Darwin Harbour is a big place and when I say to people that the Harbour is fishing good for barra they tend to give me that look like "the Harbour is a big place how am I going to find a fish in it."
Leaving Berrimah Boat ramp for a days fishing on the harbour.
The new wharf is on the right. Work on the new Gas plant on
Wickham Point can be seen left background |
Well, Darwin Harbour is broken into 4 major areas. You have West Arm, Middle Arm, East Arm and Elizabeth River. East arm and Middle Arm are the most popular spots by anglers due to the location and the protection from the wind. Middle Arm and East arm are the most fished part of water in the Harbour thus explains the reason why it pops up in most fishing reports. The West Arm area isn't fished as much as Middle and East arm due to distance and navigational problems inside West Arm. Both Middle and East Arm provide a large range of rockbars and snake drains which provide perfect habitats for hungry barra. They also hold deeper areas where Jewfish and snapper can be found. Both areas have been fishing well this week with reports of some action packed sessions coming from Reicharts and Blessers on the flats.
I have heard of a 92 and an 85cm Barra coming from the East Arm Rock wall last week. He said it took over 10 minutes to land the big one for it took him into every rock in the vicinity. Middle arm has also been producing barra and salmon. There are plenty of places to fish with over 12 creeks in the arm. The better ones are at the mouth adjacent to the islands.
There was a 7.2 kg Threadfin salmon caught from Pioneer Creek. This fine specimen was hooked on a live mullet near the mouth of Pioneer Creek on the turn of the incoming tide. These tides are great for fishing the harbour for snapper and Jewies. With only a centimetre or two on Sunday I would spend all day soaking a bait on top of a wreck if I had time. The barra will be a little harder to catch with little movement but chances of a big fish are higher.
Grant Hatcher from Match the Hatch Tours said he had a client yesterday who caught two queenfish, two Golden Trevally and two barra all on fly in the harbour. The client was particularly pleased because they were fishing marginal tides and he had not expected to do all that well.
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