Tuesday morning we were lucky enough to be fishing with "The master" George Voukolos, local legend and owner of Fishing and Outdoor World. We packed into Georges car at 4:00 AM and made the trip out to the South Alligator River, 200km east of Darwin.

The trip out to the river was a sensational ride. On arrival at the river we were greeted by an amazing tropical sunrise, there is really no describing the way the light changes up in the NT!

We were soon heading upstream to a point about ten kilometres from the ramp where there is a log covered run off. We stopped here and George suggested a few casts in the area. This resulted in a few smaller fish off the logs, coming on the Bleeding mullet Doomu and the Prism Murrin #30.

Shoy landed a nice little barra casting to logs

After this short session we shot downstream as George was confident that the Doomu's would bounce well over the rockbars that were now covered with water as the tide had risen. The tides here can be as large as 30 feet so care needs to be taken in the river and up on the covered areas not to get caught out. Its also a good thing to have a reliable engine with power to get out of a hard running current, George showed us just how good his Evinrude E-Tec was at moving the boat along!

There were a few barra in residence at the rock bar but only small fish. Trolling the Doomu's along the bar with the current proved to be the most productive method. The Doomu's are a buoyant lure so we didn't lose any to snags. As the tide had risen further George was keen to get up onto the plains at the upstream end of the river.

Once again at full speed we shot up the river to a point that looked the goods. We pulled up in the shade of a lone overhanging tree and turned out some lunch. Casting around the area with sandwich in hand Shoy got a small fish and Mark got onto a good Barra.

The fish Mark was onto put on a great show! Jumping and shaking it's head in a frenzied attempt to loose the Prism Murrin #3 hooks that had it in the mouth. The super strong VMC Trebles and split rings held tight and the fish was brought boatside for a few pics before release.

Mark and George with a 90cm South Alligator Barra

After lunch we headed up onto the floodplains trolling rattlers beneath eagles nests and around some very fishy looking snags. Within minutes George was onto a good fish with a 60cm boatside quickly. Mark followed it quickly with a 75cm model and then all hell broke loose.

Shoy's rod bent into a strong curve as a big barra powered off! Charging around the flats looking for cover and jumping in attempt to shake the hooks Shoy did a great job to stop this fish from reefing him. Using a Pioneer 7' Graphite rod and a Perfect Cast 3000 spinning reel loaded with Palladium 20lb braid the ONE METRE fish was brought boatside after a great fight.

Shoy's 1m Barra from the floodplains

The #3 Prism Murrin is a legendary Barra lure

After this great session we shot back down the river to the ramp where Mark commented on the number of crocs in the river... while standing in the water knee deep retrieving the boat!

We had a brilliant day on the South Alligator River with George, he's a true legend of the north! We headed back to Darwin exhausted and estatic after a great day.

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