Australia Visit - Day 13 - BarraPaulLooza 9

It’s just gone 10am and guess what, it’s blue skies and hot here in Burketown. It’s our last day here and we’ve got to be out of the donga by ten tomorrow morning. There is a refreshing breeze blowing and it’s not as hot as it has been previously.

A nice morning at Burketown caravan park

Just before lunch the old man, Paul and myself headed back out to Escott. Paul got a good haul of cherabin and after flicking around for a while longer we lost at least one more lure each. On the way back Paul suggested having a try at the dump. The water actually looked pretty good but it was like fishing in a blast furnace. The ground was stinking hot and the sun relentlessly beat down. We didn’t get anything at the first set of snags but after a couple of casts I had a silver flash dart out from under a set of snags. It had three or four swipes before finally hooking up. It was only a queenie but it came out of the water a couple of times and ran a bit. I tightened the drag up to haul him in and up the bank but before I could there was a big grey swirl and another one of my fish was swiped by a shark. This time the shark was bigger but only got the fish just above the tail, neatly cutting the fish’s peduncle. The shark didn’t come back to finish the job though.

Me, holding the queenfish that had been attacked by another shark

It didn’t take too long before the heat chased us back to the donga where I had another meat pie and relaxed a little. After a brief rest we headed over to the caravan office to buy some trinkets of the trip and have a chat with the lady running the show. The trip is winding down and everyone is beginning to pack up and get ready to leave. Paul reckons we’ll be leaving about 8:00am on the way back to Richmond. We’ll probably only get one more fishing session in, but we do still have to get out to Escott to pick up the yabby pots. I personally hope we spend the incoming tide at the bridge coming into town but I fear Paul will have us at Escott again. I’m sure it won’t make any difference on the number of barra we get anyway. All in all though I think it’s been a good trip for the family. Not many fish but we haven’t had any big barnies, no vehicle or equipment problems, no croc or snake bites. The food was all first quality and we did get to see a morning glory.

Down on Escott Crossing

"No officer, we didn't see the sign"


Come late afternoon Paul and I decided to head out to the bridge over the Albert River. We headed back down to the “china wall” and in a few casts we had plenty of live mullet, then off to the bridge we went. Almost as soon as we got there was a splash out by the bridge so I ran over there and had a few flicks. A large long tom (about five feet long) charged out and had a go at the lure. In the next few minutes he came out again but never hooked up. Paul on the other hand had a good run, followed by another run just a few minutes later. He soon had a good sized fingermark red (50cm) in the bag. It wasn’t much later the rod went off again but again it didn’t hook up.
Looking upstream from the bridge on the Albert River

The Albert River Bridge

A sentiment shared by many

Paul and a nice Fingermark Red


Before the sun went down I also managed my first king (cooktown) salmon and although it wasn’t big it was my first Aussie salmon. Apart from another catfish we didn’t get anything else but it was a pleasant few hours to end our trip.

My first Cooktown Salmon

Dinner was the fresh fingermark and salmon and cherabin before a quick trip out to Escott to pick up the pots. I had a couple more casts but lacked conviction. It was very dark and quite spooky. They say that crocs get more confident the more consequtive nights you frequent a spot. In fact, the old black fella we spoke to said never fish the same spot three nights in a row. So with no light and the tide being so low that it was almost impossible to get a good cast away without getting into a bad position close to the water, I ensured just a few token casts. We got another good haul of cherabin, cleared out the pots amidst an explosion of tiny midges or gnats that got up your nose, in your mouth and throat and even your eyes and ears, and headed back to the donga for a quick clean up and off to bed. Tomorrow is the long drive back to Richmond.