Nhulunbuy Blues

So far, I have been fishing twice in Nhulunbuy. People I have met all over the place, have been catching all kinds of fish, which gives me enough encouragement to keep trying.

The first time was with a bloke called Steve, who is travelling around Australia with his wife and one child, and they are camping at Daliwuy Bay. We went out in Steve’s boat, and caught a very small rock cod, several rocks/branches and a whole lot of sun.

Today, we decided to take the kids to Shady Beach near Yirrkala for a swim. This is one of the few beaches in the NT that you can swim in relative safety. Even the locals swim here! We kept a fairly close eye out for crocs anyway…….

While the kids were swimming, I decided to throw the line in, and see if anything happened. Nothing happened.

And then a whole lot more of nothing happening, happened some more.

These pictures are of David (whose house we have invaded) at Shady beach, and the view out the front of the beach, taken on my mobile phone.

Thus far I have been unable to secure a successful fishing trip in Nhulunbuy.

In stark contrast, on our last day in Maningrida, Lindsay (a local pastor from Jabiru) took me and the kids out in his little tinnie, to Entrance Island. We dragged a spoon Barra lure behind the boat on a 100lb handline. There were a small flock of birds flying around catching the bait fish swimming near the surface of the water, where many larger fish were chasing them. It was incredible to watch the water literally bubbling with fish, and spotting them as they flew past the boat. It was all very exciting!

And then the line went hard, I mean VERY hard. I pulled in a Longtail Tuna about 60cm long. It was excellent fun! “Let’s do that again” I said to Lindsay. We took off after the birds again and trolled through the crowd of fish. This time a 60cm Queenfish took the bait and dinner for that night was secured. As I pulled the fish in, the kids saw a large silver flash streak past the boat, and thought I was about to pull a shark into the boat with them. They freaked out! started screaming and crying. Once everything had calmed down and they realised that they were still safe, we had another go.

As we passed the fish for a third time and the lure was struck again, I said to Lindsay “I think its snagged.” This fish felt absolutely HUGE and fought all the way to the boat. When it finally came aboard, it was a 40cm Golden Trevally. Interesting that the smallest fish had the biggest fight. By now, I was getting tired, and my arms were getting sore (you are feeling sad and sorry for me, I know), but Lindsay said “come on, one more time.”

The strike on the lure was big, but then the line went a bit slack and I thought I had lost it. Turns out, the fish was swimming towards the boat, and suddenly we were on again! A very large Barracuda swam past the back of the boat, quite near the surface, and decided it was his lucky day after all. He spat the lure and swam off.

So we came home with three large fish for dinner, which were subsequently cleaned, filleted, cooked and eaten with the correct gratuities thrown in every direction.

Now, if I could only find a bloke with a boat and some know how in Nhulunbuy…….