PARADISE - THE NEXT FLOOR - EXMOUTH - PART ONE

Now we who  live in the fishing paradise called the NT are very spoilt, great fishing, both fresh and saltwaters, heaps of flats for us fly fishers and great weather (Most of the time anyway),  but there is another paradise for the saltwater fishers that is probably the next floor and an A grade spot for A grade fishing, the NT is A grade too, but a different game, like AFL -v- NRL, both A grade but different if you get my meaning.

 Cathie and I have been very lucky with our fishing in the NT, where we both started our fly fishing, but at times we have often thought that our luck was more arse than class because of the fish numbers and the environment that they are in.   Exmouth is different, and arse does you no good in the crystal clear water where the fish can see you coming from a long distance and will take off at high speed, so fast accurate longer casts are required there because there are no lazy barra laying in the cloudy water.  Have a look at this permit moving in the clear water, you don't have much time as it zig zags across the bottom at high speed.

Crystal clear shallow water with speeding permit photo courtesy Jono Shales and Exmouth Fly Fishing

Now that was just to whet your whistle.....lets start with the trip there....you have to fly to Perth, then catch another smaller jet to Exmouth (Learmonth) then there is a 35km trip to Exmouth township.
Nearly forgot to mention, Qantas (our mates) upgraded us to Business Class, so we had entry to Qantas Club and Business Club....unbelievable.

  Jono Shales from Exmouth Fly Fishing (click link) picked us up and took us to his holiday house (click for full tour)for the fly fishers. Three bedrooms, two bathrooms, wifi, bbq and beer and wine!!! in the fridge for us....

High ceilings, air cond. beer and wine....doesn't get much better.

Cathie settling in....hard life?

Rod racks with shower attachment on hose to wash the rods made cleaning easy.

Had ribs and pizza delivered for dinner, courtesy of  BBQ Father  (click for menu) and planned to go out after Cathie's Black Marlin the next day because the winds were favourable.

Drove around the next morning to the other side of the peninsular and launched at Tantabiddi ramp after visiting the Lighthouse to have a look at the Coast

and you would not believe, within a couple of kilometres of the ramp there was a welcoming committee of whales, waving to us and helping a calf swim north.  We started counting the sighting we had of these magnificent creatures but after 112 on the third day we gave up.  They would swim with you like  dolphins, pass under the boat in clear water and the tourists boats were putting their clients off into the water to swim with them, really mind blowing, especially when they breach and leap clear of the water.  We have a lot of footage of these, too much to put on this blog, but unbelievable stuff.

These are rolling after the breached, this is copied from one of the videos.

Better get back to the fishing, looking for Sails or Marlin....after Jono took Cathie through the requirements for this type of fishing.  He re rigged our lines and we had a double tube fly on the rig with two hooks.

Cathie and Jono.   Ready to go.  Jono is trailing a Teaser.

An Exmouth Marlin photo courtesy of Jono Shales and Exmouth Fly Fishing

While we were chasing the billfish, the whole area around us, and I am not exaggerating, there must have been square miles of tuna busting up and millions of birds.  Sails were jumping and black marlin were surfing the waves, but sadly Cathie did not get her billfish, but there is always another day...but what a couple of days.

The wind changed and the next day we went into the gulf.  Whales everywhere, again crystal clear water and Dugongs in the water....

Saw a lot of these, you would see a clouding patch and a Dugong would come out of it...photo courtesy of Jono Shales and Exmouth Fly Fishing

 The flats in the area do not have the big tidal movements like we do up here, I believe that 2m is the big tide, so you can spend a lot more time over the sand, reef areas and you would not believe the size of the blue bones...missed them, but got a queenie........ so Jono said that we would have lunch on a small sandbar and there would be goldies there....he was right...there were macs too.

Lunch  with goldies, macs and if you wanted to put out a small fly ..heaps of good size bream.

One of the Goldies coming in photo courtesy of Jono Shales and Exmouth Fly Fishing

A golden goldie..photo courtesy of Jono Shales and Exmouth Fly Fishing

and guess what else was around.....these were all over the place..and some right at the marina.

Non stop action with the Tuna....but lactic build up makes them very hard to hang onto after fighting numbers of them

of longtails around too, sharks took some of them after fighting them to the boat, and lost one  while talking too much and not concentrating.   All fishing was on barbless hooks.

We did a bit of tackle testing too, but will keep that for another blog, but don't forget to regularly check your knots and lines (Something I forgot to do).

Don't wait until you are in the veterans group to do this type of trip, it is an A game fishery, and you need to be on your game.

Last night in Exmouth tried the JALAPENO POPPERS at Whalers (click for menu) and what a blast they are!!!!!
        The Bassetts

                                                                                                                       

Going with the last of the flow

I was at Bynoe at the same time as the NT Fly fishers mob although I didn't get see to many on the water.
There were plenty of fish around,lots of "encounters" and its all about going with the flow
Barra were unpredictable as usual in the first part of the neaps,on one flat they wont eat and the next one they do. I have decided after 1000's of encounters its not the fly, its their pedantic nature and you will find  there is only one cast "The right One " because if it doesn't pass their focal point (within 50 cms) they rarely eat or follow.

Some say their lazy, my take on that is they are just super efficient at how they live and if you like shallow flats when its dropping as I do remember this,  the turn of the high is a feeding moon phase,they will eat for two hrs max in the back of the mangroves,by the time you get to see them its dinner over, your on the last of the flow in shallow water. Barra and Threadfin leave because they have to then its up to you how quick and accurate you are ? if it takes more then 2 casts to put your fly where  it should be they start to get suspicious.

                        If the Fly landed in the centre of that ring with refraction  they can be a metre away.

By the end of the last tides it was getting good the fish warmed up and when the low got closer to midday they were getting more responsive.

 

                                                                                                                         
Looking forward to the next 7 days afternoon dropouts for the first 3 days and then chasing the morning lows all week.                                        
Cheers Graeme

www.insightflyfishing.com.au

Bynoe this weekend

11 fly fishers congregated of the waters of Bynoe Harbour and faced weather from glass out to washing machine but a good time was had by all and as a bonus everyone caught fish!!

How silver

Friday night arrival saw “Sand Palm Schnitzels” devoured with gusto then a gathering at the camp saw some enjoying a post dinner port or two or three or four. Who was it that took a 100m walk to get to his tent 10m away? Wobbly boot syndrome!!

Few of these around for some fun

Early morning start saw us being greeted by the resident croc on the ramp and glass out seas. With the evening meal in mind, Queenfish, Mangrove Jack, Javlin Fish, Barra, Blue Salmon and Trevally were all added to the menu.

Weapon of choice!

Neap tide provided good clarity for finding the fish and exploring new waters. Had a great time trying to coax a 1m plus threadfin to take a fly. Obviously he had been a brown trout in a previous life as he patrolled a beat in small stream returning every 5 minutes or so. Too smart for me but he is still out there for you!

Small stream Barra

Great weekend had, time to plan next fishing location and see everyone on Wednesday for the meeting.

Top Tucker Jon!

Remember; “You’ll never never know, if you never never go. Get out there and fish!”

Tight line

Jim Churchley    

NTFF INC. BYNOE TRIP 13th AND 14th AUGUST 2016

The NTFF Inc. is having a club trip to Bynoe over the weekend of the 13th and 14th August.   The conditions ie wind looks good at this stage and here are the tides....

now many may think that the tides are not much good....no flow...(if you lived in the East it would be a big tide).....but these tides may not be the usual for flats fishing for us up here ie four metres movement, but if the water is clear as it has been lately it will open up a whole new world, so advice from some of the old hands is, explore the reefs that you avoid because of the tidal movement and the adjoining sand flats.

Look for drains like this in the clear water, because the fish, particularly barra and salmon will often congregate in some of them.  If one drain doesn't work...try another....

These tides will also allow you to spend a lot more time over the flats because they will be covered longer and often this is when you see the bigger fish just swimming along in groups.  The are usually out from the mangroves because they can't get into the smaller fish in the roots, so they are well out on the flats.  Some of the biggest barra have been spotted on tides like this well out from the shoreline, so keep an eye out. Try some bigger flies too like fat boys along these drains.

 Have a special look on the sand flats around the shallow reefs where the crabs dwell, because the tailing fish with yellow fins may not be goldies...but the Dart/Pompano/Permit schools that are around and easier to find on the tides.

Peter Morse put out an article some time ago on these fish and while he mentions a different tide, which was around Queensland I believe, it will be similar to this weekends for the fish.   Click on his name for the link.

I will wager that although not a lot of fish may be landed, a lot will be seen and some big ones will test some of you.

Rare Opportunity

The last outing of the NT Fly fishers was interesting, I had the opportunity to go fishing on a good tide which is pretty rare as I'm usually watching someone else.

Dotty and I headed out, we cast to some nice fish and got completely ignored, a lot of fish on the shallows  water temps around 22c with the morning temperature being 13c but ambient air at that cold plays havoc with shallow water and they all had coats on. I went again on my own on the Monday and sought out some flats that I knew had some great fish.
First one in the 80's stopped dead when I put a fly across its nose, the next 20 either swam around the fly or turned and went back the other way, I hooked two and caught nothing, the fish were there, the casting good so I packed up and went home to Darwin.

Wednesday Matt Henger and I went into Darwin harbour,the low tide at 11.30 am was better with warmer temps, fish everywhere on one stretch there were over 100 Barra in small to medium groups .

Saw a number of Threadfin swimming with groups of Barra

Bynoe harbour and the Kembi Land Claim

                Barra and Threadfin live in intertidal waters all over the Kembi land Agreement

A short follow up to the post previous and the issue around the Kembi land claim.

As the executive of the NTGFIA I was briefed of the agreement that was undertaken by all participants in early 2013. In that briefing it was set out that no access would be denied in low tide areas but we were asked to not land on Knife ,Crocodile, Indian island and to respect those areas.

If what this map shows to be true as per the instruction on inter tidal areas by the NLC it is a reversal of agreement that has been signed off by the federal Minister.

Noting that you have requested a response from the NLC and NT Minister don't hold your breath , this is a federal agreement and with the NT Government as shown in the Finnis River fiasco, it's powerless.

The ramifications of having to obtain a permit (is it free) or be refused one is far reaching and impacts on already reduced access across the NT. This map would put in doubt 75% of the estimated 4000 kms of shoreline within the Bynoe parameters.

Having said this the obvious question is how do they police such a huge area without it being marked as such, the high interaction by Darwin residents and interstate visitors is in the thousands annually and is a major influence.

I would suggest that this will come down to Paul Henderson's promise that we will, ....." not pay for fishing access in inter tidal waters!!".  If Labor end up in government in the NT we will be knocking on the door and reminding them of that promise.

Let's hope commonsense prevails, we have advised the government previously that you would have to have an agreement defining where the low tide is, its not possible without very specific GPS, signs and warnings, the general public will never accept deeming lines (lines of convenience) as to where you can go otherwise the court systems will be choked up for years in trespass infringements that cannot be issued on the spot like speeding fines.

Photo below has no relationship to the above, on a recent trip south it was one of the biggest Eastern Grey Roo"s that I have ever seen.

                                                A gym junkie Wallaby on a friends farm .

Cheers Graeme 

WHERE WILL WE BE ABLE TO FISH FOR THE MILLION DOLLAR FISH AROUND BYNOE

The Million Dollar fish  is set to happen again at the end of the year and into next year....

   SEASON 2 / 1 OCT 16 - 28 FEB 17

   
....but will we be able to fish for them on the flats in Bynoe?????

Recent closures for recreational fishers to parts of Bynoe under the Kenbi Land Claim these areas cut off to us and replies from the Northern Land Council (NLC) to our requests for permits have been rejected with replies like this,

"The two areas that you have mentioned below Crocodile Island and Knife Island are both off-limits and no public access is permitted to the beaches and intertidal zones."

These are the areas referred to....the intertidal is in red and the Islands are in white..

these flats have long been fished for barra but now it seems they are out of bounds, until at least 5pm on the 20th December 2016.....as is set out in this information from the NLC site..

"
Now this information is the latest we can find,  Question is...."what  happens to the areas mentioned in both part 1) and 2) after 5pm on the 20th December, 2016. Does that mean that after that date all these areas below also become 'out of bounds'???

Will all the red areas be out of bounds after the 20th December???

Under the Blue Mud Bay decision an agreement was made in relation to intertidal water for recreational fishers and they could apply for a permit to fish those waters.... that expired on the 31 December 2015 according to the information on the NLC site..We don't know if this may still apply and have asked the NLC if we could get a permit to fish these waters under that decision.  At this stage they have not replied.

We have also sent to the Minister and have received no reply from his office.    AFANT has been made aware of our concerns and are responding, but if you are making arrangements for visitors to fish in the next few months the outcome of all this might have an affect on their travels......because if the million dollar fish is in any of these areas and they are closed off....you have no chance if you are a visitor.

I suspect the Bynoe/Dundee locals and businesses must be worried about this as well as local fishing guides.

There is an election coming up and even though this will be forwarded to all parties, I suspect it will be put into the too hard tray or some type of spin or political bullshit will be the replies.

Banana's and Mack's

After 5 day shifts a trip was in order.  Jack did most of the prep & we arrived at Nightcliff in the dark.  The day dawned beautiful with no wind.  Shortly after arriving at the Stig's secret spot Jack had his first mackerel.  Such was the frenzy before us that Jack released the fish before a photo was taken (apparently I didn't look like stopping for anybody!). 

Unfortunately this was to be the only mackerel landed for the day.  They were there in abundance but would only follow the fly or nibble the tail.  Eventually I was rewarded with a nice Goldy whilst stripping double handed for the mack's!

In our haste we had departed with limited supplies, which for the first time included 2 banana's.  I ate mine & after some frustration Jack threw his over the side!  Jim may have cursed us by throwing banana skins into our boat on the previous trip to Kakadu!  

The mack's continued to follow the fly & not take it.  The handful of takes we did get resulted in being bitten off above the trace or the hook pulling.  I must confess to doing "A Cathie" aka having a dummy spit, stamping the feet, special words.........I am sure you get the idea!

Whilst the lack of hook ups was frustrating the visual spectacle was amazing.  Watching a garfish tail walk across the water & see the mack in hot pursuit was magic.  The water was clear & we could see fish everywhere.  

Canadian Pete was also out there, his advice "try a small white clouser".  New flies fitted resulted in several queenfish being landed, two of which were released into the esky.

We looked for some tuna on the way back to the ramp but with nothing sighted we headed home.

Diesel's scraps cooked to perfection!

We enjoyed a fresh feed of fish as did our dog Diesel, I even salt & peppered his fish!

Salt & pepper queenfish c/w salad yum!

Recent advice from The Stig is that this is normal mack behaviour,  Change fly size till you get a result or add a stinger off the bend of the larger fly!

This is a great place we live in, to be able to fish like this within 30 minutes drive is fantastic!

Get out & get amongst it!

Jon & Jack