Boyne Barra Odyssey

[Scott Mitchell]

The fishing gape vine had been leaking reports of cricket score numbers of BIG barra being caught in the Boyne river near Gladstone since early February. These fish have most certainly taken the opportunity to exit Lake Awonga during the flood event of Summer 2011 & are now reaping havoc in the river down stream all the way to it's mouth in the salt.

We arranged to catch up with GAWB hatchery manager Kurt Hutchby as he was interested to see how we'd go targeting these great fish on fly fishing tackle...

Kurt caught this lovely 97cm fish on our 1st afternoon using a hard body - just prove they where there Unfortunately we didn't get a touch on the fly .......

I had heard some say it was like "shooting fish in a barrel " - which after 6 hours of throwing a #12 wht with a number of different flies & lines with out so much as bump I would argue ! I did jump off a HUGE fish at around 10am - there was a minutes silence after that

At around midday we where about to throw the towel in when Kurt suggested we try the head of a run one last time as we where marking fish on the HDS 8 Side scan - just had to find a fly they liked ! I switched to a natural 3D profile pattern Geoff Skinner had tied me in a natural olive/silver colour. With six fish marked on the HDS 8 sitting in the run I put a cast up & across , allowing the 400 grain deep water express line to swing before stripping the fly back in short , abrupt strips followed with plenty of pauses between. First cast I came up tight on this fish which put on a great show & measured up at 97cm ..

[Scott Mitchell]

Finally we had a fly they liked - taking this great 103cm fish on my very next cast ! My first barra over the metre on fly tackle

I am wrapped with the new G.Loomis NRX #12 wht which is significantly lighter & livelier than my previous Cross Current with plenty of reserve power for handling these amazing fish.I was running a Scientific Angler 400 grain blue water express line with 80lb leader straight through.


With what appeared to be a hot bite coming on - Katrina was up next to see if she could crack the metre as well ....


It only took her three casts to come up tight on yet another big fish - which really put on a show & wrapped her knuckles a couple of time

At 98cm - not a bad fish for her first one on fly

[Scott Mitchell]

We had definitely cracked a pattern with my next cast being hammered by a heavy fish. You can tell when you hit a BIG fish - the retrieve just stopped solid & was followed by big tail beats as line was ripped through my fingers. The fish ran out into the middle of the river before heading for snags on the opposite bank.


We could not believe our eyes when this amazing fish came up alongside the boat after 15 minutes of some fancy rod work - you could of heard us in Gladstone

At 124cm & just over 60lbs - It ranks as one of the most memorable fish I have caught to date ( unfortunately she didn't revive & Kurt kept her for research purposes ). I'd like to thank Kurt for fishing with us as this would not have happened with out his efforts. We'd also like to thank our mates Treno & Tracey who live in Gladstone & put us up overnight - you'll be seeing us more regularly in future

[grinnerking]

An awesome session, wish I was there.

[Eug]

Good stuff... I heard they've been going off

[leelee]

Nice work there mate.

Well done.

You all look pretty happy with your efforts and that big fish is a prize capture on that gear thats for sure.

Well done again.

Cheers

Lee

[A_DIFF_PERSPECTIVE]

You can hang up the rod now- Great fish- you'll never forget that one.
Thanks
J

[NAGG]

Awesome work Scotto - some great fish on the long wand..... smick piccies too

Chris

[nuggstar]

fantastic post and awesome fish, verry well done.

[tanglefoot]

Good work Scotty
I am soo Jealous
Brett

[wesfish]

great report on the barra on fly mate!! congrats on a awesome pb but i would be worried about the fisheries hearing that a 120+ was kept even if it was for research as once it went over the wall its protected by fisheries size limits.

[warrior]

MATE I AM PRETTY SURE it didnt last the fight as with fly it takes a while to land as you would realise ,these big fish fight right to the boat ,some dont like it and go belly up, this as on all accounts did this ,no matter how hard you try they dont respond to release,scotto would no doubt try to release it for sure.

[Scott Mitchell]

MATE I AM PRETTY SURE it didnt last the fight as with fly it takes a while to land as you would realise ,these big fish fight right to the boat ,some dont like it and go belly up, this as on all accounts did this ,no matter how hard you try they dont respond to release,scotto would no doubt try to release it for sure.

We swam her for over an hour & she just couldn't right herself when released - dying in the end. It would have looked worse had we just left her to drift down stream - At which point she could be collected by any one ..........

It was a shame and dampened the experiance - Atleast now they have aged her & taken various samples to asses the health of the fish that survive the trip over the dam.

Regards Scott

[wesfish]

We swam her for over an hour & she just couldn't right herself when released - dying in the end. It would have looked worse had we just left her to drift down stream - At which point she could be collected by any one ..........

It was a shame and dampened the experiance - Atleast now they have aged her & taken various samples to asses the health of the fish that survive the trip over the dam.

Regards Scott

can understand that after trying for so long to revive. would have been heart breaking. there is so many fresh dead ones floating around benaraby all the way to the mouth on a daily basis. sad to see

[SUPERFORM]

We had definitely cracked a pattern with my next cast being hammered by a heavy fish. You can tell when you hit a BIG fish - the retrieve just stopped solid & was followed by big tail beats as line was ripped through my fingers. The fish ran out into the middle of the river before heading for snags on the opposite bank.


We could not believe our eyes when this amazing fish came up alongside the boat after 15 minutes of some fancy rod work - you could of heard us in Gladstone

At 124cm & just over 60lbs - It ranks as one of the most memorable fish I have caught to date ( unfortunately she didn't revive & Kurt kept her for research purposes ). I'd like to thank Kurt for fishing with us as this would not have happened with out his efforts. We'd also like to thank our mates Treno & Tracey who live in Gladstone & put us up overnight - you'll be seeing us more regularly in future

This fish is considerably chromier (if such a word) than the others and the tail is starting to take on the yellow of a salt water barra.

Do you think this one has been down in the river for longer???????

Thanks for the report......