Mary River NT

[Highlander]

Going NT for a weeks fishing Mary River Any up to date info welcomed. ???

Rolo.

[iank]

The Mary below the shady camp barrage has started to fire up over the last week or so and with the late rain we are now recieving should continue to work well for the next month(hopefully). There was at least one big barra caught at the mouth last week (55lbs) on a big B52 in silver, allso a lot of the guides are slow trolling large plastics with great suscess (6 inch plus) Hope this helps.
Cheers Ian
PS any more questions call me on 0438 876 866

[bigby]

Take plenty of insect repellant

[bigby]

Take plenty of insect repellant

[lanceinator]

I'm thinking of heading up in the next couple of weeks! Never been there! Looking at fishing the mouth. Any tips. Where is the closest boat ramp access and camping spots (note have 4wd and will travel! also have GPS if anyone has co-ordinates and/or tracks for fishing/camping/boat ramp spots)

[megafish71]

I'm thinking of heading up in the next couple of weeks! Never been there! Looking at fishing the mouth. Any tips. Where is the closest boat ramp access and camping spots (note have 4wd and will travel! also have GPS if anyone has co-ordinates and/or tracks for fishing/camping/boat ramp spots)

I take it you also have a boat, not the part of the country you want to be fishing from the bank.
Ron

[dugong]

megafish ya wuss :D, whats wrong with fishing off the barrarge at shady camp of a night :o keeps you on ya toes,barra boofing, mullet jumping everywhere and the nice red eyes :o every where you look on the water.
i'm not joking a lot of ppl do it :o. been there done that but decided i don't like catching barra that much ::)

lance
used to fish it a lot but moved south, some things may have changed.
the mary is a large system
first place is corroboree lagoon off the arnhem hwy very popular place only about 1hr outa town so it gets fished a lot, road there can be very rough, ramps ok, there was? is? house boat and boat hire there, you can camp there but the bugs n mossies will kill ya better say at the corroboree park tavern its on the hwy before the turn off to corroboree.
carroboree is a maze of billabongs connected by channels and you could spend weeks there.
next main one is mary river bridge lagoon where the arnhem hwy goes over the mary river ,boat ramp is on the right side and you can camp there.
keep going and its not far the the bark hut and then past there is the turn off on the left to shady camp, called that because there is no shade :o you can camp there,
road ends at the barrage so its fresh one side and tidal the other and if the run off is nearly over then when the tide is out its mud, not the place to get the tides wrong the croc's are really monsters :o. there was?is? boat hire at the barrage. never bothered to take the tinnie there so i can't tell you too much about it,just fished the barrage, been told there is some reef out of the mouth.
it is the top end but beware the nights can be cool and you may just need a jumper.
you should be able to get more uptodate info in darwin
hope this helps you should have a great time
cheers
dugong

[megafish71]

megafish ya wuss :D, whats wrong with fishing off the barrarge at shady camp of a night :o keeps you on ya toes,barra boofing, mullet jumping everywhere and the nice red eyes :o every where you look on the water.
i'm not joking a lot of ppl do it :o. been there done that but decided i don't like catching barra that much ::)

cheers
dugong

Spent too many nights on those rivers up there to stand anywhere close to the waters edge. Have watched many a pig get taken from the banks, aswell as a few cows and buffalo. Have had crocs attack my boat twice down near the S bends below shady camp, also had crocs have a go at the boat 4 times in the East Alligator and once in the Daly. A good friend of mine had a 4 metre version try and climb onboard his boat in the Mary, scared the hell out of him and his clients ( he was a fishing tour guide at the time). This croc had ago at a few more boats over the next few days until some guys from parks shot it. Shame they didn't shoot a few more I reckon. So if Im a wuss for not wanting to stand around and fish off the banks then so be it, at least im still alive.

Ron

[dugong]

ron
i was only joking about you beening a wuss, the thing is a lot of ppl do bank fish and do catch good fish.
yeah i have had to dodge the odd angry croc in the tinnie but they seem to be more interested in the boat than the ppl in it and the plain true is your life is at a greater risk in town and on the road than at a croc infested river.

[megafish71]

Dugong.
The real problem is that childen see adults stand in or near a river fishing and think it is safe to do so. A small child is a good sized feed for an average sized croc, just like a dog or pig. I think that promoting that kind of fishing in those waterways is just asking for trouble. Sooner or later somebody will get taken again, and it won't be me ;D

Ron

[Daintreeboy]

or a female. Crocs seem to prefer women. A bloke was knocked over by the 5 metre croc that took Beryl Ruck in the Daintree. There have been a few other examples where women appear to have been singled out by crocs.
Now.....who's game to say why? :-X

[Wild_Side]

So if I get the misses to come I'll be right.HMMMM ::)

[Highlander]

back from the Mary.
No Run Off . we asked around where the bite was, told the sth alligator was bitting best as the rd to east alligator was still under water at one of the crossings. we raised a couple of small Barra in the to days fishing before going to the Mary River.
for the rest of the week. A bloke got nailed by 4mtr croc last thursday night while camping in his 5.5mtr tinnie it climbed on board over the transom some how and got the bloke lucky they had a gun his mate shot the croc.
The hire boats at shady have gone. We hired our from Darwin and stayed at the wildman lodge. we got Barra to 85cm the best dropped bigger ones crocs took a couple need bigger @#@# hooks. Fished wildman billabong got tarpon, catties, saratoga and Barra on fly.
the rivers not to bad just watch the tides the worst part shallowest last half klm at the barage just keep an eye out for the guides when they travell the river.
there is some reef out the front about 5klm strait out we gave it a shot but missed the tide

Rolo :)