Weed Reef for an hour

During the week, regular SWOFFING partner, Peter, and I planned a day on Darwin Harbour over the weekend
The wind was forecast to be better (that is less of it) on Sunday but both of us had plans for that day
So Saturday was the day - wind was predicted to increase from 10am to 15-20knots

There would also be lots of water movement on the tide flow but it was a high tide at dawn which can be exciting fishing at a few of the Darwin Harbour hotspots we have come to know quite well over the last seven years of SWOFFING the local waters here in the top end.
We thought we could fish the top of tide for pelagic predators (queens and trevs), then hit the creeks and drains during bottom of tide at midday (maybe catch the million dollar barra - Peter not me - remember they are my nemisis fish).

But maybe we should have planned for just a few hours and came home..............(read on)

view from Dinah Beach Ramp as we launch

The dawn was spectacular as we zipped along dead calm water towards Weed Reef
The sun a brilliant colour in the early morning haze

great sunrise as we head across the harbour

As soon as we get to Weed we see surface action - awesome!

almost there! anticipation is high!

It was awesome to see so many fish viciously whipping across the surface of calm water, chasing the poor little baitfish
The location of the predators was the usual riffle of water at the tidal out flow compacted over the gravel bar

first cast first hook up of morning

Using fast sinking lines, we started with two different flies - Rodgy Dodgy big eye minnows for Peter and a silicone surf candies for me - both of us caught multiple fish. a mixture of Queenfish, Golden trevs and Brassies to 50cm. The bigger trevs were lots of fun! So strong! The Goldens were hooked mostly from gravel bar, while the Trevs and Queens were mostly hooked in the area in front of the gravel bar. always exceptions to the rule but all very enjoyable! We also had fun keeping the hooked fish away for the occasional four to five foot long shark - none got bitten but close a few times - we let them run and then get the line back once the shark exited the area.

See the edge of clam and riffle behind Peter (using a big fly and his 12w just in case a big one about!) 

The predators will travel along the gravel bar searching for baitfish moving toward them with the tidal flow or hide in the water covered mangroves till bait schools come past to then rush out and aggressively feed after which slink back to the sunken trees or the riffle line. At times their passionate and ferocious feeding takes them over the gravel bar moving with the tidal flow but they soon come back to the prime feeding areas

tossing a little one back, can you see the bust ups between boat and gravel bar to left of mangroves

Next cast hooked up again

Double hook up this time!

We anchored the boat in the very fast tidal flow with Peter's 24 volt 80lb thrust electric motor (awesome bit of machinery!!) - within casting distance of the tree tops and casting distance of the gravel bar. We could then cast sideways, let the fly sink and drift towards the gravel bar then retrieve fast when line at 45 degrees to boat.

After several fish to hand using the silicone surf candies I tie and like so much for harbour predators, I switched over to a salt water gurgler - foam back, ice chenille body and synthetic tail - simple but highly effective fly when saltwater predators are zeroed in on surface feeding action - especially in the shallow water of Weed Reef.

Crazy Gurgler - Foam backed, Pearl Ice Chenille, synthetic tail (the red is from the last fish that ate it and bled a little)

On this morning in the shallow clear waters of Weed Reef, I could see the fish actually chase the fly as it was cast over them, you could see their wake and bulging surge towards the surface fly then hitting it and sometimes hooking themselves as soon as the fly landed. Rarely did the surface fly not get some serious interest in just one or two strips of the fly line. Soooo much fin!

Watch the surface fly action here -

Land - hit 

Strip - hit

Strip - Hit!

Strip - take

Yeeehaaah!!

Then before we even knew it - the action was over - the water so calm on one side of the gravel bar and so riffled on the down tide side. And no real action could be seen anywhere on the reef flats - amazing after so much action for the last hour and a half!

With a few more hours till the tide phase we planned to hit the creeks, we then ventured to a few other harbour pelagic hotspots. But nothing at the entrance to Cullen bay - like for others during the week, or the smaller Kaitlyn bay near it. Next we found a few birds working up current of East Point but no luck there. Finally at Lee Point we were quite confounded at nothing really showing any where. I got a couple of 40cm macks but not much else showing or in return for plenty of casts. Then the wind started increasing - it was all getting a bit depressing no fish, very hot and lots of wind about to visit.

We cut across the harbour to Mandorah to get out of the wind and work our way to West Arm. But wind kept chasing us.  We park the boat outside the T bar south of Mandorah Jetty put up the canopy to protect us for the hot sun straight up in the sky.

Peter has one of his gigantic made on the spot salad sandwiches and I have a 'nanna nap' on the front deck.

But then we decide to call it a day - it is so very hot, additionally the wind really howling right up the harbour with multiple white wave caps the clear indicator of the high wind speed.
The ride across the harbour was very wet and bumpy - no fun at all!
After that ugly ride, we had the boat on the trailer at 2:30pm (plenty of water at Dinah Beach Ramp) and had it cleaned and emptied back at Peter's place quite quickly.

We both agreed that in hindsight we should have came straight to ramp after Weed Reef and still got the same results without the bumpy wet ride in mid afternoon. Then again we have caught nothing at Weed and cleaned up with heaps of fish at Lee Point on other trips.

Ok, where and when next?????
Still got flies to tie, a rod guide to get repaired, a boat and trailer to work on, life goes on!

Corroboree Million Dollar Barra - NOT.............

So just back from family tourist holiday in SE QLD doing the themed fun parks - heaps of brownie points earned!!!!
We get back into Darwin in the wee hours of Saturday morning after 7 days holidaying

Saturday was spent fixing up home after 7 days of lack of attention, travel bags unpacked and pets given a bit of extra attention

But what to do Sunday - what else go fly fishing!

With regular fishing partner, Peter, keen to go too (his boat!) - a Sunday SWOFF was approved by wife

But with huge tides and the constant 15knot afternoon wind on Darwin harbour salt water options looked not the best

Next option was freshwater and with the million dollar barra comp being current - it was thought the recent rain might create a chance of catching a barra with a red tag in a location with flowing water

This would mean a very early start to get boat hooked up and fuelled - and on the water a hour before dawn to ensure we were at the right spot just as the sun rose to get the barra - toga would be the target for the next few hours. Given the heat and high humidity during the 'build up' we thought we would make the most of our time with a dark side troll during the hottest part of the day and then revert back to fly when the shadows lengthened on the edges of the billabong.

Planning made and agreed upon ----- now to get the gear ready

Both a lure and fly a tackle bag required  this trip
My 'dark side' tackle hadn't been used in a while and so the two rods I would be taking needed a quick service and check over. A quick sort of lures more suited to depths of trolling lines - remove other lures not deep enough divers or type, or knife jigs that I would only use offshore.

For the fly fishing - I retied leaders (this time with shock tippets) and ensured I had the right flies for the situations at the billabong

Still it was very late Saturday when all was packed - lures, flies and food etc - then while checking my fly boxes - I remembered I had no surface flies with weed guards (lost a large two sided clear lidded box of flies a month or so ago - hundreds and hundreds of flies in it - must of blown out of boat but quite a heavy box so don't know how it could have happened????)

So what to tie? - need a good surface fly, lots of action - but my tying desk was a mess - so given time quickly grabbed a few items I usually wouldn't used together, as could not find all of what I wanted so substituted a few things - ended up with a fly that combined a 'Rabbit Barra Buster, a toad fly and a standard gurgler).

Starting with an orange rabbit zonker for the tail, then tied in foam V at butt, then tied in carpet fibres across the hook shank two pieces of fibre from the tail tied in some rubber hot legs in fluoro orange and chartreuse, tied in wire weed guard, then folded foam back forward and tied off behind hook eye. I trim off excess foam at an angle. ready to go (with a good brush of nail polish to hold the hastily tied fly together.

I quite liked it, huge profile and once I got it on the water - looked awesome when in motion. Sat with head just out of water, moved with a great rolling motion with tail vibrantly alive in the water even at rest.

With only a few hours sleep the alarm goes off and I drive to Peter's place to hook up boat
fuel & coffee --- and off we go down the Arnhem highway

We arrive about at the boat ramp an hour after we should have, about 15 trailers at the ramp already. by the time we run down the billabong sun already above the horizon

The water seemed a touch higher than when we were here for the recent DFR freshwater comp a few months ago. On the ride to our first spot the tarpon looked more active then previous trips - so hopes were high. The brilliant full moon that was low down and south of us during our drive to the billabong, troubled us as to maybe impacting the fishing.

At the first spot I started with "toad gurgle' I tied rapidly the night before, Peter went to a pink thing so we could as a team, working the full water column until a trend was found. Lots of fine weed, still lots of lilies made retrievals had but not impossible. if a big fish hooked though quite hard to get out - peter lost a couple of toga this way.

Peter also gets a few rolls and nips at his fly - indicating to us tarpon present more than toga, but a few of the bigger swirls were definitely togas.

My first few strips of the toad gurgler impressed me as to its wobble and action through the water and it had several rolls and swirls for each of the first few casts but no hookups. the fish seemed quite lazy in their attempts to eat the fly. Maybe tired like me from being up all night - me tying flies, the fish eating all night under a full moon and clear skies.

We fish the billabong hard for the next few hours for the same result - a few tail nips, a few rolls over the flies and a few boils and swirls. - BUT NO FISH.

I did have a 3m croc take interest in the Toad Gurgler fly, coming out of the weeds and actually chased it and took a swipe at the fly as I anticipated its attack and stripped the fly out of its reach.

All day we saw 3-4m crocs every few hundred metres. Just hanging at the top of the water column and only submerging as the boat was almost touching it - very unafraid of us - the majority of them!

Once we put up the boat canopy around midday and began trolling - the same "kill me now" i get when trolling or dredging flies came over me and I managed a few nana naps.

We managed a couple of catfish while trolling but no red tagged barramundi.
We took boat out of the water at 6:15pm - tough hot day for just two small catfish - very sad!

But a day on the water and lots of casting practice. and there is always next time

Interestingly, on way back to ramp we pasted at least 5 boats heading out on the water and on road into the ramp several more boats heading to the water.

Chatting to a few others since back home, indicates that barra going off during night time sessions. mostly casting lures too, so flies with good profiles and rattles would work too. if you can handle the bugs that come out by the thousands during the night. online chatter and all the boats we saw heading out as we came in clearly indicate something going on!

Next trip?????
Thinking of targeting Darwin harbour barra very intently given 2 or 3 reg tagged barra been caught in the area in the last few weeks - better tides midweek has me feeling a little need of a sick day!

Also got a heap of flies to tie - garfish, a few more toad gurglers with weed guards
Need to tidy up my tying desk and work area (currently got 3D printer paraphernalia draping over all of this)

2 videos for 20161001 Darwin Offshore Again

Well - had so much video from so many fish..........................
And even though I cut heaps out I still had 20 minutes plus - so split it in two for easy of uploading
enjoy - not professional by any means and mostly raw footage but I think you will get an idea of what we did and how we did it.

The trip out wasn't exactly smooth but the sunrise behind us was one of the best with the sun shining through the morning buildup clouds in a vast array of colours

Here is Part1 Video Clip

Here is Part2 Video Clip

The wind started getting strong soon after we left our hot spot for Tealeaf Trevally
Bye bye drill platform!

see you out there next time
Swoffer Darwin

20161001 - Darwin Offshore again

 So talked Peter (didn’t take much!) into heading offshore in his boat to target the fish around a drilling platform sitting 64km offshore, sort of near North Gutter - like I had done the weekend before (he was busy doing family stuff that weekend). We think they are refurbishing platform rather than drilling.

After fuelling and icing up and seeing three other boats at service station (off to catch the ‘million dollar Barra’ they all said), we found ourselves at the Nightcliffe ramp at 4:30am giving us one and a half hours before sun up to get a head start on the long journey out. Problem was we arrived at the Nightcliffe ramp we would be heading into a 10knot wind and subsequent wave chop. Peter almost called it for another location closer to shore (– so glad he didn’t). But with that faint glimmer of hope and optimism in what most fly fisherman have when heading out to a new location - we set forth.

On a side note: Peter and I are starting to really hate this Nightcliffe ramp - it’s too shallow and too silted up on bottom half – also only usable in tides above 3m. Most times you have the four of your car wheels in the water as well as the underneath of your vehicle as you retrieve or launch your boat- this even at high tide. We decided once we were launched to get one of us to drive the trailer to Dinah Beach ramp on our return. We need more and better ramps on this side of the harbour!

Due to the ugly chop we could not do more than 15-20km per hour as we travelled out to our intended fishing location. About halfway out to our spot X, we past all the large ships anchored off shore. We thought they were navy boats, or at least fuel tankers for such, for the recent war games held up here and we were worried what they thought when seeing us amongst them on their radars. Talk of 50 cals lighting up with tracers bullets, if we got too close was the chatter amongst us.

I hadn’t taken a copy of the GPS marks when out at ‘Spot X’ with some lure tosser mates last weekend, but still had a general idea of the location. But after we past the anchored ships we saw a distance light that was on top of the rigging of the platform on the horizon that helped us re-adjust our heading. The seas started to calm down a little and the glow from rising sun behind us allowing us to see the swell better all saw our speed increasing as we got closer and closer to the drilling platform.

On arrival it was just us at the location. Previous weekend it was 10 or so boats. Aside from a bit of slow and long sea swell - for the next 6 hours we have fairly calm seas, if not quite calm in the later stages of our time at the location.

Despite nothing visually happening on the surface in all directions, the very first drift of the fly down past the leading pylon of the drilling platform saw us come up tight to strong fish.

In the majority the fish caught were mostly tealeaf trevally. A few (??) black finned trevally which I didn’t catch last week. One 60cm Queenfish was caught from the sporadic schools passing through, However, the huge numbers of 50-60cm Queenfish that were here last week were not present. The copious numbers of meter plus longtoms were still hanging in the shadows of the platform. Off wide about 2km there were occasional huge slashes (big macks??) but not consistent enough to head off and target them.

After 10 or so battles with very strong tealeaf trevally fighting way above their 45-55cm length, Peter puts out a long cast away from the platform letting it sink a long time and first couple of strips comes up tight. It fought not at all like it should have and we took it for another trevally but when it saw the boat it took off at a speed its species is renowned for. The 70cm mack eventually came to the net – it would make Peter’s wife Nat very happy as she likes her fresh mack fillets. Here is the mack below splashing on surface before heading to the esky.

We tried several spots around the rig and every pylon with current sweeping past it had trevally – it got very tiring. We would catch a few then retreat from the sun to rest a bit in the shade of the platform before the itch to catch more or hopefully one of the bigger ones we had seen accompany their hooked mates to the boat.

The sheer number of fish was astounding, with at the minimum four to six fish, and at times 20-30 fish – all the same size moving along with the hooked fish. Whether they were teasing the hooked fish for getting fooled by feather and fur or encouraging them to dive to the bottom again and again is unsure – but they all fought soooooo hard for what is basically an average sized fish. I was done several times by big fish that on my ten weight with straight forty pound leader could just not be stopped! And this kept us casting for those few fish not seen that had done us so easily (for me it was knots and treating them too harshly during the fight). We would lose fish down deep after a few minutes of fight, at times hooks would pull and you were almost relieved but not a second later a fresh fish would take the fly and it would start all over again - but with bashed knuckles from a spinning fly reel as the fresh fish stormed away. Once I lost four fish and hooked up immediately again down deep in this fashion – my left thumb aches greatly as I type this blog from such punishment from spinning fly reel handles!

Are you not sad for me?????

Do you not feel my pain????

or do you laugh at me like my heartless wife does????

We chased some tuna and other large bust ups up current of the platform – I fluke a spotty mack and we got a few other species as well. Several different pelagic trevally species again were caught like last weekend.

Previously, Peter had won a Channel Nine fishermans pack for a photo he sent in for a large trevally and huge Queenfish he caught on fly off Lee Point and in that pack was a small lure. So while recovering from the strong tealeaf trevally near the pylons we put up the Bimini and trolled lures around for macks till we were ready to tackle the pylon fish on fly again (Peter just had a late forties birthday and complained all day about tennis elbow from too much fly fishing – hard life isn’t it!!!). Peter swapped over one of the big mack lures for the lure from the prize pack with the Ch9 logo on it and not long into the troll caught a tealeaf trevally. We were going to write in to Ch9 and tell them their lure sucked and fly was better – this fish ruined that !!!!

Another time while trolling to rest and convalesce from our arduous endeavours at the pylons, I spot a typical large red/white mack lure floating along ahead of us. I steer the boat towards it and Peter swoops the net to retrieve it. In the net along with the twenty dollar plus lure are two small fish that must have been hanging under it for protection. Very cool looking fish. One was like a trevally with camouflage, the other looked a bit like a leather jacket. See below. The trevally look alike was only 5-6cm long, the other smaller still.

Once we had recovered enough, we found ourselves back on the front corner of the platform casting flies again. Peter was telling me how much he loved his 8w Sage while hooked up to another trevally slugging it out deep and snap went his rod. No high sticking just a gentle bend. In fighting these strong fish we didn’t take the rods past the horizontal rather repeated short lifts and quick winds of reel – lots of this and fast, never letting the fish get its head down. The fights lasted a lot less when using this method but occasionally the fish would have nothing of it and despite the applied pressure from rod and reel would slam itself into another gear and zoom down at such a high rate of speed (usually pulling hooks or the knots would fail – mine anyway). Peter’s rod broke because of such a fish – lucky a life time guarantee comes with such rods!

Peter used his 12w after this (he had shredded a 10w sinking line in the first half hour at the location) and still the fish were hard to get up. – Awesome fun but totally exhausting!!

I cast one of my big flies and enjoyed the several fish I caught on it before losing it to something huge down deep. Had a blast once fish started following it by skidding it across the surface in front of them just out of reach, they would slash at it with such venom and gusto, you could see them strutting their fins and colouring up as they slunk back to the shadows of the platform after missing the fly – soooooo pissed off at missing it. It really got them excited.

Given the numbers of fly happy fish, I worked through a heap of different flies. Once I cast a huge jointed popper I was experimenting with at the tying bench – the face is 3-4cm across – worked a treat. It really got them excited before losing it to another bigger fish after catching a few smaller ones.

Peter was casting this massive billfish fly and the fish would go nuts for it. Once he had four or so followers tagging after the fly, he would start skipping across the surface just out of their reach and they would get even more excited and attract even more fish to the area between us and the pylons.

We both switch to surface flies and when a fish would take it – we would not strip strike rather let the line go slack so the fish would spit the fly, then start retrieving again, only to hook up before the fly floated to the surface. Once while helping Peter get a fish into the boat my 10w almost went overboard – I had left the pencil popper hanging in the water at the back of the boat and next thing I look and several fish were fighting over it with one hooking itself and crash diving for the bottom. I only just grab the rod before it went over the side! Sooooo close!

The pencil popper I was using lost most of its paint job and messed up big time the tail materials with all the fish that had chewed on it - and it still caught fish even in that un-kept and degraded state!

We had a great time using the surface flies, trying to see who could get the fly back to the boat without a fish hooking up itself and taking the fly down deep to slug it out again.

Absolutely exhausted from catching fish on fly we started to head back to Darwin as we knew the wind would be picking up. It was so oily calm and the fish were still keen as for the correctly placed fly but we had to go - or it would be a very rough ride back in.

We took a bearing for Lee Point but once there – it was choppy and dirty. We talked about hanging about till wind started to dissipate as predicted. Then I remembered the wife was heading out for a ladies evening - Bugger! So I dropped Peter off at Nightcliffe ramp (too low water and as said before a crappy ramp!) and then I headed back into harbour and motored around to Dinah Beach Ramp where Peter would meet me with the trailer).

What a wet ride that was with wind and wave at that perfect angle to shower me with even thump and bump on the way back. Once back at ramp – Peter the champion that he is – had some junkfood ready for me in the form of the most delicious hot chips. Why is it that after a long day on the water – junk food tastes so awesome?

We get back to Peter’s and I race off  in my ute to get my two little girls (so mother can go out) and I return to Peter’s place to help clean up boat and fillet the mack for him. My girls love talking to Peter. My youngest girl told me it was lucky we both fish and hang out together. I think so too!

We had hung on to a few other fish for some of the old people near my place that love a fish and don’t get much opportunity to catch them. So once Peter’s boat was clean, my girls loved the cuddles and thanks they got from these grateful people when they received their fish.

What a very long day it was – started at 3am for me. But we were on the water from 4:30am til 4:50pm, then clean up, then delivery of the few fish we had kept, then gear servicing at home (had a sticky reel handle), cleanup tackle boxes, wash clothes, and finally fillet up a few fish and prepare them for the family (and my cat who attacked me the whole time I was preparing the fish - for his share) – 

Long day but don’t you agree that there is nothing better than fresh fish, cooked just right, that you have caught that day!  

If only the rest of life was as easy as fly fishing in the Darwin region to catch a small feed and stretch a line or two!
Bring on some more SWOFFING!

Where to next????
Video to come!