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South Alligator river

Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2012 8:14 pm
by matt1311
Hey guys was just wondering how south alligator fishes this time of year and any tips would be much appreciated Cheers!

Re: South Alligator river

Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2012 8:47 pm
by Lats
Probably uber big reefies out from the mouth but its a long trip and you must be prepared to be hit with storms

Re: South Alligator river

Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2012 9:09 pm
by fishfanatic
Get in before the rains start..once we get monsoonal downpours the barra fishing turns off though the reefies keep biting. BUT as Lats said be careful about storms.
It generally takes me 2 1/2 hours to cruise down to the mouth, I try to go with the outgoing tide where possible to get better fuel economy. Also be aware of sandbars along the river...only travel fast on a high tide and dont try to cut corners too close :P :mrgreen:

If storms strike one of the best places to hide is Mud Island, heading downstream it's near the left side of the mouth (check Google). Gives good protection from storms BUT at a cost of two litres of blood to mossies and about 1 to midgies per hour. :wink: :wink: :wink:

Re: South Alligator river

Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2012 7:53 am
by trevor schultz
gday matt1311

when were you thinking about going down the south?

i was thinking about heading down tonight and putting the boat in first light wednesday good to have a second boat around

Re: South Alligator river

Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2012 9:01 pm
by BlueyNT
[quote="fishfanatic"]Get in before the rains start..once we get monsoonal downpours the barra fishing turns off though the reefies keep biting. BUT as Lats said be careful about storms.
It generally takes me 2 1/2 hours to cruise down to the mouth, I try to go with the outgoing tide where possible to get better fuel economy. Also be aware of sandbars along the river...only travel fast on a high tide and dont try to cut corners too close :P :mrgreen:

If storms strike one of the best places to hide is Mud Island,





When did they change the name of Sandy Island to Mud Island?

Re: South Alligator river

Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2012 9:21 pm
by SteveB
Hey there BlueyNT, I agree with you about the sandbars. We had a presentation quite a few years ago at the Palmy Game fishing club, the ranger from the South stated "the middle of the river is not your friend". Saw it myself after that. Never forget it.

Re: South Alligator river

Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2012 11:09 am
by nomad
I’m still not convinced that going down any river on an outgoing tide is the best way to go.
Yes its, good for fuel economy but if you get hooked up on a sand/mud bar, you are there for a long time

Re: South Alligator river

Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2012 11:12 am
by ghound
I aim to be at mumbalarri landing for the first of the run out pretty clean sailing after that as far as hitting sandbars

I have been fishing the South ll my life and it's been Mud Island since 1980 BlueyNT your either old or wrong but probably both.

Ghound

Re: South Alligator river

Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2012 11:22 am
by AM
ghound wrote:I aim to be at mumbalarri landing for the first of the run out pretty clean sailing after that as far as hitting sandbars

I have been fishing the South ll my life and it's been Mud Island since 1980 BlueyNT your either old or wrong but probably both.

Ghound
Another new friend you have met for Xmas Ghound. :lolpoint:

Re: South Alligator river

Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2012 12:26 pm
by nomad
ghound wrote:I aim to be at mumbalarri landing for the first of the run out pretty clean sailing after that as far as hitting sandbars

I have been fishing the South ll my life and it's been Mud Island since 1980 BlueyNT your either old or wrong but probably both.

Ghound
You just beat me by about 50 years :D
Its funny. Ive had various people tell me things about the south ranging to 'its a death trap' to ' you can race down at night on full noise no worries'
I like to follow others so they can blaze a trail for me :clap:

Re: South Alligator river

Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2012 2:09 pm
by ghound
nomad

No doubt it is shallow until you get to round the world. I must say though I find the area at the Daly down from clear creek a bit more daunting. I guess its what your used too

Re: South Alligator river

Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2012 4:46 pm
by cuddlescooper
ghound wrote:I aim to be at mumbalarri landing for the first of the run out pretty clean sailing after that as far as hitting sandbars

I have been fishing the South ll my life and it's been Mud Island since 1980 BlueyNT your either old or wrong but probably both.

Ghound
wow :lol: :lipsrsealed: :lipsrsealed:

I personally think the south is not that bad a river once you get a few basics in place. I went down the river a few times this year near dead low tide. I found that if I had enough water to launch at the boat ramp I had enough water to navigate the river. It was actually easier to go down on the dead low as the channel was tiny but exposed. At worst i had 4 foot of water under the hull. The trick was to watch the water running. If it ran with out ripples it was deep. if it ran with ripples it was shallow. If the water eddies it is steep drop off on the edge of a sandbar. Simply using the sounder and bouncing from one edge of the channel back to the other got me down.

Re: South Alligator river

Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2012 8:02 pm
by Lats
cuddlescooper wrote:
ghound wrote:I aim to be at mumbalarri landing for the first of the run out pretty clean sailing after that as far as hitting sandbars

I have been fishing the South ll my life and it's been Mud Island since 1980 BlueyNT your either old or wrong but probably both.

Ghound
wow :lol: :lipsrsealed: :lipsrsealed:

I personally think the south is not that bad a river once you get a few basics in place. I went down the river a few times this year near dead low tide. I found that if I had enough water to launch at the boat ramp I had enough water to navigate the river. It was actually easier to go down on the dead low as the channel was tiny but exposed. At worst i had 4 foot of water under the hull. The trick was to watch the water running. If it ran with out ripples it was deep. if it ran with ripples it was shallow. If the water eddies it is steep drop off on the edge of a sandbar. Simply using the sounder and bouncing from one edge of the channel back to the other got me down.

I'd get one of the deck hands to turn and face you. If you can see the whites of his eyes, you know its shallow :lol:

Re: South Alligator river

Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2012 11:43 pm
by cuddlescooper
Lats wrote:
cuddlescooper wrote:
ghound wrote:I aim to be at mumbalarri landing for the first of the run out pretty clean sailing after that as far as hitting sandbars

I have been fishing the South ll my life and it's been Mud Island since 1980 BlueyNT your either old or wrong but probably both.

Ghound
wow :lol: :lipsrsealed: :lipsrsealed:

I personally think the south is not that bad a river once you get a few basics in place. I went down the river a few times this year near dead low tide. I found that if I had enough water to launch at the boat ramp I had enough water to navigate the river. It was actually easier to go down on the dead low as the channel was tiny but exposed. At worst i had 4 foot of water under the hull. The trick was to watch the water running. If it ran with out ripples it was deep. if it ran with ripples it was shallow. If the water eddies it is steep drop off on the edge of a sandbar. Simply using the sounder and bouncing from one edge of the channel back to the other got me down.

I'd get one of the deck hands to turn and face you. If you can see the whites of his eyes, you know its shallow :lol:
And when you can see the whites of the eyes you trim it up a little more and put thr throttle down to the floor. If your gonna hit you might as well hit hard.

Re: South Alligator river

Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2012 4:22 pm
by Gregsy
Saw it first hand yesterday at king ck...some boys came flying out and parked up pretty quick on the mud flat, jumped out pushed her off and kept goin!