OCTOBER
3/10/09 – 4/10/09
Way back on the first weekend of October, Lar2784 and I entered the Coroboree Park Challenge. Saturday morning saw us sign up around 5am and in the fresh water at Shady by 6:30. By 10am we had a couple of rats on board but things weren’t looking too good. Things were dead for the next few hours, but we were assured by our other crew that things would be better of a night. This left me wondering why we had turned up so early???
Things got better late in the afternoon with finally a legal fish coming aboard and the other guys getting an 81cm. We witnessed some tourists hook and land an 89cm swampy which we gladly measured for them as it was clearly the biggest they’d ever seen. 
This also gave us some hope. Night fell and the fish came on the chew with Liam picking up three in a row at 74cm. We would have landed around 20 fish for the night before hitting the swags. Liam managed a 78cm to be the best for us and I couldn’t beat a 72. The next morning saw us land a few more average fish before things shut down again. On the way home we called into the rockhole ramp to have a last crack at corroboree before the weigh in. In about an hour and a half we’d dropped 3 fish and landed one before calling it a weekend and headed for home.
11/10/09
The next weekend was all but ruled out from fishing, although I did managed to squeeze an afternoon session in at my favourite Finniss river spot. However the fish were not playing the game for the first time this year and was only able to produce a couple of rats before my time was up.
15/10/09
The following Thursday saw Liam and I hit shoal bay early looking for a big saltwater slapper for the comp. We spent the day at King Creek and to say things were dead would be an understatement. There was no bait to be seen and not a sign of a barra, only a cod or two that we trolled up. As the tide pushed back in we moved over to the rock and caught up with Faulksy and Offishal who were pleased with the 90+ they’d got early in the day.
After this I did finally manage to snag myself a barra very late in the day when I saw a small boof in a drain near the top of the tide. After a few casts of my popper I had tempted the fish to take the bait and a lively 65cm of tasty saltwater barra was in the esky. At least it wasn’t a fishless trip after all that…:catch: 
24/10/09 - 25/10/09
Well after a nearly fishless trip to the bay and still not having a decent fish on the board for the month I thought I’d head back to the billabongs for another try, this time with the missus. She had never been out to Shady Camp before and was astounded by the number of crocs, and that was only as you got to the ramp.
On the water late in the arvo and lines were in. I had my rod in the holder as I got a few things in order and before I could start rearranging, my rod was going off and an average barra was splashing about. 65cm straight up, not a bad start I thought. It wasn’t long after and im on again, this time a much better fish. A blistering first run and a good jump behind the boat and the fight was on. The wind was pushing the boat hard one way and the fish was heading the other, but after a solid battle it was netted and some of the pressure from the comp was lifted. A quick measure at 87cm and some photos saw him back in and swimming strongly. 
Things settled down a little after this but the fish still came in steadily during the evening. Most were in the high 60’s to 70’s and almost all on my line. Kym I’m sure was getting frustrated as she had dropped a couple, but I think the vodkas were keeping her sane. Kym finally hooked up and things got hectic for some reason? Panic set in and when the fish got to the boat I was disappointed to find a smallish tarpon on the end of her line. Hmmm the vodkas must have kicked in?
I reminded her that if she did get a big one she would know about it and not to panic! That concluded the night as the moon had set early and was too dark to continue hassle free. 
The next morning saw me land a fish second cast followed by a couple more, before we began trolling again. When things went quiet we decided we would probably head home early for a change. Around 10am I called final run and nearing the end of the run my lure snagged up. As I reversed Kym cast her lure out the front and next thing she knows she’s finally onto a barra and a decent one at that. I managed to unhook my lure whilst seeing flashes of silver splashing in the distance. Luckily while I was mucking around the fish had played nice staying mid river but when I came free it was on for all money. Kym was trying her best to keep this fish from the weeds but I had to take the reins, only for a second, and drag the fish out again. She played it some more and soon had it in the net. Now her personal best of 72cm was clearly out the window, and after laying this slapper on the lie detector she’d added another 20cm coming in at 92cm on the brag mat.
Kym was struggling to hold the weight of it as I took a few quick snaps before giving her a swim. It took a while to revive but was released deep into the lilies hopefully to continue the barra cycle. Well now plans had changed and we trolled for another couple of hours having a good session both losing a good fish each and landing a few others in the 70’s. By 1230 we were out of there and a great weekend was had. 
30/10/9 – 31/10/09
I was feeling pretty happy with my 87 on the board but still wishing it was Kym’s 92. I had a reasonable lead already and thought it would be enough to keep me ahead of the game. Well after chatting with Bandit on the forum with only 2 days left in the month he let slip that he’d landed a 104cm beauty in the bay. I was scheduled to work on the Saturday but that job was cancelled at the last minute and I was off to the bay to find one of my own. Liam and I hit the bay over night on the Friday with less success than our previous trip to the bay. We shot across to the rock to find another dozen boats with the same idea, so we chose to make a run for King Creek. Somehow we were the only boat there and probably for good reason without a sign of a barra all night. After a few drinks we hit the swags but as usual I didn’t sleep well. A shower of rain after midnight didn’t help as I was watching storm clouds closing in from then on. Early morning just before first light, I got up and decided I was better off fishing than sleeping. Anchored in the mouth of King I saw some mullet scatter just in casting range. This was the first bit of action I’d seen and had me keen. I cast my popper right on top of where the mullet had been and began my retrieve. About 3 pops in my lure was hit by a solid fish but no hook up. I continued to pop away when bang it was hit again but still no hookup. I still had another 10 metres of line to retrieve and as it neared the boat a metre plus fish had a third and final crack at my lure right in front of me literally spraying water over Liam who was still sleeping in the bottom of the boat…
I was frustrated to say the least, but it wasn’t long before I heard another boof from what I think was the same fish. I cast my lure into the scattered bait and as soon as it hit the water it was engulfed. The fish hit hard before running straight at the boat. I guided the line around the bow and held on as my line peeled away from me. Then I felt it, a good headshake and then nothing. I was devastated as that was the fish I was waiting for. I wound in to find my leader was now about 25cm or so shorter than it was previous after being cut off on the gills of a monster barra. 
We trolled for the next couple of hours without a touch before the first boat arrived. Then the frustration really kicked in as they hooked up on their first troll. It was a good fish and the lady who was hooked up had no control over the fish whatsoever. With the rod pointing out one side of the boat, the fish jumping on the other, and with 20m of slack line between them she proved beginners luck was more powerful than any other fishing techniques known to man. A beautiful chrome 96cm barra was finally netted and put in the esky. Their jubilation was hard to take but we continued on… As the tide dropped only one other boat came to visit, tearing across the shallows before running aground just short of the channel. A biggish fella donning the permanent movember facial growth climbed out of the 3m tuff tender and pulled it over the sand. I hadn’t seen Steve in a while and didn’t expect to see him in one of his tiny boats but did it fly with a 15 on the back. We had a bit of chat and fished along side of him for the incoming and sure enough it wasn’t our day. He landed one in the 80’s and dropped another good fish, while the live baiters picked up a couple as well and all the while we didn’t even get a hit.
Well that was it for October, lost the one and only chance I had at a big one, and now the gap was closed back to 2cm. Bugger pressure is back on again!
MOVEMBER
01/11/09
Saturday night found me back on the water this time with the old man. I’m sure he’d been hearing about the fish I was catching at shady but didn’t believe me! Anyways after a long day at shoal bay I wasn’t looking forward to the drive out there but we made it around 9pm to launch with only one other boat. We tried all of my recently found spots and came up with a dozen average fish for the night. I did hookup to a solid fish at one stage and was in the middle of the fight when the only other boat, full of pissheads, obviously thought there wasn’t enough river and idled past within 10 metres of us. They finally realised I was onto a fish and cut the motor but all was lost when the fish screamed off under their boat and cut my braid on their keel.
By now it was time to crash out for the night for another go in the morning. Things were fairly quiet in the morning with only 2 fish by 10am. I decided to change tactics and cast weedless rubbers into the lilies. This produced a few more smaller fish as well as a nearly fluro green 76cm that gave me heaps trying to bury me in the weeds. By this time another half a dozen or more boats had arrived but we were the only ones getting the odd fish, so we called it a day and headed for home.
14/11/09
A weekend passed without getting out on the water and I thought I was going to have withdrawals. So the following weekend I packed up the missus and hit the bay for another overnighter. Saturday arvo saw us drop some pots before trolling the rockbar for an hour or so. We managed a couple of small hits before I pulled a quality powertail out backwards.
So we moved back out to find another boat anchored. Not wanting to spoil their fun we moved onto the second mouth and anchored up for the night. After a few dozen casts into the dark we gave up and settled into our swags. Morning came and went and a thousand casts later there were still no signs of a shoal bay barra. I was start to think they didn’t really exist?? I thought I’d again try something different and began a troll with the current on the outgoing tide, straight down the middle of the channel. We’d probably gone about a hundred metres when I hooked up to something big that peeled line as I attempted to stop the boat and fight, but it was not to be and my hooks pulled before I had a chance. I was now starting to think I was cursed and there was no way I was going to catch a decent barra. Just as I had said this to Kym I hooked up and a feisty barra exploded from the water. It danced around for a bit, not at all happy, but once it was on the deck I felt better. Not the big fish I had hoped for but a nice addition to the esky and glad we weren’t going home empty handed. That was it for the whole day and even the crabs were slow. Only pulled a few average jennies and some small blue swimmers. Luckily I’m not that fussed on crabs…
18/11/09
Wednesday saw a couple of mates up in Darwin for work, so of course an arvo trip had to be planned. Back out to shady to prove there are fish in the billabongs. One of the fellas had only ever caught one barra at 56cm since moving to the territory so I planned to get him onto a few more. Things came together early as I picked up a small fish followed by a sleepy cod and a tarpon, which were both firsts out of there for me. I pulled up at one of the rockbars and told the boys to cast rubbers around. One being a diehard hard body user, wasn’t having any of that. After my first 3 casts produced multiple hits and one fish around 60cm he began to sway a little. The other fella immediately tied on a rubber and first cast was onto his second ever barra. Not a big fish but it was a start. This inspired a lure change and our hard body only fisherman was converted. Within a couple of casts he also had his first of the arvo. We picked up fish steadily from then on with old mate scoring about 8 fish and a new personal best in the 70’s. With everyone on the board and happy we headed back to the big smoke for our beloved work in the morning.
22/11/09
Well it was the weekend again and the first of the xmas parties had past on the Friday. Saturday was spent recovering before heading out to Shady once again. Kym was keen to produce another quality fish as she was now an expert on catching 90cm barras, and was expecting to match her previous effort. We hit the water fairly early but things were slower than they had been in the past. By 3pm we’d only landed a couple of smaller fish and had a few touches but they weren’t hitting as hard as before. Things were not looking good as I was hoping to get a decent backup fish for the comp before heading to the south on the final weekend of the month. As the sun set over the horizon things started to liven up. There was bait moving on the surface now and oversize mullet were gathering in numbers, something we hadn’t seen all day. We continued to troll an area that had produced in the past and just after dark my lure was nailed by a good fish.
In the dark I couldn’t really tell the size, but from the first long range jump and run I called it for an 80. I applied the pressure and the fish seemed to turn and be lead towards the boat. There was no fight, just the weight of the fish on the line coming straight in. Well now my estimate had dropped into the high 60’s to 70’s like the rest of the fish we’d been getting. That was until it was within 5 metres of the boat and it realised it was hooked. 
Out of the water and into the light of my head torch leapt a monster barra, head shaking and tail slapping on its way back down. Things got a little tense as I settled into big fish mode knowing this one could save me. After a lap of the boat dodging anchors and props, it came to the surface. Kym was waiting with the net as I tried to direct it towards her. As she dipped the net into the water the fish gave one last kick of the tail launching itself from the water and straight into the waiting net. I helped Kym lift it into the boat and after a quick hi five, removed the hook and lay it on the brag mat. At first I didn’t believe it, but it was clear it was over a metre and at 105cm had made my day. A couple of terrible night photos and it was back in the water kicking as hard as ever. I never expected to get one that size but you won’t hear me complaining. We trolled for a little while longer and I hooked up again to something solid but the first jump threw the lure and that was that. Happy with our efforts we called it a night and next weekends trip was now going to be stress free.
29/11/09 – 31/11/09
After hearing from a bloke at work that he had cleaned up on the barras and snapper at the South only a month before, I convinced him that he and I should do a trip down there together. Jasonmcc was also looking to do a big trip so it was teed up that we’d hit the South on the final weekend of the month. The plan was to leave Friday morning and be home Sunday some time depending how things were looking. My plan however was changed as I was unable to miss work on the Friday so it was swapped with the following Monday. We had now planned to meet Jasonmcc and Grumpy at the mouth on Saturday morning but on our arrival there was noone to be seen? We sat for about 15 minutes calling on the radio, but were unable to get any replies. Maybe they’d gone on without us we thought so across to Murganella Creek we heading with glassed conditions. The tides were almost the same as Damo’s previous trip, so we had big expectations. We passed a few other boats on our way over, calling on the radio again, but still no answer. So we pulled up on our first drop looking for some snapper to fill the esky. It was a little quiet but soon we found a school of average size goldies in the shallow water all around the 40cm mark, however we were hoping for something bigger so these all went back. We moved around some more and picked up a big one to 70cm here and there along with some monster ock ock and one good sized tricky. But by 2pm the wind had picked up and the sea was a mess. Time to head into the creeks, hopefully to pick up a barra or two. Damo got us to the spot were they had cleaned up previously, but something was wrong this time round. The wind was blowing in a different direction and the waves crashing into the bank were stirring up the mud. It was near impossible to see your lure an inch under the water. We spent a little while trying and hoping it would clear up, but it was not to be. So the rest of the arvo was spent exploring and dodging storms before pulling up in the creek for a feed and a good sleep. The next morning saw us back out chasing snapper, with about the same success as the day before, although damo found his fair share of prize powertail while I was stuck catching snapper.
Back in for another crack at the barra, a little earlier this time fishing the bottom of the low. The fish were there but they were few and far between and weren’t interested in anything we threw at them. The tide started to push back in and we trolled with the current and the bait up into the creek when finally Damo hooked up. A few seconds later and the look on his face was priceless as his first barra had turned into his best powertail of the weekend. 
We trolled and cast some more but it was dead and bl..dy hot so we pulled into a small drain under a tree and had a rest. I was happy to just lay in the shade all afternoon and give up on the fishing but Damo had us back into it. In the end I was glad he did as a short while later I hooked up and was onto a nice barra. A good fight with some solid runs saw a healthy silver 80cm barra hit the deck and the drought was over. Well maybe not over but it did bring some relief. Again we struggled all afternoon for nothing so back up the creek we went for the night. We anchored the boat in a large eddy and had a couple of drinks and a feed and in this time the barras had turned up and were boofing all around us. Out with the poppers I said and began to cast into the darkness. As the moon came up things got easier and we had a couple of good hits before I finally hooked up and after a short fight had landed a nice 65 cm barra for the esky. We knew there were bigger fish there so continued casting for a few more hits but couldn’t hookup before things died down again. A few more drinks and we hit the hay to be woken early in the morning by a pretty crazy lightning display. A massive storm had built up around us but luckily the flash and bang passed. About an hour later the rain came down and we decided to head for home. The run across to the mouth was churned up and made for a rough ride but we made it back to the mouth by sun up and kept on our way, back to the ramp for an early exit. We caught our bag of good goldies and a couple of barra, plus plenty of average reefies to keep us busy. Not as successful as we had hoped but another trip ticked off the to do list. Was the first time i'd been back from a fishing trip that early in a long long time!Well that brought an end to another month, and only one to go in this year long marathon. Its been a great year so far with more fish than I can count and some beauties amongst them. I hope to get another good one to finish things off but this recent rain may throw a spanner in the works. Good luck to all those getting out there in the next couple of weeks and hope you all have a great xmas and new years!
Cheers
Moonman
Thats the only reason i didnt post oct in oct cause u hadnt done sept, then when u didnt do an oct post i wasnt gonna do nov either but got over it. 
