This year’s Darwin Boat Show will include a series of fishing seminars featuring local and north Australian fishing experts. Seminars will be held daily, covering the following topics:

• Build-up Estuary Barra Fishing Tactics…presented by Alex Julius
• Tidal River Barra Trolling Techniques…presented by Col Cordingley
• Jig-baiting for Monster Barra…presented by Andrew “Macka” McKewen
• Small-boat Billfishing – Baits and Tactics…presented by Rob Robinson
• High-speed Jigging for Spanish Mackerel…presented by Peter Zeroni
• Jigging Darwin’s Offshore Reef Fish…presented by Dennis Smart

Fish Filleting Demonstrations – daily at 10.30am

Cooking Fish with celebrity chef, Aaron Roussos – daily at 3.00pm

The Presenters

Alex Julius
Alex Julius is well-known to Top End anglers. He has co-produced and presented four series of the popular Channel 9 Fishing North Australia television program, and he has been writing his NT News weekly fishing column for 27 years. He is the Managing Editor of NAFA magazine and Barra Bass & Bream magazine. Alex has won the NT Barra Classic, the Barra Nationals, the Kakadu Barra Klash and the NT Game Fishing Championships.

Col Cordingley
Col Cordingley is known as the Maestro when it comes to big barra fishing, particularly on his favourite waterway, the Daly River. He has pioneered tidal river barra trolling techniques, and has put them to good use by winning many Top End fishing tournaments, including the NT Barra Classic, the Barra Nationals and the Kakadu Barra Klash.

Andrew “Macka” McKewen
Macka has been a professional barra fishing guide for 19 years. He has guided at the Bathurst Island Barra Base, the McArthur River and, for the last 15 years, at his own Macka’s Barra Camp on the Ord River WA. Macka perfected the jig-baiting technique for big barra and his clients have used this and other methods to catch hundreds of metre-plus barra on the Ord River.

Rob Robinson
Rob has been a professional gameboat deckhand for most of his adult years. He learned his craft on the Cairns big marlin boats. With the exception of a short stint barra guiding in Arnhem Land NT, for nearly the last 10 years Rob has been a deckie on the world-famous Broome sailfish grounds. He is also a most-formidable competitive gamefisherman, having just won the Broome Billfish Tournament for the second year in a row.

Peter Zeroni
Peter Zeroni is a born-and-bred Darwinian who contributes regularly to national fishing magazines, including NAFA and Fishing World. While like most Top Enders Peter is an avid barra-holic, in recent years he has been breaking new ground targeting offshore pelagics on knife jigs and other metal lures. Through the cooler months of the Dry Season, Peter and a growing band of Territorians are swapping their single-handed baitcasters for robust high-speed outfits to successfully jig metals for large Spaniards and GTs found in the plentiful waters surrounding Darwin.

Dennis Smart
Following a comprehensive fishing background in WA from age 2, including five different stints on commercial fishing boats, Dennis Smart moved to the NT in 1989. Dennis has spent the last few years fishing Darwin waters mainly for quality reef fish using metal jigs. In the process, he has developed highly-effective techniques using the octopus-type metal jig. Dennis never uses bait as he consistently catches good-sized coral trout, golden snapper, black jew and tricky snapper on these deadly jigs.

Seminar Times

Saturday 17 October
11am to 12 noon
1.30pm to 2.30pm
4.00pm to 5.00pm

Sunday 18 October
10.30am to11.30am
12.30pm to 1.30pm
2.30pm to 3.30pm

Join in a Theatre Seminar for a Chance to Win a GME 406 EPIRB

Join in the seminars and presentations in the Marine Safety Theatre for your chance to win a GME 406 EPIRB. Fill in your name and contact phone number on the form supplied and drop into the entry barrel at the Theatre entrance. Winners drawn in the Theatre at 3.45pm on Sunday 18 October.

Don’t Miss….Navy RHIB boarding party display

See how the Australian Navy works to protect our waters in a full dress display of how they conduct boarding operations of illegal fishing boats. The boarding boat is called a RHIB (rigid hull inflatable boat) and is powered by a 2.8lt diesel inboard engine, does approx 35kn and carries up to 10 personnel. On at 10.30pm. Follow up with a visit to meet the boarding team at the Australian Navy display at site 46.

Don’t Forget to Drop Your Entry In

WIN AN ATV courtesy of Territory Marine.

The CAN AM DS 90 has all the safety features that you demand for your children, without compromising their fun.
The bike has automatic gears thanks to the CVT transmission with Forward, Neutral, Reverse.
The long travel suspension delivers a smoother ride and better control in the bumps.
Look for the specially marked entry boxes and drop you entry in by 1.30pm Sunday 18 October.

Give Us Your Feedback and You Could Win a Lowrance Radio/GPS, Courtesy of the Trading Post and Lowrance

Fill in the visitor feedback form at the back of your Official Boat Show Program and drop in one of the specially marked entry boxes at the exit and you could win a Lowrance LHR-80handheld VHF radio/GPS or a LVR-250VHF radio – both valued at $399.