North Australian FISH FINDER TM forums

The non-stop rain in Darwin on Thursday probably had dedicated fishermen dancing starkers in their backyards, but the rain must continue a few more days to make a difference to our rivers.

As I write this the Weather Bureau was predicting the monsoon would reform this weekend, so there's still hope.

The bait and barramundi do not seem to have appeared in big numbers up the rivers yet, but nonetheless some great fish have been caught and reports have been getting better.

Soft plastics have been best, but there's plenty being caught on hard-bodied lures and bait.

Best fishing has been at the Daly and South Alligator Rivers.

The East Alligator was patchy until Magela Creek rose and cut it off, and the Adelaide River has been quiet but improving.

Overall the barramundi are being caught by those who are in the right spots at the right time.

Offshore reports have been thin, but jewfish are about in the harbour.

Goat Island's Kai Hansen said fishing was improving on the Adelaide River in the past week after a disastrous February.

"This last bit of rain could make all the difference here,'' he said.

"There have been improving catches in the past week.

"People are welcome to drop in and ask where the fish have been biting.

"Right now the rockbars above the island are best."

Top End Fishing Supplies' Pip Clement said there were fish taken at the Daly River at Elizabeth Creek on gold Bombers last week.

"The weather has been a bit average for bluewater fishing,'' he said.

"There have been crabs taken in Middle Arm, while Bynoe Harbour has been quiet.

"All in all it has been fairly quiet."

Fishing and Outdoor's Matt West said the Daly River was producing fish at certain stages of the tide.

"They are mainly being taken on soft plastics that look like the baitfish coming off the plains,'' he said.

"Elizabeth and Powertail Creek have been producing a few good fish.

"Shady Camp has been fishing well up the top in the cleaner water. There have been a few fish caught down around the mouth on the neap tides.

"Ronald Voukolos and I went there last Sunday and we dragged the tinny over the mud walls again and caught a few fish trolling Bombers around the timber.

"We got a lot of hits but the fish were not taking the lures properly - there was that much bait up there they must be well fed.

"The South Alligator River is starting to get better with some good barra caught.

"The jewies in the harbour have been good - I haven't heard too much about goldies.

"Shoal Bay is producing good crabs - there's been some nice crabs caught up King Creek."

Katherine Rod and Rifle's Warren de With said it had been pretty quiet after the rain.

"The Daly River produced some fish but the river has since risen a couple of inches,'' he said.

"The neap tides might let the recent rainwater pass through quickly - the Katherine River went up to 3.5m but then quickly went back down.

"We fished the top of the Daly River last weekend and the river was a great colour but the cherabin have not seemed to have come up the rivers yet - the cherabin are not nipping at your toes in the rapids like they normally do.

"The Roper River has risen again - it went down to 200mm at the bar which is too low for good fishing.

"The South Alligator is starting to produce - they have had some rain up there.

"Mid-March is usually when river fishing starts to improve and its normally also the tapering off of the monsoon but the dry February has thrown everything into a wobbly."

Happy Micks' Mike Chambers fished the Daly River last week for less-than-anticipated action.

"Charlie and I had a rare day on the water together last weekend. We decided to do one last trip before we sold our boat, so we headed for Clear Creek at the mouth of the Daly,'' Mike said.

"We realised we could be pressed to get a good spot, as there are only a few run-offs into Clear Creek, but we reckoned a 4am start would have us there in time for the noon high tide, and we would get a good look at the river on the way down.

"All the creeks were pumping tea water, though not as much as we had been led to expect.

"There were boats on every run-off except Elizabeth which had about a dozen boats fishing it.

"After a quick casting session near Alligator Heads, we headed west through the sandbar country.

"A few minutes short of Clear Creek we saw a commotion on the far bank that we initially took for a couple of feuding big crocs. On closer examination it turned out to be one of those unique phenomenon a tidal bore, making it's way up stream with a wave about a metre high.

"Having had our excitement for the day, we headed for Clear Creek, but on rounding the last bend before the floodplains proper found the boys from GS Marine had taken our spot!

"Fair enough too - they had braved the mozzies sandflies and crocs by sleeping overnite.

"We headed further up, and pulled up at the next and only gutter. It looked good and we proceeded to fish a couple of hours up to the high, when Charlie had guaranteed the big mothers would move in!

"You'd think we'd have learned by now!

"We landed about 10 fish, mostly rats, one in the mid 70s, and Charlie lost a hooter right at the end that refused to stop.

"The barra enjoyed our Squidgies, mostly the tech yawn colour.

"The GS Marine boys did better - after all, they had the best spot - landing a couple in the 90s.

"Coming home we stopped off to troll one of Charlies favourite spots. We all agreed it was too early in the season for trolling, the current too strong, and visibility too hard in the dirty water.

"We then lost a big fish on the first troll. Very careless. That's fishing."

Got One's Craig Grosvenor said anglers that headed wide of Dundee at the weekend reported large numbers of mackerel tuna, queenfish and reef species.

"Despite the large tidal movements, tricky snapper, golden snapper, coral trout and the odd jewfish responded to fresh local squid baits,'' he said.

"Having travelled 45km out wide one of the crews tried their luck at deep water jigging for their first time and were rewarded with some bone-jarring action on schools of GTs to around 90cm.

"A change of position was all that was required to bring on some table fish ... one 3.5kg coral trout, a few smaller school mackerel and a 13kg jewfish snapped up River2Sea Live Squid rigs and Aji metal jigs pumped vigorously off the bottom.

"Waters got rough later in the day, making the return trip painful.

"Along the coast, the barra were quiet .... I tried same spot as last week but did no good.

"Plenty of big tarpon and small queenies were gorging themselves on schools of baitfish, and were happily taking any small chromies ... 15g Gillies Pilchard slices in silver colours worked best.

"Large prawn baits proved successful on those seemingly resident blue salmon along the foreshores .... lately the outgoing tides have been the best for salmon!

"Reports back from the Daly were less than consistent. Chris Errity must have had it sussed with 60 fish in two days.

"Fizzers during early evening accounted for most fish. Other crews seemed to find it pretty tough going ... no doubt the king tides made water clarity ordinary, but there were still reports of vicious surface action from the mouth of Elizabeth and Powertail Creeks during the first push of incoming tide.

"A mate managed to hook a very good fish on a 4" Tsunami soft jlastic just below Powertail creek. Twice he had the fish laying quietly at the side of the boat, and twice the apprentice with the landing net failed. There was no third chance!

"Around town, East Point and Racecourse Creek kept locals happy.

"Small Squidgy Slick Rigs cast from the rocks at first-run-in tides resulted in 65cm and 72cm barra.

"Small chromies on high-speed spin gear snared queenfish to 81cm on Sunday.

"Shoal Bay's The Rock is still a popular attraction for good sized queenfish, and I know of at least one jew taken there on pilchard baits again at the top of the tide early last week.

"The South Alligator River sounds like its been given a life-line ready for the Klash competition ... I was told by a local that the big mudflat causing dramas near the ramp is all but washed away. Lets hope that's true."