THE YOUNG GUNS

Just got a bit of a report that the 'Young Guns', Hayden and Jack have been getting some great saratoga in a Billabong which according to them is in a "..land , far , far away..." (must be learning to keep spots quiet from Lord Jim).  So far only a few photos, but more to come with other reports...apparently the 'Toga' not quiet getting to a metre in length .....YET!!!!

More to follow.....

CORROBOREE CUP 2015 SECOND EDITION..

Click on highlighted names to go to the links

Been a bit slow getting this out with all that has been happening, the original post for the Corroboree Cup 2015, to be held on the 9th and 10th May, went out around six weeks ago and in that time we have been able to obtain the special 'glory' needed to fill the Cup, and of course a little more left over for the Plate.  Here they are nearly, ready to go...

The Cup is for those who choose to fly fish, and the Plate is for the dark siders 

Remember the rules.....1. Have Fun

                                      2. Be Crocwise

                                      3. Comply with NT boating Rules

Scoring for both is the same as last year, you just fill in the coloured boxes on the sheet and Lord Jim will do the rest.  Here are the sheets, the one with the RED heading is for the Cup and the BLACK heading is for the Plate. I have attached them because some of you usually print out your own if you can't be at Corroboree Tavern on the Friday night 

There is different multiples for the bigger fish (eg. 2.5 x for 80cm plus) which Lord Jim will attend to, as well as bonus scores for specials that will be announced out there.   

Remember entry is FREE.  Just let us know if you are fishing through the email address on the blog.

To get you into the mood for the fishing..............

NEW BLOOD

Click on highlighted names to go to links.

Had a wonderful time with the kids introduction to Fly Fishing, organised by the Darwin Trailer Boat Club and sponsored by Nightcliff Bendigo Bank.  The kids were all eager to learn more about fly fishing and what was to be around an hour of introduction to the art turned into nearly four.  It is amazing the energy and enthusiasm of kids and as one of the  parents commented, to see them so attentive to something that did not involve online participation was very rewarding.

We started with a show of materials used for fly tying, then went into some excerpts of that great introduction video by Insight Fly Fishing on "Images of a Northern Estuary".   The Mob has donated a copy to the Trailer Boat club, because the kids wanted to watch the lot of it.

While some took to the fly tying and displays of different lines for fly fishing, especially one who said that his Science teacher was the best fly fisherman in Darwin (can't get away from the STIG),others adjourned to the beach at the front of the club where the kids could not get enough of casting.

A bit of a lesson for the 'rough' flies.

Big brother showing his little brother how its done

Another showing his mates how its done

..and Taylia giving the boys a run for their money.

 The interest shown was amazing and it looks like we will need a follow up presentation with a bit more time, with some hoping that their parents might take them for a go on the water.  We did mention the Corroboree Cup and may see some of them out there, but will certainly be following up with as much information and help we can supply.

BYNOE EASTER 2015 WEEK TWO AND THREE

Finally back home after three weeks away in the bush.  We were in a place which was down near a small creek, hemmed in by trees and in a low area that got little or no wind, AND no Air conditioning!!!

The screens kept most of the mozzies out, but also any slight breeze that may have lost its way down there.    It reminded us of the days when we lived out west in NSW and in Lismore before coming to Darwin and having air conditioning in every room.  It got so humid and hot down there, it seemed hard to breath, as Roggie said, "...thank goodness for cold beer".

We survived, but I did think of sleeping in the car one night with the motor and air conditioning running.  Not complaining really we have just gotten too soft!

The fishing was interesting...after the first wonderful week we expected the same, but it did change with the tides of course.  We didn't fish every day because it got windy, but the water cleared up and it was wonderful to see so many barra and salmon, if only they would take a fly.  We cast and cast but they turned away, changed flies, they still swam around in circles and would not take a fly.   There were schools of three to six barra all over the place around the 60cm mark, and bigger single fish out off the edges that would just swim under the boat and ignore us.

Rock bar fingermark

On the rock bars you could still catch a fish almost every cast...the usual suspects, queenies, trevors and snapper.  But on the flats they ignored us.  We ran into others from the mob down there who were fishing dark side and had the same story.  The barra and salmon were ignoring even their lures and soft plastics.   The 'Show Ponies". Wayne and Crusty managed to coax a few onto the fly with Waynes special Sunrise to Sunset fly and Crusties hybrid of Roggies mullet fly and Waynes fly.

Wayne did offer us some of his flies but after Roggies reply I don't think he will again!!!.

Waynes Sunrise to Sunset Fly..

Catches both barra and.....

.........Salmon

We did venture into the fresh Finniss as well, along the banks on a 9 metre deep hole, there were a zillion small barra, with the same amount of tarpon and even more long toms.  The small barra sounded like machine guns going off as they boofed everything along the edge.   They didn't come out into the deeper water though while we were there.  That was because the bigger barra were laying in the snags waiting for them.  

It was hard to get casts in under the overhanging trees, but when you did you got a small barra like this one....

This is one of the zillion or so barra that were going crazy! DNA fly.

If you fished out from the bank there was a zillion of these too!! they loved the EP fibre.

The river is lousy with snags, and I think the reason the smaller barra were along the edges is that when we towed them out into the deeper water, the bigger fish, came up under them, but they would not take them.  Tried to get a photo of a couple under one of the little fish but I think it failed.

Tried to get a photo of the two big fellows below this little one but can't make them out.

What a beautiful place. Very hot and humid though, fogged up your sunnies.

Catfish Bob comes to Town

My brother Bob visited last month & we fished hard for 6 out of 9 days.
Sunday the 22nd March has us head to the Finiss fresh chasing sooty's.  Not a lot of action but we did get some fish.  Fish were caught using various methods not just the fly.

Jack with one of the better sooty's

Jack & Uncle Bob

Tuesday 24th March had us heading to Shady for the approaching cyclone.  Still enough water to launch in the salt so we headed for the mouth.  The police boat was there & they came over for a chat.  They took my details & made sure we weren't doing an overnighter in the boat.  Nice to see them on the water.  No fish & very wet when we got back to Point Stuart.  Tea of spaghetti bolognese (thankyou Jenni).  We then attempted to wash up with Jack's selected washing up liquid from the camper trailer (see photo).  It was a green bottle after all!

Antiseptic washing up liquid!?

Wednesday we stayed up at the top of Shady fishing the fresh for no result except 1 tarpon.  Once the tide came in we headed for 'Pearce Creek' not far from the salt water ramp.  This was our best day with 12 fish landed & everyone even on 4 fish each.  This included 2 of my fish on fly.  This was a great spot where we tied the boat up & fished off the bank.  Largest fish were in the 70's.

Catfish Bob's first Barra of the trip

Jack's first Barra

Another one off the bank

Day 3 & 4 the fishing slowly dropped off as the tides moved towards the neaps.  We did see a lot of fish mid river smashing mullet as the tide rushed in on day 3.  They were however not interested in our offerings.  Jack picked up the best fish of the trip at 79cm in the same creek.  Friday had us heading back home as Jack had a camping expedition over the weekend.

Catfish Bob & myself headed to Salt Water  Arm for a bait fishing trip to Cape Hotham on the Sunday the 31st.  We ended up with some nice Tricky Snapper after a long hot day on the water.

Catfish Bob with one of his Tricky Snapper

It was a great week of fishing despite not having the best run off.  Interestingly we only caught Catfish on that last day when bait fishing.  Bob has nearly redeemed himself & may be in the running for a new title of "Barra Bob" as he was the only one to catch a Barra on the last day at Shady.

Get out & fish, its great fun!

Jon

BYNOE EASTER 2015 WEEK NO. ONE.

Just back to pick up a few supplies after nearly a week out at Bynoe.  So a quick update before we head out again this afternoon.  The tides were great, water in places was milky, but after the rain the last few nights, it cleared up in a lot of spots.  Very hot out there and we came in just after lunch each day and had a lay day on Good Friday.   Fish all over the place.

The fresh coming out of the little creeks and gutters set them off.  But they were a bit finicky on what flies that they would take...Lord Jim had barra take most of the couple of dozen flies Roggie made up for him, and we won't mention the knot that came undone.   We all got Barra in different spots, all over the harbour, best landed was a 78cm by Jim and I am not allowed to talk about the ones that got away, but I think they were a different breed of barra with a lot of swear words  to describe what type of barramundi family they belonged to???.

A typical barra around 57cm

The best fly for us seemed to be the black/red bird fur thing (below), whilst others worked, the black one was the best. You can see it still on the fly rod above too.

We managed some good threadies, up to 67 cm and heaps of blues around the 55cm mark.

One of the threadies......and Roggies fingers.

 There were bait balls around like this with queenies and trevors tearing through them...lost count of the queenies we caught, they were everywhere in different sizes up to 70cm.

One of the bait balls

 In some places there were schools of bream that looked like rocks in the water, and they were a pain around the barra, because they would hit the fly first.  They were tiny but heaps of them and a lot of fun.

Just got to pack the esky now and off again, report again in a week or so.