Fly fishing Bynoe Harbour

For a lot of us Aussie fly fishing nuts, and I imagine for many overseas anglers, too, the idea of the big tropical saltwater fly fishing trip is a recurrent fever dream, one of those bucket list items that just has to be ticked off at least once. Darwin, the capital and major city of the northern territory has a lot to offer close by. And I'm up here with my mate, Starlow, to explore some of the many options with local guide Glenn Watt from Barefoot Fishing Safaris. It's not my first time fishing up here, but it feels like I've barely scratched the surface of what this area has to offer.

So join Starlow, Watty, and I, in the first of this series of videos, as we explore the massive Bynoe Harbour system, about an hour and a half drive to the west of Darwin. It's early morning on day one, and we're launching on one of the many creek arms of Bynoe. It's the beginning of September, and we're fishing the build up to the wet season, the monsoon that happens over the summer months up here. I'm glad Watty knows where he's going, because this huge body of water, several times the size of Sydney Harbour, is a maze of creek arms and channels, and I've quickly lost all sense of direction.

Did you see that mackerel? A background jumps in front of that point. It's arc was higher through the air than the top of those trees. Battle is big. Wow.

5 feet in the air. Oh, up there, save your arse, tree. busting up. Yep.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Save your ass free. I like it. Ho, ho, ho.

Here we go, Starlow. How many microseconds before we hook up here, do you think, Starlight? I reckon we might do alright. Yep.

There we go. I reckon that was less than one second. I heard about three or four. Takes some minutes to miss them all.

What have we got here? Little queenie on there. Yep. popped him.

All right. Oh, that's a bit better one. Yep. Oh.

Oh. There he is. That's a queen. Queenie. Little queenie.

Spiky little devils at this size. You really gotta handle 'em with care. These spikes here on the back, and these ones down in front of the anal fin. They'll slice your hands up pretty badly.

These little queenies and mackerel are just the warm up act, while we wait for the tide to drop to an appropriate level. But geez, they're a lot of fun. Oh, that's a better one. That was a nice seat.

Mmm. Oh, yeah. Oh, Queenie. Here you go.

Whoa. There he goes. Quick release. Ooh. Ooh.

No, it's what it's like. You mark right, Queen. Mm hmm. Here we go. Oh, you got a little mackerel.

Oh, yeah. It's a mixed school here. There's queenies, there's little mackerel, there's Trevalli. Yeah, there'll be traps in there.

That's right. For sure. Good fun. Yeah.

Fast and furious, isn't it? It is. Easy to take this stuff for granted when you're up here in the tropics, but you get back down home and you think, Oh, what I'd give to go out and catch a few little queenies.

A bit of a few queenies. Yep. They're just, they're such a great fish for a fly rod, aren't they? Oh, yeah.

They're just made for it. Yeah. And they're onto it. Oh, he's spitting out little bait.

Spitting out bait, yeah. The tide changes so fast up in these parts that opportunities come and go pretty quickly. After having a bit of fun with the queenies. We did a drift past the mangroves before heading off to our next destination.

Oh, ho. That's something to catch a jack. That won't be a jack. I was about to say, sometimes get Jackson. Two came out.

Let it sink a bit. Yep. It might not be a jack. Look like, it's certainly a... something different.

I'll be a Trevor. Don't think it's a Trevor. Huh. Uh, batfish. Do you say pool?

Good Batty tree, that one. That was two baddies that came out on it. Yeah. Oh, he's in hailed it.

Something different? They're strong little fighters. Yeah. Then they get big, they're hard to get him.

Not a common capture on the fly, is it, Starlow? No, I've caught a few. Yeah. They love hanging behind motherships and eating what comes out of the toilet.

on the old Is there a particular style of flyer that you tie for that? Yeah, brown one. On the tropic paradise.

We'd always wait until someone went in on a mission. Usually if they took the newspaper or the phone with them. We knew it was gonna be worthwhile staking out for the batfish. Yeah right.

You tie on the brown Klauser, and drift it back there. Free drift. Sometimes the brown Klauser with the white head just to give the sort of paper impression. That's quite a nice touch too.

A little bit of subtlety. Brown and yellow for a bit of corn. The corn, yeah. But look at the depth of the body of that fish.

You can see why they pull so hard. Neatly pinned. Off you go, mate. We caught one about this size of rubbish bin lit in Darwin Harbour one time.

He took a long time to get in, Nick. I know how old or big they get, but he must have been up there. With the tide starting to drop away, Watty had us moving on to the next spot and some new opportunities. Skip the snapper tree... We'll go straight to barra threadies.

Oh. All right. You did just change five. Mate?

I have to get good help, I tell you. It's gonna drop 700 mil in the next 45 minutes. Ooh, righto. We wanna be...

I'd rather it's beyond the bar of Freddy's and the snapper. This is... Ah, shit. This is sharp. This is what his little squid fly that he, um, told us to bring.

So. So keep an eye out on those dippy branches from these big, big apple mangroves. Yep. And then in the shrubs.

While it's still high, and then once it drops out, you'll find them moving between shady patches and drains. But they'll most likely be nose down, tail up. The barras, usually a yellow tail, just waving. Yep.

Waving beside the mangrove trees. You still see him? No, he was ghosting out to the right, wasn't he? Yeah.

Yeah. Were they definitely Barrow or Diamonds? It was one barrow. That was a barrier, yeah.

Yeah, so we just want to be mindful to only fish one person per fish, just so that we don't miss cast or spooking with the shadow of a line or something as they're parked up, they're resting. When they're not actively feeding, especially. Keep an eye out on these dippy branches as well. Yeah. See the odd one? Sitting underneath them, usually.

Yep, it's always a possibility. See if your golden's a long one, too, actually. No, it's not. Yes.

Just testing. The tidal range up north can be several metres from height to low, much more than I'm used to from Southern Australia. So it means the windows of opportunity are short, and you need to be in the right spot at the right time. That's where local knowledge is just so important up here.

There, there's one, peach. You go. Yeah, I see. You want to have a shot?

Oh, he was on your side of the centre line. That's right. That's crossing now. That's right. You got the right hand... That's actually not. Is the barrel?

That was a threadfin, I reckon. It's good fish. Big tail. Yeah, he's gone in under those leaves, hasn't he?

I just want to get another look at him. Sort of disappeared now. Oh. That's a shark.

Yeah, there's a shark. That wasn't what it was, that was in there. I wonder if it's worth chucking one up into the shade in there. Sure, throw one in.

Big queenie. Oh, bit queenie. Over here. Yep.

Fast. Now, do it again over the other side of the boat. Big one. Two late, aren't we?

Yeah, a bit late. It was a good one, was it? You didn't see one. It was a fly.

I didn't see him at all. It was one of those big old bull queenies. So, as the tide drops, they're gonna push out onto the outer sort of thing. You got no choice.

This whole area, for about 30 acres, you can see it here, where the current break is, they'll all be dry in about two hours. Yep. This hole, and that next one, is, that's the thready hole, ones, that drops out that little bit more.

They'll all come in here. Do you fish pretty much the same for the threads? Similar retrieve and... Yeah, same, is it? Barri, yeah, just nice and gentle.

Fish underneath the bow of the boat, going to the right. Two metres out from the bow. Okay. Okay.

You cast. Oh, what's that? That's him. Oh, he's over there.

Oh. That's a big... That a big queenie. Queenie. Massive, Queenie.

He's coming back this way. Is he? On the up there. Stay there.

stay there, stay there, stay there. Coming back around the outside? Yeah. It's got leaves growing, right?

Oh, no, that's big one back in there. That is a big fish, mate. Big fish. That's a sweet fish.

A bit short. No, I'm not. He's coming for it. That's the radio.

He is on it. Big 30. He's got another mate. Three of them there.

More up the back. Yeah, they come. Come on, Scotland. See these two going right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yep. Just gentle? Yeah.

Pick that up and go again. Just wait till I get past your line. Give them a metre. Yeah, that's it.

You had a look, that first one. Oh, he ate it. I felt one having a look. He was one after her, I think.

No, that's branch. There's one, there's two up the back there coming through. Yep. They're big fellas, too, aren't they?

They're big. Just a little bit slow sinking the supply for that depth. Oh, there's one come up out of the drain. Yeah, you'll see that. Here he comes.

Look at the big one coming in on the roller, I'm looking at it. Oh, did he eat that, then? Five of them. Just recast it.

Paul, get the fish on the lens here. Don't move too much, no Paul. Last moment. Oh, they don't like this.

Look at him, wonder. Okay, four, four. Four, six, seven of them. See him feel it, then?

Yep. You need to change flies. Absolutely. The first one ate it, I felt him.

Change of fly. That's a very clear rejection. Yeah, what do you think? Just put on one of those, one of my squids.

It's so hard when they're like that and you're getting pushed into them with the wind. Yeah. You can't hit the as soon as you hit the electric, they should himself. Yeah. Little squid fly, one of Watty's little squids.

Keep an eye out in those milky drains. They come in and out of them. Yep. Oh, down here in front.

What is that? Is that a shark? Yeah. That is a shark, isn't it?

The 3s look a lot like sharks. No, that's a big thread. Just catch him. No, he didn't like it.

Didn't want to borrow it, did he? No, he swam around it. I think he saw us. He was too close to start with.

Yeah, probably was a bit close. Here's a nice Bluey. You want a bluey behind you? Oh, yeah, he's got it.

You'll eat it. Well, there goes a nice barrel. Fucking hell, you're sitting in the zone. It's starting to happen.

There's a barrel perched up in the drain there. See him? How far up? Wait till you can see him.

Just in front of that mangrove. You know, heading towards, there's two of them. Come down the drain. Wait till you go...

near the bend? No, not yet. Oh, yeah. Two metres further.

Oh, I got him, I got him, I got him. He's got a mate behind him as well. Ooh. Saw the line in the air.

Wow. Spooky, aren't they? Oh, yeah. Two more coming out here? Good work out here.

Yeah, yeah. Three, four, five, six. Oh, man. So, see on the line, up here in the land.

Wow. They are nervous. I'm gonna have to... Yeah that's them. That's it.

Here he comes. Here he comes. Go, go, go, go. Oh, too slow.

You'll eat again. Hasn't seen it yet. Go. Oh, slow.

All right, come on. Just hold it for a sec. One way this way. Up towards the drain.

This thing got a point on it. There they go. Yeah, man, dead right. You reckon they've settled again?

Yeah, they ain't being too scared. They don't. That's the shock. Go.

Okay, this fresh one's coming down. There's one just to you. Two, three, just here. Just wait till they come out this time.

Oh. Okay. Oh, yeah. So I just carefully look to the left.

They're just going into this shade. I have a shot off the back, mate. Yeah. Where are they?

Oh, look at this one sitting in here. Three of them. Oh, there's one space in the other way, but there's... Yeah, may as well.

good, yeah. A couple more coming out of that drain. Is there waiting till the last minute today? Barrow everywhere.

Look at this one. Yeah, here he comes. Little move. Yeah. You look, you look, look at that.

I'm all coming straight at me here. I can't see him. He's got glare. Oh, yeah.

I spoke to him. Nice little fish, huh? A bit of barrow coming down. We're all coming through here.

It's just three, and a half branch. Ooh. Isn't it like that one? Yeah, he knows we're here. We're done.

Wow. Look at what about that one there? He's nice. He hasn't seen us yet.

He heard that, but, yeah, catch up to him. Well... Oh... Bad time. Still thinking about it. Lift it.

Okay. I don't know how you're supposed to hook them. One thing you can do when they're coming in close like that. is do the lift and jiggle.

Like if they get close, lift it up and get it doing that and they'll boof it off the top. Okay. We're about to get stuck here. We've had a few eats.

They all just kind of came out at the last minute, didn't they? Yeah. It's been in the mouth of five. A couple of them were just bad timing on the stripper. He ate it as you pulled it again, but a couple of them, they did try and eat it for you.

There's 2 heading your way, Peachy. just in the last bend of the drain, right? You got him? Yeah, I got him.

Yeah, we've just gone under those leaves. They're under those... Nice. Get it moving.

That's it. They're gonna wait. Slow down. Slow down.

Yeah. Oh, sorry, it turned up a bit. Oh. I ignored it.

Swam straight under it. You reckon we should change flies, Glenn? I reckon you should, yeah, that was a bit of a rejection. That was, wasn't it?

What would you put on? In the hatch underneath what you're standing on? Yep. There's a double sided box.

There are some pink ones. That's what's got pink with black eyes. Right. Probably more of a shrimp imitation, that one, really.

Yeah, little pink ones up there in there. Oh, yeah, up there? That's the one, yeah. Want me to play, Owen?

There. Come on. Big one. Lead him well. He might be a queenie.

Not gonna get down to 11, unfortunately. No. Oh, there he goes. Oh, it's a big fish.

It is a big fish. It's either a thread or a queenie. He was moving pretty quick, though, wasn't he? There's one.

Halfway. Just short. Yep, yes, just drop it there. I've lost him, but, yeah, gee, let's go, squeeze him.

There he is, there he is. Yep. Three of them. Five of them.

Not quite down at their level, they might not. Well, I think these wires need a little bit of weight. They're going in... Yeah.

That's better. Lead 'em. Think I spoot. I think I got this one.

What happened? I'm a fly trailing in the water. The morners. Oh, what do you want?

Probably a barrow. Okay. I think I'll get my fly out of the water, mate. Is he a good one?

Seems alright. That's one... That's one way to catch your mind. Oh, the best laid plans, eh? Ah, it's not a bear.

Doesn't look like it'd be a Travale or something. Yeah. What are you up to, then? I don't know.

Just playing around. Seems like it is. Oh, bugger. Did you get a look at him? Yeah, I think it was a golden curvale.

was a decent one. That's where the fly was when it got eaten. Yeah. And that pretty much summed up how our morning had gone.

We'd seen fish and had opportunities, but we just hadn't been able to make them stick. We're off now to fish some drains and see if we can turn things around this afternoon. You do see their tails and see them moving around and stuff in this, but you're sort of looking at colour changes and just activity points. Any little shrubs that are still on the water.

What's the dark patch down there? What? Oh, off the colour change. Yeah, it could be some bait. It's moving.

Maybe some goldens. But that would be a school of goldens, but could be. Might be 50 little barras. Probably most likely brim.

Yeah, right. Okay, have a shot now, mate. There's a shitload of them, whatever they are. Caddies?

No, they look like brim or something, actually. Bit of silver flash. Oh, they're on it. Yep.

I had one. It's a mega school of brim. There might be a golden underneath, I most, or a gold flash. They're biggies, too.

Yes, that lead one's a beauty. I want him. Yeah. I had one on for a second there.

Actually, it might be a barrier in a monction, too. I just saw a yellow tail. Yeah. Can you not catch one of those?

Look at that thing. That is not a brim. I guess it is. It's a good brim.

Even the brimmer hard. Yeah. What is coming agro, little fellas? There's a lot of...

I think they must be mullet, though. There's a nice thread. Yep. I see it.

Some mullet moving up behind. Slow down, slow down, slow down. But he made it. Let's go.

Oh, too sad. Look at him coming. Go. Oh, yeah.

Let him go. Let him go. Oh, yeah. Big ready. Nice, ready.

Here go. Yep. Keep some weight on it. About time.

Well done, mate. Oh, yeah, he's coming. Look at that. Have the right to handle, uh, 40?

Be away from hand, man. Looks out for the electric. Yep. Get him in the net before we talk about pink cooking.

We're gonna net him, are we? Taco? Okay. Oh, yeah.

I'm dead. If it's dead, it's dead. This is our dinner, mate, so don't lose it. Right, I don't want to put any pressure on you.

No, no pressure. No pressure at all. Well done. You're cool, you play more, too.

He tried to eat it the first time. Yeah, you cunningly pulled that out of his mouth, is now, yeah. I just wanted to tease him a bit more. Just wanted to make sure he was well and truly ready to eat.

Good job. Nice, ready. Nice. Well done, mate.

This one's called dinner, so you can grab him in the gills like that. All right, you go in behind me. They're not too spiky or anything. No, no spikes.

Very nice. Happy with that? That's a lovely thread. What would he be about? 65 ish.

Depends on whether you measure threadies to the fork or the tips, 'cause there's about a yard of difference. He's lovely. Yeah, yeah, not fish. Well done, mate.

He ate that little Watty's little pink shrimp there. Yeah, 4 times. Yeah, yeah. I just wanted to make sure.

It's a hard school here. Yep. So, the old jetty out the front of crab claw is really good? Yeah, okay. Thinking India rod came off...

Oh, shit. Mel did two. Good bloop is real coming up. Thank you, mate. It's alright.

Thought it might be a new technique you're working on. Yeah, it's just a finesse kind of thing that I do, mate. Well, you can always slide it down the line and spear them if you can't catch them on the fly. That's right.

Yes. It's hard to saw like an eagle when you're flapping around with turkeys. Fish on it? Yeah.

I think it's barra, might be. Ooh, small. Oh, that was a big jack. That might have been a jack, actually.

That was a big jack, man. Big one. Oh. Oh.

That's cute. That scared in you. I thought he was flashing on it. Something just came out later.

Couple of fish came out and ate that, actually. That's what you need to be fishing on these rocks. Oh. That's a brick.

A pack of attack for a pack of brim. Oh, ho, had a hit. Yep. Got him.

Oh. Drop to him. Now it's not big enough. Probably a brim. Probably another crab trying to root it, I reckon.

After the rock bar up the creek, we went out to explore a sand bar, with extensive flats and gutters, and nice clear water, to see if we could spot something cruising. This is good, because they shouldn't hear us. The sandbar will hide us from them. We just sneak along here.

and look from over the top of the sandbar. This is very Cape Yorkie. It's like out the front of the Jackson, isn't it? These breakthroughs is where we used to get the permit, a similar kind of setup today.

Yep. The sheer variety of fishing up here is amazing. But for today, the barrow had managed to elude us. The day is not over yet, though.

It's back now to our accommodation at beautiful Dundee Beach. I've stayed at Dundee on a previous trip, and it's a great place. Not only to stay, but also to go for a land based fish off the beach or the rocks. We check into our nice new air conditioned cabin at the Dundee Beach Holiday Park.

A quick shower before the other main event, dinner, and beers at the Dundee Beach Tavern. What he had organised for the chef to cook up our threadfin from today's fishing. I don't know if it had something to do with all of the effort that we put into catching it. But I reckon it was one of the best fresh fish meals that I've ever had.

Great fishing, good banter, with good mates. That's what it's all about, and tomorrow's a new day. We're out again to see if we can manage to pin one of those tricky barra that had managed to escape us today.