Roo
04-10-2006, 07:28 PM
After a last minute decision and hasty preparation, Sunday 24th September 2006, Me and the missus(Kim) set forth on our epic maiden voyage of discovery to Lake Monduran in search of the mysterious barramundi. ;)
We arrived at the lake late on sunday afternoon and set up camp, early to bed but hardly slept a wink. All the various bits of advice we had managed to cram in over the proceeding 4 days(I did say hasty :o) keeping us far too excited for sleep. Kim woke @ 2 am and then again @ 4am saying "can we go yet" ::).
Monday morning dawned (finally) and we set about breakfast and final gear arrangements. The camp ground manager had given us a map and some hot tips to try and we were away. Boat launched and off we go.
We started out from the launch area (not having seen the dam before) and once we rounded the corner at the wall, were immeadiatley struck by the enormity of the place. Wow that's a lot of water!! where do we start? well we consulted our map and headed to the first likely looking spot! after several changes of location and a few hours we find ourselves deep into a bay full of drowned timber and concentrating on bankside structure, working our lures through what we thought would be sure-fire fishy snags.
After about 4 hrs of repeated casting and moving, I'd cast my lure up into the shallows behind a fallen tree and was gently hopping it over the trunk before working it down a few feet and using fairly short and sharp rips to work it over the sunken logs. The next few minutes are a bit of a blur but the bit i remember best is a solid thump coming up the line followed by an erruption of water and the wide open gob of a barra just a few feet in front of me. My first thoughts were "I'm on, This isn't too bad" and then the fishy decided to go! With my drag all but locked and 2 thumbs on the spool.......it's powering off. It headed deep first but ran out of room so then headed for a standing tree in the shallows. I managed to stop it rounding the tree but we are very close to the snags so I delegate leccy duties to Kim. Kim tried very hard in the heat of the moment, but after a bit of a left brain moment,promptly deposited us well up into the snag :-[. I fended us off the tree with one hand and hung on tightly to the rod with the other Ok so now we're out a few feet from the snag and the fish is still connected (miracle No.1), fishy decides to have another crack at freedom and heads off with a blistering run and a jump and headshake (classic stuff) and power of around yet another tree and now my panic sets in. The line and leader have rounded the tree and taken off at right angles to us so I had to drive up to the tree and pass the rod around it to try and stay connected, meanwhile the fish is now resting on the surface just a few metres from us and in the process of passing the rod decides to swim down under the boat between me and the tree, trying to put another lap on us I think. Here I am hugging a tree and this bloody fish is right under my feet :o. next thing i remember is pushing off the tree and saying "he's right under us, when he pops up, net him"
No Pressure......darling! :-*
The story has a happy ending....we're still married, kim didn't have to walk home. The fish popped up and she netted it like a champion(collective sighs of relief) [smiley=love.gif]
Where's the bloody video camera, we would have to be in the running for funniest home videos!!
After dehooking, measure and a photo, we sent him back to his snag. He went 87cm on the brag mat and I can now say, "Yep' I've caught a barra" The sad part of the story is that was the last fish we saw for the remaining 3 days in the lake. We'll just have to come back again ;)
Cheers, Roo & the missus.
We arrived at the lake late on sunday afternoon and set up camp, early to bed but hardly slept a wink. All the various bits of advice we had managed to cram in over the proceeding 4 days(I did say hasty :o) keeping us far too excited for sleep. Kim woke @ 2 am and then again @ 4am saying "can we go yet" ::).
Monday morning dawned (finally) and we set about breakfast and final gear arrangements. The camp ground manager had given us a map and some hot tips to try and we were away. Boat launched and off we go.
We started out from the launch area (not having seen the dam before) and once we rounded the corner at the wall, were immeadiatley struck by the enormity of the place. Wow that's a lot of water!! where do we start? well we consulted our map and headed to the first likely looking spot! after several changes of location and a few hours we find ourselves deep into a bay full of drowned timber and concentrating on bankside structure, working our lures through what we thought would be sure-fire fishy snags.
After about 4 hrs of repeated casting and moving, I'd cast my lure up into the shallows behind a fallen tree and was gently hopping it over the trunk before working it down a few feet and using fairly short and sharp rips to work it over the sunken logs. The next few minutes are a bit of a blur but the bit i remember best is a solid thump coming up the line followed by an erruption of water and the wide open gob of a barra just a few feet in front of me. My first thoughts were "I'm on, This isn't too bad" and then the fishy decided to go! With my drag all but locked and 2 thumbs on the spool.......it's powering off. It headed deep first but ran out of room so then headed for a standing tree in the shallows. I managed to stop it rounding the tree but we are very close to the snags so I delegate leccy duties to Kim. Kim tried very hard in the heat of the moment, but after a bit of a left brain moment,promptly deposited us well up into the snag :-[. I fended us off the tree with one hand and hung on tightly to the rod with the other Ok so now we're out a few feet from the snag and the fish is still connected (miracle No.1), fishy decides to have another crack at freedom and heads off with a blistering run and a jump and headshake (classic stuff) and power of around yet another tree and now my panic sets in. The line and leader have rounded the tree and taken off at right angles to us so I had to drive up to the tree and pass the rod around it to try and stay connected, meanwhile the fish is now resting on the surface just a few metres from us and in the process of passing the rod decides to swim down under the boat between me and the tree, trying to put another lap on us I think. Here I am hugging a tree and this bloody fish is right under my feet :o. next thing i remember is pushing off the tree and saying "he's right under us, when he pops up, net him"
No Pressure......darling! :-*
The story has a happy ending....we're still married, kim didn't have to walk home. The fish popped up and she netted it like a champion(collective sighs of relief) [smiley=love.gif]
Where's the bloody video camera, we would have to be in the running for funniest home videos!!
After dehooking, measure and a photo, we sent him back to his snag. He went 87cm on the brag mat and I can now say, "Yep' I've caught a barra" The sad part of the story is that was the last fish we saw for the remaining 3 days in the lake. We'll just have to come back again ;)
Cheers, Roo & the missus.