Tides due in the Top End
‘‘There were some good fish caught on the last set of neaps in Shoal Bay, with meteries amongst them.
‘‘ There are still loads of barra and salmon being caught on the harbour flats.
‘‘There’s also been a few mud crabs up at West Arm.
‘‘ I have not heard much from the bluewater scene, the weather has not been helpful.
‘‘ Hardies Lagoon is running and Corroboree Billabong has loads of water in it.’’
Top End Tackle World’s Chris Rainbird said the fishing in the harbour had been better than average.
‘‘There have also been a few barra caught down at the Finniss River,’’ he said.
‘‘There has been good rain, with a big storm in Darwin on Thursday night.
‘‘The rivers are already up a little and the Daly has been up for a while.
‘‘There have been mixed reports from the Daly.’’
On the www. fishing territory. com forums ‘‘ Joshua 53’’ had a good trip to Saltwater Arm.
He wrote: ‘‘I launched at Leaders Creek around 8.15am on Monday and headed out to fish the outgoing tide around Saltwater Arm.
‘‘At first it was a bit slow, with only a few hits and a rat barra, but then the rain started and all of the water came down the mudflats just near the turn of the tide.
‘‘My dad Ash got a great hit when he threw his Barra Classic into a gutter, so he put it straight back into the same place and got a slapper of a fish.
‘‘It went a metre, making it his first metery this year!
‘‘A great day in although the road got pretty bad on the way home.’’
The Tackle Box’s Frenchy Maujean said the weather had been no good for offshore fishing. But barramundi prospects looked better.
‘‘There are loads of threadfin salmon and barra on the harbour flats,’’ he said.
‘‘Just before on the last set of neaps Shoal Bay was producing great fish, with were barra to 118cm caught.
‘‘They have been getting them at The Rock and in the creeks, and in the daytime.
‘‘The weather has slowed down offshore fishing.
‘‘ Some people have been fishing creek crossings and getting a few, including some bigger ones.
‘‘ There have been good snapper caught at Dundee by those finding gaps in the weather.
‘‘There is a fair run of snapper on the rockbars at the moment, not huge but keepers.’’
Craig’s Fishing Warehouse’s Malcolm Strong said the fishing was slow, but there were goldies in the harbour to 3kg.
‘‘There have also been coral trout off the Larrakeyah rock wall, caught on bait,’’ he said.
‘‘ Another crew has been catching barra on the fishing platform in Elizabeth River.
‘‘From the Elizabeth River ramp to Pikey Creek the barra have been boofing on jelly prawns.
‘‘Browns Creek on the Daly River has produced fish over a metre on big rigged plastics.
‘‘The Daly has been up a few metres and rising.
‘‘There have been early culvert reports from Marrakai on the Adelaide River.
‘‘Mud crabs are still showing up.
‘‘And there have been small jewies coming out of the hole near Middle Arm boat ramp.’’