The Travel Bug, Fishing Corroboree Billabong

Just spent the day on Corroboree Billabong as the Camera boat for a TV shoot for the Travel Bug who were fishing with Chris from River & Reef Fishing Charters.

Morgan the presenter for the travel bug is a bit of a jinx when it comes to fishing trips and he tells me this was the first fish he has got on film in 3 years of filming, it was also his first Barra, his biggest for the day being 61cm. Between Morgan and Chris from R&R they caught around a dozen Barra with most of this on film. The show will air sometime in 2012 so it will be interesting to see how it all comes out.

Below are a few shots from the day.

Morgan Hooked up

Morgan releasing his 61cm Barra

Morgans Barra

David Byrne & I sneaked off to chase a couple of Saratoga

2012 Run Off

If catching a Barra is on your bucket list the Run Off is arguably the best time to aim at for you Top End Barra Fishing Adventure.

Feb – May is Run Off time and whilst that seams like a long way off, now is the time to look at booking your trip.

Guides fill up quickly at this time of year with many clients making return trips year after year and even booking their following years trip a year in advance.

3-5 day extended tours are the way to get the best of the experience.

Group and private tours are available, if you need any further info on these trips please give us a call or drop me an email at mike@fishthetopend.com .

Fishing Report 21 August

With light winds coinciding with clean water and building tides last week there were good reports of Tuna in and around Darwin harbour and as the tides built I have heard a few reports of some quality GT’s being caught as well. As we head toward the neap tides this week if you are keen to chase some of these speedsters Friday, Saturday and Sunday’s tides are ideal for chasing Tuna in the Harbour, Marbou or Bucktail Jigs are dynamite on the Tuna as are small metal bait fish style lures & slices. As a rule the tuna will feed into the wind, a stealth approach will work best as feeding tuna will scare easily with boat noise so you are best to place you boat and wait for the fish to come to you, if you have the patience.

Guides are reporting that you still have to work hard on the Billabongs with the Barra still not reacting to the warmer water yet, or possibly the fact that the place is full of bait they are just spoilt for choice at the moment. Justin Jones from Obsession Fishing Safaris tells me that trolling weedless soft plastics working snags and weed beds has been producing good results.

Helen Stuart - 80cm Corroboree Barra - fishing with Obsession Fishing Safaris

Darwin Fishing Report 14 August 2011

The fishing has been up and down on Corroboree with every day being different but there are still some quality fish to be caught (see 90cm Barra caught Yesterday by Gadi fishing with Top End Barra Fishing), the key at the moment seems to be to change things up, trying some different lures and giving the soft plastics a run has been producing results.

Gadi from Perth 90cm Corroboree Barra - fishing with Top End Barra Fishing

Sam lewis from Sydney 56cm Corroboree Barra - fishing with River & Reef Fishing Charters

Double hookup Corroboree Barra fishing with Obsession Fishing Safaris

Taking advantage of the light winds I fished the Harbour out to Lee Point and back today, we landed a nice Queenfish at Lee Point and dropped a couple, on the start of the incoming tide there were Longtail Tuna and Mack Tuna working around the six mile boy area, there were pretty flighty but we got one Mack Tuna and a Longtail to finish off the day for an early afternoon finish.

Darwin Day Tours Manager, Brett Binns, Lee Point Queenfish

Oasis Tourist Park Maintenance Manager, Mick Petty, Harbour Longtail

Don’t always believe what you read in the Paper.

I’ve always read the fishing reports in the papers with a certain degree of scepticism at best they are reporting the fishing from a week ago which as a rule has little or no relevance on what is currently going on and then sometimes the reports just seem so far from the fact that they are laughable.

So after spending a day on Corroboree Billabong yesterday and on return reading Steve ‘Starlo’ Starlings report on the Barra slowing down and Saratoga being a good option and the comment under the Saratoga that reads “Saratoga help fill the void left by shut-down barra in our billabongs” all I could do was just shake me head in disbelief.

Contrary to this report what is currently being experienced at Corroboree Billabong at least is some of the best fishing in years and the cold hasn’t slowed the fishing down at all as per my post only posted a couple of days ago. I usually fish the billabongs with my mate Mick and we are the first to change tact from targeting Barra to Saratoga when the Barra are quiet but yesterday we didn’t even give the Saratoga a thought, we must of caught around 18 Barra between us with the biggest being a healthy 79cm for Mick, we fished several areas and all bar one produced fish and I know for a fact that guides are putting their clients onto good Barra on a daily Basis.

So don’t always believe what you read in the papers, ask around or better still talk to the local tackle shops or just get out there and see what’s happening, as you are not going to catch fish wrapped up in your doona.

Mick's 79cm Corroboree Billabong Barra