I warn you now - this is going to be a long post but worth the read!
My son, Kyle, & I headed up to Monduran on Thursday morning for our fourth trip to this magnificent body of water. It beat us the first two times but we scored 4 barra on the third trip. Well I scored 4 and poor Kyle scored none but was a great net man!
We planned our assault meticulously and had a new boat to try out. My secret plan was to get Kyle onto his first barra no matter what!
We launched the boat for the first time, started her up and pressed the button to power up the sounder. Nothing happened. Somewhere between working beautifully on Moreton Bay the previous Saturday to arriving at Monduran on Thursday the sounder had died! We had to fish blind. This was not good as the lake was about 2 metres lower than our last trip in March.
We headed to a shallow section of area B and tossed around a few lures. Nothing sparked any interest so we decided to try a shallow water troll. Within a minute Kyle is on! After a short but tough fight his first barra at 79cm is in the boat an hour into our four-day adventure! Woohoo - mission accomplished!
A short time later he is on again. 78cm barra this time. Meanwhile my lures are being studiously ignored. They were our only fish for day one though we both had a couple of hook-ups late in the day.
Day two started at 5.00am in a different part of area B tossing lures amongst the timber. After an hour or so without any interest we again decided on a shallow water troll. Kyle tosses out his lure, I start the engine and off we go. Before we have gone 10 metres Kyle is on again - this time to a monster! After a short fight and a huge aerial display this smart fish dives under some submerged branches and breaks the leader taking with it Kyle's favourite lure (a ridgeback torpedo in red/white colour).
A quick lure change and a short troll later and Kyle is on again. We chase this beast around some timber and Kyle succeeds in landing a 97cm barra. His new PB. This one was caught using a brand new rapala Xrap that it split down the middle during the fight (see pics). Another short troll and Kyle is smashed again and a 93cm model comes aboard. Four fish to nil and the pressure is mounting on the skipper!
That afternoon we found the hotspot. A couple of shallow bays side by side with the odd tree and stump. A few trolls of these bays produced two more barra for Kyle and finally two for me! Six fish for the day.
Day three we were back at the hotspot early. After tossing around a few lures we went back to the shallow troll. A smallish barra takes my gold barra classic and starts its fight. Hang on - the fight is getting tougher.....and tougher......and tougher. My Berkley dropshot is starting to creak under the strain and I'm losing as much line as I'm gaining. Maybe this fish is a bit bigger than I thought. Got my first view - holy sh*t get the net it's huge! My trusty net man does a great job but the fish is simply too big for the net! I get the boga grip on its lip, the net under the tail and I jump on the transom step outside of the boat and lift. She comes aboard as I strain my back - 114cm - a new PB and my first metery! A few pics and a bigger strain and lift and the big girl disappears into the depths.
The fish just kept comimg. I scored another and Kyle got two more.
We came back in the afternoon with a storm threatening. I'm on immediately and this fish goes ape. A few airborne headshakes but a quick fight and into the net. As I remove the sandviper the fish goes ape again and - ow! - one trebble is buried deep in my thumb. It begins to storm. A couple of boats come to our assistance and help me remove the lure from the fish and release it. I was able to trim the trebble (wrong thing to do) so I could continue to operate the boat. We bolted for cover at Steve B's house boat at white rock while the storm passed - then straight back to the hotspot! (I still had the hook in my thumb!). I quickly land another barra and break the net during the landing. We now have no net!
Suddenly Kyle gets into a fight with a big one. After a chase around some timber a big fish comes to the surface but we have no net to land it. Another boat (the same one that helped us before) rushes over and lend us their net. Kyle lands a 103cm beast and joins me in the metery class! He then gets smashed in some timber shortly after and loses another lure. Seven fish for the day.
Our last session on Sunday morning was a half hearted effort. After racing to Gin Gin hospital and being sent to Bundaberg to remove the hook (after 11 needles - and I hate needles) we didn't get to bed until after 11pm and we were dead tired. Neverthe less Kyle scores one last barra at 75cm at the hotspot and loses another while casting the timbers.
The final tally was 32 hook-ups for 16 barra. Kyle got ten fish at 79cm, 78cm, 97cm, 93cm, 91cm, 94cm, 77cm, 94cm, 103cm and 75cm. I finished with six at 97cm, 79cm, 114cm, 92cm, 97cm and 96cm. We also scored over 30 catfish - some of which were huge. We lost a strikeback lure retriever and broke a rod (on a small catfish!).
Despite all the problems it was easily our best fishing holiday ever!!
Pete
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. That finger sure was nasty!! When I saw it I knew you would end up in bundy for minor surgery!! How you fished with that cut off barb for hours after i will never know! Dedication !!!
