Category Archives: TIDES – On The Water

Fishing with Maggie – Back in Darwin!

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Claire and myself finally managed to move back to Darwin, so hopefully this blog can come alive once again. Today I took Maggie off for her first fishing adventure via Darwin Harbour Fishing Charters.

We went and it was a fairly quiet day at first. Maggie caught her first fish (I believe a grunter) and things came alive at the tide, the boat caught a couple of jewfish and some golden snapper. I hooked a couple of good sharks (probably sharks) but they busted me off.

The good news was that Maggie absolutely loved the trip and is looking forward to the next time we can go.

Maggie very happy on the water

Fishing with Judda around Hammo

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I was very fortunate when I was up there that Judda (and Andy and Reef) were able to take the boat into the Hamilton Island Marina and pick me up.

We started some drifting but we were getting absolutely nothing. So we tried to trawl for some mackerel and Judda picked up a 1m long barracuta. Not the best start. I then managed to get a 43cm Coral Trout, which was very nice, and quite surprising on the trawl.

We drifted quite a bit more and were successful in getting a lot of small nannygai, nothing that we could keep. Reef managed to pull up two very nice Grunter (Javelin Fish).

In our last spot we once again managed to hit the small stuff.

Not the best days fishing, but it certainly wasn’t the worst. Just great to get back out there.

 

Whitehaven with Maggie

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Today was father’s day and it was quite special as we got to got to Whitehaven. I definitely think it’s one of the best beaches in the world.

She was very excited about the boat that had “Tiny Tim the Turtle” on it but she got quite motion sick. We got to see a whale and her calf which was very fun. Apparently the calf is always trying to check the boat out, and the mother herds her away. It has been a ritual for the last three weeks.

As soon as she got to the beach she became herself again. Maggie had an absolute ball, and just loved being able to swim and play in the sand. She was building things and going for a swim and just generally having a ball. What made things ever better was the muffin that she was given (and refused to eat on the boat – a definite sign of motion sickness) that she called “chocolate cake”.

Even funnier was when it was time to go back everyone got a squirt with a blue hose to wash the sand off. Maggie thought this was the highlight of the trip. Of course.

 

Maggie having a swim

 

One of the professional photos

Cape Conran for 2019

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Saturday 2nd

Well… I spent a lot of time vomiting! Unfortunately it was around 10-15 knots. The direction meant that we were able to launch the boat okay. However, this did not sit well with me. We didn’t get any gummies, although I did bring up an old maid. We went after flathead next and I got around 7 and the boat got about 12. Was a reasonable day of fishing, but with no photo-fish and 6 hours of spewing I have to admit it wasn’t my best trip.

Sunday 3rd

A nice calm day was very appreciated. We went out after Kingfish first but didn’t get a bite. Then we tried in vain for gummies. I did manage to lock up with the biggest thing I’ve ever hooked. However, I just could not budge it, and since we were 99% sure it was a ray, it wasn’t worth the 30 minutes it would have taken me to get the thing topside for a looks. Perhaps a shame – as we didn’t get any flathead next! Just a whole lot of octopus.

Thanks to the in-laws for minding my little baby. She told me when I got back that she wants to go fishing! awww….

 

Darwin Tides

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DARWIN TIDES SPRING SPRING NEAP NEAP
HIGH LOW HIGH LOW
ADELAIDE
Mouth +40m +1h 10m +40m +1h 10m
Bridge +5h +5h 20m +5h 20 m +5h 30m
ALLIGATOR
South Alligator +2h 40m +2h 30m +2h 40m +2h 40m
East Alligator +2h 50m +2h 20m +2h 50m +3
Cahill’s Crossing +5h +5h +5h 30m +5h 30m
Murganella +2h +2h +2h 20m +2h 20m
Wildman River +1h 20m +1h 20m +1h 20m +1h 20m
DALY RIVER
Mouth +20m +14m +30m +2h
DUNDEE
Point Jenny -30m -30m -30m -30m
Dundee Wide -20m -20m -40m -40m
MARY
Shady Camp +4h +5h Variations inconsistent
MELVILLE ISLAND
South Hancox None None None none
East +1h 20m +1h 20m +1h 20m +1h 20m
PERRON ISLANDS
North Perron -20m -20m -40m -40m
VERNON ISLANDS
North and South +55m +55m +55m +55m

 

All are just estimations don’t run onto a sandbank and blame me. Actually these are Lambo’s estimations, super great guy and great Real Estate Agent so if you ever need anything google Andrew Lamberton