Day 293 – 3rd November 2018 – Darwin, Fishing the mouth of the Adelaide River

Our alarms went off bright and early and we were up at 5am to go meet Hal at 6am at the resort next door.  Then off to meet Scotty and Richo on the Stuart Highway.  We are heading to the mouth of the Adelaide River to try and catch some Barra.  Scotty and Richo in Richo’s boat and Hal, Col and me in Col’s boat.  Both Richo and Col’s boat were very similar size, about 5m and both centre consoles.  Richo has a casting deck at the front though.

I reversed the boat down the ramp and put the boat in without issue, then Hal kindly helped me find a park as the place was absolutetly packed!!!  We parked the trailer then went down and jumped in the boat, full of hope and excitement for the day ahead.

Getting the boat out at the mouth of the Adelaide River, NT
Getting the boat out at the mouth of the Adelaide River, NT
Col's fishing attire or bank robbing attire - you decide, the mouth of the Adelaide River, NT
Col’s fishing attire or bank robbing attire – you decide, the mouth of the Adelaide River, NT
Scotty and Richo in Richo's boat, the mouth of the Adelaide River, NT
Scotty and Richo in Richo’s boat, the mouth of the Adelaide River, NT

The place itself is beautiful and there are many arms of the creeks branching off that you can fish and explore.  It was amazing to see so many trailers and cars in the parking area there but you see so few out on the water because the area is so vast.  We did see a few.  It seemed that every boat near us was catching Barra of a decent size.  We trawled and we flicked lures all day long but didn’t catch anything between the three of us.  We changed lures, we changes spots, we tried lures at different depths, but nothing….. nada…. zip.  We watched people to the left and to the right dragging in Barra over 70cm and we saw monsters in the water, but they decided not to take our lures for reasons unknown to us.  That’s fishing says Col.  I quote “fishing is about putting a line in the water, it is not about catching fish.  If you catch a fish you are lucky, if you catch a sizeable fish you can eat, you are even luckier”.  While I do enjoy the day out on the water in the boat, I do still like to catch fish.

It was a beautiful (albeit a very, very hot) day out in the boat and all in all we enjoyed the day out.  Definitely disappointed not to catch the Barra.  I was hoping we might get the million dollar Barra, but it was not to be.  Not sure if I mentioned that in another post?  Sorry if I double up, but in the NT they run a competition annually called “Million Dollar Fish” where they release a heap of tagged Barramundi and if you catch one you win the money between October to March. Usually there is one fish that is a million dollar fish and the rest are $10,000 each.  This year they have released 5 million dollar fish and once the first one is caught they will switch the others to $10,000.  No one has ever caught the million dollar fish yet, so if it is not caught this year they are going to extend the competition through to September 2019 or until a million dollar Barra is caught.  You have to register, but it is free.  You gotta be in it to win it right!   And you would be gutted if you caught the million dollar Barra but forgot to register.  You also need to negotiate the rules if you are taking people out in the boat, everyone agrees on how the money will be divied up before the million dollar Barra is caught.  There is always a kickback to the boat owner!  Unfortunately it was not to be that day.  Currently 3 x $10,000 fish have been caught in the NT so far.

The mouth of the Adelaide River, NT
The mouth of the Adelaide River, NT

I got the boat out without any issues and we all enjoyed a beer and a cider on the drive home.  Well earned I say.  Scotty, Richo and Hal came back to the van for a beer after the fishing trip and we are planning our next one already.

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