Fishing freshwater lakes central Queensland

[seastrength]

Well it's day 9 over and half way through my CQ freshwater trip already. Todsy was another interrupted fishing exercise with hot sultry weather this morning and the inevitable thunderstorm around 5.30pm. I was up early to tackle some likely spots in southern arm bay B, but the barra were not interested in the lure presentation at all. Tried 9" flat shads and swimbaits over the weed edges when a barra was spotted on the sidescan. After a midday rain shower I was back on the basin for an afternoon troll session with the classic hard bodies but no enquiries. Fisho that had just launched before me dropped a nice fish 20 metres out from the ramp and landed a second specimen at 98cm within 5 minutes. That's fishing for you.☺☺ Hoping for an early start tomorrow morning to make the prime bite time 5.30-7.30am. Cheers SS.

[Sheik]

End of day 8 went well. Morning session ended early when the thunderstorm approached from the Northwest. Home early to sit out the lightning and thunder show. Back on the lake at 4pm. Finally broke my donut with a 91cm barra, a new PB!!. Caught on the ever reliable classic lure on the troll in the basin. Coincidentally all 8 barra caught by my son and myself have been on the troll around sunset. Temperatures have cooled and air pressure has dropped so the barra are unlikely to fire tomorrow. Photos tell the story. Cheers SS

There you go. Makes the trip even more worthwhile. One of those buggers hitting your lure changes your impression of bass fishing for ever doesn't it.

[seastrength]

Day 10 started out with high hopes but ended in despair. Early start at 4am and on the water by 5 for the prime bite. Explored the north arm of bay B and thought I could see some promising barra images on the Humminbird Helix but no action from multiple casts between the sticks. I think I am almost at the 1000 tally by now Sheik.😉 Most fish seemed to be on the flats in about 3-5M water depth. Lost two Jackal Squirrel 79 lures to the snags, Boney and Pink Eye lady😢. Finished the session around 11 and came in for a coffee. My camp neighbour tells me he dropped 6 fish in the same bay this morning. Back out at 3pm for the afternoon troll session. Saw 3 decent fish landed between the 4 boats trolling the basin but sadly I was not one of them. Home by 6pm to avoid the thunderstorm. Looking to switch tactics tomorrow and focus on bass for the morning session, hopefully with better luck. Tomorrow is another day. Cheers SS

[scottar]

Tried getting up in the weed beds using surface frogs or weedless rigged plastic paddletails? Warning.......it's addictive once you wrap your head around it and start to get a few. At Awoonga, Ive usually found it most successful either very early morning or at night with slower retrieves. Frogs that float make life easier. Carry a tube of superglue to repair lures or if necessary glue the front of the frog to the worm hook to stop it sliding down.

[seastrength]

Tried getting up in the weed beds using surface frogs or weedless rigged plastic paddletails? Warning.......it's addictive once you wrap your head around it and start to get a few. At Awoonga, Ive usually found it most successful either very early morning or at night with slower retrieves. Frogs that float make life easier. Carry a tube of superglue to repair lures or if necessary glue the front of the frog to the worm hook to stop it sliding down.

Thanks Scottar for those tips. I was told by the gurus that fish Mondy regularly that long paddle tails are the go here in October. Apparently the barra like to feed on a freshwater gar this time of year. I have not researched this topic and am not sure if this is true or even if there is a freshwater gar species. I used a slow roll retrieve technique with the 9" Zerek and Molix shads without any success. Will try the frogs next time. The superglue tip sounds like a neat trick to keep the lures working well. Cheers SS.

[seastrength]

Well I missed day 11 report due to a late evening session on the full moon. Tried to find some bass in one of the inlets and became excited when a school of fish passed under the boat. Excitement died quickly when I boated 10+ catfish in the next half hour. Maybe the barra have eaten all the bass. Today was much the same only the late afternoon session finished early due the impending thunderstorm. Plenty of barra identified easily on the sidescan but no action to report. Both casting and trolling lures of all shapes, sizes and colours not scoring a hit. Plenty of nudges but not real bites. Tomorrow is my last day at Monduran so here's hoping it will end on high note. Cheers SS.

[seastrength]

My last day at Mondy and it was a boiler on the water, 33 degrees and expected 37 today. Fished the early morning session 5-10 at Jacks hoping the Northeast breeze would kick in early but it didn't. Wind seemed to swirl around in the valley from all directions making it hard to pick a likely spot for barra to work the bait. The birds even took the day off as well so no help there. Easily made my thousand casts this morning with no takers. My happy rock plastics got a good workout. My thinking is the Monduran barra have seen them all before and know to avoid them. Final afternoon troll session from 4-7.30 with all the weekend fishos was hectic. Managed a good hit on the Squirrel 79 Boney but lost the fish when he went aerial and did a 180. Boney a little worse for wear. My score for the Mondy week was 2 definitive strikes, boated one and dropped one in 14 sessions, approximately 50 hours on the lake. I am slowly working out the code here and now have recorded 7 marks from definitive barra silhouettes on the Helix and 8 strikes from trolling. My research base is starting to build a picture of fish habits in different wind direction, temperature and time of day. This place is addictive and I now understand why the regulars keep coming back.👍👍👍 Cheers SS.

[Sheik]

My last day at Mondy and it was a boiler on the water, 33 degrees and expected 37 today. Fished the early morning session 5-10 at Jacks hoping the Northeast breeze would kick in early but it didn't. Wind seemed to swirl around in the valley from all directions making it hard to pick a likely spot for barra to work the bait. The birds even took the day off as well so no help there. Easily made my thousand casts this morning with no takers. My happy rock plastics got a good workout. My thinking is the Monduran barra have seen them all before and know to avoid them. Final afternoon troll session from 4-7.30 with all the weekend fishos was hectic. Managed a good hit on the Squirrel 79 Boney but lost the fish when he went aerial and did a 180. Boney a little worse for wear. My score for the Mondy week was 2 definitive strikes, boated one and dropped one in 14 sessions, approximately 50 hours on the lake. I am slowly working out the code here and now have recorded 7 marks from definitive barra silhouettes on the Helix and 8 strikes from trolling. My research base is starting to build a picture of fish habits in different wind direction, temperature and time of day. This place is addictive and I now understand why the regulars keep coming back. Cheers SS.

and just when you thinkyou've got it worked out, everythimg will change and you'll be back to square one...

[Bremic]

Thanks Scottar for those tips. I was told by the gurus that fish Mondy regularly that long paddle tails are the go here in October. Apparently the barra like to feed on a freshwater gar this time of year. I have not researched this topic and am not sure if this is true or even if there is a freshwater gar species. I used a slow roll retrieve technique with the 9" Zerek and Molix shads without any success. Will try the frogs next time. The superglue tip sounds like a neat trick to keep the lures working well. Cheers SS.

I think it is the snub nosed gar that can live in fresh water, will also find their way to the salt (not if they are living in a lake). A bit like mullet, they can tolerate a range salt levels.

[seastrength]

and just when you thinkyou've got it worked out, everythimg will change and you'll be back to square one...

Groan. Already put in over 240 hours on this lake. 😭😭😭

[seastrength]

I think it is the snub nosed gar that can live in fresh water, will also find their way to the salt (not if they are living in a lake). A bit like mullet, they can tolerate a range salt levels.

Thanks for that info Bremic. I will look them up and see if I can find a plastic to replicate their size shape and colour. Planning to revisit on the full moon week in March next year. Cheers SS.

[scottar]

Make sure you take some bigger lures - like bluewater bigger. We used to fish Awoonga generally on the February full moon. Got plenty of fish on deep diving stuff like Halco 190 Laser Pro's, RMG Scorpion 150's and even a trolled Giant trembler got monstered. No lure is too big IMO. Watch your sounder for thermoclines and fish holding at depth to get into some cooler water during the later stages of the morning. Anything with plenty of chrome was always a favorite - Psychedelic pink head being the pic on more than one trip.

[NAGG]

and just when you thinkyou've got it worked out, everythimg will change and you'll be back to square one...

I spent a good 10 years fishing those Qld barra dams & with the exception of the big rise / floods ....... not a lot changed
Yeh , in winter we fished different locations & different lures ... but that was it .

From Sept through to May/June - All I really needed were some slick rigs (110/130mm) , Berkley hollowbellies , Storm swim shads // suspending shads & some Rapala X raps - X walks & Bushys stiffies . The bases were covered & 98% of the time that's all that were fished.

IMO now that the waters are receding & the fish size is increasing - you could put the above on the shopping list & I would be confident that the results would be there.

I'm going to scream the next time I see a Squirrel - I'm not saying that they don't catch fish .. they do ...... but it would be fished if I was desperate. At this time of year you want to be covering water at a range of depths & that's where the placcies come into play.

Finally - it didn't matter if it was Mondy , Awoonga , Kinchant , Faust , Tinaroo or Teemburra ..... the above lures did the trick - you just had to find which one was the best choice .

Chris

[seastrength]

Thanks to Scottar and Chris for these tips. I was hoping that someone who had fished the freshwater impoundments would contribute to this conversation. I have caught all of my 8 barra to date from trolling classic ghost lures to 3 metres depth at 3 knots or thereabouts. The thermocline was around 6-7 metres in Mondy so I trolled above the thermocline to target barra and cast plastics and spinnerbaits below this depth to target bass. I am planning to get some Halco laser pro 190 XDD models and troll at 5 knots and see if I can get deeper for more barra action. Interesting Chris, I use Rapala X raps on Moreton Bay for spotty mackerels and do quite well with pilchard and bonito shades so will try them as well on barra next time. It has been a steep learning curve for me not having fished freshwater previously (other than yellowbelly in the local river as a kid). Off to Somerset next week for the bass and will report my next results (good or bad) then. I have some RMG Poltergeist 50 XDD so will see how they go on the troll. Cheers SS.

[NAGG]

Thanks to Scottar and Chris for these tips. I was hoping that someone who had fished the freshwater impoundments would contribute to this conversation. I have caught all of my 8 barra to date from trolling classic ghost lures to 3 metres depth at 3 knots or thereabouts. The thermocline was around 6-7 metres in Mondy so I trolled above the thermocline to target barra and cast plastics and spinnerbaits below this depth to target bass. I am planning to get some Halco laser pro 190 XDD models and troll at 5 knots and see if I can get deeper for more barra action. Interesting Chris, I use Rapala X raps on Moreton Bay for spotty mackerels and do quite well with pilchard and bonito shades so will try them as well on barra next time. It has been a steep learning curve for me not having fished freshwater previously (other than yellowbelly in the local river as a kid). Off to Somerset next week for the bass and will report my next results (good or bad) then. I have some RMG Poltergeist 50 XDD so will see how they go on the troll. Cheers SS.

Mate , if you really want to learn how to catch barra in these dams ...... put aside the trolling & start fishing in the arms / bays - find locations where the prevailing winds are blowing into . Use your sounder to locate the creek beds ( hopefully you'll spot fish in there) Find some shallower points nearby - Anchor off the point or tie off & cast to the shore - just a slow roll with a placcy . This is a good morning & late afternoon technique where the barra move into the shallows to feed .
You can do similar with the back of bays .
As the day progresses & heats up - shady deeper bays can be fished.

With the falling water levels - little islands will start to appear or points become more obvious ..... these are often worth fishing. Specially if there is some wind blowing onto them . ( breaking waves & dirty water can be a haven for bait ....... & barra .

There should be plenty of opportunities - use the middle of the day to look around but if a spot looks fishy - have a cast as we have had some great sessions in the middle of the day.

Chris