The Northern Territory news Thu 22 May 2014
NT news
The Northern Territory news; NewspaperNT
2014-05-22
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English
Community newspapers -- Northern Territory -- Darwin; Australian newspapers -- Northern Territory -- Darwin
News Corp Australia
Darwin
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News Corp Australia
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019C00042
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/250969
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/551895
28 LIFESTYLE THURSDAY MAY 22 2014 NTNE01Z01MA - V1 Kev and Killalure clean up LAST Sundays tides werent the best they could be to fish Darwin Harbours arms for barra, but nonetheless old mate Kevin Eccles and I had a wonderful day in my new Territory Marine River to Reef 5m Tommycutt. We caught some barra too, although not nearly as many as we saw and hooked. But there was a beauty among them: an 80cm fish for yours truly. Believe it or not, an 80cm barra is a class fish in Darwin Harbour; the harbour doesnt see many fish over 65cm as theres no freshwater feed like the big rivers. An 80 is akin to a metrey, so no wonder I was happy. And how good is the little 60mm Killalure 2Deadly? Kev one of the best barra fishermen in the NT was blown away by this dynamite lure, which bloops like a big popper, then shimmies just below the surface like one of those magic Classic Just Unders? Designed by legendary fishing guide, Lance Butler, it is truly an amazing lure which not only has a big bloop, if thats what you want, but can also be worked with a subtle plop. After ringing the dinner bell, the little 2Deadly can be made to duck under and retrieved with a tight, fast swimming action which is simply too deadly. Frankly, I cant believe this lure, which is the smallest of three 2Deadly lures in the range. Better late than never, only last Easter, the biggest barra Ive ever heard of from the Daly River was caught by Shannon Latham of Mousies Barra & Bluewater Fishing Charters. Mousie told me he had a mate up for a couple days over Easter. We got a couple of fish early in the day, then the mullet turned up in the middle of the river so we started trolling for some big girls. We used some shallow lures; I had a Bomber 17A on my line. We had just passed Elizabeth Creek when I felt a hit as I turned around, the big girl was in mid-air. I said to my mate: This is a big one, get your line in and get the net. She played up a fair bit, and did some great runs and jumped her whole body length out of the water six times. My mate Brett was nervous on the net because he had never netted a barra before; it took a bit to get her into the net because of the sheer size of her. Once in the boat, two measuring mats were needed as they only go to 120cm per mat. We took some photos of the 133cm big girl and weighed her in at nearly 28kg. I then drove to the edge of the river and let her go amongst the snags. She swam away, and I had a great feeling of catching her and seeing her swim away again, the talented guide told me. This month there have been two major fly fishing compe titions held at Corroboree Billabong. The first was the NT Freshwater Fly Fishing Open, hosted by the Darwin Fly Rodders. Held over two days, this years event produced a credible 130 barramundi, compared to only six last year. Correspondingly, saratoga numbers were down from 211 last year to 105 this year. Also caught were: 570 tarpon, two catfsh, one sleepy cod and one archerfish. This year, Champion Team was Territory Towel-ups (Glenn Hubble and Quinten Pope), while Quinten was named Champion Angler. The next fly fishing competition was the inaugural Corroboree Cup, hosted by the NT Fly Fishers Social Mob. According to Cathie Bassett, 18 teams were in the running for the cup with some coming from Queensland and Victoria. Dion Wedd took out the cup with Peter Cooke in second place and Dorothee Williams in third, Cathie said. Quite a few people got firsts, including junior fly fisho Hayden Pearce who scored his first barra and saratoga on fly. Shannon Mousie Latham of Mousies Barra & Bluewater Fishing Charters used a big Bomber 17A lure to catch this humungous 133cm barra, perhaps the biggest barra ever to come from the Daly River Your friendly columnist with a class fish for Darwin Harbour: an 80cm barra caught during a great session last Sunday If there was a prize to be given out for the hard-body lure of the century, it could well go to the diminutive Killalure 2Deadly 60mm which can be made to bloop on the surface as loud as a popper 10 times its size, and can then be retrieved to duck under and swim with a fast, tight action simply amazing! This nursery fish caught by Craig Norton on the Daly River is an incredibly rare species which carries its egg cluster on hooks protruding from the forehead weird