North Australian FISH FINDER TM forums

The fishing seasons are changing once again.

Harbour barramundi and salmon and other fish are now gorging on the vast numbers of small prawns that are on the flats, and these barra are only half-heartedly hitting lures.

The salmon are as frustrating as ever - they can be seen creating large swirls in the shallows - and fresh prawn baits presented on a light trace are the best bet to catch one, as threadfin salmon usually ignore lures and large livebaits.

This weekend's tides will probably be the last chance for some trolling for big barramundi in places such as Shoal Bay before the monsoon hits.

There are stacks of big golden snapper biting offshore, and there has been some extended periods of calm weather in between the thunderstorms where offshore fishing has been easy.

Got One's Craig Grosvenor said the recent rains in Darwin Harbour had flushed out small prawns which have in turn attracted large numbers of threadfin salmon and barramundi.

"Most of the harbour arms are teaming with prawns and on the lower stages of the tide the predators can be seen actively charging through the dense schools,'' he said.

"Small prawn imitations and small bright pink lures are doing the trick but more often than not the salmon can be frustratingly fussy.

"Queenfish and large trevally have turned up in numbers off East Point rocks, along with some big barracuda.

"The fish were hitting redhead Producer lures trolled at high speed.

"Barramundi reports have been best up the top of the Adelaide River at Marrakai Creek and Margaret River junctions with Vivif soft plastics in sardine colour doing the trick.

"Next year should see the Adelaide River really show its colours during because the run-off because of the removal of commercial netting two years ago.

"The Got One kids' fishing clinic at Stokes Hill Wharf was a ball of fun with kids tying their own knots and being busted off a couple of times on 15kg braid.

"I expect this weekend to be another boomer for big goldies and jewies with the Vernon Islands and Saltwater Arm at the top of the list - use fresh local squid and bonito baits."

Top End Fishing Supplies' Pip Clement said there were huge tarpon and salmon getting around in Middle Arm.

"The tarpon are big and there are so many salmon seen working the prawns - as usual people are coming in and asking how to catch them.

"If anyone can perfect a way to catch threadfin salmon there is a millionaire in the waiting - I once put nylon mono whiskers on a Renosky shad to imitate prawn feelers and it worked - I got some fish but I can't say they were taking the lure because of the whiskers."

"On these neap tides I would be looking at the oceanic-type creeks rather than the upstream creeks and you should end up with some big barramundi.

"I have not heard a great deal from the big rivers, although some good fish have been coming out of the Daly River.

"There's still some fish being hooked at Manton Dam.

"Mud crabs have been doing well right off Dundee Beach, actually off the beach itself, which is unusual.

"A few people have been chasing prawns and they are getting mostly small ones - the prawns will get bigger."

Katherine Rod and Rifle's Warren de With said many Katherine fishermen appeared to have been staying home.

"No one is reporting much - we have been getting fairly big storms and the rivers have risen,'' he said.

"There have been a few more fish reported down from the Roper River but no one is telling me much right now.

"The Victoria River is up - it's got quite a bit of dirty water going down as there has been a lot of rain in the upper catchment.

"It's looking good overall for the wet season - we have been seeing the important early rain.

"Around the coastline is not too bad in the early run-off season but the it is hit and miss - we will have to wait until February for the good fishing."


Fishing and Outdoor World's Ronald Voukolos said the weather had been good.

"Matt West and brother Mark caught a heap of golden snapper around the Vernon Islands and Cape Hotham - there were not a lot of GTs around - there weren't many barramundi around the rocks around Ruby Island and Cape Hotham,'' he said.

"I recently went to Point Blaze and there was no shortage of mackerel and tuna out there.

"There were heaps of goldies in close - we caught our bag limits in 15 minutes, and we were catching them on rubber squid jigs.

"Deep-water jigging is great fun - the fish hit the jigs so hard and the fish fight hard because they are always hooked lightly in the side of the mouth.

"I heard a really good report from down the Daly River - they caught something like 60 fish and they were not all small fish either - there were some in the 80cm range - they were casting into the snags with unweighted livebaits such as cherabin just below Charles Creek and the S-bends.

"There have been some jewfish on the harbour wrecks - one crew has been doing well but didn't say exactly where, I think it might have been on the Kelat or Catalinas.

"Another customer caught three jewfish off the Peary.

"There are a lot of blue salmon along the foreshores at the moment which can be caught on fresh bait, and some big skinnies have been loitering off the foreshore around the Deckchair Cinema.

"It's a great time of the year to fish now - mostly calm weather and plenty of fish."