The second leg of out Northern Territory adventure consisted of travelling to Dundee Beach to stay and fish with Angler's Choice. An excellent operation if I have ever seen one.
http://www.anglerschoice.com.au/
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| beers on the balcony after a great day of fishing |
The host of the fishing lodge, Emma, was extremely friendly and accommodating, it felt more like we were staying with extended family than a commercial operation. I am confident that anything else we needed Emma would have thought of and taken care of well before we could have asked for it. She is an excellent cook to boot and served up some amazing meals with our fresh catches.
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| There's nothing like eating yourself sick on fresh mud crabs |
The guides at the operation, Mick and Matt were also amazing. Unlike some charters I have been on where the operators seem to be annoyed that you are on their boat, Mick and Matt were welcoming and infinitely patient.
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| $25 to have your boat launched by the tractor off the beach, $100 to have your vehicle pulled out if you tried yourself |
They also seemed genuinely excited when someone got a fish on, scrambling for your camera and narrating video as you reeled in. We cannot speak highly enough of their operation so I will simply move on to the fishing.
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| like a pro |
Day 1: We spent day 1 trolling bommies and reefs searching for the aforementioned GTs. After about 30 minutes of this, the very first fish that hits the missus' line is......A GT!!! It was actually a triple hookup. She was the only one who landed one however, with the other 2 busting us off.
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| The whole reason Amy wanted to go on the trip was to catch a GT - first fish on! |
Had a couple other hits that day, managed to pull in a golden trevally, several Queenfish, a massive barracuda, spotted some more GT's and sight casted at them, and at one point we tied a rope through a snapped carcass and played tug-o-war with a 7 foot bronze whaler just for kicks.
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| look at the size of that fish! |
Day 2: In the morning we had an amazing run of 11 massive black jews in about 3 hours. The one in the pic above was average sized. They just kept coming.
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| hard at work waiting for the next bite |
Once the tides changed and they went off the bite we went chasing golden snapper and caught about 10 of them. Emma hooked us up with some delicious sashimi as our pre-dinner snack.
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| This is what victory looks like |
The other boat we were with managed to catch (and release) a 7 foot hammerhead as we watched from about 50 meters away. A hell of a fight.
On the way back to the lodge that evening Emma drove us by the magnetic termite mounds. They are very thin and all face in the same direction, apparently for ventilation from the heat and forest fires.
In Litchfield we'd seen some of these from a fenced off area, but it was cool to be able to walk around them off the beaten path in Dundee.
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| barramundi |
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| croc out for a bit of sunshine |
Day 3: Mich took us estuary fishing for barra and mud crabs. We had, according to him, a below average day and still caught 6 keepers and 12 crabs.
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| this one we called "dinner" |
Over the course of the day we saw several crocs and lots of birds, it was a cool contrast from the sportfishing of the earlier days.
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| this guy chased us around the boat while the captain laughed and laughed at us |
Emma cooked up the crabs from day 3 and jewies from day 2 into one of the best meals I can remember eating. I sat down with a fresh beer, stuffed my face as fast as I could and when done eating looked up at a now warm, slightly less fresh beer.
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| sunset from the balcony - goes best with a beer |
I hadn't even considered looking up or pausing eating to drink, even with the sunsetting outside.
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| fish on! |
Day 4: We had planned to go way out wide to chase spaniards for day for but the wind had picked up overnight and the plan had to be squashed. We ended up targeting sand bars and bays in the morning for queenies, managed to land a few.
Late morning the wind dropped so we went back out to the reefs and bommies to chase GTs again. I had a barra rod this day and managed to hook 2 GT's on this light tackle. What a ride!!! Ended up with one busting me off on the bottom after about 5 minutes. I got the other one to the boat around the same time as a bronze whaler showing up. Both fish dove and after a few seconds of the reel screaming....ping! Shark bait.
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| spanish mackeral |
Ended the day with another good run on the troll which ended up being a spaniard! Sashimied him up at the boat ramp for an awesome treat.
We ended up flying home with 15K of fish in an esky, a mix of barra, snapper, jewie, and spaniard. We had to empty the freezer when we got home to fit all of the fish in!
It was an awesome trip, probably the best fishing I will ever do. A large part of this was due to the team and Angler's Choice, thanks again to them.
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