Impoundment "TOGA"

[scott_b]

Gday
Can anyone give me some help with ,what lures, rod and line size is used to catch saratoga?. Do you fish morning and afternoon or anytime?. Can you get them at night?.
As you can see I know nothing , any help will be appreciated.
Thanks wamjam

[BobbyJ123]

G'day mate, try scum frogs, fizzers and any smallish poppers.

[robyoung1]

I like small baitcaster outfits with shallow divers, and poppers. Prob lean more on shallow divers. 2-3 inch.

6 pound line is ample I reckon, but of course this ought to always be dictated more by what sized bait and presntation you're managing to attampet, rather than what sized fish being caught.

Try loading a 6 pound line up on the fence through your rod and see how hard it is to break one handed. There's enough pressure there to do the job with more "fair" fighting fish.

I like the evening, but have prob. done better in themorniongs, but they've always been smaller.

Have fun.

rob.

PS. I use small lures, and trebbles, which means I loose heaps more than I land. One day I'll get around to changing my style, as Saratoga have a mouth as hard as rock, and it's pretty well established a decent sized, single hook sets better than anything else. Which is why fly fishing is so successful.
That and the incredible amount of "follows" you get when fishing for these beasts can drive ya nuts when you use a baitcaster. Where-as with a fly rod you can represent the fly to the fish in an instant, after he turns away.

Then having said that I've seen some pics here and there of great Saratoga caught by some young fella drowning a worm under a float..

[woolybugger]

Saratoga hey! Time to catch the gold rush (Saratoga) fever...

I have caught a bucket load of them at Barumba Dam near Imbil with the largest being 99.2cms (I tried stretching it as much as I could to get it to the magic 1m mark)

We mostly fly fish for these, because it is exciting to see all the action near the surface. Well here is my five bobs worth that I have discovered:

Early mornings and evenings they usually roam near the surface and in the hot middays they tend to go to around the 3 metre mark (don't quote me on that) I have caught many during the middle of the hottest days.
Fly: 8wt rod due to big fish encountered and many snags and big flies. Floating line with 12 - 15 lb leader, which is mainly due to their boney mouths and have even been busted on 15lb. Flies are woolybuggers, vampires, streamers, poppers, muddler minnows and dahlbergs (small) to name a few and my preferance is brown/gold, blacks, and purple colours.
Lures: Jackels, soft plastics, beetlespins and spinner baits.
Bait: shrimp if you can find them, however I use stir fry stake approx 1cm x 3cm in size on a chemically sharpened shrimp hook (to get around their boney mouths) with a small hook above this to keep the bait straightish and not ball up, then a float around 1.5-2mtrs above. I saw this technique being used by a bunch of kids and they racked them in, so I use this when tied up having lunch etc and can honestly say that on a few occassions have caught around 20 ish Toga's in the exact same spot within an hour. But then again sometimes have caught a big fat zero.
I have found most fish right next to or above structure and mostly right up the Arms of the Dam, away from others i.e. skiiers. On occassions have had boats screem passed my boat and straight after have caught a toga in that exact spot, so food for thought if they are timid fish or not.
Sharp hooks and decent strikes I find.
Toga fishing is an exciting way to fish as it is very visual and when you hook one, they are like trout on steroids.

Take this advise with a dose of salts as others have their own theries which do work and I guess its like trying to understand woman, if you do you will be a rich man.

Good luck and if you can think of anything that I haven't mentioned please PM me.

[scott_b]

Gday
Big thanks . Shame I don't know fly fishing .
A mate and I are going to stop at Cania for a few days on the way to Awoonga, see how we go.
Early this year we stop at Barumba on our way home from barra fishing for an arvo fish and got five small bass ,wasn't to bad with 8kg rods and 50lb braid but thats all we had.
Thanks for the info wamjam