Kakadu & Darwin Harbour

[swano]

Hi Raiders,

Recently back from a weeks holiday in NT. Heres a brief rundown.

KAKADU-

Fished Yellow Water at Cooinda with Deb on a local charter for 4hrs.WOW!, you just dont get to realise the beauty of this place until your actually on the water.

We were basically spot fishing for barra using hard body lures on 15lb set ups.Saw plenty of fish around the 30-50cm mark,but was very hard to get them interested,

exactly what all the locals & fishos were telliing us.

I ended up catching 2 barra, the biggest going 49cm & a beautiful golden colour.Deb lost the biggest fish of the day right at the boat,when it jumped and threw the lure

back in her face,hitting her sunnies and a hook just nicking her cheek. .Just the way these fish fight and carry on has only made me keen to have another go at a bigger one.

Although the fishing was slow the trade off was the pleasure of just being on this magnificent waterway.The wildlife & scenery is spectacular.Yes,there were heaps of crocs,with

one 4.5m specimen coming within 2m of the boat.

DARWIN HARBOUR-

By far the best charter we took,but again could only get a 4hr session,fishing the feeder creeks at low tide.This time we were fishing plastics on 4lb braid with 14lb leader.

Again got 2 barra around the 40cm & dropped a decent size threadfin salmon WOW! I thought the barra could jump,this thing must have taught them how to do it.

Between Deb & myself we caught & released 20 odd fish ranging from 20 - 30cm, not big but on the 4lb gear it was a real buzz.The variety of fish we caught in just one creek was amazing.

We caught, Barra,Threadfin Salmon(dropped),Golden snapper(fingermark),Javelin fish,Flathead,Bream,Pike bream,Moses perch,Trevally,Estuary cod & a stinky old catfish all on 3inch Gulps.

No crocs this time,But the sandflies made up for it, would hate to go into those mangroves without protection.The guide supplied his own solution of 50% baby oil 50% dettol mixed with tea tree oil,

sprayed liberally it worked a treat. The guide really knew how to make a fish look big,have a look at the photo he took of Deb with a javelin fish.Would have loved another day with this bloke chasing

Queenies & other surface fish on the high tide,but had to fly home the next morning.

Did one other charter 20nm out the day before.Ended up being a bottom bouncing trip with 16 other people,with a crew that didnt seem interested & crappy gear.Couldnt use my own gear to do some jigging

because of all the lines in the water and the strong tide. Ended with 1 GOLDEN SNAPPER & a juvenile black jewie.The whole boat caught a couple of sand bass,catties and a big shark.

Cheers Deano

[Guest]

great report Dean and Deb some fine looking fish there and a lucky escape for Deb with those hooks...makes her look a little tougher now

Regards Stewy

[rjc123]

Nice report mate! Kakadu sure is a magnificent place! Even when the fish aren't playing the game, the crocs and other scenery make up for it! Up north the variety is insane! In Weipa we pulled 7 different species from the one snag! Barra, Jacks, Fingermark, Blue Salmon, Grunter, Bream and catfish.. We also had a disappointing day when out on one of the bottom bashing charters.. One legal Blue Salmon and a few undersized fish all day... Although the only other keeper caught was a 12kg black jew.... Queenies and the likes are top fun so make sure you have a go next time!

Great Report!

Cheers, Tom

[bassboy888]

Awesome report sounds like an awesome trip, even though the barra were only small I bet they made up for it in how hard they hit! Once you get a 70+cm one you will not turn back.

[adfrew]

Great to hear you liked it so much. I grew up there and to this day remember a big barra I'd just hooked trolling an estuary jumping and spitting the lure straight back at the boat it wrapped the canopy and boat about 3 times before lucky embedding in the canopy and not us. But they are definetly very fun even the undersized give you a run for your money.