Monduran - the Good, the Bad & the Ugly

[Peter4]

Well done guys. Shallow troll eh...
Without your sounder i guess you were working along outside of tree lines or weed beds? I am planning my first sortie there soon after one day at Awoonga where we have done well before. I guess it will be the same learning curve as further north.
Give us a bit more on you shallow troll approach please
Cheers
Barraboy7

Barraboy7

We ran shallow running lures (Predatek Sandvipers, Ridgeback Torpedos & Barra Classics mostly) pretty close to the boat (at around 15 - 20m) at the slowest possible idle. Colours that worked for us were white/red, gold, grey/silver and fluro green. Barra Classics easily caught the most fish (9) followed by Predateks (4) but be careful - I had to replace/upgrade many trebbles and split rings as they were regularly being straightened by the big fish!

We followed the shoreline and weaved in between trees in shallow bays. Other people with operating sounders told us we were mostly in 4 - 8 feet of water. We changed lures every 20 mins or so unless they were catching fish. Lure changes were easy as we used the Jack Erskine Twisted Leader. We did not have any knot or gear failures though we came close with the split Xrap!

The downside is we caught a lot of weed and the occasional snag but we did not lose a lure other than to huge barra. The biggest fish (114cm) was caught very early morning in 4 feet of water next to a weed bed though most hook-ups occurred in the late afternoon.

We did 'cheat' a bit by following another troller who showed us some clear paths through the timber. All fish were caught within a few hundred metres of each other. It is a good spot!!

PM me if you want any more info.

Regards

Pete

[angler1]

pete good to see you had plenty of luck, seen you on the water a few times, maybe we should have came over as we only got three between a group of 5 of us, all caught by one bloke in bay c. they were around 86cm. we were camped near the camp kitchen, you can see our camp in the photo of you rig.

[mylestom]

Congratulations, good story and photos.

Advice to anyone travelling to Monduran, Take a sounder and a GPS unit. Great spot and well worth the trip to all those who enjoy catching good fish.

The depth of the 114cm speak highly of the stocking of this dam.

Good on the stocking association and all those involve with the caravan park, both new and old. Talk to the locals, lots of advice and great help. Great spot.

My favourite impoundment of the six that I have fished so far.

Next year will try a few more, but first stop and last is always Monduran.


Regards


Trev

[SeekingBarradise]

Great report Pete - what a trip!!! Well done and great pics.
Great to have more people reporting on Monduran - it will help us all out.
Cheers Kel&Lyndon.

[scoota_74]

Great read Pete, im lucky enough to live local to this area and am still learing about this great fishery. It's the info from guys like yourself and Steve B that make this web site so great. Thanks! <*}))<

[Peter4]

mylestom - agree with your comments except about the GPS. After a couple of trips it is easy to find your way around Monduran, even the upper reaches. We did not get lost though we saw a few that did!

angler1 - you should have said g'day. We caught fish every day and were happy to share the location of the hotspot. As Steve B can attribute it was still working after we left.

Good news is that my thumb is healing well and has given me no pain whatsoever, the sounder has been repaired, I have a new environet (extra-large size!), lost lures have been replaced (lots of specials at BCF), lure retriever will be replaced shortly and I have booked my next Monduran trips for January and March!!

Hope to see some of you guys there!

All the best

Pete

[crab man]

Pete4 Great report you luckey bugger !!! ill be there in 3 weeks any hints or just read the story again !!! cheers craig

[Peter4]

craig,

Look at the shallow bays in area B early in the morning and late in the day (after 3.00pm). Change lures regularly and persist! We sometimes went for two or three hours without a touch and then caught three fish in ten minutes!

Gold, silver and red/white lures were the go for us. As we did not have a sounder we only used shallow running lures to 1.5m maximum depth while trolling. While casting it didn't matter. Many others had success trolling deep divers in the main basin but there were far too many boats there for my liking. We got all of our fish more than 10km up the system.

Just about everyone was catching a few!

Good luck.

Pete

[angler1]

pete we are heading back in late january might see you there

[mylestom]

[quote=Peter4;706271]mylestom - agree with your comments except about the GPS. After a couple of trips it is easy to find your way around Monduran, even the upper reaches. We did not get lost though we saw a few that did!




Obviously with the water lower it is a bit easier, however if you are up there when the dam is high, or in fog or getting dark and fish biting, you will be glad to have the GPS. Too many people venture up there and get lost, then expect others to get them out.

Take the GPS.


Trev

[robbo77]

Hey Angler1 r u going to invite me next time or are you planning to go straight to my spot again.

[Tropicaltrout]

fantastic post mate well worth the read congrats on the trip those trip's make for a life time story good on ya's.

TT

[Steve B]

have to agree with trev about the GPS. I still uses mine especially at night and during the fog. I ran into the main point up the first basin coming home the other nite at 11pm. (reminded me of charter boat....what charter boat!!) I thought I was far enough around because I could see the lights of the ramp over the top of the point...VERY embarassing!! simply not concentrating or checking GPS even though I had followed the same path thousand of times before.

Hope the finger is fixed OK pete!!

cheers steve

[1337]

Can someone plse enlighten me but do GPS plotters work on dams/will your normal charts have dams mapped on them?

[Peter4]

Yes, I agree. A GPS would be very helpful at night but I've only fished Monduran during the daylight hours!

Thanks for your concern Steve B, the finger is fine!!

Pete