Hot days at Monduran but worth it

[The BeaR]

Hi All...

We decided to take the opportunity of a couple of sessions at Monduran to do a little more testing on the Egrell EB6 before its release. As we were fishing the day after a tournament ended, we weren’t really expecting the fishing to be easy, but we did manage three fish for Monday afternoon, with the second being caught while in the middle of a phonecall to good friend Frank OO which cut the call short in a hurry to grab the net, and two for Tuesday morning.

All fish were taken on slick rigs with holes punched in the tails. We got quite a few hits on the hardbodies but no takers. The fish on Monday were all caught between 1-2pm, where the fish on Tuesday were both caught before 11am. All fish came from the lower part of the dam although we did go and have a look in B with little interest apart from one fish that aggressively chased the lure over the surface but failed to find the hook. Apart from that it was a little quiet in B. I can tell you that none of the fish came from Bird bay.

Water temps were 29 deg on Monday but Tuesday it reached just over 30 deg by lunchtime. The action had diminished by this time so we decided to call it a day and go home early.


Eric&Deb...

[Steve B]

Eric & Deb,

Thanks for the report, and some photos too.

I have also been fortunate enough to test a prototype of the EB6 rod. It hasnt got the super cool aluminium reel seat, but its still awesome. Unfortunately the fish haven't been so co-operative!. To pick the rod up, it looks like a cross between the B8-5 and the B6-6. It has the length of the 6-6, and the composite of the 8-5.

A beautiful casting rod, which I have found can cast a greater range of lure easilly. In the ABT I was casting Storm suspending shads, then tying on jointed Xraps...both cast brilliantly, and I got some awesome distances from both lures. I was also impressed as the lure feel that came thru was exceptional, every bump, vibration (especially on the Storm shads that have a reel subtle vibration) could be easilly detected. It feels noticable lighter in the hand than B6-6, which I was mmmm, what about on fish??? how will it go???....a few rough catties got a bend in it!!! bit of a test...no worries....Last night I FINALLY landed a barra on the rod. Casting a standard B52, I got smashed!!....I deliberatly upped the drag...and the fish deliberatly went harder....I was astounded as to the perfomance of the rod....To me, it has a faster taper, to a really faithfull strong butt section. I had no fear that the full power of the rod was only about half utilised, with plenty in reserve. I turned the 92cm barra a few times...steering it on purpose..while it was still green..and found its power, and tip forgiveness was great doing this. Sorry for using weird talk, I aint a rod builder, But I do know when they feel good...and more importantly SAFE on a good fish...this it deffinalty is.

I know how much R&D Eric and Deb put into this design....I have been waiting a year or so just to get my hands on a tester!!!...I am totally impressed....and I am not just saying that so I can keep it!!!!!!

What I reckon is the best thing about this baitcaster, is it is a 'one rod....multiple job' rod. Like I said, I was casting Everything from light SS Shads thru to heavy X raps...and the rod loaded up well on all...and launched them all big distances. (I could send the SSS as far as with the S10).

Cheers Steve

[Big_Ren]

Hi Eric and Deb

I thought it might have been you taking those sneaky pics of Tambo's first barra from another boat, but alas, not the case.

Glad to see you are both nailing good fish once again at Mondy. Hadn't seen too many Mondy reports from you lately. Hope all is well. Great pics as usual.

Is that Buff Headwear you've got on? I just got a few myself and am surprised at how easy it is to breathe through them...apart from the major bonus of protecting my face from UV rays.

Navi, Vin, Ben, Frank, Gaz and I will hopefully all be up there again around Australia Day for a few days if you are in the neighbourhood.

Cheers
Paul

[The BeaR]

Hi Steve...It's good to hear your views on the rod, it sounds like you are finding all of the points that the rod was dezigned for in the first place. When we get our reel seats we might see about changing that part over and getting your opinion on the difference. Mate, will catch up.

Hi Paul...yeah it's been a while, certainly haven't been on the lake as much as I would like to but that's the same story you would hear from most guys I guess. It's hard juggling between saltwater and fresh. Yes that is the buff, nowadays I don't fish anywhere without one unless the sun's gone down and I don't fish night time anyway. I find it gives a great deal of protection, they are extremely lightweight, certainly easy to breathe through and when pulled up over your cap it don't fly off and no matter how hot it is, they seem to keep your face cool. I was put onto them by Paul Dolan a little while back and it just so happened a mate of mine Shaun Ash was up here and had one spare, so he left it for me.
If we don't have much on for Australia day weekend, we'll see what we can do. It would be good to catch up with everyone.

Eric&Deb...

[Frank OO]

Hi Eric,

You look like a Barra Robber with the Buff. I suppose it doesn't matter what YOU look like as long as the Barra looks good.....and it does.

Good to see that all the research and develpoment has paid off. Nice photos Deb.

Frank OO