Tough week at Awoonga

[mikooh]

Well I have just an interesting week at Awoonga....This is how the trip panned out:

Saturday:
Departed around 6AM, all going well untill between Moonie and Dalby something flies off the trailer and very nearly collects friends in following vehicle, turns out that the handle has broken off the jockey wheel and allowed the guts of it to unwind and fall off... Arive at cabins around 4:30PM, unload gear and hit the water for a quick fish. cast slickies and hollowbellys till 9, no joy so we call it a night.
Sunday:
Hit the water around 9AM, spent a few hrs exploring, then anchored up in a shallow weedy bay with a gentle easterly pushing into it. half an hour later my hollowbelly is smashed as soon as it hits the water! Things are looking good as a pretty little 60cm fish dances its way into the net . A few pics and she swims off into the weed to grow a bit more. We then move to another weedy point and the pattern repeats- half an hour into it my hollowbelly is smashed, but this time the fish wins, and my 80lb leader comes back worn through. 3 or 4 good hits follow without the hook finding the mark before we call it quits to watch manly claim the trophy.

Monday:
Hit the water at 5AM, the lake is glassed out so we opt to use the leccy to work around a few bays, and around 7 my hollowbelly is inhaled right beside the boat!! A nice 80cm fish puts up a spirited display before being brought aboard for a happy snap. We fish the same area for a few more hours, getting plenty of hits and watching barra eyeball our lures right up to the boat in the calm conditions. We had a siesta for a few hours thn head back out to fish points into the night for 7 hits and 3 hookups, all spat out mid battle

Tuesday: Fish morning and evening for doughnuts...a few hits to keep us interested but no scales in the boat

Wednesday:
Same as Tuesday....A stiff arvo ESE breeze signals a change is comeing.

Thursday:
Go exploring new areas- no joy. Head back to previous honey holes for some timid strikes and taps. Meet up with uncle and mates on the water for a beer around 8pm..talk about catchin 1200's for a while, then head to the ramp at 9. uncle calls up on the UHF as we load the boat that he has trolled up a 1320 right where we were stopped....oh the irony!!!

Friday:
The weather is terrible, but as two of my mates and my GF are yet to land a fish we head out into the teeming rain for a last ditch effort.. trolled for a few hrs ( it was to miserable to cast) mate broke his drought with an 88 and a 106! to wet for camera so no pics . Get smashed up as we cross the basin across a good soueaster, but it was worth it to se my friend get his first ever barra!

Saturday:
Pack up and head for home. Trailer spring breaks about 15km from Murgon, again nearly impaling mates ute... left spare spring at home, as you do, so we scavenge a few blocks of timber off the nearest farm and patch things up with some wire and all the tie downs we have, uncle shoots ahead to Kingaroy supercrap auto (only place open) and they are out of 5 leaf springs so we make do with a 3 leaf and trusty block of wood and get home around 1130PM.

Even though everything turned to $#!t around us, a good time was had by all and I cant wait to get back up there!

Pics to follow soon.

Mick

PS sorry for the long winded post!!

[mikooh]

A few pics

[BR65]

Good report mate, and nice pics, good resolution, especially the first one.
I did hear Friday left a lot to be desired weather wise.

I thought my run was ordinary, at least my trailer made it in one piece , lol

cheers
brian

[mikooh]

Thanks Brian. The irony of the trailer problems is that I did a full inspection and re tighten of every nut and bolt on the thing before we left. As terrible as Friday was we found a huge amount of boneys in one particular spot, and more boofing than on a hot calm night! Interesting stuff.

Mick

[Callop]

Great report Mick. Pity the fishing was a bit ordinary but better than a donut. Impressive repair work on the trailer. At least you didn't have to dodge any monkeys.
Dave

[BR65]

Thanks Brian. The irony of the trailer problems is that I did a full inspection and re tighten of every nut and bolt on the thing before we left. As terrible as Friday was we found a huge amount of boneys in one particular spot, and more boofing than on a hot calm night! Interesting stuff.

Mick

Did the same with my trailer before I left, Naggs misadventures was a timely reminder to every one

[NAGG]

Hey Mick .... good report & quality pics Regardless of the missed fish - the results were not too bad & would tempt a return visit for sure

well done

Chris

PS ........ Good work on the spring re build

PPS....... Do you want me to send the Trophy back to you

[Peter4]

Nice work on the trailer Mick.......you're a budding mechanic (not!)

Don't apologise for long winded reports as I reckon the do a lot more for us than "went to Awoonga - got 2, lost 6" or whatever. It's all about the details and we looovve details.......

Oh yeah, nice fish as well (great pics)!

Regs

Pete

[mikooh]

Thanks for all the replies guys. I think I would have landed more fish if I could get the damn hook to find its mark. I think the final tally was around 55 hits, 11 hookups and 2 landed. most of the hits came back with 15-30cm of very chaffed leader....it's amazing that a fish can have a lure a foot down it's gob and still not get pinned!!!

Is it common to these sort of figures when fishing SP's? I must admit I have not used them as much as hardbodies in the past so have nothing to referance to.

Here's a few more pics.

Mick

[mikooh]

Hey Mick .... good report & quality pics Regardless of the missed fish - the results were not too bad & would tempt a return visit for sure

well done

Chris

PS ........ Good work on the spring re build

PPS....... Do you want me to send the Trophy back to you

Ahh Chris....Next trip already planned

and the trophy is yours untill September 09. (I assume you got it?)

Mick

[NAGG]

Thanks for all the replies guys. I think I would have landed more fish if I could get the damn hook to find its mark. I think the final tally was around 55 hits, 11 hookups and 2 landed. most of the hits came back with 15-30cm of very chaffed leader....it's amazing that a fish can have a lure a foot down it's gob and still not get pinned!!!

Is it common to these sort of figures when fishing SP's? I must admit I have not used them as much as hardbodies in the past so have nothing to referance to.

Here's a few more pics.

Mick

Mick ..... Welcome to the world of Plastics , lost / missed fish are part & parcel ......... but they attract more interest IMHO

Chris

[Big_Ren]

Thanks for the very informative post Mick, a couple of very pretty fish in those pics. Glad you got home in one piece mate.

We're up at Awoonga in a week.

Cheers
Paul

[NAGG]

Ahh Chris....Next trip already planned

and the trophy is yours untill September 09. (I assume you got it?)

Mick

I did ...... & I'll put up a photo

Chris

[rc@hinze]

Mike sounds like a full and eventful week. With 55 hookups and 11 hits it at least shows you are doing things right like finding the spots and presenting a lure they like the look of - take encouragement from that. Thanks for detailed report as I reckon thats what most people like to read - cheers Richard

[Mossie1]

Sure was a tough week Mikooh, we arrived Tuesday around midday and picked up 1 @1200 that evening and another 600 pup Wednesday morning from there it went down hill rapidly, the only other excitment was having 6 big fish climb all over a Xrap walk, I was working in the shellows unfortunetly not one hooked up.

End up pulling stumps a day early it was obvious that they had shut down given the lake had dropped 4 degs in a day / half.

Mossie