Billabong Fishing

The poem below was created by Jack for his English homework at school.  I have been holding off on publishing until it was marked.

A prize of some home brew at the next NTFFSM outing will be awarded if you can guess the location.

Lord Jim is exempt as he has prior knowledge!

Jon

Billabong Fishing

Wallabies, brumbies and Jabiru drinking by the waters edge, 
While crocodiles lurk beneath.
Feeding Barra bow waving the surface intensely
Between blooming beauteous lilypads.
Sight of dad itching to fish.

Smokey smell of the camp fire,
Flames trying to feed on our canned stew. 
Richly soaked black billabong water, 
Mixes with a gentle breeze.

Softly humming electric motor.
Fly whizzes through the air
Ouch! is heard as the fly abruptly stops. 
Sound of dad muttering something crude.

Continuous flow of sweat
drip, drip, drip,
Dripping on to my smooth cork rod grip.
Finally the first Behemoth is caught, 
She is released to fight another day 
This is what it's all about. 

Jack White 

JOHN HARRISON REVISITS

56 cms and home for dinner

                                                   
John  Harrison was the AFANT Executive from 1998 to 2005 , regarded as one of the most dynamic and progressive leaders in  recreational reform John was responsible for many initiatives that we all value today.

Under his stewardship the fact that Bynoe Harbour is commercial free, Northern Blue fin Tuna are a recreational species only and there is no Prawn farm in shoal bay is just to name a few major achievements.

John  along with myself and Mick Chambers came up with the concept  seven species Saltwater Fly Fishing Challenge  in 1998  we went to Crab Claw and assessed the venue to hold this tournament , and ,for the first two years we organised and ran the comp which was later handed over to the DFR as custodians.  The challenge, held at Crab Claw Island in Bynoe harbour, had an Australian and international reputation , unfortunately like many great things, rule breaches and self interest destroyed its credibility on  the Australian tournament calender.

John attended the 10 year celebration of the Challenge in 2008 and hadn't returned to the territory since last week, he and his wife Rhonda, who was a tireless Secretary of the DFR had come to visit Dotty and I .

                     Wasn't big but sure tasted great in Dotty s Lemon and Garlic herb sauce .+++++++++

On the strength of my two first days back guiding last weekend the start of the neaps produced plenty of Queenfish and Trevally especially Golden Trevally,the Barra were there but the ability wasn't honed enough none the less  all looked good.

First day, Monday, John and I went to Darwin Harbour and caught some legal Barra,Queenfish Trevally .
Tuesday we went out to Bynoe sight casting to and catching a number of Barra , King and Blue Threadfin there were also a few Golden Snapper .

Wednesday, which shaped as the perfect tide of a 2m low at 10 30 am was a fizz, the wind blew ,  20 ft of the edges and  it  was all mud, visibility terrible, water temps were high 31 to 33 but I used one approach highlighted in  the  Raison D"etra  post to go in on higher water and look for tails,some were there and we hooked a couple of nice ones but as luck has it when the day was hard hanging on to the fish was harder, we jumped a few good ones though .one thing I noted that the water was 35.5 and they still had a go !!  

HAS THE MONSOON GONE?

*Click on all the highlighted words to go to the links.

I see Tales from the Tinny has a podcast titled The Monsoon is Dead (click to enter) and the weather is certainly interesting.  If you click on the 'Wind Maps' link at the side of this post you will see that there are a few cyclones around, but not over the NT however the one over Queensland at present looks like it may turn around.  It would be great to get some good rain from one of these cyclones to give Corroboree and the other billabongs another flush out.

We have the Corroboree Cup and Dark Side Plate on the 9th and 10th of May 2015 and another flush through Corroboree would make the fishing just that much better.  Still, there will be plenty of Tarpon.

I will be madly tying flies while Cathie is away in Ballina, and I should have plenty because Lord Jim is away at present so I can hide them before he gets into them.

Andy and Dave are off mid year to chase bonefish and I think they may be in the same place as some of the mob from SEQFF(Mario @ The Fonz)

We will also start having a look at tides for the BSSS, probably September some time?

Graeme the Grey is out fishing Bynoe with John and Rhonda Harrison so we should have a report from that in a few days.

Phil's first Tiger

You might remember Phil and Dimity's Tiger Fish Trip  on the Zambezi, well we were talking to Alex Julius and he has another group going over there if you are interested....just click on this link Africa Tiger Fishing Safari

CORROBOREE CUP 2015

There have been a lot of inquiries about the Corroboree Cup for 2015,  but we have been watching the weather hoping that we might be able to hold it earlier if the rain goes, rather than a 'safe' date later.  But the forecasters can't tell us much, so we will look the the safer dates of the 9th and 10th of May 2015 to hold the event, so that the interstaters can arrange their trips.  These dates don't come into conflict with other groups so accommodation at Corroboree park Tavern should be easily available.  

Just in case though, give Pete or the girls a ring out at Corroboree Park Tavern on  (08) 8978 8920 if you want to get in early, he is aware of the dates.

The rules for the gathering are.....

1.  Have Fun;

2. You can fish either fly or darkside, cup award for fly and a saucer for the dark side, both filled with 'Glory".

3. You can have as many competitors as you like on the boat as long as it complies with all regualtions and safety standards for the NT.  Click this link  NT Boating Safety Guide  for information 

ENTRY IS FREE....REMEMBER ITS "JUST FOR FUN"

Here is a bit of a teaser for the cup

 Click on these links for the results and photos from 2014 CORROBOREE CUP 2014  and THE GLORY

More to follow as the dates get closer

Our trip to South Island NZ

Dotty and I caught a 1.30 am flight to Sydney had a dental appointment with our friend Craig at 9.am and got back on a plane to Christchurch at 9.pm putting us in there at 2 am. that all adds up to no sleep and seeing there was no accommodation due to the World cup and Chinese year we grabbed our car finally getting to Omarama lunch time next day.

                                                                    Ahiri river

Omarama is on the Ahiri River which flows in to lake Benmore both famous destinations.

                                      This nice Brownie got off because I didn't have a net

Next morning a friend dropped Dotty and I where the River runs into lake Benmore and we preceded to walk upstream to where we left the car,after 5 hours later we had caught a number of varying size fish and realised that the car location wasn't anywhere in sight,to cut a long walk short we finally got back about 6.30 pm that night.

I thought I had done my self some damage especially the way my legs felt as I hadn't had shoes on for 6 months,10 kms over rocks and tussocks.Anyway dinner a bottle of American Honey, 2 Ibuprofen, 2 zinc, 2 magnesium tablets and  we both woke up the next day feeling great.Dotty and I suspect our friend gave us a 10 km walk to take the sting out of our tales and he could then go to the sheep sales.
We went as well anyhow.

                                               Our accommodation in Omarama

                                                Great for relaxing and drying gear

                                          Do it yourself kitchen and two double bedrooms

Peter and Gloria says that its available for $50.00 per person per/night and cater yourself with hotels restaurants fishing shops etc all within 5 mins walk,Peter is a very switched on fisherman and whilst not a guide will do everything to point you in the right direction.

                                              NZ Sheep, the smell is absent from the photo

                  The sort of water and fish around lake Benmore both Brown and Rainbows

The next 2 days we floated around on the end of lake Benmore and caught some nice Browns and Rainbows,there were a lot of fish and when you get it right enough ate the fly to give us plenty of fun.

Peter our friend hot smoked a couple for us after we basted them in honey and sugar,one fish was missing half the fillet and on enquiry were told the cat took of with it and had to be rescued and trimmed off !!! Good on you ?

 We left Omarama and headed up through Twizal to lake Heron near the Mt Hutt snow fields,this is a private grazing property with cattle and about 10,000 sheep,and for the next 4 days fished the lake edges and River

The lake River drains Lake heron and flows into the Rakia River,The rainbow were good size but most browns were a bit slim,this was dream river fishing until snow melt and wind locked us out of it

                      Lake Heron cottage which is a converted shepherds quarters very comfortable.

                                                                  My selfie attempt

Some days were what dreams are made  of

Atlantic Salmon were also about 

A lot of lonely sheep

That was it in a nutshell fishing was not easy I think because they are in a 2 month drought, having said that if you were sneaky and astute enough you caught fish which we did I certainly will go back somewhere next year.

Cheers Graeme

LORD JIM AND HAGS BACK FROM TASSIE

Just a few photos from the trip that Lord Jim and Hags took with the boys, Mark, Dave and Rick from SEQFF and Dasher on their annual Tassie trip.  They could all be up in October for the BSFL (I will have to ask Mark what that stands for, but I have a funny feeling the the BS is for the usual sledging?)

A 'Selfie' of Jim Rick and Hags

A few of the fish

They did get some good fish, but poor old Jim, had the earth (or ice?) disappear from beneath his feet and he fell into a hole.  The Ambulance had to come out from Hobart and pick him up, then take him back to Hobart for the last few days of the trip.  

Jim before he fell in a hole...Is that dash standing on the 'Ice'

This reminds me of the place.

BYNOE 2ND MARCH 2015 - WET AND WILD!

We followed Jon and Jack out to Bynoe a couple of days later when, according to the weather forecasts, the wind and conditions would be better.   Well that didn't work out.  Sunday afternoon it poured, and poured.  The rain continued during most of the night, but it was going to clear? The forecast has said so!,  however on Monday morning we thought that the alarm had gone off early because it was still pitch black and when we had a look, the sky was covered in thick black cloud and the rising sun could hardly be seen through it.   But it was going to clear, so we drained the boat, and launched in Milne just before seven.  The sea was calm with little or no wind so it was easy to make our way up to Turtle Island.  But then the wind came up and the sea got very rough, with an uncomfortable swell between Turtle and the outer Island flat we were heading for.  Turned back and got to calmer water near 'Observation City'.

But, it was going to clear?

There was a lot of activity in the creeks, there were barra tailing and swimming along in small groups and threadies rolling on the jelly prawns, so we had plenty of fish around us.   Cathie has just got over a frozen shoulder thanks to the treatment by Michael 'Vinny' Austin (Nightcliff Naturopathic Centre), and we were a bit afraid of her using the fast rods that she usually uses.   Instead she used a lovely medium rod that Larry Lockwood had made for her and had no trouble with the shoulder.   The rod must have been a lucky one, because first cast she had barra, then threadies.  They were not big fish and all ranged between 50cm and 60cm, but there were a lot of them and great fun.  The barra for once didn't seem jumpy or put off too much by the casting.   

The 'Lucky' Lockwood rod  

Typical barra

Typical threadies caught...but there were some monsters around too.

Most of the fish were caught in the same area, wherever the jellies were the barra and salmon were feeding.   Did not see any really big barra, but there were some monster threadies around and as luck would have it the time that we hooked one of these, it decided to wrap the line around the electric and that was the end of that.  Cathie had most success on what she calls her 'Every' Thing fly..........part Pink Thing, part Wild Thing etc., etc.,

The wind and weather got worse, so we made our way back through a storm to the ramp early.  Bimini was up in an attempt to keep us dry but that was a waste of time and thank goodness for bilge pumps or we would have been swimming home.

Lovely weather for ducks!

It rained again most of Monday night, and the sky was clearer the next morning, but only for a while.  Because it had blown up at the top of the harbour we decided to try our old haunts in the Annie and the Charlotte.   There were more fish down on those flats than we have seen in a long time.  Some barra that appeared around 80cm with heaps in the 50 plus range, and even though the water was murky from all the fresh in it you could see them on the side in the mangrove roots.  On the flats at the front of small creeks there were heaps of threadies and they seemed bigger than the monsters we had seen the day before.  Great fun, but we didn't get any of the big ones.  That's fishing.

There were schools of small macs and queenies around Knife Island, but the wave action made it pretty uncomfortable to fish.  On the reefs there were also schools of small golden trevally as well as the usual suspects, queenies, GT's and snapper.

One of the goldies

THE BASSETTS

Bynoe Harbour 28th February

Saturday morning had us heading to Bynoe for some fly fishing.  I had given Jack the choice of 'Shady or Bynoe'. He chose Bynoe as we have 3 nights booked at Point Stuart in late March (Catfish Bob is visiting).

Roger & Cathie proved some spots to try around Indian & Turtle Islands.  Our first spot had a Barra feeding on bait at the end of the run out tide.  After 10 minutes we moved on & I realised I had stopped at the wrong spot!

Second stop there were salmon feeding voraciously at the mouth of the creek.  After many frustrating casts, my deckie was heard to mutter "lets go somewhere else".  Shortly after I hooked & landed my first Threadfin on fly.  Said deckie then proceeded to continue fishing with my fly rod!  Suggestions of moving to another spot were met with fierce & colourful language.  Soon Jack had his first Blue Salmon in the boat.

Once the tide started to run in the Salmon stopped feeding so we headed for Turtle Island.  Our sounder was playing up with the screen freezing.  This resulted in some mud churning as some spots were still too low.  Queenfish started feeding alongside the rocky outcrop adjacent to the island so we headed over for a look.  We landed a few but they were moving quickly & hard to follow.

Heading in towards the island we noticed that despite the water clarity Barra tails were sticking up like flags in the water.  Despite many casts we could not tempt a Barra, I did however land a flathead.

I also hooked a shark briefly (it looked like at salmon at first!).  Unfortunately the wind had picked up & we decided to head back to the ramp.  Total count for the day 1 thready, 1 blue, 5 queenies, 1 flathead & 1 catfish.

We always had fun

Jon