Travel: Shoal Bay, NT

By Peter Morton

Fishing is a great way to spend some time when visiting Darwin. With many varieties, shapes and colours to dazzle the senses, you can choose to dangle a line off a jetty, or join in a sophisticated professional charter operation for groups or individuals, whether they are experienced anglers or novices.

The barramundi is naturally the fish most dream of snaring: they are great fighters, can be excellent eating and are usually caught in places that showcase other features of the Top End, such as the wonderful bird, plant and animal life and miraculous scenery. Barramundi live where there are huge, sometimes scary, tides (unique to this part of the world, Canada and the English Channel) and, of course, crocodiles.

Barramundi is a fascinating fish. The young are all males and later in life, when they are around 90cm, they become females. This has implications for anglers in a sense - the 'magic' measurement is one metre, which means that the catch is likely to be a breeding female and certainly the even bigger ones will be female.

The size limit is 55cm, with no upper limit in the NT.

It is nice to see a movement in the Territory regarding the release of the bigger-size barras, with the slogan: "Reel Men Don't Keep Big Fish". One of the local tackle shops runs a competition for the photograph of the biggest fish released each week.

There are other sites to fish for barramundi - the famed Daly, Alligator (south, west and east), Mary and Roper rivers, but they are all a fair way from Darwin and many involve travelling long distances on the water. An area that is close to Darwin and does not involve a lot of boat travel is Shoal Bay, where netting is banned.

Shoal Bay is the first bay to the east of Darwin, only 10-15 minutes by boat from Buffalo Creek, which is on the northern outskirts of the Darwin suburbs. A better option is to go by road, which takes about 45 minutes from the centre of Darwin, to the south-eastern part of Shoal Bay where the Little Howard and Howard rivers run into it - there is a private ramp, parking area, boat and guide hire and a camping site.

A formal caravan park is planned, but for the present there is pleasant basic camping with showers and toilets plus gas barbecue for the very reasonable cost of $10 per day. Bob Morris and Cliff Watkins run the place, which previously was run by Tony Kaissis as the master guide and angler.

To get there drive along the Stuart Highway past Palmerston to the Gunn Point Road and turn left. Just a short distance (almost opposite) from the Howard Springs turn-off there is a dirt road on the left marked with handwritten signage, "To Shoal Bay boat hire"; it is a little over 12km. This road can be rough particularly in the Wet season but is graded in the Dry. It's usable by cars towing boats; those with caravans should proceed with care most, if not all, of the year.

The business is privately owned and there is a charge of $15 for launching your own boat and vehicle protection, which is very cheap insurance!

Stessl Edge-Tracker dinghies are available for hire and from what I have seen these are tough and stable little boats. They are vee-nosed punts, approximately 12ft (3.7m) long and quite wide - a large person can stand on the foredeck and cast a bait net. They are available for $100 per day or $30 per hour. The tides are two hours after Darwin's, but it pays to check locally. The boat ramp is useable from three hours before high tide to three hours after.

Caravanners might ask whether their own cartopper boats or smaller can be used - they can, but in my opinion there are significant limitations on carrying capacity, stability and power, particularly if there is run-off into the creeks and an outgoing tide.

Trust the locals
If you want to make the most of Shoal Bay I strongly recommend that you leave the tinny on the roof and get one of the experienced guys to take you fishing in one of their boats. The main reason is safety - there are a lot of shoals (what a surprise). Channels shift and you can't see where to go because of the mud and sand that are stirred up by the currents and tides. Because the water is muddy all the time, you can't see more than a few centimetres below the surface. It is easy to get stuck and be left waiting for hours, or even potentially days, before you can float again.

The locals know these waters so well that a greater margin of safety exists with tides and channels, which can translate into more fishing time.

My wife and I have caught several barra precisely where we have been told to fish, and by this I mean a particular square metre. Importantly these blokes know where to find and how to catch bait fish with a cast net.

Tony Kaissis is a NT native with a wealth of stories of his experiences as a fisherman, crocodile and snake catcher, pig hunter and so on. He also knows a lot about birds and takes tourists on birdwatching trips at Shoal Bay. Some of the birds we have seen have been braminy and other kites, sacred kingfishers, jabirus and pelicans.

Shoal Bay is a great place to visit. It eloquently sums up what the Northern Territory is about: the tides, fishing and other marine and birdlife, attractive natural wonders and interesting people, with a pleasant camping area to while away a few hours in your caravan.

Good eating
There are lots of ways to cook barramundi depending on one's own taste. Despite their size they are delicately flavoured and mustn't be overcooked. It is best if they have been in salt or flowing fresh water, otherwise they can taste muddy.

Most people fillet the fish and skin the fillet. Don't throw away the 'wings', as they are one of the best parts.

We have cooked them on the barbecue (very gently on a super-clean plate) with lots of lemon; deep fried them in batter (adding coconut to the batter is a nice variation) and we have poached/steamed the wings in water with coriander, ginger and a little chilli. Delicious!

Shoal Bay fast facts

Shoal Bay Resort & Spa: Shoal Bay Road, 1800 18 18 10, fax: (02) 4984 1315, www.shoalbayresort.com.au

Shoal Bay boat hire: (08) 8932 3640.

Shoal Bay Holiday Park: Shoal Bay Road, freecall 1800 600 200, fax (02) 4984 3411, email shoalbay@beachsideholidays.com.au