Barramundi:
We love chasing Barramundi and each year metre plus fish are landed by our clients. When the warmer months arrive the chances of landing a Barra increase substantially. Barra get active from September till January then feed again heavily before the cooler winter months arrive. March April and May are referred to as the run off period where the flooded billabongs and catchments pour clean fresh water full of baitfish back into the Gulf. At these times casting shallow running lures like Bombers, Classics, Reidy’s and Halcos around the many smaller creeks and gutters see some large fish landed. The idea is to find patches of clean green water with lots of baitfish getting forced out in the current. Right on the edge where the dirty water mixes with the clean is a terrific ambush zone for Barra to feed in. Generally where there is bait you can be assured that Barra aren’t too far behind.
We are lucky at Groote because the adjacent mainland holds a lot of coastal reef, bommies and rock bars that all hold Barra at different stages of the tide. Sometimes fishing the Walker River is the best option but more often than not the Barra can be caught around the rocky headlands on the way in. We have had some great sessions hooking Barra up to the metre mark in less than a couple of feet of water in this rocky country. Their aerial acrobatics is what makes these fish such a trophy in the rivers and bays of the top end. It’s amazing how shallow the water can be, and still hold quality fish, sometimes the Barra can be seen rolling with their fins out of the water.
The Walker River has a large rock bar, a couple of creeks and a nicely defined gutter at it’s entrance. We have caught Barra at all of these locations and it is a matter of working out what stage of the tide works best at any given spot. Sometimes trolling is the perfect way to find a school of feeding fish. As the tide pushes in the Barra follow the clean water and hold at different points along the river. Sometimes it is as small as a one foot drop and there can be dozens of fish queuing up. At these times hooking up to one fish and marking the spot on your GPS can turn a quiet morning into an awesome session. We have caught fish over the metre mark along the Walker River gutters at the entrance to the river. Many of our larger fish come to clients while casting around the rock bars. A nice Barra of 112cm crunched a lure casting in just this way in early 08 and anglers can expect plenty of these in 09.
