Corroboree a different perspective

                                     
                                                       Drove straight into this early one morning

                                       
                    Put this on a video sharing site once and it got 100,00 hits in about a week

AAANNNDDD....WE'RE OFF AND RACING

As most of us get ready to  "put the blinkers on"in preparation for, hopefully, a good wet and runoff.....

Spare a thought for the unsung hero of the Sweetwater, the mighty Saratoga, which, in my opinion is a far greater adversary than the iconic barramundi.  (See also Insights Link)

Early morning sees you fishing the top water across the lilies, pandanus nd snaggy areas of the billabongs/rivers with a floating line and poppers, gurglers and all manner of weedless flies.  It's also been noted and discused that they will take an abridged verson of the trout fly known as the Chernobyl Ant.

Chernobyl Ant.

As the day wears on and the sun gets higher in the sky the fish, as always, will move into shaded cover and deeper in the water column.  This is the time where being a fly fisher and actually hunting fishing rather than just dragging a lump of rubber or plastic around comes into its own.

A beautiful midday 'Toga.

At this time I'll switch to a weighted fly (still on a floating line) and begin a clock ray method where I'll start at 3 or 9 o'çlock to the bow of the boat and systematically work my way round until I end up at 3 or 9 o'çlock.  Failing this method I'll switch to an intermediate (slow sink) line to get further down into the water column.

Dorothee Williams casting into the lilies for a 'toga on Corroboree Billabong 

When it comes to Saratoga the lilies are  you friend as they will often hide under the pads awaiting poor unsuspecting insects and frogs.

Saratoga water 

Saratoga are dirty fighters and will take advantage of every missed opportunity an angler gives them from darting in around the lilies, jumping and even trying to dislodge the hook by grabbing a snag or lily stem and doing their charactoristic snake roll which looks just like a python throwing a loop over its prey.

Keep them out of those weeds if you can.

Weedless weighted tarpon toads for Saratoga

Never underestimate the mighty Saratoga..

         
                        Eugene
Jäger Flies

STREAMER FISHING lets go to the Strip Club

Tiger Trout caught on the Double Bugger

Streamers, kind of a taboo word when it comes to fly fishing. They are getting more and more popular but still, I have been asked if I am just going to use streamers why not use gear instead of a fly rod. After all fly fishing should be done with flies (bugs) right? For some people definitely, “Dry or die!” for me though I will “Stream until I scream!”

 There are a lot of different things when fishing streamers to consider. It is a lot more than, if nothing is hatching tying on the old faithful wooly bugger and swinging it across the river. Trout are predators. I know casting a big marabou chenille rabbit fur concoction all tied on not one but two large hooks with an odd name like “the incredible trout pounder” sounds horrible and potentially painful, but I like to catch trout that can eat your trout.

Isn’t the top trout cute?

Just like with the bug side of fly fishing, for streamers you have to know what is going on in the water and be as realistic with your presentation as you can be with whatever you are trying to imitate. You don’t just blindly pick out something big and gaudy and throw it in the water, then strip like a girl trying to pay for college back to you. You have to understand type of prey these river monsters are going to try to destroy. Mostly this is any fish smaller than what you are trying to catch. Other times it could be crayfish, lizards, snakes or even a mouse. Fun Fact: Trout can and will eat fish that are half their size.

Some things to consider while on the water, how do the smaller fish act in the water you are fishing? Where can they be found at certain times of the day? As you’re wading or walking the river try to see where you can find concentrations of bait fish. What colors and sizes are they? What kind of structure is nearby? I am always looking for the spot where a larger fish can retreat after eating or, where food will be delivered to them. Deeper water with some current nearby, cut banks, boulders, log jams etc. Any place that looks like I wouldn’t want to be there if I were a small fish late at night. Brown town has a high crime rate.

While streamer fishing you have to remember you are not fishing for a lot of fish you are fishing for big fish. It almost becomes more like a trophy hunt.  There is a lot of movement involved, if you are going to do it well. Take your time and look over the river. Think about how you’re going to get your fly into the spot you want to fish before casting. If you’re not getting any interest try to figure out why. Is it presentation? Depth? Or are the fish just being assholes. I still have not figured out how to catch fish on those days.

Most of the time though it is something small you are doing, especially in some of the blue ribbon waters in Utah. Last year I was fishing the Green river walking upstream from Little Hole and I could see fish everywhere but could not seem to be able to get anything to commit. It was so bad, had I walked into a fish market to buy a fish I would have been laughed at. After taking a break I noticed that the fish were all so close to the bank that the difference between myself and the people catching fish in the drift boats that kept cruising by was, even though we were fishing virtually the same water the fish were far enough away from the drift boats that they couldn’t see the anglers. I changed my approach and got ninja stealthy hiding behind boulders and bushes. The casting was ugly, but the fish were now getting an unexpected lip piercing.

Green River, slow stripped a streamer from shallow water into a deep pool while hiding behind a bush. Ninja Stealthy

Usually a fish will show interest within the first few casts when tossing meat. I usually will take a small section of river and make a mental grid, start at one end and work my way through each part of the grid. I try to work in a few casts with different depths and strip speeds to make sure I am covering most of the water.  I always start with the most likely area to hold a larger fish and work through the rest from there.  If you can’t find any players it is time to move on.  No matter how fishy the spot may look. It is hard but you have to do it. I personally will covers miles of river when I fish. There are definitely spots where I get stubborn and cast, and cast, scratch my head look around and say I know there is a fish there and cast again. It almost never works out. If I gambled like I fished on those days I would be homeless, it hardly ever pays off.

 For retrieves I will usually always start with a cast getting as close to the opposite bank as I and begin a fast erratic retrieve utilizing the Kelly Galloup jerk strip. I do this because I want my streamer to look like a panicking bait fish that has gotten flushed out of shallow water into the dangerous deep.  If there is a fish that is ready to feed, or even in the area my streamer will usually get crushed. If this isn’t working I will slow it down some or even dead drift through some of the water. Twitching the streamer as I am drifting it trying to make it appear like a wounded or dying fish. When out there vary your retrieve. The same thing will not always work, sometimes long fast strips will get it done but other times you will need to slow things down. Another trick I like to use is just before I get to the last 25% of my retrieve I will throw a mend in the line if I am using floating line and change the direction the streamer is moving. This can at times be what makes a fish that has been following commit. At some log jams and cut banks I will even let my streamer swing to just in front of it and leave it basically knocking at the door for up to a minute twitching the streamer every 5 to 10 seconds to make it look like a small fish that is feeding in the current. It is exciting to watch a huge shadow seem to materialize from under the bank or out of the log jam and make the streamer disappear. There is no perfect way to retrieve a streamer, on the other side there is no wrong way to do it either. Experimentation and time on the water is the name of the game. You will start to develop a game plan that works for you the longer you stick with it.

The best times to fish streamers by far are, early morning, before dark and on cloudy days. As the day gets brighter and the fish get harder to entice into a feeding bite, I will change tactics and try to get a bite out of aggression or territorial response. To do this I will use a larger streamer aggressively cast and strip through areas likely to hold fish. I will also use this technique in winter when the fish are less likely to move after a streamer.

 

Small Brown Trout that took a shot at a Circus Peanut, likely defending its territory

The general rule when going through the streamer box and picking one out to use is dark day dark color, bright day bright color. This is also true for water clarity. The darker streamers will show a clearer silhouette in dark weather or cloudy water. I get excited for the cloudy dark days even a slight drizzle.

Brown trout caught on a cold cloudy day.

When the river is blown out a dark streamer that is a little bulky is the ticket. The fish should be pushed up near the banks and the bulk of the streamer will help them locate it with their lateral line by picking up the water displaced by the streamer during your retrieve, when they get close enough they will see the dark silhouette, and whamo! You have now caught something on a day most people walk away from the river in disgust at high water and poor visibility.

The last thing I am going to touch base on is, what size rod to use. Leave your little 3wt at home your tossing meat. I use a 6wt mostly a 5wt for some of the smaller streamers is good also. Some people will go as high and an 8wt if they are throwing really big streamers.

 Floating line or sinking line depends on the water you are fishing. People each have their own preferences. I usually make my decision when I get to the water and will carry a spool of sinking line with me. I also carry a variety of sinking leaders to put on my floating line just in case I don’t want to commit to the fun of a full sink line. I am not a minimalist by any means I would rather have it, than want it. My personal combo is a Loop Evotec 6 wt medium fast action with a Shadow fly fishing reel.

There is so much to get into on streamer fishing, this article has barely scratched the surface but I hope it helps. I am constantly learning and the game is evolving so quickly not too long ago a 3 inch wooly bugger was considered huge! Guys are now throwing 12 inch streamers to chase after 30 inch brown trout with all sorts of strange names for the flies. A couple books that are great resources and will go in depth a lot more are Kelly Galloups  “Modern Streamers for Trophy Trout” and George Daniels “ Strip Set”

A list of flies that I like to use:

Barely legal 

Sex dungeon

Old fashioned wooly bugger

Bunny leech

Double bugger

James (Utah US)

WHEN THE UNEXPECTED OCCURS.

James, our mate from Utah and I were fishing out north the Vernons.  We missed our chance at a quad hook up on 70cm plus queenies (2 on boat) and decided to call it a day, after all it was 4 oclock and we still had the drive back to Palmerston.

There were plenty of these, and double hook ups were common
so we tried with two rods each and nearly ended up with
a quad hook up....got the treble instead.

Half way back to the channel between Knight reef and North Vernon the motor started to surge, so we dropped back to idle and decided to throw a jerry can of fuel into the tank (thinking it probably sucked some air)

We went to start and no deal. No desire to crank, then finally did, but was slow and laboured and wouldn’t fire.

The next half hour was spent swapping batteries, ripping out fuel filters and cannibalising Minn Kota wiring to bridging batteries as a last effort.

It was at this point the gravity of the situation began to set in. There we sat, between Melville island and the Vernons, sunset a few hours away and no other boats in sight. We had a Minn Kota with a battery that had copped a flogging all day and the cranking battery that was suspect.

Sea was calm thankfully

We had no desire to be stuck in the channel over night, the plan was set to aim for the point of Middle Vernon, working with the current and hopefully make it to the top of Knight reef to have a good chance to make a run at the blue holes when the tide turned. If this didn’t work, we would be sitting in the channel or swept out past the Tiwis. Neither of which was an agreeable outcome, both adding significantly to the possibility of needing to set off the EPIRB

With two mobile with zero service, 112 not even yielding a dial tone and no other real communication methods (VHF’s quick connect plug corroded, so not operational), It was decided that we would turn one off to preserve battery, and sacrifice the others charge in an effort to push an SMS or a Facebook Message through if a glimmer of signal was to appear.

The first message to get through at 19.46 then contact was lost again.

As it turned out, by the time it was getting dark, we’d made it further than anticipated, the first battery was drained and the run to the point of Middle Vernon was still 5kms or so.

The first message was saying it had sent, so we were a little happier, that atleast someone knew where we were aiming for, we added an updated message for the new plan and set off on our slow and steady trip.

By this point the sun was throwing rediculous colours through the clouds as it made its final decent from view. Ironically, It was quite possibly one of the best NT sunsets I’ve ever experienced.

As we made our way to Middle vernon we had accepted that our game plan was anchor up, sleep and pester passing traffic in the morning for a tow back to the ramp.

We  neared the final corner when the electric decided that steering and motoring was too much and we decided to call that our anchorage for the evening. Sitting in about 3 meters, sheltered behind the island and most importantly; out of the current. We were pretty happy with our efforts, was pretty hard to believe the distance we had just travelled on a heavily used battery and one that had failed to start the main motor. (wish I had the track from the GPS as a photo, but it was unplugged or turned off mostly till dark as a result of our battery changes etc.)

The next message to get through at 2136 then none until 0318

 James switched on his phone as a last minute though to grab some contacts from mine which was well below 5% now. Through pure fluke with timing, there was a tiny window of decent reception where a 1 minute call was made and we found out there were people on their way. All was good.

Shortly after this we both seemed to nodd off, I woke up about 2 hours later, got up to get my bearings and noticed a 3^rd light, where there had only been two marker lights before.

Unblinking, red, with an occasional beam of white eminating from it. Another 40 minutes passed, while they moved up the island from where we had intended to reach to our actual location.

Estimate we traveled about 12.5 kms on the electric

The crew from the Volunteer Coast Guard were lovely, offering us water and asking how we were before getting underway with us in tow. Slow and steady to the mouth of leaders creek, where our friends (Eugene and Matty) had made it to, waiting to tow us the rest of the way. The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful, with most of us crashing out from being over tired. As I pulled into my driveway after unhooking the boat from the car, my alarm (set from the previous day) started to go off. 24hrs. Geez. The sleep that followed was glorious, only to be topped by the motor kicking over first turn of the key with a new battery.  Knowing the battery was to blame and there was nothing we could have done on the water was quite a relief, even though it changes nothing (I’ve since been given a jump pack, hopefully I’ll never have to use it)

This whole experience would not have been anywhere near as pleasant if it wasn't for my deckys “Mr Chipper” attitude, although at times it was a little too positive, it definitely made the whole experience more tolerable.

Thanks again to those who helped, whatever part you all played, it was appreciated.

The take away message from all this, don’t set off your EPIRB unless you’re in imminent danger and maybe some VHF infrastructure up here would lead to more people carrying and using them. 

Check your EPIRB regularly and keep all the safety gear dry in-date and serviceable.

Last but not least.... JOIN THE COASTGUARD

Sam and James

WHAT A SCUMBAG ACT BY SOME DIPSHIT

                          I really have been lucky up to now.

 I arrived at Crab Claw the other day at 3 am at 6 am I got up to find someone had got into my vehicle and removed a whole bunch of fishing gear tools etc.

Whilst most of the gear was relatively easy to replace fly's, tools, lines,etc there are some specialised items that are not,I would appreciate everyone out there keep an ear to the ground for the following

                              Photo by Steve's son Dustin Huff, wasn't my fish unfortunatly
                                              

2 Tibor reels with S/A tropical wet tips on them one Black with my name on it and one gold without.

Two silver Scientific Angler reels 8/9 models again with the same lines on them.

2 Sage TCR's one 8wgt one 9wgt. in black tubes.

This is the first time in 18 yrs I have lost anything at Crab Claw,

one of the Tibors was a gift from Steve Huff and Ted Jucarsik had my name engraved on it.

 Steve Huff, Ted Jucarsik and Graeme in the Everglades

                                             

They are items that are not common and maybe they will stuff up trying to unload them.

My Mobile 0412481592

Cheers Graeme

WHEN IS IT TOO HOT?

Conversations with Graeme Williams from Insight over the last few weeks and then fishing with him over the last few days has only confirmed to us that the barra 'dont like the hot water'.   Graeme has always said that once its over 32 C they can close down, click on the links see The Game Plan and West Arnhemland .  It appears to be only the barra that slow, because the salmon and pelagics were still active.

What we have found is that the water is often the coolest and below the dreaded 32 C on the first tides after the start of the neaps, when the water hasn't gone too shallow over the flats to let the sun warm it up too much.   Alternatively we found the barra on the incoming tide as cooler water flooded over parts of the flats.  But you have to find that flat.

A 57cm being released in the shade and deeper (cooler??) water

On this tide below we found the fish early in the morning just before the low and they were still up on the flats under the mangroves. What we did notice too is that there were a lot of small sharks up in that shade and cooler water too.

Not much flow on this tide, but the fish were in the mangroves, lower tide next day, they left the flats for places unknown as the water went up 2 C.

Of course when they are in the mangroves, you have to get in under the branches, then run the gauntlet of a million mangrove roots, weed guards are essential and I would think that this type of fishing is almost fly only, except for maybe those small rubber weedless lures if you fish the darkside.

Tight loops required and you need your fly into these spots, shady and a bit cooler?

Of course you also need a guru to keep a lookout for the fish too....

Just looking!!

The water looks clear in these photos but in fact it was quiet cloudy from the wind, it's hard to believe, but if we moved out from this protected flat it was blowing a mini gale.

This will give you an idea of the cloudy water on the initial take of this barra..you can just make out some of the mangrove roots underneath.

We were using intermediate sink tip lines with floating running line, different manufacturers, but both with the shorter 30 foot or so head.  Graeme had one with welded loops, something neither of us trust, and it began to peel off the main line after a couple of good runs.   So he tied a good nail not over it and no worries.   Luckily it was the front loop, but in the past we have had the back loop peel off the main line and open, after a few good runs on the backing.  Lost the whole line.   Apparently loops are better made now, but you need to keep and eye on them to see if they come apart.

The heat not only affects the barra apparently, yes it was hot out there, but after 10.30am the two old boys were complaining that they were melting and would end up being a greasy spot on the floor of the boat,  so we heading back in so they could have a 'Nanna Nap' in the airconditioning.   I could have stayed out there,  but the G and T's on the verandah were very very nice.

Great view sipping a cool G and T with a slice of lime...Life is hard!!

The Saratoga and Legend of Goose Creek

The first time I came across a Saratoga was in the 1988 Barra Classic held as was usual in those days on Corroboree Billabong, Dotty and I were guest entrants, on the first day travelling downstream we came across a well known identity holding a Saratoga up and clubbing it to death, I thought thats not very nice,but

Dorothee Williams circa 1989 Goose Creek

                                            
the Saratoga was not a target and most fishers gave it as much due respect as a catfish,I discovered during the 5 days (never again entered that competition) that you could catch them around lily pads and to me they were just amazing creatures.

American Tarpon and Permit guide Capt Steve Huff

                                  
One evening Alex Julius said to me that there was a place on Melville Island and a creek named Goose that flowed fresh and there were lots up in the top reaches,fortunately my adopted Tiwi mother Miena came from that country Alex Dotty and I flew there and caught a few with flyrods, in clear water they would follow 15 metres and smash you. I made an agreement with the Traditional Owners that we would protect, respect and market this species and Goose Creek as a fly only river.

Goose Crk became as Harro wrote later the first non Salmanoid river closed to only Flyfishing, Alex wrote it up as the cover above shows and Harro brought lefty Kreh out to film "The New Frontier" . The Legendary Saratoga of Goose Creek was created, we serviced the destination with Helicopters from Barra Base and many National and international Identity's came using the weed guarded Dalhberg Divers that suddenly became useful .

Unfortunately in the years after we left new owners introduced lures into the equation,I haven't been back in 25 years but on the main land the good news was that a small band of fly fishers started to target the vast Lily pad systems of the NT Billabongs the Saratoga became a great competitive species to pursue that was virtually unpalatable and therefore protecting its future.

Roger Sinclair started a Corroboree challenge which emphasised  this prehistoric predator and that continues to this day. 

My first Saratoga in Goose Creek circa 1988

MISSING PERSON - MOJO - LOCATED AT THE VERNONS.

Over the past few fishing outings, Mojo was lost, hard fishing and not many of them.  But, Mojo, was located the other day at the Vernon Islands.   Left at arse crack early (very dark) with Matty Davis from Leaders Creek.   Weather was perfect, thanks to Odin ......

The sacrifices to Odin worked.....calm seas...no storms.

Have only been to the Vernons once before and it was Matty's first trip.  My last trip was good, but this time it was unbeleiveable.   Fish, and good ones everywhere and Mojo was there too...some of the fish were unstoppable...shreading the leaders on reefs...most we think were trevally..but there where huge barracuda, (for Canadian Pete...they're like Pike Pete)..longtoms well well over a metre that were irridescent green in the water...Queenies...some really big ones, but the smaller ones, around 60-65cm got to the flies first.

Matty's PB Trevally 

On sparse bucktail clousers with blue dna centre.

Similar to these flies.

While we were on the top of the North Vernon we heard what sounded like rushing water and thought that the tide was rushing in, but when we got around the corner, there were schools of metre plus Milkies swimming with their mouths open slurping up anything that was in the wind lanes.  Guess who never had any bloody Milkie flies!!!!! AGAIN

Just on flies, we used mainly sparse bucktail clousers on 2/0 hooks,  it was interesting that the ones with the blue DNA centre had hits all the time, while those with just a silver centre had hits, but not as many, the blue/sea foam centre seemed to attract them a lot more.

Not the plug....just another 'Unstoppable'

Note for next trip.....take Milkie flies, take note of tides so that you don't have to sit, stuck, 150 yards from the boat ramp with a horrible black sky approaching...missed us luckily, and most importantly of all.....don't lose Mojo again.

                     Eugene
Jäger Flies

West Arnhemland on the Tropic Paradise

 The Endalgut Mini Mini system on the last tide spectrum.this is becoming a regular with my friends from Sydney Craig Wilson and Rachel Garrett.

Again we joined Duane Trouchet from DNA Barra Fishing and his clients on board the Tropic Paradise a very comfortable powered Catamaran.

                                          Golden Trevally off a shallow Mini Mini flat

                                                 Not many Threadfin but good quality

It became pretty obvious when we started fishing that the shallow water temperatures were too high 32/33 degrees that meant some of my favourite "drift of dreams style flats" had very little Barra or Threadfin on them,some but mostly reluctant feeders.

                               Deeper water produced a different result when it came to size

I have raised the reason in other posts many times and it doesn't change, when temperature goes up the dissolved  oxygen level goes down, add rain (effectively distilled water) and you have a situation they do not like. I discussed this a lot with Dwayne, he specialises in big Barra and his focus is on where they are and that wont be in the hot shallows. During the week he found some very nice fish and he, like me believes that drains on the shallows that you would fish when its 40 cms try blind casting in it when its over a metre.

The Old Camp on Endalgut Island

Overall we were down in numbers but enough to have plenty of encounters, strangely the big Queenfish were there but not inclined to eat all the same great fun, as for Flys Wayno's (Sunrise to Sunset) was a good generic choice along with a few other's Silver and White clouser's in 1/0 and 2/0 handled the pelagic's.

Had my new Scott 8 wt meridian with me and both Craig and I could see its value as a shallow flats rod, he mainly uses the 9 wt Sage Salt also a great rod.

Cheers Graeme