1st land based barra in the NT! 68cm Barramundi Bomber Long 15A Mr. Troy Keim

It was by chance and my good fortune that I had the pleasure of fishing with Hiro at Channel Island on Anzac Day.  A keen lure fisho from North Queensland, I had recently started working up in Darwin.  Staring down at the water rush under the Channel Island Bridge and wondering where to start, a man on his scooter arrived - I recognized him as local fishing legend Hiro.  After a short introduction and a few words, Hiro generously offered to take me on one of his land based fishing sessions to chase the famous NT Barra.

Hiro lead the way through the mangrove forests and over the oyster rocks to the first spot.  We cast hard bodied lures there for half an hour for no strikes.  The receding tide exposed more rocks and access to the next location as the wind was increasing from the south.  After casting for around an hour my hopes of tangling with a Barra were beginning to fade, although there was some feeding activity observed in the area and even a free jumping Barra of approx. 90cm. I continued to work my bomber long A in the shallow water when suddenly my line loaded up and the water exploded with the distinctive strike of a nice Barra.  After two or three good runs, I steered my first land based NT Barra ashore. It went 68cm . A great moment thanks to Hiro's kind gesture - it was a great few hours spent in the NT sun - Thank you Hiro and best of luck catching your next 1000!

Name; Troy Keim (Qld)

Rod; Daiwa 3 Piece - Bulldog 603HFS 6'0" - 5 to 9kg

Reel; Shimano Stradic Ci4+ 3000

Line; Power Pro Slick 8 - 30LB

Leader; Jinkai Plus - 40LB

Lure; Bomber Long A - Prism / Black / Yellow

Please click on the " Fishing of Ranking" link. 

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63cm Barramundi #1011 Squidgy Pro Mongrel 30cm shallow water

Luckily, the full moon was still low in the sky.
The tide was going out.
The seawater level rapidly got lower.
There were thousands of oyster-rocks under the water.
The depth of the water was probably 50cm.
Recently I've been using a Rapala Flatrap for this fishing spot.
Rapala Flatrap left behind a good result here.
However, the fish weren't responding at all.
The water went down, leaving thousands oyster-rocks.
I moved to water.
I waded in water in search of their bait fish.
It was only 30cm shallow water.
The oyster-rocks were sparse in water.
I used a Squidgy Pro Mongrel and was reeling the fishing line slowly.
Soon I was done out of this Squidgy Pro Mongrel.

63cm barramundi was very silver.

April 24, 2016 63cm barramundi
Land based in Darwin

Squidgy Pro Mongrel


Colour:  Aussie Herring

Size: 90mm.

Where: Shallow water 30cm

Water: Clear Outgoing

Line: Sufix 15LB braid

Leader line:  Schneider 45LB

Knot: The Slim Beauty Knot

Reel: Shimano Stella 2500FE

Rod: Wilson Live Fibre Sportfishing Series Blade 'N' Tails Light

Clip: Force ten Stainless Duo Lock Snaps #2

Action: Steady retrieving

Please click on the " Fishing of Ranking" link. 

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66cm Barramundi #1010 Rapala Flatrap Rainbow Trout colour Mindil Beach

The absolute number is small.
What does this mean?
The answer is that I don't have many chances to see bait fish in my usual fishing locations these days.
As an inevitable result, the number of barramundi drops below a standard in my usual fishing locations.
Normally, we always have a lot of barramundi in April.
However, I have caught only five barramundi since the beginning of this month.
You can recognize that I'm fishing in a very strange condition.
In such a situation, I have good news of the more effective lure for the barramundi fishing in store for you.
I'm a frequent lure changer.
I had some short barramundi's strikings on the same lure for the past few days.
Both the colour and the pattern should be very effective for the barramundi fishing under the condition like this.

I went to Mindil Beach to fish in the night on April 18.
The sea surface was slightly wavy.
The moon was behind a cloud.
It's a perfect condition for catching a barramundi in a shallow water.

There were many thousands of rocks covered with oysters in the water.
I reeled the fishing line and lure slowly.
That barramundi took my lure and powerfully rushed away in the super shallow water.
I luckily caught a 66cm barramundi without fishing-line breakage during use in an outgoing tide.

It's a nicely silver barramundi.

April 18, 2016 66cm barramundi
land based in Darwin

Rapala Flatrap itself is basically very effective for the barramundi fishing.
Rapala Flatrap has many kinds of the colours and the patterns.
Even among them, I want to focus on both the colour and the pattern in the above picture.


Rapala Flatrap

Colour: Rainbow Trout

Size: 100mm.

Where: Shallow water 30cm -50cm

Water: Clear Outgoing

Line: Sufix 15LB braid

Leader line: Triumph Super Shock Leader Fluorocarbon 30LB

Knot: The Slim Beauty Knot

Reel: Shimano Stella 2500FE

Rod: Wilson Live Fibre Sportfishing Series Blade 'N' Tails Light

Clip: Force ten Stainless Duo Lock Snaps #2

Action: Steady retrieving

Please click on the " Fishing of Ranking" link. 

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51cm Barramundi #1008 50cm Barramundi #1009 Squidgies Fish Very big tide

A small tide has a very long productive fishing window.
A big tide has some short productive fishing windows.
You should go fishing to a fishing location with a productive fishing window at a proper time if you wish to catch a fish on lure.
In any case, whether you catch a fish or not depends on the state of the wind.

Today's tides were very big.
01:23am---0.60m
07:34am---7.95m
13:14pm---1.39m
19:25pm---7.74m

A good fisherman moves around to be in search of a short productive fishing window in his usual fishing locations at a very big tide.

I made a plan for fishing today.
First, I fish in an outgoing tide at Channel Island.
Second, I fish in an incoming tide at East Point.
Third, I fish at a high water at Mindil Beach.

I went to Channel Island to fish in an outgoing tide.
The state of the wind was ideal.
Barramundi won't take lures in a windless state in very shallows.
Barramundi won't take lures in a very noisy sound of wind.

They have just come back from their seasonal jelly-prawn trip.
A few jelly prawns appeared in the shallow water on mud flat.
I used a Squidgies Fish 70mm/Mint jelly with a 1/6oz jighead.
I reeled the fishing line slowly without any actions.

As a result, I caught 51cm and 50cm barramundi in a short productive fishing window at Channel Island.

April 9, 2016.  51cm Barramundi #1008
Land based in Darwin

April 9, 2016.  50cm Barramundi #1009
Land based in Darwin

Squidgies Fish

Colour: Mint Jelly

Size: 70mm.

Where: Shallow water 30cm -50cm

Water: Murky Outgoing

Line: Sufix 15LB braid

Leader line: Schneider 45LB

Knot: The Slim Beauty Knot

Reel: Shimano Stella 2500FE

Rod: WILSON LIVE FIBRE Sportfishing SERIES BLADE 'N' TAILS LIGHT

Clip: FORCE TEN STAINLESS DUO LOCK SNAPS #2

Action: Steady retrieving

Please click on the " Fishing of Ranking" link. 

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Barramundi #1007 Squidgy Pro Mongrel Productive fishing window

A small tide has a very long productive fishing window.
A big tide has some short productive fishing windows.
You should go fishing to a fishing location with a productive fishing window at a proper time if you wish to catch a fish on lure.
In any case, whether you catch a fish or not depends on the state of the wind.

I went to Mindil Beach to fish at a very high water.
A big tide also has a short productive fishing window at a high water.
Furthermore, a dark night should be a pretty favorable situation.

I caught a barramundi on a Squidgy Pro Mongrel at the mouth of a small creek there.

April 7, 2016 Barramundi
Land based in Darwin

Squidgy Pro Mongrel

Colour: Drop Bear

Size: 90mm.

Where: Shallow water 30cm -50cm

Water: Very clear Outgoing

Line: Sufix 15LB braid

Leader line: Schneider 45LB

Knot: The Slim Beauty Knot

Reel: Shimano Stella 2500FE

Rod: WILSON LIVE FIBRE Sportfishing SERIES BLADE 'N' TAILS LIGHT

Clip: FORCE TEN STAINLESS DUO LOCK SNAPS #2

Action: Steady retrieving

Please click on the " Fishing of Ranking" link. 

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Barramundi #1006 Yo-zuri Crystal minnow Barramundi have just come back from jelly-prawn trip.

Tuesday, April 5. 

I caught a small barramundi at a rocky beach in Fannie Bay at last.
It's been 1 month since I have caught a barramundi.
I went fishing to my usual fishing locations with considerable frequency in March though.
However, I couldn't catch any barramundi after 10th of March. 

It was the darkness of two days before the new moon.
The sea water was very clear.
The sea surface was rippled.
The tide was going out.

Mosquitoes were bad.
I waded and walked with a shuffle as a measure for an anti stingray.
It also gained a sufficient carry of a cast lure.

I didn't catch many barramundi in my usual fishing locations in March every year.
Barramundi moved around to be in search of jelly prawns in March.
Not many jelly prawns were to be seen in my usual fishing locations in March.
The end of the jelly prawn season has just come.

I cast a 110mm shiny-gold Yo-zuri Crystal minnow and reeled the line slowly without any twitching and jerking.
Barramundi took it at the moment of pausing the lure action.

Barramundi have just come back from jelly-prawn trip to my usual fishing locations.

April 5, 2016 Barramundi
Land based in Darwin

Yo-zuri Crystal Minnow

Colour: Gold

Size: 110mm.

Where: Shallow water 30cm -50cm

Water: Very clear Outgoing

Line: Sufix 15LB braid

Leader line: Schneider 45LB

Knot: The Slim Beauty Knot

Reel: Shimano Stella 2500FE

Rod: WILSON LIVE FIBRE Sportfishing SERIES BLADE 'N' TAILS LIGHT

Clip: FORCE TEN STAINLESS DUO LOCK SNAPS #2

Action: Steady retrieving

Please click on the " Fishing of Ranking" link. 

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Thank you very much.