Tag Archives: 4wding

Rats on the Chew

Posted on by

It’s been since March that I got my last barra keeper. This was the 16th time that I have gone out and targeted them without personally pulling one in. I was up at 4.30am, it was very hot on the boat (it’s November after all) and we put in some serious hours on the water.

Mud got two barra, the biggest was 47cm. I got one, though technically not landed, I might have put more of an effort in had it been size, I would estimate 35cm. So it wasn’t all bad.

We headed to Salt Water Arm, we even got a Tales from the Tinny report from Shane Compain for SWA on the way there. Last weekend he got 30 fish, 20 keepers, it was as healthy as he had ever seen it, all we had to do was…

So we followed his advice, without much luck.

One thing we realised on the way there that TEBs was at SWA and there were going to be boats everywhere. My only consolation at my current cold streak is that I spoke to quite a few boats, and it seemed much the same. Three didn’t have any barra at all, three had a single keeper, all barely legal.

Well I am off to the tiwis next weekend and if I can’t get barra there, I will have to think about a retirement… maybe start targeting tiny cod, I’m good at that.

Got:
Me: 35ish barra*
Mud: 47cm barra, 40ish barra

Random story of the trip
It is possible I hooked a monster fish at the narrows, but I am still pretty sure it was the ground. Mud thinks line was peeling off to fast to be a fish, but it was about 2 seconds before the line snapped, so who knows.

Snap

An Unconventional Feed

Posted on by

Mud and I decided to head out again, once again with somewhat awkward tides. We took some bait and decided to chase some Jewies out at Leeder’s creek.

Started with a troll for some barra on the way there, but it was quiet. We found our hole and down some bait and pulled out one or two smaller catfish. After that we moved out to the mouth but it was quiet. Suddenly, both Mud and I were on with decent fish.

I could tell that mine was most likely a large catfish which was disappointing, but his definitely wasn’t. It was charging all over the place, making me hope we had the elusive Jewfish. As it turned out it was a good sized black tipped reef shark.

I think sharks are good eating, most Victorians tend to agree. It isn’t that common in Darwin for some reason, I guess because there are a lot of good eating fish here. I asked Mud if he was going to eat it, and to my surprise, he was on board with the idea. He agreed that sharks are damn tasty.

I am not sure if this inspired me or muddled my brain, but the next thing you know I am necking the catfish, everyone says those golden saltwater ones are good eating… I think I am going to call it cobbler from now on. Sounds better, right?

Otherwise it was fairly uneventful. Some catfish were caught, plenty more trolling for barra happened, a bit of flicking, and that was the day.

Got:
Mud: A good shark, catfish
Me: Catfish
Alice: Catfish

Random story of the trip:
When Mud went to get the cat and I was in the boat, I noticed some swirls of water near the rocks. Had a cast and I pulled out a small cod. I had nearly gone the trip without getting one, what can I say, I am the small cod whisperer.

Snap:

Two plain white fillets of cobbler

Litchfield Trip – the last?

Posted on by

Claire’s friend Reb was up so we headed to Litchfield. Did the normal trip, photos at Wangi and Florence, swim at Sandy Creek falls and the Buley Rockholes.

The trip was great fun, perhaps a little sad as I am not sure if we will return again to Litchfield. Very unlikely we will return to Sandy Creek falls (Tjaynera) which is my favourite place in Litchfield. The build up is coming, the storms will hit soon, the barra will be biting… and we have the impending move to Melbourne.

It was a great day, though Claire had forgotten about the 1.7km walk to the waterfall, and she wasn’t happy with it. Nice to have a drink or two at the Buley Rockholes in the afternoon, it was the first time that I had drank at Litchfield, but I have to say clearly an amateur at it with my two XXXX Gold cans, most of the boys at the rockholes were carrying cases of bundy.

No complaints from me, apart from Reb and Claire ganging up on me music-wise, you try a few hours of clubland…

 


Sandy Creek Falls


Buley Rockholes

Kakadu without the camping 2

Posted on by

Claire’s sisters visited us so we took them to Kakadu.

The usual locations, Nourlangie, Ubirr, Maguk, Ikomarrwa, Bukbuluk

A lot of fun

Stayed in Jabiru as we didn’t really have the equipment to camp for the four of us.

Plus it is a bit easier when it is an single night.

Great trip, played some cards against humanity on the Saturday which was good for a laugh

The Gunlom walk was closed as it was burnt out… still amazed at the lack of people at Maguk. The most underrated spot in Kakadu!


The three sisters in Maguk


Claire and me at Ubirr

Billabong Dreaming

Posted on by

Mud had done well recently at billabong, so we decided to head there in the boat and see what we could get. The plan was to get there before dark and fish it first thing in the morning. That didn’t work too well as Mud managed to get robbed the night before. Not too much was taken, but a set of keys were. So he got some locks changed and instead we got there in the arvo and fished until dusk. A lot of wildlife around, wallabies, jabirus, a few very pale crocs. Yeah, the fishing was that bad I am now discussing wildlife. Anyway Mud managed to get a decent Toga, we both got some large archer fish, but no barra.

I like to look at the positives of a trip… no bait, freshwater, no fish = quick clean up.

Got:
Mud: Toga, archer fish
Me: Archer fish

Story of the trip:
I had to steer the boat into the perfect position so my deckie could take the perfect selfie… what is the world coming to?

Snap: