Fishing Boyno Harbour (top end)

[Gilly]

Hi! All. Went fishing yesterday in Boyno Harbour (south of Darwin Harbour) with a friend from SA. On the only day in the past several weeks it hasn't been blowing a gale! To get a few Black Jewfish was the plan. For bait we were using WA pillies, sguid and for the first time eating grade cuttle fish.

The tides were about mid for up here at 5 metres but the current where we were fishing was running at about 6 knots. I usually fish this area when the tides are neep which means there is about a 2.5 metre tide and a current flow of around 2 knots. The 'secret spot' we fish is over several small 2 to 3 metre rocky outcrops on the harbour floor. We fish in 20 to 25 metres of water and getting the anchor on the bottom in a suitable location to hold the boat over the bit of structure is quite a chore. Not to mention the fun in getting the bait placed onto or next to the structure is also challenging. If, or should I say when, the breeze comes up the boat relocates on the swing of the anchor rope and needless to say the possibility of catching fish vanishes. No structure = no fish!!
Was a great day out however most of the fish were located elsewhere!

Fish caught. We did manage to get one small jewie, about 60cm but because of the depth we were unable to release it, 3 Potato Cod ranging from 40 to 50cm, 1 small Golden Snapper about 35cm and a good number of OckOck. We kept three bigger ones around 25cm and released the remainder. They seem to be able to swim back down without any noticeable side affects. 1 Moon fish (released), 1 small red fish released also and one 1.1 metre black tip shark (released) which we caught on a live bait (small Spanish Flag) floated out on a baloon to attract a Spanish Mack. No Macks.

The cuttle fish went well and seemed a bit tougher for the sharp toothed reef fish to strip of the hooks, resulting in less rebaiting. Would use it again.

As the saying goes, a day on the water beats a day in the office everytime.

Cheers Gilly.

[Two Utes]

Thanks for that....Its still hard for me to comprehend how big the tides are up north.

[Gilly]

Hi! Joe. Yep on a bad day here they just reach 8 metres!! Twice a day!! Makes for some interesting problems getting anchors and bait to settle on the "sweet" spots!! The tackle shops have an interesting range of lead weights - the biggest sort of resemble a xxxx tinnie for size!!

Cheers - Gilly.

[Gilly]

Joe, I also forgot to mention I went up to Anchorage in Alaska in 2006 and saw some really big tides up there. They cause quite a wave up the inlets as they run back in. The wave they cause can be up to a metre high!!

Wat's a big tide up there I hear you ask?

Just a tad over 12 metres!!!

Gilly.