Many months ago I was fortunate enough to hear an "Old Timer" speaking of his exploits around the Wildman River area. Being a keen fisherman and having no experience chasing the elusive Barramundi, I decided to glean as much as I could by priming him with a few cold ones. He indicated that it required some hard work, many beers and a great sense of humour. After convincing him that I had all these attributes, he proceeded to detail the whereabouts of Barramundi big enough to swamp a boat, (beers have an affect like this, when telling fishing stories).

For months after being told the story, I tried in vain to get some other poor bugger to come along into the Crocodile infested country, to my surprise my old mate Budgie (Andrew Poulsen) decided to take me up on the offer, (beers have this affect too). The date was set Saturday the 07 Oct, start at 0400 in the morning.

We left Darwin in the wee early hours of Saturday morning with our hopes and spirits high. Light rain falling had not dampened our enthusiasm at all, we travelled east of Darwin heading towards Kakadu. Travelling without a hitch, until taken by surprise by a wayward Wallaby wanting a closer inspection of Budgies spotlights. Now travelling with one spotlight less, we arrived at the billabong system around 0700 in the morning, inside the Kakadu National Park.

After lightening the vehicle of the gear and boat we headed along the first of many billabongs. As the story goes from the "Old Timer", we were to travel as far as we could along the first billabong, until the Pandanus grew too thick to proceed any further. At this point we were to remove the boat with all the gear and cart it a distance, reload and enter the next billabong. It may all sound relatively easy, until put into practise was another thing. Having done this arduous chore and with heart rates racing from exertion and the ever present threat of being Crocodile munchies, we proceeded half way down the next billabong. It was at this point that "Old Timers" instruction became a little hazy. Supposedly there was a sandy bank on which to land, however this never appeared. Perhaps the 5 to 6 years since his last trip, the wet season rains had washed it away, so we decided to land the boat wherever we could and start looking for the lost billabong. After searching for almost an hour we stumbled upon a billabong matching his description, but the distances had varied, instead of moving the boat 50 metres into the billabong, it would have to be moved 500 metres. Assessing that this would be impossible for two fit fellas, we decided to progress up the chain of billabongs.

Finally we arrived at what appeared to us, as an idyllic billabong. Small fry were milling in the centre, Pandanus and snags over hung the banks and the ominous Boof Boof of feeding Barra could be seen and heard. Knowing that time had been wasted, fruitlessly searching for the lost billabong, we proceeded to the upper reaches of this particular billabong, tossed in the lures and made our initial run.
Within a matter of a minute Budgie had hooked and lost a huge Barra. It smashed his lure like there was no tomorrow, rising a full metre out of the water, thrashing wildly, giving us both the view of a Barra in excess of 10 kg. With a shake of its head, our excitement turned sour as the lure came shooting back towards the boat. With newfound energy we continued on, we were like expectant shags sitting on a rock, waiting for the next fish. Within seconds of this initial loss, Budgie was on again, this time keeping the pressure on, he landed a nice Barra at around the 75 cm mark. It's at this stage I will hasten to mention that this was the start of many hookups, consisting of anything but fish for myself. Time after time my lure simply found snags hidden beneath the murky waters. Over the next hour I hooked up over a dozen times, whilst Budgie landed another couple of smaller Barramundi. Disdain must have been written all over my face, as lure after lure was changed for shallower running lures that simply found Terra Firma Australis. Budgie at this point offered to lend me one of his, just on the off chance that it might keep me busy so that he could troll a lure a distance greater than 10 metres.

Now with my fishing prowess in question I changed to yet another shallow running lure, pivoted in the middle and rattling louder than a babies toy. Tying this off to a 6 kg leader attached to 2 kg line, gave Budgie the chance to land yet another small Barramundi. With high hopes I dropped the lure into the wash of the boat, as we circled for another run up the billabong. Within seconds the lure was hit, trying to contain my excitement I stood up and set the hooks, the fish stayed low and moved towards the snags at a slow but steady rate. A lesson was about to happen, when there are large fish about, never believe that you can stop them on 2 kg line before they reach snags. Within a minute, what was unbridled excitement again turned sour. Busted off and loosing a lure is bad enough but not knowing what took it was a bitter pill to swallow.

Learning my lesson, I changed to a 8 kg outfit, grabbed a lure of similar appearance, tying it off well, set about to try and catch my first Barra for the day. At this stage Budgie had maintained his composure and had steadily racked up a good quantity of fish. Things had to change and they did.

Whilst turning around in our now favourite area of the billabong, my line suddenly took flight and the most magnificent Barra that I had seen was franticly trying to dislodge my lure. Keeping the pressure on and holding my breath the fish moved towards the boat and with the deft hand of an experienced fisherman, Budgie landed my first Barra of the day. A fish around the 65 cm mark gave me a great sense of relief and satisfaction.

The day was wearing on and the fish had gone off the boil for a while, Budgie hooked up and landed another fish over the 75 cm mark and I had managed a nice Saratoga at about the 50 cm mark. Towards late afternoon, the fish began attacking the lures again. Budgie hooked another horse of a Barra, fishing with 10 kg line, the fish peeled line off at a great rate of knots. Firstly heading down, turning and racing straight towards the ugliest set of snags on the water. To budgie's credit he maintained his composure as the fish leapt, tangled then freed itself from the snags, to inevitably raise again and dislodge his lure in its epic fight for freedom. Unperturbed we continued on to one of the most bizarre happenings of the trip.

As we continued towards the bottom of the billabong, Budgie spied a large bow wave of an animal cruising just below the surface. I spun around expectant at any moment to sight the sulking eyes and snout of one of the Northern Territories famous swamp lizards. We watch the bow wave disappear, then the most amazing thing occurred. No more than three feet off the side of the boat a large Barramundi appeared tail dancing, shaking its head and wildly trying to dislodge the lure I had earlier lost to it in the snags. It's hard enough telling the stories of the one that got away, but to see this unscrupulous Barra presenting my costly lure like a prized trophy, is the fish getting one back on the fisherman. As the Barra headed back into the dark depths of the billabong, I noticed the raucous laugher coming from the other end of the boat. Budgie managed to spit out some words of consolation, praising the size of the fish, with a small jibe questioned what size line I had lost it on. The author need not mention what he said in reply.

After capturing a few more fish between us, it was time to face the arduous distance between us and our chariot home. During the next hour or so we raced daylight to get back through the billabongs and natural barrages. After what seemed like an eternity we finally got back, sweating and cursing out trip by road home. We had a quick beer, loaded up and headed west for Darwin.

In reflection of just one days events, fighting fish in the pristine water of one of the Northern Territories billabongs, fighting heat, flies, crocodiles and the forever present lure-stealing Barramundi, would I do this trip again! Three words sum up my feelings, "in a heartbeat". Good luck to all fishing next dry season, look for Budgie and Wayne when you next venture East into Wild Man Country.

Note:
Wayne is currently posted to Joint Logistic Unit - North and is the Club Secretary for 2000