Again hitched the boat to the ute before dawn, we were on the water just as the sun was rising
Straight to Weed Reef - however there was a heap of chop
The wind was blowing in the opposite direction to yesterday and the water was much dirtier than yesterday
We got there at the top of tide this time with only the very tips of the tips of the mangroves showing
Almost missed the reef because of this
The fish were there at the same place but not in the numbers of yesterday considerably so - though we still caught 10 or so trevally and queenfish
Whenever his spin rod was bent and his reel was screaming
- Brad repeatedly kept saying "Why doesn't everyone do this!"
Due to the very very low tide at midday, we then decided to try another spot before finishing up early.
Kaitlyn Bay was the next location - again it had queenfish working the dirty tide line and the baitfish hiding in it - but quite sporadic needing a lot of blind hopeful casting
We caught a couple queenfish here, then with time short we revisited East Point hoping for the larger queenfish there yesterday
But no big queenfish, no nothing actually! so back to boat ramp
What did find near the sand bar off Cullen Bay was thousands and thousands of Fringe Finned Trevally with a hundred or so birds hovering over them. The Fringe Finned Trevally while busting the surface and keen to take the flies we were casting were no bigger than 20cm. Fun but not.
We caught a few more queenfish outside Kaitlyn Bay back on way back but kept going after a few fish hit the net
So with a few fish in the esky for dinner - we headed back to ramp to ensure we didn't get trapped by low tide lowest tide of the year I was told - 0.2m.
Dinah ramp
East Arm Ramp
One more day of fishing before the son heads back south
Its been a great time for us both - hopefully tomorrow the fish are more cooperative
Day two of our father and son holidays started before dawn.
By sun up we were halfway to Weed Reef
The early morning sky over the city was all sorts of purple and blue hues, with a full moon setting as we headed towards Weed Reef - all making it an awesome sight.
Behind us the reddest of suns was getting higher in the sky,
(sorry no photo - been quite slack with the camera lately)
The water was calm as I have seen it in a while - which made the trip a lot faster than Monday's outing. And easier to see fish action from further distances.
On arrival the high tide had covered all but the very tips of the mangroves that precariously grow on the sand and gravels bars of Weed Reef.
The tide was already racing out of the harbour and we were encouraged by an occasional slash or boil down current of the mangrove trees - a clear indication that the baitfish were hugging the trees for safety but being forced to leave that safety by the raging and falling tide
I mentioned to my son that the predators would be shortly patrolling the gravel bar at the edge of the reef. He then spied some birds (already learning - look for the birds to find the fish!) working the area I mentioned. So we drifted over with the current and the electric motor
We anchored near the last few trees before the gravel bar. As soon we get there the birds were working hard over the top of some very aggressive queenfish and trevally (brassies?)
Brad was getting a fish a cast and thoroughly enjoying his time on the water. At times his fly would only just hit the water and it would be ravaged. Rarely would he get a full retrieve in without a hit or take of the fly.
For a while I wasn't getting as many fish as my son, rather I was totally enjoying my son's excitement at all the fish bursting the surface around us and for two hours we caught fish after fish with his huge grin causing me to grin even more.
Brad commented that using a fly with a sinker rather than a soft plastic was far better in catch rates but also that he would have used maybe a pack or more of tails instead of the couple of flies he was using that had far better durability.
When we got home my wife got mad at me for not filming any of the action - but you just had to keep casting with all those fish all around the boat. (head cam off line at the moment due mount issue).
We keep a few fish to feed a few friends who heard of our exploits on Monday - but today's action and catch rates were crazy - easily 20+ fish each in that first session of 2.5 hours at Weed Reef.
We left the fish biting for newer waters - heading towards Mandorah but nothing of note to occupy ourselves
We crossed over the harbour towards Lee Point (old faithful) but Brad saw more birds near East Point. The queenfish here were much larger (50-65cm) and full of fight in the strong tidal flow.
We caught 10 or so each before continuing to Lee Point - but NOTHING for a change at Lee Point
The tide was almost bottomed out too, so we heading back into the harbour.
We thought about going to the West Arm creeks but the heat of the day had zapped us. Then the wind came on hard down the harbour along with white tipped waves.
But the tide was too low to get the boat out. So we tried a few more places (all wind blown and no fish). We did spend an hour casting a sand bank south of Channel Island that look quite promising but only saw small rays.
Heading out again tomorrow - Brad very keen for Weed Reef action again. Need to be back in by 11am or the later low tide will force us to be out till late arvo.
Until then - Tight lines and fast fish
the NT Swoffer (and Son - well for another 3 days before he flies back to Newcastle, NSW)
This is the down current edge looking back over Weed Reef. Note the ultra smooth up current side of gravel bar. That edge line between the smooth and rough water was were the fish were feeding.
All you had to do was put a fly along this edge and fish went nuts! It was far better if they were already crashing the surface and the baitfish near it and you got the fly close to them
My son arrived 10 minutes early on Friday night
So great to give him a huge hug after not seeing him for a while
Last time I saw him he was a teenager, now he is grown man in both spirit and body
Mostly the Huge arms and chest from starting his building apprenticeship since I last saw him
But the biggest change was the beard he had grown - adding quite a very mature look. Though the smirky grin he had every time he was hooked up with a screaming reel as the fish took line reminded me of the boy from a few years ago.
Monday morning we were itching to wet a line. The itch saw us up early and on the water as the sun poked its head above the horizon
Straight out to Lee Point but the water out to it was quite choppy and a swell that made the ride a little slow.
We found fish near the reef of Lee Point again = a mixture of queenfish and grey mackerel
Using a fly (silicone surf candy) and a small ball sinker on a spin outfit, Bradley caught a few queenfish.
While I caught a mixture of species SWOFFING - using small white clousers and silicone surf candies
But the action was hot and cold. So we heading back up the harbour, we changed direction half way into harbour towards Mandorah. Near a yellow beacon Brad spied some birds and on moving closer we found lots of birds with the occasional slash and splash.
We pulled a few fish from the roaming packs, I lost at least five nice queenies, each in a different way - crazy fun.
We headed back to the city side of the harbour but the wind was in an unfavourable direction for a lot of the places I normally fish
Added also that the tide had bottomed out - options were limited for my knowledge of the harbour anyway (wasn't too keen to chase barra up middle or west arm creeks in heat - sad to see that old man softness coming out again!)
We hung around some birds working Kaitlyn Bay catching a couple more queenies along the drop-off of the mud bank that was now Kaitlyn Bay. At the point just outside of Cullen Bay we were again targeting the queenies when a vast area of nervous water came towards us.
A quick cast and I came up tight after one short sharp strip of the fly line. It was a nice golden brilliant in its hues and about 40cm in length.
But the fish that swam beside it as it fought against the tight fly line - had to be its great grandmother. It had to be three times the depth of body and that again long. I might have cast too soon and picked up the point guard rather than the big giant centre (sorry for the basketball metaphors but I used to play a lot of basketball)
Not only that but they were just the forerunners for the rest of the school of fish that began to swim under the boat. majority of them were huge fish. Would have been a few thousand fish that I saw swimming, and that was only the ones that went under the boat while I fought my little golden trevally. They were travelling fast and by the time I got my goldie to the net we couldn't find them again.
A good start to several days fishing - so we were home by 1pm to clean the couple of fish we had kept.
Tuesday was a lay day due to the job list the wife disappointingly had gave me.
Wednesday will see us up the creeks of west arm due to very low tide at midday not allowing us to get the boat out - however firstly some pelagics around Lee Point to get the arms warmed up.
Sorry so long to finish of my report on the Sheep Stakes
Disappointment the main reason
After doing so well the first day the second day was abysmal
From the first spot nothing went right, don't think we fished any planned spot after that at the planned time so miss the windows to catch what we needed and had seen the day before.
Again we spent too much time chasing species that didn't really impact our scores - but that's not saying we didn't catch fish cause we did - but the not the key ones to impact our scores.
Hard day again wind wise as the day wore on but calm for a long time in the morning that we didn't take full advantage of.
Peter ended up coming second by 50 points - basically one good fish or catching two of the species listed for the day. Still a good bunch of folks to hang out with once off the water. Well done to Ron for winning and having two good days of catching the right species. I think I ended up sixth but not too worried about my placing, Just feeling for peter who has finished in the top three for the last few years both the freshwater and Bynoe comps. Close but no cigar again!
Quite frustrating not being able to catch what was needed when leading the comp. Took a bit off what started as a good weekend competition.
Really got to stay focused the whole tournament and spend most of time on water targeting the key species - despite the distraction of fish busting the surface everywhere around us when not the species you want.
So moving on from that disappointment.......
Currently looking forward to my son visiting during the two weeks long service leave I am taking. He is taking time off from his building apprenticeship in Sydney for a week of fishing up here in Darwin. As he hasn't fly fished since a little kid, he will be using a light spin stick to cast the flies with a small sinker for helping the cast. Might be able to get him attempting a fly cast or two - if the fish thick and active.
We were going remote to Peron Islands to stay at a friends house down there but last week a service for motor and a look at impellor ended up $1500 with a few more things found. So spent trip money on repairs - so sad. In the positive they found those problems before the issues helped me get stuck in some remote place and they also found the issue with the battery problem that hassled me my previous trip to Bynoe - awesome!
So local waters this week coming but that's OK too and I get to sleep in my own bed each night near what I think is one of the best and most productive waterways near a capital city in Australia.
Might finally get to the Vernon Islands with Monday the 26th looking the best day for tides I like. So maybe if wind is kind and as it is only a short ride up Gunn Rd to Leaders Creek and a short boat ride from there.
Still the harbor fishing well lately. As too the Barra in the harbor arms are starting to get quite active according to a mate who is quite the gun on my nemesis species. Got a good deal going - I am helping him with queenies and trevally for his kids to catch and he is helping me with that species that has alluded me for the last 3 years - bugger me that sounds bad when you write it down!!!!! I seem to be able to catch most species locally but these silver icons of Australian tropical waters! See them on the flats, Yes! Many times. Have had them follow the flies - Yes! Plenty of times. Hook them, yes! Once or twice. But stay hooked long enough to use the enviro net - not likely!
well here's to hoping for some good fishing - some good photos of my son with some awesome fish!
blog soon........
So I was off to Sand Palms Pub Motel for the weekend for the NT
Fly Fishers Social Mob and its annual Sheep Station Stakes
Arrive Friday midday - had a swim in the motel pool (amazingly water still
chilly even after a few weeks of 35 Celsius days!), showered, relaxed, had a snooze, and then had a great dinner. But
after working on fencing my rural block for last few weeks, only shortly after seeing a few of
the regular faces for a short chat on recent fishing exploits - I went to bed early and slept quite soundly.
Day One gave us an awesome sunrise which found us just off SW corner of Knife
Island. Not much about to begin with, we both agreed a half hour later at this spot would make all
the difference. And after looking around a bit on other side of island we came
back just in time for the action to start up. Most times it is all about that perfect time or window of time for the fishing to get interesting.
Our target species for bonus points were a trevally of any species (changed from specifically a Diamond Trevally due to scarcity of such in this area), mangrove jack, any type of cod, and finally a Threadfin Salmon. Having caught all of these species regularly during my time up here, my hopes were high of catching three or four of the key list species, if not five.
Early on the Macks were out wide of island but didn’t want to play. But inside the sand
bar right next to SW corner of Knife Island as the out-going tide slipped over the sand/gravel bar, the fish wanted to play big time. Small Queenfish, GTs and Golden trevally were repeated visitors to the net. Nothing
real big but plenty of them. The queenfish were just extra points, while the trevally potentially multiple points if more of the key species were eventually caught.
The main fish in this area eventually slowed down their enthusiasm for our flies
so we drifted with wind and current to the north. Here more queenfish were
found attacking baitfish sporadic in location and timing - while having to chase them about the area on the electric, regularly they came tight on our fly lines. So around Knife Island, we both got trevally for
our first needed species and Peter arsed a small mack randomly and unexpectedly while doing nothing but a little jiggle of his fly, giving him for his second species of Day One's key species list.
With the goal of five species for maximum bonus points, we leave active fish to pop over to the rocky area close to the pearl farm NE of Knife Island. Here we both got another
of key species for the day. However while it was only a 10cm long estuary cod was caught, it put Peter into triple bonus and a few cast later I get my own estuary cod of 9cm that put me into double bonus
points. I got a second one a bit later a few centimeters longer.
Even with fish busting up around us (queenfish and trevally)
but given the dropping tide we then had to move to locations more suited to
our other key species we wanted - Mangrove Jacks and Threadfin salmon.
Earlier we had fished too long at one of our locations chasing species
not on the key list, but while still racking up points and regularly upgrading
our biggest five of a species, we missed the tide window for my favourite
Threadfin flat – bugger it was already high and dry. We then fish the next flat
towards the back of Bynoe harbor hoping for a stray threadie or while not on
the list a barra or two - but although several indications via slashing in
shallow water all our time used here didn’t result in any more fish. We did get a few follows
from some Pikey Bream though - but again not on the list.
Again we found ourselves a bit behind in our tidal and location timetable - we fished
several rocky areas up the Annie River and given most rocks and gravel bars were already well out of the water - nothing responded to our flies towards
getting a Mangrove Jack. Soon the tide was turning and flowing back in and thus the threadfin salmon were already moving into the mangrove roots and backwaters we couldn't get to. Timing is everything when chasing species and restricted to a tight timetable over large distances makes it more difficult.
So back to top of Knife Island with
a short stopover at Kiara Rock along the way for a few more 35cm trevally and a
quite strange fish, the Wolf Herring whose scales and slim went everywhere when
it came to hand, such a weird looking fish with teeth so out of size to its
head all on its bottom jaw (see video below for a brief glimpse).
When we arrived at Knife, the wind had changed direction and
intensity dramatically. White caps everywhere due to howling 20knot + wind from North. Being only two o’clock, we had plenty of time for other species - like maybe blue salmon and tarpon I heard on the grapevine were about up a creek west of Knife Island. But it was really rough and in Peter's boat (actually any boat in this howling wind) across the face of the waves we would get soaking wet - so we chickened out. Then both of us spoke at the same time about heading back to pearl farm again. Peters boat handles extremely well straight into the wind chop. Other reasons being, the peninsula the pearl farm sheds are on would sheltered the rock strewn area on its SE
side from the howling wind. The tide was now rising but casting out of the howling wind a far better option.
Several fish packs were roaming the area and we manage several more fish - resulting in upgrades and fish caught numbers wise but sadly no jacks or threadies! Or for that matter a mack that I needed as too any size of these three fish species for extensive bonus points).
Then a rolling pack of Golden trevally surged in
and out of the area. It was captivating SWOFFING, waiting for the goldens to
arrive and casting at the perfect time for their sporadic visit, hooking up to several fish over the next hour or so. With howling
winds everywhere else and a couple of hours left to fish in the day – it wasn’t such a bad way to spend
some time.
We did spy some weird fish in the leaves of the now high tide water
covered mangroves. Forked ghostly tails, and not with the same body shape as the mullet moving about in the same area. They kept
moving around and we never got a good view of them to identify them (or catch them). They seems to be eating something off the sunken mangrove leaves.
By this time the wind had backed off a little, so even though
time was short for handing the scorecards in, we went back to Knife Island again and found more actively feeding fish to cast to. Peter thoroughly enjoyed himself heading boat into huge
wind chop waves to chase more queenfish and trevally viciously slashing the surface
along the east side of Knife Island - he upgraded several times.
We were hoping give tide, wind and location to catch my third
species but still no mackerel took an interest in my flies being retrieved, and retrieved, and retrieved, and retrieved, and retrieved!
We eventually pull the boat out with just enough time to
hand in score sheets.
Despite being a hard day fishing we did better than most. So
much so Peter ended up in first place - thanks to his triple bonus points for three species (only two others got three species) and late upgrades to his various species. With my only two bonus species I get third place – man I needed one more of the specific bonus species. Still Peter caught 30+ fish, and I caught 45 plus fish for the day so we caught plenty of fish. But remember only the best five of each
species counts. I had bigger fish too than Peter but it is all about the bonus points of
catching the five key species for the day. We caught plenty of other species too –
Russell snapper, wolf herring, etc to all add their points to the grand total.
The flies for the day were the silicone surf candy, Peter's pink over white clouser and for me small bucktail or goat hair white clousers. (I will have to put up fly tying videos of these eventually!)
Onto Day Two with high hopes. Just before we went to sleep, I lay out a plan of attack for
day two to target the five species for Sunday are Barra, Tarpon, Pikey Bream, Mangrove
Jack (again) and Golden Trevally. Peter is keen and so am I. After 12 hours on the water, casting mostly in high winds, sleep came very easily!
All week I have been working on our 5 acre block at the back of Humptydoo (30 minutes from Darwin) - clearing, gathering fallen timber into piles, removing dead trees etc. Main task was the putting up of 900 meters of star pickets and pig wire. dividing the block into three parts - two for horses and one part for the house and front lawn - love a large lawn of green grass (good for teaching my kids fly casting!)
Talk about hard work - mostly because I have grown soft in my air-conditioned school science lab! As a sheep farmer's son, my long dead father would roll over in his grave at my softness!
I am still sore all over, with old sports injuries inflamed and pain-killers taken.
But lifting a 20 kilo jack hammer to head height 180 times will do that - used the jack hammer to drive in the 180 star pickets in to compacted ground for the fence line. Then again using the jack hammer far easier than the old ram style by hand method.
So the wife was looking kindly, maybe even fondly!, at me each evening for the 'hard work' I have been doing. So there was not even a murmur when I said I was thinking of fishing on Sunday.
Peter and I hit the water Sunday morning around 6:30am. Hightide was at 9:30am and a spring tide, so we needed to be back at ramp by 2 to avoid not enough water at ramp when taking boat out with Low tide under a meter due around 4pm.
Given we like to SWOFF hard at Lee Point a couple of hours after the high tide, the plan was to detoured to Weed Reef and Mandorah before heading to Lee Point.
But the big problem with fishing Sunday was the wind, the forecast on Thursday had me thinking fencing would be better - lots of wind forecast. On Sunday morning a quick look in the iPad and the forecast was better but gusty 10-15 knots by midday - would that be enough time to target the prime dropping tide at Lee Point??
Weed Reef was empty, Mandorah was empty at first glance but then we saw the birds and then the queenfish and small grey mackerel under the birds!
The water was already exiting Darwin Harbour at 8am and as the water pushed over the reef ledges the predators were taking full measure of the baitfish schools.
We hooked up to several fish, the several boats of lure tossers and bait guys caught nothing!
Another win for the SWOFFERS!!!!!!
Every queenfish that attacked the fly (to its downfall!) - used the fast flowing out going tide to make it feel much larger at the end of the taunt fly line. it was a lot of fun. I once got three fish in four casts - see video for a bit of this action.
After chasing these fish around for an hour or so we continued on our journey towards Lee Point. I almost convince Peter to turn back given the ugly swell and wind chop we were pounding into. Peter's boat handles this swell when going into it but travelling with the swell and chop, is a very different and a very wet story at times. (Might be the two 120amp batteries for the 80lb electric up under the front deck - his is thinking of shifting them)
The extra swell and chop between East Point and Nightcliff that pounded us as we traveled out of the harbour stopped by the time we got to Lee Point.
Finally at the reef, the water flow just wasn't there. Which was strange given an hour earlier we experienced much faster tidal flows at Mandorah! We still needed an hour at Lee Point before the conditions were similar to the awesome SWOFFING we have had here over the last few months.
For the next hour it was one eye on the reef looking for baitfish being harassed, and the other eye on the expected and forecast strong wind from the East-North East. As usual Peter kept casting and casting with the occasional follow and a few fish hooked - me just waiting for some action before casting (remember the getting soft concept - got to save my energy for the important moments ).
First sign of action beginning was the quantity of garfish increasing. These slender long fish were zipping about the inside edge of the reef. Then the garfish started to show panic and would jump about as mackerel and queenfish marauded the smaller baitfish amongst them. Occasionally, quite large slashes were happening as larger fish were really attacking the garfish. You just had to cast when this was occurring.
We caught plenty of fish but then the wind came! And came with a passion!
Frustratingly the fish were just starting to go crazy with regular surface bust ups along the edge of the reef - BUGGER!
However, we kept casting but the wind was causing havoc with out casting. One fly into the back of my head, one in Peter's shoulder blade, then one near Peter's nose with the hook point sticking in his buff material just below his nose - a close one! Time to go home!
But you know how it is even if you have caught some good fish, in numbers - you just can' help to try another location on way home. so we ventured across harbour to Mandorah again.
We caught no more fish but did have a shower from the wave wash the boat created as it hit every swell and chop wave there and back. Both of us were absolutely soaking wet as we drove the boat back to the Dinah Beach boat ramp. we just had enough water to get the boat in. A tiring but good day's SWOFFING.
I kept a few queenfish for the kids and myself. Been on a health kick for a week now,
heaps less sugar, no fizz drink (coca cola mostly!), less processed foods and more exercise!
So breadcrumbed fish fingers and finely chopped salad for dinner tonight.
Today was a good warm up for the NT Fly Fishing Social Mob's Sheep Station Stakes on next weekend.
The five fish species drawn from a hat for Saturday's bonus points are - Mackerel, Mangrove Jack, Cod, Diamond Trevally, and Threadfin Salmon.
First Three should be ok and I feel confident of catching, but the last two will be more challenge. 50/50 on the Threadfin but the diamond trevally will be interesting.
Look for the Sheep Stakes report after next weekend outing.
Tight lines and go tie some flies
The Stig (aka NT Swoffer)
From the front Deck (for a change of author)......
As some of you may have heard, or not, my 81 year old
father, William travelled from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada through
Manila to spend 3 weeks with us in Darwin.
We did our best to treat him like gold (my wife did a much better job at
this than I did) and show him all things that is Darwin and the Top End.
William grew up in war torn London in the 30’s & 40’s so
the Bombing of Darwin was of great interest to him. The East Point Military Museum and Winnellie Aviation museums were a
highlight and he was very surprised to learn of the extent of the bombings and
the sustained war effort in Northern Australia.
Being a Canadian fly fisherman he couldn’t wait to get ‘oot
and aboot’ on the water and try his hand at hooking a few unknown troppo
species.
Given that I’m an emerging authority on the best time to
fish Lee Point (thanks to The Stig); Dad and I made a beeline for the high and
dropping tide on and near the reefs around Lee, which I think was on Monday, 24
Aug 2015. Moments after arriving, which was almost exactly at high-slack, the
first hook up was a 75-90 cm Golden trevally, which after a strong initial run
ended up within a ½ meter of the net, of course resulting in a freaked out
trevally going down and away again.
After a total of about 20 minutes, the gold leviathan broke the leader
and the deep, sagging feeling of loss quickly set in, mostly because I didn’t
expect that we’d hook anything like that again while my Dad was here!!! We’ll dub that moment as “the great
disappointment” (TGD).
After some searching we found the main reef on the sounder
and hit the anchor button on the electric.
Dad spent some time figuring out his 300 grain sink-tip rhythm and after
flailing around a bit and wondering where the fish were the Gar started to
accumulate right behind the boat. We
took this to mean that the bait fish might soon be flushed through the area and
we tied new Clousers on and let our leaders sink just a little more. We soon started hooking grey mackerel at
fairly regular intervals and the odd school of queenies would bust up within
striking distance. Dad was shocked at
the toughness for the relative size of the fish compared to trout and North
Pacific salmon.
We hung out on the reef throughout the tide and the first
Can-Aussie fly fishing experiment was over for the day. Next stop, the kitchen, to try some local
caught fish in the fry-pan. Dad prides
himself in filleting, skinning and de-boning any species of fish so we had some
flawless, crumbed white meat in the pan before we knew it. Good on ya Dad!
Four similar Darwin Harbour/Lee point outings happened over
the subsequent three weeks with similar fish searching/catching efforts. All up, dad landed about 30 fish and 6-7
species in the salt water. On the last
day, he’d really tuned into finding fish by watching birds and sighting bait
balls. I think he’d soon start
out-fishing me if he lived here, crafty ol’ fella!
On to Corroboree to test out the fresh. 3 ½ short years ago
I was pronouncing Corroboree - 'Core-ahh-bore-eee'.
You shoulda seen the looks I got from locals when I dropped that one on
them, like they’d just tasted something bitter. J
How things change.
We got off to a shaky start in the billabong with Dad being
stranded in the boat 20 meters out from the launch without being able to start
the motor and without having the opportunity earlier in the trip to put the
electric down or control it with the remote, after shouting some possible fixes
from the car park, a trusty local suggested I jump on his boat so I could
attempt a rescue. I didn’t get his name
but he was a very thoughtful bloke to suggest such a practical response to the
problem. Unfortunately, when I attempted
to board the Good Samaritan’s boat, which was still on the trailer, I slipped
and my ribs dropped onto the top of his winch. Whooph, all the wind knocked
outta me! I kept a very fake ‘I’m ok’
look on my face and soon after boarded the boat with my dad, thumbs up to Good Samaritan
and all was almost back to normal. Turns
out the safety switch under the key hadn’t been pulled out enough by the
clip/separator device. I managed to
catch my breath after the full contact with the winch post, we got geared-up
and off we went to find Barra and Saratoga.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t scare up any fish until I got a 55 cm Saratoga
at about 3pm on my trusty orange and black whatchamacallit fly. It was tougher fishing than the Social Mob
comp in May and Dad was starting to wonder if it was a fishless billabong. L
After a micro-SD card full of pictures and harassing what
seemed like a multitude of crocs, two of which circled the boat while we ate
lunch, we were done for the day. Dad was
super impressed with the billabong and was shocked overall with the wetlands
and fishing opportunities so close to home.
He was amazed by the crocs, birds and lily pads at Corroboree and the
rest of the wildlife observed at the Humpty Doo Hotel. Dad’s an adventurous guy but he couldn’t
stomach the idea of a kangaroo or croc burger, buffalo it was!
Dad admitted that he didn’t think he’d be very impressed
with Darwin but around every corner there were good restaurants, excellent
museums, beautiful sunsets, the Territory Wildlife Park, Crocasaurus Cove and
accommodation that included a deck overlooking the Beagle Gulf. Despite being from arguably the most
beautiful scenic region in the world, he admitted, “I could live here”. That moment was a source of pride that he’d
approved of me living in this foreign land that we call the Top End. I’ve invited him to join us in May at the Core-Ahh-Bore-eee
Social Mob Challenge. He says he’s
really gonna try to make it.
After an epic journey back to Canada, within days of being back home - Dad was out on the local river hooking Pink Salmon on pink Clousers.
Crazy, eh?
