOF!!! I'm on he swims straight toward me and under the boat not knowing he's hooked. Tight went the braid as I thumbed the Zillion while he takes off and with a leap into the air he spits the lure!!! :-[ I'm cursed!!!
Turned around and low and behold there are still 5 or so fish sitting fat, dumb and happy. Richie puts another cast over there heads and roll's the lure right back in amongst em all. After 3 strikes from god knows which Fish I'm on tight and working hard in tight space. Short work and up comes a 68cm fish. NICE!!! ;D
The others had been spooked by now and after a few more casts in vain, I was happy with my catch and shot off home with a plan.
Back at the ramp and I notice old mate who helped me earlier in the morning back as well.
Washed down and tossed him the 64 thanking him for his help and throwing some +ve Karma his way. He was stoked cause he got nuthing all day and showed it. Thanks fella.
Can't get enough of courtesy at the ramp nowadays so I made sure to show some appreciation.
That's the day folks so until next report take care and just remember......
LG in Darwin boys! Lifes Good!!

Pics attached. Enjoy!

Rich ;)

PS: Hitting some run off tomorrow so if the PB gets cracked I'll reply with pics.

plaztix
18-04-2008, 04:14 PM
Nice fish mate, Sounds like your havin a ball up there.

Shame about the big girl, but would've been a good sight watching them play in the shallows.

Fisher4life
18-04-2008, 04:27 PM
Sounds like a session you only see on the DVD's, never in real life...

Good to hear you getting amongst them

Cheers
Josh

richieboy
18-04-2008, 04:38 PM
Plastix: They just go crazy in the shallows. Having the trebles spat back into my face was rather humbling I must admit, but I was stoked to turn around and still see a few weren't spooked.

Richie :)

jackextracter
18-04-2008, 04:52 PM
That would be awesome site casting big barra like that working the drains good stuff, is there anyspots around were u are to target fingermark?

bluefin59
18-04-2008, 05:20 PM
Fantastic richie great to see your reports the only problem is you are making me sooooooooo jealous ,i turn 50 next year and a trip up there is on my wish list . kEEP UP THE GOOD WORK MATE ,bet you wont be back here in a hurry for a fish in our humble bay ......matt

pickers
18-04-2008, 05:33 PM
what can I say Richie...your a good man for giving the old mate a fish.
on ya buddy.
pickers

FISHAWN
18-04-2008, 05:33 PM
brilliant report mate, big smiles on my face ! Big ups to you for giving old mate a barra, good to here there are still great people around.keep up the good work.

imnotoriginal
18-04-2008, 06:25 PM
Awesome, they're the days that keep you coming back.
Joel

jtpython
18-04-2008, 06:27 PM
Great report and a beautiful system up there as well.
Brother in law was at Melville Islands for over 12 months and the vids for the golden snapper and barra there were awesome
JT

tunapikus
18-04-2008, 06:37 PM
water temp at 27 degrees must be bloody hot up that way richieboy dont know if i could handle those temps still nice fish though

Dylan_Rylatt
18-04-2008, 08:21 PM
wow o sweet as story mate and great fish mate. gppd to see yah getting amounghts them

Scalem
19-04-2008, 06:35 AM
Go on Richie, be honest with us and yourself, you miss it down here don't you?:P ;D Great report!

Scalem

nigelr
19-04-2008, 06:53 AM
Fantastic report again Richie, appreciate your going to the effort of posting.
With the +ve karma enhanced, I can't wait to read your next report!
Cheers.

the gecko
19-04-2008, 09:10 AM
Keep up the good reports Richie,we all wanna hear how Darwin is goin. Sounds like your doin it tough......

So why dont you chase 'boofs'?

cheers
Andrew

geoff72
20-04-2008, 10:58 AM
well done richie,great pics,looks like your in heaven up there mate,my uncle lives on his boat up in darwin and goes barra fishing alot,he has got a couple of nice runabouts his uses when he parks up the mothership and has got a zillion rods all rigged up ready to go for the barra,i will find out where he is anchored.
keep the reports flooding in mate,always a top read

rusty buck
20-04-2008, 11:21 AM
g'day richieboy,
I haven't posted in a while but had to this time to give you thumbs up for tossing a fish to old mate at the ramp. Wish there were more like you around.
Always look forward to reading about your afforts, keep em coming.
rusty

richieboy
20-04-2008, 10:35 PM
That would be awesome site casting big barra like that working the drains good stuff, is there anyspots around were u are to target fingermark?

Yeh mate. Got a spot finally. Chased a few in the harbour today and nailed a few around the 60cm mark. Great fish but pulled em in about 30m of water.
Bladders gone on most of em so we kept a few for a feed.
It's pretty amazing that the only size limit are on barra up here in the NT at 55cm.
No legal size on Jewies, Goldies, Jacks etc etc.
There are possession limits tho of 5 fish per person and 30 fish per boat all up. ie mixed bag of 30 fish.
The punishments are pretty savage if caught breaking the laws.
I hope they introduce size limits up here considering that a 60cm Goldie/Fingermark takes a long time to reach that size. Very similar to Jacks in that respect, and considering the Charter guys smack em alot and the population boom in Darwin it is only a matter of time before rec fishing comes under the spotlight.
Pics attached for ya bro:

And thanx fellas for the replies. I know I'm up North and not on the Brissy scene anymore but I'll keep posting for the boys who wanna see the NT way of life. At least ya's can enjoy some pics.
And if you guys are ever up my way just holler and I'll try my best to give ya some good advice and if not too busy put ya onto a fish myself.

Richie

PS: Personal milestone achieved...........Finally saw a local bigger than my boat. Scary thought boys. :-/

mickstar001
21-04-2008, 01:22 PM
Ahhh you're killing it up there Richie, im so jealous. Do you ever work?

Mickstar