Trip report Bynoe 7th Sept 2014.

Fog bound mornings are not my usually experience since moving to Darwin, but Sunday morning was just that on way from a mate's place at Dundee beach to one of the two boat ramps onto Six Pack arm of Bynoe Harbour. We used the one off Barramundi Drive, Don't like it (too steep) at bottom of tide but top of tide it's great. When it's steep the boat at front of trailer could be tied on and the back keeps moving around  especially if tide is racing by, quite difficult. You need to get the front on, move trailer forward a bit and the check all is in place before getting all the way out as the back of the boat tends to be at a different floating angle to the trailer.

High tide was just an a hour earlier than our launch time of 6:30am. The water was smooth as, and the pink sun just poking its head through the mangroves at the water edge towards the east
We headed at WOT to Simms Reef out front of the harbour hoping for some mackerel to be lurking near it
On the reef already, there was an a mate's boat from Darwin Fly Rodder club (who had their fishing competition on the weekend). We had a quick chat and moved away about 100 metres to do our thing.
They had hooked up to a few queenies as we arrived but there was zero visible signs of fish activity. There were some birds working a couple of hundred metres north of Simms but once we got there it was easily seen as just small 15cm Fringefinned trevally bursting at the water surface.
We preserved blind casting for a while but given the tide was half out we headed in fishless (so far) for the back of Turtle Island. The flat there was almost too shallow for us to fish so we had to travel too fast to get off it before it dried off and left us high and dry for four hours before the water came back.
Worse still it was covered in fish, big slashing queenies, heaps of small groups (5-25) of blue salmon, heaps of rays - we still caught nothing but it was awesome seeing so many fish on the flat - MUST BE THERE WITH 50cm more water next time!
Right up in the really shallow water - 20cm or less of water about three casting distances - there were occasional huge rushes of baitfish out of the water to escape predators (that we could see!)
We proceeded off flat towards the bays on the western side of Turtle island, we saw a few fish but again either we spooked them or they showed no interest in us or our flies.
Having had such an awesome day, water temp good, breeze gentle - we (I mean me!) were getting a bit frustrated. We thought we would give the flats opposite Six Pack Arm a few hours of cruising and search for species given the 2+m low neap tide meaning no chance of getting stuck on the mud
However, half way there from Turtle island we come upon some large slashes at the merest of sand points on an otherwise bare shoreline. We had found (stumbled on!) an area with some grey mackerel with varying in size queenfish amongst them.
But again while they attacked the schools of baitfish with abandon, regardless of colour, size and fly changes they showed rare interest in our flies. The deckie got one grey mack that cheered us slightly (I.e. Not me!)

I had a couple of quite large queenfish follow my Fleye Foil fly (I had made the week before) to the boat , shouldering each other to follow but even though they had some half hearted swipes at it didn't hook up. I had had so many 'almost' hook ups so far that day it was getting quite frustrating. I had made the 2/0 Fleye Foils quite long as in previous outings the macks had a preference for longer flies. Even trimming them on the boat - didn't help hookup the fish that were repeatedly swiping and slashing at the back of the fly.
We did have a mini worm hatch - well one at least - see video
This one worm was swimming along (quite fast too) just under the surface, in the middle of all the baitfish getting hammered by the grey mackerel - maybe I should have used a worm fly!

After that excitement.....
We chase the macks and queenies for a few hours as they disappeared and appeared, herding and attacking the baitfish - and we missed the bottom of the tide time we wanted to fish the flats. So headed round bottom of Indian Island and went over to Knife Island - a 'sure thing' location in the past. But here too we found nothing, yes a few occasional slashes but nothing consistent or interested in our flies. We did manage a few small queenies and one or two baby trevs but nothing  too exciting.
Until......
After being glass off with no wind for a few hours, the wind finally arrived which caused us to move round to the leeward side of Knife Island. Given water had risen to bottom of the mangrove lower limbs I switched to a prawn pattern (the BFCW) hoping for a barramundi hanging there in ambush. After 60 or so metres of casting to shadows under the trees for naught - not a scale or sparkle or flash. We were almost to the corner and back in the wind.
I should have been more attentive because a 70-80cm barramundi had followed the fly 5-6m from its ambush possie. Its head was just millimetres from the fly. I did a fast strip, it moved just as fast and again positioned itself just behind and close enough to be tickled by the rubber legs of fly. Pause, small strip, pause, and again the barra would copy the fly's movements - BUT NOT TAKE THE FLY!!!!!  Aaaarrrrgggghh!!!!
So all day I had follows, half takes and no hook ups! Maybe Graeme William's 'low tide at midday is no good' theory has merit - ???

We then worked the mangrove edges at the bottom of Indian Island while hoping for a barra. The deckie got a small Estuary Cod on a BFCW fly which changed things up a bit and gave him a new species for his 'all time capture list'.

To top of this type of day, we fished a mangrove flat right at the back of Six Pack and found nothing, but on last tree the deckie had a follow from a huge metre plus barracuda, thicker than my lower leg. Again, it mimicked the movement of the fly - fast or slow stripped, it stayed just behind and under the fly, Nothing we tried could induce it to take the fly. It travelled 20m from its snag as we drifted along with the current before finally fading away into the depths.

Seems all the fish for the trip had the same attitude, a bit like a hot chick at a nightclub- all follow and no take (i would have taken an ugly fish today given my poor form!).

I heard today only a few barramundi were captured by the guys at the DFR competition so maybe it wasn't just me who was frustrated by the fishing on the weekend and its uncommitted fish!
Hope the fishing is different in two weeks when we are SWOFFING at a tournament with the NT fly fishing social mob in the same area.

Bynoe - Simms and Turtle morning - trip report

Up at 6, on water 6:30am, arrive at meeting point - 20 minutes late (hate being late!), the meeting spot was where a teacher friend's sailing boat was anchored at the mouth of Six Pack Arm, who was spending weekend at Bynoe.

At the sailing boat, a bit of coffee for those inclined and then the bait fisherman swap some live bait and dead bait between each other, before we head off on the 20 minute run to Simms reef at the front of Bynoe Harbour.

The wind gods are kind with hardly a breeze about, though strengthening towards midday.

Arriving at 7:15am at the reef, the high tide is covering the reef, the only sign of its presence is a plethora of tiny bubbles rising to surface, even though hours after it was submerged by the incoming tide. Additionally, due to impact of the tidal flow water pushed up from the depths against the side of the reef structure, concentrates the flow of water and creates a rippled edge to indicate the reef's position (easily seen in left side of the image here and in video footage).

first queenie of morning

Queenfish are herding bait against this line and slashing periodically into them giving me something to cast to. My baitfish colleagues are on the drop off edge drowning baits hoping for the big broad barred mackerel that are suppose to be about.(PostScript: the friend on the sailing boat got one big meter plus Mack, trolling a spoon behind the back of their boat on way back to Darwin in afternoon, and another friend who went offshore, Dundee wide, had large packs breaking the surface with their feeding activity and lots of birds above them, showing where to troll)

Back to subject of Simms Reef, hoping it to be a sign of a good day starting - on the fifth cast of the morning, I catch a small queenfish. Within the first half hour I have 6 queenfish to 40-50 or so centimetres to hand and released. Larger periodic bust ups are occurring on the edge of reef drop off 50-60m away but nothing consistent enough to encourage a move. The danglers (bait anglers) have nothing. The score ends up - 6 to zip, in favour of the feather tosser!

Nothing else for the next two hours, the splashes get less, the wind increases and the reef gets exposed but no more fish. As Simms Reef gets exposed by about a metre of rock and sand bar, it is usually when I get more action but it isn't the case today - time for some flats fishing in the lee of Turtle island.

In hind sight I should have gone straight to the creek and channel behind the island for a hour or so as the water is just leaving the last leaves of the mangroves but instead I fished the couple of small bays on SW side of the island itself. Because by the time I decided to do that, it was high and dry and I couldn't fish it like I had planned

Still in the bays of turtle island, I had one good reaction from a 70 or so centimetre barramundi to the BFCW fly. It was lying very still but yellow tail highly visible in about a meter of water, I saw it too late not 5 or so metres from boat, and the boat despite turning off electric motor quickly continued to drift towards it with momentum taking me to within 2 metres of the fish. A good cast for a change, and as the fly landed near its head, an immediate response from the barramundi as it flared its fins and moved to the fly 30cm away. The fish followed, followed the slowly stripped fly, paused,  followed - before it sees the boat so close to it and flashes away. And that was only the first 10m of the two bays - I was beginning to think my barramundi nemesis days might be lifted this session.

However, 7 spooked and 3 unseen till too late to see barramundi (see later for details) - a nemesis they still are but I did greatly enjoy myself on the journey this time rather than being frustrated by it. But what an hour it was stalking these fish in the bays!

Once so busy watching the fish inshore, I missed three large barramundi hovering in deeper water over a small cluster of boulders on the other side of the boat till my peripheral vision saw them rapidly leave for waters untraveled by black sided boats with a poor sighted, big ugly man on it.

I also saw a big threadfin accompanied by a couple of smaller ones, herding small baitfish with their long chin filaments, the baitfish were 3-4cm and leaping above the surface to escape the predator corralling efforts but as I moved closer the threadfin where spooked by wave slap on the hull (?) way before I got into casting distance.

On the flat opposite the entrance to the Six Pack boat ramp arm, I was moving the boat along the flat after barramundi in the corners of snake drains and along comes this easily metre plus dark shape harassing baitfish along the way. It was a very large queenfish, a single cursing the flats. Again a poor and rushed cast from me, lands the fly on its head and it scoots off rapidly to deeper water. From the episode I learnt to look more closely and careful, along with a few glances further along in case another comes my way. One did (same one?), I had 6 or so casts at it - for a follow or two but no commitment from the fish - I think I needed a different fly on than the BFCW fly. In such shallow water the big fish was half on its side - it would have been absolutely gorgeous mayhem to hook up to such a big fish in such shallow water! All a 100 meres from deep water! Hopefully, next time.

With wife and two young kids at camping ground awaiting my return, I was off the water around midday and packed up heading home by 2:30pm. (PostScript, one of the bait guys I was with stayed out a bit longer and told me the barramundi up one creek he visited went absolutely off  with barramundi 'boofing' loudly and everywhere for about an hour, shortly after the turn of low tide began - not that he got any!)

Overall great day, even though not great numbers or size of fish. The added bonus of the 6-0 scorecard to the SWOFFER, the great sunrise and no wind during the morning session, the awesome flats stalk and cast (poorly cast most times I might add) to sighted fish on the flats, watching one fish react so positively to the BFCW Fly. I'll have more of that any day.

Can't wait to get on the water again! !!!!!!