A four-mate barra session on a flooded crossing in the East Kimberley delivered exactly what the locals expected this week — a crossing crawling with rats and mid-size salt-water barra, two close calls with the local crocodile population, and a new spot name to remember.
The Boofin Barras crew — Lyndon, Jocky Quoit, the channel's owner, and his young son — fished a flood-plain crossing where the dry-season tide pushes salt water back into freshwater country. The rules of engagement were simple: poppers, jelly lures, and try to count to 100.
"We're fishing this flood plain. We've got Lyndon over here, Jocky Quoit, and we've got me and my son, take on the barramundi," the host says at the top of the trip. "Plenty plenty of fish in there. So we'll have a count, see how many barra we catch today."
The first crossing fired straight up. Within an hour the four anglers had hooked, dropped or landed somewhere north of 11 fish — almost all of them rats — with poppers and Shin Red lures doing most of the damage. By the time they moved on, the channel host conceded that everyone except him had already opened their account: "I think you're on about two barra already, hey, Jock? Three? I think Lyndon's on about one or two. I'm yet to catch one yet."
Crocodiles dictated where the crew fished and where they didn't. The video carries one of the more sobering close-call yarns from a north-Australian YouTuber this season. The host described pulling up at a now-washed-out crossing more than 10 years ago, in the middle of the wet, with Lyndon flicking lures from the middle of a flooded floodway.
"Lyndon sang out, said, 'Turn the light on,'" he recalled. "I turned the light on, and there was a four-metre crocodile behind Lyndon. When I turned the light on, the croc was actually moving faster… If that crocodile would have got hold of him, he would have been gone for sure."
The serious fishing happened at the second crossing. As the tide pushed across the flood plain, Lyndon pulled out the catch of the day — a fat 91-cm saltwater barra — from a corner the crew immediately christened Lyndon's Point.
The host was philosophical about the size estimate that came in slightly under expectation: "I'll go 103. 90 or 98. I reckon 99 or around there… 91. That's a nice barra."
The crossing kept producing through the rest of the afternoon, including an 88-cm fish to the host on the same point — and a comedy moment when Jocky lost yet another fish. "Straighten hooks from the last time, he said. I'm not changing hooks now. Too much fun." The crew also kept one big saltwater barra after the hook went deep enough that release wasn't an option.
By the time the tide turned, Lyndon's Point had pulled enough fish that the host wasn't bothered they hadn't cracked the metre mark. "It's been a real good day. Haven't hit the metre mark, but it doesn't matter. Pretty happy with today."
Notable for east Kimberley flood-plain fans: this year's wet was big enough to wash out a second crossing in the same stretch, and the host believes another month or two of dry will line up some genuinely large fish. "It's all about timing. That's the first time I've out here this year, so we'll get the timing right in the next couple of weeks and I reckon we'll pull a few big ones out."