The Mary River and it's famous Shady Camp & Corroboree billabongs are one of the Northern Territories icon fisheries for barramundi. In the middle of May the billabongs are just part of the massive Mary River system that runs near the western border of Kakadu National park and into Chambers Bay in Van Diemen Gulf. The barra of Shady camp love the deep diving 'Little Lucifer'. Fishnet producer Steve Edwards and I had two days to enjoy a fish with Mary compliments of Britz and top NT guide Mick Winterton. The Britz office in Darwin is huge with a vehicle range that would leave the American Army impressed. We wanted a 4WD and thus opted for the 4WD Bushcamper, a long wheel base Toyota Land Cruiser with an expanded cabin area. The Mary river is about a 2 hour drive on bitumen and then red dirt roads. Fancy having fishing like this only 2 hours from a capital city! Whilst the roads were navigable with a 2WD there were a few places where the road was still flooded and the 4WD had no trouble moving through. It is a big plus in the Territory to have a 4WD vehicle. The plan was to get up before Dawn the next day and meet at the Shady Camp barrage. The barrage is like a dam wall which separates the freshwater and saltwater (tidal) section of the Mary river. There are boat ramps on either side allowing anglers to fish the fresh in the morning and the salt in the afternoon or vice-versa. Anglers fishing the freshwater side of the Shady Camp Barrage. Something about Mary With the early light of dawn emerging we met Mick at the Shady Camp barrage and launched on the freshwater side. The Shady Camp section of the Mary is wide and lush with growth at this time of year. After launching the boat knee deep in crocodile infested waters, well there were a few croc's around I guess, we sped off into the early morning mist in search of the bronzed coloured barramundi of the freshwater variety. Shady Camp billabong has many flooded flats and the water level is high with the drains or feeder creeks being the prime places to fish. We stopped at one of the junctions between a feeder creek and the Billabong itself and anchored 10-12 metres off the bank and started casting from left to right along the edge of the reeds. Mick likes the Reidy's Little lucifers lures in orange and white. This smallish deep diving lure is perfect for this type of barra fishing, you can get the lure to dive down by two or three turns of the reel and then twitch and rip it constantly at it's working depth until the barra simply can't resist it anymore. Our guide Mick Winterton showed us the quality sized barramundi that come out of the Mary River and it's billabongs. Steve started filming as Mick and I cast away and in no time were retrieving small barra under and over the legal size limit of 55cm. We fished this little offshoot for 40 odd minutes catching and releasing barra whilst taking in the sights and sounds of Billabong life. After moving further inland and to the opposite bank adjacent to a weed bed in about 3 metres of water, Mick pulled out the fly rod and started picking up fish on his Gold bomber fly. The gold bomber fly is a Mick Winterton invention and there is an article in the Fishnet Library by Dean Butler that goes into more detail. Soon Mick landed a nice barra around the 90 cm mark , Steve capturing the moment on his digital video camera. I managed a few more fish on the Little Lucifer to round out a solid first morning session on the freshwater side of the Shady Camp barrage. Lunch consumed we launched the boat on the saltwater side of the barrage and commenced the 40 minute run to the sea on Sampan Creek which runs into Chambers Bay. The saltwater reaches are still quite turbid at this time of year with the run off water still flushing out the system. Steve put down the camera a few times got amongst the barra action at Shady as well. We saw some massive crocodiles sunning themselves on the bank, some easily 16 to 17 feet long with girths like small car bodies. According to Mick it's pretty common for the big crocs to take wallabies and other wildlife straight off the edge of the bank in one almighty leap, bank fishing access is certainly limited here! On arrival at the mouth the 'dirty' water was spread out onto the surface of Chambers Bay like an oil slick limiting any chance of pelagics like mackerel or giant trevally. However on one trolling run a huge blue salmon smacked Mick's lure and clawed at the sky in a desperate attempt to escape, eventually spitting the lure right at the boat. Otherwise the mouth was pretty quiet, a group of anglers anchored next to one creek mouth had caught a few small barra but overall the saltwater side action of the Mary river was a bit of a fizzer. We were back at the boat ramp at the Barrage by late afternoon where a few previously lazy croc's were slinking around on the surface just watching the world go by, including us. Several anglers were fishing off the Barrage casting lures into both the freshwater and saltwater sides, a pretty unique fishin' spot the Barrage. The author with a nice barra caught on the freshwater side of the Barrage one a Little Lucifer Lure, a stop start retreive and twitch is the key to success. Steve jumped off to do some filming whilst Mick went for the car and I stood there knee deep nervously holding the boat in the orange milky water with zero clarity. Mick assured me no one had been attacked at the boat ramp to his knowledge but I was just a dumb southerner in no hurry to make history.A pair of eyes appeared just above the surface only 10 metres way and Steve thought it made for some great footage and moved in closer for a look. Well I guess I'm still here writing this piece but that was certainly a boat ramp with a difference . Back to the fresh Day two on the Mary river saw us hitting the freshwater side of the Barrage again and we focused on one particular creek drain ad stayed put for four hours. In one of the best barra sessions I've experienced we caught and released countless barra on lures and Steve and I even managed our first barramundi on fly. A weed bed some 15 metres away proved to be an absolute hot spot with deep diving lures and sinking flies doing the trick. Mick's techniques work a treat. By casting out and diving the lure or fly towards the bottom, the artificials are twitched, stopped, twitched and ripped until the barra engulf them. Sometimes the hit would come as soon as the lure dived down or the fly sank, and at other times it was came towards the end of the retrieve almost back to the boat. That's the beauty of this type of fishing, you never know when the strike will come and it's heart stopping fun. Our best fish were just under the metre mark with many of the barra averaging 70-80cm which is good fishing in anyone's book. Lily pads stretched as far as the eye could see at Shady Camp Billabong. After we'd exhausted our almost insatiable appetite for barra we spent some time exploring the lily pads in search of saratoga. What a wonderful environment in which to fish, lily pads decorated the water surface for kilometres and massive flocks of birds constantly flew overhead in what looked like a prehistoric scene. After working our way up a channel between the lily pads Mick told us he likes to employ a soft plastic frog pattern in this scenario. Mick prefers to cast the lure onto one of the lily pads and then allow it fall into the drink. The saratoga literally take an almighty full bodied swipe at the lure and seemed to miss the target often, it's spectacular stuff to watch. In the end we landed a couple including my first ever which was pretty satisfying. The prehistoric looking saratoga are an extremely aggressive predator and great fun to catch amongst the lily pads. By late afternoon we were back at the boat ramp content with a great days a fishing, Shady Camp Billabong is must for land or boat based anglers and at just over two hours from Darwin it is an outstanding option for the travelling angler. Darren Reid Our Britz Our Britz vehicle was the 4WD Bushcamper campervan, it's basically an improved long wheel base Toyota Land Cruiser with an extended roof. A 4WD vehicle is of great value in the Northern Territory particularly as we were up there around the end of the 'Wet' where we had to travel on dusty corrugated roads punctuated by flooded creeks, sometimes a metre deep. The Britz just ploughed through these areas will ease. With 180 litre long range fuel tanks, gas powered fridge, hand held solar shower, 55 litre water tank, and other features it is the perfect outback explorer vehicle to get you to the best fishing spots. Built to accommodate two adults and one child, the bushcamper has full cooking equipment and stove, sink, table and outdoor chairs.