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BOM Rain Radar Question.

Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2019 6:48 pm
by pms
OK, so clutching at straws trying to increase optimism about this years fishing....

I'm a FFF forum dreamer who reads all the posts and doesn't go fishing enough, LOL. More of an academic nerd who figures out things to the nth degree then catches bugger all in real life! Not a doer like Flicken who is out there often and gives the good oil!

One of the things I like to look at the recent rainfall maps to help with thinking about where to try focus fishing strategy for the coming season. This year shows pretty low rainfall all over, with Sth Alligator and Wildman/ Mary regions catching the best patch of rainfall, but still only in the "400-600mm" (3 months till now) range and not where I want it to be.

http://www.bom.gov.au/web03/ncc/www/awa ... est.nt.pdf

Something I wonder about all the time is how people use rainfall data to decide where and when to go fishing. The river height gauges say what levels the metered sites are at, and I got some great info from other forum members last year about the Daly but the fact is that there is no gauge at the Sth Alligator, Wildman or Mary river. The rainfall gauges say how much has fallen and where, across a much bigger spectrum of all catchments. And the rain radar give real-time info about how heavy it is raining right now and for the past hour-or-so.

So some questions for conversation, please help me out here:

1. Rainfall Data:
a) which rain gauge locations give good advice for which fishing regions (especially Mary, Wildman, South Alligator regions), and what is the magic rainfall number for that gauge?
b) how long after a certain rainfall amount should you wait to go try that spot?
2. BOM rain radar:
a) Does anyone know or have opinion if the radar colour (eg blue, yellow, red) equates to a certain amount of rainfall, eg per hour?

Last year I tried, for Elizabeth river, looking at size/ colour on the rain radar, then checking the rainfall data, then looking at the river height, then going up the Elizabeth to find the fresh pumping down once the river gauge started to drop. When we got there it was still surging out (we were still too early) and we got blasted by a storm on the way home, but hey, that's adventure isn't it.

Re: BOM Rain Radar Question.

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 6:24 am
by ronje
Work your way through stuff. I think it'll help.

In respect of the BOM radar, yes the different coloured images portray different rainfall intensities.


https://nt.gov.au/environment/water/wat ... ata-portal

Re: BOM Rain Radar Question.

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 6:41 am
by theodosius
There's a river heights page http://www.bom.gov.au/cgi-bin/wrap_fwo.pl?IDD60022.html
Radar replay for any day since 2007 http://www.theweatherchaser.com/radar-l ... n-berrimah
Catchment falls and coastal falls have different effects too

Re: BOM Rain Radar Question.

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 7:56 am
by NT Wombat
And it's not just the height of flooding that affects the fishing, the duration of flooding is IMHO more important. The best years rivers come up early and innundate the floodplains, and they stay flooded until they start to drop in March/April. If the plains don't flood early, the bait doesn't breed up in mass numbers and the fishing is subsequently poorer in the run off. We are starting to push it a bit late to get good bait numbers building on the floodplain now

Re: BOM Rain Radar Question.

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 1:08 pm
by bigwoody
Try this site, it take a while to load and navigate but its the best.

https://nt.gov.au/environment/water/wat ... ata-portal

Re: BOM Rain Radar Question.

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 2:04 pm
by theodosius
Anyone actually know the breeding cycle of the common runoff baitfish like rainbows, archers etc? I don't know that they actually breed/multiply on the floodplains, would be unterested to know

Re: BOM Rain Radar Question.

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 2:52 pm
by b-radical
Found this, probley the same for rainbows and others. Maybe the people who research cherabin on the Daly may know something

The breeding habits of the banded archerfish are not well known. Banded archerfish first begin to breed when they are about 10 centimetres (3.9 in) long.The banded archerfish reproduces by spawning. There are reports that banded archerfish go to saltwater reefs to spawn, but these have not been confirmed. Archerfish lay 20,000 to 150,000 eggs at a time.Banded archerfish rarely breed in captivity.

Re: BOM Rain Radar Question.

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 3:08 pm
by b-radical
As far as knowing where and when to go Phil id gather the info from the links shared and try match it with references from the bible and when theres a break in the weather just go go go, put the chores aside cos they're never gunna stop.
I always hear that fishing a rising river is never good always fish a river that is receding but I'm still yet to have a runoff experience so hope this is the year.
Good luck n maybe some others here may have more to share as this season progressors

Re: BOM Rain Radar Question.

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 10:06 pm
by theodosius
Lol Brad. You might just be on to something!

Ezekiel: "It will come about that every living creature which swarms in every place where the river goes, will live. And there will be very many fish, for these waters go there and the others become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes

Re: BOM Rain Radar Question.

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2019 9:04 am
by Matt Flynn
Ezekiel: "Don't let those walkers into the Kingdom!"

Re: BOM Rain Radar Question.

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2019 12:30 pm
by jeffish
Ezekiel 22:24

" Son of man, say to the land, your are a land that has not been cleansed or rained on , in the day of Wrath "

Must be a slow day ,,,,,, :rofl: