Barra Attack

Thanks for that link. Great reading. I shall follow their doings with interest.
cheers....oldbaz.

Norm may well log in and give more detail if the fish aren't biting!

Hi all,
Last fished King Ash when it was Black Rocks Landing back in 1968. Left the Landy there all by its self and travelled down river in 12ft Brooker Tinnie and spent 3 weeks fishing the islands with base camp at White islet. Gunner Berkeris helped us find the good spots and we had a ball on Light tackle Barra, Queenfish, Threadfin and Mangrove Jack. The odd shark and groper provided excitement. Not too many crocs in those days, they were almost shot out. Good news is we will be back in May for a re-enactment. Travelling a little more upmarket than a short wheel base soft top Landrover. No sealed roads then . Across the Top was a real adventure. We ate dust but were inspired by Keith Adams!!!
Could only drink rum and coffee as had no refrigeration. One Sunday we picked up our cold beer that we had left in the coolroom at Borroloola and drove to Bing Bong. A winding dirt road through the swamps. When we got there the station owner was not too pleased as he did not like visitors and we had driven over his airstrip. On the return we decided to set a World Land Speed Record from Bing Bong to Borroloola. On rounding a bend we encountered a very large buffalo in the middle of the track and had to take to the scrub ending up in a seemingly bottomless morass. 4 hours later we were on our way considerably more sober.Believe that road now is almost an expressway!
If only I was a member I could show you the photos.
Guy

Guy,

what's stopping you from parting with a few $$ and becoming a member ??
I for one woul love to see photos of the area

Maîneÿ . . .

G'day Lyndon, thanks for that info. The Rosie track looks a tad tough. We dont want to tow boats 3000k just to damage within sight of the water. We would like to spend maybe a week at 3 different spots on the eastern side this trip, &
hopefully a similar trip later to maybe Mary,Daly & Victoria rivers. Fished the
Finnis for 10 days this time last year...excellent results, but would like to check out
different places this time. Where is the best camping on the Roper about April May ? Dont really need much in the way of facilities. Is gear security an issue?
cheers....oldbaz.

Sounds like King Ash would suit, all sorts of fishing available. With the Roper, upstream is Barra only, closer to the mouth you will get variety. We camp at Roper Bar “camp ground”. Camping is cheap and it has toilets, showers and running river water, shade and is usually not to crowded. This is barra fishing only, you can run downstream from here but it’s a LONG way to the mouth. It is possible to fish upstream from the Bar but you need to get over 2 rock bars, so really only viable for small boats, you also need to get in the water twice and I know for a fact that a 16 foot black lizard lives around there! ? down stream from the bar there are some rocks in the first few km’s it then opens up to a big river with a clear run for many miles(you will eventually get to more rocks and sand bars though). You can also fish the Wilton and Hodgson rivers which are a short run down from the bar, BEWARE, both these rivers have a lot of rocks! You can also camp at a place called Tomato Island which is about half way to the mouth I think, It is crowded and has no toilets(where everyone craps is a mystery I don’t wish to solve!)
We are in the process of educating ourselves about our GPS, I would like to make a map of at least part of the river one day as a guide for other travels. You have missed the runoff, it’s on now and only lasts a short time. Remember for the Roper live bait is the go.
If you would like more specifics about getting bait, where the rocks are(at least some of them ? )etc drop us a line. I hope to have some brag Photo’s from our trip in about a month!
Cheers Lyndon

Tomato island actually has a semi permanent population , communal fuel runs of ute and trailer full off 44s , water pumped from the river.

Thanks again, Lyndon. It does appear KAB may suit us well. Will keep researching
Limmen Bight etc as alternatives. Appreciate your input....oldbaz.

Into Lorella Springs is fine.
From Lorella Springs to the coast is about 60k which might be quite a different storey.

Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 Motorhome

Peter , the reason I say the 30klm into the campground is /was the worst is that my trip diary shows that while we were there in Aug 08 I was asked and did 5 tire repairs in 3 days + 2 welding jobs , the w/end after we left there was to be a long distance m/cycle riders gathering at the campground , met some of the riders in Borroloola after the event , riders falling off on the 30 klm like nine pins , more tire damage and flats to count, 2 serious crashes and 1 m/cycle burnt all just on the 30 klm entrance track.

G'day Norm, I see you are a fan of KAB & rightly so. It looks to be the type of place we are looking for. Unfortunately our chance doesnt come till next year,
but I like to plan early, & will follow closely your reports of your current stay.
Will a gennie make us unwanted, or are there places we can camp & not disturb the peace ? cheers...oldbaz.

G'day again Oldbaz. Sorry about the delayed reply. We are now at KAB and the only way to get comms is with a very high (30 ft or so) antenna. Have now got that set up with a Yagi, so have reasonable signal.

It poured rain for 12 hours before we hit the dirt road into KAB, so that was a lot of fun.

As for generators, the camp area on the river bank is locally known as Gennie Flats. That probably gives you an idea. Everybody who camps there has a generator. Club rules say generators are permitted between 7.00 am and 10.00 pm, though most people get them off well before that. The only ones that upset people are the noisy ones. Most people have Hondas and they are tolerated pretty well.

We hope to hit the water for the first time tomorrow. I've got a bit of work to do on the boat first- new seats, battery, bilge pump and installing a water separating fuel filter.

Camping fees have gone up a bit this year. I think non members on Gennie Flats will be paying $75 per week (covers two people). But the facilities are also improving. There will hopefully be three relocatable amenities blocks (flushing toilets, solar hot water) on Gennie Flats this year (two last year). Possibly also a laundry down there!!! They get moved to high ground for the wet season and moved back when the major flood risk has abated.

Norm C