park
23-12-2008, 09:19 AM
Also posted on Fitzy's website but thought I would post up here for Ausfishers heading to Monduran over the break....
Well it was great to to back up to the dam, I've never seen it so quiet with only a handful of boats on the water over the three days and not many more at the campground.
Day 1 12:30pm-7:30pm
Fished the weed beds in the main basin and the edges in Bird Bay and Jacks, casting hard bodies and soft plastics for pretty much equal amounts of time. Plastics, mainly hollow bellies were used more around the weeds beds and hard bodies, tilsan barra in gold, reidy's gold bomber and rapala x-raps used in the timber. Tally for the day was 3 catfish and one definite barra hit just on dark. With the moon rising much later in the night, fishing after dark wasn't easy and very quiet on the fish front anyway so I didn't persist too long making the decision to start early in the morning when the moon would be still up to make life easier.
Day 2 3:30am-11:00am
Motored straight up to B section fishing likely points and weed beds, there's a lot more weed since I was there last in early November. I was again alternating between the same hard bodies and plastics fishing 2-10ft water. All quiet, except for the prolific bird life and bony bream around the areas I was fishing so I thought I was in for a good chance early. I got a couple of light taps on a slow rolled hollow belly with no definite interest shown by the fish so I changed up to a suspending hard body pausing for up to 10 seconds to try and tempt a strike but still no luck. Switched back to a plastic again fishing it hard up to the weed and then back out along the edge of a steep drop off when finally a solid barra hookup at 5:30am! The fish fought well, jumping initially and then again after a good screaming run and then was slowly coaxed back to the boat where a couple of laps were performed before the hooks pulled. Bugger. I worked the area over thouroughly for the next hour or so for nought and that was pretty much it for the rest of the morning.
Day 2 3:00pm-8:00pm
Fished the main basin, bird bay and adjacent timbered areas but everything was dead. The wind picked up that afternoon so at the end of the session, just before dark, I chose to thouroughly work over the windiest point in the main basin hooking up to another barra 5 minutes before I was about to give it away for the day. The barra took a hollow belly in 20 foot of water on the steep bank side of the point. I positioned the boat 10 meters out from the weed using long casts out in front hard up to the weed edge, letting the plastic first sink down the face of the wed to the bottom and then starting a slow retrieve. This fish hit when the lure was half way back to the boat. After a good fight, the 93cm barra was landed quickly measured and released. I stayed out well after dark hoping for more prowling barra in the same area but no more action.
Day 3 4:00am-10:00am
Fished the same areas as the previous session for not even a touch for the whole morning. The morning was very overcast and the wind was up and down during the morning with it strengthening at 8am.
Even though the fishing was tough I'll definitely be looking at heading back around the same time next year, simply due to the lack of other boats on the dam and feeling like I had the whole place to myself.
Shaun
Well it was great to to back up to the dam, I've never seen it so quiet with only a handful of boats on the water over the three days and not many more at the campground.
Day 1 12:30pm-7:30pm
Fished the weed beds in the main basin and the edges in Bird Bay and Jacks, casting hard bodies and soft plastics for pretty much equal amounts of time. Plastics, mainly hollow bellies were used more around the weeds beds and hard bodies, tilsan barra in gold, reidy's gold bomber and rapala x-raps used in the timber. Tally for the day was 3 catfish and one definite barra hit just on dark. With the moon rising much later in the night, fishing after dark wasn't easy and very quiet on the fish front anyway so I didn't persist too long making the decision to start early in the morning when the moon would be still up to make life easier.
Day 2 3:30am-11:00am
Motored straight up to B section fishing likely points and weed beds, there's a lot more weed since I was there last in early November. I was again alternating between the same hard bodies and plastics fishing 2-10ft water. All quiet, except for the prolific bird life and bony bream around the areas I was fishing so I thought I was in for a good chance early. I got a couple of light taps on a slow rolled hollow belly with no definite interest shown by the fish so I changed up to a suspending hard body pausing for up to 10 seconds to try and tempt a strike but still no luck. Switched back to a plastic again fishing it hard up to the weed and then back out along the edge of a steep drop off when finally a solid barra hookup at 5:30am! The fish fought well, jumping initially and then again after a good screaming run and then was slowly coaxed back to the boat where a couple of laps were performed before the hooks pulled. Bugger. I worked the area over thouroughly for the next hour or so for nought and that was pretty much it for the rest of the morning.
Day 2 3:00pm-8:00pm
Fished the main basin, bird bay and adjacent timbered areas but everything was dead. The wind picked up that afternoon so at the end of the session, just before dark, I chose to thouroughly work over the windiest point in the main basin hooking up to another barra 5 minutes before I was about to give it away for the day. The barra took a hollow belly in 20 foot of water on the steep bank side of the point. I positioned the boat 10 meters out from the weed using long casts out in front hard up to the weed edge, letting the plastic first sink down the face of the wed to the bottom and then starting a slow retrieve. This fish hit when the lure was half way back to the boat. After a good fight, the 93cm barra was landed quickly measured and released. I stayed out well after dark hoping for more prowling barra in the same area but no more action.
Day 3 4:00am-10:00am
Fished the same areas as the previous session for not even a touch for the whole morning. The morning was very overcast and the wind was up and down during the morning with it strengthening at 8am.
Even though the fishing was tough I'll definitely be looking at heading back around the same time next year, simply due to the lack of other boats on the dam and feeling like I had the whole place to myself.
Shaun