EmmaLou Fishing

EmmaLou Fishing Creating safe, fun spaces for more women to fish, connect, and thrive.

💙 NT-based angler with a thing for Toga & tackle
WRFL Siren & NT President | Bass Electric competitor | Corroboree Park Challenge coordinator | Palmerston Game Fishing Club member.

One thing that I've been thinking about from SWB, was hearing about two women who had not even met before the comp. One ...
23/09/2026

One thing that I've been thinking about from SWB, was hearing about two women who had not even met before the comp. One was still getting her head around reversing a boat trailer. The other was still learning to drive the boat. Between them, they had it sorted.

You don't need to arrive knowing how to do everything. Sometimes you just need someone beside you who is willing to have a go, ask questions and learn on the go.

That is what I hope more ladies get to find... people to fish with, learn with and figure it out with.

📸 Nakita Po***ck Photography

Still a bit shocked to be writing this...I was lucky enough to win the BLAHST Rig Ready Angler Prize through the SWB Bar...
21/09/2026

Still a bit shocked to be writing this...

I was lucky enough to win the BLAHST Rig Ready Angler Prize through the SWB Barra Challenge.

A huge thank you to SWB Barra Challenge and Blahst for putting up a prize that is genuinely going to get a workout at our place.

Between the boat, trailer, road dust, muddy feet and all the gear we somehow manage to drag home after a weekend on the water, this BLAHST setup is going to earn its spot pretty quickly.

The R30, Underbody Cleaner, Foam Cannon and Jet Nozzle are about to meet a very well-used fishing rig!!

Can’t wait to get it set up and give it a proper run. Then, no doubt, get the boat filthy again... go figure.

15/09/2026

Some weekends apparently deserve their own soundtrack… 🎣🎶

SWB has been part of my fishing story for a long time, but this year was a little different.

For the first time in the 21-year history of the SWB Barra Challenge, Women’s Recreational Fishing League (WRFL) had a team on the water.

Jo and I have both got plenty of history with this comp. Charlotte didn’t. She came into the weekend as our newbie, ready to learn, have a crack and take on whatever Corroboree threw at her.

So we showed her the ropes.

Although somewhere between prefish, ridiculous Top End heat, lost fish, double hook-ups and plenty of laughs, we stopped being two experienced anglers showing someone new how it all worked.

We just became a team….And what a bloody team.

3rd Champion Team.
Jo, 2nd Catch Master.
Me, 3rd Catch Master.
Charlotte, 15th in her very first SWB.

But those numbers aren’t really why I made this.

It was watching someone new find her feet. Sharing what we knew without overcomplicating it. Backing each other when things went pear-shaped. Learning from each other. And having an absolute cracker of a time doing it.

So our weekend became a song… and then, because apparently I don’t know when to stop, the song became a music video. 😂

Show Her The Ropes.

A little piece of our first SWB together, and hopefully not our last.

Turn the sound up… this one’s ours. 💙🎣

SWB Barra Challenge Jo Starling

10/09/2026

Prefish done… now it’s time to see if we actually did our homework 🎣

The last few days on Corroboree have been an absolute blast.

With the big wet we’ve had and the Mary River system getting a decent flush, there’s been plenty to figure out. Different water, finding where the fish have moved and getting familiar with what’s in front of us.

And Charlotte… what a bloody legend.

New to the comp scene and taking absolutely everything in her stride. Every challenge we’ve thrown her way, she’s had a crack. She’s finding fish, learning heaps and, probably most importantly, getting amongst the whole SWB Barra Challenge experience.

That’s what these prefish days have really been about. Finding fish, getting comfortable together as a team and working out our game plan.

Registration is done. Boat’s ready. We’re ready.

Day 1 tomorrow… lock and load. Let’s see what the B**g has for us. 🎣

09/09/2026

Where it all began for so many women in fishing… the SWB Barra Challenge

And now here we are, with the first Women’s Recreational Fishing League team fishing SWB in the NT.

Having the very knowledgeable Jo Starling on board, alongside our newcomer Charlotte Reiter, makes this one pretty special for me. Three women with different fishing experiences, coming together as a team and getting amongst one of the Top End’s great barra comps.

We’ve landed, set up our Taj Mahal thanks to Murrumbidgee Outdoors Australia

The weather is extra hot 🥵 and the waterway is definitely going to make us work for it… but that’s SWB.

For me, this is also a bit bigger than three women going fishing.

SWB has been part of the pathway into fishing for so many women. It was part of my own journey back to the water and into a community where I felt like I belonged.

So to now be here representing WRFL, fishing alongside Jo and Charlotte, feels like a pretty bloody good full-circle moment.

Team WRFL is officially on the water.

Now we fish. 🎣

About ten years ago, one step could have changed our family forever. I still think about it.We were camping at Mount Bun...
07/09/2026

About ten years ago, one step could have changed our family forever. I still think about it.

We were camping at Mount Bundy. Just a normal family trip away.

When we arrived, we wandered down to check out the local fishing spot. There was a track leading to a reasonably level bank that looked like it had been used plenty of times before.

The kids came down with us. We looked around, talked about being croc wise and went about our afternoon.

Nothing about that first photo felt particularly remarkable at the time.

Later that arvo, the fellas threw a cherabin pot in.

That evening they went back down to check it.

Thankfully, they took a torch.

Because sitting right on top of the pot was this.

A bloody huge crocodile. Easily 4+ metres. 🐊

The rope to the pot was out near the tree. Without that torch, it would have been so easy to step out, reach down for the rope and…

I don’t like thinking about what could have happened next.

What still gets me is where that croc was sitting.

Right on the pot.

Waiting.

Did it actually know someone would come back? I can’t say that. But standing there looking at where it had positioned itself, it certainly felt like it did.

These animals are incredibly good at what they do. Quiet. Patient. Almost impossible to see when they don’t want to be seen.

And that’s the bit that has stayed with me.

Look at that first photo again.

Kids standing beside the water. A spot that looked well used in camping ground. Nothing screaming danger.

Then look at the second.

It was there.

We were lucky that night. Really bloody lucky.

Be croc wise. Take the torch. Stay back from the water’s edge. And never let a familiar-looking fishing spot convince you it’s safe.

Sometimes you don’t see them.

Sometimes they’re already watching you.

03/09/2026

Everyone sees the sunrise and the fish.

What they don’t see is the boat full of gear, the scrub-down, the vacuum, the reload... and the stupid o’clock alarm to do it all again.

A little reset before heading Corroboree bound for the SWB Barra Challenge.

All that work just to get her dirty again. Go figure.

Thank you Blahst for supporting SWB Barra Challenge. 🐟

This is coming around bloody quick… 10 days to go! 🎣I’m genuinely so excited to get back on the water for SWB Barra Chal...
31/08/2026

This is coming around bloody quick… 10 days to go! 🎣

I’m genuinely so excited to get back on the water for SWB Barra Challenge. There’s something pretty special about this comp, the people, the energy, and a whole lot of women getting out there and having a crack.

Bring on the early starts, the fishing, the laughs and whatever chaos comes with it.

SWB 2026… nearly time. 💛🎣

Small fish. Big attitude. 🎣This little archerfish gave me a hurry-up while I was flicking the pandanus.Definitely not th...
25/08/2026

Small fish. Big attitude. 🎣

This little archerfish gave me a hurry-up while I was flicking the pandanus.

Definitely not the fish I was chasing, but these little things go hard and put up a cracking fight for their size.

An unintended catch, but loads of fun nonetheless.

And how good are archerfish? The little snipers of the waterways, famous for shooting jets of water at insects above the surface to knock them in.

Never underestimate the little ones.

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