2023 | Nafa

ALEX'S WEEKLY SCRIBE 2023

Dec 29, 20233 min read

Alex's Column 29 December 2023

Given that the winds won’t be too strong and there is no monsoon in sight, there are plenty of fishing options over the next few days...

Dec 22, 20232 min read

Alex's Column 22 December 2023

It’s still up in the air as to whether it’s going to be a wet Christmas. The BOM website doesn’t forecast as far as Christmas Day, but...

Dec 15, 20233 min read

Alex's Column 15 December 2023

It’s certainly the end of an era in popular radio fishing news, information and downright buffoonery. The ABC’s Tales From The Tinny will...

Dec 8, 20233 min read

Alex's Column 8 December 2023

I’ve written it up before but, for my money, there’s no better estuary barra tide than a making spring. That’s exactly what we have this...

Dec 1, 20233 min read

Alex's Column 1 December 2023

If you can make time this evening, you might want to grab the opportunity to attend the Amateur Fishermen’s Association NT AGM and learn...

Nov 24, 20233 min read

Alex's Column 24 November 2023

The combination of perfect sea conditions, an abundance of hungry marlin and sailfish, and 14 teams with plenty of billfish nous between...

Nov 17, 20233 min read

Alex's Column 17 November 2023

It’s been a long time coming but still so sad when it happens. I have two best mates in life and one of them, Wayne Eccles, “The...

Nov 10, 20233 min read

Alex's Column 10 November 2023

The recent full moon certainly didn’t dampen the quality of fishing in the sixth and final round of the 2023 Top End Barra Series (TEBS)....

Nov 3, 20233 min read

Alex's Column 3 November 2023

By all accounts, last week’s 35th Palmerston Game Fishing Club’s annual Corroboree Park Challenge was a humdinger. The major sponsor is...

Oct 27, 20233 min read

Alex's Column 27 October 2023

We’ve got big making spring tides and a full moon this weekend, so that opens a Pandora’s Box of fishing options. Saltwater barra fishing...

Oct 20, 20232 min read

Alex's Column 20 October 2023

If last weekend’s penultimate round of the Top End Billfish Series is anything to go by, next month’s NT Billfish Classic should be a...

Oct 13, 20232 min read

Alex's Column 13 October 2023

Wasn’t September a funny month weather-wise? Conditions are normally humid and hot with light winds, if any at all, but the...

Oct 6, 20232 min read

Alex's Column 6 October 2023

It’s not by coincidence that the Top End Barra Series held its fifth round for the year inside and around the Adelaide River mouth. This...

Sep 22, 20232 min read

Alex's Column 22 September 2023

I generally write this column on a Tuesday, and today the wind is blowing yet again. It’s not as strong as it was last weekend when most...

Sep 15, 20233 min read

Alex's Column 15 September 2023

Thanks to relentless blustery winds last week, the annual Territory Saltwater Fly Fishing Challenge was exactly that: a challenge. Held...

Sep 8, 20233 min read

Alex's Column 8 September 2023

The announcement last week that the participation rate of women who go recreational fishing in the NT has edged out the men coincided...

Sep 1, 20233 min read

Alex's Column 1 September 2023

Last week’s round four of the Top End Barra Series (TEBS) was always going to be testing given the relentless south-easterly winds this...

Aug 25, 20233 min read

Alex's Column 25 August 2023

With the exception of the pandemic closures, each year I attend the Australian Fishing Trade Show held on the Gold Coast. This is the...

Aug 18, 20232 min read

Alex's Column 18 August 2023

The next full moon is exactly two weeks away, falling precisely at the start of the build-up season when freshwater barra start to be...

Aug 11, 20233 min read

Alex's Column 11 August 2023

One thing you hear a lot about when chatting with anglers who have been offshore blue water fishing is the significant prevalence of...

Aug 4, 20233 min read

Alex's Column 4 August 2023

We’ve had a fair bit of windy weather so far this dry season but, unusually, there haven’t been nearly as many chilly mornings as you’d...

Jul 28, 20233 min read

Alex's Column 28 July 2023

It’s just over two months away when the ninth season of Million Dollar Fish kicks off. It’s testimony to the success of MDF that it has...

Jul 21, 20233 min read

Alex's Column 21 July 2023

I thought last week’s NT News article – “To cull or not to cull our beloved Territory icon?” – was a balanced and comprehensive coverage....

Jul 14, 20233 min read

Alex's Column 14 July 2023

Don’t you just love the word “boof”? It’s been around at least 30 years and is vernacular for the noise made by a barra feeding on the...

Jul 7, 20232 min read

Alex's Column 6 July 2023

The winds were relentless last weekend, frustrating many anglers looking for some blue water action. However, as the winds abated...

Jun 30, 20233 min read

Alex's Column 29 June 2023

I must admit it’s great that the big wet this year flushed most of the salvinia out of my favourite Top End billabong: 4 Mile Hole. I...

Jun 23, 20233 min read

Alex's Column 23 June 2023

It’s always good to wake up to a fresh dry season morning in the Top End. Sometimes it’s a bit cooler than we’d like, but it certainly...

Jun 21, 20233 min read

Alex's Column 15 June 2023

It’s not often that a new fishing tackle product is developed that is both simple and functional, and fixes an age-old, in-the-field...

Jun 9, 20232 min read

Alex's Column 8 June 2023

It’s the King’s Birthday long weekend this week and, to celebrate, the fish are biting all over the place. For starters, the East...

May 26, 20232 min read

Alex's Column 25 May 2023

There’s nothing like a chilly dry season morning to remind you that you’re still alive. That first cool day in May – the month it always...

May 23, 20233 min read

Alex's Column 18 May 2023

An overdue weekend of glass-out conditions greeted competitors in last week’s round three of the Top End Barra Series (TEBS). Held in...

May 12, 20233 min read

Alex's Column 11 May 2023

On several counts, history was made last week when Shane Compain and his Tackle World team had yet another resounding victory in a Daly...

May 5, 20232 min read

Alex's Column 04/05/2023

It was good news for competitors in last week’s Territory Freshwater Fly Fishing Open which was hosted by Darwin Fly Rodders on iconic...

Apr 28, 20233 min read

Alex's Column 27/04/2023

It really was no surprise when Shane Compain, Terry Ryan and Bryce Neal – in the invincible Tackle World Revos – completely dominated a...

Apr 21, 20232 min read

Alex's Column 20/04/2023

To quote old mate Peter Dienhoff: “Hello dry season”. Peter was texting to let me know that Darwin Game Fishing Club’s Dundee Billfish...

Apr 14, 20233 min read

Alex's Column 13/04/2023

There are just five days remaining if you want to have a say on the future of NT recreational fishing for the next 10 years. NT...

Apr 7, 20232 min read

Alex's Column 06/04/2023

Given the timing with the Daly River dropping quickly to below 2m above the crossing over the last fortnight, it was no surprise that the...

Mar 24, 20233 min read

Alex's Column - 23/03/2023

You’d expect an uproar and total rejection of any suggestion to reopen the Shady Camp fishing grounds in Chambers and Finke Bays to...

Mar 17, 20232 min read

Alex's Column 16/03/2023

By all accounts, round one of the Top End Barra Series (TEBS) was off to a flying start. Originally scheduled for the Daly, a rising...

Mar 10, 20237 min read

AJ celebrates 40 years of writing the NT News Fishing Column

It’s a bit of a head spin, and I can’t believe that I’m sitting here now, writing about four decades of contributing this fishing column,...

Mar 6, 20232 min read

Alex's Column 02/03/2023

The monsoon is well and truly with us, much to the delight of all Top End anglers. It’s been raining across all our major catchment...

Feb 24, 20233 min read

Alex's Column 23/02/2023

It’s now nearly the end of February and we are in desperate need of a lot more rain if this wet season is going to be at all meaningful....

Feb 17, 20233 min read

Alex's Column 16/02/2023

Surely a SportsBet tagged barra worth $1million will be caught soon in the NT’s lucrative Million Dollar Fish competition which is now...

Feb 10, 20232 min read

Alex's Column 09/02/2023

There’ve been mixed reports of late, with some anglers getting amongst the fish and plenty missing out. Old mate Stuey Brisbane from Daly...

Feb 3, 20232 min read

Alex's Column 02/02/2023

Rather than bang on this week about the need for more rain right across the Top End, it’s good to see the Mary River catchment copped a...

Jan 27, 20232 min read

Alex's Column 26/01/2023

As I write this on Tuesday, there’s quite a bit of rain around thanks to the tropical low that formed off the north coast. Sadly, it’s...

Jan 20, 20232 min read

Alex's Column

The vagaries of our Top End wet season never cease to amaze. One minute we are looking forward to a bumper Runoff season thanks to record...

Jan 13, 20232 min read

Alex's Column 12/01/2023

Those great early rains have certainly left a legacy of floodwater across much of the Top End. Old mate Andy Ralph always has his fingers...

Jan 6, 20232 min read

Alex's Column 05/01/2023

Darwin anglers received a great Christmas present with the arrival of widespread monsoonal flow across much of the Top End. The plight of...