Kakadu dreams. Saratoga madness. pt 2

The more I explored the river the more potential started to show itself and good Saratoga like this one started regularly hitting the lures! Sometimes on every cast a fish would break the surface and try its hardest to chomp the lure. A step up to the rubber frog meant only the bigger fish would have a chance to get hooked..oh and crocodiles! After a while I discovered that often a few casts would be needed to draw the fish from their snaggy retreats. In one particular spot after maybe ten retrieves a crocodile suddenly appeared on the surface, in the path of froggy! I of course found this interesting and continued to wind the lure towards me...and as the lure passed by..SLAM the crocodile tried his best to nail it. In a spray of white water I jerked the rod and the scum frog flew to freedom! I'd already lost one lure to a reptilian friend and wasn't quite ready to part with the frog! He still had some work to do..

One of the better Barramundi that took a liking to the little surface lure. It seems the Baby Torpedo is just perfect for fish of this size to engulf easily!

After a few days of testing some different lures on the river I became convinced that an inline spinner would be absolutely devastating. I had tried to buy a spinner in the shops in Darwin but no one seemed to stock them - the closest I came was a spinner bait. So around siesta time when fishing was low and it was too hot to be poking around in the bush I set about building a spinner. A little length of 100lb wire leader, a spinner bait blade, a few crimps and hey presto a lovely spinner was ready for testing in the shallows! First cast and this lovely Saratoga was all over the spinner along with three of his mates.

Next cast and this feisty little Sooty Grunter had a go. Next two casts and two Barra took the spinner! not bad for a quick DIY lure. Further testing would follow later in the day!

As the sun began to sink towards the western horizon over the big paper bark swamp I made my way from camp downstream to the deeper darker water armed with my new spinner. First cast into the deep water and immediately a bow appeared heading in the direction of the little lure. After a solid hit this beautiful Saratoga erupted through the water's surface and cartwheeled through the air. Somehow the little hooks I had chosen for the spinner didn't bend and also held in the fish's hard toothy jaw, and after a few minutes of battle my prize and dream lay on the bank. Not bad for a makeshift lure.

Colours of the Saratoga

Another good Archer Fish nails the torpedo

And a big Sooty Grunter decided to venture from his hideout in a clear pool to check out the surface commotion...Big mistake!

A deeper pool on the river - home to a good shoal of Barramundi and big Mullet

A good chunky Barramundi that also couldn't resist the temptation to have a go at the surface lure. I will remember the sound of the take for a while..no gentle sipping from this fish. Just an all out engulfing munch.

Another game little Barra from a clear pool under the paper bark trees. The thick, rich but subtle smell of the paper bark flowers drifted down the river everyday and intensified as the day cooled towards the evening. I began to understand why come night time the bats were excited. The sweet smell must have been driving them wild all day. Come night time they were desperate for the honey.

The design of the Barramundi....very well suited to sucking frogs and beasties from the water's surface. Sometimes at night the volume of some'boofs' was incredible. I think even a mouse would be a target if he made the unwise decision to swim the river.

A Barramundi's eye is large and very sensitive. Even on the darkest of nights potential Barra snacks won't be safe. The Barra will see and sense with very little difficulty

Saratoga have evolved as surface feeding machines. A huge mouth and small sharp teeth mean few frogs will escape. Usually with these fish they eat first and ask questions later. On quite a few occasions they had eaten my lure before I had even shut the bail arm! Now that's pretty keen..maybe verging on being greedy!