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A brief next installment.

One afternoon Danny and I decided to try out some fishing on a waterhole nearby. Lovely quiet deep water.

There was no supposed to be barramundi on this waterhole. We had been told of a great barramundi fishing spot by Karl, the PH, but it turned out to be quite a drive away, on Aboriginal land (?) and we would need permission to go there. All in all the Northern station owner made it sound uninviting so we decided not to go if he didn't want us there. It also sounded like a full day to get there and back so we didn't really have time for it anyway.

Below is a fish Danny caught. Have no idea of the species, I forget, maybe a catfish from the photo? It was let go again.

As you can see Danny is fishing well above the waterline with his rifle handy! Both Danny and Phil said they had seen saltwater crocodiles. The Southern Station Owner said there was possibly one further down river from this point, but in a pool below a waterfall/drop off, so why chance it, even if it is unlikely to have one here. Definitely no swimming!

We also fetched water from different spots on a waterhole from time to time. I know I always had a good look at the water before hand.

Now this was a fishing spot I tried. There was really nowhere very open to throw the line out, and the branches above and to the side were a nuisance. Also the bank was steep mud with no footholds. Of course eventually I got my lure snagged in a branch hanging out over the water, and broke the line trying to free it. Wrote it off as lost, and kept on with another type of lure. Went back to camp ...

Well that lost lure hanging in the tree annoyed me no end. I had bought in in 1983 for a fishing trip to the Kymberleys and Victoria River about 27 years ago, so damn it, I was going to get it back.

Took a rope, an axe and headed out the last night we were in camp just before dusk. The branch the lure was stuck in sat in the water then rose up with the lure about 4 metres out into the water. Tied a piece of rope to a tree and went down the bank. Tied another piece out on the branch, and then used the axe to cut through the branch.

Well it felt like I was ringing a Dinner Gong, "Come and Get IT!" to anything big nasty and hungry in the water.

The vibrations going out in every directions very nicely. After about eighty blows, the branch was cut through, and hauled it up out of the water. Retrieved my favourite lure ...

As they say, "where fools go ....." but no croc or not was going to stop me. I hoped anyway.

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John aka NitroX

...
Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
"A Sharp spear needs no polish"

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