First 'Dam' Barra (Teemburra)

[Alchemy]

Late last month Nic and I stopped off to fish Teemburra Dam on our way home from Brisbane. We had to go to Fraser Island for a friend's wedding, so decided to make a holiday of the trip. The tinnie was dragged all the way just so we could have a crack at a dam barra. The only other use the tinnie got was a couple of flatty forays to the pin for old times sake.

Having never been to Teemburra we had little idea of where to stay; we just drove and followed signs until we found the Finch Hatton Gorge cabins. It was a great spot. Not the easiest in terms of manouvering the boat in, but a beautiful rainforest setting. The cabins were very clean and comfortable and only a 20km trip to the dam. This was great as niether of us felt like setting up camp again, so we booked in for three nights. www.finchhattongorgecabins.com.au

Our last two nights we spent at the Pinnacle pub. Accomodation here was a single room and bed and shared bathroom. The advantage was that it was closer to the dam (only 9km) and easy access with the boat. The accomodation was comfortable and the pub had good meals. Room rate here was only $50/night http://www.pioneervalley.com.au/comp...d,9/Itemid,41/

Next morning we set off for the dam. Nic managed the first fish, a sooty on an Outlaw Spinnerbait. We tried all sorts of country and lures throughout the day but to no avail. We did do a lot of exploring though and found a great arm that had warmer water (27) and lots of structure and bait. About 5pm up this arm I got a small barra on a gold B52.

We returned to the warm arm next morning, but for nil result. In the evening we joined a couple of friends to fish some newly-flooded ground they had found. Lots of small structure, twigs etc., warmer water, up to 1m deep. We got nothing there, although one of the others got two good fish on fly in the 80s.

Went back to the same spot the next morning at 5am. Got nothing until around 7am, when I got a smallish barra close to the shore. We got a couple more over the next hour and a half. That afternoon we went to our arm and it delivered a couple more fish to 75cm on Barra Classics, between 5-6:30pm. Had to keep changing lures to find what worked.

For the rest of our stay, the only fish we got were from that newly-flooded ground (from 7-8:30am), and at the end of our arm (from 5:30-6:30pm). No big fish and no big numbers, and we had to keep changing minnows to find what they liked. Surface lures and plastics didn't work, although I got my first barra on fly, so was stoked about that.

Not a great result, but we will be back for another go. The Pioneer Valley is a beautiful part of the world and worth the visit. During the middle of the days we often went for a drive to explore. We walked a creek looking for sooties, and did the drive up to Eungella and to Eungella Dam. We would like to return to Eungella Dam as the camping on the shore looks great and the stories of fat sooties also tempting.

Hope you enjoy the pics.

Regards,
Dave.

[Alchemy]

Few more pics.

[BR65]

Allways enjoy the pics mate, thanks for the report on a location I want to fish

cheers
brian

[fghjkl]

Nice fish mate, it can be a hard place to fish and hard to find decent fish.
i was wondering what fly did the damage on that barra?

Cheers,
Joel

[vinny78]

Good to see Dave, haven't seen a report from you on here for a while.

Cheers, Andrew

[scottym]

Great report mate. I love the look of that flooded arm you were fishing.

[Alchemy]

Thanks Brian. As always Nic takes most of the pics and does a great job of it.

Joel, the fly is one my mate Bob ties. He calls it a gold Matuka. What ever the hell that means? Sorry, but I am very new to anything to do with fly

Andrew, its been a while since we did any fresh stuff. I can't wait for us to get some decent rain so those creeks north of here start running again. I went to Blacks with the tinnie this arvo which was a first for me, but didn't do any good. I'm guessing I need to head further up and away from the skiers. Also there was heaps of weed which regularly fouled the lures. Nice spot though and so close to home. Will definitely give it another try.

scottym, that arm was good. Very tight country too, so even though the fish weren't big, we still had to work once hooked up. One afternoon we had quite a few follows and bumps without hooking up. I recall one barra coming up behind the lure at the back of the boat. It just seemed to sit there looking at the lure before sinking away. Even though we didn't catch these fish it was probably the most action packed session we had. Really had the heart going.

Dave.

[Nic]

I can't believe Teemburra was such hard work, I had always heard it was so easy! Ah well, still a great honeymoon.

[Big_Ren]

Quality pics as always Nic and Dave. A nice little recon trip for you both in the future. Looks a pretty impoundment.

Cheers
Paul