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Hi all, had a recent trip north to Arnhem Land & a place called Endyalgout Island.
WOW what a place, a man could search a long time to find a place that has more species than this place!
Its located North East of Darwin half way along the Cobourg Peninsula on the Van Diemans Gulf side. The camp is owned & run by Dennis & Wendy Sten, Longterm Territorians! I believe Denis has had the camp there for 13years now & his knowledge of the area is outstanding.
The fishing, like I said, Wow! I have travelled to a lot of cool places in the world for fishing & this place was simply amazing. We spent 10 days there & we were the last guests before the camp was closed for the wet season. During these 10 days we caught all of the following.
Barra
Golden snapper
Salmon both Threadies & Blue
G.T's
Queenies
Barracuda
Javlin
Qld Grouper
Estuary Cod
Bream
Black Jew
Tuskfish/parrot
Mackerel
Flathead
& I'm sure I've missed a few.
We averaged 20-60 fish per boat landed & released per day & only the occasional fish was kept for dinner. We ate barra or snapper every second night & steak or crab the other nights. Hmmm....Blackbean Mudcrab.....all you can eat!
Flicking hard bodies & plastics were the go, when we got lazy or the tide wasn't perfect we trolled. I avoided this as much as possible & flicking was preferred in our boat. Gold Bombers, Megabass Flapslaps, B52's & Barra Classics all performed tho I must say I think I have converted a few guys over to plastics. Standout plastics for me were Berkley Gulp 3" Pogy & minnow grubs in red or smelt, Atomic 5" grubs in white, large Lumo Grubs like the Bozo ones. Dip the tail in red spike-it & you have a real weapon on your hands.
We bounced rubbers along rock bars & gutters & over drop-offs & used a similar technique to the one used for flathead. When the Threadfin were working the drains on the run out tide we cast lightly weighted plastics & just wound them slowly letting the tail do all the work. Sight casting slightly ahead of the wolf packs as they scoffed the jelly prawns gave us the best result. You just have to see this to believe it. Small packs of threadies using their whiskers/feelers rampaged through the mass of prawns at the entrances to certain drains. Sometimes 8-12lb threadies were airborne, totally out of the water. The normal lures used were spearhead Nilsmasters in Elton John colour, but after 6 fish in 10 casts on Gulps, we never looked back. My opinion is the hard bodies didn't feel right in the mouth of the salmon & they would dodge it or suck it in & spit it out before you can strike. I wish that I had stopped long enough to take a few pics of the action or maybe some video footage to show my friends. Those wolf packs get your blood pumping when you can see them rolling like that!
The Barra fishing was divided into categories, trolling on the high tide & run out; casting at structure & gutters on any tide & sight casting up in the mangroves on a very high tide. Tossing H/B's around the roots of half drowned mangroves was fun, but for me, I enjoyed pushing way up into small drains that feed the swamps. It was here that we sight cast to barra that were mooching around the green foliage of the mangroves during high water. It's incredible how close you can get to fish up there, 2-5mtrs at least. The water is milky green in colour so I guess visibility is poor from a fish's perspective. We didn't stay connected to many fish in there but boy did we have some fun. We must have seen 15 or 20 different fish & had a second & third try at some of them. The barra were not big in there, only 40-75cm at best but it was cool to see the fish striking the lure & so close to the boat.
One of the guides, Michael had told us for days about the jew hole & how well it can fish, so when we trolled an area adjacent to it I asked him if I could give some vertical jigging a try. He said "no problem" but I could tell that the window I had was short as it was nearing 5pm. Beer 0'Clock for the workers!
Mick placed the boat over the drop off to the hole & some fish appeared on the sounder while Siddy & Al sat back & watched.
I dropped down one of the large Lumo Grubs on a 1oz jig head to the bottom & then worked the lure in a Rip Rip sink fashion. The third time it began to sink it got hit, but I was too slow & missed the bite. I wound in again & dropped it back down. Michael indicated with an "oorrrr yerrr nice arches on the sounder!" & it was at that moment I knew I wouldn't have to wait long. Sure enough the lure just touched the bottom & as I went to lift I felt the bit & weight. I struck hard driving the hook in solid & causing the fish to run. The black sheep & T-curve outfit was loaded to the max & the head shakes indicated it was a Jew. A few minutes later & a nice Black Jew about 30lbs was in the net & the boys all got fired up. "How did you do that again? & have you got any more of those lures?" I was asked. The guys got organized & we drifted over the hole again, Al & I had a double hookup & both fish were identical to the first, shortly after Sid came up tight & ended the day with a fish about 35lbs. What an introduction to jigging for Jew with soft plastics, it was just like clockwork!
Like AJ (black Rat) says "it just doesn't get any better than this".
Needless to say we joined our guide Mick for drinks & fresh muddies that evening reliving the day over & over as the sun set behind the salt pan.
The following day we tried to duplicate our success there, but the wind & tide where against us so we fished elsewhere.
Endyalgout Island is part of the Mini Mini system, a network of estuary drains & creeks that stretches for miles. It takes you a good week to get your bearings in this place, you will get spun around three times & asked "do you know where you are now?" by Uncle Den Den (Dennis). "No" was the common answer it all looks so similar & some drains become short cuts to other creeks. Luckily for us we had skilled, experienced guides that don't take risks when it comes to safety.
Thanks to Dennis, Wendy, Michael & Chiefy, the Big Barra experience was everything I imagined & more. If you do get the chance to go, ask them to take you to Al,s elbow & spot X, those places will blow your mind.
Cheers for now, hope you get a small taste for my addiction!
Toppy
p.s www.bigbarra.com.au (check it out)
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