Happy Micks Fishing Report

As I pen this we are being visited once again by the rain gods thankfully. With a bit of luck if this rain persists and we get the required falls in the catchment regions for the major rivers the much awaited runoff may become a reality. With these squalls and storms this is the perfect time to visit us and stock up on those runoff treasures in preparation.

 Well what can we say the fishing this week except that has been moderate to low. No real big catches been reported to the staff at the store this last week.

On Sunday last week Mike and Tony made a visit to the Finniss River and bagged a couple of nice barra in the upper reaches of the saltwater section. Before they had the chance to fish the snags at the mouth the approaching storms had them ducking for cover and returning to dry land. Lightening, graphite, aluminium and saltwater is not really a conducive combination when it comes to catching barra.

Following a report of muddies being on the move in Shoal Bay, Brian and Douglas left Mike to look after the shop on Tuesday and ventured into the harbour for a fish and a crab. The pair fished a couple of the wrecks and features in the vicinity of the East Arm wharf with limited success staying clear of the storm at the mouth of Darwin Harbour. A few mixed reef fish and a barracuda about all that was caught. After a quick run back to the Catalinas to check the pots it was off to 6 Mile for some deeper water fishing. A nice feed of goldies prevailed again with a mixed bag of smaller reefies all released.

On the crab scene there appears to be a few of them crawling about at the moment with Brian and Douglas accounting for three big, full and tasty specimens out of a single pull. Reports from others have indicated that there have been larger numbers coming from the Elizabeth River and even better catches from Shoal Bay. As unusual as it is this must be the only up part of a drier than normal February is muddies in the middle of the wet.

On the barra scene, a report from Sean Stanley was that there was a number of fish (in the range of 40+ fish) were caught by him and his mates at the mouth of Wildman River with the largest to 1.08m with quite a few smaller fish and rats. Sean said that the mouths of both Sampan and Tommycut were very quiet and they did not get fish or find any significant runoff until they reached Wildman River.  There have been some reports of nice barra being caught in the Elizabeth River around the rock bars and the snake drains but again these aren’t in huge numbers. Shoal Bay has had very much mixed reports on the barra scene with no-one visiting the shop reporting any inspiring catches. As I mentioned if your planning a trip to Shoal Bay you could do worse than to take your crab pots with you.

The freshwater lakes around Palmerston have produced a couple of nice barra for the catch and release land based anglers. These fish are predominately darker fish and would not be too good on the plate so please photograph you catch and let it live another day. 

The Adelaide River has been very hard going for the few that have ventured out. The cherabin have been in good numbers around Goat Island and Manton Creek. Remember before heading out for a day of cherabin hunting check your existing pots are compliant with the “new” laws that include all cherabin pots must be fitted with rigid turtle rings no larger than 90mm in diameter. For a full list of the updated Recreational Fishing Controls call into the shop and grab a free copy of Brian or Douglas or visit www.fisheries.nt.gov.au

When you are getting ready for the 2010 runoff after this next monsoon drop into the store and see the team for all your fishing and camping requirements. We have awesome barra combos, great spinning deals and some fantastic blue water outfits, an extensive range of fresh and saltwater lures plenty of crab and cherabin pots and your terminal tackle requirements. Brian and Douglas are available to assist you with all you fishing and camping requirements and advice.

Are you after a casual lifestyle job with flexible hours?

If you answered yes to these questions we have a lifestyle position available in our busy Palmerston store just for you!

Essential job prerequisites:

Mature aged (suit retiree or semi retiree)

Available for casual hours

Good communication skills

Some knowledge of fishing tackle and camping gear

Honest and reliable   

Desirable job prerequisites:

Retail experience

Apply in person at Happy Mick’s Tackle and Tents, University Ave, Palmerston

Or contact Douglas or Brian on 8931 2466

Weather

I am sitting in the shop right now looking at a big storm front moving into the Palmerston area. There are storms building over the catchment area for the Adelaide. Please God start the water works and give the N.T a much needed drenching.

The weather has really warmed up over the last week or so and there has been days in the mid 30’s. This makes fishing the upper reaches of the big rivers very hot during the day but in is worth it because the medium water temp has risen and this drive the fish to become more active.

 The fishing in the Harbour over the last couple of days has been up and down. Some crews have been getting good catches of Barra and Salmon. They have been targeting the schools of jelly prawns that can be found in most of the Harbour arms. As everyone knows these fish can be real hard to target and catch when they are gorging themselves on jelly prawns. Small prawn imitation soft plastics and small blade lures seem to be the way to go to catch these fussy fish. With the neaper tides this week the schools of jelly prawns should be holding deeper on the rock bars in Elizabeth River and Pioneer creek. Golden snapper and vast schools of bream can be encountered attacking the same schools as the barra and salmon. Using pilchard and prawn baits are the best ways to target these bread and butter fish.

Blue water fishing is on the cards for the next couple of days as the tides become neaper. The Vernon Islands fished quite well last set of neaps with goldies to 4kg and the odd jewie. But be careful because of the squalls that can rip across the islands making it quite dangerous, but they past quickly.

Mackeral are still being caught in the deeper channels using big soft plastics and Reidys metal slices. Why they are in so close this time of the year is anyone’s guess. There are still good reports of Jew fish and Golden snapper around the Harbour wrecks and Charles point. These locations are ideal for a quick day out and aren’t to far away if the storms do move in.

Brian Lund, the new store weekday manager, spent his last days of semi retirement fishing the Adelaide River with some success. Last Wednesday during the end of the neaps and at the start of the run out tide, saw him bring home three good solid barra and dropped two others. This was all within an hour of flicking Berkley Powerbait Hollow Belly in the Blueback Herring colour and 5 inch Tsunami Pro Super Softies in the Pearl Spot colour.

Saturday saw him venture to Shady Camp (along with about 50 other boats) to troll and flick the mouth of Sampan only to be blown back to the Adelaide River before lunch. This was a successful decision as again he managed to bag another beautiful silver barra on the Pearl Spot Tsunami.

Sunday again saw him fish the Adelaide though despite some near perfect colour colour change at both Beatrice and Last Cast creeks it was a non event day on the barra scene. Placing some cherabin pots around Goat Island proved successful with some very nice take home (and live bait) cherabin caught. However his mate Steve managed a 60cm barra from the forks in Beatrice Creek on a Reidies Little Lucifer in the black and gold colour.

Monday again saw Brian on the Adelaide for an exploration trip more than a fishing trip. After leaving the cherabin pots in overnight he managed to bag another good feed of cherabin and a 7 foot file snake (which ate a pot full of nice cherabin).

Remember the new laws in relation to cherabin pots if venturing out to get a good feed of these beautiful freshwater prawns.

Keep an eye out for next weeks report as the two store managers are heading out early next week to combine efforts, knowledge and skills to target all the harbour species.

by Mike Chambers

My good mate Tim set out with his crew for Shady Camp last week, sparrow fart, and full of good intentions. Somewhere around Humpty Doo one of the bearings seized. Back to town.

Now this would have been curtains for many, but Tim’s intrepid crew prevailed, and they finally launched later that morning. They fished hard all day for a couple of Salmon, ending up sat the mouth of Tommy Cut. There was one crew onto a good colour change in a creek mouth onto a few fish, but no room to get alongside. They moved to the next creek, didn’t look much just dirty water, and hooked up on a lone ranger, 65cm barra. With not much happening they moved on.

It’s interesting how decison making can affect the outcome of a good barra trip. About an hour later, with talk of maybe going home instead, they voted to go back and have a look at the dirty creek. Didn’t look much different, but there was colour and a bit of bait. Suddenly, a hook up!

About an hour and nearly fifty barra later, worn out and buggered, they left and went home. “The best fishing session I’ve ever had” he said. ” Most of the fish were 70 to 80cm, and I caught the biggest, 91cms all big fat and silver. ”

Puts a whole new bearing on things, dosn’t it!

By Douglas Hewett

Tynos 10 only $299 including braid only while stocks last!

With all the talk based around the lack of rain lately a lot of people are starting to worry about missing out on the run-off fishing.

Some crews have been finding good run-off in places and some good fish have been taken. But we are in the NT and the weather can change in a heart beat. There is a low forecast for the start of the week, so we could be swimming in it in a couple of weeks, but it’s the monsoonal trough  the serious fishermen are waiting for. We need a good trough to form  and give us a good soaking. With the Daly falling fast and the Adelaide and Shady camp pumping out quickly the rain can’t come quick enough.

With the break in the weather some people have made the trip off shore. I fished South Gutter last Sunday on the super neap tide ( 1 metre movement second stage). We fished 50 metre marks for some good Goldies up to 5kg and lots of  little Saddle Tail snapper and Spanish Flag. The Spanish flag filleted and fished on the bottom acounted for all the big Goldies. There are large schools of Yellowtail Trevally up to 7kg. Patrol the pinnacles found in the deep gutters of South Gutter. They are lots of fun to catch in 60 metres of water but it gets too much like hard work went you drop to the bottom and hook up instantly and have to fight it back to the boa,t and then hook up instantly next drop. They are good on the tooth if bleed properly and filleted properly. Cut their throats all the way to the backbone and bleed them in abient tempurature water. This helps to carry as much blood out as possible. Ice them down for a minimum of 24hrs until rigimortis sets in. When filleting  remove all of the red drive muscle in the middle of the fillet. This is what makes Trevally taste bad. Yellowtail and Tea Leaf trevally are worth eating but Giant Trevally have to much drive musle in their fillets and are not worth eating. This is why Giant Trevally fight like underwater Brahman Bulls.

There have been good reports coming from Shady Camp of a couple of metre plus Barra and some good numbers of smaller ones being caught on the neaper tides that just passed.

 The top of Tommycut and Sampan seemed to acount for large numbers of fish. With some metre plus monsters being encounter. The Reidy’s B52 in the Krytonite colour acounted for some of the fish because of the uniqe under belly chrome that flashes when twitched and pierces the muddy water attracting the strike, a little bit of X-factor always helps and the Nils Master Spearheads in Elton John colours are working well.

Have a good week fishing and keep those reports coming in. Thanks to the guys that go out of their way to pop into the shop and let me know how they are going in the big rivers. Because some poor fellows like me are stuck at work on the good tides.

Cheers Douglas Hewett and the boys from Happy Micks Darwin

by Douglas Hewett

Thank the heavens for the break in the weather. Over the past couple of days the storms have moved on for the time being and the wind has dropped back. This is the perfect time to head around the harbour and chase some fish. Vast schools of jelly prawns can still be found in the harbour arms on the low tide with schools of blue salmon on their heels. It can be quite difficult to temp these fish into taking a lure or bait. Small clear prawn imitation soft plastics and small poppers are some of the lures they will take when the blue salmon aren’t gorging themselves on Jelly prawns. The activity around the harbour has increased over the last week or so. With lots of small to medium Queenies and trevally ( Yellow Tail and GT’s) patrolling areas like East Arm rock wall and the rock walls around Fishermen’s Wharf. Most of the fish have been taken on live bait or with small little metal slices and plugs. Bream and small Golden Snapper can be caught on the incoming tide at the same locations with prawn baits being the best to target these fish.

The big rivers around the N.T are starting to fish but there is still alot of water about. The Adelaide has dropped below the car park and is fishing okay. But there is still alot of water about these days. The water is still pumping around Goat Island and is still quite dirty in places. Small soft plastics like Squidgy Slik Rigs and Berkley Hollow belly’s accounting for fish and the every reliable Gold and Tigerlilly Bomber are working well.

With the opening of Shady Camp in the last couple of days it should really be on the top of the list for fishing this week end. The smaller tides should make fishing the gutters and the S-Bend alot easier. Some small fish have been caught and reports of crews having battles with fish in the 80 cm range. If the Barra slow down during the day, heading out to the mouth might see you tangle with a Jew fish or two. There has been reports of some big Threadfin Salmon working the flats out the front.

Have a great weekend and happy fishing.

By Douglas hewitt

The fishing around Darwin has been off and on lately, due to the weather conditions that Darwin and the N.T is suffering from. It’s been too wet or to windy to go outside the habour lately. I have had reports of some very rough weather around Darwin harbour. The swell and chop in the harbour has been pretty bad.  A lot of fisher people have opted for fishing the smaller creeks in Darwin Harbour to keep away from the wind.

Some good Goldies have been turning up in Woods Inlet on the incoming tide. They are not big fish, but they are perfect plate size and taste great.

Queenies and some real big GT’s have been actively feeding along Larrakeyah rock wall and the foreshore around the old T wharf. Casting Halco twisters and Surecatch Knights into the feeding zone alone the rocks and letting it sink before working it back to the boat are catching some fish and trolling is working too.

 There has been some good reports from the Daly River lately. The Daly was dropping rapidly but now it has slowed down. So it starting to fish better for the smaller rat barra. But some bigger models up to 90cm have been encountered down near the mouth but the fish were all lost. Squidgy 80mm Drop bears have been doing the damage on the smaller fish. The Elton John colours in NilsMaster and Halco scorpions are doing the deeds on the bigger fish. Put the time in and you should be rewarded a good days fishing. “Hopefully”.

The rain has backed off for the last couple of days and it has given some fisho’s a chance to head out and chase some fish. The queenies and G.T’s have been on the ball around the pylons and rock bars in Elizabeth River and the wharfes in at town. They have been responding well to Maribou jigs and soft plastics like the Tsunami Paddle Tails and Gulps in the good old Nuclear Chicken Colour.

It seems some good Jacks have been flushed out of the small feeders creeks from all the rain and are showing up in the harbour all over the place. The rock bars in Pioneers, Mickets and West Arm gutters are producing Jacks to 2kg with some bigger ones being caught using barra lures. Live  smaller poddy mullet are the way to go when the smaller jacks stop attacking lures. But the best live bait by far for the smaller jacks would have to be live black spot herring. These herring can be caught with small bait jigs around the pylons at Stokes hill and Fishermen’s wharf. Be sure to take a live bait pump because these Herring are not as hardy as poddy mullet and will die quickly.

Bait fishing in the harbour is slowly getting better with good catches of blue salmon and Goldies coming from the many rock bars and deep gutters around popular spots like Poineers and Elizebeth River. Fresh local squid baits and Sandmar are the go for fishing for goldies on the change of the tides. TownHall could produce some good fish with the neaper tides that are coming.

For anybody not using Sandmar for bait with or istead of Pilchards should give them a go because they are much firmer then Pilchards and the longer profile makes them easier to fillet for bait. They are also a great bait for Jew fish, fished as a fillet or used to spice up a squid bait.

happy day fish that people dream about..

With another year coming to a close, it has been another great oner for fishing in both
   blue water and the fresh. I guess the standout was the Sailfish mayhem off Dundee and
   around the Peron Islands earlier in the year. The lucky ones that tangled with them had many
   stories to tell, getting every one fired up to go out and chase these speed demons of the sea.
 One sailfish was caught on the every trusty Maribou jig intended for a tuna! more

 The wet season finish a month early but despite that the run off was short and sweet with most big rivers firing up  like the Daly river and the Shady Camp S bend with plenty of quality
   Barramundi being caught and lots of them.

The Billabongs fished well this year with Corroborree being the most visited freshwater water hole with some real large fish coming from the area.
   

Most boats have been fishing around  the  Harbour with some nice mixed reef fish. Others have been heading  a bit wider around Charlies Point for the many jewfish being caught but l have heard of snapper other reef fish been in good numbers out there as well.

 
Charles Pt and the mouth of Bynoe Harbour have been the pick of areas , with the Adelaide Narrows also
  producing Snapper and Barramundi as the tide comes in. Still in that area the Vernons has been very good
  for the bait fisherman,  as well as for the jig fishing folk with some great sized snapper and the odd coral
  trout thrown in the mix of things. 

The Shoal bay area came alive last week with qaulity barra being caught and lost, live bait as well as big lures like bombers and killalures were the most effective,   and kept fisho’s on the toes with nice action as the tide rolled back in – some were too big and busted off on the rock. Maybe jewfish l’m thinking.

With most bigger rivers now starting to flow there have been some great reports from them, with the first push of water to get things flowing it seems  that alot of land locked barra are on the move trying to get to better parts of the river or the salt water sections of the river system. Heaps of fish were stuck as the wet stopped so quickly.  

 Shady camp last week was going nuts. Almost a fish a cast on surface lures. Awesome fishing up to 85cm and consistent 70cm fish. As it,s flowing over the Barrage the fishing has slowed right down and the fish kill that happens every  year is now happening. Very sad to see so many barra dead. 

The Daly river at the crossing also went gang  busters and the Finnis River and the Marrikai Road where the Adelaide river flows over had its fair share  of great barra action with fish on the move down the river eating anything they could get their mouth around.

Iin the New Year the Harbour will be a great spot to try to kick start the barra  count for the year. l might be giving West Arm and Little West arm a hit   and even Woods Inlet on the incoming tide which are around lunch time. 

If you are planning to get away for a couple of days the Daly river is another place to try. We’ve  been hearing good reports from there with some nice barra  on the chew. If the river does not rise it should be good.
  Bynoe Harbour will be another place if you want to get out of town.  l like the area around Six Pack Creek.  As you come out  of the creek you are at the bottom of Indian Island and can sneak up to Sims Reef on the change of tide for a jewfish.
  Six pack is a fine river system for snapper, barra and jewfish. Crabs are also plentiful in the system and ita good place to get out of the wind  if it blows up.

Closer to home the Narrows will be worth a shot on the change of tide for a jewfish. Its a big tide so a small
  window before the tide becomes too strong and you can’t keep connected to the bottom but the area will be worth a troll or a cast around the rocks at the mouth of Saltwater Arm and along the Narrows itself.

It is a bit early for the culverts  but Scotts Creek is starting to run and there have been some barra caught there.

Remember to play it safe and keep one eye on the weather- no fish is worth put yourself in danger for, if the rain keeps falling l cant wait for next year hopefully we can get a few more   monsoons in mix of things. Should be good, keep safe from the team at Happy Micks Happy New Year..

The monsoonal deluge has kicked off the wet with gusto, with a  months rain average in three days from the tropical low that went past the Northern territory coast over last weekend. It’s a great shame as they were a cracker set of tides over the weekend, and gave no opportunity or option to get out because of the weather.

A few die hard fishos donned the rain coats and fished with some very good results. Not a good practice but they are very competent fishos and never ventured out any further than they had to. Barra snapper and jacks were caught around rocky headls and with waves chrashing onto the stones, turning the water into a foamy mess, but it seemed to bring fish the on. For myself, I had a very dry time of it, opting for the maintainence side of things’ doing the reels and  reversing line back onto reels etc. Others that  braved the wet had a ball around the rocks of East Point catching Queenfish and barra and a few rock cod. It was a nice result for the effort, the barra were around the 70cm mark hitting surface lures. These guys do not miss any opportunity  to wet a line and in this case they had fun as well looking like drowned rats but happy ones to say the least , they were rewarded and you can’t knock them for that. 

  Before the low hit us on the Friday tides were coming into some superb neaps.  Vernon’s and Lorna Shoals were good spots that produced great size coral trout as well as snapper up to 2.5kg and  lots of  tricky Snapper as they seem to haunt  this area a fair bit. Further down off Dundee Beach, around  Point Blaze there were some arm stretching and rod bending. Big golden Snapper up to 75cm and bigger  hit the deck so one happy fishing  group was telling me. It was fast and furious, soon as the bait or jig hit the bottom it was “ON’’ and  certainly in plenty of good numbers and sizes, they had to stop fishing as they bagged out very quickly, changing fishing tactics, then catching a few jewfish it seemed that they (jewfish) were also very willing and ready to feed what ever  was presented  to them. 

Its great when a fishing trip just goes to plan and everything clicks with a good swag of  top quality table fish for the Christmas dinner just add prawns and you got your self a winner: a great Aussie Christmas BBQ lunch or dinner feed. 

  Where to go over the weekend? If we get a bit of clear weather,  it should be good to hit the harbour on this great weekend  tides, but please take note that there are still wind warnings in place so jump online to the www.bom.gov.au  sight for a quick look and plan for what the day has in store. The word is that fishing in the many Harbour arms the large amounts of mullet that were around couple of weeks ago have dwindled down to small schools, and some areas hardly any. On the other hand large amounts of Archer Fish instead of the mulle, they  seemed to be everywhere. It makes things hard when the bait is not there, but the fish will be still around, so casting 6 inch plastics and the larger lures, you  might get a good re-action from fish that might want more then a small prawn. The whole harbour should fish well , don’t forget the vinegar as there have been some BoxJellyfish around so check your cast net for tentacles’ left behind from your previous cast, before you throw it over your shoulders. There is only one weekend left before Christmas come in and check us out , have a great and safe  weekend from the team of Happy Micks.