Today we’ve got a guest article from Danny ‘Deepdiver’ Saunders on how he managed to snare a trophy barra in the hardest fished patch of water near Darwin. Top effort mate!
Fishing in Darwin, or indeed anywhere can be an expensive hobby. If we worked out a per kilo rate of the fillets we fishos keep, factoring boats, tackle, booze and the rest of it…we’d very soon make the decision to spend a lot more time with our local fish monger. But one way to reduce costs is to explore our local land based fishing. In Darwin we are spoiled for choices. We can go to Cullen Bay to do battle with the mighty torpedo that is the Milkfish, flick lures off East Point for Queenfish, Trevally and Barra, or take the ferry across to Mandora jetty where we can tangle with Tuna, Spanish Mackerel and even the odd Jewie.
I sold my boat a while ago, and I’ve been left with no choice than to be a decky waiting for friends to offer me a seat on their boat, or if I want to take matters into my own hands, I take advantage of our awesome land based fishing. Last night I thought I’d make the most of the change of tide coinciding with dusk and have a quick flick at Buffalo Creek. After about 15 minutes of dragging my white fizzer across the moving water, I found myself in a meditative casting state. Cast, fzzt, fzzt, pause, fzzt, fzzt pause. Then my meditation was interrupted by an almighty BOOF, like a gunshot in a church and braid started peeling off my reel with abandon.
Pretty much the instant I hooked this fish, I knew she was a metery. I was fishing light gear, and I was very worried about the very shallow structure that I knew was just below the fish, but so far the metery gods were on my side this night, perhaps giving me a break after all the big fish I’ve lost in the past! After a ten minute stouch, I got the big girl to the bank, her silvery flanks shining in the moon light. This fish was seriously fat! But i didn’t have my brag mat with me, so I decided all I could do was run back through the mangroves, cross the single train rail bridge, with flapping fish and rod in hand and get to my car to measure the big girl. I laid her down on the mat…108cm! My metery cherry had been well and truly popped!
Who says you need to burn hundreds of dollars in petrol and have a big fancy boat to target quality fish like this?
Fantastic work “deepdiver”! Congratulations
Hamish
Good work big fella..
You know I fished that little rock bar many times after work to end up with rats and sharks. You return to Darwin and smash a 108.. Well done mate.
Liam