10 months in Darwin

[ozlad]

Having moved to Darwin last year, my thoughts and dreams of chrome barra being landed every cast were far from reality and a stark realisation into how difficult fishing can be in the territory. Having experienced one of the worst runoff/wet season for some time in the NT, the annual runoff that it is famous for just didn’t happen for any length of time. If you follow the national barra competitions up here in the NT which are held on the Daly river, you may have heard that one angler counted how many casts he and his team completed in an hour and calculated how many cast on average it took to catch a fish = 3000 casts per/fish. This was by the competition winners….

Not to be deterred and happy to be on the water, I have put in countless hours and donut days for a handful of fish. To my surprise, I have been using a lot of my lighter gear i.e. 2500 sized reals to entice barra, golden snapper and threadfin salmon, using a range of small, slimline minnows and plastics. For those who think Darwin is an easy place to fish, think again… Long drives on rough roads, only to arrive and to embark on 40-80km boat trips to reach your chosen fishing destination, let alone actually catching any fish. Unlike Brisbane or SEQ, a lot of planning goes into a day on the water in the NT, having to take into account tide and access. With tidal movement up to 7m+, most boat ramps can’t be used from mid to low tide, and sand bars and mudbanks become a forever changing hazard that can end in drinking beer for 4 hours waiting for the tide to return. On average I travel 250-300km’s in the car and 80-100km’s in the boat, making the 1 day off a week I have very tiresome.

Given all the above hazards, the hardest thing I find is choosing somewhere to fish with the endless list of options that are all new experiences for a new comer such as myself. I’ve attached a few of the fish that I have managed to land over the past 10 months . Standout lures for me and lures that I’m interested in trying on my return to SEQ would have to be the Zerek Prawn, Maria fake baits and Yozuri krystal minnow.

Big barra lures that are a must if visiting the NT – Strada 150's and Killalure barra baits.

[Cobiaaddict]

Some Nice Fish there mate,

Ill be up that Way from the 26th of June til 8th Of july,

Cant Wait to Suss out some Land Based Action around the Darwin Harbour Area,

Cheers

Josh

[AFO]

Great report. Thanks for posting

[ozlad]

If you are looking for land base spots and don't have a 4x4 i'd try the following:

- East point

- Buffalo ck - at night

- Cullen bay rock wall

- Lee point rocks

Send me a PM when you are up and i'd happily take you for a fish if i'm going.