Dhipirri’s 2025 Fishing Season comes to a close
With the 2025 Fishing Season now complete, we would like to take this opportunity to thank every one of our clients for choosing to visit our corner of Arnhem Land, and chase our Dhipirri Barra.
We are truly grateful that we get to share this amazing place with you all, and are appreciative that we have great guides and lodge staff to help make your stay memorable, and enjoyable.
Like with all fishing, we had amazing days, solid days, and a few quiet days on the boats, but we know for the vast majority of our clients they left Dhipirri having had one of the best experiences of their lives, let alone the fishing exploits.
We don’t call it Adventure Fishing Guaranteed without good reason, Dhipirri is an experience – it’s not just fishing.
60 Metreys in two seasons – what does 2026 have in store?
Whilst we fell just short of our 2024 Metrey total of 32, catching 28 Metre Barra in 2025 was still a very healthy number. Every big fish a huge thrill for not only the new members of the Metre Club, but also for their fellow anglers on the boats, and our guides as well. We love celebrating moments like these, and whenever an angler gets off their Dhipirri Barra duck.
This means we have caught 60 Metreys over the last two seasons (and in 2025 alone, Darren estimates we caught 30+ on or near 99cm), and if the wet looks after us again over the summer, we have high hopes for 2026.
What was really good to see was The Glyde River, just 15 minutes from the Lodge, kept producing fish all season long, which is a wonderful sign of a healthy run-off ecosystem for our resident Dhipirri Barra.
Plus, we still have the beautiful Milingimbi Islands, Hutchinson Strait and Woolen River to hunt fish within, as well as some of the best bluewater fishing grounds right on our lodge’s doorstep.
We’ve been here for over a decade and there’s still new spots revealing themselves to us – which makes fishing at Dhipirri almost like a new adventure each time.
Also in 2025, Darren added Active Targets to each boat to assist us when the fishing got quiet, and to enhance our effectiveness in finding where the Dhipirri Barra would congregate during the run of The Glyde River especially.
You can watch examples of this in action on the Fishing Australia TV Episode that aired in December.
Let’s talk 2026 dates for the Run-off, Dry and Buildup.
Our available dates for the 2026 Run-off are filling up fast, but we also have great tides available during the Dry and Build-up, and our Darwin Office will be back in operation from Monday 5 January 2026.
To talk 2026 – you can contact us here.
New opportunities in 2026 to work at Dhipirri.
Some of our long-term staff are moving on now the 2025 Season is over, and we thank them for their time and efforts at Dhipirri. We also look forward to bringing in new staff to help clients get the best Dhipirri experience possible, so if you’ve always wanted to work in one of the most beautiful places in Australia – please visit our Employment Enquiries page and send us your details.
Sadly, we lost one of our very special friends in December, when Tony Mahoney passed away after a long battle with cancer. He was a client turned employee and a gentleman, and he was a brilliant addition to the Lodge for almost a decade. We miss him dearly.
Thank you again for your continued support of Dhipirri Barra & Sportfishing Lodge, and look forward to seeing you all again, and hopefully with some more of your friends and family in tow, in 2026.
Happy New Year,
Darren Nickolls, Sharon Nickolls, Rahni, Shawnee, Daniel, and the wider Dhipirri Family.
