Barramundi fishing trip and cyclones

Well the cyclone hit land over the weekend about 100klms East of where we're going and so far it's had minimal impact on the place but has dumped a lot of water.
It actually crossed at a place we fished about 3 years ago which is basically fairly remote.

It's now been down graded to a Cat. 1 basically a big rain depression now and is moving inland which is a good thing as most of that part of the Northern Territory and Queensland has been in drought for probably 12 months or more.

The roads are open up there for the moment but a lot will depend on how much water fills creeks etc and cuts off roads in the next week as a lot of the country is flat and a storm 20 miles away can send a torrent of water down stream quickly so a creek/river crossing that is bone dry or a trickle can suddenly have 6' of water arrive very suddenly and with enough force to wash a car or 4wd off a crossing.

This crossing here is actually where the cyclone hit. During the Wet the river level can be almost to the top of the bank such is the amount of rain the Top End gets during a good Wet season.

Trapper6L said:

I'm glad to hear that the area is getting some much needed rain. We've even heard about it being dry in Oz. But, if you were fishing here behind a cyclone I'd tell you don't waste the gas. With all of the storm water washing out all kinds of trash and a lot of the small fish will have died in the storm, there's not much fishing to be had here for about 2 weeks after the storm. Hope that it doesn't work like that there though. I'd like to see you posting lots of pics of fish I've only seen in books. But I hope you post a bunch of pics anyway. Always neat to see how things are in another area or country. You'd be surprised how many people over the years have asked me if Texans fish with guns on horseback.

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The big killer after a cyclone is the water temps drop so that can be a big factor. 2 of the blokes going up with us are heading off this weekend so they'll be 1st boots on the ground and probably have trouble getting in as the last 30klms is dirt and they may have to take a route up due to cut roads from floodwater.

The cyclone has now dropped down into a rain depression an dis now moving into the back blocks of Western Queensland and Southern Northern Territory and dropping a lot of rain which is badly needed out there.

Only problem now is that there's a few roads up there that are now cut due to flooding but by the time my b-I-l and I head off next week things should be better. These flood waters can be 100's of klm's wide as the country up that way is fairly flat with 100's of little dry creeks and rivers that will fill up suddenly and flood places that may have never had rain.

I'll put up pictures on here as I'll try and do a day by day blow of what happens....well at least try and condense it all into a reasonable yarn anyway.

Dave H said:

Kevin, trust things work out for you and your mates.

Recently saw a video (maybe UTube) of a salt water croc coming on shore to take a big barramundi from a shore fisherman.

What size fish would you expect in the area you fish?

Looks like a great sport and food fish.

Best.

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Our tropical North from the top of Western Australia to the top part of Queensland has saltwater crocs and as long as you understand that they're always there then you won't have too many problems.

The biggest I've seen is a 14' croc and they have a head like a backhoe bucket in width and very aggressive.
They'll take cattle, pigs and just about anything that they can fit in their mouths much like the Nile crocs you see on those African animal shows.

Barramundi do grow up over the magic metre mark and are all females as Barramundi like Nile Perch(a cousin to the Barramundi) change sex around that size so any big Barra are released. They fight like crazy at any size but the bigger models really go hard.

Where we're going (King Ash Bay near Borroloola in the Northern Territory) we can expect Barramundi up to and over the 1 metre mark along with Finger Mark Bream, Blue Salmon, Mangrove Jacks, Queenfish, Tuna, Trevally and outside Spanish Mackeral and Wahoo along with Cobia, Snapper, Jewfish and of course the ever present Tax Collectors.

Get on to You Tube and tap in Barramundi fishing in the Northern Territory and see what you reckon about them then also tap in something like Australian saltwater crocodiles.

Well we came, we saw and I think we had a few wins.

Fishing was hard as the Northern Territory had a shocker of a Wet Season and that impacts on the fishing especially the Barramundi who spend a lot of time up in the rivers and creeks and need the Wet to unlock the many 1000's of creeks and billabongs to let the Barramundi travel back to the sea.

I did however manage to nail a personnel best Barramundi of 77.5cm an improvement of 14cm over my last Barramundi but it cost me a lure as he smashed the bib wrecking the lure.

The daytime temps up there now are around the 35C as this is now the start of the Dry season.

This is my Barramundi. We also caught Blue Salmon, Black Jewfish, Golden Trevally and Fingermark Bream plus the 2 mates that were up there with us nailed a few Barramundi, Blue Salmon, Fingermark Bream and Trevally plus a few good Queenfish and a couple of Black tip reef sharks which ended up as fish and chips with copious amounts of beer.

My b-I-l tied into something big which he fought for probably 30 minutes before it finally busted him off. We reckon it was either a big Cod or Groper around the 40kg+ mark. The b-I-l would get 5 metres of line back and whatever it was would take 10 metres back.

Looks like a winning trip to me. I've got the bug to go back to the Gulf of Mexico to put a few in the freezer. Kingfish, Ling Cod, Tuna, Red Snapper are on the hit list. When I was a kid my dad and I would go down to Port Aransas Tx every April thru May for Gaftop. That's a gulf water catfish that's a dark silver/gray on top and silver/white on the bottom. They get averagely about as long from your elbow to the tip of your fingers. They fight like a mule too. Extra fun when you have 2 on the same pole. WE fish with squid for bait. I've got the itch and it needs major scratching.
Don't know if ya'll get the program Jeremy Wades Dark Waters but his last show was out of Australia. The program was named "Return of the Outback Beast". Apparently there was a cod that was thought to be extinct, fished out and I'm assuming it was a freshwater fish. Unbeknownst to most folks, they have been farm raising these fish and returning them back to the rivers. Pretty interesting show. He claims these cod are known for size and are aggressive. All that in a fish that can hit 6 feet in length. If you watch internet TV, here's a link to a list of video providers. Thanks for the pics. Love it!
https://www1.swatchseries.to/episode/jeremy_wade_s_dark_waters_s1_e3.html