Tide turns and slow start becomes top session

After a successful trip to Shoal Bay two weeks ago, my old man and I decided to have another crack this week on similar tides.

The author with a 101cm barra captured during a hot session in Shoal Bay.

After a successful trip to Shoal Bay two weeks ago, my old man and I decided to have another crack this week on similar tides.

We arrived to find only two other boats fishing the same area, which was a good start.

We commenced trolling, but there were not many fish marking on the sounder. After an hour we anchored up and started to cast some lures around. This was also fruitless so we decided to have a troll again just before the low tide.

Amazingly, the fish had turned up in just one area and there were heaps of them marking on my Humminbird.

Straight away Dad’s classic barra lure was slammed and he soon landed a great thick-set barra of 92cm.

It was not long before we hooked and unfortunately lost another three big fish.

The tide soon turned and started to come in and the big barra really fired up.

I had a great run landing four barra in about an hour, all trolling with a gold Killalure barra bait.

The first two fish measured 91cm and 92cm, but it was the third and fourth that impressed most. Both measured 101cm and were in amazing condition, weighing well over 13kg.

They both fought incredibly, regularly peeling line at an astonishing rate. The new Chronarch handled them with ease and a smooth drag was imperative during the long fight.

I have fished this area for many years, landing only one metrey before in all that time. So I was most impressed to have landed two in a row, which topped off another amazing session in Shoal Bay.

We sure have some great fishing right on our doorstep in Darwin, and with the build-up well and truly upon us it should hopefully improve even more!