cruisecraft Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 Hi Raiders, My arms were aching on Sunday morning as I lay in bed, and I smiled as I recalled events leading up to the day before........................................ I had touched down in Darwin at 5.15 pm Friday 1st April and I sms Mark of Helifish to inform him of my arrival. He rings me back on the mobile and the news is not promising. There is a tropical low that is hanging just southwest of Darwin and moving towards the WA’s kimberley coast, and the planned trip for the next day is in jeopardy. Mark says he’ll ring me at 6am the next day and he will decide then, whether the planned helifishing for barra trip can go ahead. That evening I go to bed with my fingers crossed. At 5.30am my alarm goes off and I venture out onto the balcony of the apartment to check the wind, and it’s blowing about 20 knots. I start to get ready, ever the optimist. At 6am the mobile rings and Mark says the magic words, “we’re going fishing” but it will be a 8am start rather than the planned 7am start due to the conditions At 7.45am, I am at Noonamah airfield under grey skies and I meet Mark(guide and pilot) and the other fisho, Ron, a local who lives at Humpty Doo. We head over to the R44(a Robinson helicopter) and Mark gives us the run down on dos and don’t on a chopper, main one being always approach from the front. Its then, that I see Mark has a side holster and it is packed with a pistol, this is one serious fishing trip! During the briefing Mark also goes through how to use the satellite phone and epirb should he be incapacitated. We get in and the chopper soon takes off after a few mins of warming the engines up. I get the front passenger seat on the outgoing trip. Mark then points out the numerous “sticks” in the many ponds next to the airfield. It is the Darwin Crocodile Farm,that we are flying over and the “sticks” are moving! Soon we are over Humpty Doo, and then next the Adelaide river. We are over the floodplains and travelling at 100 knots in a NE direction and soon the coast is in sight and we are ~150 km from Noonamah. Mark points out the feral pigs which do untold damage in the NT, he adds that most of the buffalos have been eradicated during the shooting programs in the 80s and 90s. Mark then hovers over a spot where there is runoff from the floodplains heading seawards, he checks the area out for “moving sticks” and seeing none, he sets the chopper down in a patch of dry hard ground. Due to the rain the place is very muddy. He tells us it is best to go bare feet and we follow his instructions and he hands us over the weapons. They are curado baitcasters with 80lb braids and junior B52 lures, I get the gold B52. Mark instructs us as to the best directions to aim for and on the 2nd cast I am on. Ron is not far behind and we have a double hook ups galore. The action is almost non-stop and after nearly an hour of fun, Mark ask for our lures and he crushes the barbs on the trebles to even out the playing field so to speak. After 2 hours at this spot, the action starts to slow down and we hop in and Mark takes us “down the road” and checks for “moving sticks” prior to landing.The 2nd spot is also run off fishing and it is nearly as good as the 1st spot. All this time the wind was between 20-25 knots and at the second spot it rained heavily for 20mins soaking us thoroughly, we did not stop fishing. After the rain Ron brought out his fly gear and landed barra after barra with slow twitches of his fly line. I gave it a go but the “black craft” is difficult and I meekly hand the fly rod back after 30mins. Its soon 1pm and Mark has us boarded and he then heads to Tommy Cut, the mouth of a river(I can't remember the name) and we have lunch there. Whilst we are having lunch he sets up a couple of rods with live mullet but all we get is a cat fish and a ray which burst us off. There were heaps of boats trolling the area whilst we were there, the fishos were all holding their rods instead of setting it in their rod holders and I asked Mark whether trolling was the main method of fishing for barra, to which he replied that trolling leaves the other hand available to hold the tinnies. Yes, it gets hot up there in the Territory. After lunch we head for spot1 but the action of the morning is missing and we fly off to spot2, it is better but not as good as in the morning. Come 4pm it is time to head home and just as well as we fly into heavy rain just before Noonamah All in, Ron and I landed around 40 barras each, we released all the barras. My best barra went 79cm (in the first barra pic). Most of the barras were in the 40 to 50cm mark and about 6 were >70cm. At one of the better looking spots, Mark decide not to fish as there was a hugh croc nearby. Crocs are never far off as you can see from the pic taken at Cullen Bay ferry jetty on Sunday. Get yourself up to the Territory for some barra madness because when they are on the bite, it is heaven. Regards Kit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bennoz Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 woah how kool is that. its like stuff you only see on TV. dont even want to know how much that was...it was worth it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray R Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 Great report mate and congrats on the barra, they are a stack of fun to catch, I went last year with Mark and 2 others to the remote areas of the Daly River and had a blast. That chopper is a fragile little thing but very exciting... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basil D Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 well done cruisecraft, Lucky man Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hornets Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 Hi Kit, Look like you had a well deserved break .Did you take the family or just pure fishing holiday . Great report. Adam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burnsie Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 Wow what an awesome post!! Looks like a trip of a lifetime. Well done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisecraft Posted April 5, 2011 Author Share Posted April 5, 2011 (edited) Hi Kit, Look like you had a well deserved break .Did you take the family or just pure fishing holiday . Great report. Adam Hi Adam, The kids(18 and 20yo) don't like to tag along with mum and dad anymore so it was only me and the wife with another couple to Darwin. I went fishing alone as the others were not as keen as I am. Regards Kit Great report mate and congrats on the barra, they are a stack of fun to catch, I went last year with Mark and 2 others to the remote areas of the Daly River and had a blast. That chopper is a fragile little thing but very exciting... Hi Ray Yes, the R44 is fragile but the views and perspective were well worth it. The fishing wasn't too bad either. Regards Kit woah how kool is that. its like stuff you only see on TV. dont even want to know how much that was...it was worth it Hi Bennoz, The cost is on Helifish website, it is bit over double the price of a boat charter per person. I took the 3/4 day tour option. Regards Kit Edited April 5, 2011 by cruisecraft Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregL Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 Now thats cool! Hmm gotta try that out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boy53 Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 I need to work harder to go for trip like that haha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big ben Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 Well Kit what a great time you must have had mate crocodile kit dundee you deserve it mate I dont know anyone who works as hard as you do I have had some great times up in nt but never been hele fishing one day catch you next week great post got bloody excited reading it great photos got to do that before I die. regards pommie ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hodgey Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 Definitely a trip to add to the bucket list Sounds like an amazing trip mate. Terrific report and photos. Cheers Hodgey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cat-as-trophy Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 Fantastic report Kit, thank goodness that weather passed you by. Seems like there is plenty of Barra and the season hasn't even started yet. Can't wait to get our boat out in the water to catch my first Barra. Have been talking to a few of the local aboriginals who have kindly said that they will take Rex and myself out to some of the traditional fishing spots, so hopefully it won't be long before I am putting in my own Barra report. Cheers Cath Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisecraft Posted April 7, 2011 Author Share Posted April 7, 2011 Now thats cool! Hmm gotta try that out! GregL Hi Greg The chopper thing does add to the cool factor, but the places(where the barras are) it can get you to, is what it's all about.There were heaps of fish and the Wet is not finished yet. The R44 has a small payload so Greg you cannot bring all your "toys". Regards Kit I need to work harder to go for trip like that haha. Boy53 Hi Boy53, The cost of the trip(3/4 day option) is double what a full day barra boat charter will cost, so bite the bullet and just do it. Regards Kit Well Kit what a great time you must have had mate crocodile kit dundee you deserve it mate I dont know anyone who works as hard as you do I have had some great times up in nt but never been hele fishing one day catch you next week great post got bloody excited reading it great photos got to do that before I die. regards pommie ben Hi Ben, Look whose talking, I am looking forward to your appearance on TVS in the near future.(best of luck) Regards Kit Definitely a trip to add to the bucket list Sounds like an amazing trip mate. Terrific report and photos. Cheers Hodgey Hi Hodgey Funny that the other 9 items on my bucket list is the same as the first item. ha ha. Regards Kit Fantastic report Kit, thank goodness that weather passed you by. Seems like there is plenty of Barra and the season hasn't even started yet. Can't wait to get our boat out in the water to catch my first Barra. Have been talking to a few of the local aboriginals who have kindly said that they will take Rex and myself out to some of the traditional fishing spots, so hopefully it won't be long before I am putting in my own Barra report. Cheers Cath Hi Cath Thanks for the kind words,will be looking forward to your barra post. I was very fortunate with the weather, it was touch and go at one stage. Are you living in the Territory or FNQ? Regards Kit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cat-as-trophy Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 Dusky and myself moved to Port Keats NT (2 hour drive from the Daly River in the dry) about 3-4 weeks ago for work. Cath Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Loops Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 What an adventure! Thanks for putting up the report sure looks like alot of fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Get The Net Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 One day, 2 wedding to pay for then I'll be on my way.Great report Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prawn* Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 WOW kit u surely make the most of your holidays all i can say is im very jelous! congrats on the top barra's!! hope to catch up again soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robeebee Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Awesome trip thanks for the report Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mudboy Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Yeh great report looks like u had a great time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larolle Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 (edited) Hi there, I'm Marks brother and just got back from an amazing trip as well fly fishing. I made a couple of videos for Mark to post on his website. Hopefully they will get there - in the mean time for those who want to see some helifishing.. try these.. http://helifish.com.au/helifishing the two videos are on the flyfishing section enjoy! Edited April 12, 2011 by larolle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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