Land based fishing near Darwin

bigphil16 · Post by **bigphil16** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 2:16 am

I am new to the forum and I am interested in member's ideas for land based fishing (for those of us without boats) around Darwin and in particular near Palmerston. Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
I have enjoyed the many varied topics and opinions i have read do far. I wonder how some of you guys have time for fishing with all the posts submitted.

dan willard · Post by **dan willard** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 3:12 am

welcome big phil. channel island behind the gas cylinders is the go. the spit of land that juts out behind the tanks and to the left ot the ramp has always been good. if your standing on the ramp look left and about 150yds down theres a deep hole really close to the shore that holds some impossible to land cod ,good trevors and goldies.
the other side has always been good for skinnies and the odd barra.
on the palmerston side of the bridge, left hand side as you look at the island is good for allsorts at low tide. you can clamber down to the mangroves and fish the flooding tide up.i used to fish a live mullet under a float and always got a good feed. beware of the lizards there tho
also there is a track to a lovely cove about a hundred yards before the security kiosk, you have to ask the guard for the key as its fenced dont know if they still allow acsess but you can only ask.

2rods · Post by **2rods** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 6:04 am

bigphil16 wrote: I wonder how some of you guys have time for fishing with all the posts submitted.

Mate its all about having access to a computer and shift work

all mad fishos know the next best thing to fishing is talking fishing.

As for land based spots... as Dan said Channel island is a good start, Buff creek rock bar just up from the ramp, and rapid creek is also worth a look.

If you are up for night fishing try Buff creek on a big incomming tide just to the left of the ramp at night with fizzers..... just wait for the sea water to start comming over the sand bank there and into the little channel/back water part of the creek. I use to fish that a bit and there were often nice barra to be caught.

2rods

Timbo · Post by **Timbo** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 9:21 am

Another idea would be once we get some more rain and the rivers start flowing, take a drive and fish any running water. I have not yet done it but plan to this year, have herd great reports from it though.

back-cast · Post by **back-cast** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 10:08 am

..............have a look at the "world fishing map", there is some handy info on there, you can also check out pieces of the coastline for acsess and see how to get to different spot's, you can get onto it with link's through this site, fishing creek's that cross the road work well too, one of my favourite ones is the one between Kakadu holiday village & the South Aligator river, & out towards Cooinda off the bridges, it's a bit of a trip but when i first moved to Darwin i loved doing this just to look around, i would even stay out in Kakadu overnight fishing i caught quite a few fish doing this, it can be quite productive over & just after the wet season, i would also go to Coroboree billabong as you can hire a boat of of Nobby who runs the house boat hire, Shady camp is good as well you can hire one there and fish the run-off properly, the Daly river also offers Boat hire and accomadation, there are a few really good options open to a fisho in Darwin with no boat, you can also go with Guide

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Chronic · Post by **Chronic** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 11:23 am

Have a go at the mouth of casino creek, plenty of livies at mid-tide incoming and usually a barra or 2 to be found. Plenty of eels up stream in the dirty water to be caught on squid

bigphil16 · Post by **bigphil16** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 5:12 pm

Thaks fo thetips fellas, I might go have a look at Channel island next week. has anyone had success at the rocks on the right hand side of Elizabeth river boat ramp?

Shane Doevy · Post by **Shane Doevy** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 6:36 pm

Big Phil
ive tried there a number of times but not done any good but almost every time i drive past there is someone there trying. Then again i havent had any luck with any spots in the harbour - its a bit of a nemesis of mine!!
If the tides drop below about 0.8m go out to channel island about an hour before low and climb down and walk out on the rocks to the left of the bridge as you approach channel island. Walk right down to where the rocks meet the mud and cast shallow lures across towards the mud - you soon know if they are about or not - some days are diamonds and some days are rocks but its all good fun.

Good luck mate.
Shane

bigphil16 · Post by **bigphil16** » Thu Feb 01, 2007 8:53 am

Dan what sort of tide do you need to do well at that hole? I have been down to have a look at the bridge and you guys must be monkeys to get down those rocks. With my dodgy knees I reckon I would go ringers and break my rod, maybe I will take someones elses for the first go.

dan willard · Post by **dan willard** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 9:12 am

G DAY MATE . the bigger the tide the closer you can get to the hole . any low tide will do tho , as long as its big enough to allow you to fish on the mud in front of the mangroves. un like the elizabeth, channel island seldom fails to provide an interesting session. ive been spooled there on 6 kilo gear and never even had a glimpse as to what it was. in the late 80s / early 90s it was an undiscovered gem. then then it was plundered by those who took home bucket loads of sea slugs and crushed loads of that soft coral under foot, and those who took every living thing they caught. i hope to have a few sessions there when i come back in june , didnt get the chance last visit so hope to make up for it this time.
big tides , big baits , fresh squid, under the bridge ooh matron i feel funny down stairs.

Andy Grey · Post by **Andy Grey** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 10:27 am

Hey big phil, mate channel island is the bee nees for land based apart from Buff and rapid. the gated track opposite where you turn to go the boat ramp after the bridge is worth a walk down. It will take you about 25 mins walk along this track and you will end up a the beach on the very front of the island looking back across the harbour to the city. Once there make your way to the rocks on the left hand side and stand on or near or on the first big bomby casting bombers or anything really! to about 5 mtrs out, you will hook a barra almost at your feet though trust me

. Best tides anything with a low under 1.8mrts at around noon. Be there four hours after low tide and leave once the fish stop biting (you will know when that is). P.S remember that what you take out will feel ten times heavier by the time that you have walked all the way back. If you got a bad knee dont worry its a easy walk no rocks to climb over and you can even hook the barra off the beach . Check out my album for some of the results they are labeled spot X .
Good luck

max · Post by **max** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 7:49 pm

has anyone ever walked the blackmore river from cox pen. road there must be some good holes along there

Andy Grey · Post by **Andy Grey** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 9:18 am

Hi max, Yeah I did that once its a long way down until you get to anywhere that is decent to fish but it is really good territory and worth checking out for sure. Some steep banks halfway down and the scrub is fairly thick, I walked in the creek its self as it was easier. You can drive down a fair way on the left hand side but for the real good areas its a long tramp in. Have a look at the WFMap as it will give you a better idea. Good luck.

bigphil16 · Post by **bigphil16** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 11:42 am

Threw a line in a the Elizabeth river bridge overnight just for something to do and managed a nice goldie within ten minutes which was great, but then nothing for the next 2 hours, probably not enough run for anything to have a go. Appreciate the comments of the others and I am just waiting for the springs to have a crack at the barra at Channel island.

Very peaceful out that way at night excpet for the idiots that insist on flying through there in thier d*** extensions.

Brent Matthews · Post by **Brent Matthews** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 3:02 pm

Before I got a boat I was into the Landbased fishing, to be sucessful around Darwin I think you need two things.

1) Patience
2) Live Bait

Here are a few spots where I used to go..

1) Channel Island Power Station Bridge
---NAUGHTY Under the bridge around the pylons and rocks, I caught good queenies, barra and bream there.

2) Mandorah Jetty, like back-cast said, take a bait jig and jig up little herring then send em out with a sinker or unweighted, picked salmon, small jew, queenfish and nightfish doing that.

3)One Fella and two fella creeks on the beach at mandorah (follow the direction in the fish fider book, but youll need a 4wd and have to drive around from Darwin.

4) Casino Creek in the city, right next to the casino, especially in the wet season you can catch mullet and livebait the mouth, I have caught a few barra there and its a great place for a beer.

5) the rockbar on buff creek about 100m up from the ramp with live mullet or gold bombers, will see you pick up a barra or a salmon.

6) Take a drive to shoal bay boat hire and hire one of there little punts or talk to them about the low tide holes to soak a mullet in by walking out on the flats.

Stokes hill Wharf is only good for a cheap takeaway meal in my opinion, but that said there is about one big jew landed there each year, that makes the paper.

Cheers

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Land based fishing near Darwin

Land based fishing near Darwin

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