North Australian FISH FINDER TM forums

Big golden snapper and barramundi are the fish of the moment, and there have been some large queenfish working the harbour.

Shoal Bay has been producing the most consistent barramundi fishing close to Darwin.

Some big barra have been caught from shore at Lee Point reef by secretive types.

Last week Darwin Harbour was inconsistent for barra during the big tides, and several boats failed to score on the Sunday.

Fishing and Outdoor World's Matt West said the hardour had big threadfin salmon working in the arms.

"It has been a little bit quiet for barramundi - several crews I spoke to went fishing last weekend and had a pretty quiet time,'' he said.

"We caught some queenfish out the front of the East Arm wharf on the high tide, and around Larrakeyah rock wall there have been queenfish working.

"We caught a couple of trevally around the rocks up a creek in Middle Arm, but I reckon The Rock at Shoal Bay is still the place to fish, where there have been fish to 90cm caught.

"Charles Point has been producing some good-sized golden snapper and should be working well again on the tides this week.

"On the jew fish front I have not heard too much, and there has not been too much reported on the billabong scene either."

Top End Fishing Supplies' Pip Clement said Shoal Bay had been fishing well with several barramundi of close to a metre landed.

"The shop owner Steve Compain caught a barra of almost a metre at Shoal Bay on Thursday morning,'' he said.

"There have been some big barra taken at The Rock and out the front of the creeks.

"The Leaders Creek area has also been fishing well - there have been some good snapper caught out around the islands.

"Eveyone is catching a lot of snapper right now.

"On the small tides now the best place to fish for barramundi in the harbour is around the rockbars, usually on the incoming tides when a bit of clean water pushes in.

"Red-headed black lures have been the colour to use in the harbour lately."

Katherine Rod and Rifle's Warren de With said he had a great time fishing the McArthur River last week, with perfect weather and loads of fish - but no mud crabs.

"The first four trolls we hooked fish - jeez they were hitting hard - one fish pulled the treble clean off my lure and bent the other trebles,'' he said.

"We caught and released 69 barramundi - the biggest was 97cm, caught by Colin Lark, a South Australian tourist,'' he said.

"We looked for new areas that might fish like some of our old favourite spots.

"We found the barra but we could not catch a mud crab anywhere - we took Greg Henkel who reckons he's the greatest crabber of all time and he only caught one crab.

"The road to the King Ash Bay is bad and we lost the welded-on winch handle and then the whole winch post on the trailer.

"It is just a 21km stretch of dirt road but it is an embarrasment - the boat stayed on the trailer only because it had a strap around it.

"Another bloke we went past had lost both his mudguards - the road is so bad it feels embarrassing to encourage people to come here and drive on it with their $60,000 vehicles and $40,000 fishing boats.

"Yet it is the second most popular fishing area in the Territory - fixing the road should be a priority.

"Fishing elsewhere should be good this week - the building tides will be ideal for the Roper, Victoria and Daly Rivers.

"We have had some good storms here in Katherine - there was a ripper come through King Ash Bay on Wednesday and it travelled right through to Darwin."

Got One's Craig Grosvenor said West Arm produced barra on the spring tides last week.

"Fish to 73cm were caught on green Yozuri minnows,'' he said.

"Also, large blue salmon were taking Squidgie green and pink Slick Rigs and Prawnstar juniors.

"Queenfish and trevally have been biting well at Larrakeyah rock wall on surface poppers and small Prawnstar juniors in natural colours.

"Barra to 60cm have been taken in Middle Arm and Pioneer Creek on the spring tides on tiger lily Bombers.

"The mouth of the South Alligator River will be hot this weekend with big barra taking 160 Classics in bobby dazzler colours.

"Offshore, Barren and Field Islands have been fishing well with double-header goldies and the odd big jewfish - local squid and bonito baits have worked well.

"Crabs have gone quiet, with just the odd catch reported.

"Coastal rocks across the Top End are all worth a look - Dundee, Shoal Bay, Lee Point, Shoal Bay etc."

Shoal Bay Boat Hire's Bob Morris said lots of barra were being caught.

"Almost any spot out the front is working well - the upper creeks are a bit silted and need some rain to wash them out, so the best fishing is at the mouths,'' he said.

"The best fishing has been at low tides.

"The best tides have been just coming off the neaps when you get the first movement - this weekend and early this weekend are the right tides to fish.

"The Rock has been steady without being brilliant - there have been quite a few 90cm fish come off it this year.

"A guy did a tour with us up the Little Howard River last week and caught a 105cm and a 98cm barra.

"We have been getting the barra on both livebait and lures.

"Jewies are on at The Rock in the evenings on baits of pilchards or squid.

"There have been some big prawns about in the low tide holes."

Leaders Creek Fishing Base Chris Edwards said Cape Hotham had been producing snapper.

"They have been fishing up the top and around Ruby Island,'' he said.

"Others reckon the threadfin salmon over at Melville Island have been a pest and in bigger numbers than Powertail.

"Not too many barras have been hooked around the creek though.

"There have been a mob of smaller mackerel about and queenfish have been on the rampage around the Vernon Islands.

"There was a 95cm barra caught at Cape Hotham last week and a few crabs were picked up in the creek.

"Apart from that we need a few more fishermen out here - the road has been graded so they can't use that as an excuse.

"This week's tides are right for this area."