30 NT NEWS. Thursday, November 8, 2012. www.ntnews.com.au PUB: NT NEWS DATE: 8-NOV-2012 PAGE: 30 COLOR: C M Y K 1109127 1 Gonzales Rd FRANCES BAY www.iomarine.com.au This Saturday 10 th November 8.30am - 2.00pm SUPER SATURDAY Sale!! FREE!! GREAT BOAT SHOW DEALS CONTINUED YMI COMPREHENSIVE INSURANCE on Every Package Sold ~ Trade Ins Welcome ~ 8924 0200 YMF FINANCE Available to approved applicants Fishing WHERE THEY’RE BITING REVIEWS TIPS with Alex Julius [email protected] Top tides favouring fishos THIS has been a great year for the best fishing tides to fall on weekends, and it’s happening again this weekend. Of course, some tides are better than others. Dry season on the Daly River is best fished for barra on neap tides due to water clarity; con- versely, the West Arm in Darwin Harbour is a better barra proposition during the build-up when fished on big- ger spring tides. As a rule, tides moving from the neaps to the springs will fish best at most locations. What may vary is the lower or higher side. This weekend’s tides coincide with beaut reports from both sides of Darwin. There are lots of big barra being caught throughout the Shoal Bay system. The best I heard of was a 107cm ripper from the mouth of King Creek. It was caught by Steve Lahtinen, who told me he saw a big splash near the mangroves so he cast out a Killalure 2Deadly and twitched a couple of times when, whammo, it was whacked by the big girl. Steve’s fish came at the top of the tide, a good time to fish King Creek mouth. Sunday’s low tide is defi- nitely the pick if you’re think- ing of targeting either the Rock in Shoal Bay or some of the holes up the Howard River and Tree Point Inlet. You’ll need to be reaching the Rock by sunrise, so that means a run across the bay in the dark using your GPS and a careful eye on the weather. With a low tide about 10am, by 1pm, when the tide begins to seep into the pools around the Rock, you should have tangled with a 90-plus barra or two. Sunday’s low tide is also the best bet for Darwin Harbour. It’ll be just 2m neat at 10.04am, which is OK, but a bit lower would be better. I’d be hitting your favourite harbour arm again around sunrise, working the flats out of the wind, as well as the drains as the tide drops. Expect a lull in any feeding activity by 9.30am, but the barra could become vo- racious as the tide surges in about 11am-noon. That’s the time to be work- ing any snake drains for mullet. Use small minnows and soft plastics — noodling with artificial prawns is good. For a shot at a big harbour barra, I’m reliably told some real silver torpedoes have been caught of late along the rocks between Woods Inlet and Mandorah, mainly with soft-plastic prawn imitations. Have a go also at the mouth of the Adelaide River and inside Saltwater Arm. If an early-morning start is not your idea of a fish on Sat- urday, an afternoon session near the mouth of Leeders Creek could pay dividends. High tide will be about 4pm in that part of the world, so fish from 2pm to 5pm and you should catch a couple of metres of barra total. Troll Classic 120s on the outside of the last big bend on the right going down. Apparently the Daly River is fishing quite well above the crossing. Cagey anglers are sneaking across at night and walking up the far bank to fish a nice hole there. Double- figure catches of quality barra seem to be the norm. Nice mangrove jacks have been caught of late in Two Fella Creek, halfway between Mandorah and Charles Point. Land-based anglers have some good options. The incoming tide at Rapid Creek has been going well with blue salmon. East Point yielded some barra on lures, most likely at the end of Hiro’s line. Shady Camp freshwater is still fishing well — for good barra too — but I don’t think that will last. The Primary Industry and Fisheries Department has up- dated the Fisheries website with some new information on reef fish stocks around Darwin and levels of fishing pressure. Check it out at www.nt.gov.au/d/Fisheries /Content/File/research/ coastal—reef—fish.pdf It’s threadfin salmon time, particularly if youre a female angler. Lynn Mills with an estuary ripper Viv Lavender also nailed a big threadie last week