This week I have had a number of customers in the shop relaying stories of the ones that did not get away from them over the past weekend with the pick of the spot being Bynoe Harbour. Bynoe must have been alive with the mighty Black Jew last week as a number of customers have reported that their catches were well in excess of the occasional 1 or 2 with one customer Carl reporting that he himself caught 14 Jewies in 2 days. Another customer Eugene explained that he managed a number of nice Jewies for the esky and even managed to loose one to another boats anchor rope, which was still attached to the said anchor rope when the luck anglers were leaving resulting in that crew getting a nice take home fish.

On the bluewater scene the reports have been a little bit scarcer as the winds are again preventing many from being able to get out and chase the palagics however the ones that have have been doing well with Mackerel, Tuna, Queenies and of course the mighty Sailfish being caught in most locations around Darwin and Dundee.

One of our regular customers, Simon and some mates, went to the Vernon Islands last weekend chasing anything that would take a Reidy’s jig and fished very well only to find that the Mackerel out that way loved to claim the jigs as their own loosing a number of both jigs hooks to the razor gang.

Brad and his mates again headed to Dundee on Tuesday braving the prevailing easterly winds and headed to Long Lost where they caught a number of Trickies to 47cm, some solid Goldies and 4 Coral Trout to 3.5kg. On the return to the ramp a short troll brought the desired result with 3 Mackerel around the 1 meter mark being caught in less that 1/2 an hour on the Halco Laser Pro lures trolled close in the wash.

Land based fishing has been rewarding some anglers with Mangrove Jack and Snapper being caught at the Elizabeth River bridge and some decent Trevally being taken at Channel Island.

On the billabong side the Barra are being nothing short of illusive. On customer explained that he and some mates spent all day last Sunday on Corroboree Billabong trolling and flicking with out result. He explained that they tried nearly every technique and lure known to man even changing braid colour on his reel during the day. He had a few follow ups and one Barra was interested enough to leave a scale on the hook but that was about the highlight of the day. The Tarpon numbers in Corroboree are still high meaning there is still plenty of  food for Barra. He also explained that there was a very large crocodile near the ramp that showed no fear at all of the boat and the occupants so care should be taken when launching and retrieving boats.

Crabs are plentiful and full at the moment with some great specimens being taken in Darwin Harbour, Bynoe Harbour and Saltwater Arm crabbing the incoming tide with chicken frames being the preferred baits at the moment. Matt went to Saltwater Arm with some of his mates for a crab and a fish for the first time in a year and managed to get a 1 meter Queenie, a Jewie about the same size and 10 crabs last weekend.

Article received from 12 year old Sean Macpherson.

Sean's Golden Snapper

I caught this ‘Golden Snapper last weekend’ whilst we were drifting at Longlost , which is at Dundee. I was in the Fishing Competition for ‘Howard Springs’ fishing club.

We were in Mick Scotts boat. My dad, Trevor caught a ‘Spanish Mackerel’ 92cm, but I outdone him with a 101cm.

Sean's metre plus Mackerel

I also caught two ‘Tricky Snappers’.

It was a great day on the Sea, my ‘Golden Snapper’ won the reef fish category in the competition. I was so happy with the prizes I got worth over $400.

‘Happy Micks’ supplied me with new line on my new Abu Garcia rod that I won, now I can’t wait to hit the water again with my new gear, especially to catch one bigger than my dad again.

Happy Fishing.

The attached photos are of a successful Sean with his spoils for the trip and one of dad with his Mackeral. Well done Sean and tight lines. If there are other fishos out there who would like to get their catches on our web site email your photos and articles to douglas@happymicks.com.au attention Brian.

Brian with a 64cm Trout

by Brian Lund

Well what can I say this weather has us all confused rain at the end of May what’s it all coming to. The recent balmy weather has done wonders for the fishing with numerous reports of Barra being taken in the big rivers on lures and live baits. One customer (Eric) came in this morning after fishing the Daly River over the weekend and reported that they cleaned up on Barra to 97cm from various spots throughout the river. The bigger ones came from an area upstream from the Wooliana boat ramp. Eric said that the Cherabin numbers were down on their last visit last year but the Barra were better. The bigger Barra were taken on Reidy’s Golbourn Jacks and Reidy’s Tiapans in the 008 and M2 colours.

Another customer came in this morning looking for another River2Sea Bully Wa 65 frog as he explained that over the weekend during a water skiing trip to Manton Dam that they decided to flick a few lure on dusk near the boat ramp and managed to get a couple of nice impoundment Barra and hooked an absolute horse that managed to straighten the Gamakatsu hooks while trying to get into the timber. He explained that his brother has been doing a fair bit of fishing there and has reported that the “fish on the sounder are massive and that there is no chance that they will fit in the 105 litre esky”. The Barra in Manton Dam are stocked impoundment Barra and similar to their cousins in QLD are possibly more suited to the catch and release fishing techniques.

Reports from Shady Camp from the weekend are patchy butthere is still some good reports of solid Barra being taken at the mouths of both Tommy Cut and Sampan. The Barra taken at the barage have been solid fish with catches in the 70s and 80s being reported. The freshwater side of Shady has been fishing well near the first rock bar.

Reports from Corroboree are still hit and miss with few Barra being reported. The Tarpon and Saratoga numbers are still up there, the water level is dropping and in a few weeks I would dare say the billabongs are going to fire up and the catches willbe great. The amount of smaller Barra being caught at the moment are an indication as to how healthy the billabongs are.

I was speaking to a couple of blokes who fished the South Aligator last week and the reports from them indicated that the trip was worth the fuel bill with some solid Goldies being taken from outside the mouth and some good Barra being taken flicking lures around structure with their biggest a 98cm barra being caught and released at the Rookery.

Brad with a Mack Tuna from Dundee

On the bluewater scene the reports are of Sailfish, Tuna and Mackeral being taken everywhere. A mate of mine Brad went for a fish off Dundee last Thursday and ended up with some great reef fish including a 10lb Coral Trout, some great Tricky Snapper to 50cm, heaps of good Stripies and some really solid Longtail Tuna bein taken. I took Brad and another mate Nick off Dundee on Friday and can not boast the same success story in terms of reefies but we did manage to get some great Longtail Tuna and smaller Mack Tuna. While we were out there the number of Sailfish spotted was nothing short of unbelievable even though we had no intention of targeting Sails on the trip.

The Tuna schools in the harbour have been in good numbers although they are flighty and easilly spooked. Reports of Tuna as far in as Channel Island are coming in from most anglers that have been fishing the harbour. A friend Eugene came in this morning and reported that he got a number of good Threadies from West Arm over the weekend and sighted a number of good Barra but could not encourage the Barra to take a hook.

With the coming spring tides this weekend the crabbing should be great and the lunchtime low tides will mean that, weather permitting, the low tide holes in Shoal Bay could be a pick of the spots for a good Barra  and a feed of Muddies. Alternatively with the full moon on Friday a night fish at Manton Dam should result in some serious impoundment action.

What ever you target or where ever you go good luck and tight lines.

The reports have been flowing into the shop that the Sail Fish are going crazy from the Vernons to the Perons and beyond. Some customers have reported catches of 6 in one day using both lures and skip baits.

Closer to home there have been numerous reports of schools of Sardines in the harbour accompanied with Tuna and Spanish Mackeral. One customer reported that he went to one of his favourite wrecks in the harbour last weekend and managed to get a few fish including a 30lb Spaniard off the bottom on pilchard and squid. There have been some very good reports of Mackeral from Lee Point and the Bottlewasher reef. The numbers of mackeral being caught at the moment is very promising for a good Mackie season.

6 Mile grounds have been producing good Goldies, small Jewies and assorted reef fish including nice Blue Bone.

Ever had one of those days you just wish that you stayed in bed or even gone to work rather than going fishing?? Most of you reading this would probably answer that question the same way that I would 99.99% of the time – a resounding NO.

Well I can honestly say that this happened to me last Friday (I actually would have been at work, mowing the lawn or even visiting the dentist – maybe not that drastic). Originally I was heading to Dundee with my old mates Joynsie and Jarboy chasing another sail or two after getting the action on the last lot of neaps. The wind gods soon put paid to that trip so during the week another trip was arranged, research completed and fishing companion found. The trip started well enough the boat packed early on Thursday Night, the eskies full of bait, ice and beer, the boat fuelled and the oil checked, crab pots labelled and loaded, the car refuelled, oil and water checked and the barra and jewie gear loaded. You beaut an early night!!

Early to bed early to rise, well not that early, have a cuppa with my wife, get her off to work get the kids up for school, one last check over the boat grab lunch and the last of the bait and I am off to meet up with the new anonymous fishing companion for a day of muddies, barra and jewies at Saltwater Arm.

That is where the day started going pear shaped. Arriving at the agreed location I waited for over an hour for the person to arrive, sitting in the car park of a pub for an hour at that time of morning you do get some unusual looks by both staff and passer bys. After waiting and contemplating what will happen next I thought ring Doug at the shop in case my new partner got lost, no sign of him at the shop, no contact no show at the pub. Righto I have missed the tide that I wanted and needed with the rock bar it was time to decide 6 acres that need to be mowed and reticulation repaired or meet up with Joynsie and Jarboy on Corroboree for Joynsie last NT fish prior to moving interstate and starting a new life. Well, what can I say the lawn still hasn’t been mowed.

After a quick trip home and an equally as quick repack of the boat, barra gear, ice and beer; great all set to go. Race out to Corroboree for a 6 hour fish get some barra, get home early and get in the good books with my wife by taking her to dinner for her birthday/mother’s day. After launching and speaking to another fisho leaving the Billabong hearing that they had caught 20+ barra with 2 keepers I thought that at least there would be some action for the day. Well trolling the snags, the lilly pads, the grass banks, flicking the snags, the Lilly pads and the grass banks for the majority of the main billabong with no success it was time to head all the way to the end of the main billabong always guaranteed a fish there even if they are rats. Well rats that is all I managed, and only 2 of them neither of them would have even made 30cm. These were followed closely by a less than 20cm Tarpon. Well this was very disappointing time to head back to the Rock Hole or Palm Billabong. On the way I could not resist dropping an older Reidy’s Aqua Rat in the pink and yellow in the water for a troll. Next thing all fury was unleashed and I thought that the day was looking better. After multiple water breaks and some good runs towards the Lillies I was soon to be disappointed again in the barra department as I netted and released a very healthy 76cm Saratoga. That was the highlighet of the day. After a bit more boating it was time to head home and get more fishing brownie points with the wife or so I hoped.

The trip to the ramp was uneventful, recovery of the boat was uneventful, the trip from Corroboree Billabong to the tavern was where I started wishing I was at home mowing the 6 acres as I managed to blow the engine in my Nissan Patrol about 6km from the Billabong. After managing to limp it the remainder of the way to the intersection of the access road and the Arnhem Highway I sat there and reminisced on what had happened what had gone wrong and where I would be if I was mowing the lawn. Sitting on the side of the road have a coldie sitting in the boat I must have looked a sight waiting for the AANT tow truck. To all those fishos that stopped and offered assistance and to the locals that offered storage areas for my boat and car I would like to offer my sincerest thanks.

So as I started, I really think that at times there are trips that might just manage to go to the area of enjoyment just below mowing lawns, staying in bed or cleaning the house. To make things even worse I was speaking to a couple of blokes at the Humpty Doo Hotel who went to Saltwater Arm and the Narrows bagged out on crabs, big Jewies and bagged 4 barra to 80cm on Saturday. Another boat was there on Sunday and managed to get 18 Muddies and 2 Barra. What a way to have salt rubbed into the very deep wounds. Atleast they haven’t provide me photos yet so I don’t have to look at them as constant reminders as to what could have been.

On the fishing scene the reports from both Hardies and Corroboree is the same; both billabong while open and clean have very little barra action in them at present – too many smaller Tarpon. Given time these will no doubt fire and start producing some very fine fish this year. Good reports are still coming in from Shady Camp with some large fish and some good numbers still being reported. Jewies can be found on the jewie reefes when the weather permits. I have had a couple of good reports from both the East and South Alligators with some very good catches occurring at the mouth of the South for both Barra and assorted reef fish.

The reports from the Adelaide River have been very mixed with some of the locals slaying them and others missing out not even getting a scale. Cherabin numbers appear to have dropped off in recent weeks.

The harbours have all been reporting well with regular reports of good catches of Jewies, Snapper, Pikey Bream, Muddies and the odd Tuna school turning up around Mandorah, 6 Mile and further in the Darwin Harbour being a regular occurrence. The Muddies are big, full and plentiful in most of the Harbour Rivers with catches in the high teens a common thing.

Bynoe Harbour has been producing some nice Jewies and Goldies with my eldest son again managing to get himself a Jewie around the 110cm mark and a couple of nice bigger than pan sized Goldies during the middle of last week.

Shoal Bay has been one of the picks for Barra this last week with good catches coming from live bait fished around the snags. On customer reported yesterday that they managed to get to get some nice 80cm Barra in the low tide holes using Berkley Gulps when all else failed to produce. The crab population in the Little Howard and Hope Inlet has been nothing short of great. Getting to Shoal Bay Buffalo Creek has also been reporting well for both Barra and Muddies as has Mecket Creek.

Offshore the reports have been very patchy as the wind gods have made it near on impossible for the smaller boats to get out. The fishos lucky enough to get out offshore have been doing real well with big catches being reported in the vicinity of the Peron Islands and Point Jenny. Catches of Red Emperors and Coral Trout have been the highlights for those getting out past the Perons while around the Perons big Goldies and big Trickies have been the norm mixed with some large Jewies. The Barra scene has been doing well between the Perons and the mouth of the Daly River. Reports from the Finniss Rivers have been disappointing at the moment with the best results coming from the freshwater Finniss River.

My mate Joynsie recently went for a trip off Darwin battling the seas and the winds for a last gasp attempt at a NT Sailfish. He was in the store this morning reliving the experiences that occurred for him but I am sworn to secrecy as to where he was at the time needless to say that it was local and for further advice, tips, techniques, and tackle for the chance to head out for your go at one of these magnificent sea creatures come and see us at the store. We are here Mon to Sat 8am – 6pm and Sun 8am – 3pm.

Mike and his first Dundee Sailfish

What a weekend!

Friday I managed to get away as planned and took a couple of mates to Dundee for a spot of bottom bouncing and some sail hunting. The weather gods smiled on us, the fish played the game and the day was nearly perfect.

The Sail scene is nothing short of balistic at the moment with Sail Fish nearly everywhere. My good mate Joynsie managed to land his first NT Sail Fish over some of my favourite grounds off Dundee after a very short period of time tolling the Soft Head Pluggas on sale in the shop. He also managed to raise a number (in excess of 15) more during the day. His counterpart Jarboy managed to get a couple of nice Mackeral under his belt that same trip. I took a mate Brad on my boat and though we were mainly targeting bottom fish we too managed to raise a good number of Sails and small Blacks in and around the same area and in the vacinity of Sail City.

On the bottom scene the Stripies were as thick as thieves with some cracker 45 – 50 cm fish caught mixed witha lot of smaller bait sized stripies amongst them all around Long Lost however there were also some nice Tricky Snapper in with them. After getting a few Stripies for bait we headed towards Sail City to chase some larger bottom dwellers  and succeeded in getting a few nice Red Emperor, larger Tricky Snapper, a few Rosy Job Fish and a Trout or two. Brad managed to out fish me on the Red Emperors as all I seemed to manage was Tricky after Tricky.

The Tuna schools while being everywhere consisted of very small fish to less than 1kg. Perfect bait schools for the maurading Sail Fish.

On return to the boat ramp I spoke to a number of fishermen who had tackled the Finniss River with the plethora of other boats. Most reported that the rivers had appeared to close down and the barra were very hard to get. The ones caught all appeared to be good quality solid fish but there definately is not the numbers there that were there the last few weeks. Speaking with other crews that had fished around Blaze they reported getting some thumper Goldies and a few nice Jewies.

6 Mile and the harbour wrecks have all been producing quality Goldies and smaller Jewies. There have been some scattered reports of Mackeral showing up around Lee Point and the Bottle Washer while further afield there have been good reports of big Goldies and assorted reef fish around some of the other artificial reefs. Charlie Chambers has said that his customers have been doing really well with Goldies. Charlie himself managed to pick himself up a nice sized Black Marlin last weekend.

Dean Blackman with his biggest yet - a 102cm barra from the mouth of Shady Camp

One of our regular customers Dean Blackman dropped in yesterday and happened to mention that he joined the meter club on the weekend with a very solid fish trolled up at the mouth of Shady Camp. He also explained that they managed to get a few other fish there too. Others are comming in saying that they are still getting good fish at the mouths in Chambers Bay however there appears to be more Salmon than Barra being caught.

Reports from the Adelaide and the Aligators have been very promising with the best reports coming from the upsteam section of the South Aligator, 1 crew reported catches in the region of 40 fish.

The reports of muddies have been patchy at present however the ones that are filtering in have me planning a trip in the near future. The pick of the spots for a feed appear to be Bynoe Harbour, Shoal Bay and the deeper water in the Elizabeth and Middle Arms.

Kelsey Considine with a great Goldie taken last week off Dundee!

Its is a case of deja’vu all week -  the Finniss River is going off with catches in the 20’s per boat. Reports of fish in the 80s and 90s more common than the reports of smaller fish. Speaking with a few people that have been fishing there recently they had intended on fishing the rock bars but barely got past the mouth.

The Little Finniss is also fishing well but the reports are fewer possibly because of less anglers fishing there.

On the harbour scene one of our customers Mark came in saying that he has had a couple of good sessions on snapper in Middle Arm drifting squid baits near the rock bars while waiting for his pots. The crab scene has been good from all reports but they seem to have backed off in numbers some what. The deeper waters on the incoming tides still seem to get a feed.

Reports filtering in from Shoal Bay tell a similar story with some good catches happening but not to the extent of before the rain. The barra seem to be a bit more prolific in Shoal Bay than the harbour at the moment. Most report that if the bait are there than the barra are there if there is no mullet most are saying it is not worth hanging around.

Adelaide River has again proven itself the challenge that it normally has been with a few reported on lures and more taken on live cherabin and tarpon. With the recent rains these neap tides should see an improvement around the mouths of Beatrice, Last Cast, Second Maraki and Manton Creeks over the change of the high tide and the first part of the outgoing tides.

Shady Camp is still throwing up the odd report of excellent fishing but as a couple of customers have reported you need to be there at the right time. The South Aligator has had differing reports, just yesterday I had 2 customers in here who had fished the South Aligator at the same time without knowing it 1 crew caught fish and 1 didn’t with both fishing downstream near the mouth.

Eugene Odell came in today and said that he had been fishing in Bynoe Harbour last weekend and managed to get a couple of barra and went to Corroboree Billabong and tangled with a number of tarpon over and over again.

I have not spoken to anyone who has been fishing the Daly River at the moment but with the Barra Classic starting yesterday I am sure we will start to get reports as to how the river is fishing following the last lot of rain hopefully there will be a bit more action there for the teams than there was for me when I was there a couple of weeks ago.

Charlie Chambers came in yesterday and let us know that they have been doing well in the Harbour on the 1/2 day charters for jewies. This has been reported from customers but again it has been a case of you need to be there when the fish are there. 6mile has been producing some nice snapper and some assorted reef fish on a regular basis.

The offshore scene has been relatively quiet for reports at the moment with the main reports coming from the Perons, Sail City and Dundee with good catches of the normal reef fish and the raising of sail after sail. There are some good reports of Mackeral being caught offshore from Fenton Patches to Sail City. I am hopefully going to be able to report on this scene first hand after Friday when I spend a day chasing the illusive Sail Fish intertwined with some serious bottom bouncing chasing Goldies, Coral Trout and Red Emperor.

 It has been a hard decision to make between the Finniss River Barramundi and Sail Fish so I am hoping that we wont be disappointed.

On the fishing scene there have been some very good reports coming in and there are also some not so good. From all reports the saltwater Finniss River is the pick of the spots at the moment for the barra fishermen. I have been speaking to a lot of people who have fished the Finniss River and have had numerous reports of in excess of 15 fish per boat.

Shady Camp is still fishing well for some people with some very respectable fish being caught the mouths of both Sampan and Tommycut. A friend of mine that works for a charter operator in the area said that he has recently managed a couple of fish well over the magic meter mark away from the mouth. The jewfish hunters have been reporting some solid catches at the jewie reefs out from Sampan.

A mate, Joe, and I went for a fish to the Daly River last Saturday for very little reward. The water was very low and the fish were few and far between. We started at Tommy’s Creek for a flick managing a few rats and some Long Toms. From there we travelled downstream fishing No Fish, the S Bends, Elizabeth Creek and Cat Fish Creeks with limited success bagging just one legal sized barra for the day. Talking to both people on the river and at Banyan Farm the fishing at the Daly has been very hard recently and the only way that most people are managing a good haul of barra is by tempting them with a well presented live Cherabin. There have been some reports of good fish being caught mainly at night near Clear Creek with a few exceptions along the way, Dennis Smart and his wife managed about 17 fish to 80cm on Saturday fishing a little secret snag some distance downstream from where Joe and I were.

There was a good colour change and run off coming from nearly all the creeks but there was not the fish to go with it. While we were at Lizzy Creek there were a few smaller boofs and a couple of rats taken on other boats on live bait. Cat Fish Creek was alive with boofs upstream amongst the snags and fallen timber but again these were mainly smaller sounding fish and impossible to get to without treking up the muddy banks (no thanks not too sure if the life insurance covers crocodile attacks while chasing barra).

A customer visiting from NSW explained that they had been at the Daly for the spring tides and there was a number of barra caught during the week all on live cherabin.  He explained that as the tide moved to the neap phase the fish went off the bite – typical I visited too late.

Corroboree is now open but from all reports that I have had this week there is still too much water out there and this recent rain will do nothing to drop the levels. The road out there is great at the moment just watch the softer spot a few km from the ramp.

The Adelaide River has become quite a challenge to get fish for most however I did have a customer come in and show photos of a 96cm specimen caught in Manton Creek. Again with this recent rain hopefully the river levels will rise a bit and produce another mini runoff for the Adelaide during the next set of neaps.

Bluewater reports have also been very mixed with most reports of it being too rough to venture too far off shore. One customer reported that they fishing at the Peron Islands from Wednesday to Monday last week and managed 79 good barra and a great selection of assorted reef fish and jewies. A mate Crash went for a fish off of Dundee last Friday and reported that it was too rough to have a good fish but still managed to get a good number of solid Trickies and Goldies. The weather prevented Crash from chasing sails and Tuna schools.

The sail scene seems to be hotting up quite nicely for this time of year last weekend a close friend (who does not want to be named) went to an area where we fished the Bill Fish comp last year and he explained that he was trolling some serious skirts in hopes to raise a sail or two. He managed a large hit on one of the teasers that broke the engine wash in a big way. He said that he saw evidence of sails but never managed a to get a hook up this time round. He did end up with a number if good tuna on the Kokoda Soft Head Pluggas that he got from us here at the shop.

My eldest son Aaron and some mates from work went to Bynoe Harbour last Wednesday and managed to pick up two jewies from out the front of Crab Claw the first was 1.01m and the next 1.09m. They also managed a number of smaller reef fish.

On the crabbing scene there have been excellent reports coming from both harbours, Saltwater Arm and Shoal Bay crabbing the deeper water on the incoming tide using chicken carcasses as bait with some huge full bucks being caught. Last week I managed to get a feed from Middle Arm with most of the crabs coming from the main Blackmore River and not so many from up the creeks. This can only change once this rain leaves us and the dry season starts.

Tony Considine got onlto a mob of big goldies wide off Dundee last week. Many of them were over 8 kilos!

As the rest of Darwin are readying themselves to return to work after the four day break I am sitting in the shop looking at the literal flotilla of boats heading home. There have been a lot of very good reports from most of the fishos coming into the shop.

I would say that 90% of the fishos that ventured out for Easter caught their fair share of barra, jewies and mudcrabs. The reports of good catches of muddies have been flowing in from Darwin Harbour, Bynoe Harbour, Saltwater Arm and Shaol Bay. Catches of 12 to 18 good bucks have not been unusual. The unusual thing is that at the moment the crabs are coming from the harbour areas and not from the creeks.A mate and I  went to Shoal Bay last week and secured a dozen very healthy very full bucks in time for Easter.

On the barra scene it seems that the net closure at the Finniss must be just what the doctor ordered as  reports are that are  more barra there than fishermen at the moment. As hard as that is to believe with the number of boats at Dundee on any given weekend. Reports from Corroboree are looking good however very patchy. I was speaking with a local from down the track yesterday and he claimed that he and his family boated 8 nice solid barra but he admitted that there was a lot of water between the fish and still a lot of water over the flood plains. A few others that I spoke to said that they did not do too well with 1 or 2 and others claimed that they were only able to catch good solid tarpon and saratoga. If you’re interested in Tarpon, well its the place to go – they seem to be hanging around in massive schools at the moment.

The Adelaide River seems to have reverted back to being a challenge for barra fishermen with not a lot of reports coming in of fish being caught. On Friday I ventured to the Adelaide mainly to tow back a mates boat that broke down near Goat Island but could not resist the opportunity to try for a barra or two so armed with a Guns and Roses Bomber, a Gold Bomber and selection of Hollow Bellies me and my eldest son attempted to turn Beatrice, Last Cast and some of the other creeks to foam without success. Talking to Kye at Goat Island there has not been a lot of fish caught in the Adelaide River for these tides however there are large numbers of cherabin available.

The few reports that I have received from further afield from Dundee have been mixed with reports of great catches from Channel Point and around the Perons anything from jewies, big reds, trout, snapper and sail fish to it being too rough to get too far offshore for the smaller boats. One customer came in this morning and explained that he and a mate went to a spot about 30 mile off Dundee over Easter and cleaned up on big Red Emperor, big Nannygai and Coral Trout. The reached their bag limit in 1 ½ hours each day. He said that there were sails everywhere out there but they were not interested in chasing them so they left them alone. 

 The upcoming sail fish season will be an absolute cracker if it continues to improve from here. Reports are that there were a number of sails raised and boated that weekend with a friend of mine catching and releasing 3 all around the 1.2m mark.

On the last neap tides I took a couple of blokes for a bottom bash of Long Lost managing a few nice trickies, goldies, cod, red emperor and other assorted reef fish all in the morning with the off shore breezes. Later that day the tuna started busting up everywhere outside of Long Lost. Not wanting to miss out on the fun we went chasing them only to find that there were small and medium sails all through the schools. Not having any sail gear with us we had to just put up with the sails attacking the tuna spinners on our retrieve. Having learnt my lesson I now have a selection of Kokoda Soft Head Pluggas on board in a range of sizes just for moments like these.