Happy Micks Fishing Report

The Weather

The storms are starting to rock up around the place so don’t forget to check the weather report on our site before you head out for a fish. Nobody likes a wet ride home. It’s good to see the North Easterlies dropping off a bit and letting the blue water fan-tics get some fishing time in before the big storms start to rock up.

The Harbour

The habour arms are still producing some good goldies for those who put in the time on the change of tides. They seem to be feeding on the rock bars as the first of the run-in pushes the bait up the creeks. Prawns and squid work well, but fresh mullet caught in a cast net and filleted for bait beats squid hands down. Pikey Bream are always a chance when fishing these rock bars.  Vast schools of baby jelly prawns can be found at large creek mouths on the low tide. Plenty of blue salmon and tarpon are feeding on the schools. Tempting these fish can be a problem when there is alot of bait around. Small clear soft plastics are the way to go. Saltwater flys have the goods as well and the larger tarpon are a real challenge on the lighter grade fly rods.The odd barra is being caught on the flats that form on the lows, fishing bombers in the large gutters that form at some of the larger creeks in Elizabeth and Woods Inlet.

Landbased In The Habour

Some good queenies and Giant Trevally have been caught off Mandorah wharf and Elizabeth bridge casting slicers into the gaps of the pylons and letting them hit bottom before jigging them back to the surface. It takes a bit of skill and hard yakka to stop the larger queenies and Gt’s from busting you off as soon as you hook them. But the trick in the short stroke them with heavy drag on. Some goldies can be caught from Channel Island bridge and Elizabeth Bridge with the best time being a high tide at night.

Vernon Islands

Small schools of Mackerel and Giant trevally can still be found working bait near the Vernon islands and Gunn Point. Try to drift close enough to punch a small metal plug into the school and hang on. They aren’t big fish but lots of fun.Follow the birds and they will lead you to the feeding fish. The late afternoon seems to be the time the schools switch on and start to feed. Goldies and jewiescan be caught in the deeper channels on the change of tides. Night fishing is the way to go to target these fish. Some large Gaint Trevallies can be caught cast poppers over Smithand Harris reefs as the tide pumps out and the small bait fish congerate on these shallow reefs. Small to medium poppers and stick baits work great but for a bit of fun tried throwing a couple squid.

Crabbing

The crabs have slowed down a bite of late but some boats are still pulling the odd large buck out of shoal bay and some of the smaller feeder creeks in Pioneer creek and the Blackmore river. Chicken for bait seems to be all the rage, but the humble catfish still makes great crab bait. From all the team at Happy Micks tight lines and have a good week on the water.

 The harbour has turned it on with excellent reports of barra, salmon and the tasteful golden snapper coming from the many estuaries around Darwin harbour. The inland billabongs have produced some bigger then average barra on the late afternoons and early mornings. The wind is still hampering longer trips off shore but the few that have bigger boats have been doing well on snapper and the odd jew fish starting to show up around Charles point. The wind is doing no favours for folks wanting to stay longer, blowing up and making conditions most uncomfortable. Hopefully the wind should start dying off as the storms and rain become frequent lets hope any way..

 Corroboree has come to life again with some nice healthy barra being caught pretty much all over this great billabong. No stand out spots, just around weed beds and edges of large Lilly pads. Gold and green bombers and tiger lilly bombers doing the fair share of the damage and the trusty little Lucifer’s in green and gold; some sort of colour pattern happening there don’t you think. Saratoga have been performing on scum frogs and smaller poppers. Its a bit windy so early morning start if you wanted to throw the long fly rod about. Hardies has been hot and cold with some nice barra in the mid 80cm range being caught. Although some nice fish have come from there fisho’s are saying it is hard work. Although most anglers have been trolling the better re-action has come casting plastics around the long weed beds, sinking them right down and a slow rolling retrieve back has been very successful.

 Shoal bay and the salt water rivers to the east like the Adelaide and leader have been producing quality barra and salmon. Trolling either rock bars or deep banks. in the estuary systems they have also picking up good size snapper on the troll intended for barra or salmon. Big Bombers and Killalures have been the lure choice and live bait has un done some nice barra. The dark horse has been the the Nilsmaster Invincible in the green or bleeding mullet colour. The mouth of leaders always has you guessing on what you are going to hook up weather it be a big jewfish or one of the big female barra that are feeding around the mouth this time of year.  classics and barra baits seem to work on the change of the low tide however, incoming tides are always good for big feeding barra. Catching a jewfish on the troll is great fun. They fight hard and you have your work cut out for you when its on a bait caster reel, great fun..

The land based crew have been getting Queen fish and trevally around Channel Island with the odd barra thrown in just to keep things interesting. Fish out of the wind on a outgoing tide for best results. Talking of barra, east point has been going good with 70 to 80 cm barra coming from the rocks around the race horse creek side. They are fishing on the last of the out going and the first push of the incoming tide using shallower lures in classics and bombers. Just remember to keep one eye out for the snapping handbags as there have been sightings of crocs around channel island and east arm.

  Darwin harbour has been fishing great with snapper to one and half kilo being caught on rock bars and rubble bottom in creek mouths on the incoming tide. The crabs are around but have to work for them.

 With the tides tending more neap and as long as the wind stays away, a mid week trip wide should be productive for the bigger boats over the weekend. These tides look good for a  barra or two or to soak a bait on the change of the low for a jewfish on the many wrecks in the harbour. The late afternoon change should be good if you want to chase a few queenfish around Shell Island or Larrakeyah rock wall on the incoming tide.  Leeders and the mouth of the Adelaide river at the narrows should be worth a shot as well. From the team at happy micks have a good week and tight lines.

with Brenton Marschke 

Mick with a Queenie from Bynoe last week

Talking to some that spent one day on each of the billabongs over a two day camping trip and had a fat time. Good barra fishing and even some monster toga. There were not really any stand out lures, the days were warm and the barra were ready to go,  bashing anything that went near them. 

 There has been some more Sailfish action around Sail City and Long Lost. One crew fished the area the last couple of weekends and reported Mackerel and acres of tuna. The weather has been kind to them,  with no real rough weather, and always calming down in the afternoon. Last weekend they hooked and fought a big sailfish for nearly hour and half,  but lost it at the boat –  the hooks pulled! They were happy they hooked one,  but hurting that they never got any happy snaps holding the sailfish. Thats fishing! All sorts of reef fish have been around Dundee,  remember pick they weather and stay safe. 

Mick also got this Jewie at Lorna. Is he shrinking or is that a big fish?

(more…)

The weather blowing one day and the next it’s over cast with no wind; on Tuesday morning we even had a light shower out in the rural area in the early morning.

The blue water still producing. Sailfish have been on the lips of most fishos and the schools of Northern Blue Fin Tuna that inhabit our coastline and wider out this time of year. Reef fishing and the Mackerel scene around Dundee has been good with numbers of Coral Trout and a few Red Emperor have been on the chew around Long Lost and Peron Islands,  as well as some large Mackerel. Closer to home Lee Point and wider has been producing some good all round fishing for Pelagics and yes, even some billfish! Earlier in the week during the neaper tides there were large schools of tuna close along the coast. They were hungry and ready to go, with reports of Longtails up to a massive 20 kilos.

On the barra side of things its hot and cold in many of the Billabongs  and river systems but because of the events that have been happening in the blue water the humble barramundi has taken the back seat for the last month or so..

 Dean Blackman and his wife Melanie went out in the harbour during the week and tangled with the Northern Blue Fin. They landed a few and lost a few and  had a blast as there were heaps of schools busting the surface, working hard and fast and staying on top feeding,  so you could get a few cast in before you hooked up. At one stage they were all around the boat chopping through the bait schools. Still buzzing,  l got the call to head out with them the next day. As we cleared Emery Point and made towards Six Mile we scanned the surface of the water looking for jumping fish. As we came off the plane a group of young fellas in another boat had a double hook up on some very lively fish. It was not long,  only a matter of minutes, before we saw our first big school of tuna, turning the surface water to a foam and crushing bait schools.

As we moved into the path of the frenzied school of feeding fish, we made sure not to power into them, but allowed them to come to us. We fired a long cast into the school and two cranks of Dean’s reel and he was on  to the first screaming fish. They are such a good light game fish, no more then 10kg line class is needed, even though  my good mate Craig told me 50 pound braid was the go to get them in quicker. And  to get more fish! Yep,  two broken rods later and a bit of a dented ego! It was totally my fault as l certainly pushed the envelope on rods that were not suited to the for the line class l was using. We had spare rods, well at least Dean did. Thanks Dean. The fish were about for a good couple of hours and lots of  bust up’s every couple off minutes. Schools of up to thirty or forty tuna averaging 6kg to 8kg.

Brenton was as proud as punch - about a millisecond before his rod popped!

It’s a  great visual sight’  seeing busting schools of bait fish over all the place and forget all about the V8’s! Dean in the driver seat zooming around like he stole it, blasting around getting in front of feeding tuna was just as much fun as catching them. Just as well  it was a nice calm day. In the end Dean and l landed 6 tuna and lost a few but it  gets the blood going. Yahoo- like we were 16 again! Great fun the double hook up’s, l rate it big time! Chromes and even plastics were the weapon of choice to get hooked up to these speed demons. l’m also  hearing of Mackerel still floating about around East Point and Tuna and some larger models of G.T’s working close to shore,  with early morning land based fisho’s getting hooked up  on big Travelly  and the odd Queen fish getting in on the act. Poppers and large chrome slices are the shot. The Bottlewasher has mackerel and the odd jewfish hanging on it and maybe worth a shot on the bigger tides on the the change of tide.

 The Billabongs have not yet really fired up but we are hearing some reports filtering in that people are catching barra. Not in big numbers, but average 55cm to 65cm are the norm. The fishing folk have been changing their tactics and casting to the lillies and weed beds using fizzers, small poppers and scum frogs, as well as the ever reliable plastics. Saratoga have been aggressive, taking most lures cast into the lilies, and the fly brigade have been getting amongst it as well with Dalbergs and Pink Things. Trolling early mornings and late afternoons with the trusty Little Lucifer’s and spearhead  have been working OK.  Hardies is  the same as Coroborree,  and  casting has been getting the results. Early mornings have been good. Bigger fish have been coming in from 70cm to 80cm. Nice barra  and clean to boot. 

The land based fishermen have been getting barra off East Alligator crossing on the top of the tide with good schools of mullet getting harassed by rampaging big barra. Poppers seem to be the go as the tide moves out. The Daly has slowed down considerably and that’s thanks to the cold weather but they are still getting good fish down there on the bigger tides. Live bait has become the preffered method to catch a barra, but on the bigger tides deep lures have been working on the change of tides. Above the crossing has also slowed but if we get a few warm days things should start firing up again.

 Darwin Harbour now and the Bream have come into the Harbour in clouds, haunting most of the rocky points and rock bars in many of the estuaries. In the harbour itself the crabs have been a bit slower but the crab bait is still moving out the door. If the weather permits Shoal Bay has been a great place to catch a mud crab. One fella was the only boat in the whole Shoal Bay/Howard River system, and never saw another boat all day! He was rewarded with a heap of big mud crabs, salmon and also barra caught on some live mullet. The mud crabs have been active  in Elizabeth and Middle Arm on regular a basis but the share farming has been making fisho’s seeing red. But be sure the days are numberd where they get caught by the owners of the pots or the authorities. Be sure, they will be caught and dealt with..

  With the bigger tides this weekend chasing a few muddies bream and a few golden snapper could be a pleasent way to spend the day. Snapper are not around  in huge numbers like a few month ago,  but the odd deeper rock bar is still holding them on changes of tide. Use live bait  mullet to lift your average of catching a barra or even casting the gutters with plastics or Bombers 15A, even the smaller 14A and the little B52. Over the other side of the harbour in West Arm and Little West Arm wind plays a big factor so if it’s not to breezy,  jobs on.  Mackerel early morning off Lee point and East point will be also another place to be before the wind picks up, though early indications are that the wind is going to die off again over the nexdt few days! Call in and ask where they are biting and have a safe and sun smart weekend from the team from Happy Micks tight lines..

This weeks tides

 It has been a great start for the blue water season with mackerel and tuna in good numbers, closer in  around Darwin habour itself,  and East Point and Lee Point saving many fishos from the slower barra fishing  in the rapidly cooling billabongs. They are still getting fish in the fresh  but with the cooler weather it makes it more interesting,  and you have to try different things. What l’m hearing is that people  have been chasing Saratoga in the lilly pads and having been hooking good size barra in between the saratoga,  running through the lilly pads. Great fun!

Trolling has been been good in the mornings and through the later part off the afternoon. Finding shallower areas around weed beds have been producing results,  using the trustworthy gold bomber and the old favourite Nilsmaster Spearheads. You need to work them hard whilst trolling,  even taking the motor out of gear,  then slowly moving off again,  and changing lures every couple of trolls. You never know whats going to happen. Hardies Billabong has been going well, with the water level dropping and some nice fish to 75cm have been bashing soft plastics cast right up into the pandanas bushes. Let it sink and slow retrieve. Reidys rubbers and slick rigs in the three inch size has been the ticket. White and red heads have been the most popular. 

  Crabs have slowed a bit around the harbour,  but with the full moon last week it should start to pick up again this week. They are still getting them in Shoal Bay and Leaders Creek and in some of the harbour

Elizabeth has been been serving up some huge crabs, as well as bream and golden snapper. I heard of a couple of metre plus jewfish coming from only a small  hole in the mouth of Elizabeth. Tuna have been feasting on bait schools in the early morninga around day break,  but are getting flighty once the sun is up. There are some nice bream getting caught along the foreshore of the harbour around the many rocky outcrops,  and queen fish are popping up everywhere in the harbour,  and some big

Redmonds 14kg Jewie

schools are out the front of Cullen Bay. Land based early morning spin sessions have been good for a few fishos this week,  hooking Queenfish and the odd smaller Gray mackerel and GT’S. There are some large travelly giving the land based brigade fun and often losing some large amounts of line. Nothing they can do but grin and take it on the chin. Channel Island is also another great place for land based fishing with a variety from bream to barra and pelagics on the incoming tides .

Stuart Mair with a great dry season saltwater barra

Good tides for for a bottom bounce, or go and chase bream and even pelagics around the harbour or even out wide.  Dundee will be the go to spot for many trying to catch the first bill fish,  and to see these awesome fish in their natural enviroment.  Lee piont will be a good option,  and also East Point to troll for a few Mackerel. Bynoe will be good for flats fishing for Salmon and Barra in shelted areas out of the wind. The Adelaide Narrows wil be worth a shot for a Jewfish or a Golden Snapper. Have a great weekend and be sun smart. From the team at Happy Micks..

 Reports filtering in from the long weekend suggest that mud crabs, barra, mackerel and even bill fish were high on the agenda of fishos from Darwin to Dundee .

Around Point Blaze and thge Perron Islands there were numerous pods of sails with the odd smaller marlin also in the mix, with multiple hook ups of sailfish ranging from 10kg to 15kg. There were quite a few around which was something to see – pods of ten could be seen hearding bait schools up. The word is there are heaps of bait schools. Also in abundance were tuna – acres of them. With this huge food source attracting more and more predators, what was once a rare occurence is now commonplace. With great weather and next to no wind the fishing was good in the blue water, although reports from the Vernons were not so good. Mick and Tony were out between The Vernons and Melville on Sunday and said the only birds they saw were two black cockies that looled as though they were ojn the way home to the mainland after a holiday! There was certainly no sigh of bait bust up or billies to rupture the otherwise prsitine glassed off conditions. “We should have stayed in the mouth of Leeders for the day” they said. “At least thjere were plenty of threadies around, and one boat picked up a ninty plus barra with live bait on the change.”

The Daly had so many boats on it over the long weekend we are thinking of renaming it the Daily Canal! And with the up and coming tides this week with more movement, this weekend should be also worth a shot, with many of the folk that fished it last weekend heading back down for the bigger tide. Although its fished well on the smaller tides, more run is more fun, and most of the bigger fish have been caught on the rising springs. The whole river seems to be fishing well, but above the crossing has been firing, with fish up to 90cm showing up and bigger ones lost in the many snags. With the fresher mornings it might slow down, and live bait might be the better way to catch a barra soon. Lures still anything green in a 4 to 5 metres pattern and more natural colours like Bleeding Mullet in the same depths.

Closer to home the mud crabs were in good numbers, and with more movement it should be a good weekend for them. On the changes of tides, the rock bars and deeper holes in the estuaries have been good for snapper and some bigger bream. Elizabeth has some stonker bream in it, with some reaching 30cm, and there seems to be quite a few around that size cruising around. Awesome on lighter tackle and a great pastime while in between pulls on the crab pots.

The sad thing is the amount of “share farming” of crab pots that is happening. Darwin fishing folk are not happy, and its becoming so commonplace it’s sad that some people think this is normal, to have to sit by your pots and guard them. Come people lets ‘’stop the rot and buy a pot” and leave other crabbers in peace. Having fun is the name off the game not coming home with no crabs and no pots. Be warned you low life scum thieves. We know something you don’t. Youi’re not only going to be caught, you are going to pay! Watch this space!

Barra are still being caught but the cooler water has been a big factor. Coroborree has been fishing OK with fish around the 60cm plus but the night sessions were the better option with some bigger specimens being landed to 75cm. One fisho told me that there were some large boofs in lillies and some of the weed beds up the top of Coroborree. They had some nice strikes on fizzers and poppers.

Hardies has been pretty much the same but fish have been averaging 75cm and above and very clean and healthy. It will be interesting with this cooler weather thats around at the moment. The early morning will be the go and late afternoon also. We found last year in the middle of the day was a small window when they came on too. Saratoga have been keeping people on their toe’s using scum frogs amd fly gear. Some larger model togas are giving fishos heaps. Great fun to catch if the barra are slow. Usually you hook a few barra while casting for the saratoga -it’s great to see it all unfold right in front of you.

For land based fishos Channel Island is still producing Queenfish and Travelly and mixed reef fish, and on the bigger incoming tides barra have been boofing and seen cruising the flats as the tides makes its way in. Tuna have been in the harbour but only in the morning and then later in the afternoon. Remember try to predict where they might pop up next instead of driving the boat into the schools. Lartrakeyah has been seen some big Queenfish up to and over the metre mark as well as Trevally up to 85cm. Testing light tackle Halco Twisties 20gms and Marabou’s 1 and 1/2 ounce were the shot. To tangle with the many Queenies and Travelly that are hanging around at the moment, either cast directly into the rocks or trolling is also another good method. It can look like the ”S” Bends on the change of tide, but the fish are there and its good fun while waiting for a shot at a tuna.

Bigger tides this weekend. It’s going to be good crabbing tides so go and chase a few barra around and if the wind dies down it will be also great to get out and get amongst the bill fish. They are plentful out wide at the moment. Not huge fish but a sailfish is a sailfish and to catch one is awesome. The billabongs will be worth a hit early morning or just on night fall, so have a great weekend and stay safe and sun smart. Tight lines.

Jeromie"s secret spot!

With nice clear days and little wind over the last week, for most keen fisho’s its a hard decision where to go. A lot of folks have been heading out wide and with mixed results,  but they have been getting and seeing some bill fish so that’s great news. 

On the bottom bouncing scene l have heard of more big snapper and jewfish coming from no further out then 6 Mile Buoy,  and even inside the harbour itself,  with some getting their bag limits within a short session. During the last neaps sharks played havoc with bait fisherman,  moving in on good snapper bites and shutting them down. The trick is, once they move in, you move out! Go find another spot, as they will take a toll on your fish and tackle pretty quickly. Pull anchor and scout another likely spot. 

The Town Hall hole seemed to be one place that they got both goldies and jewfish and on many other  wrecks around the harbour. Bigger tides this weekend will  give you a smaller window so fish on either low or high tide on the changes,  before you need a house brick or two to keep you in the zone..

Apparently there was a line up of boats400 metres long  at Shady Camp. Anyone would think that the fish are jumping into the boat,  as many  as 60 to 70 boats lined up waiting to get their feet wet.  Since you have to go a long way into the water to get the boat off the trailer, it’s not a real nice feeling standing in knee deep plus water  with a lot of  healthy hungry crocs haning around.

There are numbers of smaller fish along the coastal run offs with odd bigger barra getting caught. Its the law of averages: with that many boats down at the mouth and that many lures getting dragged through the strike zone the bigger fish must be having a hard time picking which lure to crunch. The mouth of Sampan had a nice run of metre plus salmon and a lot of barra around the 65 to 75cm mark,  with some boats landing some real stonker threadies. Great to see good numbers getting around the mouth – just imagine if the government brought back those licences,  what kind of holy mecca  would this area become for barra and salmon –  it would be simply awesome!

The normal lures,  Killalures and Classics and also Reidys B52’s have been the weapon of choice. There are also plenty of jewfish out on the reef  from Shady Camp mouth,  so that whole system is looking good. We should still get another monsoon, so it’s going be a great run off  well into April, easter and beyond. And another great year for the billabongs – how good is this place?

 A bit closer to home the Adelaide river below the bridge,  with a week of little rain has,  dropped a bit and good colour change is coming from many run-offs into the main river system. Some good fish coming from Beatrice and a few “no name” creeks,  and well formed drains along the river producing nice tea colour water, bait coming from them late in the tide. One crew fishing a moonlight session heard some big boofs like gun shots going off,  as they braved the millions of mozzies,  but had a good sessions on  quality saltwater barra. It seems there have been good results right above Goat Island. The Daly river is a sleeping Gaint waiting for the water to drop,  when  l will think it will be ”GAME ON.”  Its still over 11 metres and has been for the last four weeks,  but it is starting to drop now, and this weekend should be right on the money, except that the Wooliana Road is still closed and omly access is from the crossing. Be patient – it will happen!  A couple of boats fishing around the mouth have been getting cricket scores,  but thats a big trip,  so remember safety in remote areas at this time of year is paramount.

The South is still up, and they have been getting a few fish up top,  and around the run off’s. Down at the mouth its been really good  for soaking baits for big goldies and jewfish,  with  some good  vibes coming from people who  went for a look down that area!  For the barra  it may take bigger tides to kick start the barra bite – all up the river the creeks are primed,  so if we get a bit more rstorm rain all well and good. 

 Big tides this weekend: the harbour is one place worth a shot for the barra. Like l said last week they have been taking bigger lures and  plastics are still working but the Bombers and the B52 have been the undoing of a few quality barra; even  getting good size goldies on the many rock bars. West Arm and the Little West Arm have been the quet acheivers,  with some nice barra and a few salmon coming from them. There have been a few crabs around, but mostly the crabs have been out along the sides of the creek mouths,  not up in them. Not great numbers,  but the lucky few have been getting a nice feed. Elizabeth River and Middle Arm have been the pick for them.

Town Hall will be a chance for a jewfish or a goldie on the change of tide and for the land based fisherman l think Buffalo Creek would be as good as any for a barra or a salmon. Even a few culverts out along the Stuart and Arnhem highways, but  make sure you don’t leave rubbish laying around.  Further out,  the Adelaide river might be good as well. If the water drops down on the bigger tides you should be able to find some great colour change and some good fish moving in on the incoming tides, so be sun smart and safe and  hook into this great fishing while it’s there.

Mum’s are tired and cranky, the kids are restless, and the dry season winds howl.

 Dad is on notice: get these kids out of my hair. Now!

It’s BREAM time!

These voracious and tasty little critters enter the harbours and frequent the foreshore rock bars in dense schools of unbelievable numbers. And the best news is – they are so easy for the kids to catch, and for Mum to cook. (more…)