▲TopDarwin's Barra Base

Where do I start? What a hectic few months it has been. I’ve spent that much time in the boat drinking coke and eating mini mars bars I’ve put on 15 kg’s. If I was a fish I’d be the catch of a lifetime. Now I’m that sick of being in my boat I went and ordered a new one.

As for the fishing, it has been a blinder. The late wet provided the best fishing for years. As word spread of the rain’s fishermen flooded in to the Top End and our phone rang hot. As a result I was stuck at Dundee for months; I even had the Spooled boy’s drop in for a few days.

Our best Barra fishing happened during the months of May and June with cricket score numbers each day. There weren’t a lot of big fish but clients were kept busy with 50 plus fish a day. The most successful lures we used were Classic Barra's 120s in a variety of colours.

Along with great Barra fishing, the Queenfish and Mackerel came in, in great numbers providing variety for our clients. Then followed more recently by good sized Jewfish. I will let some photos do the talking.

Lately the wind‘s have howled in, (which they do every August), and made the fishing hard. The fish are still there for the catching but travelling to get to them is tough going. Last week I fished my last two days until our new baby and our new boat arrives. I think the baby better get here first or you-know-who will be you-know-where and this will make him as popular as a fart in a V.W.

Back to the fishing, last week I had two guys from the US of A. They caught about twenty Queenfish, (15 to 25 pounds,) some G.T.’s, on 'al-cheepo' Producer Lures in red and white, and then they wanted to go catch sharks. Not my idea of fun, but out we went, with Queenfish as bait. In no time at all we had a big school of sharks at the back of the boat. We caught about thirty sharks and they loved it.

The day after I had a young couple from Hawthorn in Victoria. We started back on the Queenfish, after catching a heap of them we went looking for Jewies and Snapper. They got a great Jewie, 34 pounds, using Queenfish as bait and a few Snapper. The wind picked up in the afternoon and almost blew us off the water.

I now have a month out of the boat so I can catch up on some maintenance and hopefully lose the weight I’ve gained.

Geoff Corry Barra Base (www.barrabase.com)