Daly River 2020

And jacks, salmon, jewfish - tell us how you went. NT, FNQ and Norwest.
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Matt Flynn
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Re: Daly River 2020

Post by Matt Flynn »

Wish we had more posts like this, some thoughtful observations WW.

Sun here was blindingly bright in a clear sky today, perhaps it is from the reduction of particles in the air as global industry takes a downturn.

Or perhaps it is just my eyes getting old.


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Re: Daly River 2020

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Maths has never been my strong suit. I failed to grasp working with numbers from the beginning. School days memories are bleak with lots of corporal punishment dished out by teachers who thought beating a child would help them understand arithmetic. It didn’t.

Like nearly everything mathematics is present in fishing. Here at the Daly there is about half a dozen anglers active, on any given day (tide pending) there will be two or three fishing, some days we catch other days we don’t, I have no idea what the catch per effort ratio is. What I do know is my results and a couple of the others results and observations.

Given the conditions the fishing has been sporadic and lower than expectations, there was no run off to speak of with the creeks only active for a very short period. The average size of fish is notable, there is a distinct lack of fish in the high 60s and above. I have hooked a couple of bigger fish but a lone 72 is the best I’ve managed this year, my local contacts have had similar results including a couple of them that bait fish. Now the water temperature has dropped I don’t expect the catch rate will increase.

Are these year classes not around or are we not in the right place at the right time doing the right thing? I’d like to think that at least a few of us have some idea of what we are doing after all these years.

I wonder how the comps would have fared this year, maybe the virus spared them a poor result. After all the competitions are about catching fish aren’t they and it’s not a good look when most of the punters don’t catch anything. It’s shown in the recent past that when these comps are a dud fish wise, the resulting tourist business at the Daly has a significant down turn.
Strange that it’s all about numbers, dam those mathematics.

With the lifting of the bio security restrictions I expect the Queen’s birthday weekend will see a flotilla on the river, there are worse places to be even if the fish aren’t about.
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Matt Flynn
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Re: Daly River 2020

Post by Matt Flynn »

there are worse places to be even if the fish aren’t about.
:cheers:
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Re: Daly River 2020

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With the sky and water excepted the colour blue is not very common in natural surrounds. Some flowers and a few birds sport the hue and they stand out in their surroundings. Many hunters would never wear blue clothes in the bush, they believe they are too visible to their prey.

I was making my way upstream from a trip to the coastal creeks in the river delta when I caught a glimpse of something blue in the waterline of the bank, I would usually investigate it with a fair chance of it being a lost lure but I was clipping along and decided to keep going.

About ten minutes later I saw another flash of blue and headed over to the blue thing, it was a piece of pool noodle, well half of a ring of noodle about 15 mm thick, plastic rubbish.
I dropped into the bucket with my rubbish from the trip and continued the run for home. Over the next hour I found another identical five pieces of the noodle, they weren’t hard to spot and had obviously not been in the water long.

The dingy with two people in it were tied up to the bank in the creek mouth, I slowed right down and approached the boat, there were three rods in holders one with a lure dangling from its tip the other two were rigged with pool noodle sections and drifting around with bait underneath (cherabin).

Before I could say G’day one of the floats bobbed and split in two, the bloke near the motor took his time lifting the rod from the holder, the fish meanwhile had swam under the boat and when he took up the slack line the small Barra jumped on the opposite side of were old mate was pointing the rod.

I waited for the comical caper’s to end and struck up a polite conversation, how’s the fishing, where are you from etc.etc. When I raised the subject of people littering the river they expressed their displeasure of the bastards who leave rubbish at various locations they had been to and what should happen to those who did that sort of thing.

I then pointed out the bits of pool noodle drifting downstream, there was a moment of silence before I was told that the material in question will dissolve fairly quickly and isn’t plastic. The tourist park they were staying at had provided the noodle and instructions on how to use it as a “break away” float system. They thought it OK and were told it was in common use and the best way to live bait fish with a high hook up rate and no snagging.

I wished them well and continued on my journey, I thought of all the bits of white polystyrene I had seen in the river over the years, break away floats that are still in our rivers and seas, now a new colourful piece of plastic/poly rubbish will be bobbing around.

If I was seen throwing pieces of poly/plastic into the river I would rightly be branded a bastard litterer and subject to the law for littering. Why then is it acceptable behaviour to be deliberately littering the waterways with breakaway floats?
I wonder if this is a localized issue or is the practice of breakaway floats in common use in other rivers.
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Re: Daly River 2020

Post by Matt Flynn »

Often seen people using big lumps of breakaway styro when mack fishing off Lee Point, even did it in my boat a couple of times before I gave myself an uppercut for being stupid and went back to bubble floats, or just simply drifting baits out the back.

Microplastic particles are everywhere now, it doesn't dissolve, just contaminates sediment. And that includes microfibres in clothing, washed out to sea with every wash.

And they reckon a plastic straw ban will actually do something.
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Re: Daly River 2020

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Yep the plastic invasion of the environment appears to be relentless; I am not without sin in this matter. 40 years ago I was sending balloons out to sea at Quobba and Steep Point in pursuit of fish, never gave any thought of pollution when those things broke free as a Spaniard or Shark Mackerel peeled line from my reel, littering was not on my or anyone else’s mind.

Must be the aging process coupled with advanced information distribution that has me wondering about these things, and perhaps even the little things we do as a collective to combat the invasion can make a difference.

Another negative of the breakaway float technique is the gut hooking ratio, it is significant. It’s common to see people doing rough surgery on fish to retrieve the precious hook, regardless of the intent to keep or release the fish.
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Re: Daly River 2020

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Your dead right Flicken, the passive technique of "letting it run" before setting the hook plays a large part in the gut hooking of fish. Circle hooks would go a long way towards eliminating that.

I recall a push towards using the circle hooks by AFANT and NT Fisheries. These tackle requirements can be made mandatory just like any other fishing regulations. If they have the balls...
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Re: Daly River 2020

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A grim fairy-tale or nightmare…

Once upon a time there was a group of fishermen who caught Barramundi for a living. They used nets, the authorities made them have a license for a net 1000 meters long. They could catch as many Barra as they liked.

There is only 10 licenses in the NT.

The group of fishermen worked their nets in many places, they had a gentlemen’s agreement not to fish in another man’s spot, and they spread out over the coast of the top end.

One day a new man arrived with lots of money and bought 8 of the licenses, the new man now has 8 kilometres of net to fish with.

The new man didn’t have to worry about fishing in another man’s spot, nearly all the spots were his. New man thought that it is better to fish one spot at a time with all his nets.

The new man wants to save time and money with the way he fishes, less travel, and he can catch more fish with more nets from each spot he goes to. New man is not breaking any rules.

There is another group of fishermen who catch fish for fun and to eat, they can only keep 3 Barra each time they go fishing.

This group is finding it harder to catch a Barra as the years go by.

Fairy-tale or Nightmare, you decide.
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Matt Flynn
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Re: Daly River 2020

Post by Matt Flynn »

Mixed in with a dose of consecutive bad wet seasons.

That said, some good fish are showing up on FB posts, from other Top End spots.

The 1990s had three La Nina cycles (from memory), with good fishing among the many nets. It's a shame the net closures saw a subsequent run of poor weather with associated low barramundi recruitment.

Perhaps total allowable barra catch should be based on the wet seasons, as some have suggested.

Weather cycle doesn't seem to bother the threadies.
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Re: Daly River 2020

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That rumour is quite a shrewd business plan.

Given that the Aboriginals who have custody of the areas that have viable Barramundi fishing opportunities are generally not located in what would be considered areas viable for conventional mining.

Perhaps non-conventional mining is the goal.
Of course the NLC does the negotiating on the TO’s behalf and money talks.

I find it alarming that those who should be concerned about this change in dynamics seem to be accepting the inevitable outcome.

What is AFANT’s position? Are the fishing clubs, tackle shops, boat yards, caravan parks, and fishing guides making noise or just bending over ready to receive.

The Million dollar fish won’t save the day, it’s already a fillet!
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Re: Daly River 2020

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I remember her name. Carol was a petite blonde with emerald eyes. She was my first. I had waited for what at the time seemed to be forever for her to show any interest in me, the beginning of a life time trend of waiting for girls…

The little girl I’m waiting for at present is a teaser, some days she begins to really turn on then abruptly stops leaving me frustrated. She slinks away without a trace as to her whereabouts then appears far away flirting with someone else.

Those who think they know her tell me she will be back, they say she will be wet and ready to serve it up to me, I wait for her return and fantasize about her moist embrace.

This little girl last visited in 2011 and left a trail of broken hearts as well as made life a wondrous experience with birth rates souring.

I am on a promise from this girl called La Nina, as usual I am waiting.
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Re: Daly River 2020

Post by NinjaFish »

Hopefully starting to push through a bit.

Saw Katherine River was at 6.5 in town and moving a bit on Tuesday morning with the Edith and Fergusson flowing steady.
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Re: Daly River 2020

Post by wonderwobler »

Let's hope for some water so I don't write waffle like my last post... A good new year to all.
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