Ray R

Cheers Donna and Stewy, and to you as well, enjoy.....

Hi Raiders, just wanted to add my 2 bobs worth. What a fantastic adventure, Scratchies post covered all the details perfectly. Absolute fishing madness, exhausted from pulling in great fish anywhere from 180meters up to only 25 meters deep. Anyway just a few more pics here for you to check out...

Wow mate what a great post, it was everything I said it would be and a bit more don't ya reckon... The crew I put together worked out great as well, the way the group got on with each other was just great, lots of first time meetings and it turned out to be a top gang of blokes. The skipper Alister and deckie Dan were fantastic, very professional and fun to be with, plenty of good food as well. All up a top shelf trip so many fish of various shapes and sizes. When you plan something and talk it up you really want it to turn out right, well this far exceeded all expectations..

wooohoooo here we go, Ive not met you yet Jeff but I'm sure you'll fit in with my crew just fine. Time to get our arms stretched...

Ditto all the above, you certainly gave me more than a few great tips and loved all those mega flathead poses.. Cheers Mate..... (the old one)

Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, March, during 'the dark' of the monthly moon cycle, waining crescent to waxing crescent..

The top one I think is a Scalyfin.. I'll work on number 2...

congrats chaps, well done.... Nice head bump...

Mate I spoke to someone involved in this matter and it appears that it may have been a trawler of some sort, maybe indicating that there are nets in the area.

hahaha great thread, pohas and tom thumbs my fav, lighting a whole row of tom thumbs under my eldest sisters chair, the reaction was gold, I'm glad I was a faster runner than her..

woohooo, mate nice solid reddies, good work....

Good onya Jeff, enjoy your new surroundings it looks great..

Thank you guys for the congrats, so glad we got a good result for Steve as he has put up with Hutcho and I for a few years now..

Hi Raiders, well this was our best year so far, the Daly River (200k's south of Darwin) was playing hard ball though, heaps of tiny barra with the odd big one.. The comp is a great event and this year our team finished 2nd overall and 1st mixed state team. Points were hard to come by as only barra over 40cms score. Our team Steve Compain, Mark Hutchings and Ray Rendall (me). 61 teams compete making a total of 183 anglers from all over the country. We were stoked with our results and amazed at the catch that Mark had on the first day of the comp. We had flogged the snags for a couple of hours then decided to have a troll with the incoming tide. We got a few bumps so it was looking good for a capture and then Hutcho got smashed, an almighty whack, smash, turn, run and then for a brief second nothing, he was coming towards the boat, Hutcho reeling in the slack like a madman, reel faster hutch was the call, around the skeeter he ran, Steve grabs the net and I gather loose rods and man the controls. Ray go back, turn starboard, forward port, back , back, total mayhem but always in control of this fish. Then we see a monster tail, somewhere during the hit and first burst the barra had somehow spat the lure and hooked itself through the tail. So we now have a monster barra in an almost impossible netting position, it would rise then go down Huctho doing his best to hold on. Steve then says to slowly forward the boat, Hutcho to wind up as much as he could and we kind of slid him up on his side, this gave Steve a shallow enough angle to slip the net under his head and we had him. This all took place over about a 15-16 min period, what a sight and what a capture Hutcho has a 119cm barra. We took our photos on the official measuring board then I grabbed a couple for ourselves. This was a real beast and was not bettered for the 5 days of the comp. Hutcho was awarded and the end with the biggest barra for the tournament prize. There are not many barra pics so my apologies but I can assure that it is hectic on the boat during the comp and not much time for mucking around with cameras. Anyway that's it for now, we had a blast as this is a great event and our best ever result. Hutcho, Biggest Barra and 2nd overall, Steve and I were well down the list. Our team was 2nd overall. First place for the mixed state prize. Hope you like my few pics of the event and the big one... Hutcho's Mutant The recovery Our little 90kph Skeeter

G'day Raiders, off to the Barra Nationals 2014 with my mate Hutcho. Meet up with my bro-in-law Steve Compain and this is our team of 3. Great comp with a heap of anglers and support staff, will be taking heaps of pics so there will be plenty to look at when we return. 60 or so boats up and down the Daly, a great sight especially from the chopper shots. Away we go now !!!...

ALL THE BEST YOUNG FELLA....

very quiet at the moment, I've had a few looks lately but the swell has made it all tooo dangerous for me. I might try again tomorrow arvo for some blackies, horsies have nearly all gone and only the occasional king coming in. Still a bit sketchy though with this sse swell...

Hi all, big seas today and tomorrow, give rock fishing a big miss, don't want more bad stats about our sport.. Mods, you may want to move this but I thought I would put it up on the most looked at topic..

good stuff Geoff, sounds like a great time apart from the last day..

all trips to Darwin in October have been cancelled...

Nice variety of fish mate, certainly is plenty to catch up there in Darwin..

J.W.H...

WOW !!!, what a bloody monster, congrats mate...

Love to come to this one as I came along to the last one but I'll be up on the Daly river competing in the Barra Nationals. Hope you all enjoy they day..

nah let them sink a few seconds, 1/2 ounce jighead 3/0 to 5/0 , then a medium paced jerky retrieve, you'll get smashed....