Wildcat
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Posts posted by Wildcat
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Just now, Wildcat said:
Hey Jenno64
The Shady camp barrage is a man made weir or small dam wall (barrage) with fresh run off water upstream and tidal salt down stream on either side which slows down the run off fresh water entering the creek.
To access the coastal creeks off shore you head down stream out the mouth of Sampan creek.
Take a look at the pic fresh run off upstream on the left, salt tidal right e.g run off.
cheers mate.
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8 hours ago, JonD said:
I didn't realise you could go that far upstream from the barrage. I only went about 15km in my little 3.85 explorer with my kids. I must admit I was a bit shocked when a commercial charter operator started banging what looked like an 80cm Barra against the side of the boat to hand feed crocs, made me nervous being in such a small boat with low freeboard.
Do you head downstream much ? I was a bit nervous about getting stranded with the family onboard given how many crocs we were seeing at the barrage in the evenings.
The sky turned brown with mosquitos each evening saying there, also a great spot for snakes after dark.
Hey Jenno64
The Shady camp barrage is a man made weir or small dam wall (barrage) with fresh run off water upstream and tidal salt down stream on either side which slows down the run off fresh water entering the creek.
To access the coastal creeks off shore you head down stream out the mouth of Sampan creek.
Take a look at the pic fresh run off upstream on the left, salt tidal right e.g run off.
cheers mate.
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Hey guys another NT report, left Darwin 3am this morning heading to one of our coastal creeks off shady camp sampan creek.
Arrived at shady camp barrage ramp 5.30am, 40min cruise up Sampan creek dodging crocks and logs in the dark then another 20min steam to our creek arrive 6.30am.
Cast for 4 hours straight dropping a few big girls along the way but finally landed a nice fat 93cm. Last picture is of a 3m crock 🐊 chasing the fish around the boat looking for a free feed.
Traveled 131km on the water, 85L fuel @ $224L, 6 cans and a 93 Barra.
Great day out how’s the serenity.
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23 hours ago, BigHorse said:
Nice couple of bara's there @Wildcat!👍
what's your PB for a barra?
105 pic in a previous post.
cheers
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Hey Guys
Just a quick one to hopefully cheer people up some with all this crazy shit going on around us, keep on smiling, try and be nice and help ya mates if that’s all we can do….
Darwin wet season has just been ok so far with no rain in between some small monsoon periods, but as always more rain needed (unlike down south) to get the flood plains run off really flowing.
The coastal creeks have not yet fired but still some good fish to be got, with hours of casting and trolling, dodging storms, sweating like a biatch in 99% humidity just to wake up some bid girls.
This weeks efforts landed a 65 and a 90.
Hang in there guys.
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N.o2 similar than N.o3 Barra Classic but in a +3 meter diver, and N.o 4 ,my old faithful but used in muddier waters around the snags.
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No.1 gets the goods as well.
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Hi Guys thanks for your interest in this topic, the NT sure is a magical place with wonderfull scenery and excitement around each corner.
The lucky lure of choice in this situation was No.3,
The Classic 120 Barra +5 Lure Ghost Bannafish.
Rig used
Rod: Daiwa TD Black Beefstick 1.83m 10-28g line 6-12kg.
Reel: Daiwa Baitcaster TD Barra FOW 10, 40 pound Siglon 8 braid, 60 pound Pink Black magic leader.
My reason for choosing this lure was purely the clarity and depth of water.
The tide was a medium neap and had turned at this stage from high about 1 hour into the low averaging 2.5m-3.5m, my trolling line was 1km out from the mouth and back, the water clarity was good to medium.
In this situation the Barra are starting to head into the river system from offshore, keen to feed on baits as the tide recedes out of all the feeder creeks (run off).
Barra have eyes on top of their heads and tend to sit on the bottom or around snags looking to ambush prey, or kick their tails up and forage in the mud etc.
The classic 120 I used is a +5, 5 meter trolling depth, as 61 crusher mentioned, I am going to adjust my trolling speed, rod angle and length of line to bounce this lure off the bottom, back up then back in the sand/ mud again.
As the water clarity was so clear and shallow both bait and Barra are spooked easily, so an approach to put it straight on their nose with puffs of mud was the go, not making them chase something higher in the water column.
cheers Guys.
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16 minutes ago, Pickles said:
Ripper report Wildcat and smashing Barra. I’ve fished Shady camp twice and both times caught epic Barra, but 25 years ago - great to hear it is still fishing well. I’m sure they are not available now, but the last time the Barra were caught on a blue and yellow Nilsmaster 65. I still have the lure on my wall.
Put a picture up Pickles it may still work today, I like your colours.
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1 minute ago, 61 crusher said:
Great Barra, write up & photos
I’ll go no.5 because of the dirty water as that bomber would stand out nicely in those conditions, depth can be varied by speed, height of rod tip & length of line fed out. Mind you no.2 has some good battle scars & would also suit conditions
No.5’s a popular choice...
Very good and true points mentioned by 61 crusher. 😇
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19 hours ago, hucho hucho said:
No. 5.
Great report!
Yeh another Good choice No5 he’s notched up a few.....
Any reason to your choice???
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Mackey
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1 hour ago, mrsswordfisherman said:
@swordfishermansays number 2
Very good fish
We were just having coffee with friends and planning the trip again (Covid made us turn back for home) up to the gulf and across.
No 2 Good choice....
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2 hours ago, Croydon said:
Green bomber??
Mmmmm 🤔
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Bit off fun guys.....
This is a picture of the Arsenal I used on the day, guess which lure I landed the big girl on and why ??? from left 1-5.
Will reveal on Sunday night 14th with some reason of choice !!! 😀
Tip: 3 meters of water under the boat....🤔
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Litchfield national park Florence falls wet season....
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Shady camp barrage, where run off fresh meets the salt.
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Due to work COVID travel restrictions I thankfully moved back to Darwin 4 months ago.
After enduring a freezing wet NSW winter with very minimal fishing activity I arrived in the NT to a exceptional wet season.
This year’s runoff is producing superb Barra fishing in all the hot spots smashing our keep every session.
As you have to religiously up here, studying the tides (+7 meters), weather conditions and winds is crucial to safely launching and retrieving your craft, not to mention the crocs wanting to eat you at the ramps & box jelly fish stings getting caught in your trebles.
The above conditions were perfect for a trip to the mouth of Sampan creek launching at Shady camp barrage. With a 40min scenic trip out to the mouth, dodging logs, crocs and swirling currents we arrived to perfect conditions.
After an hour or so on the sounder locked on down scan & setting my trolling lines, I sunk the trebles into this 105cm chromey.
Thanks big girl, hope to see you again, enjoy another day 😀.
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21 hours ago, lakelad said:
Well done, sounds like a fun session. I haven't done much salting @Wildcat I thought salt was used to preserve the meat, but if you're headed out the next day what are the other benefits of salting? Also, how much salt roughly is needed for that amount of salmon so I can give it a try?
Those pelicans are getting braver and closer each time, they must be doing alright with the amount of salmon being cleaned at that table!
I snuck out Sunday also with the old man for a fish out the heads after a gentlemans start (11am), we trolled a couple of divers around moon hoping for some hits but didn't get any (13cm yozurri and a 15cm halco which have worked well before).
We stopped off moon to get some yackas but only managed a variety of other species on the bait jig after half hour of burlying with pellets and old bait (any yakka tips would be appreciated here guys!).
Then when headed off to a further reef we stopped a few miles out to check a GPS mark I had on the phone and heard some "clunks" from the engine so we turned back to look at it in the safety of the channel. Turns out when I just did a service I attached the gear shaft back up in a shorter position when putting the leg back on.. it was spinning forward a bit in neutral, lesson learnt for next time and a couple of beers later in the driveway the boat was clean and tuned up. Still a nice day with the old man.
Look up salted strip baits on the web heaps of info, heaps of salt I buy a couple of bags, doesn’t matter when you salt just so happens I was heading out the next day.
Most important is that tough skin Bonitto is the best, stops the nippers taking your bait, stays on your hooks and all the commotion attracts the larger fish and big 7-8 O hooks snooted rig.-
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33 minutes ago, kingfishbig said:
I like the look of the snap and cord. Did that come with the radio or did you buy it separately? And advantage of handled is that you can clip it to your lifejacket when fishing alone.
Got a few from work?..
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Hey ice breaker mate I’m out of work thanks to COVID available any time, got most of the gear been fishing off shore 20 years, keen to come out any time to have some fun. Cheers
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4 minutes ago, James Clain said:
Great fish, funny how taste works. Salmon is one of my favourites but most find it very disagreeable. What size halco lazer pro do you troll?
Cheers
Hey mate 100mm Three treble, I’ve got a heap of hard and softs from huge to tiny, worked up in Darwin for 3 years smashing Barra and thread fin etc, I just pull anything any colour out of the lure box sometimes and give em a run, you’ll be surprised what fish will hit down here. Mackerel, Mac tuna, Bonito, Salmon, Kingies. I just like eating scaly reef fish.
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Barra Monday!!!
in Fishing Reports
Posted
Just a quick note, no one ever camps at shady camp as Jenno64 has mentioned, 500 billion bugs, crocks and sweating balls……😃.