North Australian FISH FINDER TM forums

It's been a long while between trip reports and I've quietly watched in the background as others post and a lot of people view. Matt, how many members do we have on here now? Nevertheless, in the last 3 years of being away in CQ I've certainly seen Darwin change. A lot of new people means a lot of extra fishos with boats and inevitably a lot more pressure in local waterways.

Intellectual property I've since learned, is a valuable commodity. So I've often hesitated when posting and I believe it's why some of the long timers still on here don't post anymore. Today I throw caution to the wind so I can spin a yarn.

As soon as Daz and I had heard that the track in was open we started planning an overnighter. Google earth copped a hiding and before long a plan was hatched and the waterways chosen. Ive fished my fair share around the local Top End and it's not often I get excited about it, but I'll admit there's an anticipation that comes when I get to fish a waterway I've never seen or been to. There's a challenge in nutting out an area, finding where the fish hold, selecting the method with which I'll target them. Will it work? Will it be a donut fest? So many variables......

We hit the road early and got to the turn off before sunrise. It was relatively smooth sailing in towing Shrek until we decided to venture past Red lily. Best described as a bit of a goat track but we managed and put in at our first location around 8am.

The beauty of small waterways is that generally you can get a feel within a few hrs. Our plan was to fish a couple during the first day and then make up our mind which one was best and stay put there the second day. The idea was to fish visually targeting weed beds, edges and channels and any exposed timber early in the morning then as the day wore on use the sounder to map the floor and target any fish holding deep.

I'm happy to say the plan started well as we found a patch of rats sitting hard in a small section of a rather large weedy bank. It was pretty much a fish a cast and plenty jumped off for the first hr or so. Small paddle tails 3-4" rigged on weedless jigs did the damage with chartreuse the standout. They were ferocious and the strikes were visual and cool to see as the water was glass and clear as anything. We got some cool footage and had a laugh before moving on to start the mapping on the HDS units.

This by far for me is where I start to froth the most. Using structure scan technology it's easy to find the fish holding structure and we weren't disappointed with what we saw. We marked large snags in 10-12 metres of water all holding fish and often found dips and ledges which lit up with bait balls and individual arches holding below them. It took about 45mins to mark the best of them as we trolled lures behind us and as I turned around to drop the electric down my excitement rose.

I'm not sure about anyone else on here but I love nothing more than fishing scary timber in deep water. It's finesse to the point that jig head selection needs to be just right not to crash through the timber and allowable to be fished slowly enough to engage a reaction from the fish. It takes some insight to figure out the lay of the timber and the angle with which you'll present the lure....and at the same time it's about 60-80lb leaders, and short heavy sticks to stop them in there tracks when they hit the lure. Finesse and roughness in one.

My go to lure for this particular fishing scenario is the 130mm Squidgy Fish, rigged weedless, fished on LOOMIS IMX or CBR rods. The tail beat and wobble is sexy as and fished on a stiff tip with subtle twitches I can pretty much dance it at will. The only other rubber that comes close is is the Zman PaddlerZ, and I didn't need them this time around.

If I can recall correctly I'm pretty sure the action started well within the first 10 casts with some brute Toga putting us through our paces. At one stage I'd sounded up some random fish sitting out in the middle of the waterway so I'd tossed a a 20gram vibe out and within 2 hops I got whaled by a good fish. Calling it for a Barra at first but when it came up I was a bit baffled to see the prehistoric looking snake head. A few pics and in she went as we kept pushing onto the snags I'd marked.

We pulled a few more Barra from there hidy holes before Daz got his first real test. Tossing deep into a steep bank, tea bagging his way back to the boat his softy was inhaled on the drop and before he knew it he was in his own little nightmare. The fish had quickly put him back into the timber. Some Pressure on and a bit of repositioning of the boat saw the fish come free and take to the air. It was a clean fish and healthy, giving a great account of itself. Netting it, it went 70 on the mate and we high fived before re rigging and landing a few more fish.

The frustrating part of fishing like this is always the fish you miss. 9/10 times the fish would crack you as the lure dropped and if you weren't in contact with your lure the whole time, it was game over. This happened every few casts and as p...ed off as we got I couldn't help but think just how healthy this system was. We missed or dropped that many fish that you'd think it was fairly well loaded. Bring on a big wet this year.

As the clock reached lunch we pulled up for a feed on the bank and decided to up stumps to the next lilttle billabong. If it fished better we'd stay, if not we'd move on.

Arriving after lunch we put in and although we found a few small fish amongst the weed and dropped a few this spot just didn't have the feel the first one did. We dropped some cracking fish on a particular lone tree that stood out like dogs balls and managed a few nice fish at a rock bar. Vibes did some damage in a deep hole on a nice big bend. The fish were hungry, water temp was good and the humidity was stifling. We ended up pulling stumps for an early dinner calling in an evening fish in hope of something bigger.

We set camp up, ate like kings and as the sun set, the rain clouds came rolling in. That put a dampener on things quick smart as we raced back and got under the tarp.....DRY season so they say. Daz saved the day with the tarp I must admit and I had a broken sleep that night listening to old mate chopping trees down in his sleep.

DAY 2 to be continued......

Richie

That's a top read. Looking forward to the next instalment.

Awesome story, well done on the fishing front as well

Do.
Well done!

Great read, thanks

cheers Craig

Wow great trip and write up! thanks for sharing

Looks like a mad trip! Definitely du

.......As the dawn broke the rain slowly peetered out and my glum mood matched the dark skies overhead.
Daz cooked up some bacon and eggs and that lifted the spirits a little. The decision was made to go back to the first bong we'd hit the day previously. My theory of a rising or falling barometer would get tested out today and I wasn't too sure what the water temp would be like considering the winds were quite cool the night before.

Regardless I've had cracking sessions on top water on overcast days as I've found the fish tend to stay up a little bit longer into the day.

We packed the gear rigged some rods and took the drive back to where we started. An hr later we were on the water and back into the rats again. They hadn't moved too far from their previous location only this time we hooked a few larger fish allowing our rubbers to sink a little. Pearl was the colour this morning that stood out and before long we wanted to test our gear again in the timber. I did another run and marked another 2 or so timber piles to try.

Daz continued to use Zmans while I stayed with Squidgies. I'd ran out of evil minnow yesterday so out came the yakka's and within the first few casts we'd both had strikes and dropped them. There was one particular snag that we hadn't really hit the day before even tho I'd marked it and it looked gnarly.

The lay was such that you could fish either side of it, one side rising from a depth of 11m almost vertical to about 1.5m below the surface. The Lowrance lit up showing fish sitting tight within the cover and hugging the edge. We could tell it was only thin foliage so we could easily just twitch our rubbers in amongst the thin sticks without fear of getting hung up. I'd had a couple of strikes in deep so I decided to cast deeper back behind and just work the lure back, lifting slightly when I felt the rubber touch the snags within the top 2m of the water column. It didn't take long to wait for the outcome as I came up tight on the lift after a retrieval of not more than 2-3m. Losing line quickly I soon spat the dummy as I realised I'd been hung up in the sticks. Daz had a chuckle as I freespooled giving the fish his head to come out. When that didn't work nothing was left but to go in after him. As I positioned myself vertically over the snag and lifted the rod I felt the leader rub and it was enough to encourage the fish out. It took to the air before staying deep and not long after as we slid the net under I couldn't help but laugh.

Daz decided to try the same thing on the opposite side and a similar situation resulted as his lure was crunched and stopped dead in its tracks. Unfortunately this one couldn't be saved and went into the donation bucket with the others. This snag was chockers folks and we left it to rest fishing others further up.

The day panned out much the same with more fish coming on board, the inevitable stitch ups in the timber and lures getting spat back at us as fish erupted from the depths. We were lucky not to get joined at the cheeks when one particular fish handed my vibe back at a great rate of knots. Lol.

As the clock reached 2pm we were off the water and ready for home and the State of Origin match to be played.

The drive home was filled with chat about how next time we'll stay longer, venture further and fish harder. An awesome little reccy that came off without a hitch. My tip to anyone is don't wait for the report.....be the report. Do some study, plan a trip and think outside the square when the fishing is tough.

Matts eluded to the hot tips in an earlier reply. My tip is don't just wait for word of mouth when someone says this spot is firing or we got fish here etc etc. be the shepherd, not the sheep. I have no doubts that's what many people on here are doing. That's cool too, but put a report up, let us know how u go. Make this forum greater than it already is.

Good luck, get outside and get amongst em.

Richie

Thats my favourite billabong and love jigging on the deep snags in 9m of water there.. was there thursday last week for an hour and got 4 good fish straight out from the ramp and lost quite a few by not stopping them in time

Be the shepherd , not the sheep .
Words to live by !

Great , well written report .
Thank you

Cheers for the comments lads. Get amongst em this weekend.

Richie

Great report Richie

Secrets we dare not share ... there's barra in the 'bongs, snapper and jewies off Charles Point and Bynoe Wide, and pelagics where you find them

Wow what an epic write up mate I enjoyed the read along with some fantastic pics
Well done guys.

I too get a little frustrated at the lack of fishing posts on here of late , you'd think with 7603 members
at least 500 or so would have a fish maybe once a month and share a pic or two , not just the odd
comment on the chat bar. I don't really care about where they catch em ,just like seeing a good fish
pic with a bit of a yarn .

You did well mate. Fished there a few weeks back and found it very quiet compared to the last few years. Wasn't going to bother heading back.... Maybe that funny weather we had stirred things up a bit. Nice work.