Just got back on Friday after spending the week in Darwin with me good mate Richieboy. Well what can i say, Its a magic place with something different to look at around every corner.
My plane was a bit late on the first day and we missed getting the boat in because of the big spring low tides. All of the ramps were mud at the bottom of the 100m concrete roads to get to the water. As i soon learnt the tides have a big effect on fishin up there with upto 7m of movement in 6hrs.
Rich had the week planned out so that we could fish a different arena each day. We fished each arm of the harbour and had a go at the billabong twice as the weather was too bad to fish the harbour on the last day.
The first couple of days i taught big Rich a few lessons in his own back yard. I let him know about it aswellThe 3rd day was our first trip out to the billabong and this is where the big unit got the biggest Barra of the trip. The early morning bite was pretty awesome with a heap of fish being nailed on the surface. I threw Horny toads around, on top of and underneath the lilys to have barra and toga race toward the toad and belt the shit out of it. Alot of these fish were pretty small but still awesome fun.
Later in the day after telling Rich i wanted a photo of a croc we came round a corner to get to a decent snag and we hear some sloshing coming through the reeds. I start scrambling around the boat looking for my camera and as im bent down looking through my tackle bag Rich lets out a "HOOOLLLYYY SHIITT". As I look up from the floor of the 435 hornet I see the head of this brute. As the massive 1m head slides out of the reeds the other 4.5m of dinosaur follow it out. To say i was shitting myself would be an under statement. The 800kg plus monster was no more than 20m from the boat and without a nice big fence and just 2ft of free board you could say i felt pretty small. Im spewin i didnt get a photo but the big fella didnt look like he was smiling and i couldnt get a real good shot from the fetal position under the console
The next arvo we went and did a bit of snag bashing in woods inlet and caught plenty of fish. It was almost a fish a cast a 1 stage with double hook ups on barra, cod and jacks. As the sun dropped we hit 1 of the big rock walls in the harbour . Hoping for a big Jack we were plagued by cod upto 45-50cm.
Had another trip out to the billalong the next day and got a few fish on the surface again. After the sun got too high we bashed the pandanus trees and bambo snags again for some reasonable fish. Fishing weedless rigs we would pelt our lures through the overhanging groth and wait for the hit. Fishing in this tight structure with 16lb main and 30lb leader is pretty hair raising stuff we the barra are leaving the water in the middle of snags.
Lures that did most of the damage for me over the trip were the Berkley Hollow bellies in all colours, Lucky craft pointers and squidgie slick rigs rigged weedless in evil minnow. Rich ran Squidgies most of the time with evil minnow being his definate stand out colour. He also nailed a few on the classic just unders.
The sunrises were awsome and the sunsets were even better. Spent the week with great company and the fish played the game. Will be a trip i wont forget in a hurry thats for sure.
Id like to thank Rich and Foggsy for treating me like a king while i was up there and showing me around the joint. Anyways enough rambling ill let the pics do the talking.
Cheers Whytey.
If you wish to learn more about reading and getting the most from your Lowrance units or learning more about fishing with artificial baits I will come out in the comfort of your own boat for one on one coaching. Please call for more information.
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