Fishing in the Northern Territory

I've been lucky enough to experience first hand the Never Never Know Land, Northern Territory. 
I went up there after the elusive Barra, every fisherman's dream to hook and see leap out of the water and dance on its tail. After a four hour flight from Sydney to Darwin I stepped out of the plane to be hit in the face with heat of 32 degrees Celsius (90 Fahrenheit) and 80% humidity, a big difference from 20 degrees Celsius winter in Sydney (and this is their winter). Here's a little tip. Don't carry your fishing knife in your hand luggage. They don't take too kindly to it. My accommodation in Darwin was the Youth Hostel Association (YHA). Cheap at $A15 per night but very nice with swimming pool, pool table and kitchen, not to mention the sun baking deck. 

Time to go fishing!!! 
Pick up was at 4.45am and I'm going with Mark, an operator who has lived here most of his life and been fishing all of it and I've been told if no-one's catching fish, Mark knows where they are and his tours take you there. We went and picked up the other people who were coming. There was John, Louise and their son Colin who is in the Army up here while John and Louise own a dairy farm at Albury on the NSW/VIC border. First stop was at Corroboree Roadhouse where we would be staying later on. We loaded up the two boats with food, beer and gear and we were off to a little spot called 4 Mile Hole which is on the Wildman River catchment just in Kakadu National Park. The trip in, 36Kms of 4WD dirt road, was interesting. You get to see how dense and inhospitable this country is but we saw our first glimpses of the wildlife such as birds, pigs and roos. 

'Warning!! Crocodiles Inhabit These Waters', was the first sign of human interference as a chill went up my spine with an enthusiasm and nervousness. Mark went with John and Louise while I went with Colin and Jeff, Mark's sidekick and our tour guide come comedian for the next four days. We had travelled about 50 meters and our first sign of warning slipped into the water, a seven foot croc as I here Mark yell out there's a bigger one than that on the way. As we tied our number 90 Nilsmaster spearheads on I couldn't help but feel excited. 

Splash, first cast...nothing. Second cast...nothing, by now I've calmed down. It wasn't until a couple of hours had gone gone until we heard a cheer from the other boat, we went to investigate. John had hooked a nice barra and after a few nervous minutes it was safely in the boat. As he held it up to boast how big it was I remember saying to myself that I'm gonna get one bigger. John's measured 72cm and about 14lb (6kg), a nice fish so we went to get ours. Hookup and Colin was on. It was a small barra about 40cm but we got a fish. The legal size for barramundi is 55cm which is a good size fish for Sydney, so we threw him back. The feeling of trolling up a billabong lined with Pandanus trees and gums, watching water birds and Magpie Geese wade in the waterlilies and a crocodile some 15 feet sunning themselves in the wild is nothing short of awesome and thinking these two blokes must have the best job in the world!!!! We caught a couple of undersized barra which had to be freed and some cat fish later on which kept us on our toes while John landed another nice barra. Seeing it leap from the water a couple of times was excellent. It came in at 70cm and 13lb, so he was stoked. 

Back at the roadhouse a nice cold shower was in order so being gentlemen we allowed Louise to jump in first while we had a beer and unwound. The next we hear her screaming, John runs in to see his wife naked trying to get a green tree frog off her shoulder. Where there's one there's more, about 20. Laughing hysterically we finally cleared the shower but that was enough for Louise, no more showers. 

Day 2. East Alligator River East Alligator is the border between Kakadu National Park and Arnhem Land which is sacred to the aborigines. You can only cross here if you have a permit. The crossing is called Cahills Crossing and a popular place for picnics and a spot of fishing from the crossing wall. This is where the salt meets the freshwater. We put the boats and gear in and we were off but we didn't have to go far before WACK. It was my turn to get a barra. It wasn't the monster I've been waiting for but never the less it was my first one. As we trolled upstream we encountered some fairly large crocs but not as much bird life as at 4 Mile Hole and so far no big barra or did I speak too soon as I clung tightly to my rod with two hands. Something was trying to take me for a water ski. As I tried to scream out "I'm on" and overwhelmed with excitement Jeff noticed and stopped the boat. This was big, I mean really big. The line was being pulled off the Calcutta CT250 like I've never seen before. The amount of pressure this thing was applying was awesome. Jeff yelled some instructions on what to do. About 5 minutes had pasted and it was 10 feet from the boat. What surprised me was that it hadn't leapt into the air but then a big splash of water and a tail shake appeared followed by a big mouth with sharp teeth. "SHIT, IT'S A CROC", a cry came out. He was only about 4 feet long but big enough to do some damage if you stuck your hand in it's mouth. The days fishing was pretty quiet all round, as Mark called it so we motored up the river to a point 9 feet wide and 1 foot deep. When we navigated through there was this open expanse of water opening up into about a 1km long billabong with rock walls 100 meters high, the Rock Hole. We caught heaps of small barra but nothing decent. 

Day 3/4 Corroboree Billabong We travelled about 1 hour from where we were staying and came to this 20km stretch of water. This is paradise!!! Mud plains, Pandanus trees, crocs, birds, bats and not to mention plenty of fish. As we cruised up the river there was a huge goanna having a nice chew on cat fish and the first thing we got was a 'catty' so we headed back to what see Mark said was "a lady I know". We stopped near a tree and held up the fish. A Sea Eagle swooped.....and snatched the fish out of his hand and took it straight back to its youngsters. A while later, after lots of small fish we caught a Saratoga. They are worth heaps in Malaysia because they are called the Sacred Fish, but no good to eat. This is the most beautiful place I have ever seen, apart from Litchfield National Park, and I finally got my big barra, yes 14lb and 74cm and what a feeling. What can I say. If you're like me, young, dumb and full of energy don't miss out.