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Re: Daly River 2018

Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2018 10:29 pm
by wonderwobler
Angler is my preferred description of us. The now common term of fisho for me at least, rekindles memories of swarthy men of Mediterranean decent who sold fish from a horse drawn cart, along with the Milko and Bottlo.

The small drain in the sharp bend of the river is completely hidden from view by a tangle of fallen trees, bamboo and weeds. The current from the river rips past and a small eddy forms a few metres downstream of the drain, only close inspection at low speed reveals the above, few fisho’s know of it and even less notice it.

It’s not an easy spot to fish, the river is deep and the current strong, lure presentation is critical and the strike zone small. Boat position and casting accuracy is the key to results.

The initial attempts at fishing this spot were frustrating, casts that were too long or short and the boat too close or too far from the bank, positioning the boat up stream or downstream, it took a fair bit of effort and experimenting over a number of seasons before I hooked a fish. The barra were there I just had to figure out how to fish it.

As I approached the drain a decent boof near the little eddy got my heart rate up. Stealth and careful setting of the anchor had me in the spot that I thought would allow a natural presentation of the lure, now it was a matter of perseverance and accurate casting to tempt a fish to strike.

About an hour into it, four lure changes and at least a half a dozen boofs that raised the enthusiasm gauge, a solid strike and an explosion of water as a decent size fish took line from the reel and charged downstream with the current, it had me on my toes.
Chasing fish in the boat takes preparation when you fish solo as often as I do, I started the engine and let the anchor rope with the bouy connected peel out of the boat and started to follow the fish and regain a bit of line on a the little spool.

The fish was using the current and I started to lead it into quieter water to put some pressure on it. About a hundred metres from where I hooked up the fish jumped, mid-eighties I thought to myself, and a typical solid Daly fish.
Steady pressure and a bit of creative rod work had the fish close to the boat, the lure looked bolted on to the side of its head, on about the third or fourth pass of the boat I slipped the net into water in front of the fish, just as it looked to be all over the fish made another dash for freedom hooking the lure into the net, a bit of thrashing about and it was gone, a semi-automatic release I call it.

I made my way back upstream to the dan-bouy hooked the rope and adjusted the length to get the right position to have another go, I felt satisfied that I had worked out the way to fish this spot, it seemed that the angle of the lure presentation played a significantly important part in solving the puzzle, perhaps that’s how the term Angler was born.

Re: Daly River 2018

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2018 11:09 am
by kingsley_z
I dunno about you mob, but when I read WW posts it's like meditating. Absolute poetry, not to mention educational.

Re: Daly River 2018

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2018 11:16 am
by Matt Flynn
Tiz some good reading :mrgreen:

I never liked "angler" though, rhymes with "dangler" :D

Not that keen on "fisho" either.

"Meato" was used as a term of derision in some fishing mags, but IMO there's nothing wrong with keeping fish to eat, within reason.

Read some of the almost 200-year-old European books about fishing, they are enjoyable. Funny too, especially when they reckon their spot is fished out because of progress.

Re: Daly River 2018

Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2018 2:17 pm
by NBN
The Daly is one of my favourite rivers. Every year she offers up some of her secrets and in turn creates some more.

Thx for sharing WW.

Re: Daly River 2018

Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2018 3:41 pm
by jeffish
Another fine chapter on the Daly :mrgreen:
Cheers WW :drinking8:

Re: Daly River 2018

Posted: Tue May 08, 2018 2:27 pm
by wonderwobler
A semi-circle of boats lined the bank of the creek mouth. All the crews were fishing with bait, some under floats others on the bottom, a few were also casting lures out into the main stream of the river and retrieving back into the flowing creek.

The creek is well known and hasn’t changed much in the time I have fished it, the basic structure below the surface was created long ago by river currents and flood runoff. There are areas that hold fish and others that don’t.
From a distance I watched for a while to suss out if there was an opportunity to have a go, I prefer not to tangle (pun intended) with other anglers, particularly bait fishing ones, and after all they were there first and I do not push into already crowded water.

It was obvious to me that one of the key areas was not being fished, there were two boats practically tied up on top of the spot but they had cast their baits a long way down stream into the creek current where it intersects with the river. The area within about 20 feet of their boats and upstream and out toward the river was receiving no attention.
With a quiet and carefully approached, mindful of keeping a respectful distance, I slipped the anchor over and as the boat drifted back with the current I gave the other boats a nod and received a few G’days, good I thought, they don’t feel intruded upon. I tied off and started casting.

The area I was aiming at is a lump of mud that extends out from the creek bank on the upstream side of the river intersection with a channel on the creek side, it sharply drops of into the river, old mates were fishing on the inside of the creek.
I wanted my lure to come off the shallow water on top of the mud lump and dive into the river swimming with the current, this required landing the lure close to old mate’s boat and retrieving. There was no risk of tangling lines as their rods were in holders at the stern and the lines angling well away from our casting and retrieve angle. Old mate did not seem to mind the little lure splashing down a couple of feet from their bow.

Watching the occasional battle with Powertail and sharks by the others fishing there I thought at least we weren’t wrestling things with spikes or teeth.
A couple of hours quickly past, many casts made without a tap. I usually follow a pattern with lure changes starting with small lures and working up in size, I have a preference for natural type colours and no rattles. I cast the green 15cm lure out and let it sink a bit next to old mate’s boat before the retrieve, about ten feet from his boat the strike came and a big fish launched out of the water like a Polaris missile.

The fish put on a great display of jumping and head shaking before powering into deeper water and using the current to strip line from me, I could hear voices coming from the semi-circle of boat crews but I was focused on this fish and not listening to what they were saying.
Often fish that jump a lot also tire quickly and it wasn’t long before it was doing circles next to the boat, my partner was on board and is no slouch with a landing net, she waited for the right moment and the fish hit the back of the net without touching the sides. As it lay on the deck and I was removing the lure I could hear a bit of the talking from the other boats.

I measured the fish at 105cm and lifted it up for a quick pic and speared it back into the river, a few good on ya’s and how big was it came from some of the boats, except old mate who’s boat I was casting near, the skipper was p...ed off that I had caught a fish so close to his boat.
He started with that I should have got out of bed earlier if I wanted to secure a spot in this creek mouth (we had been on the water since dawn) them went on to say if I wanted to let the fish go why did I bother catching it in the first place!

The statements proved I was dealing with an idiot and that my best response would be to catch another fish from under his boat. My partner is not only good with a net she can cast a lure ok as well. We both started casting as close to his boat without hitting it as we dared, old mate immediately retrieved his bait and sinker rig and cast it over both our lines in an attempt to tangle or snag us.

My partner new I would take a dim view of this, as I untangled our lines and cut his bait and sinker free from the mess he caused, he then became aggressive and abusive, he made an error by directing one of his insults toward my partner, she knew I would take an even dimmer view of that.
I always have a few spare lures that don’t have hooks on them as I find it easier to store them loosely in the tackle bag, I clipped one on to a rod and bounced it of his chest, telling him the next words out of his mouth will be an apology or the next thing he gets will be his sinker.

His decky then gave him a serve and apologised for his manners, an argument of the domestic type erupted on his boat, she being more than a match for him, the semi-circle of boats were being treated to a display of good old savage hen pecking, and he did not survive.
As old mate pulled away a little cheer went up from the semi-circle.

Re: Daly River 2018

Posted: Tue May 08, 2018 4:25 pm
by NinjaFish
:rofl: :clap:

Love it WW :D

Re: Daly River 2018

Posted: Tue May 08, 2018 10:49 pm
by cuddlescooper
Lol. A simular thing happened to a mate of mine and i at roper bar. There were 12 people fishing the bar and on this day it was pretty slow for most. As we arrived and wondered on down we picked our spot in the middle that fortunatly didnt have any one fishing in. About 5th cast my fishing partner hooked a 112cm. This fish ran all the way back and forth across the bar. Everyone fishing was polite and moved there lines and created a path to fight the fish. Eventually we chased it to the bank and landed it. Due to is having all our gear on the other bank we politly asked a older bloke from Katherine if we could borrow his pliers to get the fish off the hooks. He threw them down the bank to us and said nice fish boys, no one else has got one today so far. After a few photos we released it and heard a bit of a grunt behind us. At the time we both thought old mate had swollowed a fly or simular. Any way after a quick walk back to our spot which people surprising moved off as we walked back out, we started to cast. 15 casts later and steele hooks up again. Long story short we landed 5 fish in the 80s and 90s and no one else even got a hit. Eventually steele hooked another fish and after a battle we again ended up on the oposite bank with a 95cm baz. Once again we politly asked old mate to use his pliers. On this occasion he started swearing his head off at us.......what the f...ck you doing letting fish go, you f.....cking mob come down here catching all the fish and letting every thing go. We spend 100s of dollars to come here and you mob let every thing go f....cking ,frigging blah blah blah. Any way, we decided not to borrow his pliers again and walked back to the edge managing to pull the hooks on the fish. I thought for a second about giving him the fish but let it go instead! If he had of politly asked i would have given him a 80cm or some thing but after that spray it was more fun letting it go!

Re: Daly River 2018

Posted: Wed May 09, 2018 3:16 pm
by Dick
Read the lot, dips me lid.

Re: Daly River 2018

Posted: Wed May 09, 2018 9:23 pm
by Dick
wonderwobler wrote: I think I have experienced that phenomenon more than once, but at the time didn’t register what it meant.
Reckon you've sussed it, barras gorge and regurgitate to gorge again. That strong oily smell is a product of the binge. You can pick up the slick too if the water lets you see it.

Re: Daly River 2018

Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2018 11:03 am
by wonderwobler
The small fish were plentiful and providing my visiting brother and sister in law with heaps of fun. My brother has caught his share of fish but it was her first visit to the Territory and catching a Barra was high on the list of things to do, after all her brother in law lived on the Daly River and was, according to family folklore, a guru.

Showing off a bit I did something I normally would not do, I held the fish by its jaw and attempted to remove the hook from the fish she had just landed with my bare hands.
I normally always use pliers, the little fish thrashed and in an instant we were joined by cold steel. The fish was full of energy and the hook was firmly planted in its jaw, along with my middle finger, good hooks in bad places.

Most people who handle sharp or pointy things have felt cold steel penetrate their soft skin, the damage varies but there is always blood and a bit of shock involved, anglers are probably over represented and I’m confident we all have some experience in this area.

I’ve heard of some impressive hook impalements on this river, the local bush nurse is highly skilled at hook removal and has some wonderful anecdotes on the subject. She has taken hooks out of nearly every part of people and a few dogs!

Some of the most unusual include the nose (more than once) after pulling knots tight and slipping, driving the hook into the snoze, hooked in both hands on a lure, and one of my favourites, through the ear and shoulder with a small Powertail still attached to the lure!
I’m not sure who swore more, me or the sister in law as she made plans for an emergency rescue and medivac, my priority was to stop the little fish from any further movement, sometimes you have to kill things for safety reasons.

An investment I made many years ago was a pair of Maun pliers for working with wire, they have a cutting jaw on the back that can cut 8 gauge wire easily, I once cut the tip and barb of a 10/0 hook that had gone right through a mates calf while we were shark fishing as young men, he bled a bit but the hook slid out of his leg and we continued fishing, he hardly whinged.

The Maun wire pliers were dug out of the tackle bag, the hook in the fish was cut leaving me to deal with the remains in my finger. Quality tools last a life time and the jaws of the pliers have a very positive grip, I pushed the hook all the way through my finger until the barb was exposed then snipped the hook of below the barb with the cutter and slid the hook out of my finger, a little bit of claret bit basically a flesh wound.

I looked at my sister in law, wondering if my guru status had suffered with this display of dumbness, she was sitting down and a very pale colour, it was time to call this session quits.

Re: Daly River 2018

Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2018 11:36 am
by trent
Its always the small ones that get ya! Took the olds down the daly a few years back and were catching plenty of fish, had reminded them all day to use the lip grips and pliers, old man catches a small one and next thing i hear him jumping around, luckily the barbs went right through and came out easily enough, Famous last words "it was only small thought i'd just get the lure out by hand", never handled them without the pliers after that!

Re: Daly River 2018

Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2018 4:12 pm
by theodosius
Haha, great stories. It's not always the small ones that hook you. I had a 99 hanging off a lure in my groin once with Lats

Re: Daly River 2018

Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2018 7:24 am
by slug
It always amazes me when I see large barra with 200ml 3 hook trebles still hanging out the jaw being held for the capture photo - pretty dumb stuff to me, but seems a very common occurance ....

Re: Daly River 2018

Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2018 1:58 pm
by wonderwobler
A stiff breeze, cool temperatures and shallow clear water make barra fishing a real challenge this time of year. The reaches of river I poke around in during the months with no R in them certainly hold fish, however they are easily spooked by a boat and seem to be able to vanish before my eyes, sight casting seems to be impossible, for me anyway.

Billabongs are slightly better options, there are a couple I can fish land based, the water temp is a little higher than the river and the water not as clear or shallow as the river. The trade-off is the crocodile risk, over the years there has been a significant change in the croc population, the fresh water crocs that were in large numbers have disappeared and replaced by a few large salties.

One of the billabongs was known by locals as a “safe” spot for many many years, the freshwater crocs were seen as a litmus test, the salties like to eat the freshies, and the thinking being a large population of freshies generally indicated a lack of salties in this billabong.
The cane toad has played a major role in the fresh water crocs demise, when the toad invaded the river environment I saw and smelled lots of dead freshies that had fallen victim to the poisonous toad, along with everything else that like to eat frogs.

The species of fish I encounter in the billabong is all the usual suspects found in the river, bar one, the sooty grunter, I have never caught one in the billabong. It may be just luck or some other reason, by comparison this time of year in the river is the most productive time to target sooties.

These underrated fish can provide an alternative target for lure fishing when the barra aren’t as cooperative. They hit hard and fight doggedly, not bad on the chew either. Small lures of any type are worth trying, I’ve caught them on trout type lures and in more recent times little plastics rigged “Texas” style being very effective. They have a preference for rock bars but any structure is worth trying. I’ve never caught one in tidal water, they are a strictly fresh water fish.

I’m looking forward to a return to the “R” months.