By the Douglas River

On the Douglas River
14 15 16 September

My (John's) brother, Peter gave us the location of a camping spot on the Douglas River. The main point of this camp was to catch barramundi and he had also supplied a rod and reel, bait traps, cast net, lures, landing net. Everything needed to catch barramundi, but more importantly he gave us the exact spots to fish and how to get there. We followed a bumpy but well-worn track infested with Agile wallabies down to the river where we found one camp there already but noone about.

From Douglas River

Around evening, they returned in a tinny - a friendly couple who knew Peter, also out chasing barra on the Daly River.

Next day we followed Peter's directions to the special river section, Bro, Fabian and I all toting spinning rigs while I carried vital supplies and the landing net. After a bit of walking and casting we glimpsed a few flashes of fish and Fabian caught a little grunter but no Barra. Then, I saw a good size Barra had followed my lure across the stream and was just near the tip of my rod. I gesticulated wildly to Fabian who threw a lure past the fish and started retrieving. The Barra obligingly chomped the lure as it wobbled past and Fabe has his first Barra hooked. After a short fight, it was on the bank, all 69cm of it. We had never caught anything like it in all our fishing.

From Douglas River

We tried for a bit longer, but in the end it seemed more important to get the fish cleaned and into the fridge. Next day, Bro and Fabian both landed nice sooty grunter, and John caught a barra which was way too small to keep. We had fish for dinner for 3 days.

Apart from fishing, the river was crocodile infested so we only swam in the rapids and the pools in the middle of the falls. Fabe and I stalked a little freshwater crocodile in the night until it left with a big splash.

New Birds – osprey, rainbow pitta, white bellied sea eagle, satin flycatcher, grey flycatcher