Lenthalls and Mondy - Friday and Saturday

[Callop]

I needed a fix to settle the IBD down. Mondy would be busy with the ABT so decided to give Lenthalls a crack. Gotta love the 4 stroke. All of my usual partners in crime couldn't make it so thought I'd give Steve(Apollo) a go. (Bloody good decision - Steve is a top bloke.)
A plan was quickly hatched.
Met Steve at Lenthalls on Friday about lunchtime and off we went. Reports of Barra to 80cm were encouraging(thanks Warrior). Bit of a warm afternoon so by 3.30pm a shady tree was quickly located for a couple or 3 quenching bevies. "Jesus Steve it's 5 o'clock, spose we better have another go at em".
We made it out of the gate at 7.59pm. Steve managed a couple of 1/2 touches for the day.

We were back on the water at 6.15 am Saturday and fished the weed banks near the ramp. Steve had given up on the Barra and pulls out the bass gear. 4lb line and leader.
Steve had some family commitments to attend to so 2nd last cast is called at 7.25am. Out goes the Daiwa Shiner. 5 seconds into the retrieve and I hear the drag scream for maybe 1 second and the lure is spat. The leader was badly chaffed.

Dropped Steve at the ramp and continued on until 11.00am.
Lenthalls results Barra 1, Steve zip, Dave why do I bother? Ahh now I remember - afternoon tea in the shade.

Casting arm is still twitching. Only 1 cure - Mondy is only 1 1/2 hours up the goat track.

Didn't get onto the dam until 3.00pm and went straight up to F. Wanted to get away from the ABT boys. Worked some bays on my way back to H and found a nice bay with the breeze blowing into it that had a few water lillies and weed growing. Never tried frogs before and after I heard what I assumed was a small boof(never heard one of them either), it was definately time to try.
2nd cast and the water erupted 10 feet from the boat. Lillies, frog, weed and a silver thing all in the air at the same time. Unfortunately the frog was not connected to the Barras mouth. I flogged the bay for at least 30 minutes. What an intro to frogging. Definately got to do that again. By now the sun is getting low, so time to head back.
I prefer casting but at the end of the day, a lap or 2 of the basin can be relaxing. So out go the HB's. As it turned out when you are by yourself at night with no moon, 3 rods trolling is 2 too many. You can imagine the chaos when I hooked up. What do you do first, fight the fish, knock the motor out of gear, turn the lights on or wind in the other lines. Somehow I managed to stay connected long enough to do all 4 and not lose the Barra.
After a 15 minutes fight up comes my new PB of 118 and into the net she slides. Quick pics on the mat but who is going to take a picture of me. Luckily a couple of blokes were at the concrete ramp not 2 minutes away. A long fight and too long out of the water required 5 minutes of resucitation but she finally swam away very strongly.
The casting arm had stopped twitching(IBD satisified) but my hand had the shakes. Time for a drink to celebrate.

[Apollo]

Well done Dave and thanks for the invite (mind you, I have just found out that I was the last resort!!). Sneaky trip up to Mondy as well! Paid off with a very nice barra - good effort and well deserved/timed. The barra looks in good nick too, so I think the bass gear will definitely stay at home for Mondy trips Mind you if the Shiner had stuck! Two barra in a row on 4lb line - could have started a trend!

Oh and for the record, we weren't resting on the bank in the shade. We were waiting for the bite window to open!

Cheers
Steve

[NAGG]

Congrats on your new PB Dave ....... even if it was caught trolling probably on a viper too - good work mate , specially when going solo.

It sounds like you got one of those memorable hits on the frog ...... with the common end result - bad luck

Chris

[robersl]

Well done callop and a sneaky mondy trip as well i have often thought of putting a second rod out while trolling but the thought of the mayhem if i got a hook up was not apealing ,i spoke to bloke one day that trolled with 3 rods he hooked up he freespooled the fish while winding in the others then went back to fighting the fish, nice looking fish and a p/b

shane

[DEANO68]

good on ya dave, fat fish....slight cure for the ibd, should get you through crissy...

deano...

[yellahunter]

awesome result mate,
made all the hard work worthwhile,

[Steve B]

Well done Dave!!!

good to see the plan to shift paid off!!!

I wished I knew where you frog bay was that day....needed all the help I could get!!! ha ha.!!!

thats a great looking fish mate. Good on you to Steve apollo for a a good attempt at barra on 4lb...I tried it once at lenthals...theres a barra in there with a nice blade as a tounge ring!!!

Cheers steve

[Big_Ren]

Very teflon-like Dave, but what a way to finish the trip. You beauty mate and congrats on a new PB....a few stiff ports might have been on order after that.

Happy days

Cheers
Paul

[BR65]

Lovin ya work Dave, and congrats om the 118 mate!

What do you reckon on Lenthalls, camping etc??

[warrior]

brilliant stuff dave great result ,congrats on the pb,yes the frogs are very addictive the strike from them are awsome it definatly gets the heart started nothing wrong with a troll at the end of a hard day

[Callop]

Thanks guys.
Chris - actually it was a toss up between a viper and a RMG. Luckily I chose the RMG.
Deano - The young falla and I have got the next trip planned for ealry January. The IBD should be OK until then.
Paul - the port did go down rather well.
Brian - Lenthalls is looking good. Plent of weed beds and the lillies have grown back after raising the wall. The closest camping is at Wongi Waterholes about 15 minutes drive. Only facilities are cold showers and toilets.

[Apollo]

Good on you to Steve apollo for a a good attempt at barra on 4lb...I tried it once at lenthals...theres a barra in there with a nice blade as a tounge ring!!!

Cheers steve

After I landed the last barra on 4lb, I thought I had a chance, but the shiner didn't stick on this one. Mind you, given the leader's condition, the shiner was well engulfed, so i was probably lucky the trebles pulled so i could get the lure back instead of donating it like yours.

I should say that if anyone is offered a trip/fish with Dave, then grab it. Good bloke and good company. Understands himself as a fisherman but has very goods skills (shite load better than me, but that is not hard) Makes a mean drinking glass out of a coke can and good JB tea as well.

Steve

[Callop]

Jesus Steve, go easy mate. I can feel my head getting bigger by the minute.
Seriously, I enjoyed your company as well. We will do it again soon.
Dave

[chief]

Top work mate and congrats on the PB. Thats a cracker fish,Cheers