Magnificent Monduran - the big and the small of it...

[Peter4]

Thursday

Arrived at Monduran with Kyle on Thursday morning to be greeted by still but overcast conditions. Police and paramedics were at the ramp in the process of recovering a truck that someone had driven off the cliff in SDA bay. Steve B was one of the paramedics in attendance but with the recent inflows into the dam it was quite clear that he would rather have come fishing with us....

We headed up the system absolutely gobsmacked by the huge increase in water levels since our January visit - the dam was 4.2m higher than 4 weeks earlier! We headed into south B and tried a few favourite spots but most had changed so dramatically that we had to re-adjust our approach. No hits at all. Deeper into south B past Pepper Point the water had already gone off with the decomposition of plant matter so we headed to Quad Point in north B for still no action. Drifting islands of weed were still causing a few headaches...

Rain set in that afternoon so Kyle & I decided to work the main basin until dark. We worked the newly flooded grassy banks where we could see the occasional barra cruising around with their backs out of the water. Kyle hooked up on our only hit for the day and called it for a catfish before it jumped near the boat. It turned out to be a 43cm barra - the smallest we have seen at Monduran. Kyle was happy though as it got him off the donut and made it eight consecutive successful trips to Mondy for him!

Friday

We headed to the first cut-through to fish the treetops that were all that was left of the island when Brian (BR65) and Chris (NAGG) came by. They were headed to Jacks for the surface bite. Brian told us he dropped a nice fish at No Secret Point the day before so we vowed to head up there later in the morning. I dropped a small barra boatside but it went quiet after that so we headed to No Secret with a short stop on the way behind White Rock.

We tied off on Brian's focus tree as the bank was 20m further away. After 25 minutes or so my red and gold Ridgeback Scud is monstered by a good fish. I yell "I'm on" just and the fish re-emerges and ejects my lure with a headshake....oops, I forgot to set the hook!

I changed to a gold Xrap and 15 minutes later I experienced the strangest barra capture I've ever had. My line started to pull away from me as a barra gently inhaled the lure and swam on unaware - I struck hard and the barra leapt clear of the water 15m to my right and at right angles to where my line was pointed! This beast had swum around one of the floating islands of weed. My line had passed through the centre of the weed island and the barra was leaping crazily to my right.

With absolutely no control I kept the pressure on and the barra dove under the weed island. The next five minutes were a crazy blur of untieing to discover the electric was clogged with weed and inoperable, paddling to the weed island and frantically pulling weed off my line not knowing if the barra was still there. My leader eventually came into sight so I reached down for the next handfull of weed and grabbed the barra by the nose! It went ballistic and drenched Kyle and I in weed and muddy water. Eventually Kyle got in a great net shot and I welcomed my first barra aboard for 2010 at 103cm....woohoo! A couple of quick pics and this very tired fish was revived and released successfully...

A SE change blew in at lunchtime and the afternoon session only yielded one huge catfish to me. Brian & Chris joined us for a real beer (Boag's) and a chat about tactics that evening....

Saturday

The weather cooled considerably on Saturday and the dam had come up a metre or so overnight. We tried quite a few spots for not a single hit all day. We couldn't even raise a catfish...

Sunday

We decided to try Bent Tree Point in south B and, while the water quality was good and the bait was there, the barra didn't want to play. With just two hours left we headed back to No Secret where Kyle got monstered on his favourite bomber after 20 minutes. This big barra just headed straight down for the deep water and rubbed Kyle off on the submerged grass after about 5 seconds. I managed three big catfish (Catfish King!) before it was time to head home.

We took a few pics to show the water rise and discovered that the level had risen by 1.6m in the four days we were there....

Last four pics attached are No Secret Point in north B, what's left of the main basin island and two pics of the dirt boatramp...

All barra action was on shallow running hardbodies. Plastics and deeper running lures caught catfish only, and frogs & fizzers went untouched...

Not our best trip but we had some action and finished with a fish each and dropped a couple more....

Regs

Pete & Kyle

[Pete62]

Nice work boys, glad u finally got one in the net Pete, I am amazed by the water levels.

Pete.

[Big_Ren]

Brilliant pics and report again Pete. Kyle is on fire mate 8/8.....does he even know what a donut looks like anymore?? Nice 103 to yourself as well. You painted a wonderful image of the fight Pete.

Cheers
Paul

[themissus]

Awesome Pete!!! Great to see you crack the first one for the year. Those water levels are insane.
Cheers Kim.

[DEANO68]

WOW, thats alot of water since we were there..good stuff lads..

[leelee]

Nice work guys.

I love the shot of the ramp as it really shows how much water is up at the moment.

Good to see you guys getting into some fish as well.

Cheers

Lee

[NAGG]

Great work boys & fantastic to sit around & share a beer / yarn with you.

103 ..... nice pete & you do look happy

I didn't realise that the levels rose that much over those few days .

Shame about those big fish - they would have been worth the price of admission

Cheers

Chris

[Obi _ Wan]

That's a beaut report Peter, with some very good pictures.

I just can't get my head around that much more water in a week and a half, wow!

Well done you got off the dreaded Knutt'

I must say that your pictures of fish on the mat are so much easier to make out than the ones on the dark blue mats.

I will add your efforts to the Mondy Cup score sheet.

Well done in trying conditions.

Cheers,

John.

[Whitto]

Another excellent report Pete.......Hey Kyle it might be a small Barra......BUT A BARRA IS A BARRA in any language....Well done....Pete yours is far from ordinary although I'm a bit worried about the furry condition of your tongue......Great stuff Boys.......Love the photos of the dirt ramp, next time Im up there I will be throwing a lure about up that cutting....I have seen Barra caught up in there in the past.

[nipsta]

well done kyle and pete looks like a good trip was had even though tough conditions . Hey pete was that coming out the back of tha barra looks like its adding to the water level .

[Peter4]

Nice work boys, glad u finally got one in the net Pete, I am amazed by the water levels.

What do you mean 'finally' - it's only been since December!

Brilliant pics and report again Pete. Kyle is on fire mate 8/8.....does he even know what a donut looks like anymore?? Nice 103 to yourself as well. You painted a wonderful image of the fight Pete.

Thanks Paul. Kyle is very relaxed now and not worried about future donuts. He reckons eight from eight is a big achievement even if he misses out next time. One very satisfied angler is our Kyle.....

Awesome Pete!!! Great to see you crack the first one for the year. Those water levels are insane.

Insane and scary Kim. Big rethink required as to where to fish. Levels will still be high in June...

WOW, thats alot of water since we were there..good stuff lads..

Cheers Deano..

Nice work guys.

I love the shot of the ramp as it really shows how much water is up at the moment.

Good to see you guys getting into some fish as well.

Thanks Lee. We were pleased to get any fish in tough conditions - and Monduran is always tough!

Great work boys & fantastic to sit around & share a beer / yarn with you.

103 ..... nice pete & you do look happy

I didn't realise that the levels rose that much over those few days .

Shame about those big fish - they would have been worth the price of admission

Always happy with any barra, Chris. Seems there is always the 'what ifs' of missed fish....

That's a beaut report Peter, with some very good pictures.

I just can't get my head around that much more water in a week and a half, wow!

I must say that your pictures of fish on the mat are so much easier to make out than the ones on the dark blue mats.

Those truthmats are our favourites, John. I agree - easier to see the measurement and somehow the barra look better with a white background...

Another excellent report Pete.......Hey Kyle it might be a small Barra......BUT A BARRA IS A BARRA in any language....Well done....Pete yours is far from ordinary although I'm a bit worried about the furry condition of your tongue......Great stuff Boys.......Love the photos of the dirt ramp, next time Im up there I will be throwing a lure about up that cutting....I have seen Barra caught up in there in the past.

No argument there Greg. We will take any barra. BTW - leave my tongue alone!

well done kyle and pete looks like a good trip was had even though tough conditions . Hey pete was that coming out the back of tha barra looks like its adding to the water level .

Was waiting to see if anyone spotted that Simon. The barra was pissing itself when it saw my ugly mug!

[robersl]

Well done Pete and Kyle we will be launching off the road if the dam keeps rising glad you guys had a good trip

shane

[PaulMark]

Top report Pete mighty effort.Nice fish as well.Good to see Kyle is still keeping his average up.
Paulo.

[Barry Ehsman]

Excellent report Peter good work by you & Kyle in tough conditions (I wish that dam was closer to home 8 Hrs)

Cheers Baz

[Peter4]

I wish that dam was closer to home 8 Hrs

Thanks Baz,

We wish it was closer than 4.5 hours away! It's all relative...