MAC’S FIRST BARRA AT 1.1M IS A LODGE RECORD:
Victorian farmer Mac Kerr caught his first Barra last week – and it was a beauty at 1.12m.
Kerr, a guest at the Escape Sportfishing Lodge on Groote Eylandt, off Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, was luring near the mouth of the Walker River to the west of Groote Eylandt when the big fish hit – and hit hard.
It tested the 30lb braid line and had Kerr moving all over the boat before he reeled it to the surface where it was netted.
The fish was a record for the lodge, and another angler with Kerr caught a barra about 80cm long. Both fish were released. The big barra fell to a Barra Classic lure.
The lodge, which opened late last year, is an angler’s paradise, where any species from barra to billfish can be caught within an hour or so’s drive away.
Head fishing guide Rob McCulloch was out when I sought details of the record barra capture.
He was with clients up on the archipelago of islands to the north of Groote Eylandt catching and releasing big queenfish.
His partner and co-manager of the lodge, Ruth Hennessy, formerly from north Queensland, gave me the information about the record barra catch. She also said she loved life on the island.
“Personally, I cannot get enough of the scenery – rocky headlands, sandstone escarpments and aqua blue water” Hennessy said.
She said the lodge was associated with two local major calendar events of the year, the 22nd annual Groote Eylandt Billfish Tournament from October 25 to November 2 and the second annual Groote Eylandt Biathlon on October 11 and 12, where competitors fish one day and play golf the next.
It’s a fun event, with a team’s biggest fish used as the team handicap for the golf day.