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)