Hundreds of anglers have again made the long haul to the remote Daly River in the Northern Territory for the Barramundi Classic, the week-long competition that has drawn Top End fishos to this stretch of tidal water every year since 1982. Now in its 44th edition, the event is as much a pilgrimage as a tournament, and this year the barra have had company.
For former Test cricketer Merv Hughes, a two-decade regular, the pull of the place has not faded.
"The first time you do it, you just fall in love with the place," Hughes said.
The fishing has been good. Flooding earlier in the year reshaped the river, pushing fresh water and bait through the system, and competitors have reported healthy numbers of fish. Veteran angler Alastair Shields described "lots and lots of fish ... they're fat, healthy, silver fish," though he warned the flood had left the river "a bit treacherous with all the new snags and logs."
The bigger talking point has been sharks. Crews up and down the Daly have watched hooked barramundi vanish in a boil of water before they could be landed.
"We've lost a lot of good fish to sharks, just can't get them in fast enough," said skipper Rohan Short.
The run-off may be part of the story. Charles Darwin University marine ecologist Joni Pini-Fitzsimmons said the freshwater surge could be concentrating prey, and predators.
"We got a lot of runoff, that could be improving bait and different prey of sharks, so we could be seeing a little bit of an uptick because of that," she said.
She also pointed to learned behaviour. "Sharks are smart. They can very quickly learn associations between boat noise, struggling fish, and an easy meal," Pini-Fitzsimmons said.
The Daly's other apex residents remain a constant. Saltwater crocodiles are part of the furniture on this river, and a culture of respect for them, and now for the sharks shadowing every hooked fish, is baked into how the Classic is run.
For all the hazards, the appeal endures: remote water, big barramundi, and a competition that has outlasted floods, crocs and four decades of change. This year's Classic runs through the week on the Daly.