Happy Micks Fishing Report

by Douglas Hewett

Well as I sit here in the shop on Sunday (21/3) morning all I can see is the large dark rain cloud hovering over Palmerston. With now ex-tropical cyclone Ului heading across this vast land this sight might once again become a regular feature of our weather pattern by the end of the week hopefully over the catchment areas allowing us to get a third runoff for this season.

On the barra scene there are still lots of reports of barra being caught everywhere (except by me this week). Ray at the Buffalo Creek secure car park told me that he visited an area in Shoal Bay and managed 15 barra on Thursday last week. Mate Joe and I  went to the same area for a crab and fish; with the aim of finding some nice Shoal Bay muddies and hopefully a barra or two; but we managed to get a very respectable bag of a dozen big full muddies but as with the other boat in the river we could not find a barra on live bait or lure.

The other boat had a couple from Melbourne and a local fisho on board and they trolled and flicked the low tide hole with everything they had at their disposal for no result. Joe and I swam mullet near every snag and area that has in the past produced fish again for no result except a large cranky sting ray. Simon (one of the Melbournites) explained that they had just returned from a trip to the Roper and caught a few nice fish with the largest being 82cm.

 The quality of the crabs is nothing short of first class beautiful sweet meat and lots of it. Out of the dozen we potted there was only one female the rest were decent sized (up to 19.5cm across the carapace) bucks. All crabs were full and once steamed they were a delicious territory dinner for two nights.

 Yesterday I was speaking to a mate, and Palmerston local, Craig who said that he and his son made the trip into Mickets Creek and managed a nice bag of about 10kg of prawns.

 Reports are still flowing in about the barra at Shady Camp but watch the tides. There are a large number of bigger threadies amongst the barra and some can’t help but pick these up instead of the barra.

 The Adelaide River seems to have been a bit quiet this week with not too many reports filtering in to me here or at the Humpty Doo hotel about the river. I am still hopeful that there will be some good action there for me during this next set of neap tides look out Last Cast, Beatrice, Manton and Bald Hill creeks I will be visiting all these areas this week with a new selection of River 2 Sea Fizzers and Bubble Pops.

 On the River 2 Sea side of things those of you interested in flicking the lilly pads and weed banks of the billabongs when they are open we have a new selection of imitation frogs that by all impressions will be irresistible to both the barra and saratoga. Drop in and see for yourself.

 Out wide the jewies are still on the chew around Charles Point for those getting out there and off Dundee there have been some reports already of nice sail fish being raised and caught. The tuna schools are thick as off Blaze reef at the moment and the sails are further out wider than that. One of my former work colleagues said that he raised four and landed one small one out wide between Blaze and Sail City last week.

 There have been no real reports of mackerel as yet. If you have been lucky enough to get onto mackerel in your last few trips I would be more than interested in hearing your reports. I am at this stage planning a trip out wide of Dundee again next weekend in the hopes of getting onto a few Spaniards for some reel squealing action.

As the title says crabs, barra and sails; not to forget jewies, salmon and prawns, what more can a territory fisho ask for.

by Brian Lund

Well what can we say the fishing has been nothing short of magnificent no matter what species you are targeting. From the mighty saltwater barramundi to the coastal jewfish to the blue water reds and pelagic there is a fish or two there for everyone.

 We have had a vast number of reports flooding into the shop of huge barra being taken left, right and centre in all of the Darwin and surrounding river systems.  Be it the Adelaide River, the Daly River, Shady Camp, the Finniss Rivers, Shoal Bay, wide off Dundee or in the Harbour there is a fish there with your name on it.

 A good mate, Crash, and his partner went for a trip off Charles Point yesterday and bagged a more than decent catch of goldies and blue bone. They explained that there were a lot of bigger fish there but with the light tackle that they were using it was a bit hard to land them. All their fish were taken on local squid and pilchards.

 Another mate, Squizzy Taylor and some of his mates went to Shady for a few hours and trolled the mouth of Sampan and brought home some decent threadies to 95cm and they had a couple of very close calls with big barra loosing them to gill raking and broken leader line. Thus showing the requirement for good quality leader such as Penn 10X, Jinkai or the line of Braid Mate and Supreme leaders available at Happy Mick’s. Hopefully Squizzy may have learnt his lesson after loosing a couple of Reidy’s Big Bosses and Judges.

 My eldest son, Aaron and some of his work mates from Batchelor went to the Adelaide River on Friday and fished at the mouths of Beatrice, Manton and Scott Creeks for 7 take home bara and released at least another 12. All their fish were taken on Berkley Hollow Bellies and Squidgie Slick Rigs.

 I had a visit to the Adelaide myself last week for some very serious catch and release fun trying out some of the newer lures (and some of the old favourites) with great success on rats and some bigger silver barra. The aim of this day was to check what was working and what was not. Fishing barbless was a challenge as I had not done that since winning the Barra Nationals in 2007. I managed to hook 11 barra before getting one in the boat. For the day I boated and released 10 barra and had atleast 50 hookups. An as I was there to find out what did and did not work all I can say is that the barra are very hungry at the moment and will take most lures presented to them with the picks being Hollow Bellies, Slick rigs, Bombers, Reidy’s and the Stiffy Twitch Baits. For info on colours used and methods used feel free to drop by and have a chat.

 Last week there was a few very nice fish caught from the Adelaide including a number in the 80s and 90s a 1.01m and a 1.07m. Most of these were caught in front of me so I know the info is from a reliable source.

 The reports from the Daly have been nothing short of promising for the upcoming events and the Easter fishing expeditions. Large fish are being taken from the areas near the ‘S’ Bends and Clear Creek.

 The saltwater Finniss river and Little Finniss are well worth the fuel bill to get there for a barra as they are nearly falling over themselves to get into your boat.

 Reports from Shoal Bay have been patchy though a mate from Humpty Doo did say that he has had a ball in the Little Howard and Hope inlets with very little company (possibly because of all the river action) and is always bringing home a good feed of barra and muddies.

 On the muddie scene a customer came in this morning and reported that he and some mates went to Micket Creek over the weekend with about 20 other boats and managed to get a good feed of decent muddies and released about 20 others that though legal were smaller or not a full as the ones they kept. Well done on conservation, limit your catch not catch your limit.

 Why not get out there and take advantage of the perfect conditions we have at present beautiful weather, clear days balmy nights, limited winds and excellent fishing. For all your needs for these outings come and visit Brian or Doug for deals to suit your camping and fishing needs.

 If you have any fishing stories and photographs please feel free to email us here at Happy Mick’s and we will gladly place them on our website.

This is the time of the year all barra fishermen and fisherwomen wait for. The barra are starting to go nuts all around the traps at the moment. There are multiple crews coming into the shop after having a great day catching barra with some great and not so great days. The barra fishermen in the know are have 30 – 50 fish days. But some crews are busting out on the same river section.

Shady camp has been fishing well with alot of boats heading out to troll the mouth of Sanpan. I have had reports  of a mass of boats doing endless laps all day out the front. But they have been catching some good fish on the troll with Classics and Halco Scorpions in fluro colours. Up the top of Marsh creek is fishing very well with crews working the junctions and the snags with Hollow Bellys and Slickrigs for fish to the metre mark. I have had reports of multiple metre plus Barra. One customer got a 105cm, 111cm and dropped a horse of a barra over the magical 120 mark. Larger lures are the choice for these larger fish as they prefer hunting the larger bait profile. This weekend I reckon half  the fishermen in Darwin will be down at Shady, take care when driving the boat  because I have heard about alot of close calls with boat having to go aground to stop from colliding  into another boat that is going flat out.

Adelaide river is starting to fish very well at the moment. Live baiting with Tarpon is the go at the moment for larger fish. Find a nice quite junctions out of the way of the main river and anchor up and put out a good spread of live Cherabin and tarpon and wait for the fish to come to you. It is always a good idea to throw a lure around when you are at anchor because fish will be feeding past the boat. Hollow Bellies and Slikrigs are good lure choices because they can be fished in all the water column for with great efficiency.

The mighty Daly River is starting to fish great as well. With alot of fish being caught down near the mouth. Trolling the rock bars with Classics in +10 Guns and Roses are producing the best results with many fish being caught over the metre mark. Up the Daly in the junctions of Reed creek and Browns are producing good fish with boats anchoing up and tossing lures into the Eddies.

We just got a Hardstick rods into stock. They are selling very well so pop into the shop and have a look at these good but affordable rods.

Tight Lines Douglas Hewett

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Are you after a casual lifestyle job with flexible hours?

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

Essential job prerequisites:

Mature aged (suit retiree or semi retiree)

Available for casual hours

Good communication skills

Some knowledge of fishing tackle and camping gear

Honest and reliable   

Desirable job prerequisites:

Retail experience

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

Or contact Douglas or Brian on 8931 2466

Weather

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

by Mike Chambers

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

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

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

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

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

By Douglas Hewett

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cheers Douglas Hewett and the boys from Happy Micks Darwin

by Douglas Hewett

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

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

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

Have a great weekend and happy fishing.

By Douglas hewitt

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

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

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

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