Beloved Daly yet to kick into gear

YES,  it was great to have Cyclone Lam cross the NT border off north-east Arnhem Land last week, and then to form into a deep low and cross the lower Top End.

Oliver Lake fished Shady Camp with Justin Jones of Obsession and caught a ripper 105cm barra on the new Bomber Longshot

YES,  it was great to have Cyclone Lam cross the NT border off north-east Arnhem Land last week, and then to form into a deep low and cross the lower Top End.

Notwithstanding the damage to coastal communities, which is always much better avoided, the promise of serious flooding across the Top End was the panacea we all needed.

But guess what … there was actually bugger all rain; at least the serious multiples of 100mm falls that lead to widespread inundation of the big river floodplains.

It was certainly fantastic for those big rivers off central and eastern Arnhem Land – plenty of rain there, for sure – but in respect of the Alligator Rivers, Mary River, Adelaide River and our beloved Daly River, the cyclone crossed the Top End like a kiss in the wind ... gone before it had time to leave enough rainwater to make much difference.

I actually thought I was being clever last Sunday when I snuck down the Daly River, fully expecting to see hardly any boats and to encounter feeder creek colour changes streaming like highways into the main river.

I was right on the first score: we were one of only five boats on the mighty Daly. But there was hardly any run-off to speak of.

Oliver Lake fished Shady Camp with Justin Jones of Obsession and caught a ripper 105cm barra on the new Bomber Longshot

With me were Arnhemland Barramundi Nature Lodge regular guides, Andy Taylor and Ben Pfeiffer, neither of whom had seen the Daly before, and all I could show them was murky water hardly a metre above dry season levels, and a trickle of colour from less than a handful of creeks. No doubt there will be more flood coming down from Katherine way – perhaps there by now – but it was sad on Sunday.

We went all the way to Clear Creek, which was anything but clear, and we fished hard at many locations that had a modicum of promise.

The absence of bait was a real worry. The only place that we saw bait working enough to excite us was the mouth of Moon Billabong creek.

There was a bit of colour there and we cast like mad when a solid barra “boofed” against the bank.

But alas it was not to be.

A boat was anchored all day at the mouth of Elizabeth Creek and I believe they saw nothing either.

Finally, we caught something: Ben snared a nice tarpon at the mouth of No Fish Creek.

To be fair to the famous Daly, reports before the cyclone from Stuart Brisbane from the Daly River Barra ­Resort included catches of 20-plus barra from Elizabeth Creek mouth, including barra in the 90s.

We encountered a rising Daly River on a big making tide, so maybe once it all settles the colour will come as the river drops again.

Fingers crossed on that one.

Dean McEwen fished Leaders Creek with dad Andrew “Macka” McEwen, catching barra to 98cm on live bait

The lads did have a significant highlight for the day: they witnessed the famous Daly River tidal bore surge up the river as a wave nearly 2m high.

Even if there’s a good chance the Daly will be fishing much better this weekend, no doubt many of you will already have your bows pointed at Shady Camp.

These are good neap tides and metreys will be caught.

A new lure that has been doing the damage on metreys at Shady this year is the big Bomber Longshot.

It’s called “Longshot” because internal ball bearings move to the tail on the cast so you can toss it out of sight.

However, it’s as a trolling lure that it has been braining the big barra.

I ran a photo a month back of a 108cm barra caught on the gold Bomber Longshot, and since then I’ve received further reports of whoppers climbing all over this brilliant lure.

Obsession Barra Fishing Safaris’ Justin Jones simply swears by them.

“So far these new barra lures have been dynamite at the mouth of Shady, hooking into some great fish when other boats and lures have gone fishless,” Justin said.