Innaugural Mondy Muster 2008 - Barra, Beer, and a Barrel of laughs

[rc@hinze]

Thanks for the report Tony and congratulations on the win. Sounds like you had a great time fishing, boating and socialising. We were all hungry to read a report after so much build up over the weeks in the Mondy post. There were many of us green with envy that we could not go up there for the Muster to meet and put faces to the names. Enjoyed reading about you playing that fish and sounds like Les was a big help also and good to see his photos. Looking forward to all the other reports filtering in. - cheers Richard

[nipsta]

hi tony and all thanks for a great weekend really enjoyed darryls version of the lettering off the map absolute classic if yous ever get the chance get him to tell yaa how he describes the lettering . also well done tony good to see your face when yous got back $1.12 pb wow the smile was well if you where a lady you would have hads ipstick on ya ears. im not sure if that was cause or if the speed of les boat but i say more like the ripper fish you caught on your first plastic well done. First ever mondy muster champ hopefully one off us can have that trophy next year to hang on our walls
I say if les stll has his block that might be a goer i reckon i would put in a donation toward hiring of needed facility im sure the rest would as well . I gather no one has heard from steve b i say his head would still be hurting after the sherberts anyway was a great time meeting you all and look forward to catching up soon

[TonyM]

haha yes Daryl's description of the lettering was a hoot!

Re the trophy - Mate I'll be back next year to personally hand it to the next winner, although I have to say that I reckon we were all winners as you would be hard pushed to have more fun with your clothes on than you can have at the Mondy Muster!

Re the grin - I'd say about 50/50 mate! I'm ashamed to say I told Les he was an absolute Bastard (yes with a capital B) as I have now been corrupted and will be scheming and plotting to get one of those mozzies in my driveway as I think I feel a second mid life crisis coming on!

hmm SteveB sure has been a bit quiet?....

[darylive]

Well I'll Bloody tell ya. It was a great weekend
Good to meet everybody and forget who was who I am flat out remebering obe name let alone two. Sorry about the spelling bit it is akward typing this with on hand. I was going toweight till tomorrw hopfully I can take the brace off my arm then but havin read all the post so far I had to ave a go.

I started Friday early to get a eraly get away, Some of you had asked about the leaders I had been making so I had made a few to bring, do you think I could find the bloody things in the shed nah turned it upside down for an hour. As you saw I had some stickers made up and wanted to put them on the boat to celebrate the inaugral Monster muster (Monster more likely ). So I got the sticker one one side but unfortunately having gone to thr trouble of getting them made put the first one too high on the boat Bloody lucky I woke up to that and got the other side right! Unfortunately they were not the same hiight which upset compulsive obsesive mental condition. Any way doesn't matter after unpluggeing the lectric. (yes it was charged up before I left) I got the gear out ofh te shed and managed to get the old Patrol to start. I need a kit in the carbie they reckon but who has the money for that when you know you are going to foxies) :huh: so the truck fired up and I am off. After a last minute check of the thread of course. So about 10.30 woo hoo on the road, not so early .

Any way about half an hour up the road I am look back at the boat as one does thinking how clear the view was out the back. Bloody luck I realised me bloody swag wasn't in the back kids must have taken it out for a sleep over. Too old to be cold so turn the rig around and half an hour back. Bloody lucky because when I got the swag from the shed there was me new net I got from foxie last time still sittin there bloody lucky might need that; I didn't

Any way half an hour later I am back where I was an hour before, so much for an early get away but everything is sweet and the wireless is even workin most of the time.

Friday Arvo called saw Foxie, ended up with a few more lures another rod and reel ( lucky i didn't waste money on that carby) Got to the dam and called in the office had a yarn to Rob and filled him in as he claimed not to about Ausfish he admired the sticker on the boat, more about that later.

Any way got camp set despite an old mate there nothing to do with Ausfish chewing my ear about his boat battery, wasn't he in the wrong department?

Then to the camp kitchen to meet and greet all these strange fellows with two namse. That went on for some time but I am pleased I went to bed before the port incident especially when I saw Mike the next day up the dam. Actually I saw him a few times firstly to ask where the hell we were. I knew he was crook when he turned down a free XXXX. Actually he did that a few time becasue I keept coming back offerring him one . At the ramp I found a thermos of coffee I made the day before and figured that looks good, I had forgotten the cup so tried to drink from the thermos, Don't try this at home!! Bloody coffee all over the new Kakoda shirt, crap! put the thermose on the passenger seat and it fell over filleing the sheep skin seat cover with coffee and all over my Bassin Qld vest, turned out that wasn't so bad because some one spinched the bloody vest that night any way. I was thinking bloody lucky, I could have been badly burned not just scolded.

Great spot up there in all those sticks. Did I mention my bloody eletric wouldn't work, Bloody lucky bloody lucky I didn't get into more trouble than I did in the sticks on me own with no electric and the wind strong enough to blow the bloody scales off a barra if he were to lift his head. Turned out no barra lifted their heads, bloody lucky. I give you the drum it is a night mare tryin to negotioate that forest flickin lures with no lectric on ya own racing back and forward to the yamaha. lures lost tangles in trees bloody lucky there are always more lures I suppose and I like shoppin for lures . I fished into the night but with the bloody battery flat I ended up trolling the basin because it was the only way to keep the lights on. I had come back to the basin, I wasn't risking being up the bush with no power after dark. You know with no battery power, the bloody sounder doesn't work or the GPS! Bloody lucky I found my way back, I did have to stop for directions, those reflectors are a great idea foxie.

On the topic of fishin I ploughed around the basin for a little while and got enough charge to get the souder to work bloody lucky, for aboput two minutes. But long enough to find 23 degrees water temp. Yes as I have said despite the sooth sayers that dam wall get hot during the day and warms the water I caould a big girl there on a previous trip but don't tell anyone . Any way I managed to find the ramp again the steep concrete bastard because I missed the other one bloody lucky. I was pleased to get back to the ramp! at the ramp the motor was jammed down, how handy is that? Bloody lucky I didn't slam into something fortunately my trailer has some clearance. I can tell you the novelty was wearing off when I couldn't gat that motor up.

Got back to camp without hitting any roos. Went for a shower, forgot the towel bloody lucky I had those long short to dry myself. Back at the tent I realised I had left my Bassin Qld vest in the shower. (the one with coffee over it) bloody lucky, lucky for some thievin bastard. It is a one off so I will know it if I see it, I recognise the bloody coffee stains.

Dinner was great very social rowdy mob. Presentation great you wouldn't believe from the post above the trophy winner had nothin to say on the night. Thankfully Mick Callop was kind enough to plug me in to charge the battery I had hoped something had moved in the boat travelling upo and turn lights on or something and thats why the battery was flat.

Well Callop and co Nagged around the fire telling lies till late and managed to get me on the port, bloody lucky there was only half a bottle left . I am pleased I went to bed befor the bewttching hour. Next morning most were up and away. I was determined to have another fish with a fully charged electric. So down to the ramp woo hoo! motored up the the second bay in the sticks. And nothing in the way of power almost enough to make me swear. Bloody lucky it was daylight. any way despite the gale force winds I am bloody fishin! I got out my favourit Scorpion on my Pflueger Barra impoundment (Foxie special) thats when I reralised it was one of those lure colour they don't make any more. Any way flick wizzzzz over a bastard tree and the bloody tree would not surrender it. No electric! gale force winds on my own . Well that tree was not keeping my favourite without a fight. Back off reel mucked around tied off to tree. Bloody luck I had a strike back, the flash fibre glass pole ones that go up trees. Well I can tell you those bastards don't float!. And I didn't do my bung arm any good wrestling with that bloody tree for my lure.. Heres another thing bloody lucky when I stumbled I only stood on my old Daiwa millionare, you wouldn't think those steel hadles would bend but they do.

Back to the ramp, back to camp, packed up, checked with Rob at the shop no one handed in my Bassin vest. Because I had the sticker on the boat he thought I had some say in things so I wore the story of the night before, apparently the party got rowdy in the early hours of the morning. He was good enough to tell me ten campers complained and said they would not be back. He was disapointed . He did say there is a spot out of the way down a track we could have next year but with no facilities. My view is surley we can have a good time without upsetting the locals. Most importantly no one handed in my vest. I too needed a coupla cans of V to get home. I got them at the road house when I got the schnitzle burger from the hot box. That seemed like a good idea at the time but somet imes that hot boxe stuff doesn't last real well
I was crook within an hour .

As it turned out there hadn't been a light on on the boat to flatted the battery. It is fried bloody lucky they have more where that come from.

When I got Home I am informed the bloody puppy jumped off the verandah and smashed a leg. . BLOODY LUCKY! for $1.500 at the vet put plates in its leg. A 3 month old overwound jack russlle.

BLOODY LUCKY I was not makin the descisions or the BLOODY dog would not have survived I give you the drum! I would have come back from the vet with bad news.

See you next year.

Would like to have caught up with Roo and the Missus, what's the go? Don't you like fishin?

See you next year but be careful don't be killin our kangaroos and scaring the bloody monkeys!

[Obi _ Wan]

Thanks for the reports guys, its been great.

Unfortunately i missed most of you when i called in to Mondy on Friday, wished i could have stayed.

Now tell me, Did The Mighty Whitey tell the storey about Nagg seeing a "Monkey" on their way to Mondy????

Cheers,
John.

[darylive]

yOU Won't believe this I am trying to up loadPics and I think my bloody flash card just crashed!


Crap! pics flashed up then disapeared then a bloody error message!

[Peter4]

G'day Daryl,

Great report. Other than no fish it sounds like you are the luckiest bloke alive........

Hope to catch up with you next year!

Regs

Pete

[rc@hinze]

Bloody good entertaining report Daryl .

[whykickacatalong]

Great report Tony and others. Great looking tub of a fish too. Looking forward to New Years on the Dam with Tony again. Last Barra I caught was on Newyears 06/07 with Tony. A wee 90cm one that when wrapping me around a underwater log and Tony was on his knees carefully pulling the braid off saying that he cant afford to loose anymore finger . Maybe he's my good luck barra charm

[TonyM]

Great report Tony and others. Great looking tub of a fish too. Looking forward to New Years on the Dam with Tony again. Last Barra I caught was on Newyears 06/07 with Tony. A wee 90cm one that when wrapping me around a underwater log and Tony was on his knees carefully pulling the braid off saying that he cant afford to loose anymore finger . Maybe he's my good luck barra charm

Thanks Al, will be great to get out for a fish with you again mate!

You forget to mention the fact that your rod got snapped in half and after I unwrapped it from the log (geez it cut deep into the log!) you landed it with only about 18 inches of rod left with the rest dangling off the line! What a momentous capture that was

[mylestom]

Well I'll Bloody tell ya. It was a great weekend
Back to the ramp, back to camp, packed up, checked with Rob at the shop no one handed in my Bassin vest. Because I had the sticker on the boat he thought I had some say in things so I wore the story of the night before, apparently the party got rowdy in the early hours of the morning. He was good enough to tell me ten campers complained and said they would not be back. He was disapointed . He did say there is a spot out of the way down a track we could have next year but with no facilities. My view is surley we can have a good time without upsetting the locals.

Congratulations (to those) who organised an Ausfish get together, however am very concerned on the bad feedback.

Darylive think you hit the nail on the head.

People have a business to run, with guests (who they what to return and recommend their facilities to others).

A good time is welcome, but consideration for others is something that I would expect myself.

Disappointed
Trev

[nipsta]

Congratulations (to those) who organised an Ausfish get together, however am very concerned on the bad feedback.

Darylive think you hit the nail on the head.

People have a business to run, with guests (who they what to return and recommend their facilities to others).

A good time is welcome, but consideration for others is something that I would expect myself.

Disappointed
Trev

i agree in we have to be respectfull for sure and it was not intended to go on as long as it did ( not that i was awake to know of the events ) but in the other sense this fishing site is responsible for some of the best free advertising i have ever seen for some of these places , brands and fishing companys so we are also recomenders as much as the next im not condoning bad behaviour i just making a point that the publicity this site gives the locations is sometimes forgoton . This evenet was a spur of the moment thing and we have learnt a lesson for next year to find a place where we can let our hair down and not disturb the other visitors and bring heat on our selfs

[Steve B]

Hi guys,

Firstly How great it was to meet you all. Some for the first time!!! A big CONGRATULATIONS to Tony M for getting his awesome fish..It was a great result and much deserved to a great bloke too. Good on ya Les for taking him out too. Thats what the Ausfish spirit is all about. Something like that wouldn't have occoured as a rule at a general fishing camp. It took this muster for it to happen, and Tony may never have experienced that awesome catch otherwise. To all the other blokes and girls who shared stories, it was a top time to be associated with. Thanks to NAGG (chris) for being the backbone of the muster. His speech came from the heart, and it was finally great to catch up with him. Hes now at Awoonga with Trev....I ponder how many thousand fish they have hooked there. Everyone who travelled massive distances...good on ya and thanks. Glad you all got home safe. I just wish the FISH helped out some more by being cooperative. It was certainly tough over the weekend. I know I was dredding coming in with a doughnut...when I heard there were plenty others I didn feel quite so bad. Another big thanks was the great day I had with two top blokes Big Ren (paul) and Etomg (ben).....I have never had so much fun without hooking a fish!! The boys, in conjunctions with the creatures of black destuction (vinny and Navi) had me in stitches of laughter all day..... Paul you boat rocks...it certainly travels faster than 'medium pace' Benny boy, found your OWNER hat on the side of the Bruce Highway. I will wash it and send it back ASAP. It looked like a enchidna had been using it for a home...and a toilet!! YUK!

I just been reading the negative side of things and I would rather it not be focued on. Well, I was part of the all night session, and in hindsight it wasnt the best option...but when we all get together with blokes we have been keen to meet for so long, it's hard not to have a good time...and yes time did get away. To my best knowledege NO one came and saw us to complain at the time. I wish they had of though. we would have gone to bed. I am sure the park still has adequate bookings.....with no thanks to the publicity given here on Ausfish of course. BUT I do want to appologise to the good folk who were accidently kept awake.

Now FISHING!!!!! What an interesting few days...The term "you should be here now" springs to mind. The fish are going off RIGHT NOW. Just spoke to Kim (the missus) her and Roo are having a field day on XOS fish.!! i wont say any more to steal their thunder!!

Last night was similar, well for my mate and I. I was suposed to fish with Roo and Kim (you may recall the lotion incident), but my neighbour has been sooo close to landing his first barra I thought I should bring him out! We sussed out some new areas (where no one else had been either) found an awesome stretch of water with good currents, bait, and feel. We worked it for a few hours drifting, tying off, working edges etc. At about 5pm Terry hooks up...finally open water all good. Lands a nice 102cm. plenty of photos with the new SLR and away she swims. His first barra. I think he texted every person on his phone shortly there after!! I managed a metery that SMASHED a twitch bait about 2 meters from the boat first cast after tying off to a tree on a nice point. All good.
Then the fun began. The boofing began as the moon began to glow over the hills. 20 boofs per minute in this big bay we were working is no exageration...I said to Terry, we should try some surface. He had a couple of poppers. I tied this popper on in a hurry to a rod i had put away due to a very very short leader (5 cm) but who cares about particulars when the hot bite is on!!! It still had the orginal little trebbles!! (4 inch rooster popper)

I lob it out into the darkness. I said to terry while he was tying one on too, "I reckon this will last 3 casts....then bang.....got poleaxed on the surface. I managed to get the fish to the side of the boat green as can be....one final jump and gonski!!! Solid fish too. I still didnt think to check (or even care) about the trebbles. 2 casts later on again...got him in eventually after coaxing him out of the woodwork! 105cm noice!! another 103cm soon after that...again on surface....During this 1/2 hour of mayhem, Terry had about 3-5 swipes and boofs without a successfull hookup...then after all went quiet for about 20 min or so. Im decided to put at least 1 owner trebble on my little popper in this quiet period...the orginals were destroyed. They only held due to good hookups (or angler skill humbly speaking of course) Terry hooked a nice fish in some heavy country on surface again. We managed to land it too..didnt measure..probabley around the metre mark, same as the others. We continued to fish for another hour or so....but all went quiet...we could have stayed but hey...we can come back anytime. So we headed home to Roo, Kim, Chewy, Andy and Jodie's house for a bit of a gossip and compare a few notes and photos.

For the statititions amongst us, the peak time was jjjjusst before the moon rose above the hills then for about 1hour max, As well as just on dark too. (about 3/4 hour gap.) Successful lures attracting attention over the weekend were for me.. Shimano twitch baits, Flaps (not just for me either), B52 (good old faithful),
A couple of hits on slickies, and a dodgey halco rooster popper. I have some photos I want to get sorted then I will post them.

So the weekend ended on a high note, I am happy to cross another local off my to-do list of 'must get barra this year'..there is no better feeling than that.

cheers steve

PS anyone wants copies of the mondy muster 3 CD collection, send me a PM. I guarantee it will provide entertainment ALL NIGHT LONG!!

[Callop]

Great report as usual Steve. Good to hear the barra are being cooperative. I can't wait to try them again hopefully in November. Looking forward to Roo's report not to mention Nagg's. The CD collection was awesome(if you ignore Miley Cyrus).
I'm off to NZ on Sunday for 2 weeks to do a bit of fly fishing so I'll pm you when I get back. Glad to hear the tooheyflu settled down. The ralphitis you had on top of the flu had a few of us worried.
Dave

[nipsta]

Great report as usual Steve. Good to hear the barra are being cooperative. I can't wait to try them again hopefully in November. Looking forward to Roo's report not to mention Nagg's. The CD collection was awesome(if you ignore Miley Cyrus).
I'm off to NZ on Sunday for 2 weeks to do a bit of fly fishing so I'll pm you when I get back. Glad to hear the tooheyflu settled down. The ralphitis you had on top of the flu had a few of us worried.
Dave

davemake sure ya bring back some kiwi port im sure naggs will want to try some of that next year at the "2009 MUSTER " be there or be square and this time we can all try some camp cooking in the away loctaions and listen to steves cds