Fishing Adventures – A man and his boat

Fishing Adventures – A man and his boat

One of the major draw cards besides beautiful water holes, camping and sunsets to die for is the fishing. A long term passion of mine. For anyone that knows me will know I love fishing in even the most treacherous of weather. Here in the Tiwi islands, fishing has been a culturally significant event for many years as the Tiwi people rely on fish, turtles and Dugongs for food. Turtles and Dugongs are still caught around the islands and eaten as traditional meals. This is something I have yet to witness. As a non-Tiwi person I am unsure how I would feel witnessing the capture and eating of a turtle or dugong.

On to the fishing…. It has been a love-hate relationship so far. I came prepared with what I thought was enough gear to catch fish. I was wrong. Very wrong. I quickly found out that I was lacking the required fishing gear, knowledge and ways to fish. So my first trip into Darwin saw my first Baitcaster ready to catch Barramundi purchased along with line, hooks, sinkers and a few more supplies.






The local Tiwi people fish off the local “beach” which is about 200 metres from my front door. I have seen Barramundi, Threadfin Salmon, Catfish and sharks caught off the beach on handlines. I have spent a few times down at the beach with my rods and tackle without any results what so ever. I have found out also from the locals that live bait is king in this run up to the dry season (which everyone is waiting in earnest for).

Boat based fishing has been the most frustrating as it is something I haven’t been able to do a lot of and with so much water and creeks available, picking the correct one at the right tide can be a tricky exercise. Thankfully when I first arrived, a fellow teacher Justin took me out and showed me some spots which we caught some local snapper and Bream which provided my first foray into fresh fish as a food source on the island. A previous attempt at fishing with Justin also highlighted the fickle nature of the weather on the Tiwi islands during the wet season. No sooner had we gotten to our destined troll run that we had to turn around and drive through a major rain storm back to the island (thankfully GPS is also king up here…something I’ll mention more on later)

Being out in his boat only twice stirred the internal yearning for my own vessel. So the search was on and after an unsuccessful trip to Darwin, a boat was purchased and shipped across to the island. A 4.2m Bluefin “Mangrove Jack” side console aluminium boat with a 50hp Evinrude E-Tech on the back made its way into my carport. A test run saw some little tweaks and improvements noted (some of which have already been improved on). I have decided since the boat didn’t carry an actual name that I would bestow upon it the name of “Queenie”. A name befitting a sought after fish species and also how I feel about my boat (a man has got to love his boat I feel)


Since then two fishing trips have taken place and I have managed to catch nothing on the first then managed my first Trevally on the baitcaster and a $2.50 Chinese vibe lure. I have yet to purchase a better sounder as the one I have does not have GPS/Chart plotting function which is essential on the island to navigate many rock bars, reefs and mud flats that can be the undoing of a novice boat captain such as myself. So the current trip to Darwin will see the purchase of a new unit to take back for the Easter weekend of fishing.


Land based fishing has been much kinder to me so far at Tartipi Beach which is becoming a favourite spot to wet a line and catch some fish. A promising inlet which houses baitfish and the occasional Crocodile provides a drive up spot to catch a range of fish. My first trip there resulted in landing my first ever Queen fish (a fish impoartant 



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