Darwin Barra Base
Thought i would do a quick post on my safari to the N.T , well what a place 5 days of early starts and full on fishing ,my wife bought me a 5 day charter in darwin with DARWINS BARRA BASE after flying into darwin on saterday ALLAN from darwin barra base picked me up from the airport and took me back to his B&B in malak where i met the rest of the blokes that where going to be on the same safari. We where split up into 2 teams of 4 for each boat which where 2 custom guide boats , the one i was in was 8 mt long and running suzuki 250 hp and a 30hp for trolling . The first day sunday we get up early and head to dundee beach and on the way drop our baggage of at the sands palm tavern which had twin share aircon rooms with bar fridge and coffee making facilities ,then we heead down to dundee beach to launch the 2 boats . The boats are launched by tractor and of we go for a 30 minute run down to the finnis river ,we start trolling barra classics and reidys in elton john and guns and roses colours ,straight up we start hooking into many barra ranging from 45-76 cm mark . We spent most of the day trolling and did some casting around structure to get some barra and thread fin . We eventully get back to the boat ramp at dundee about 6 PM totally shaged from that session but we still had fish to clean and we all chip in to clean the boat up for the next days event .
Day 2 we leave dundee boat ramp at 6AM and head down the finnes for an early high tide to catch quit a few more barra then we head out to a patch of reef of a headland about 30 minutes away from the river ,here we pulled out a great variety of smaller reef fish , cod,tricky snapper[sweetlip] , golden snapper ,and a few trevally of different species then it was back to the boat rampto arrive by 6 P.M again for filleting and cleaning thenback to the tavern for a number of beers & dinner and a big sleep .
Day 3 is bluewater day so up early to get to dundee for a early start,we head out wide to perfect millpond conditions and set the lures outaround where all the schools of tuna are working , we troll around with a mix of halcos and repalas in anything with a chrome finish on it. Straight up we are on to some mac tuna and spaniards they where every where ,we put back quite a few and keep some by the end of the day we have a holding tank full of spaniards up to 1300mm mostly they are just under the meter . This day ends at 5.30 with a boat &fish cleaning session that required a few throat cleansing ales then back to the tavern for dinner another prouctive day and tired ...
day 4 we go wide in the bluewater and spot some sail fish on the water so we set out some skirts and a teaser to attempt to troll up some sails well to say it was exciting is understating what happend next ,we ended up with a sail each and had many other hits ,this was the same for both boats all sails where released except for one that had been sharked big time so we kept what was left . The sails ranged from just over a meter to mine that went 1.91 mt they where only little fellas but great fun on the tackle we where using. After lunch we found a spot and bootom fished and caught 35 trikies [sweetlip ] 50-65cm in a hot bite session in 30minutes there where many 5 way hook-ups on these fish . We went and had a casting session with some halco rooster poppers then around a headland and got some nice queenies just on a meter long ,we then went back to the ramp for a massive fish cleaning session assisted by afew beers from the dundee lodge boy where we buggered by the time we got home ..
day5 another day in paradise its the last day so we head out to catch some black jew but the weather is changing and we catch a variety of mixed reef fishing and then back to the ramp 3pm to clean up and backup to go back to darwin..
To say this was the trip of a life time is an understatement ,it was everything i imagined and more what i have written above is just a very brief idea as to what happened i will post a few pictures now and when i sort out some of the others i will post some more i am also waiting for some more to be emailed buy some of the others on the safari. I personally recomend this trip with DARWINS BARRA BASE to anyone who wants a real top end fishing experience with people who KNOW when and where to catch great fish ,they made sue it was great from the minute they pick you up to when you go to the airport with your flight box full off mixed fillets . I have left out details some of the captures untill i get the photos i need get sent by email but i thought i would post this for now hope you enjoy i know i did ......matt
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Originally Posted by bluefin59
