Fishing in Darwin. 10 things visiting anglers should know.
Part one of two part series
Fishing in Darwin is a world class fishing experience. Darwin today is a sophisticated city of about 100 000 people that still keeps some of its pioneering spirit and irreverence of yesteryear. It sits on a promontory hemmed in by the huge and still un-spoilt Darwin Harbor and the wide expanses of the Arafura Sea. The area certainlyis a fishermens paradise.
Getting there
Darwin has a 24-hour international airport with daily connections from around the world through Singapore. It has also got multiple daily connections from all Australian capital cities via Jetstar and Virgin.
Accommodation
A major industry in the Northern Territory (NT) is tourism and accordingly Darwin has a multitude of accommodation from five star resorts to caravan parks. Accommodation can be difficult to obtain in the main visitor season of June toSeptember so bookings should be made some way ahead.
Climate
The Darwin Region, also known as the Top End of Australia has two seasons only.The wet season and the dry.
May to September is dry and stable with low humidity and median daily maximums in the low 30's. The months of October to December feature rising humidity and temperatures with infrequent storms. The regular rains arrive with the monsoon from Christmas to March (give or take a month) with massive flooding typicallyoccurring.
Fishing Seasons
Barramundi fishing is best when the wet season has finished and the flood pains are draining into the estuaries, rivers and creeks. This is sometimes known as the run off. Pelagic fishing for Spanish Mackerel, Tuna and others heats up from August onwards and with the rising humidity, air and water temperatures from mid Septemberonwards, all species are feeding well.
Fishing environments
The Darwin area has several pristine fishing environments. These include harbours and estuaries, rivers and creeks, flood plains and billabongs well known for the barramundi fishing. But please don't make the error of targeting just barramundi as the region also has countless natural and man-made reef systems, and very productive bluewater, pelagic and game fishing.