Happy Micks Fishing Report

Anyone who has spent time in a tackle shop would realise how emotive is the subject of broken fishing rods.

There is no more upset  customer than an angler who has just popped his $500 rod, usually at the third or fourth guide down from the tip. And we’ve all done it. I have my own collection of butts and tips broken but too precious to be rid of.

Over the last fifteen or so years, I reckon I’ve seen just about all the methods used. Apart from putting it into an overhead fan, or shutting it in a car door, the two standout methods are highsticking a fish or trying to get a lure off a snag.

Both methods are highly effective rod wreckers, especially since the advent of no stretch braided line. Both methods also often cause angry and highly indignant anglers to storm their local tackle shop angrily demanding their money back or replacement of faulty good! A tackle shop nightmare, often overcome by patient and calming explanations and at times understanding though definatley not liable manufactuers!

I thought I’d seen it all, but no. Wait. A new, revolutionary rod breaking method has now been discovered by our own Brenton Marschke. Not content with popping one rod on a tuna yesterday, due to an over enthusiastic use of the drag, he has passed all bounds of the imagination with his new “pre lunch” method!

It’s quite easy. First catch a fish. Bigger the better, at least one good enough to skite about!

run the butt of the rod through the bait bucket immediatly before posing for the photograph

Get your mate to take the photo, holding the fish well out in front of you so as to make it appear bigger. Get your rod and reel, (the expensive one you are so proud of, that’s caught all your best fish recently) and hold it firmly in your mouth, thus proving that you actually caught this fish and it didn’t just jump into the boat! Then, snap! You have a good photo.

Then snap! You've got your photo!

This is good photographic practice, however, a warning note. This method is best used after lunch, or at least a significant snack, as it appears that the hungry angler can crunch too heavily into the delicate carbon fibres of the blank, causing irrreprable damage. As brenton found out on his next hook up, when the rod broke off at the but right where he bit it!!!

I’ve given a lot of thought about this, and dont want to discourage the creative use of photography to record a good catch. (Besides, breaking rods is really good for business)  So what I have decided is to advise anglers to run the butt of the rod through the bait bucket immediatly before posing for the photograph. That way the rod should remain undamaged by severe teeth marks during the photography, and can be wiped clean later!

Your comments are invited!

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..

A small Sailfish charges across a glassed off sea in protest to a hookup!

 ”What  happens then is anyone’s guess, we could even be catching billfish in Darwin Harbour!”

Sail sail sail! No,  it’s not the half yearly bargain sale that happens this time of year, but the scream of reels and fishos as sailfish appear in large numbers off the Dundee coast. This awesome occurrence has every blue water fisherman buzzing. Fishing folk are floating into the shop, grinning from ear to ear   with tales and sightings of  40 or more sailfish in a session. Having them coming up behind the boat, smashing trolled skip baits or pushers,  and even having a go at the teasers that are only just off the motor wash. One fisho said there were three or four fighting for the skip bait all lit up and ready for action.

There are some great jump shots of fish that you would normally associate with happy snaps from Broome or the north coast of Queensland,  but never here off the coast of the Northern Territory. Many local fishos who have never really fished for bill fish, or in fact never even seen one,  are really getting in some great practise. With so many chances to hook and land a sail fish or Marlin at the moment in these area you have to wonder how long will it last? 

And it begs another question. It seems everyone is heading west to Dundee, so why ain’t they in the areas that are fished for billfish just off the Darwin coast? Maybe they are there,  and we are missing out right on our door step.

A rampaging Dundee Sail protests the hook lodged in its mouth!

Before we consider the answer to that one, we should probably ask why they are here in such numbers anyway. Mike and Tony were out at Dundee on Sunday and they both came home high as kites, without actually landing one fish!

“Along with a lot of others out there at the moment, we are on a pretty fast learning curve.” says Mike. “ We were trolling an area just east of Sail City along with about a dozen other boats. They all appeared to be well rigged, with teasers, good looking skip baits and skipping gar, all the stuff that has been working so well for a couple of weeks, and yet in three hours not one boat hooked up. We know that the day before there were numerous hook ups and many landed at the same spot so something had changed.”

“As the wind dropped and the ripple went off the water, we started to actually see individual Sail’s rising and feeding on the surface. It wasn’t long before they were everywhere, and the boats were actually  trolling through the feeding fish and still not hooking up. We decided to start sight fishing, and over the next hour or so cast just about everything in the box to the feeding fish. We had a couple of takes on pilchards, and follows on lures but no actual hookups. At one stage we had two fish of about 50lbs rise up directly under us, so close could have touched them with one of our rods. I guess in a couple of hours we would have seen about fifty and cast at thirty. Like he said we were high as kites seeing more billfish than we had collectively seen in a lifetime! Of interest; there was a guide who was catching them. His clients were about as lit up as the fish as they pulled in about half a dozen fish just drifting around on the glassed out sea. In deference to the guide, who had obviously got out of the square and found a method that worked, I won’t divulge here how he did it, but if you want to call into the shop we’ll give you the drum. Of course there are no prizes for working out where Tony and I will be this Sunday, or what method we will be using, so watch this space!”

“We’ve heard a lot of theories about what is really quite an amazing event. Old mate Hurley of aquarium fame was in during the week, and he was saying that there are generally more fish around just about everywhere than he can remember in the last thirty years. Thats a big call, but it led into a discussion about the sailfish and we think its a combination of an unusual spawning event bought about in turn by an unusual planton or microcosm coming into the area and starting a food chain. He heard of a spawning of sailfish near Mellvile Island earlier in the year, and the area between the Tiwis and the Vernos was alive with juvenille sailfish earlier in the month, even though there appeared to be very littler bait or tuna schools in the area at  the time.”

They were treating the boat as structure and cover!

“Tony and I were coming back from out wide a couple of weeks ago, and though there were not many tuna schools around, we stumbled upon an amazing event just wide of Bowra Shoals. The size and intensity of this bust up attracted us, and unlike other schools we had approached during the day, skittish and gone under as soon as we got within hearing, this school  ignored our approach and we soon realised why. We witnessed the most amazing event we had ever seen on the water – the remnant of a once large bait school being totally destroyed by pelagics and predators. We were so close the bait surrounded the boat as though we were covering structure, totally ignoring our presence and trying to use us as cover, while dolphins large sharks and mackeral, tuna queenfish  and goodness knows what destroyed what was left of the bait school. We had sharks charging the boat, tuna cut in half and tossed into the air, and the blood left a deep stain on the ocean. I’m sure you’ll understand that with a few minutes the only gear we had left functioning was a couple of light baitcasters. ”

A nice mackie caught on an Abu Revo baitcaster! Nice drag!

“I’ve talked to quite a few people about this, guys who’ve fished the area all their lives, and no one had seen anything quite like this.”

“I guess what we’re saying is that we are in the midst of a quite significant event. While the water out wide last week was as clear as tap water, in places it was clouded with some form of plankton or microbe.   There is a tiny shrimp around at the moment that even the aquarium guys have never seen before, and we think the small baitfish that are spewing from the sails as they are landing are feeding on them. Whether this has all come about by a change in currents, or warmer water – well who knows. It’s interesting to realise that this is all happening so early in the season, because there really aren’t all that many tuna around yet. Sonn the weather cool the water down, and the Long Tail Tuna schools will arrive in force, really stirring up the food chain.  What  happens then is anyone’s guess, we could even be catching billfish in Darwin Harbour!”

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.

Here’s another long weekend, so again, where do we go and what are the options?

There are some areas that are really firing up, and its going to be a great weekend in the blue water if the wind stays away. You must admit the dry season has given us only a few cooler mornings so far, and the water temperature has not dropped all that much. The cooler weather shouldn’t be too far away though.

Big Mac’s all around at Lee Point and surrounding areas, the Bottlewasher, and Rick Mills have been producing some good action with big mackerel, jewfish and tuna giving fishos a run for their money. There’s been some big shark sightings around Lee Point so you would think with that much berley put in the water the action would be thick and fast! Perhaps that’s why there’s been a few really large mackerel getting some serious air free jumping over twenty feet out of the water. Great to see! East Point has also been producing descent Mackerel and some tuna school are working this area. Darwin Harbour is going great guns again from Bream to Snapper, Barramundi and Blue Salmon all providing action and interest. and good reports of jewfish being caught on the many wrecks that are in the harbour.

Many of the estauries have been giving up some good crabs. I was talking to an old crabber and he says that next month is the best time of the whole year for mud crabs. So happy day if he is right, with most of the fifty litre crab cookers that are walking out the door providing folk with there fair share of this tasty crustacean. The Elizabeth has produced some monster crabs, as well as Shoal Bay and some parts of the mouth of the Adelaide River..

Still in Shoal Bay and Adelaide river mouth, jewfish have been landed around the Rock and the Narrows, and some barra have been taken on live bait in Shoal Bay. The jewfish have been taking local squid and fresh fillet of mullet – great fun going ballistic in shallow water. There are good numbers of blue salmon over the huge mud flats, that have been getting into mullet and smaller gar fish, taking live bait intended for barra as well as threadfin salmon. Land based fisher people have been getting into them from East Point. One costumer got done over big time and ended up getting spooled. He said ”it never slowed up at all, once he gave the rod a couple of big hits to set the hook, it just locked on to the horizon and kept on motoring.”

Around Larrakeyah and Stokes Hill Wharf tuna and Queenfish have been popping up withincasting distance, with the odd jewfish getting landed on the Stokes Hill Wharf. Live bait if you can get it, but Halco chromes or maribou jigs are the best to use off the wharf. Channel Island foreshore has a wide range of fish being caught from bluebone to barra and travelly. Town Hall has seen the odd jewfish on the change of tide, Middle Arm has been good on the many rock bars for a Bream and Snapper, and the Elizabeth is also producing some stonker bream. One customer got stuck a session of them on the upper reaches of the river .

If you want to get further afield the on this Queens Birthday long weekend the Mighty Daly River has been outstanding. Its still producing some awesome fishing, with plenty of nice size fish around the 60cm to 70cm but also a lot of big fish are moving onto the river with these making tides. Many tourist that visit this river came into the shop to restock lures and tackle and told me that they had the best week, catching fish in the 80 and 90cm range, and also two over the metre mark one going a massive 117cm. (Not bad for a first timer. These fish were released by the way) He also added that deep diving lures were just as good as live bait and they were preffering lures because there was no need to going through the trouble to get live bait.   We’ve also heard of another half dozen well over the metre trolling, and rumours of a 122cm on fly! Good times down there at the moment and it keeps getting backed up by some excited fisherman trying to hold back on how well its going, but not disclosing where on the river. From what I’m hearing they’ve not been travelling as far as up Elizabeth. It seems that bigger and building tides have been the most productive on the Daly, so this weekend should be a stonker!

I’m hearing the mouth of the South has been good also, with the mouth of Brook Creek producing some great barra and salmon. Golden Snapper and Jewfish are plentiful around the islands. Another good place and always tangle with barra this time of the year is Yellow Waters. It has heaps to offer and they have been getting a few down there. Good place to get away and very pretty place this time of year. Shady Camp is another place where you would be assured of a barra. There’s a lot of smaller barra coming from the fresh water side of Shady Camp and as the tide changes at the mouth they are getting into some nice fish. Weather permitting the jewfish out the front of Sampan will be worth a trip.

Hardies has been good, with fish around the 65 plus and a few 80cm fish starting to show up. With the full moon this weekend Hardies and Coroborree may be well worth a shot at night. The night time fishing is where you pick up your bigger fish and with the days producing few barra maybe the night time option might be a better choice. Remember to make sure your boat has ample lighting when fishing at night; its not a very good place to be in the water at night with all those snapping logs if you have an accident with a fellow boaty!

So with good tides this up and coming weekend it seems the only thing that will determine where people will go will be the wind factor. If it holds, Dundee will be another great spot. With sailfish and many reef fish on hand around the Perons, Point Blaze and wide off Dundee itself. Do remember to watch the weather, and if you are in a smaller boat, Darwin habour with its many arms and estauries has plenty to offer, and with the bigger bream showing up, and mud crabs around it will be a good family outing. Have a great long weekend, stay safe on the water, sun smart tight lines..