The Top End Barra Series (TEBS) for 2024 finished last week with the completion of Round 6 on the freshwater billabongs of the Mary River system.
Without doubt, TEBS is one of the great success stories of the Top End competitive fishing scene.
I’m not exactly sure when it started but, at a guess, I’d say about 12 years ago.
Right from the beginning, it was a great concept, focusing more on camaraderie amongst anglers and open communication.
Each round goes for the better part of two nights and two days and is held across six different locations throughout the year.
The raft-up of sometimes more than a dozen boats at night has been legendary, and it’s testimony to the common sense and boating prowess of TEBS competitors that these on-water celebrations have all been without incident.
According to Nick Hall from TEBS, with so many options in the Mary River system, and a super moon throughout the week, the pre-comp excitement was at fever pitch.
“It was predicted that bite windows would be small and fishos would need to work hard to get their bag of five,” Nick said.
“Notwithstanding, a total of 137 fish were registered, with 18 people managing to submit a full bag of five fish.
“Different reports have flowed through on how these were caught, with some saying they got most of their fish high on shallow or surface lures and others low, slow-rolling plastics in structure.
“The one consistent piece of information across all competitors was that fish were caught in batches throughout the entire weekend, and ultimately it came down to just putting the hours in,” Nick explained.
An indication of the success of this billabong round were the results of the top three anglers who each scored over 1000 points.
Peter “Cuddles” Cooper seems to be on the mark in every TEBS round, and he excelled on the billabongs with his bag of five fish coming in at a whopping 1215 points.
We’re talking freshwater Mary River system where his best fish measured an awesome 93cm, 85cm, 85cm, 80cm and 79cm.
“Cuddles fished hard as he always does and managed to cover a bit of ground over the weekend,” Nick reported.
“He was kept on his toes with a couple of beauties bricking him in the timber and another being lost boat side whilst trying to land solo.
“In second place was Blake Adcock, who has really competed for the title this year, staying amongst the top five fishos in most rounds.
“This weekend was no different, and he focused on multiple areas in Shady Fresh, trying to work out the habits of the fish,” Nick said.
It seems Blake had very long nights, with fish being skittish, and the bite windows extremely short.
“The fish behaved as if they did not like the moon and any small noises or splashes were deterring them from biting,” Blake said.
“In the end, it came down to landing the lures of choice right on their nose,” Blake explained.
He scored 1135 points, comprised of barra measuring 92cm, 85cm, 80cm, 79cm, and 78cm.
Never far from the podium, in third place was Benjamin Vidgen who has been in the top 10 all year.
Ben scored 1030 points with fish measuring 91cm, 82cm, 77cm, 77cm and 73cm.
According to Nick, it was an amazing finale for 2024, and showed just how important even a centimetre can be in deciding the end-of-year result.
Blake Adcock scored enough points for him to secure third place for the year.
Nick said: “With only two points separating Blake and second place, I am sure he will be back fishing harder than ever next year.
“Second goes to Luke Conlan, who regularly manages a full bag of five good-sized fish.
“Luke's efforts in tricky conditions for the Darwin Harbour round this year saw him cement his name as one of those to watch.
“Last but definitely not least is our overall champion for 2024: Peter “Cuddles” Cooper.
“Anyone who knows him also knows that he can fish: his individual rounds this year resulted in him getting two firsts, one second, one third, one fourth and an eighth.
“Cuddles was always going to give it his all, regularly fishing harder than most whilst still managing to attend a raft-up or two before going back out to see if he can get some upgrades to his bag of five,” Nick explained.
Congratulations to the organisers and competitors of TEBS 2024… they got it right yet again.
Not for the first time, Peter “Cuddles” Cooper won overall Champion Angler in Top End Barra Series 2024.
Lydia Hebb with her terrific barra from TEBS Round 6 held on Mary River freshwater.
Clayton Archbold with one of his beaut barra from the last TEBS round of the year.
