The following weekend saw Cyclone Laurence dump a hell of a lot of rain in the Darwin area. I wasn’t too sure how this would affect things, but didn’t think it would be good. As I had a friend coming up from Alice and I’d promised to take her fishing, we journeyed out to Shady Fresh. I didn’t think there had been as much rain out that way and a quick look at the radar before we left showed clear skies. It bucketed down on the way out til just after coroboree so things were looking good. Arrived at the ramp to find the billabong had risen a lot more than I had expected and was now just running over the barrage. We launched the boat and headed upstream to find the water was dirty as. Half an hour of trolling later and the rain hit us and continued for the whole afternoon. We found a small creek that was running into the main billabong and there was a bit of action on the surface. We threw popper around for a while for a couple of half hearted hits before I finally hooked up to a decent fish. A few good runs and a couple of just and it was in the boat. Another victim of my home made lure and probably the biggest it had seen at 83cm. A couple more rats were dropped before we headed up to the top rockbar. There were big fish boofing all around us but no matter what we threw at them we couldn’t get a hit. Back down to the barrage to see a dozen people fishing off it and one guy had landed 2 average fish. There were masses of mullet on the fresh side and the tide had just started to push back over the barrage. Must have been frustrating for the guys on the barrage who couldn’t get a touch, while barras were boofing right behind them on the salt side. A quick troll before pulling out saw me land another rat but that was it for the day. A fair bit slower than previous weeks.
A call from a mate with a hot tip off saw me drive out to Daly to fish the crossing. There were fish boofing everywhere and I spent hours casting the banks for only one rat by 1am. I finally called it quits and headed home for work the next morning. The things we do for a barra!!
Boxing Day saw Liam and barra virgin Arlo hit the Daly. The river had dropped 2 metres in two day so we thought it would fire for sure. The arvo saw us upstream of the crossing for zip. Only a couple of touches late in the day. The other boats that had been up there all day managed 2 fish between them. Day two saw us head downstream to find most creeks void of any water flowing out of them. One creek had some dirty water pumping out and a few barra boofing along the edges. A few casts in and I hooked up and landed a nice 60 odd for the esky followed by another thousand cast before I landed my second fish at 78cm. The other boys casts their arms off for absolutely nothing, although Liam did hookup for about half a second and Arlo got a hit which was the closest he’s been to catching a barra yet. It was frustrating to watch the fish right in front of our eyes but after a million lure changes it wasn’t to be so we headed for home.
A last ditch effort saw Liam and I fish manton at night. Not really knowing the place it took us a while to find any action but managed 3 fish for the night. I got a 67 and a 79 and Liam somehow landed a big swampy 91cm that had him in wrapped in the weeds for a while there but came flying out, launching itself from the water.
So that’s pretty much it for 2009, unless I get a last minute crack at casino creek on the way to discovery tonight ay Jonesy?? HAHA!! Hmmm… Maybe I have one more trip up my sleeve???
Cheers
Moonman
NIKO
great post! What a great finish to the year. Well done on completing the challenge