Darwin Fishing Charters

 Hiya

We are heading up to Darwin for a few days late August and were planning to go fishing doh!

Does anyone have recommendations for a good charter to go on? There seem to be quite a few up there, but would really appreciate some advice.

Cheers


EL SYD's picture

Posts: 599

Date Joined: 16/08/10

 what do you want to chase?

Tue, 2013-06-18 16:17

 what do you want to chase?

Buz's picture

Posts: 1555

Date Joined: 28/08/07

Darwin Wreck and Reef are a

Tue, 2013-06-18 17:30

Darwin Wreck and Reef are a good outfit for Bluewater fishing. Plus they had a very nice deckie the last time I was up there ;)

At that time of year most the Barra fishing is shut down and there wont be to many Barra tours on offer. Best bet is the Bluewater Charters.

tomharders247's picture

Posts: 145

Date Joined: 22/11/12

 Im going up in 2 weeks is

Tue, 2013-06-18 20:20

 Im going up in 2 weeks is there a few barra around ATM buz? whats the best time up there for them??

 

Buz's picture

Posts: 1555

Date Joined: 28/08/07

Best time for Barra in the

Tue, 2013-06-18 21:30

Best time for Barra in the Rivers is during the 'Run Off'. It varies from year to year depending on rain, some years a proper runoff doesn't even happen! But its usually around Feb-May or there abouts. And it depends which river you are fishing. One river may be running off in Feb but another may not runoff until April.

Around the ocean foreshore, headlands and Darwin Harbour a great time of year is the 'Build Up' to the wet season, Oct-Dec usually. Again this varies on what conditions are present at the time with rain and temperature. Usually the cold temperatures of the dry season make the Barra sluggish and unwilling to bite a lot of the time. But there are always exceptions. I found during the dry I had better success using bait for Barra, live or dead.

Really you are going up during a very quiet period for Barra. they will be around but hard to find and hard to tempt to bite. At this time of year I usually fished the Billabongs and the upper cut off reaches of Rivers, for Barra. But usually had more success doing Bluewater fishing off the shore for Trevs, Queenies, and Macks or charter boats fishing for bottom species and pelagics. Prime time for Bluewater up there!

tomharders247's picture

Posts: 145

Date Joined: 22/11/12

alright cheers im going heli

Wed, 2013-06-19 09:41

alright cheers im going heli fishing and were only using lures

Buz's picture

Posts: 1555

Date Joined: 28/08/07

Oooooh right, well if your

Wed, 2013-06-19 10:03

Oooooh right, well if your going Heli fishing then you have the greatest chance of getting Barra at that time of year as they will get you into the areas no one else can get to. Like Billabongs, cut off Rivers and the upsides of Barrages that have Barra stuck in them from when the water levels dropped down. And Lures will be your best friend in these spots.
So yep you'll catch Barra for sure :)

Always wanted to do the Heli fishing, you'll have to post a report on how you go.

Good luck up there mate, you'll have a ball!

tomharders247's picture

Posts: 145

Date Joined: 22/11/12

done it once before it was

Wed, 2013-06-19 14:11

done it once before it was the best time ever.

so now i know what im doing. hopefully it will be better :)

 

Swompa's picture

Posts: 3968

Date Joined: 14/10/12

 I went with arafura. Only 4

Tue, 2013-06-18 17:53

 I went with arafura. Only 4 out of 10 people caught something. Very disappointing but had potential to be good.

Glen.vit's picture

Posts: 196

Date Joined: 11/01/11

Went out with Darwins Barra

Tue, 2013-06-18 20:25

Went out with Darwins Barra Base for a 4 day fishing safari, no barra although the group before us caught a metery, did 2 days bluewater fishing out of dundee beach awesome spot, mosquitos are so thick, ventured out to a spot called sail city heaps of mackeral n tuna.

Body Plus's picture

Posts: 5

Date Joined: 30/11/12

 Thanks for all your help.

Wed, 2013-06-19 08:04

 Thanks for all your help. Looks like we will stick to Bluewater.