Fishing in Arnhem Land
Black Magic Brand Ambassador Leigh Holtsbaum was invited on a once-in-a-lifetime fishing adventure to Arnhem Land in Australia’s Northern Territory. This unique, beautiful part of Australia offers an incredible fishery, along the Cato River.
The plan was to fish the many rocky outcrops, headlands and man-made wharf structures around Melville Bay, Gove for a couple of days, before venturing into Arnhem Land to fish the Cato River in search of the iconic barramundi.
Unfortunately, the weather gods did everything they could to stop us fishing, with a constant 25knot southeast wind and the coldest days in Gove’s recorded history. Whilst this wasn’t great it didn’t dampen the spirits, although it did make the fishing tough and tested my skills to the limit.
GEAR SET UP
I had three medium spin outfits rigged and ready for action. Two [Black Magic] Gladius® SW Spin rods with 5000 sized reels, spooled with 20lb braid for fishing vibes and soft plastic lures. And a [Black Magic] 5’8″ Light Jigging 173-2 rod with a 5000 sized reel spooled with 30lb braid for vertical slow pitch jigging.
Fishing the wharves, rocky outcrops and close inshore reefs at depths of 10-15m provided some protection from the persistent wind. Around these structures, I used a mixture of soft vibes on the Gladius® SW Spin and slow pitch jigs on the Light Jigging rod.
In this environment, I needed to use abrasion resistant leaders, so I set myself up with [Black Magic] 60lb Tough Trace for the vibes and 100lb Tough Trace for the jigs.
THE FISHING
While the fishing wasn’t on fire, I managed to entice plenty of fish to bite and had a fantastic time catching Queenfish, coral trout, saddletail and golden snapper, and mangrove jacks plus various trevally, cod and mackerel species. I did get reefed a couple of times and sharks claimed their fair share of victims but that’s all part and parcel of fishing in north Australian waters.
It was then time to travel on the corrugated outback roads and head to the Cato River. I can’t explain the beauty of the place and the entirely different change in landscape between high and low tides with a 4-5m change in river height. The number of crocodiles was also incredible and every 100m you would see them sunning out on the banks.
Fishing the drains and feeder creeks with topwater lures and soft plastics I caught plenty of barramundi including a couple of nice sized fish that were sight casted along the drain edges with soft plastics.
In this environment, the Gladius® SW Spin rods came into their own as I was able to cast lightly weighted soft plastic lures with accuracy to the fish that were spotted.
Barramundi have very sharp gill plates and rough mouths that make quick work of light and inadequate leaders. Luckily I was fishing with 60lb Tough Trace without failure. Blue salmon, treadfin salmon and Queenfish were also encountered in the same areas adding some flavour to the mix of species.
Fishing has taken me to some truly amazing places but Arnhem Land is nothing short of breathtaking, it was a truly memorable experience that will be hard to beat. Catching some great fish was just a bonus.
