North Australian FISH FINDER TM forums

So with the holidays upon us I headed for the car bailing out to the Daly, recent rains had topped it up almost a metre. After setting up a quick camp at the reynolds I did the trip down to the river. Arriving in the dark we realized that we were the only ones here. The rain had made the banks a giant funny shaped slippery dip. So on with the reef boots, grabbed the rods and off we went.

As soon as I got down to the spot multiple barra could be heard boofing the small gudgeons and archer fish all along the edges in the rocks and grassed edges. Sizes ranged from tiny plops from rats to full blown implosions from barra well over a metre. Rods were soon rigged with our favorite lures and sent out into the chaos.

The mozzies were on the ball and soon I was doing the trip back out to the ute to get the thermacell. A bit more organized and comfortable within my mozzie free area and I was back into it. Just as i was about to lift my lure out it was hit right at my feet bt a small 65 - 70cm barra which was hauled onto the bank after a few jumps and a short brutal tussle around some submerged saplings. It began flapping around immediately grabbing the attention of the local croc. Which came over for a close look we considered moving spots but the barra were still interested. But almost immediately they shut down once the croc moved in.

It was pretty quiet after that so I headed to a few different spots in the area changing my lures regularly ... no more boofs or bites. The tide had changed by that stage so we returned to the ute for a short rest and another drink before the dawn attack.

With renewed enthusiasm and dawn about to break i surveyed the area for last nights croc. The fog rolling through the trees soaked every surface and drops of dew sprinkled through the canopy almost in a light rain. Soon the birds and other wildlife were waking up and beginning the days routine. 3 pairs of burdekin ducks chatted amongst themselves in an ancient paperbark as I made my way through the tricky stuff in the jungle before emerging out onto the edge.

Within 15min i soon had another 2 barra about to join their mate on ice in the eva kool. Not long afterwards the first of many anglers headed past in their boats staring at the couple of keepers next to me. I fished for another hour before calling it a day and headed back to the camp we had set up at the reynolds for a swim and a bit of brekkie . Chicken cheese n onion toasted jaffles off the tray were devoured in record time before hitting the road.

Fresh barra for dinner tonight .....

BTW on a serious note. I got breath tested twice once on the way in an again on the way back and saw the cops out in their boat too so be careful with your consumption of your favorite beverage. ...

Great effort mate, well done.

Sounds like a great trip. We saw the police out on Sampan and the South too, good to see them out there

Good work. Saw a camp set up at the side of the road at the Reynolds was that you guys? Looked good. That huge black croc still in the area there or has he been removed?

Yep that was us for a couple of days roughing it in the shade eating barra and drinking jacks.
You should have dropped in for a dip. We sometimes set up at a few spots further down in the dry and also blackfella ck has a good area too. No sign of the big croc just few smaller freshies about. We got a few cherabin with the spear too. There's usually a heap of black bream in the river but we just drove down to the daly for a bit of a fish for a few hours if we wanted to catch barra. Was a great weekend out bush ....

no problem with :
noise curfew
Neighbors
Kids
Packed campsites
Firewood
Or lack of beverages to drink whilst floating in the river literally 5m from camp with the music pumping.

Drove down a few of the local tracks over the weekend too including a mad midnight mission. Over the hills and through the mud. But that's a whole 'nother story.

Sounds like a good time was had!

I'd rather tackle that 4WD track in a canoe

Nice work. Ive seen some good barra caught off the culvert there when the water is up a bit and that big croc is one to watch out for. Haven't heard about him for a few years but he's been sighted up on the road a few years back, big 5m fella.

Gday Goldfish, Those pics above, are they the track to bamboo Creek pipes????

Looks like it wazdog. Was thinking the same.

Funny how the police out at the Daly and Shades when the fishing is good...only catching those doing the wrong things of course. Nice report Goldy its the best land based spot at the Daly for sure, be there next year when they let those red tags go.

Yeah well spotted....


its pretty slippery but the base is quite hard in the good bits suprisingly. The pic was sat lunch not sure what it's like now . I only got a few rats there and saw one legal fish about 65cm get caught on the downstream side. Hasn't been as good as back in the day but still worth a few casts. Lost 2 lures on the snags and called it a day.

Great report, cheers! I'll have to head down there soon.

Take a good spottie and spear mate you'll get a feed of cherabin if nothing else. Im gonna hold off my next trip out that way untill the crossing comes out of the water

then its on....