This morning I woke very early and after some breakfast, I
headed off fishing for a couple of hours and only caught one Jack and a one-meter
long barracouta.
The water was crystal clear and teeming with life. I saw
sharks, stingrays, very large morwong, huge queenfish and trevally, blowies, batfish,
turtles, huge jellyfish, jacks, mullet and two banded sea snakes just to name a
few. I also saw twelve rock wallabies bouncing from rock to rock along the
gorge walls.
After lunch we all headed down to the falls below the rock
bar, and then later to the rock bar.
On the way into the falls we saw a baby crocodile right next
to the dinghy and he wasn’t scared of us and just sat there.
We tied up the dinghies right next to a fast flowing
three-meter-high waterfall and we climbed up the cliff and took turns having a
swim in the waterfall, then we all walked up the river stopping here and there
to swim in the clear pools. It was really beautiful with lots of water lilies
in flower and some pandanus.
When we left the falls the baby crocodile was still there.
We headed off upstream to the rock bar with Bruce & Luke ahead of us. Once
again, the beauty of this river and the scenery was so impressive.
As we approached the narrow gorge leading into the rock bar,
I could see Luke on the rocks making a "catching a fish" gesture. It was like
charades and we were thinking what the hell is he doing, then I realised, he was
telling us to throw a lure over.
Right away I cast a lure and as soon as the line pulled
tight and I closed the ratchet, BANG, a massive fish hit the lure and took off
on a big long run, then it leapt high out of the water and there was no mistaking
what it was……… a BARRAMUNDI
It put up a good fight, leaping repetitively but slowly I
made ground and before long had him beside the boat. Luke was filming the whole
time from the rocks only a few meters away as I lifted him into the boat and
then it was high fives all around. It was an amazing experience and it all
happened so fast, it was so surreal.
After this, we all fished hard for the next four hours and
only managed to catch a couple of jacks and some barracouta. It must have been
the only barramundi in the whole river and it was right place, right time and I
just accidently hooked it while it was yawning.
The reason all the fish are not bighting is due to the cold
temperature of the water this time of year making them inactive.
Late in the afternoon we went for a swim at the rock bar,
then we went back to Sirocco where I prepared the barra for tonight’s dinner.
It was 570 mm long and a beautiful chrome colour from living in the salt water.
(in fresh water they are a golden colour) The minimum size for a barra is 550
mm and the maximum size is 800 mm, that is because after a certain age and
size, all barramundi turn into females.
Coated with a bit of garlic butter source, we placed the
barra in foil and put it into the webber. This is a great way to cook fish, as
even average tasting fish like trevally come out tasting great.
We also prepared some jacks, flathead and cod that I caught,
then we all went across to the amphitheatre (including Gordon & Myra (from
Harmony)) where Bruce had prepared a camp fire earlier on.
The camp fire was great, but after a couple of hours, when I
stoked it up, the rocks Bruce had placed around it started to explode sending
hot rock shrapnel in all directions. After three or four explosions we decided
to retreat back to the safety of Sirocco and have our fish for dinner.
The barra was superb and so was all the other fish and we
had some fish nuggets left over for tomorrows breakfast or lunch.
I had kept the barra head and put it in a crab pot under the
boat to try and catch some mud crabs, and when we got back to the boat, I pulled
it and the head was missing and half the crab pot had been chewed up by either
a shark or a crocodile. At this rate we are going to run out of crab pots before
we reach Darwin.
Bruce and Luke stayed for a couple of beers and we had a lot
of laughs telling story's of past adventures.
Track Sirocco’s
progress
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