Cloud_9
09-01-2007, 10:18 PM
Christmas Road Trip.
After planning a trip to Awoonga, it’s been a waiting game for months.
I booked in July to assure a place to stay and soon had a crew to come along, the promise of a big Barra was inviting.
My last trip there was a good one with 18 Barra for my 7 days, 4 one metre or better and one tagged fish.
This year, myself, Peter Denaro and Mattie Bowe drove the 61/2 hours there with the expectation of some big things to come.
After setting up camp which was easy, an on site tent with room to sleep 8 on real beds.
The tent also had a bar fridge and a basic fluro light to which I added an extra light outside on the patio of the tent.
Well you can’t have beers in the dark now can you?
We had a plan to troll till we all had our first fish then cast our arms off for each morning session and troll the evenings.
Day 1: The first evenings fishing was fruitless.
Day 2: Was looking better, 2 Barra to me in the morning session.
An 85cm and an 87cm both around 9 Kilo.
The afternoon session dragged on for no fish, in the end we had to cut the session short to play Good Samaritan to a dip stick that shouldn’t have a boat license. He set sail as it were in a boat without the bung plugs in and had a under age crew member without a life jacket. And when he finally noticed his boat sinking he tried to motor back to the ramp cos the bilge pump didn’t work anymore (probably burnt out from running for so long),
as I’d seen the boat running around for a while in the area we where fishing.
Anyway he was too dumb to even try to bail the sinking boat and he still didn’t get his boy to put on his life jacket.
We towed the idiot back to the ramp and that was the end of day 2.
Day 3: It was Matt and Peter’s shot at a Barra today, Mattie was first up having never caught one before. His first strike got his heart pumping as it peeled line for 30 or 40 metres before the hooks straightened. Time to back off the drag. The second strike, just a few minutes later had Matt having a tussle with his first Barra. A 97cm and 15 kilo it was a good fish for the first one. He was stoked.
Next it was Peter’s turn. He didn’t have to wait long, maybe 30 minutes or so and he was hooked up too.
As luck would have it Peter’s first fish has won him the first person to get the one metre club shirt. His fish smack on one metre and also 15 kilo.
That was the last fish for the day; we cast for the rest of the session for no fish. So far all fish and strikes where on my rod and the same lure. A Gold Viper 150.
We skipped the evening session with the idea to drive to Callide Dam and try our luck there. Conditions were getting worse the wind blowing 30knots the water temp. dropped from 26-27degres down to 24 over night.
Day 4: We fished the Calliope River and Matt showed his fishing ability. A few casts into the fast flowing river and he had his first fish a 25cm Bream.
A few more and his line was racing through the water with a top Queenie giving him grief on light line. A bit of rock hopping and he landed the fish, 45cm not huge but on 6Lb line a fun capture.
Day 5: Callide Dam, at only 10% it’s just a duck pond. But it fished better than Awoonga for the time spent. We landed 3 fish here.
Peter with 2, a 92cm and a 62cm that was bled and put on ice for our lunch the next day. I managed a 75cm fish here and pulled the hooks on another fish just before we called it quits.
Mattie was having a shocker the fish were just not playing the game.
Day 6: The wind still blowing we tried the dam again. We fished the morning session for no fish again. At lunch Matt made the choice to pack it in early and head home.
Peter and myself fished the afternoon session again for Zip.
We also made the call to head home a day early.
After talking with people from the caravan park about the fishing for the week, and found out the local fishing guide, was fishless as well.
It gives us a little comfort that a pro can have a bad week too.
I’ll be back next year, better armed for the prospect of cold water.
Cheers Cloud 9
After planning a trip to Awoonga, it’s been a waiting game for months.
I booked in July to assure a place to stay and soon had a crew to come along, the promise of a big Barra was inviting.
My last trip there was a good one with 18 Barra for my 7 days, 4 one metre or better and one tagged fish.
This year, myself, Peter Denaro and Mattie Bowe drove the 61/2 hours there with the expectation of some big things to come.
After setting up camp which was easy, an on site tent with room to sleep 8 on real beds.
The tent also had a bar fridge and a basic fluro light to which I added an extra light outside on the patio of the tent.
Well you can’t have beers in the dark now can you?
We had a plan to troll till we all had our first fish then cast our arms off for each morning session and troll the evenings.
Day 1: The first evenings fishing was fruitless.
Day 2: Was looking better, 2 Barra to me in the morning session.
An 85cm and an 87cm both around 9 Kilo.
The afternoon session dragged on for no fish, in the end we had to cut the session short to play Good Samaritan to a dip stick that shouldn’t have a boat license. He set sail as it were in a boat without the bung plugs in and had a under age crew member without a life jacket. And when he finally noticed his boat sinking he tried to motor back to the ramp cos the bilge pump didn’t work anymore (probably burnt out from running for so long),
as I’d seen the boat running around for a while in the area we where fishing.
Anyway he was too dumb to even try to bail the sinking boat and he still didn’t get his boy to put on his life jacket.
We towed the idiot back to the ramp and that was the end of day 2.
Day 3: It was Matt and Peter’s shot at a Barra today, Mattie was first up having never caught one before. His first strike got his heart pumping as it peeled line for 30 or 40 metres before the hooks straightened. Time to back off the drag. The second strike, just a few minutes later had Matt having a tussle with his first Barra. A 97cm and 15 kilo it was a good fish for the first one. He was stoked.
Next it was Peter’s turn. He didn’t have to wait long, maybe 30 minutes or so and he was hooked up too.
As luck would have it Peter’s first fish has won him the first person to get the one metre club shirt. His fish smack on one metre and also 15 kilo.
That was the last fish for the day; we cast for the rest of the session for no fish. So far all fish and strikes where on my rod and the same lure. A Gold Viper 150.
We skipped the evening session with the idea to drive to Callide Dam and try our luck there. Conditions were getting worse the wind blowing 30knots the water temp. dropped from 26-27degres down to 24 over night.
Day 4: We fished the Calliope River and Matt showed his fishing ability. A few casts into the fast flowing river and he had his first fish a 25cm Bream.
A few more and his line was racing through the water with a top Queenie giving him grief on light line. A bit of rock hopping and he landed the fish, 45cm not huge but on 6Lb line a fun capture.
Day 5: Callide Dam, at only 10% it’s just a duck pond. But it fished better than Awoonga for the time spent. We landed 3 fish here.
Peter with 2, a 92cm and a 62cm that was bled and put on ice for our lunch the next day. I managed a 75cm fish here and pulled the hooks on another fish just before we called it quits.
Mattie was having a shocker the fish were just not playing the game.
Day 6: The wind still blowing we tried the dam again. We fished the morning session for no fish again. At lunch Matt made the choice to pack it in early and head home.
Peter and myself fished the afternoon session again for Zip.
We also made the call to head home a day early.
After talking with people from the caravan park about the fishing for the week, and found out the local fishing guide, was fishless as well.
It gives us a little comfort that a pro can have a bad week too.
I’ll be back next year, better armed for the prospect of cold water.
Cheers Cloud 9