Left for Monduran on a rain soaked Sunday morning. Got as far as Forest Glen before we lost all trailer lights and dash & tail lights in the car due to a meltdown in the trailer plug....
Got going again after the RACQ fixed the problem but we were an hour or so later to Monduran than we planned. Arrived to hot and humid conditions and about a thousand boats on the water!
Straight up the system to area B for the rest of the morning and Bird Bay and Rainforest Bay for the afternoon. Not a swirl to be seen. Plenty of bait on the sounder but a complete absence of fish. Tried a variety of hard bodies and plastics for no interest whatsoever.
Monday was a much quieter day boatwise. Got up and headed up the system pre-dawn. Tried a likely point in North B. A small barra jumped next to a thick vertical tree so I threw my evil minnow there and BANG - I'm on! Reel is screaming as line is peeled off against a tight drag. Fish runs deep rather than to the surface unlike a barra but still tears line off at at a great rate. I start to get some line back and Kyle says "Are you sure it's a barra?". Finally I get it to the surface and it's the biggest, ugliest catfish I ever saw - all of 10kg. Check the size of the boga grips against the size of its head! Damn!
Nicked into Foxies at lunchtime after the trailer light repair. He said there were plenty of fish around but they were not committing. Lots of reports of taps, short strikes and whiting-like bites. I said "We'll get a pie for lunch then try again. What do you suggest?". He replied "Enjoy your pie!".....Reports from other anglers backed this up and we only heard of two others that had caught fish over the last week.
Undaunted we set out again pre-dawn on Tuesday morning and headed straight to Bent Tree Point in South B. It was hot, dead still and storms were threatening. Bait was flicking, swirls and boofs everywhere. Third cast with a 110mm squidgy stunned mullet and Kyle is on! This fish gave a long fight with a few attempted aerials. Kyle backed off the drag as we were in open water and the fish was hooked deep (he lost a big fish to an abraded leader in December). After about 5 minutes I slid the net under a still fiesty 93cm beauty. She was hooked deep in the roof of the mouth and the leader was well abraded but still intact.
Kyle was using a brand new Berkley Dropshot Tournament 6'6" rod matched with a Daiwa Heartland 3000 spooled with 30lb Finns braid and 80lb Black Magic Supple Trace leader. A birthday pressie from me two weeks earlier that got a good christening! The point went quiet shortly after so we decided to move.
We headed down to Pepper Tree (or Nagg's tree, Termite tree or Pelican tree...call it whatever you like!) point. After I nailed three huge catfish on evil minnows I switched to a 110mm drop bear. A few casts later I got a hit. Within a split-second a couple of metres of line peeled off the reel, I struck and the fish spat the lure (or I missed) and it was all over. Checked the leader to see the telltale abrasion - damn and damn again!
Soon after the rain came down. Though we persisted for the rest of Tuesday and again on Wednesday morning we couldn't get another strike. We continued to get taps and nudges but we only caught catties and a few leftovers from others. Nagg - is the pictured plastic yours? I recognised the twisted leader......
Only one fish for the trip but we did avoid the donut. About to book again for April!!
Regs
Pete & Kyle
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