Monduran Day trip

[eotbmg]

Frank OO’s truck rolled into my driveway at 3.00am, a quick coffee, hooked up the boat and we were away to make the 3.5 hr drive to Lake Monduran. I had fished the Lake the previous week and had scored some reasonably fish up in J bay but we had heard and read some good reports that B was also firing. We arrived at the ramp to find that parking space was at a premium and after unhooking the boat Frank arrived back huffing and puffing after the “long” walk. We were always keen to fish a new area so we headed off to bay B. The wind was pushing all the warmer water into a little cove, and the splashing and commotion of nervous bait had us on the edge. Franks little silver B 52 was soon slammed by a smaller fish as a 80 cm or so became airborne with gills rattling and big head shakes the little lure went left and the barra went right. Bugger. Good start but unfortunately not landed. We worked hard along a weed edge and around some timber structure until Frank muttered “ Gee that was a big Garfish following my lure”. “How big “ I replied. “ Oh about 8 inches”. I quickly cut off my gold B 52 and tied on a greeny Bomber long 16A. About the 10th or so cast in to the bay and it was smashed by a big silver monster well over the meter mark, but again the hooks pulled.. After a few more hits on the bomber and not much more action I decided to leave the bay to heat up a bit and headed up to J. Not one hit where I caught them the week before. So after 3 or so hours back to B we went where the water was about 28-29 on the sounder [not sure if its accurate. I have put a post in Freshwater chat about hot water]. We worked the same weed edge as before, my lure was again eaten . Head shakes and gill rattling jumps a plenty. My new EGrell S 10 H handled this big jumping barra like a dream. This rod has a light tip so you can make 60 m casts along the weed edges without spooking any fish but heaps of low down grunt to show the fish who’s boss. Normally I would use a Shimano Curado on an EGrell B8-6 but the reel has died AGAIN. That story for another time though. This time it all stayed connected and a 103 cm was lead into the net. A few quick photos and it was put back into the water for someone else to catch. An hour later a very feisty 85cm job was also landed after he also impaled the bomber. It was also released. We knew it was time to go as the sun was getting low and we had a long drive ahead of us, so we upped stumps and ended up getting home to Buderim at 9.00pm.
The things I took out of the trip were that bays like the one we were in where the fish were active, after a drift has been done you need to let the fish settle down again, as too much boat noise will send them off fast so we were giving it about 30 minutes before entering again. Also I found the Bomber lures with upgraded trebles to ST 66 is a fantastic shallow water garfish imitation.
Cheers
Ben

[bdowdy]

great report and nice fish, congrats. cheers bdowdy..brett

[Steve B]

Great report ben. As per your post on water temp. your transducer was reading right. When the temp is that high, best off fishing deeper or hard up against shadded weed beds or bigger trees as you did. optimum temp IMO is about 25-29 tops. Or in cooler months...any warmer water than normal.

Well done and good fish.

cheers steve

[angler1]

good effort for a monduran day trip ben ,i was there for three days last weekend and never landed a fish wasn't through lack of trying though.

[NAGG]

Great Stuff Ben ..... I wish I only had a 3 hour drive to Monduran:P ... Nagg

[Fish_gutz]

nice work well done. I`m goin up there in three weeks hope its still firing.

[crab man]

Great stuff there benny !!
Mate i fully agree with steve B on water temp fished there for a week last year for zero fish till an old bugger took pitty on us the last day and said stop looking for the hot stuff fish that 26c temp next day got 7 barra 5 over a M !!! im there in 2 weeks hope we can snag a couple like you !!

[eotbmg]

Hope the weather holds out for you all heading up there in the next few weeks. I am already planning the next trip. With a 4 month old its a bit tough to leave but my wife is bloody good!!!!! Gee it was hot up there -like burn the souls of your feet hot. good for barra though. Thanks Steve will remember that when the conditions are similar to fish shaded areas especially the weed
Cheers and thanks for the responses
Ben

[SeekingBarradise]

Excellent report Ben.

Gee those Monduran Monsters have been to the all you can eat Cafe. Mabye even K F C!!! They are looking fat in all the reports we have seen on Ausfish. Fatter earlier than last year at this time? Can't wait to get up there the place looks great with all the weed back.

Great photo of the Barra with weed in background.

Cheers Kel&Lyndon.

[Big_Ren]

Nice work Ben. Couldn't believe it when you told me you were taking Frank up, just days after our return from Awoonga.

Was Frank just taking photos or fishing as well? ;D Sorry, Frank, I heard you did wet a line and terrorise some of the resident barra. Next time get em to the net eh rather than admire their acrobatics;) Have you got barra fever yet?.....we will convert you ya know.

Ben....nice gloves mate...have I seen them before? I need to get ya round to do some welding at home...so perfect mate;D

Seriously, good fish mate...can't wait to get back there myself.........you might even let me on your boat one day. I carry spare bungs;)

Cheers
Paul

[Frank OO]

Nice work Paul(Big-Ren). You catch ONE Barramundi and now you are the expert. I just need to let you know that I am bloody great netman (even though Ben did ask If I needed a written application). Without my expert guidance we may never have even seen them.
Ben told me that I was only allowed to take the photographs because he couldn’t find the button whilst he was wearing the oven mits.
Now before you start on about Barra Fever, I am going to Monduran with an expert from 21-24 November. If we catch any good fish I will let you know who the expert is.
I will be aiming at 111cms
PS Ben Apologised to me for yelling at me to get the *&^&*$% Net.

Frank OO

[Big_Ren]

I am going to Monduran with an expert from 21-24 November. If we catch any good fish I will let you know who the expert is.
I will be aiming at 111cms

Frank OO

Good one Frank.......Eric and Deb have been cleaning up at Monduran...there is nothing those two can't do....maybe you are starting to get a FEVER mate.

Have you informed eotbmg that his 110 is within your beady eye sights?......you might need to borrow his awesome gardening gloves for a majestic fish such as that;D

Cheers
Paul

[eotbmg]

Yeah i know the oven mitts arent the coolest looking gloves in the world but i know i can safely hold barra [after wetting them of course] with out the chance of a gill raker going through a finger. I have to protect my girly keyboard hitting, phone answering, computer nerdy hands you know. Although i wasnt complianing about the sunburn on the backs of my palms on the way home. EH Frankoo. If only Lee had a pair on my disaster at Armaggedon Bay could have been completely different. Your netting skills are slowly improving Frankoo good to see you are now following orders of the captain and not hold back netting the barra.
Hey Paul nice photos of the 114.!!!!!!
Cheers
Ben

[black_sheep]

Now now boys, Lay off Ben;) He needs those catty gloves - they have nasty spines! He also uses them to land the water dragons he targets when he can't get a touch from a barra;D

In fact, Nat said he was using them to bake some DONUTS on the weekend:o

BTW - did he land that Barra on a spinning reel or an Alvey??

[eotbmg]

Hey Navi,
One day you too will land a big enough barra to warrant the use of such manly gloves. Did you know that they are great for also tracing big black bass in PNG, Massive Nile perch and Zebra fish in Africa. The only doughnuts i have to worry about are ones that your on. Fantastic spinning reel to-never been smoked on it yet. Hopefully soon EH.
Ben

[black_sheep]

You IDIOT!!!

Zebra fish;D Aquarium fish - max length 3.8cms. That would beat your barra PB:o :o

Try Tiger fish - doofiss.

Now if you going to take this personally and get voilent, just make sure you don those boxing mits:-X Doh.