Darwin Bluewater Charters

Archive of Fishing updates

Barra Base

The majority of our trips to date this year have been to Barra Base on Bathurst Island where the barra fishing has been nothing short of extraordinary. A typical week has seen us catch in excess of 1000 legal sized barra, an assortment of other estuarine critters and a bountiful catch of crabs. To say these trips have been a once in a lifetime experience for our clients is an understatement! The escaped barra from the fish farm have provided us with sportsfishing opportunities unlike any other – and it won’t last forever unfortunately.

Luckily the memories will last a lifetime. We have a beautiful anchorage inside Port Hurd and the fish are right on the doorstep so you wake up each morning right in the thick of all the action. The jewies have been kind to us as well with a number of 120cm plus fish released within the system and some good reef fishing has also been had at some of our secret spots out the front.

Over easter we completed a circumnavigation of the Tiwi Islands in the Hyland C – another first for the big girl. The barra in the Johnston were nearly non-existant due to the massive tides but we had some serious goldie action in numerous places which are all referred to now as “Spot X”! It was a great way for us to do a bit of reconnaissance work as well since we only had 2 clients on board (you have to let the crew have a bit of fun every now and then!).

Dundee, 3rd June, 2006

Just back from a three day reef fishing trip near Dundee Beach and Point Blaze. There was some amazing mackerel and tuna action plus a fantastic assortment of reefies including coral trout and golden snapper. The fresh squid caught each night provided some irresistible baits which even attracted a wayward Red Emperor. The largest mack tipped the scales at 17kg with another few not too far behind and a 15kg cobia certainly raised the bar for cobia this year.

Darwin to Broome, July 3-14, 2006

This was an eventful run to say the very least! The good ship had a few issues in the engine room department (you can read about them in the latest newsletter) which slowed us down a bit and at the same time the wind seemed to blow hard from any direction other than the one we wanted it to! Not to worry though, we still had an awesome trip with plenty of fishing to be had.

Coral trout, golden snapper and black lip oysters were quite prolific during the middle of the trip which put smiles on faces all round plus there was plenty of gnarly GT, queenie and mack sessions to keep us on our toes. Many new places were explored and old places revisited – there was rock art, fishing, burial sites, bushwalks, bonfires, fishing, swimming, waterfalls, fishing, beachcombing, fishing and more (fishing).

We discovered some fantastic new snapper grounds that were producing size large Kimberley style fish and had a couple of awesome sessions around some rocky islands in the Bonaparte Archipelago. A few GT’s in the 20 – 30lb region were battled with near Kuri Bay and a big tuna ended up as sushi for dinner in Sampson Inlet after a rough ride home in the dinghy’s. The weather got a bit fierce as we rounded Cape Leveque on the last leg into Broome which put a wet blanket on the hope of hauling in a sailfish or marlin but we made it to anchorage off Cable Beach without incident. A fantastic trip and great time had by all.

Broome Billfish Tournament, July 18-26, 2006

Once again the Yamaha Broome Billfish Classic was a pearler but this year there were even more fish to be had. The team from Hyland C managed to finish a very respectable 4th and also won Champion Visiting Boat for the second time with 18 sails and 1 marlin tagged. To say we were proud of ourselves is an understatement!

This year we had one new addition to the team, Brad Clarke, who was a sailfish virgin until the second day of the comp. He’s now quite chuffed with himself after snagging (literally) a total of seven sails for the team. Naomi caught her first marlin of 30kg, nearly had a tag in another and Mal nearly fell off the roof when he saw a 100kg model swim up under our baits!

The last day of the comp is one we’ll never forget. We had to travel quite a way north to get to some grounds that were teeming with billfish like shoals of bait. In just a couple of hours we managed to tag nine sails before we ran out of tags, bait and had to head home anyway to get all our tag cards in on time. There were sails swimming in the wake like a school of dolphins, we had at least 3 triple hook ups

and a quadruple hook up at one stage, Mal had about 3 coronaries and Matt thought all his Christmases’ had come at once! It was billfishing at its best. Well done to the Broome Fishing Club - they put on a marvellous show again and we can’t wait to get back for more next year.

Broome to Darwin, 3-17 August, 2006

After all our engine and weather dramas the weather gods finally decided to look upon us in a much more friendly manner and we were blessed with pretty good conditions for most of the 14 day run home from Broome. We caught everything from mackerel to barramundi, found plenty of oysters, searched for crays (only found babies) and even had a couple of sailfish strikes. The Hunter River was a first for all on board – a spectacular river system with a challenging hike up to the plunge pool and 100m high falls. This is also where we caught a couple of barra which wasn’t a bad effort considering it was the middle of the dry and none of us had been there before.

Silver Gull Creek was an experience none will forget. An old yachtie couple have been squatting there for about 15 years and have an awesome little setup. The wives on board were very impressed with the little souvenir and jewellery shop so we had to send Antony back to the boat for money! It’s not the sort of thing you’d expect in the middle of nowhere. They also have an old spring fed BHP water tank all set up for swimming. It’s 32 degrees year round and has a window to experience the views from to top it all off!

We had a great haul of goldies in a couple of places which kept us well fed and there was some fantastic GT and mack action to keep all the hardcore fishos happy. One hungry mack was released after a photo only to have a go at the same lure which was dangling over the side of the boat and re-hooked itself!

The Bonaparte Gulf thankfully didn’t “blow apart” this time so we had a very glassy crossing throughout the night and ended up out the front of the Little Moyle River with time to deploy the dinghy’s for an afternoon reef drop. Plenty of goldies were caught – enough for dinner and a fish each to take home. The next morning was spent up the river where quite a few barra were caught as well as 4 good size crabs and a few other assorted species including jacks and salmon. Not a bad session for this time of year.

Barra Base, September 4-7, 2006

We had a couple of weeks to wind down and recover from the Kimberley run and then headed to Barra Base, Bathurst Island for a short 4 day trip with a group from Sydney. The fishing is still great although, being the dry, numbers are a bit down and size as well. Some good fish were caught to 80cm and there were plenty of muddies to be had. A 115cm black jewfish was credited to Trevor along with another 3 good ones and four barra that were caught on squid from the same reef. The weather was fantastic and total fish caught for the trip being around the 4-500 mark. A pleasant run home included a stop at one of our favourite reefs which unfortunately seemed a bit quiet (possibly due to professional fishos who were still there at the time).

Bathurst Island, September 15-22,2006

What a trip! Heaps of barra (about 600), lots of laughs, a muddy here and there, a marlin swimming behind the teasers for 5 minutes and a 92cm barra to name just some of the highlights! The guys from Adelaide had a ball.We spent a couple of days at Barra Base before heading up the coast to Dudwell Creek - another fantastic little creek that has always been great for barra and threadfin salmon.

Out on the headlands some size large jewies were caught to 115cm along with some stud goldies weighing up to 5kg. An early morning run out to one of the offshore reefs saw over a dozen good sized mackerel caught to 12kg and a 40kg black marlin was raised but unfortunately couldn't be teased into a feed. Not a bad weeks fishing!

Bathurst Island - Coburg Peninsula, Sept/ Oct 2006

The first couple of days at Barra Base saw 80-100 barra being released each day along with a good haul of crabs. We then decided to head for Melville Island, on the way copping a rather large head on sea which sent all the crew to their bunks to cuddle their teddies! Many sighs of relief were expelled when we reached the Jessie River anchorage and the boys set out very keen for the calm waters of the estuaries and the famous rock bar.

Imagine the grins when Antony (not to be confused with our deckie) landed a MASSIVE 115cm, 40lb barramundi!!! Awesome catch and well done to our lucky angler. It's only the second ever metre plus barra we've caught in the Jessie so all the team were pretty proud of themselves to say the very least.

The following days saw some great snapper fishing at spots X,Y & Z and some threadfin action in the Johnston River where half a dozen big thredies were caught to 111cm. After all the excitement it was time to head for Trepang Bay on the Coburg Peninsula to connect with a charter flight back to Darwin after a feed of oysters.

Coburg Peninsula - Tiwi Islands - Darwin, October 2006

We're completely crackers here at Darwin Bluewater as most of you would know and decided to take our parents on a voyage with us and two of our regular clients! It was a great trip with some quality fishing and crabbing, plenty of oysters to keep the mothers happy and lots of adventure for our crazy fathers and us!

The fishing wasn't spectacular due to the spring tides but we still caught some great fish including a monster cobia (119cm), a perfect eating size coral trout, lots of snapper, some good barras to 78cm, a couple of salmon and an assortment of other piscatorial critters. But it was a week of firsts for Darky with his first barras, biggest cobia and coral trout - great stuff!

Well done to Peter and Darky for putting up with the family for the week - we had a wonderful voyage and really enjoyed the company of all on board.

Melville Island, October, 2006

Melville Island truly is a remote wonderland that never ceases to amaze. This time the big rivers turned it on with plenty of action from 109cm threadfin salmon, lots of sight fishing for good size barra and the biggest haul of crabs we've ever caught from the system! Mangrove jacks were so plentiful it was hard to NOT catch one. Three barra in the high 90's (one possibly over a metre) were unfortunately dropped during the fight - no one's fault, just feisty fish.

Madford Shoals were out of the question thanks to the weather and dirty water but a couple of great goldie sessions fixed that problem - the largest measuring a whopping 71.5cm! This was a great set of tides for the area and the water clarity was something else. It was a light tea colour and made for perfect sight casting around all the snags. We might not have hauled in the biggest of fish but there were plenty of them. It was a great trip and we're sure Angus will be taking home his very own jockey hat next year!

Trepang Bay, October 28-30, 2006

The crew have just enjoyed a relaxing 24 hours in the magnificent waters of Trepang Bay on Coburg Peninsula. Cray hunting was our main priority and we ended up bagging 7 of the tasty little numbers which were scoffed with much delight along with a bottle of sav blanc! There were plenty of oysters, some nice little snappers and young Adam (son of one of the owners) hauled in a monster queenie on the voyage there. The clients flew in early on the 30th all geared up and ready to tackle the north coast of Melville Island.

North Coast Melville Island, trip 1,November 2006

Paul's crew from Melbourne were blessed with a week of absolute glassy conditions. The Goldies were on the chew on the outer reefs and the Mangrove Jacks were in plague proportions up the creeks. Once the boys got their lures out of the trees and into the water, the catch rate increased significantly!!. Young Matty nailed a ripper 90cm Barra and Paul and Vic combined well for a classic big Threadfin-big Barra double hookup and capture. The highlight of the trip was definately the quality of visual barra and jack fishing we encountered.

North Coast Melville Island, trip 2, November 2006

The big boys finally came out to play (both the punters and the fish!!). Ross's team all managed a barra if not 3 or 4 over 80cm, with the best for the week stretching the tape to 99cm. Craig wont forget being spooled by a monster barra inxs of 115cm and then not long after being stalemated in the snags by a 110cm model.

Dave's 100cm Thready and 99cm Barra sealed the mighty sporran with thanks to Antony's left field trolling techniques by which some unique and rather large fish were caught. A 42lb Spanish Mack capped off a great week's fishing.

Barra Base, Trip 1, December 2006

Another run of the mill week at Barra Base saw us catch and release over 600 barra in between the tropical storms that rolled in each afternoon. The mud crabs were still hungry (which made us hungrier) and there were a few threadies, goldies and a big jewie thrown in as well. The average size of the barras was up on our previous trips with most coming in around the 60cm mark although the biggest for the week only made it to 79cm.

The two kids on board showed up their more experienced elders on many occasions with young Logan taking out the champion angler for the trip. The highlight for the week would have to be the big sailfish that was hooked up on the voyage over and unfortunately lost only moments later.

Barra Base, Trip 2, December 2006

The guys from Brisbane landed just in time to get to the boat before a torrential afternoon downpour! Once the skies cleared however we were able to get out there for a late avo fish which saw barra on the table for dinner that night. The following 2 days saw plenty of fish caught although the mud crabs were starting to get a bit on the scarce side due to all the fresh water dumping down every afternoon. A couple of 75cm models were nailed - not a bad effort considering the tides and the fact that the guys were only with us for 2 and a half days.

Crew Junket, Bathurst Trench, December 2006

Our final days of fishing for the year were spent out at the Bathurst Trench and then travelling home via South Gutter nearer to Darwin. At the trench we managed to raise a big sailfish and catch 3 juvenile dolphin fish and a good sized triple tail. The water was like glass and the humidity through the roof but it was a great way to top off an eventful year for the crew.

At the top end of South Gutter, whilst we were all busy hiding from the sun, a 104kg black marlin came up in the spread and took off with a mouldcraft lure in its gob! Antony made it to the rod first and after a 20min fight had the monster at the duckboard for us all to gloat over. It was an amazing fish and also our last capture for the year. What a great way to finish!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you and your families! See you in 2007.