REPORT:
Well flew in back from Darwin last night very late, still trying to customize back to a Victorian 12 degrees, having just started to get used to the daily 35+ degrees up there, bit of a difference!
I flew up last Thursday with my dad, grandfather and 4 other mates, getting into Darwin around 6ish and headed straight to our hotel. The guides at Darren's NT Barra Safaris were coming to pick us up at 5.30am so we wanted maximum sleep!
Sure enough they arrived right on time and we were off to Kakadu! A short 2.5 hours later we were there, and while the guides got the boats ready, we had some breakfast at the Aurora Kakadu Hotel where we would be staying for the following 6 days. While eating breakfast I couldn't help but notice that the newspapers in the NT have some really interesting headlines:
Full of bacon, eggs and hashbrowns, we were pumped to get going so we set off for the boat ramp a mere 5km down the road from the resort. 5 minutes later both boats were on the water (max 3 people + guide per boat) and we headed upstream of the South Alligator River, while the other boat headed downstream.
The guide told us that there hasn't been a big wet season this year, their only big downpour happening right after Easter, which was going to make it harder to find the barra, and it showed as we didn't see a single fish until after lunch when my mate Mark landed his first fish, an 82cm barra.
The spot we had chosen to move to proved to be quite active, with 2 more fish landed and several more dropped (most by me :snap: ). We packed it in at 5.30pm and headed back to the ramp, where we found to our amusement that the other boat hadn't seen a single fish. Needless to say, beers were on the other group due to a bet placed on the plane :cheers:
The next morning was much the same, up at 5.30am, a big buffet breakfast and then had the boat launched at the crack of dawn at 6.30am. The guide decided we were to head upstream to the mouth of the river, an 80km hike. The distance didn't seem so bad though, taking only 1h 20m, largely due to the 250hp 4 stroke engines on the back!
Once again, the morning was quite uneventful, we spent the morning sitting right up Brook creek which was adjacent to the mouth of the South Alligator. The turn of the tide saw some action though, with a number of hookups, including at least 2 barra that were clearly over a metre long, both throwing the hooks as they launched out of the water. To anyone who has never fished for barra before, it sure was exciting to see these barra when they hook up, its quite a spectacle!
Finally I managed to keep a barra on for more than a few seconds and landed a 68cm specimen!
I was quite happy with myself and the day continued to fire after that with a number of fish caught, although the big ones stayed hidden. We were fortunate the first day as it was overcast and was quite a pleasant temperature, but not so the second day. Mixing the excitement of the barra and the intense heat, we all felt like we had gone for a long run in a sauna! I don't think I've ever felt the heat like that day before. Up a creek, no wind, and the humidity mixed with the sun right above us made it very very hot! Even the water temperature was 35 degrees!!!!
The 3rd and 4th day out slipped by quickly, neither day being as successful as the 2nd day but we all manged to boat some fish each of those days. There were plenty of crocs about which also kept you on the lookout, boy there are sneaky buggers. We had numerous crocs show up right next to the boat, only to disappear like they were never there. Much like this fella, who decided that the barra we were catching would be an easy target!
Or like this little guy, who had a go at one of my poppers and had to come aboard to get unhooked. I think that's the closest a croc can come to smiling haha!
Come the 5th and final day we aimed at hunting down the big 1m+ barra, which lowered our chances of catching many at the cost of catching a big one. Our boat was unsuccessful in that attempt which was disappointing, with my only catch for the day someone else's lure!
My dad, who was on the other boat, was very pleased with himself, boating an 88cm barra and taking top spot on the final ours of the trip. Now I'll be hearing about it for the rest of the year :doh1:
So ended the trip, and we headed back to Darwin the following day, staying at the same place we did the night we flew in.
Down at the bar I bumped into Paul Worsting who had also been fishing that day in Darwin, he was filming their plug for the hotel that goes at the end of the episode, so that was kinda funny.
Anyway, I had a blast catching my first barra, and I'm pretty keen to go back up next year and try get that 1m barra!
shout out to Darren's NT Barra Safaris, Darren is a top bloke and couldn't have worked harder to find us a fish, I would absolutely recommend him for anyone who wants to catch a barra!