INDIANANGLER

I am eagerly waiting to see the pictures and report..

Have just reached Darwin, which is a 4-5 hour flight going north-west from Sydney.

The temperature here is a warm 33 degrees Celsius, a nice change from the winter of Sydney.

Darwin is a port city and has a beautiful large natural Harbour, full of fish.
There are numerous fishing charters available here for day hire or extended
3-4 day trips.

I was here on a fishing holiday some 4 years ago and recall catching queenfish on poppers in the Harbour whilst a thunderstorm was fast approaching us.

Unfortunately, just at that moment a seabird got entangled in our fishing lines and the guide insisted on freeing it then and there whilst lightning crashed nearby.

The boat had some very tall rods stored upright on the cabin and these are potent lightning attractors.

We were lucky to make it to shore without any further incidents.

Tomorrow morning, we leave for Maningrida town, from where the lodge is a short drive...then the fishing begins!

Kingfish

Best of luck Kingfish! may you enjoy this season! with many hookups!

Reached the lodge and there was a mad rush to get all the gear out because the boat and the guide were ready to go.

Because of our late arrival, we decide to leave the barra for today and instead get into the ocean fishing.

So we headed out to the Arafura Sea and immediatiately got into the long tail tuna with metal lures.

After that we switched to soft plastics and caught trevally,queenfish,golden
snapper, rankin cod and best of all the guide caught a beautiful coral trout
which will be grilled for dinner tonight.

As luck would have it, I also caught a shark on the soft plastic AGAIN!

Lots of pics but you will have to wait until I return to Sydney to see them.

Tomorrow is dedicated barramundi fishing, let us keep our fingers crossed.

Kingfish

Waiting to see these beauties.
All the very best on this trip.
Ezek

Sat Sri Akal from Kingfish...let's go barra fishing!
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This is the boat used for barra fishing...5m long with a 150hp motor and it can go into shallow waters. It also has a satellite phone, lifejackets, lots of water, food and a flotation chamber so it does not sink easily.
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That's where the barra are...deep in the mangrove roots and you have to cast accurately to entice them and not get snagged.
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Once you are snagged, the guide proves invaluable and either gets them out by special techniques or using the lure retriever in this case.
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My first barramundi on a lure...really hard earned.
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The sole mangrove jack we caught.
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The standout performer, Rapala XRAP10 in hot-head colour.
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Classic +10 lure used for deeper trolling.
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Some more variety of barra lures.
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You can't get away by lying with this mat!
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Floating XRAP 10 in parrot colour...very aptly named because it seems to prefer the trees to the fish! But it worked well.
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There were 86 names on these plaques but not ours this time.
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The beach looks pretty as a picture...don't you dare stand and fish from there as the saltwater crocodiles will get you!
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The native aborigines were friendly.
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The barge brings supplies once a week from Darwin to these aboriginal communities.
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These supplies would include fresh milk, apples, oranges, diapers, just about everything under the sun.
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Matched pair of rods and reels...these were lightweight yet powerful and ensured that we could cast hundreds of times a day everyday without getting tired.
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Other fishermen waiting their tern (pun intended for the ornithologists amongst you)!
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I wish to thank my son for taking time out from his busy schedule to post these pictures for me.

Kingfish

Excellent pictures... Enjoyed viewing these...

Fantastic Sir.. Looks like you had a barra good time Great pics and report..

Cheers,
GRC

Thanks Raj and Gavin.

The name barramundi is actually Aboriginal.

Barra means large in their language (just as it does in India!) and mundi means scale....so large scaled fish.

The barramundi also appears since ancient times in Aboriginal art painted onto cave walls,or engraved onto rock faces ...it holds a special place in their mythology.

Kingfish

Before I forget, a word about Polaroid sunglasses.

You will see just about every serious angler wearing a set of these sun glasses,and it is not because of a fashion statement.

These glasses have several functions.

1.They shade the eyes from the sun's harmful rays and glare ...without these you will get a splitting headache after a few hours and have tired eyes.

2.The glasses help you to see into the water and spot fish and structure,enabling you to cast accurately.

3.Finally, the glasses will protect your eyes in the event of flying hooks due to excited casts by fellow anglers ,who may not look around to see who is
behind or alongside them.

Flying hooks can also come straight back at your eyes when you are dislodging them from branches etc. by pulling on the line...at other times,fish such as barramundi can dislodge hooks by jumping out of water.

You have to balance the cost of a good pair of the Polaroid sunglasses against possibly losing the sight in one of your eyes.

P.S. Thanks Vinod and Ratnesh.

Kingfish

@ IndianAngler

Thank you for putting up the report when I initially had problems with the iPad.

Regards,
Kingfish

i got some insight on aussie fishing

Top report there Kingfish....I have booked my tickets to Darwin in May for the runoff season.....cant wait to get some of those beauties into the boat

I have heard that southern Sri Lanka has some good saltwater fishing including Barra.

Kingfish,

as you said operators in goa do not go fishing in mangroves is because
1) some of them are leased out for a year to locals for shrimp farming
2) we got Crocodylus palustris in them.

@RaMpEr

Yes, that may explain their reluctance.

Any instances of crocodile attacks on anglers in Goa?

I still feel that operators do not go into the mangroves because they are unaware of the angling possibilities in there.

Secondly, they may know of the possibilities but do not want the hard work of retrieving lures constantly for their clients.

As for the danger of the Indian crocodile, I have personally fished for mahseer in a coracle at Bhimeshwari and no one seems to be afraid to go out in these boats.

Mind you, we were warned not to approach the river bank at night because
that is when the crocodiles ambush their prey, who come to drink there.

Kingfish

no such known attacks, but some firs time anglers did get fever and admitted in local hospitals when the crocs moved from right in front of them like 5mts distance and slid in the water at night.



as for the catch in the mangroves, its infested with jacks/barra/bonefish.
between the red snappers just got bigger in goa.
pm me you contact number ill watsapp you the snaps.

@ RaMpEr

I suggest that you print the snaps on this forum,as I am sure other members would love to see the pictures as well.

Kind regards,
Kingfish

cant post in forum due to section 13, as the red snappers caught are not alive but i can tell you they weight 12kg+ each and the guy was very luck to land the monsters he caught 2 and lost 4.

between some of the lures used by you to catch barra do not work in goa, we catch them on white/silver and gold color lure most of the time.