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A cruise boat travelling along yellow water billabong at sunrise.

Fishing seasons

Make use of abundant fishing opportunities year-round in the NT, with each season bringing you a different type of catch.

There are four main fishing seasons in the Top End, the build-up, the tropical summer, the run-off and the dry season.

Fishing in the ‘build up’ between October to December calls for great fishing through inland water catchments, rivers and billabongs as the water temperatures start to warm, the fish become more active.

Cast a line during our tropical summer between January to mid-March, where all the inland waterways connect with the downpour of monsoonal troughs. Fishing is abundant across the coastline as well as the inland systems.

Claiming its name for the best season to catch a Barramundi, ‘the run-off’ brings a lot of action to the small creeks, billabongs and the mouths of rivers and smaller waterways. It’s also a popular time for fishing competitions around the Top End.

Cast a rod over the blue Arafura Sea in the dry season between May and September and be immersed in the peak of the bluewater fishing season.

Explore fishing seasons

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