Borumba Hit and Run

[drunkenduncan]

4-30 start at the dam this morning had my mate Giles ( Zimbabwean Tiger Fisho) and myself heading out with the long wands to see if our native fish would co-operate and perhaps give me a chance to boast about the pulling power of some of our ambush predators.
We were greated with oil slick conditions, zero wind and an overcast sky, perfect for the spot I had in mind and also for a spot of surface fishing. I was up here the week before and caught a few small toga so I had every reason to be pretty confident. We passed a few boats in the main basin and one up in the yabba arm but then moved on up to the area I had in mind .
I parked the boat, Giles tied on a small surface thingy and we walked up to the bank and made our first casts. On the third cast all hell brakes loose. The relitive calm of the morning is broken by the crash of the water, swoosh of the fly line cutting out to the middle of the creek and the weezing noises of me now running off to the boat to grab a net( Some hundred or so meters away).After perhaps the slowest hundred meter dash in history, I return to net Giles's fish. A 48cm bass, the fattest, healthiest fish I have ever seen in the dam ,with shoulders on it the size of Mal Maninga.I was perhaps more surprised than him and just as happy....
We had a few more looks and takes, NO Toga... None even sited, but plenty of bait and surface action. Wind cut our day short, home for lunch but very enjoyable none the less.

[Apollo]

Very solid fish there - well done. What fly was used?

Got a feeling I know where you were given the background and walk in. If right, I was there on Thurs and got hammered and busted by a bass about the same size as Giles' one.

Anyway - great effort.

[drunkenduncan]

Have posted the fly above, We tossed alot of different stuff around but this seems to be coming up trumps of late.
Apollo... Not real hard to find out where this was from the pics, just a little exploring. I know that there are some really big fish in those part. I got busted up twice last week on a black jitter-bug and also had a really large 80cm toga spit a fly back.
Just another point of interest... walked up further than I have ever been Sunday.. Giles dropped a bass in a small pool of clear water in that duck weed infested area....spotted Two larger fish but our back cast wouldn't alow us to get a fly to them.

[Pete62]

Nice report there Duncan, sounds like u better get off the durries mate:P

Looking forward to getting up there for a look around next month.

Is the water to skinny to fish out of the boat or a bit difficult with the long wand?

Looks really nice water.

Cheer's Pete.

[catchnrelease]

Thats a solid bass for borumba - congratulations to you and giles. Its a pity that the toga were not playing the game. What size is the "surface thingy"?

[drunkenduncan]

Pete, both yabba and the kingham arms of the dam get to a point where it looks as if that's the top of the creek. I have a Hornet and I take it as far as navigatable then walk the banks. I saw another boat a little further up than i usually beach but i know it gets real skinny . I struggled with the backcast on Sunday due to the steepness of the bank (and lack of skill). Giles managed to shoot a few casts out to some clear pools and had a few looks by what i guessed were bass. If you do try a fly over the duckweed make sure its weedless. I would have tossed a lure with my spinning rod but didnt have anything that wouldnt snag up.
Catchandrelease the fly is about 30mm long. We talked about this on the weekend and reckon you could tie it about double the size and it would still work. Another point of intrest is that all the fish I have caught of late have been free swimming and not up tight to the banks.... any theories?

[flyfisho]

Very Nice Bass Mate been a while since I have seen one that big in there. I like your fly as well sort of a woolybugger with rubber legs and foam wings ? Heaps of movement on the pause well done !

Did you walk as far as the bracken or even past all the barbed wire ?

[drunkenduncan]

Very Nice Bass Mate been a while since I have seen one that big in there. I like your fly as well sort of a woolybugger with rubber legs and foam wings ? Heaps of movement on the pause well done !

Did you walk as far as the bracken or even past all the barbed wire ?


Flyfisho.... I guess we walked for about 1klm up yabba (oops secrets out). We reached a bit of bracken but turned around because the water started to look almost unfishable. Would I be right in saying that last year this area would have been all new water as if memory serves me correctly the dam started to fill?. If so it should be awesome once the cicadas start buzzing around.

[Pete62]

Thanks again for the reply. Is there a map one could lay their hands on for the dam. As a first timer it would be nice to know where I was heading.

Cheer's Pete.

[Apollo]

Thanks again for the reply. Is there a map one could lay their hands on for the dam. As a first timer it would be nice to know where I was heading.

Cheer's Pete.


Pete

Drop into graeme at Fishing n Scrapping at Imbil on the way there. He will give you the good oil and organize a map. If not, let us know and I will scan one for you and post it here. This being said, it is a very simple dam with basically 2.5 creeks running off the end of the main basin.

Cheers

[flyfisho]

Flyfisho.... I guess we walked for about 1klm up yabba (oops secrets out). We reached a bit of bracken but turned around because the water started to look almost unfishable. Would I be right in saying that last year this area would have been all new water as if memory serves me correctly the dam started to fill?. If so it should be awesome once the cicadas start buzzing around.

Yes mate it gets real tiger country and you have to be pretty stealth in the skinny water . The bank gets steep as well , time to bring out the steeple casts, last thing you think of when sighting Togas is the trees behind you. this is the areas we were fishing when the tide was rising. You can sort of see how steep the bank is with this one. And when you walk around especialy in the bracken look out for Joe blakes there really are a lot of them up there.

[Pete62]

That is one angry looking snake.

Pete.

[drunkenduncan]

Sorry double post

[drunkenduncan]

Thanks for the advice about the snakes....note to self,....... pack gatters. I reckon I will get Giles for a tutorial on a steeple cast.