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Greensborough angling club fished Jindabyne over the Melbourne cup weekend with plenty of fish caught and released. We had 11 members and 1 visitor. 13 browns and 25 rainbows caught with the heaviest going 1.71 kg cleaned. A great time was had by all.

Greensborough club also fished Port Phillip Bay from StKilda against Police angling club and most members caught their bag of fish within 3 hrs. Members also hired a charter boat for those without a boat to fish the comp and they all done very well.

Member Allan Moore fished Bemm River 2 weeks ago and landed Bream, perch, trevally on hard body lures and soft plastics. The entrace is closed but the fishing is excellent.

Greensborough Angling Club has had several guest speakers over the last 4 meeting with names like Mathew Hunt, Lee Rainer, Charlie Micaleff and Neil todesco. These guys were fantastic in their teaching of techniques to the members and guests. We will be having other guest speakers next year so keep your eyes on the website for details.

The club had a trip to Khancoban with 17 members attending from the Friday to the Monday with people coming and going during that time. Most members measured in fish with the biggest going 58cm caught by Mark Hall on a lure casting amongst the islands. Quite a few fish were in the 50cm+ range with most in the 40-50 cm range. Agreat trip was had by all and will look forward to next year and tackle it again.

Travelling via Hay,Bourke,Charleville,Longreach to Mt Isa,they rendezvoused with another couple who had left a week or so previously in their Winebago, The Dash.Provisioning for the trip was carried out at the Isa, this being the last major town, and we had a heap of laughs at the supermarket while filling eight trollies with tucker.The lady on the register reckoned we had made her day and she deserved to be Checkout Chick of the week after a couple of metres of receipt to the tune of $1500 was produced. Not without some difficulty as the Fund Manager continually checked to see why it was taking so long.

From there we moved on to Barkly Homestead and Heartbreak Hotel at Cape Crawford to meet up with seven other members who had flown to Darwin and driven across towing another boat.

After an enjoyable reunion over dinner and a few drinks, the group adjouned for an early start next day for the final leg to King Ash Bay on the McArthur River. We refer to Borroloola because it is a major place name on the map but we actually bipassed it by about five kms. On arrival, we picked up the liquid refreshment which had been ordered and commenced ferrying everything on to the two houseboats, the Lady Carrington housing four and the Pellew Explorer carrying eleven.

From here we cruised down the river to turn off into Crooked Creek ( which makes the Murray look like a drain) and laagered the boats up together about 40 kms down and four kms from the mouth into the Gulf of Carpentaria.Because many of the group were very experienced it wasn't long before we were settled in and eagerly looking forward to getting amongst it.Some of these blokes have fished together for 20 years or more and they are very good at it. With their local knowledge, our own boats and four solid tenders of 30hp, we felt well equipped for the mighty Barra and whatever else came along.Little did some of us realize what was in store!

The next morning began as good a fishing trip as you could ever imagine.Amazingly beautiful sunrises ushered in the days and several keen photographers got up before dawn to motor away and capture the silhouette of the boats framed in the blood red sky. Wonderful sunny days followed and it can get mighty hot, you must drink plenty of water and the old hands made sure we did just that.We explored numerous creeks and rivers casting into the mangroves and moving out into the Gulf to catch Barra,Threadfin Salmon,Fingermark,Mulloway,Mangrove Jack,Tarpon,Golden Trevalley,Queenfish,small sharks and many other odds and ends.Every day bought a new experience and the hours just flew by. Each night the pots were set for the giant mudcrabs and these provided a lot of fun and excitement bringing them in and tying them up.(I think Richard still has all his toes)

Sunsets were equally magnificent and with the night, the river comes alive,you cannot comprehend the activity in the water around the lights, it's extraordinary.We were surrounded by everything that bites,jumps, splashes and goes bump! Castnets for Prawn and livebait provided some fun and you never knew what would belt the heavier baited lines.One bloke didn't even need a line as a blinkin fish ( suspected to be a Milkfish) actually jumped into the tender he was fishing out of at the stern.We all roared with laughter watching him wrestle with a metre of muscle thrashing about in a small boat .

Other wildlife observed were the beautiful Jabiru and Brolga, seasnakes,turtles and sharks in the Gulf as well as flying Rays about four feet across breaking the water. Obviously we all wanted to see a Crocodile and there was one in residence in a deep hole that was often sighted 50 to 150 metres from the houseboat.Some of the crew were lucky enough to get some snaps of a rather large unit basking on the bank.The biggest fish bought to the side of the houseboat was a giant Cod which had to be four feet long and was estimated at 100lbs.He had a huge mouth and looked like a barrel coming up, Mark was exhausted but happy to cut him off after we got pix.

This yarn would not be complete without mentioning the wife of one member who is an extremely good cook and prepared food for everyone every day.Dinner at night was memorable as we sat down to a well presented table to great three course meals. We ate like kings,everyone enjoyed a drink and the small wine appreciation group had some interesting sessions. The night when we each had a whole Mudcrab bigger than the dinnerplate for an entree was a highlight.

Thank you Sandra and also Heather and Dianne for helping out, it wouldn't have been as good without you. The blokes did the dishes and cleaned up so everyone did their bit and pitched in.This all contributed to the cameradie on board which was very special, fifteen people living in close quarters for ten days, just good mates enjoying each others company, having a beer and catching fish - does it get any better than this?

As always, the time to leave came all too quickly and we cleaned up and prepared for the trip back to King Ash bay, this was memorable for the bombing of the Lady Carrington from the the bigger boat with water soaked bread rolls.Good fun and typical of the stuff we got up to.Back at base we enjoyed a good drink at the Angling Club before a final dinner on board.

Next morning it was back to Heartbreak where the people going to Darwin left us, then on to Barkly where we seperated from The Dash, they going on to further explore more of the Top End. The trip home via Tennant Creek, Alice Springs, Coober Pedy, Port Augusta and Mildura was just as absorbing and another story in itself, we arrived home on 20th April.

No amount of reading can ever substitute for actually travelling the Northern Territory, it really is an eye opener of this wonderful country we are lucky enough to live in.All up we covered 7500kms and none of it was boring.Each day is special in itself, it's not just about the fishing, it's the whole package.The characters you meet in the pubs, roadhouses and parks are unique and if you are pulled up for a break at roadside people pull up to check out if " you are alright Mate?" It's bloody good to feel "Hey True Blue".

Do yourself a favour and try it one day. If you can get a crew together like we had I assure it will be an unforgettable experience, one that I feel priviliged to haved shared.

15 members of GDAC headed to King Ash Bay near Borroloola NT 1000km from Darwin chasing Barra and anything else that we could catch. Following are some photos of our trip and some of the great fish which we caught.

It has been a while since our last report with many of our members fishing all over Victoria, northern NSW and even Tasmania

Currently the reports have been good at Mallacoota for large flathead on the outside reefs and some good bream inside.

Bemm river has fished well with bream to 39cm in swan lake and good perch up the river on live prawn. The salmon to 3 lb are going well on the surf with the gutter in very close

WesternPort has been going well on the whiting out from Rhyll as well as alot of Elephant fish showing up.

Members had a trip to Lake Mulwala on the border of Yarrawonga and Mulwala. We camped on the lake and had a great long weekend for Australia day. Following are some photos of the guys with some great fish