Hi all,
Just returned from a week up at Awoonga with a few mates in what can only be described as a week of contrasts.
The Lead Up:
The trip has been delayed 3 times now due to the impending arrival (and delays) of my new Xtreme 520TC, it finally arrived Thursday which meant straight to the motor trimmers for transport covers etc and then all nighter Friday fitting up the electronics, LMF-400 combo guage unit and the new Minn Kota Terrova 80lb Bow mount.
My mate arrived from Forster Saturday morning and after a few outstanding jobs, we hit the road after lunch, called in and picked up some Horny Toads that McCod had surplus (Thanks mate!!) and met up with Eric "The BeaR" Grell at Torbanlea to do a quick exchange of S10's whilst Eric did some running repairs on my stick with one from his personal stable so I could throw the beloved Frog patterns. In camp with a beer by 9PM
Pre Fish Reccie Sunday:
Took the advice of "The Matrix" in his recent threads (Well, most of it) and used day 1 as a planning session on the water, OK, we did have a few throws whilst on our reccie but purely for casting practice, otherwise we stuck to his advice and run over the lake and into the Boyne looking for bait schools, weed banks and other likely fish signs. The High for today was that the boat performed perfectly in the variable winds - ie - Variable between 25 and 30 knots out of the South, South East!!!!
We found most of the bigger Barra were holding at 25 to 30 feet down regardless of water depth and generally suspended over tree stumps, ridges, creek and river banks etc but were very much shut down and stationary, conditions that remained for most of the week as it was to turn out for most.
Reports in the camp were grim too, very few fish, even with the No Blokes crews who were finishing up a tournie over the Sunday having only marginal success in tough conditions but what was consistent was the fact the bait schools we found were concentrated in the lower reaches of the Boyne which is where the No Blokes crew had reportedly had most success.
The Fishing:
With 2 crews we could split up and test our theories more quickly, the second crew were happy to troll the Boyne and into the mouth of Futter Ck where we found the bigger fish, albeit largely shut down and we points cast hard bodies and Slick Rigs on prominent points and along weed edges.
After 3 days, we'd managed only 2 fish released and a further 3 or 4 jumped off early, in contrast, the other boys had found a relative purple patch in the lower reaches of the Boyne including 5 fish sesion one afternoon from a 300 M stretch of bank!!!! The score after Tuesday was 9 to 1 in favour of the trolling team with fish in the 86cm to 99cm class. To rub salt into our wounds, Max managed to have our only fish escape a photo shoot and turn Eric's own S10's into a 3 piece
Time for a change of tactics. We knew that the fish were about but we were probably not working the water hard enough in the right areas. We moved to the now wind hammered Western bank and found some magic looking water which was turned chocolate brown hard up against the banks, these 3 or 4 points, banks and bays just HAD to hold fish. THEY DID....
Over the next 4 sessions our crew repeatedly anchored up in around 15 to 20 foot of water and hammered these areas with 110 Slick Rigs in Evil Minnow off the Egrell B6-L pointz Rodz designed for this exact purpose. We found that 20 lb spectra delivered more positive connections as the fish we just tapping the slick rigs not dissimilar to an under sized bream bite. Rattling hard bodies were impossible to work due to the suspended weed but I am sure they'd have worked if we could have kept the weed at bay.....( A yarn with "Harro" on Friday morning gave us the cure with a multi single hook rig he used to limit weed issues and minimise jump offs via super strong size 1 and 1/0 hooks. He also gave us a great insight into the Barra's vision and feeding habits that correlated well with what we had observed but had no explaination for in terms of hot bite periods.) Next trip we'll deploy those tricks too, Cheers to Harro for those tips
Refining techniques during and after each session improved hook up and land rates and eventually on Thursday evening I managed 6 fish, including my first metery of 106cm, 3 of them coming in just 5 casts using cut down Pro series heads and the 110mm Evil minnows in a hot session that delivered 7 fish in an hour and a half for the crew. SUCCESS AT LAST.
The fish in this session were sitting on the edge of the muddy water on the back of a ridge in about 30 feet of water and cruising the ledge, all of our hits came in the 6 foot of water depth as the lures made their way through the chocolate and over the ridge.
Back at camp, we had totalled 13 fish for the week and our second crew 9 fish after the lower Boyne dried up fish wise after the Wednesday and the boys couldn't raise the interest of the big units sulking in the mouth of Futter Ck.
Comparing catch rates, we'd faired better that most other crews over the week which really come down spending time on the water and using the techniques found here and in print media to help maintain confidence during the very lean first half of the week.
Hope it helps others yet to crack a fish at Awoonga,
Cheers, Steve
Reply With Quote
Re: A week of highs and lows @ Awoonga
Originally Posted by Take 2
