New PB Barra on 4lb line

[Apollo]

Following on from my effort last year of landing a 80cm barra on 4lb line on a 65mm bubble pop, I snuck out this afternoon solo for a land based quick session. Aim was to land one on the fly rod, but took the light bass gear along as well, just in case it was too windy. Well is was windy, but I did get the long wand whirling a bit, but most was on the spin gear. The main line was 4lb, but I did take the easy option this time and upgraded the leader from 6lb to 12lb.

30mins in, I landed a 74cm barra with a tiny shallow diving HB, whilst working a lilly edge. Moved on and the wind dropped, so I brought out the fly rod. Had several missed hits and two where i failed to set the hook, then I hooked onto a small barra, that took to the air and on the 5th attempt threw the hook. Damn. Kept working away at weed beds and lilly edges then hooked up to a monster. Certainly buckled the 8w fly rod over and I thought i had it beat, then it took to the air about 4m away and it was well over the metre mark. Fly pulled and I was a tad disappointed. Wind came back up, so changed back to the spin gear, but as it was starting to get later, I changed over to the bubble pop again. 4-5 casts later, the little rod buckles over again and I back the drag off after setting the hook. Barra about 95cm-100cm starts jumping but straightens the treble and spits it back at me. Tied on a little surecatch popper and back into the fray. Had about 6 boofs at the popper before finally hitting the mark. Again to the air she went and the battle began, I backed off the drag a bit more and fought it out. Finally got it to the shore edge, but there was a fair amount of weed and lilly there making landing difficult. Ended up wading in and comfort lifting the barra out. Went 88cm on the mat and I was pretty damn happy.

Now wet and being eaten by mossies, I called it a night and headed home.

Obvious next challenges are a barra on fly and a metre barra on 4lb bass gear. You can see on the photo of the 74, the little HB on the mat that did the damage.

Steve

[NAGG]

Awesome work Steve

Now are you going to try it at mondy


Chris

[.:::stotty:::.]

Nice work mate, exp land based.

Hopefully I will upload my barra that I got yesterday shore bashin as well, no cables here atm thou. Might of landed a meter. ;-)

[darylive]

Nice work, where were you fishing?

[rc@hinze]

Well done mate thats good and satisfying fishing. - RC

[warrior]

brilliant effort on 4lb mate what part of the world are you in ,i am in hervey bay and a few of the lads chase them in the local dams down here but they dont go that light ,what leader do you run on that gear

[Barry Ehsman]

Sound's like you had a top arvo mate,,,,, Well done on the light gear......

Cheers Baz

[Luc]

Great effort, especially landbased and with the weed.

Luc

[Apollo]

Awesome work Steve

Now are you going to try it at mondy


Chris

Chris, Cheers buddy. I will probably take the gear along as I am starting to develop a theory, but I think there are far too many sticks at Mondy. Might have to up the leader to 20lb. I can't see why I can't reach my metre plus target though on 4lb. Just need to improve skills and thinking. Some one has to push the limits. Just think that only a year ago, it was thought 50lb line and 80lb leader was essential to land a barra. I have done it on less than 10% of that and you good guys are landing monsters on 20-30lb line.

Nice work, where were you fishing?

Daz, Thanks mate. I was fishing a locally stocked dam (actually three dams) near my place (between Gympie and Tin Can Bay). The owner has a farmstay setup there with barra and bass in the dams. One dam is fairly big (40ac), so is est from a boat and the rest can be fished from the shore. I get to fling a line there occasionally as I know the owner.

I have to say that watching a big barra stalking my fly in clear water and then hitting it or the bow wave of a barra moving in on my blopping popper before boofing it ranks as some of the coolest things I have seen in a while. Damn, their hit is very quick - talk about ambush. Learnt a lot watching that.

brilliant effort on 4lb mate what part of the world are you in ,i am in hervey bay and a few of the lads chase them in the local dams down here but they dont go that light ,what leader do you run on that gear

Thanks Al, See above for where I am. Not far from you. I actually hooked but lost one of your Lenthalls barra on 4lb line/6lb leader/daiwa TC shiner when recently fishing with Dave (Callop). The 80cm one last time was on 6lb Nitlon FC leader and this time it was on 12lb Mustard Thor Ultra Line. The lure does need a retie each fish, but the leaders haven't let go (yet). I think that with the small and fine trebbles, the hook set is usually pretty good and there is not a bulky hook for the barra to work on (read destroy). The pulled hooks I have had have all been due to pilot error, because I haven't backed off the drag enough and the trebble has straightened. Just my thoughts, but I am only a mug, so someone with more skill/knowledge could comment easily to the opposite.

I now have 3 barra on board on 4lb, so am happy enough to keep playing.

Thanks all for the kind comments.

Cheers
Steve

[Steve B]

Well done Stevo,

great fishing session it a sweet location by the sounds of it. I thought you must have been at Lenthals!!!

Aweesome work mate. I would like to try a bit of that action on the serious light gear with ya one day.

Cheers Steve

[Jeremy]

Great stuff. Would have been lots of fun. I bet you get that metre barra on the 4 lb very soon.

[Apollo]

Well done Stevo,

great fishing session it a sweet location by the sounds of it. I thought you must have been at Lenthals!!!

Aweesome work mate. I would like to try a bit of that action on the serious light gear with ya one day.

Cheers Steve

Thanks mate. It was pretty damn cool and I love the surface fishing for barra.

Absolutely for a walk on the wild side fishing session. Really gets ya thinking (and praying) when you hook up. Light drag and angles!

cheers
Steve

[Pete62]

Awesome work Steve, bloody hell. 4lb that's great.

Pete.

[NAGG]

i reckon there are a few places that you could give it a go at Mondy ...... might have to try it on my next visit

Chris

[Apollo]

Chris, I look forward to the report. Reckon that would have to be worth triple points in the Mondy cup!
Cheers
Steve

i reckon there are a few places that you could give it a go at Mondy ...... might have to try it on my next visit

Chris