Tackle Tactics » Tips-Techniques » Fishing-Adventures-Destinations » Gulf Getaway
Gulf Getaway
Shaun Taylor
It had been a while since I had undertaken a good ol' fishin' road trip and three of my good mates, all who have been guides at Arnhemland Barramundi Nature Lodge, were heading to the gulf to a property that not only boasted numerous large billabongs, but also a large tidal river with a reputation for large barra. If Benny and his mates could make the journey from southern NSW, then we were doing it easy travelling a mere 2500 kilometres each way.
My regular fishing mate Hutch was roped in, and his 4.5 Poly prepped and primed for the trip.
Long story short, after dodging three million kangaroos, cattle, pigs, emus, strung out road train drivers and grey nomads, we finally reached the town of Normanton, where our journey would continue on the bull dust and corrugated dirt of the gulf development roads.
Some of our crew had not had it so easy, with Hilly hitting a big red roo and destroying his front end, as well as breaking his trailer and requiring an extended stopover in the middle of nowhere. The other boys were already setup, having snuck in a few days early (typical Mick and Benny). I of course gave them heaps about getting the place wired before we even had a chance to get on the water!
I was keen to check out the billabongs that the caretaker of the property had told me received very little attention. Those chasing fillets were of course concentrated on the salt and all of those lily pads and weed made it difficult for others to fish, lol.
I was armed with some new colours and models in the ZMan range and after driving 2500 k's was super keen to give them a swim. We unhooked the Poly and just took the Prado for an exploration around the property and the numerous billabongs.
As it is with on foot billabong fishing, as well as finding gaps in the bankside bush there was also the possibility of resident crocs to contend with, and after seeing a good four metre model at our first stop we were definitely acutely aware of our surroundings.
I had tied on a new Sexy Mullet coloured ZMan 5" Scented PaddlerZ and I think it was second cast along a lay down log that a healthy toga took to the air causing me to let out a "yeeeha!" That had been well earned on the long drive. It was great to get on the board and I was quick to release the toga and get back into it.
The caretaker had relayed to us stories of spotting 80cm plus barra in this particular bong and it was with this in mind that I fired my plastic out along the large lay down tree in front of me. A couple of turns into my retrieve and my Sexy Mullet was slammed, with my little Chronarch losing line to a powerful fish. The battle to and frowed, with the fish almost burying me in the sticks and my little Millerods Jack-X stretched to the reel seat. I was yelling at Hutch to grab the Bogas... just as a truly gargantuan catfish of general Sherman proportions reared its ugly head! My heart was pumping and pulse quickened from the fight, and I could only shake my head at the end result as Hutch quickly named me "king cattie".
The next morning we hit the salt, spending most of the day exploring, looking for rock bars and hot spots we had been worded up on. The fish seemed lethargic as it was only just starting to heat up, and we reckoned they needed a few more days. We found mostly small fish and our results were mirrored by the other three boats in our group.
I was keen for some more toga action, as I love these magic looking creatures even more than barra, so after finding a place suitable for launching the Poly, I was all set to introduce Hutch to some "frogging ".
Once again, a big croc was lurking close by and I made a mental note to Environet any fish and not hang over on the waterline for extended periods. It didn't take long for us to find a toga and as usual with such a visual style of fishing (buzzing soft plastic frogs across the surface), we were pumped!
I had landed a couple of nice ones, but as yet Hutch was playing "toga volleyball" with the Watermelon Chartreuse ZMan 4" Hard Leg FrogZ. The toga were smashing the frogs, but as I wasn't using stingers of any sort, hooking up was requiring a millisecond pause to make sure the fish had it properly. Once Hutchy had this sussed he quickly landed a couple of nice specimens and I extracted a healthy billabong barra from the thickest of cover to finish of the session, great fun!
The next day we decided to give the salt a go and found the fish to be biting a bit better and in better numbers. We could not find large fish for the life of us however and had to be content with racking up a few numbers of fish in the 50-65cm bracket. Soft vibes, small hardbodies and ZMan 4" DieZel MinnowZ did the trick for us. I persisted over a large rock bar with bigger offerings for some time, but could not tempt a bigger fish to bite.
Our mates were camped by the river, while Hutch and I had the luxury of a cabin up at the homestead (we copped a bit of abuse for taking the soft option!). A shower every night and sitting on the deck sipping ice cold drinks made up for it though! We were leaving our boat moored at the boys' camp, so as to make it easier each morning and to not have to contend with the dodgy half tide ramp that consisted of two cattle grates wired together.
The next morning we arrived in camp a bit cloudy headed from the grand final celebrations the previous evening. We jumped aboard the Poly and I lifted the anchor hatch cover to be greeted by an agitated small wild pig that our "mates" had run down and deposited in the hatch! More than a few expletives were sent their way, as they laughed their guts out at my obvious surprise. Good mates I've got! The little bugger tried to bite me a couple of times until I could scruff him and throw him out on the bank. I have locked this one away and Mick, Benny and Hilly know that retribution shall be mine on our next trip!
Once underway we ran to the front of the river to try a feeder creek that looked really good and had produced a few fish for us a couple of days prior. Straight up we landed a couple of threadies (one on a Sexy Mullet 4" DieZel and the other on a Tranzam) and a steady stream of Barra's started to come aboard, but again no horses.
We decided to run'n'gun all the places we had earlier identified that had produced fish for us. A couple of bends upstream we ran into a couple of the boys that were trolling a shaley, coffee rock type, rock bar that ran for a couple of hundred metres. The boys were picking up a few fish every troll, so we did a couple of drifts slow rolling 5" ZMan PaddlerZ and also hopping soft vibes. We were straight onto the fish, but it seemed we were destined to not catch anything trophy size.
Continuing upstream, we took another arm of the main river where we strung together a mixed bag of golden trevally, grunter, jacks, fingermark and small barra. Where were the horses hiding!
One of the boys had hit pay dirt with a 115cm fish on the troll and a couple more mid-nineties, but alas Hutch and I had to leave the next day, just as it seemed to be firing up! This proved to be true as the boys stayed on a couple of days and had epic sessions on the surface, right in front of camp. We made a note of the tides and made a promise to stay longer next time and delay our arrival for a couple of days.
It was an epic mission, putting five thousand k's on the Prado, fishing some new water and catching up with old mates from all around the country.
Shaun Taylor