NT fishing news with Alex Julius: Full details from 2023 Top End Barra Series

The Territory’s long list of fishing tales has a new chapter. ALL THE DETAILS

The recent full moon certainly didn’t dampen the quality of fishing in the sixth and final round of the 2023 Top End Barra Series (TEBS).

This final round is always held over two nights and days on the billabongs along the Mary River system: Bridge Lagoon, Hardies Lagoon, Corroboree Billabong and Shady Fresh.

According to Morris Pizzutto from TEBS, fishing was pretty much restricted to the nights or very early or late in the day because fishing the days this time of year requires a higher level of insanity than even this group can muster.

“The nights on the billabongs were very pleasant with even the mosquitoes noticeably absent,” he said.

“The fight for series winner came down to a two-horse race between Jack Oswald and Peter “Cuddles” Cooper.

“For only the second time this series, neither Peter nor Jack stood atop the podium.

“Cuddles had us going for a second there, claiming a bag of meteries but, in hindsight, this was clearly just his dreams at play,” Morris joked.

“But, if someone was to do something as crazy as this, it would probably be Cuddles.

“When he did come clean on his score, he still managed a very respectable bag for 985 points which ‘only’ earned a fourth place.

“The top 3 anglers for the round all scored over 1000 points. Exceptional results for the billabongs.

“In this final round, first place went to Jason Gerdes who has fished TEBS for several years without ever winning,” Morris explained.

Jason said: “It all came together for once.

“I was fishing with Kai Robb who knows Corroboree well,” Jason said.

He reckoned Kai’s knowledge helped put him onto fish.

“On Friday night, we stayed in Corroboree and found some fish near the top cutting once the boat traffic had quietened down,” he explained.

“On Saturday afternoon, we had a look in the Rock Hole and found big barra on the Live Scope that at first wouldn’t eat.

Jason Gerdes finally won a round of the Top End Barra Series with a great catch at Corroboree Billabong. Picture: Kai Robb

“Luckily, they came on during the night and I was able to bag my better fish.

“It was a matter of casting mostly 9 inch Irukandji Sicario or Tiger Lily 16A Bombers for the hits,” he said.

Jason ended up with a 90, 87, 86, 79 and 79cm barra for a great billabong bag on 1205 points.

As is typical with live sonar fishing, just because you see them doesn’t mean they are going to bite.

Jason said: “We had chances for only about 20 minutes every few hours and we were regularly watching big fish following all the way to the boat, right behind the lures but refusing to hit them.”

In third place was Ben Vidgen with a bag of 88, 83, 79, 78 and 76cm for 1040 points.

Morris said: “Ben fished Mary Bridge Lagoon with Matthew Bolitho who also placed well.

Jack Oswald came second in the sixth and final round, which assured him of an overall win for the 2023 series. Picture: Ben Banks

“The bigger fish came on the Friday night and followed up with less action on the Saturday night, even though they probably saw more fish on the live sonar on Saturday night.”

Ever-consistent Jack Oswald placed second, confirming him as the overall 2023 series winner.

Jack fished Corroboree with Ben Banks, and also reported finicky fish which would only bite in short windows.

“Usually tarpon would appear, followed soon after by barra,” Jack explained.

“I did a pre-fish earlier in the week and the fish were on big time.

“In fact, I was trying to not put the hook in fish before the comp and was trying to rip the lure out of their way but I kept hooking up.”

Jack finished with a bag of 87, 84, 81, 79 and 75cm.

Second behind Jack in the 1023 placings was Peter Cooper, with Dwight Shepherd coming in third.