Awoonga / Boynedale Bush Camp - 1st Trip

[NormC]

Went to Awoonga for the first time last week. We drove up from the Gold Coast on Monday and came home yesterday (Saturday). We fished over 4 days (Tue to Fri).

This was our first Awoonga trip and our first go at impoundment barra. We stayed at the Awoonga bush camp which is a great camp ground. With the water so low though, the water at the boat ramp is a bit shallow and weedy. If the dam drops another foot, this ramp will be very difficult to use. It is already only suitable for boats below about 4.5m.

The weather was pretty cool overnight and in the mornings, but warmed up nicely during the days. The wind came up by around 7.00 AM every day and blew until after dark. Apart from making the fishing a bit less pleasant, it made the camp ground a bit dusty.

We only fished the Boyne River section of the dam and went North of The Bluff just once when we took a run down to the mouth of Futter Creek.

I was looking forward to casting lures in the bays. Although I spent a couple of hours doing this, it was generally too windy and there are only a few bays in the south with enough water and a bit of protection. No luck using this method, though I had a couple of what might have been head bumps. Need a bit more experience with this sort of fishing to be sure.

We resorted to trolling a lot of the time. I generally used the electric when going with the wind and the outboard against the wind. It was just too heavy on the battery power fighting the wind most of the time. We mostly trolled along the edge of weed beds and structure 15 to 25 metres from the banks in 12 to 20 foot of water.

After three days (5 sessions), we had nothing other than a couple of cat fish. I could sense that my wife was ready to head home, so on the way out on Friday morning I said 'I hope we get one this morning. I think we'll pack the boat up this afternoon (it's a roof topper) and head off in the morning. She was happy with this news.

Well, finally at around 9.00 AM, I was hit. I knew right away it was a barra. After a couple of nice runs and a bit of fun, he was beside the boat. As Kathryn dipped the net in the water, he headed under the boat and tried to hide there for a while. We soon got him in the net and in the boat. Not a big one; 740 cm and a touch over 4 KG, but a very nice barra all the same. What a relief. I wasn't looking forward to the long trip home without catching a barra!!

We had already decided on the way up that we would keep the first one under 800 mm and release any others we caught, so we kept him. Unfortunately we didn't get to have the thrill of a catch then see one swim away to fight another day on this trip, but we will in the future.

We enjoyed the trip and will be back.

Naturally there is a pic.

[flickflack]

Congrats on the first one mate!!

[DNO40]

NormC,

I called in there the other day to have a look see on my way out to Nagoorin to get some hay and I thought that the Ramp was almost unusable to a boat any bigger than a roof topper at the moment.

I am surprised that you did not get a lot more fish in The Boyne River Arm as this is where a lot of good fish come from, perhaps, as you yourself have stated, you may need to brush up on the technique.

Good to see that it wasn't a wasted trip though with that healthy looking little bloke.

The Camp Ground itself is good for peace and quite, but you do need to be self sufficient (although Calliope isn't that far). The wind and dust will not be so much of a problem after the rains.......... Yes we will get some rain soon.


DNO

[outrigger]

Norm C
I am also from the g/c and was on the dam last Wed and Thurs for a nil result for the first time ever at Awoonga.
Covered as much of both arms as time would allow, good on you with your catch it was hard work last week.
I am keen to hear a report from the comp this weekend. We will have another shot on Nov 4/5/6/7. the moon will be a lot more friendly at that time
Good Fishing Osprey

[NormC]

The fish seemed to come on a bit on the Friday (27th). That is when I got mine. Most others in the camp who had struggled earlier in the week did better that day. It was also the day the comp started.

One bloke from Kempsey had been there 2 weeks and had still not boated a fish. He was a bit dispondant.

My wife's not keen on the long trip too often unfortunately.

We are going to Fraser Island in late January for the 'Clean up Fraser Week End' (we go every year with our 4WD Club. Thought I might head up to Awoonga before or after that for a few days. I'll see if I can work in a couple of the other dams between here and Gladstone while we are in the area.

[Obi___Wan]

Congratulations on your first Barra ;) I have to tell you this :o You are now hooked as there is nothing else like Barra.
Don't worry about only getting one on your first trip, you have done well as the conditions lately have been a hit and miss affair. The fish are still there and have to eat but they become a little harder when the conditions are not favorable.
As for technique, keep your ears and eyes open, watch this site and you will learn from every trip you make.

OBI_WAN

[BR65]

Congrats on the first of what will be many barra mate.
I got my first at Awoonga a couple of weeks ago casting into structure along the bank up the Boyne, only 560mm but what a rush, cast, flick, flick, flick, SMASH.
Spend every wakeing moment planning my next trip up there.
After reading your report Im figureing you were trolling in the Boyne, if you dont mind me asking, what lure caught the barra?
cheers
Brian

[setthehook]

yeh i have done a couple of 1 day trips up there last week and saw very little. 2 barra on one trip but only 75cm and one wasnt worth rolling the mat out for ;D actually it was smaller than the rolled up mat. Met a guy that had been fishing 8 days for nothing and he travelled from canberra.....ouch. Although ive heard of one fish here and there lately its been pretty crap. But with the place getting so many fishos hitting it 7 days a week you will always hear of a catch or 2. I too will be hitting it for 4 days this moon with some mates bringing their boats up from NSW. fingers crossed.

[NormC]

Brian, I tried many lures. Finally got him on a Halco 4+ in colours that many manufacturers would call Elton John. A very pretty lure. A lot of pink with yellow and most other bright colours.

It is in this pic

[dan88]

a 7.4m barra, thats big haha ::)

[McCod]

Good one mate :) Glad to see you cracked a Barra! Hope you get to release heaps on your return trip.

Cheers Les

[ele-phrez]

great stuff

[SeekingBarradise]

Well done NormC on your Barra.

Thankyou for putting up an honest report of fishing at Awoonga - i agree with the other members on here that with hundreds of fishing hours per day on the Dam - one big fish will always be caught and put in the paper or fishing mag making most feel like crap for not catching a fish after a hard day or days casting etc

At the end of the day you have to say that no matter what techniques anyone uses - if you have lures in the water for a weeks worth of fishing and catch one fish that would have to be the definition of hard work ok lol It has to be - i mean really if you spend a hundred hours trolling those spots and don't get a fish thats hard work lets be honest now lol because when the bite is on you can cast a half chewed mintie and catch a barra LOL

If all the people we chat to about barra had a dollar for the amount of times we have heard people go to Awoonga for a few days 3-5-7+and come back with no fish we would be Millionaires LOL

Look out for a post on this topic soon mate as it might actually get the most honest fishing reports in the history of Impoundment Barra fishing LOL. I think we might even get a thousand barraless days by ausfish members alone on barra dams - let alone the average fisho who is not a fishing nut like we are all on here.

Great to see you went fishing with your wife - it's so nice up there and especially up the back where you were away from the crowds who hang around the DVD fishing area LOL -sometimes 30+ boats only get 6 fish between them for a whole days work.

Some stats that might interest you and make many of us fishos who have had hard trips barra fishing very happy.

There were 700 + anglers at the monduran comp and if you multiply that by the first days fishing 700 x 12hours + 8400 fishing hours - this doesnt count friends and family fishos at the comp. Then on sunday 700 x 5 hours = 3500 fishing hours = 11900 fishing hours - you can take off some hours maybe for people who didnt fish all day so round it off at 10 000 fishing hours divided by the 50 barra caught gives you 200 plus hours per fish!!!!!!!!! Brutally honest stats.

Now thats interesting and a stat that is hardly ever reported anywhere in barra fishing. We try to chat to every angler on the barra dams when we are there and at the camp/boat ramp/ranger/check cleaning station for scales and bins for fish and kiosk and have had averages of 120 - 180+ hours for everyone on the dam even on Awoonga and its even worse in winter if you take the time to ask everyone questions and try to get honest answers etc LOL (photos etc LOL)

All the best for future trips and thankyou for putting up an honest report as we usually learn the most from out tough trips. We have even seen so called gurus go 3 straight days without a touch - some even had nothing for over half a dozen trips - Interesting!!! however this is not reported very often and hats off to those that do - because if we want people to go back barra fishing we have to keep things honest and not build it up with too much hype as it's a long trip up there to be telling people it will be easy fishing. All the best on the next trip.

Good Luck from

SeekingBarradise

[Shooter]

Congratulation on your first barra Normc. Keep doing what your doing and the barra will flow. All the best next time.

[Nomad62]

Good onya NormC,
I agree with seekingBarradise, its good to see an honest account of a fishing trip that gave a little less than expected, the fact that you caught a barra is testament to you having enough knowledge and skill to do what you set out to do, the fact that your catch was limited only shows that we all need to be in the right place at the right time, and this comes with experience, there's no better way to gain knowledge than putting the hours in, if every fisherman gave a true account of fishing hours verses catch rate we all would look at the subject a little differently. Good on ya NormC, hope to see you on the water sometime, Cheers Nomad62

[NormC]

If SeekingBarradise's stats are correct (150 to 200 Hrs per barra), I'm not sure if I feel better or worse. On the plus side, I only fished for 30 to 35 hours for mine. On the down side, that means a lot more time next trip to even things out!!!

Another often quoted stat is that 90% of fish are caught by 10% of fishermen. Other than beach and rock fishing (where I started many years ago), I'm not close to that 10% in any fishing category. The average time between barra for these guys would be far less. The objective therefore is to get the knowledge and experience to join to top 10%.

Bugger. Lots more fishing trips needed to get there. Life's tough isn't it.

[BR65]

Agree with all of the above Norm, and a damn nice photo to boot.
cheers
Brian

[SeekingBarradise]

I agree NormC - it's hard for those that travel thousands of km's to be in the know on the dam from week to week as it changes all the time - especially with dropping water levels making old good spots out of the question etc.

As for the 10% - yes i agree but again very hard for the non locals to be on the money all the time. And even harder to get the good honest info from them ha. Some stats from the BBB mag on last years Barra comp for the pro's where reputations are at stake.

I'm sure awoonga was the hardest dam for the pro's to catch fish on last year - average was around 14 hours casting per person per fish. Now if pro's take 14hours a fish - what is a non pro or non local's average going to be. 30 hours is looking very good now in my book ha. You can see how 100+hours plus is easily clocked up with non locals only on the dam for a couple of days for a few hours each day = a huge dam at that.

The 14 hours was in summer which is a biggggyyy. I saw a comp there in winter when there were were 80+ boats on the water and over 2 days we only saw 7 fish confirmed. Each boat had atleast 3/4 people on it - around 240 people - even small x 8 hour days x 2 days you get 4000hours total fishing time. You don't want to know the average for this one ha.scary! But this is what happened - no changing that.

Interesting note was that Awoonga was the hardest dam to fish out of all the Barra dams and i think Tineroo was the best. I'll have to track down that article i have it here somewhere ha as i always keep them to see if any stories change over the years and a few have slipped up within 2 years going full circle with opinions.

The competition guys had all the latest info - were all good fisho's - reputations at stake-and had pre fished the dam for the comp then went at it like the clappers as if their life depended on it - with a few locals also included who know the dam very well. Averages in this situation will always be lower. Especially when they are following locals to the gun spots. Many don't have a deadline to get back to work in tip top condition on monday so they can go at it all night casting without getting sacked on monday - all these things come it to consideration. This group is less than .1% of all fishos. If they were on a social fish not going as hard and enjoying the great outdoors even these averages would go up.

For a travelling angler from SEQ or down south we are pretty much forced in to another category -as it's not our local dam. Remember i think many central Queenslanders would do it hard at cressbrook dam against the toowoomba bass pro locals in a comp in the middle of a freezing cold winter - especially if carl jocabson fished the same day!!!

30 hours for a fish - well done i say as i agree with setthehook all reports we have got say it's (honestly) been pretty hard up there on most days with patchy bites in the right conditions - but you have to be local to make the most of them on the day.

Solution: Ausfish members in SEQ need to chip in for a chopper so we can fly up there (1.5hrs maybe ha) and get the best of conditions ha.

All the best up there guys and if you see us on the dam please say hi as it's always great to catchup with like minded people who love the outdoors!!

Cheers SeekingBarradise

ps. Mate i got these 2 fish trolling the same area = it's a nice area and holds fish.

[SeekingBarradise]

Trolling same area at night.

[barradise]

Hi Norm,
I was out their also that weekend and noticed a lot of boat trolling around the deep holes near lambing flats however I believe very little was being acheived.
We ducked up into the small creeks and hand casted shallow divers and got among a few fish in the late afternoon.
Nothing huge but great fun just the same.
Trolling the upper Boyne arm usually fish's best after dark, although that is being more difficult with the shallowing waters on the way back to camp.
Don't worry too much about the boat ramp, we locals move with the tide so to speak and will simply make another one when the the time is right.
John.

[SeekingBarradise]

Hi NormC it turns out you were in the right area as many comp guys pulled fish from the upper arm of the dam and all the tournament pro's were stationed up flutter and the boyne river arm of the dam.

We don't think you were doing anything wrong. Good to know your tactics regarding areas chosen to fish turned out to be right as we followed the tournament guys up there to see where they would fish to se if it was anything different to what we would do etc and maybe learn a bit etc. It looked like 70+% of them were in the top arm of the dam.

There were 2-3 confirmed hottt bites and they were both up that way with 20 fish being caught and many lost in 2 seperate areas up that way. They said " no skill needed you could cast anything at them and they would hit it - even on the drop"

The info we have said that it was only a narrow 10m strike zone and you had to barr the spot so others didn't steal it from you.

An interesting note was that people not far away from the hot spots got little fishing action. You had to be right on that 1 or 2 spots in the dam to have a ball and only 2-3 fishos out of 200 crossed paths with that spot because it's such a big dam.

Good on them they had a ball - wish it was us ha. We managed a 107cm for the trip thank god and dropped a 90ish at the boat with a couple more touches etc

Anyway we thought you would want to know this info. All the best for future trips.

Cheers SeekingBarradise