Elizabeth River over Easter
Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2018 3:00 pm
Finally got off my ass and put the boat in the water over the Easter long weekend.
I moved back to Darwin on Christmas Day after 10 years away, and to be honest, had been too slack, as the boat had been more of a garden ornament than a boat in that time.
With the tides what they were, and not really wanting to deal with 100 + other boats, I thought I'd keep it nice and simple and head just down the road from home and fish the Elizabeth River.
The first day was more about a little exploring, as I hadn't fished the waterway in a fair while, and I also had the missus and youngster with me.
Spent about 2 hours stuffing around with a big pack of Salmon, getting 2 soft enquiries, before finally giving up, but with a plan in mind.
Finished the day soaking some bait, and my son scored himself a nice bream, which I laughed very hard at, as after spending 10 years in Queensland, the last thing I wanted to catch was a damn Bream.
Went out on a Solo mission on Easter Monday, with a plan to target those damn Salmon from the other day.
After securing a small amount of live bait, and getting itchy casting fingers, off I headed to see what I could tempt.
Arrived at the creek mouth to find the Salmon still there, though not in the numbers from earlier, and out went a couple of livies.
First cab off the rank was a lovely friggen stingray, which I got all excited about after it took off at a rate of knots towards the middle of the creek.
Sorted that out, threw out a new livie, and spent the next half hour feeding livies to the resident fish population, before one finally stuck, and I landed my first Barra in many years.
Only a rat at 52cm, but still a Barra.
By this stage, I was running very low on bait, but thankfully a large school of small mullet had it's home next to the boat, so out came the net and into the bait tank they went.
Threw out another couple of baits, cracked a beer, and landed another damn Bream of all things. Next bait resulted in a nice Trevally that is destined for crabpot bait, before finally hooking what I came there for.
After a short fight on 10lb braid, I had myself a nice little Thready.
Out went my last 2 baits, and both were fed to what ever lives in that creek that is as sneaky as a ninja, as I didn't even see the rod tips move.
With no more bait, there was nothing left to do other than throw a little Yo-Zuri around.
After about 10 minutes off this, and changing the retrieve up a few times, the little lure was stopped dead in tracks, and another Thready took off.
After a fun fight on 8lb braid, this one went back as well.
By this stage it was nearly time to head off, so I thought a quick troll was on the cards, with the tide the way it was.
50m in and bang, I'm on again. I turn around and see a lovely little Barra dancing around the creek.
It took a little longer to subdue this guy, but it was all fun on 8lb again.
He measured in at 57cm, and got his throat cut unfortunately for him, as it had been way too long since I have had fresh Barra fillets.
Lined up the troll run again about 100m in this time, off the little Yo-Zuri went again.
This time it was a harbour Tarpon dancing all over the place.
Quickly subdued him, and with a storm quickly a quickly approaching it was time to head off.
All up I spent about 7 hrs on the water over the 2 days, and was quite happy with my results seeing as I hadn't fished the area for so long.
Let's just hope I continue to have this luck each time I head out.
Looking forward to the next set of springs!!
I moved back to Darwin on Christmas Day after 10 years away, and to be honest, had been too slack, as the boat had been more of a garden ornament than a boat in that time.
With the tides what they were, and not really wanting to deal with 100 + other boats, I thought I'd keep it nice and simple and head just down the road from home and fish the Elizabeth River.
The first day was more about a little exploring, as I hadn't fished the waterway in a fair while, and I also had the missus and youngster with me.
Spent about 2 hours stuffing around with a big pack of Salmon, getting 2 soft enquiries, before finally giving up, but with a plan in mind.
Finished the day soaking some bait, and my son scored himself a nice bream, which I laughed very hard at, as after spending 10 years in Queensland, the last thing I wanted to catch was a damn Bream.
Went out on a Solo mission on Easter Monday, with a plan to target those damn Salmon from the other day.
After securing a small amount of live bait, and getting itchy casting fingers, off I headed to see what I could tempt.
Arrived at the creek mouth to find the Salmon still there, though not in the numbers from earlier, and out went a couple of livies.
First cab off the rank was a lovely friggen stingray, which I got all excited about after it took off at a rate of knots towards the middle of the creek.
Sorted that out, threw out a new livie, and spent the next half hour feeding livies to the resident fish population, before one finally stuck, and I landed my first Barra in many years.
Only a rat at 52cm, but still a Barra.
By this stage, I was running very low on bait, but thankfully a large school of small mullet had it's home next to the boat, so out came the net and into the bait tank they went.
Threw out another couple of baits, cracked a beer, and landed another damn Bream of all things. Next bait resulted in a nice Trevally that is destined for crabpot bait, before finally hooking what I came there for.
After a short fight on 10lb braid, I had myself a nice little Thready.
Out went my last 2 baits, and both were fed to what ever lives in that creek that is as sneaky as a ninja, as I didn't even see the rod tips move.
With no more bait, there was nothing left to do other than throw a little Yo-Zuri around.
After about 10 minutes off this, and changing the retrieve up a few times, the little lure was stopped dead in tracks, and another Thready took off.
After a fun fight on 8lb braid, this one went back as well.
By this stage it was nearly time to head off, so I thought a quick troll was on the cards, with the tide the way it was.
50m in and bang, I'm on again. I turn around and see a lovely little Barra dancing around the creek.
It took a little longer to subdue this guy, but it was all fun on 8lb again.
He measured in at 57cm, and got his throat cut unfortunately for him, as it had been way too long since I have had fresh Barra fillets.
Lined up the troll run again about 100m in this time, off the little Yo-Zuri went again.
This time it was a harbour Tarpon dancing all over the place.
Quickly subdued him, and with a storm quickly a quickly approaching it was time to head off.
All up I spent about 7 hrs on the water over the 2 days, and was quite happy with my results seeing as I hadn't fished the area for so long.
Let's just hope I continue to have this luck each time I head out.
Looking forward to the next set of springs!!
