Hi All...
Felt like a fish on Thursday, and weather conditions still not the best for out in the Big Blue, decide on a quick trip to Monduran.
Arrived at around 6am to a magic morning, which was strange as it rained nearly all the way.
Took a run up the dam, on the way paying particular attention to some of the little bays that look like they may have what I am looking for at this time of the year, such as areas of water that have 8ft or less with deeper water at the entrances to them as well as bait, at least at the entrance, some structure that may be in 3-4ft of water is good but not necessary. Once found, its time for a few casts.
Within my first 2 casts, I hooked a mother of a fish, being that at this size they are all female. This fish was well over the metre mark. By the time I got through fumbling around with the foot peddle of the electric motor, because there was some chasing to be done, she already had me stitched up in ways you couldn’t dream of, found some leverage on a tree and took my gold B52 as a trophy. Mother.
Moving on and only far enough for Deb to put a cast back to the same tree, she was hooked up on another serious fish. We managed to get control of the fish and into a bit of clean water. Had the fish at the side of the boat ready to net, when she took one last big lunge, straightened all the hooks and she was gone. This was one of the biggest Barra I have ever seen and you are left with a real appreciation of its size when 20mtrs further on I hooked a 115cm and Deb’s fish honestly made this look small.
In another little bay, we manage to hook another 3 fish, one of which left the hook stuck in a tree as she went around, the other actually leapt out of the water and shook the lure free and the other was put in the boat for a quick photo, measuring 103cm.
Water temps in the morning were 22deg and only getting up to around 23 for the day.
The B52’s run at about 4ft and all fish were hooked on gold. The techniques were slowed right down with only gentle twitches of the rod to keep the lures only a couple of feet under the surface.
Our apologies for the photo quality, the battery pack lost its charge so all photos were taken on the Sony camcorder, along with some awesome footage, but the quality is not the best when using these things for photos.
Needless to say, we went a bought a new battery pack today as well as a backup.
Eric&Deb…