Perfect Weather for a Holiday, a Perfect Time to Fish

If there is one thing that annually coincides with the arrival of those chilly Darwin mornings in June, it is the arrival of the northern pikey bream along our coastal bays and up the saltwater creeks.

Both Darwin Harbor and Shoal Bay are as good a place as any to experience this annual bream run.

According to Phil Newton from the local Tackle Store, Fishing and Outdoor World, there could be no better evidence of the bream aggregation starting than what he saw up the top of Elizabeth Creek in East Arm the other day.

"There were bream by the hundreds schooling and swimming around," he said.
That being the case, it’s a fair bet then that bream will be starting to move in around Larrakeyah, up Pioneer Creek and all around the Rock in Shoal Bay.
If you have a boat, catching them is quite easy.

At Larrakeyah, just anchor in any of the little bays from the point back towards the Naval Patrol Boat Base, preferably at night on the last half of the rising tide.

It’s best to use a light line on a suitable rod and reel - 4 kg monofilament breaking strain is fine, and an even-thinner braid line, in about 5-6 kg breaking strain, is perfect.

With braid, you’ll need a light mono leader. I’d suggest about 7 kg breaking strain.
Use just enough lead running on the line to get the rig to the bottom, and bait up onto about a No 4 hook with small, whole prawns. Lure casters should look to small plastic shads, grubs and prawn imitations.

Often the bream are quite small and should be thrown back, but there are plenty of good ones as well, along with the occasional solid ock-ock.

The Rock can be fished on any tides for bream, but I rather fancy a rising tide in the evening.

Shore-based anglers will have success wherever a rising tide covers rocky foreshore areas.

The pikey bream is found only in the tropics.

It ranges from Shark Bay in WA, right across northern Australia and as far down the QLD coast as Rockhampton.

It is different to both the popular silver bream found along the eastern seaboard from central Queensland to northern Victoria, and the southern or black bream found along the coast and estuaries from southern NSW right around the bottom half of Australia and up to Shark Bay.

For starters, the inside of its mouth is black and its overall appearance is usually much darker than the silver bream. Although a popular table fish, I don’t think our version is quite as good to eat as the southern varieties.

Pikey bream are extremely aggressive little predators, readily taking lures and flies meant for other, often much bigger, species in the saltwater creeks.

I remember once hooking a pikey on fly off a beach south of Darwin.

When it came into the shallows, there was another one with it, biting the trailing feathers and glitter of the fly attached to the hooked fish’s mouth.

According to Grant’s Fishes Of Australia, the pikey bream grows to 560 mm, which would put it over the 4 kg mark.

I’d love to hear from anyone who’s caught one that big because the biggest I’ve ever seen was about 1.5 kg.

The pikey bream is a terrific family fish - kids love to catch them.

Along the harbor during the dry season you can catch dozens in one session, but it’s best to take only what you and your family need for a feed.

One good way to prepare and cook them is to gill and gut your fish, scale them, score the sides and then grill them whole, basting with a mixture of lemon juice, lemon pepper and olive oil.

There seems to be a few crabs in Darwin Harbor and Shoal Bay at the moment.
A favourite pub topics amongst amateur crabbers is which bait is the best for enticing muddies into the crab pot.

A whole chicken frame is a good one, and also readily available from places like Leonard’s which will sell you frozen packs of four quite cheaply.

I knew one bloke who swore by cans of cat food based on fish product - he’dpoke holes in the side of a tin and tie it in the pot.

I tried that a couple of times without success, but it does sound feasible.
A mate of mine uses buffalo bones from the pet meater, and dowses bait with aniseed oil first.

I remember when I was a kid people putting aniseed oil on baits for bream and flathead around Sydney.

Personally, I’ll make do with a section of fresh barra carcase any time.

I reckon barra and muddies occupy the same waters, so barra flesh is a natural offering.