Archive for barramundi
The Wonderful Tiwi Islands
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The Wonderful Tiwi Islands
The "Arafura Pearl" Ferry
Well friends since I posted the last time, I have been given the opportunity to live & work on the Tiwi Islands. I was very pleased to be accepted as a member of the Islands housing council, and at the same time be able to pass on my trade of Plumbing to young Tiwi Aboriginals. I am still getting established here and settling into the house the Council has given me. The Wonderful Tiwi Islands has every thing I need to enjoy my stay here, from fishing to photography & yes I have great access to the Internet as well !!
For those who are wondering just where the Tiwi Islands are located, I can tell you they are 100km of the northern coast of Australia and directly above Darwin, the capitol of Australia’s Northern Territory. It is set in the tropics and now entering the wet season very soon. It is a tourist destination and can be accessed by a 20 minute charter flight from Darwin or as I chose to travel, a 2hr Ferry ride on the beautiful “Arafua Pearl ” ferry that travels 3 days a week from Darwin while the weather holds up.
Many tourists come on the ferry in the morning from the mainland, spend the day here sight seeing and visiting the Tiwi Aboriginals craft & art centres, then return in the afternoon to Darwin. It is a long day , yet a memorable one indeed. The Tiwi Islands consist of two main islands, one called Bathurst & the other the much larger one called Mellivle Island. They call them the Tiwi Islands as the beautiful Tiwi Aboriginals are the indigenous residents here & have been for centuries. Already I have made many aboriginal friends, and expect I will make many more before I leave here.
Boatshed & Foreshore of Bathurst Island
I will bring you all plenty of stories,photo’s & fishing tales while I am here on the Island. I am still searching for my first prize 1mtr barramundi catch & am expecting to catch him during my stay here. The islands are very large and consist of hundreds of small inlets,creeks & waterways , so plenty of fishing will be happening I can assure you all. Already I have been taken on some great boating & fishing trips & managed to see some beautiful places, so stay posted and I will do my best to share the beauty of , The Wonderful Tiwi Islands
A Plaque For The Tiwi People
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
