Happy Micks Fishing Report

Well that’s the first long weekend out the way, and the weather was kind enough to get out and do a bit. The reports that have come in indicate that some rivers need more rain to kick  life into a runoff, and others have too much,  where the water is flowing into the feeder creeks rather then running out.  The Daly is doing this now, all this is pretty much normal for this time of year.

l went out on Monday for a look along the Adelaide in the Marrikai area. This is one of the rivers that has some run off and all it needs is a good week of consistent rain to make it happen and then l think you should see this flood well and truely. With the torrential rain we had last night and more on the way this shoul;d be just enough to give it more of a  flush and get some good water flowing out into the main system. There is already some  water on the flood plains above the bridge,  but it needs a bit more to get it running into the river.  l know this as we got bogged a few times trying to get back out. The ground is soaked so we just need a good monsoon burst to help things along, and keep the micro life cycle going, hopefully to maturity as this is what kick starts the whole feeding frenzy later in the run off.  Hopefully the weather will deliver this shortly, so  its all looking good and February is usually our wettest month. 

 The Darwin Harbour was a popular spot for the long weekend with  bait sales through the shop proof of that. There are  reports of golden snapper and jewfish being  caught out at the Six Mile. One boat had a good session on them on the change of tide getting their limit. Some  of the jewfish were an awesome size, up to19kg and the rest around the 12kg mark. this can make for an interesting time when using the sort of gear usually reserved for barra,  but fun was had by all. Also, as we predicted,  the main part of the harbour itself, around the sides of the shipping channels off Larrakeyah,  had some really nice mixed reef fish come into the boat. 

Charles Point seems to have been a bit quiet, so if you dont have to travel that far for a good feed of reef and jewfish at the moment thats a bonus.  And if a big storm brews up you’re not too far from the boat ramp.

Fish are feeding and rampaging through the schools of jelly prawns that are in the harbour arms in clouds with  tiny shrimp and bigger one skipping all over the place at the first sign of any predator coming anywhere near them . This a good sign, so keep a look out for the prawns bouncing around on the surface, it means there is something hunting them. Thats when you  have a few casts into the area  the prawns are fleeing from, twitching the rod so the lure looks injured, and it may entice them to strike..

 The people that dont have boats had a good time getting pulled around by some healthy size trevally and the odd Queenfish.  l was told of large numbers of Golden Trevally  working a school of shrimp on the Palmerston side of Channel Island bridge, but they said there were some even bigger G.T  in amongst them. Good  friend Ion had a good session on the G.T’s landing half a dozen and many more stikes up to 5kg. Good fun on light tackle!

 l was up the Elizabeth River and caught some good snapper,  and we could have caught  three or four decent size muddies in the landing net,  as they were taking  dead bait intended for snapper and jacks. So there are still  a few crabs around, always the way when you dont take the crab pots..

 A few boats went around from Buffalo Creek to Howard River with mixed results. Rain is making the river system very dirty on the low tide,  but some anglers said that some major feeding went on when the tide come back in. Big  boofs all over and full on for about half hour then went quiet. The water was very dirty but we managed one that went 98cm, just  two short of the magic metre mark.

 Bynoe harbour was another spot that seemed to be going ok,  with some good snapper and jewfish around Indian island, jacks and salmon in many arms and creek systems. The rain  didnt do any one any favours. Just when you didn’t want it at low tide making it very dirty,  but the Jacks didn’t mind it as they kept on the bite. There were not too many crabs around either,  and the sharks were on the job for those that bottom bounced. Once they come in its a time too move to find another stop…

With big tides this weekend chasing a barra and salmon is on the cards,  with an abundance of prawns now in the harbour arms makes thing a bit more of a challenge,  but not impossible. To get a few barra or salmon in the boat keep changing your lure around,  even down size lure selection to match the hatch -   small bombers or even plastics.

Lights camera action with the famous Shady Camp opening this weekend. There will be a line of boats up right back to Point Stuart lodge,  All waiting their turn to launch at midnight as they are ambushed by the thousand of mosquitios that look like Mini F-18’s.  Tommy Cut will be the main area where people are heading as this holds some big female barra this time of year. So get the cameras working and release the big girls for the future, so be sun smart good luck and get amongst them

What difference a week makes! The weather is still hot with humid days,  but the wind has all but blown it self out,  with some nice smooth days out on the water. 

Some fisherman have been taking advantage of these condition with good reports coming in from the Vernon Islands where the pelagic fanatics are getting good numbers of quality macks trevally and reef fish, and a few good snapper at Hotham.

The harbours still hold good numbers of snapper and barramundi, but last week just on low tide storms did fisherman no favours,  with the gutters pumping chocolate coloured water, and making things even more difficult to fish. This is the sign for the barra and salmon  to get stuck right into the jelly prawns, which often makes it even more frustrating.  

My mate Dean was up in West Arm last week and saw some great barra action,  with the water alive with big boofing barra. He said some were quite impressive, but he also said that the water was very dirty. He managed to get a few around the sixty mark;  sometimes you just have to keep throwing those lures at them to get a result but if you get them its worth the effort…

 Elizabeth River is also has been fishing  well. There have been good  reports of gutters and rock bars producing fish. Barra and snapper have been the main catches and jack have been in amongst them,

Really good quality squid are producing best results (as always) and Jewfish have been giving anglers  curry on some of the habour wrecks, East Arm and some of the better known holes. Ditto for Bynoe Harbour. With great tides this weekend it might be a chance to get out there and give it shot. 

A bit further afield Adelaide River Narrows has been another likely spot for a Jewfish Snapper and even Barra.  There are quite a few boats heading out at the moment. At the Rock in Shoal Bay calmer weather saw one crew do well on the barra, getting amongst some quality fish,  (two were in the 90″s) and a couple of threadies as well. Live bait or big lures such as Nilsmasters, Killalure 8+ are the undoing a lot of fish around the Rock and surrounding creeks.   Great tides for  King Creek trolling the mouth on the out going, again big lures are the key.. 

 Channel Island has been good for the land based fisho’s with great numbers of Queenfish and Trevally herding bait schools up on both the out and in coming tides. Watch for “nervous” water movement; that  is when the predators are working the bait toward the surface when they have no where else to go. Small plastics and Maribou Jigs are the lure of choice, but a speedily cranked popper wiil also excite them.  There also still good numbers of Blue Bone and Snapper getting caught whilst soaking a bait and waiting for the schools of Queenfish to come through .

 The Daly has been fishing well. Its still early but they have been getting them because the river has dropped a bit from last week. Trouble is,  all it takes  is rain above the crossing and the river rises again very quickly. Its a hard river to fish this river on the way up, so look fotr times when it consistently dropping and it will fire!.

 East alligator has been giving mixed reports. Some people have been getting barra and others have been lucking out. Still too early.

There have been a few good reports coming in from the South, mostly at Nourlangie and the southern  floodplains on the top of the push in tides. Adam Sikyr was there and reports  an absolutely monstrous croc.  reportedly about 4.5 metres,  hanging out in the bushes next to the cleaning tables at the ramp, so be careful as always. We’ve seen the photos and this is a seriously big beast!

If we don’t get more good rain or another monsoon flow soon, all that early good rain before Christmas is going to be wasted. However, February is our wettest month so our chances are still very good. Another burst in the next few weeks will ensure  2009 is another great barra year in all our major rivers and billabongs.

So with good tides for the weekend and no major wind take advantage of this and get out and wet a line. The afternoon storms are starting to build so an early out early back strategy will pay dividends on the se tides.

 Well it seems that the rain is has eased off for a little bit. Cyclone Charlotte has gone to far north Queensland, at least for a while, and its taken our rain with it. I’m sure we’ll see more as our monthly average is way down. Most of the major river systems were getting some rain and river levels are quite good, and the Daly and the South Alligator have been fishing well with good run off coming into the river.  l must say they have been catching them out off the trees,  the water is up there over some of the lower  banks  already. Its funny to catch them out of there  but exciting at the same time. The first push of water out of the creeks are good but it will get harder if the river is up and running hard. Thats what it looks like for this weekend as there is a lot of water to come down from Katherine,  so it will be running hard and strong. Last week fish up to eighty have been coming from this run off from the Daly, with Elizabeth fishing really well for up to 30 fish per day.

The South Alligator has been producing mixed  reports. Where the flood plains run into the river there are  good quality fish on plastic and hard body lures. There have no really big stand outs on which lure  is working best but as long as you’ve  got a few Killalures 8+ to 12+ Classics and Reidys Rubbers or Squidgies l don’t think you can go to far wrong. Just keep changing things and you will more than likely come up with  a winning combination. This will get you a few nice barra. Find that good colour change and large back eddies as these are your best bet. Try some thing different; dont be afraid to throw it up in to the trees. You might be surprised,  the fish that have been coming from them have been good salt water silver fish,  but take care around the creeks or run off as there have been a few big crocs showing up that have more front then Myers Stores! Have a good look before netting and releasing fish back..  

 Closer to home the Darwin Harbour is still performing consistently with some good barra catches coming  and those elusive salmon have been the regular catch. With the big tides and the odd dodging of storms the fishing has been  good and the snappper bite is still happening around the rock bars. Some bigger barra have been keeping some of our customers on their toes,  with some of them feeding when the tide moves back in. Its been awesome to watch and there are some real monsters  amongst,  them so it’s looking up for the harbour. Some quality fish have been seen in Little West Arm and the top of West Arm. Elizabeth River has been producing some size barra feeding with the jelly prawns and giving the mullet a fair old pounding. Its hard to get a strike when they are in this mode,  but keep trying – things will happen!

Fish up to 80cm have been caught up in these arms. Another fish that seems to be showing up regularly is the Mangrove Jack.  These hard pulling fish have been giving people grief  in the Elizabeth River using fresh mullet fillets as bait and at a good size too….

Shoal Bay has been quite for a bit, but l think its because of the poor weather we have been copping. Its been rough traveling along the coast so hopefully this weekend will calm off and we get to hear of some good reports from Shoal Bay. Over all l hope the rain does not stay away for too long and we get those big monsoonal showers happening again. The bottom of the Adelaide below the bridge needs it as Mike went for a long spin towards the mouth during the week and didnt find enough run off water to fill a bucket!

Heaps of likely spots but no water coming from them. So the Habour and Shoal Bay will be my picks weather permitting and later in the week the Narrows at the mouth of the Adalaide river for a jewfish or barra.. tight lines and be sun smart.

The fishing has been all over show recently and can be quite different from one day to the next.

One day you can be fishing in a spot that was working OK; next day it dosn’t. It goes to show that the right-time right-place theory works every time. There is a  lot of great fishing close to home at the moment. The habour arms have been the choice places as the blue water out from Darwin has been less then kind to the bigger boats (or to any boats for that matter!)

 The harbour arms have been producing quality fish,  including some very impressive snapper around the kilo mark. We have been hearing this for a while,  and one crew came into the shop after a half days fishing to show us the size of these snapper they had been getting.  They are a great sized snapper for the harbour for sure, and they are getting these fish not just one area of the harbour, but most of the arms are producing. Elizabeth River and West Arm have been the two main hot spots,  after the tide has changed and on the way  back to to the high. They have been leaving them biting,   moving up with the tide, casting into the gutters,  and picking up a barra as well as some quality jacks right up the top of the creeks.  Channel Island has been another good spot for the land based fisherman with Queenfish getting stuck into bait fish on the incoming tide. There are some good  trevally in the mix as well, so with nothing better to do try locking horns with this fish,  they are great fun on any gear and always exciting hits when they are going for your lures.

 The big rivers have been getting good rain: the Daly river is at 10.5metres and they have been getting heavier falls above Katherine,  so there is some good water on the way down. Some folks have been chancing their hand with some good results at some of the run offs already producing barra,  but its too hard to say whats going to happen yet.  In the higher area of the Mary River catchment they had 132mm of rain on Thursday of this week. Hopefully that will get down to the mouth and give it another great flush. Closer to home Shoal Bay has been fishing well but the weather has put a hold on a few trips to the Rock.  While the Howard River Boat Hire is closed the only way is through Buffalo Creek and the seas have not really been good enough. On the good days they have been getting good barra around The Rock and Spot Six.

 With the weather bureau predicting more  monsoon,  lets hope we continue to get good rains in the catchments.  The fishing from the culverts to the rivers will start picking up and it’s only a couple of weeks until Shady Camp opens again. Nows the time to start getting that plastics collection back up to scratch, so watch the weather and stay safe..