Sat, 21st May, 2022 Shady Camp, Mary River National Park, NT

The morning is cool, 22 degrees, till the sun starts to rise.

Steve went fishing while I wrote my blog up. Rob and his family came back and said they had caught and lost lots of little barra and that Steve had just caught one. Rob caught a keeper last night but was out there till 3am so not much return for all that flicking. 

I grabbed my rod and went down to join Steve. He was on the other side of the barrage and was just unhooking a small barra but didn’t see me so I could take a photo.

I carefully walked across the concrete barrage and we had fun flicking our single hook soft plastic lure and caught lots little barras. They put up a good fight and of course we missed a lot too or they got off just near the bank. Nice breeze out here and no mozzies though I had sprayed myself well. Took a few photos of a couple of our catches. Steve’s happy now he has caught an NT barra but a legal sized one would be great too.

The tide is started to rise on the saltwater side so the boats are being launched.

I headed back to camp for a cuppa etc while Steve continued casting into the saltwater side. Lots of rocks to get caught on that side but that is probably where the big barra area. Hot in the camper, 32 degrees at 10.30am. No breeze here just the squawking birds.

Back to the barrage as the water keeps rising. Steve lost his lure on the rocks on the saltwater side.

Caught more little barra - some are so small!

Steve trying out his gecko lure - not too successful! The water is nearly level now so I headed back to the other side.

Thousands of little crabs (another lady said they were) are working their way around the edge of the water.

Steve is still hoping for that big one so he stayed on the other side.

As the murky saltwater rose the mullet (and I spotted a couple of little barra) worked their way up the ‘fish ladder’ and then darted across the concrete barrage into the freshwater. It was amazing to watch. I could see them easily with my sunglasses but they didn’t come out with the camera. It is interesting that they wanted to rush up and over when if they waited a bit the saltwater flows into the fresh and they can just swim over rather than against the strong freshwater still flowing over the barrage.

Didn’t hook any fish as the saltwater made its way across. It was eerie when all the sound went from the rushing water and it just flattened out. We went back for late lunch.

Steve took a photo of my eye which isn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

3pm (36.2 degrees but there is a nice breeze) had a cuppa then we headed back to the barrage. The saltwater has gone over and it is all murky now.

We watched this bird on a rock before and it sits as still as then darts forward for a fish. He walks along so slow and exact to sneak up on its prey.

The pop-eyed mullet are funny to watch. They fight to be the one on the inside then they went around in a circle like they were doing synchronized swimming.

No action while it was murky so we went back to camp for a bit.

The water has dropped but still murky on the edges so we went back over to our spot. There was a family here and a young lad hooked a nice 58cm barra on the saltwater side. He was very happy but not so when he lost the next one as the tide started to drop the rocks then become a problem.

I hooked one that we thought might be legal so got a quick photo with Steve then we walked over to the table to measure it. Our mark on our rods is for Qld barra and they have to be 58cm whereas in NT it is still only 55cm.

It made the grade at 56cm so we have barra for dinner. Time for a photo before Steve filleted it.

I kept luring on this side till Steve returned. We got a few more little barra. I ended up losing two lures that got hooked up on a line in the water and Steve lost another one so we called it quits. No crocs around today.

As we walked back a young chap approached and said ‘hello Geckos’. It was Josh who we met in Mataranka with his mate and they were doing You-Tube videos of the wildlife. He had to go back to Qld for a job getting snakes out of a mine site so now he is back ready to head across to Broome where his mate is waiting for him. He was taking his boat out tonight to try and film some crocs. I told him of the photos I took of the one yesterday having a feed on the bank.

We went back for drinks then Steve went for another walk. I cleaned up the fish fillets - will have them for dinner tomorrow. There is a filleting table in the car park with very smelly bins which is where Steve put the fish carcass. I wandered down just at the sun was ready to set and it was a big red ball. I had to run back and get the camera and managed to get a couple of photos. 

The tide is right out so the Mary River is just a narrow gutter now. A Jabiru was working its way along the muddy bank on the other side and there were lots of other egrets etc having a nice feed.

The young kids are back with their dads having fun climbing over the rocks finding all the lost lures.

We chatted with one of the Mum’s. Her son was the one that caught the barra and he was the last to catch one on this trip so he was very happy.

The mozzies started moving in so we headed back to camp. The little black bugs moved in as soon as we put a light on so I quickly cooked dinner then we put on the TV to keep the bugs away from us. I had put a light in the step at the back last night and a lot went there so it was easy to sweep them out. The rest are stuck to the edges of the pop-top so will have a big clean-up when we get back to Darwin.