Jeff M Posted May 5, 2005 Share Posted May 5, 2005 Hi Everyone This is my first post here although I've been regularly browsing these forums and learning from them for quite some time. My mate Paul and I have recently had a fantastic trip to Darwin fishing the Mary River system for Barramundi and i thought I would share some of it here. We left Sydney at 7:10 on a Saturday night and arrived in Darwin about 4 hours later. A quick taxi trip and we were at our hotel, checked in and enjoying a cold beer or two. Hit the sack not too much later and slept like a log. Sunday morning downstairs for a $9.90 buffet breakfast and then spent the day wandering around Darwin checking out a few tourist type things. Caught the 6 o'clock ferry to a place called Mandorah with the plan being to have a couple of cold ones at the Mandorah pub, a bit of a fish off the wharf and get the 8:20 back to Darwin. Had the cold ones, got talking to one of the locals, missed the 8:20 and ended up getting the 10:40 back to town. Had a great time!!! The alarm sounded at 4:30 on the Monday morning and we gathered our belongings and headed downstairs to meet our guide Deano who was due to pick us up at 5:00. Deano was there bang on time, and after some quick intros, we loaded up the Landcruiser and headed off down the Arnhem highway towards Point Stuart where we would spend the next few days. Had a bit of brekky at a roadside diner along the way and about two hours later we were at Point Stuart Wilderness park collecting Deanos boat. We dumped our bags etc and then headed to Shady Camp (about 20 mins) where we launched the boat. The ramp was at a barrage where the water was fresh above it and salt below. Within about 150 metres of the the boat ramp we started seeing these fellows The tide was very low so we travelled fairly slowly until the river opened out and we could pick up speed. It was about a 40 minute trip down to the river mouth where there were about a dozen boats trolling. We had a couple of runs and then headed west a few k's to the mouth of Tommycut Creek. We trolled here for a couple of hours and picked up several Barra as well as a couple of small salmon. None of the fish were huge but catching your first Barra is a great thrill. They give the lures a good belt and put up quite a fight. The tide was coming in by now so we headed upstream did a bit more trolling and then tucked in to a shady spot under a tree for a bit of lunch. The heat and humidity was an absolute killer and the flies were in plague proportions. After lunch we headed further upstream until the creek was only a few metres across. We started casting lures at snags and the opposite bank and picked up a couple more Barra. All the fish had been in the 60 to 80cm range. Deano then took us back downstream a little, anchored us and we started casting at a mud bank. The next hour was pretty frantic and we landed about 20 fish on both HB lures ( B52's) and also on large plastics. There is a limit of two Barra per person in the Mary river system so it was all catch, release and get that lure back out there. Great fun. We headed back to the ramp at about five o'clock. With the tide up we were able to use a shortcut between Tommycut and the Mary so the trip back was only about 40 minutes in total. Lots more crocs along the way as well as lots of birdlife. Headed back to Stuart Point tired but very satisfied. Our accomodation was simple but very comfortable and the beer was icy cold at the bar. Had dinner and a few beers and was in bed by about 9:30. Up at 5:30 and down to the dining room for brekky. Cook had had a couple too many the night before so breakfast was a bit delayed but no major drama. Headed off to Shady Camp and we were on the water a little after seven. We followed the same routine as the day before and trolled the mouth of the creek in the morning and then moved upstrem as the tide came in. We were trolling along the edge of a drop off when Deano spotted a decent size mud crab in the shallow water. He edged the boat over and scooped it up expertly with a landing net and it was tied up and in the ice in a flash. This bloke would never starve to death. It had looked like a rock to me!! On the way up the creek we stopped at the crabbers shack and swapped him five or six fish carcasses for a couple of muddies. Paul and I feasted on chilli mud crab and grilled Barra that night. Washed down with several We hit the same mud bank again and once again the action was frantic. I had taken a couple of my Bream outfits up with me but had felt they were a little fragile for this style of fishing. Deano assured me they would be fine so he put a 50lb leader on and a B52 and I started trowing that around. Caught about six decent Barra on my "poofter's rod". The light gear handled these fish with no real problems, you just had to be a little more patient and work harder. The large plastics were catching just as many fish as the lures but being on the bottom we were also picking up cat fish. Headed back to camp about 5:30 had that beautiful feed of mudcrab and Barra and again was in bed pretty early. Day 3 saw us on the water again by about seven with reports of crocs seen right at the ramp at dawn. It was a very fast launch that morning. We worked in reverse that day as there was enough water to use the shortcut in the morning so we were at the mud bank for the run out. Unfortunately we were there but the fish weren't so after a short while we headed downstream to do some more trolling. We had a double hook up were I some how managed to do this. Caught several more Barra and Salmon and headed back to the ramp about 2 o'clock. Whilst I didn't actually see it as we were too far away another tour boat reported landing a metre 25 Barra. That would have been fun!!! Back to Stuart Point where we dropped off the boat got all our gear and got ready to head back to Darwin. We ran into a couple of guys from Shepparton who had been out with another guide and had gone about 8k's offshore to a reef after jewies. They had bagged out on 20lb plus Black Jewfish. Watched their guide fillet them and they were generous enough to give us a couple of fillets each. Grabbed a couple of coldies for the trip home and stopped along the way for a couple more. Deano dropped us back at our hotel in Darwin about 6:30 that night. Dinner and early to bed again as the the last three days of sitting in 40 degree heat was taking its toll. The next day we hired a car and drove to Litchfield National park and had a bit of a look around there. There were sveral spectacular waterfalls and a couple of great swimming holes. Checked out of the hotel at about midnight and drove to the airport for the 1:30 AM flight back to Sydney(easily the worst part of the trip). All up we caught about 60 fish and had a fantastic time. Can't wait to get up there again. Hope I haven't put any one to sleep. Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff M Posted May 5, 2005 Author Share Posted May 5, 2005 Here's a pic of the Jewies there was fifteen to start with And the swimming holes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bluecod Posted May 5, 2005 Share Posted May 5, 2005 Great report Jeff and to the site - Not a bad effort for a first time poster - could probably put a few of those barra in the Brag Board Sounds like you guys had a great trip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lightweight Posted May 5, 2005 Share Posted May 5, 2005 Jeff, Great report! Sounds like you guys had a very rewarding trip, if not a little hot. LW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vipernut Posted May 5, 2005 Share Posted May 5, 2005 Jeff great report and some top pictures as well your next report has a lot to live up to Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narralakes Posted May 5, 2005 Share Posted May 5, 2005 Thats a great report, one day I'll get up there. Barra on fly and spin gear would be great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MarkD Posted May 6, 2005 Share Posted May 6, 2005 Great report and welcome to the site. It sounds like a fantastic place for a trip. It's certainly on my to do list while in Oz. Cheers Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bardy Posted May 6, 2005 Share Posted May 6, 2005 Great read...brought back a lot of memmories... I got my 1st Barra in the Mary River a few years back will never forget it.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jocool Posted May 6, 2005 Share Posted May 6, 2005 Great going mate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest fishrunner Posted May 6, 2005 Share Posted May 6, 2005 Well done, great report. and to the site, looking fotward to the next report. cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patl Posted May 6, 2005 Share Posted May 6, 2005 great report and great photos, a mate of mine is up there now, lucky basta%^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest hottuna Posted May 7, 2005 Share Posted May 7, 2005 great report and pics guys. Gabzi think you`ll find they are all black jew up that way. Correct me if i`m wrong someone. dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizardboy Posted May 8, 2005 Share Posted May 8, 2005 G'day Jeff, Great pics and report! That swimming hole looks tops! Lizard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff M Posted May 8, 2005 Author Share Posted May 8, 2005 Thanks for the welcomes guys. I don't get to fish too often so this trip was really special and I'm glad it brought back some happy memories for a few of you as it's given me plenty! Reading the reports, Ken's articles and all the great advice posted on this site is the next best thing to actually getting out there. Pedro - not sure about the S-Bends but that's a very good description of the upper parts of Tommycut. Good luck and good fishing Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EVAN Posted May 9, 2005 Share Posted May 9, 2005 Great report Some very nice fish there, herd so much about the river can't wait to get a chance to go!! and Cheers Evan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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