Having moved to Bundaberg in the last two weeks we spent the Australia day weekend at Monduran after my lovely girlfriend got me a guided trip on the lake as a Christmas present (yup, she is the best).
We got there at about 5am Saturday morning to go out with Rob the guide from the caravan park who is a great guy and headed up to what I now know is H and cast around the sticks in some of the little bays and inlets. It only took about 20mins before the first fish, a feisty mid 80's fish and let me tell you I now have full apreciation of what catching a metrey in the sticks really means. A (relativly) small fish was a handful around timber, So the kind of pulling a big fish must do is near unbelievable.
15 mins later I had another low 80's fish in the boat and not long after Kassie got busted off. Things quietened down after that and we had a few swirls and bumps but most importantly I got to pick the brain of someone who knows the place well and got my confidence going that I can catch fish in freshwater (it's been a long standing hoodoo of mine)
After that morning we fished each morning and evening and while the fishing wasn't hot we were at least getting a fish a session or a hookup and bust off........ enough to keep us interested. However Kassie was not getting any which was what I really wanted after I had got my fish. She was working just as hard as me casting and I put it down to the fact that she's not the best caster and if 9 out of 10 of my casts are on target 1 of hers was and if it was slow for me it was going to take her a lot longer.
In the end on the last morning we got up really early and made the long haul to O and I were we had heard there were better numbers of fish being caught. But I suspect with calm conditions and high blue skies that the barometer was high and steady which was really not going to help us. In the end our casting arms and twitching wrists got the better of us and we started for home and to pack up camp but on the way back I thought we might as well troll the main basin back to the ramp and wouldn't you know it within sight of the ramp Kassies rod buckles and starts spewing line. Open water, no snags, good fish, I thought "Kas is in with a good chance here".
After a good battle and some strong runs my pump and wind lessons on the fence paid off and I slid the net under a great fish. Only 97cm but a pretty fat fish. After the fight was over, Kas says to me "that trolling seems a bit like cheating, I want to get one casting" God bless her, she be an esoteric, purist fisherperson in no time.
Best lures for the weekend were F18's, Elton John colours in a few different brands accounted for fish and browns and golds getting the rest but I don't know if lure selection was making a big difference over the weekend as everybody in camp had their gun colour or lure for the same results.
I'm looking forward to doing a lot of fishing at Monduran this year and I'll definatly be back soon. Barra may even take over my Bream this year, who knows.
Josh