NT early runoff

[richieboy]

G'day folks,

havn't been posting on here for a while but have been noticing some interesting threads on barra here. Some of the old crew might remember me tho.

Anyways, I've been living the NT dream for about 3 years now and loved every single one of them. Around this time of year the rivers of the NT flood and create inland streams which link with once locked waterways known as billabongs and lagoons. These billabongs and lagoons are teeming with wild fresh water barra just itching to escape the confines of these waterways and escape back into the salt to breed.

At this time of the year when the flood plains fill with water and drain off back into the rivers of the Daly, Mary and Alligator systems, bait is flushed along with tannin fresh water creating dark colour changes which hold hungry barra queuing up to take advantage of the easy pickings. It's a time of year when meteries are landed and cricket score sessions can be had.

I've been into some early action up here and recently hit one of the big rivers for a 2 day fishing fest before flying off to Perth. Although it's a little early and the big fish still have a bit to go to get upstream, we took advantage of nailing some freshies on the move between billabong and river. Sitting up on flooded grass plains saw us cast to fish up to 75cm and nail rats lurking tight in and under snags. Speccy sights as always seeing a barra slide out from under a snag and nail your softie. Gotta be quick to dodge the lizards tho.

In the 2 days we nailed around 50 fish, mainly swampies but got the odd saltie fishing the main river colour changes. Can't wait to get into a few more when I'm back in Feb and the bait has had time to hatch on the plains. Feb should also see the big fish arrive and with them, my favourite river the Daly should fire. Until then, here's a few pics to show for now. Hope ya enjoy them anyways. Always good to see some wild fish being caught I reckon. Cheers.

Richie

[wags on the water]

Awesome pics and thanks for sharing your report with us.

Cheers,
Wags

[wamjam]

Excellent report Richie, that would have to be the best fun...Thanks

Scott

[Jarrah Jack]

Thats good fishing there Richie dreamland stuff. Guess you must be in the know there. My mate, who just moved back to Darwin, hasn't been able to get out and try his new boat because of the weather. Reckons its a bit early for the fish in the the Adelaide.

[richieboy]

Cheers guys.

Jarrah: Yeh mate, I share the same opinion as your mate, altho traditionally this river fishes better later in the wet when the green water arrives. Having said that, the mouth of Beatrice can really fire as long as the bait is there.
I've heard of fish up past Goat island on the Manton Rockbar.

All in all, it's a bit early in general. I reckon Feb is the real start and run of big fish. Shady etc etc. You just gotta be in the know when these spots fire....long drives and runs down the river to find no action. Cheers,

Richie

[robersl]

well done richie god fishing country you move to,plenty of run off here at the moment but no fish in them or the rivers and creeks bigger than the 74 floods

shane

[Blacksheep]

Rich, longtime no see mate! Looks like you've been trimmin down big fella
Great report as usual, some lovely fish in there!

Shane

[richieboy]

Hey Shane. yeh mate, I reckon the climate agrees with me. Still playing rugby, just alot more time to train. Represented state last year vs QLD and NSW. Loving it mate.
If you're ever up my way buddy, just let me know.
Any Jacks?

Robersl: Thanks mate. My thoughts are with al my mates and the families of QLDers affected.

Richie

[Blacksheep]

Hey Rich, I've got a close friend in Jabiru who is yelling at me to come up for some hols and visit her, so if I ever do mate I'll be sure to call ya beforehand. No Jacks for me yet, been a bit slack this season with all the crap weather, fingers crossed it clears up soon.

SD

[rooboy98]

Some nice fish there mate.

Got to get myself a job up in Darwin!

Cheers,
Roo.

[Horse]

Richie, great to see you still catching fish. Its also nice to see some reports of wild Barra like that. The Salties have to be one of the best looking fish around.
Keep us posted when you go chasing the BIG mommas in Feb
What sort of tackle do you use to chase the bigger fish?

Cheers

Neil

[richieboy]

Hey there Horse. Long time no chat mate. I been keeping up with your posts here and there.
As I write this my mates have filled me in that the floodplains of all the big rivers resemble an inland sea. The Daly itself has been above 10m now for the last 2 weeks. All bodes well for some cracking run off action.
I got a couple of rigs set up mate. Depends on the country I'm fishing really. In the timber and sticks I wont go with anything under 50lb braid and 80lb leader. Especially when I'm tossing rubbers at bucketmouths.
Generally, 30-40lb braid and 50-60lb leader sees me thru most fish. I fish all my baitcasters on Loomis Crankbaits. I have a GL2 for trolling and a heavy T-curve for teabagging the timber in billabongs and lagoons. Use a couple of chronarchs, a curado and Abu Revo's. My S10 fits nicely with a 3000 sol when I'm tossing surface frogs and the such at the lilies.
You're right, I've just started putting up the odd report due to some interest in wild fish lately. I should have some more posts coming once I'm back North in 2 weeks. Still 6cm shy of the metre mark mate, but I reckon that will change this year. Cheers for the comments.

Richie