2019 Sept 7-9 DFR Salt Comp

Well there goes three days that could of been better - tides with almost no movement, constant winds in the worst angles - and mechanical issues!

But as one of the competitors pointed out and a friend on FB when I was disappointed at only catching 29 fish and four species on day two - "depend on perspective"

Most in other less "fishy" capitals of Australia hardly get the chance to access to such a wondrous fishery as Bynoe Harbour
One and a bit hours from Darwin - pristine - only one or two spots on countless kilometers of coastline that has development on, crabbers the main commercial fishing practice and you can go all day with only seeing one or two boats.

We are luckier than most - but I support my comment that if I got a few more fish and an extra species or two - as it makes all the standings and placings so much different.

Day one saw an awesome morning if a little cloudy, first hole when hoping for salmon and tarpon had nothing - so out hte front we went and nothing there either - yes a few sporadic tiny macks  (one of hte target species) but bugger all else

So off to the back of Quail Island - here we found queenies bashing up sharks on skinny flats (flicking at them from the sides - how we spotted them in the water) -  we caught the queenfish and netted them before the sharks got them

We got tiny snapper and a trevally each (more target species) to  give us three species each
I had three times big 5 foot sharks chase surface poppers - that would have been quick but fun swoffing!

But that was it for the day - almost lined out on queenfish and snapper (was a large moving rock that turned out to be hundred of stripies)

We left them to chase more hide and seek with macks - but to no avail
The large numbers of fish we caught kept us in the top group of teams but we needed more species to be competitive over the three days. Though we did catch a quarter of the queenfish caught by all teams that day

So we gleaned information from the other competitors to find out anything we didn't know (which is a huge amount of what we don't know!)

Day two saw no clouds as we headed out of Milne Inlet boat ramp - it also saw us up a creek but with no paddle as the electric motor remote decided that at that moment it wanted to die! ugghhhh!

So with anchor out we caught fish in the corner hole of a little creek - but so much harder to stay with fish and move about without spotlock and electric motor - thems the breaks though!
It is only when they dont work that you realize how much we use these devices!
I caught small salmon one after the other - Peter got a good tarpon and then we both needed each others species. One of the salmon I caught got me the biggest salmon for Day Two (biggest for comp was twice as long!)
We took too long to get our two species so once Peter got his salmon we head off (with me not catching a tarpon) to our spot from yesterday - only to find nothing there. the wind was crap - always hitting you from the wrong angle and without the spotlock on the electric motor just hard work if not impossible to position, drift or target an area
But we persevere and manage a few more species but no numbers or  size - so only species bonus points for the day
We both drop in individual standings and from fourth to sixth in team standings

Day Three still saw us inspired for greatness - but steering on the main motor was dying (leak in hydraulics - which saw us retiring three hours early. additionally, the wind was in entirely the opposite direction all day. nuts!
The trip to first location was covered in fog and smoke - so thick you had to slow right down to minimize the risk of hitting stuff in water
But when we finally got close to Simms reef we found bait and better still no one else around and we cast to working birds and bait schools but caught nothing. Continuing on to Simms reef - we did finally find macks regularly - they were tight up against the rocks at Simms reef - Peter hooked a queenfish and four small macks followed it out. So we cast our flies along the edge of the reef and each time we would either lose a fly to the sharp toothed macks or get one to the net - we also got a few wolf herring. And if we hadn't of got crowded out by a few other competitors coming right next to us we might have picked up trevs and snapper as we worked our way around the reef (as they did!)
We also drifted over the dropoff near Simms - well up the dropoff given wind direction
We would sink down flies and retrieve a bit then let sink again as we drifted over the edge - the sounder would show heaps of fish on the lip of the drop off and we would loose flies or get tight lines.
Peter hooked a good 70cm Mack - awesome! - 20cm better then any other mack caught over the comp so maybe a fly rod prize was in store for Peter. However, the deckie was useless and missed three times with net before the hook effortless slipped out - bugger! Peter's bad words could have been heard in Darwin. Ironically he expertly netted my mack which turned out to be the biggest for comp and I won the fly rod! Sorry Peter
We both caught a black tips shark each using the same method - both lip hooked.

It was quite dejecting heading back early but we only just made it to ramp with an ever increasing irratic steering system. its got to go right and everything go right for us to be competitive!

So fish yes, species yes, but not enough or the sizes needed to place higher

The team that won the comp did outstandingly - beating next closest team by 3000 points. The champion angler from that team I remember as a skinny teenager years ago and is now fishing with his father during the comp. Quite a change. (a proud lucky Dad indeed - my son in Sydney but would love to fish a few tournaments with him!). The Son has won the champion angler two years running. Well done to him and his team! They fished hardest and longest, travel the furthermost and reaped the rewards - five species each day and full lines of the fish they did catch. A lesson to anyone wanting to win a tournament in crap tides and crappier winds - hope the committee picked better tides next year.
hardest fish to catch

See you there! We are already planning our triumphant 2020 victory speech! (lol)