5Zigen,
Luck wont play a part in your angling adventures mate. You have no control over that.
Preperation, planning and effort will though, and that combination is totally in your hands.
Leave any negative thoughts at home, they will only serve to hinder your time on the water.
Stay positive throughout, regardless of others results and believe in what your doing............the goods will come.
Most of all, enjoy your trip!
Happy hunting.
Jas
Best thread I've followed on Ausfish guys... a credit to you all.
Theo
TT
Thanks Jas, I believe youOriginally Posted by the_matrix
We've pretty much done all we can do from here, its just a matter of getting on the water now, using a bit of common (fishing) sense and working hard at getting those fish.
And if all else fails after day after day of a whole lotta nuthin, we're be phoning YOU
Yeh no worries. Two weeks is a whole lotta time on the water.
If you dont catch any fish in that time, my phone number is 1800GIVEUPFISHING
P.S You may find Callide easier at present. Its about the size of a backyard pool.
Lots of good fish in there though, but crowds can be a problem.
100 boats on Awoonga, you'll still find solitude.
There is plenty of fish to be caught at Awoonga, but you will have to work harder.
Its a sensational fishery though, and the surrounds that it has makes it one of the nicest fisheries to visit. The harder you fish, the greater the rewards I reckon.
You'll know what I mean once you visit the two.
Safe travels
Jas
Last edited by the_matrix; 03-04-2007 at 11:57 AM.
Guys,
This has been a great forum. I spent three days at Monduran last week and used a lot of info from this thread. Other than an eventful 24 hours things were pretty quiet up there.
We fished relatively light. I used a 1.8m 6 - 10 kg Berkley Dropshot spin rod matched with a Penn Applause 4000 and 30lb Tuf Line braid. A 60lb high abrasion resistant leader was attached using an Albright knot with a perfection loop to the lure. A drop of loctite super glue on each knot was also added.
We hooked onto 9 barra. 5 were lost to thrown lures and none to gear or knot failure. 4 were boated and ranged from 76cm to 98cm. Unfortunately no metereys!
The biggest fish (98cm) was hooked close to a heap of timber but made a poor decision to swim towards the boat rather than the snags! By the time he realised his error and tried to dive deep I had him under control in 15m of water and away from the dreaded timber.
To be honest I'm not sure how our equipment would have handled bigger fish amongst the timber but we were happy with our efforts nevertheless!
Pete
Hey Guys,
Great post, credit to everyone who has contributed!
Timely post as I've just returned from Faust a couple of weeks ago, and with the rising water levels the timber is fishable again there were a couple of occasions which highlights "tackling metreys in the sticks" to me, I'll try and share one.
As often is the case the fish were there but not really aggresive, you pretty much had to land the lure on there nose to induce any reaction..... so it was just a matter of time. Another boof sounded up ahead just as I cast a 12ft barra bait a couple of feet past a dense, solid clump of trees. A slow stroke of the rod and a couple slow winds of the reel postioned the lure a couple of feet below the surface, and slightly adjacent of the targeted structure. It's easy to daydream in these situations, we'd been working the timber for just on 2 hours, exploring the terrain, plying the slow almost meditative twitch twitch pause action of the lure at 'fishy' structure without any result....yet!
Twitch...Twitch...pause...half turn on the reel....twitch...twitch...pause....
My mate yells "DID you see THAT!" Simultaneously, my slumbering mind registered that 'something' didn't feel right with the lure...... the line felt weightless ..... a barra erupted from the water to the left just as the tension took up on my line. As I aggresively leaned on the rod, feathering the reel with my thumbs I sheepishly looked at my mate and said "I think I'm on!"
I knew immediately I was in trouble, the fish had hit me and continued swimming towards me giving itself free line.... and then taking advantage of it! As it cartwheeled in the air again, I could see the yellow 50lb braid zig zagging around one tree and between two others. The barra was heading back towards me and I could feel the braid singing as it strained. I eased the pressure on the line and yelled to my mate "HOLD ON", the minn kota was full noise as I collided with the first set of trees. Whipping the rod around the timber I was at the next entanglement as the barra thrashed behind me still taking line. Looking back I could see the barra was back in the main channel, clear water..... I might have a chance! Having cleared the last entanglement I was finally connected directly to the fish, I reeled in the slack until the minn kota had positioned the boat in the centre of the channel and then applied heavy pressure on the fish again. The barra wasn't done yet and accelerated towards nearby structure several times, using low rod angles and applying more pressure I was able to steer the fish away and back into clear water. A final head shake signalled the barra was tiring and shortly after, it glided into the environet along side the boat "Yee Ha"!
Although I'm prone to daydreaming there are a couple of things that I'm always conscious of when fishing timber.
Lure positioning, although this fish had the jump on me I generally try and place my lure where there is an easy out, I'm always thinking of what I need to do if a fish hits, how I can extract it from the timber. If I'd have cast over 2 bushes and through three branches I'd have no way of pulling the fish out, or getting the lure out for that matter. If I want to work the snag in tight or try and get a lure behind the snag I change the position of the boat.
Line tension, if I'm connected directly to a barra I go hard, I have confidence in my terminal tackle and knots and I give it everything. I know the limits of my gear and most people are surprised at how much pressure you can apply. If I'm around a couple of trees I give a little, sometimes it works and sometimes they tangle themselves right up until something breaks! I have continued to fight fish and steer them around snags in the past but every situation is unique and time on the water will help decide what technique is most effective.
Shorlty after boating this fish I was simply stitched up big time by a larger model, the fight was over in a very short time, not much could've been done about it, but I guess that's why heavy timber fishing is so addictive.....you never know what's going to happen.
Happy fishing,
Matt C
For the record the fish went 104cm, pic below..... happy easter!
Pete,
I wouldnt say your outfit is light, by trolling standards its run of the mill. Many even go to 20lb mainline.
This thread was about casting into the sticks, where heavy abrasion resistance is at the top of the list, and some tactics to employ in the jungle. Thats why we are talking heavy leaders and braid.
Most big Barra tend to head out of timber, but usually your line picks up something on the way through. Ive seen cases for both but in my experience its the smaller specimens that are best at knitting. Big fish panic once hooked and look for the safety of deep water. Its where they go when under threat.
What they pick up inbetween is what busts many off. Sometimes they are just steaming for the biggest clump they can find as well!
Its what keeps us going back for more punishment, the thrill of it.
Well done on your captures, great fish!
Worth the effort eh?
Jas
Absolutely!
Awoonga will probably get abt a week of our time and the rest would be spread out between Callide and Monduran (and a couple of other places that look interestingYeh no worries. Two weeks is a whole lotta time on the water.
If you dont catch any fish in that time, my phone number is 1800GIVEUPFISHING
Heck we'll be calling 1800GIVEUPFISHING and 0055BARRASUCKS if we dont catch any fish! Ultimately though, its the barra we really would like to play with, not to mention the Queenies and Mangrove Jack
Hehe, a good sense of humour pays a big part in a enjoyable fishing trip with ya mates.
Looks like your in for a good one!
Jas
Thats the only way to go Jas
My mate and I have fished together from the beginning ( I only started fishing a few years ago), and we've been clowning around ever since. In fact, mate's stocked up on tranquilizer (for himself) in case I bug him too much
Matt
Matt C, that was an excellant description of nailing a good fish in tight.
Got my casting arm twitching again damn it
cheers
Brian
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