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Adelaide River Jumping Crocodiles
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Crocodiles Jumping For Our Tourists
Welcome back to the Fishermans blog , friends today I would like to tell you just a little about our world famous Adelaide River Jumping Crocodiles , and add some photographs to help you visulaize the experience that so many tourists from around the world flock to see.
Adelaide River
The river is in the top end of the Northern Territory of Australia . If you were to fly to Darwin and join a tour group there they will take you by mini bus 90 km from Darwin to where the Jumping Crocodile cruises are located. These cruises are set up along side the Arnhem highway bridge that crosses the river to get to another famous spot Kakadu National Park , which is another 90km further on .
The roads are all first class bitumen sealed , to the cruises pickup wharf and tourists coffe shop. To see a map of the area that will perhaps explain the location a little clearer and show you where I live on the Adelaide River you may like to visit my other blog here . There are thousands of crocodiles in the Northern Territory of Australia, and when you are negotiating any waterways around here, you must have your witts about you at all times.
Getting Crocodiles To Jump
This process has evolved over time from the crocodiles being fed regularly, at the same spots . The cruise will go approximately 4km up river and move at a very slow pace , so the tourists get to spot all the crocodiles and take in the beautiful surroundings of the Adelaide River wildlife and birds. When they are approaching the crocodiles some will surface and begin to swim to the boat . while others will just lie in the mud at the rivers edge.
They vary in size from 3 to 6 mtrs , at this point the boat will stop and dangle some meat from a string on a pole. They will raise the dangling meat up and down until the crocodile is ready to jump, they can tell this as his tail section will sink deep into the water to get the propulsion he needs to launch himself. All this action happens within 2 or 3 mtrs from the side of the boat, and to see a huge crocodile jump out of the water is awesome .
Although this is a great spectacle and tourist attraction , getting crocodiles to jump in the wild like this . Some will argue that it only encourages crocodiles in the wild to jump into and attack unsuspecting fisherman and boating enthusiasts . The last photo I will share with you may support, that Adelaide River Jumping Crocodiles are infact more dangerous . I live on the Adelaide River and have my own opinion, that crocodiles are only as dangerous as the people that put themselves at risk, acknowledge them and treat them with respect at all times.
A Very Lucky Escape Indeed
This is a photograph from our local news paper only this year, where some fisherman had a very lucky escape. I hope I have enlightened you all as to our famous Adelaide River Jumping Crocodiles , and you can form your own opinions. Our Northern Territory Government fisheries department can supply all you need to know about our laws and controls of crocodiles . We trap around 300 crocodiles annually, in Darwin Harbour alone and relocate them.
Good Bye now to you all and see you for our next blog post here on Fishermans Blog .
Tight Lines
Allen Sentance
Fisherman
Billabong Fishing for Barramundi
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Welcome readers,friends and fellow fishermen , I thought we may take a look into Billabong fishing in the Northern Territory of Australia.
This fishing trip will be quite easy to tell as it was only 5 days ago , when one of my good fishing buddies Jason rang and asked, if your not busy mate would you like to head out into the scrub and see if we can catch us a barramundi.
Well any one that knows me would say, what a silly question to ask the Fisherman ! Of cause I said yes and Jason turned up with his 4 wheel drive and a flat bottom tinny (aluminium 12 foot boat ) on the back . It was 2-30pm in the afternoon when we headed out into the scrubby bushland on dirt bush tracks, heading for a secret little spot that Jason and I quite often go for a fish and some times Pig hunting .
I have lived in this area of the Northern Territory for the past 4 years, and I never get sick of the surrounding beautiful bushland, and country that my mate” Mother Nature” has given us. I never go anywhere without my digital camera as you come across so many wonderful sights that are at times simply breath taking, even when my wife Sandra and I walk of a morning, I carry the camera with me and have taken many great shots, that I put in my other Photo Blog .
Here is a very common site as you move around the bush in the Northern Territory
After crossing this river we went about another 25 km through the bush until we came to the banks of a Billabong which almost appears like it has been hidden in the bush. For those of you who do not know exactly what a Billabong is ……… ” It is a body of still water trapped in a section where a nearby river or creek has flooded and when the river or creek dropped back to its normal level , the Billabong is formed from the trapped flood water.”
These Billabongs can vary in depth and length depending on the surrounding country and the lay of the land itself. The one we are fishing in to-day would be approximately 1km long and averaging 2.5 mtrs in depth, so the fish that get in here from the floods that happen anually , have a good body of water to live in until the next flood comes. Billabong Fishing for Barramundi is good fun and always an out door experience, even if no fish are caught. There have been times when we had to hunt wild buffalo or a lazy crocodile before we could start fishing.
Our Secret Billabong
Well we have finally arrived 30 minutes after leaving home , and just put the boat in the water, now we need to have a cold beer or two while we get the fishing rods and lures all set up in our special way , which I may even tell you the secrets of , from time to time in my blog posts. We use a small 35 pound thrust electric outboard motor to move us around the Billabong and occasionally troll the lures if there is enough water, which there is here .
Just finish our beer and look out Barramundi
Jason Smith————–Bob Smith—————–Fisherman
This is a view of the Billabong as we get in the boat at one end you can see almost the other end of the Billabong. Also Jason tells me there are in fact 2 crocodiles in here so keep an eye out.
The water you can see is a dirty color, and it does not stop us catching fish on lures though. I love to use surface lures, and I tried here for at least 30 mins without success. Jason was using sub surface lures and had 3 positive strikes without a hookup. So we stopped the boat out from the bank , I changed to a sub surface lure that Jason lent me and we flicked these from the boat with slow to medium retrieve, making sure to cover as much of the fishing ground as possible.
Jason had another strike and no hook up, I then managed 2 separate hook ups and dropped both fish with in the first few seconds. That’s fishing as any fisherman knows , we then decided to troll again along the deeper side close to the over hanging trees and then Jason had one on. The fish fought reasonably well ,yet it did not break the surface and do the ever famous tail walk on the top as a barramundi are known for, Jason soon got him along side the boat , and yes it was a catfish of all things . We took a photo and released him very carefully avoiding his spikes.
Well today was my day, as we only went another 150 mtrs and then I had a hook up . This was a barra and he came straight out of the water and did his famous surface tail walk , which is quite spectacular to watch and part of the reason for the Barramundi being a sought after sport fish in Australia . He fought and performed well yet with so much open water and a good drag setting on the reel , he soon tired and Jason was able to lift him in with the lip grips.
A Nice Billabong Barramundi 70cm
Hey..Life is Good..
Well I was quite happy to get a fish and it topped the afternoon off, you see Jason generally catches more than I do when we are out together, and he was out of luck today. It was time to pack the gear up and head off down the track back home . Nothing worse than fumbling around in the dark and we had about half an hours light left , this little fishing trip today is very typical of one of many different things we do here in the Northern Territory . So folks I only hope you felt like you were with us here Billabong Fishing for Barramundi , and you never know one day if your passing by we may get to fish together and have a few cold beers at the Adelaide River Inn where the beer is always cold and refreshing . Will sign out now and see you soon for our next day out , stay safe and Tight Lines to you all .
Allen Sentance
Fisherman
