Awoonga Pilgrimage - 30/9-7/10

[manangatang]

great report mate,top photos , it was a bit like reading a book ,cheers

[Tropicaltrout]

I love that head on shot with you guys in the boat. , Great info, great post

TT

[eotbmg]

Well done there boys.
Looks and sounds like you had a great trip. Those photos are great Paul some fantastic action shots there.
How did the new rods go?
Cheers Ben

[TinarooTriumph]

Navi and a 101 barra with attendant blow flies in the back ground At one stage we had between 4 and 6 other boats queueing to join our troll line >

If this ever happens to me, someones gonna cop a Squid Jig right in the eye ! Must be pretty irratating to contend with...

Great shots there mate, must of been a ripper of a trip! Well done!.

[Big_Ren]

Thanks for all the great comments guys. Really appreciated.

Blue_Mako........we were mostly using 50lb outfits (50lb braid with 80lb Penn 10X or Jinkai leaders. Nav mainly fishes with a Daiwa Luna 203 or Shimano Chronarch low profile baitcasters, same with Vinny. I generally either fished with my Luna 203 for casting and a Black Sheep 300 for trolling. Rods were a mixture of custom built Miller Camoufish Boofsticks, Redingtons, Morrums, Shimano Revolutions and Loomis'. We mixed up our leaders quite a bit but generally attached our biminis to about 1.3m of lesader with an albright or braid to leader know and then a perfection loop to attach the lure. I also made up a coupleof twisted leaders to try out and the snap and crimps didn't seem to be off-putting for the fish as Gaz landed his 107 using the twisted leader. I really like the twisted leader set up as it provides much better abrasion resistance than a straight leader set up. I reckon an even better way to go would be to use 80lb wind-ons as the dacron should still be thin enough to run through the level wind or it could be trimmed shorter anyway so that it doesn't have to run through the level wind. I'd be interested to hear other people's thoughts on that, or whether they have tried a wind on themselves.

Scotty & Josh, it was great meeting you guys too and I am sure another trip is in the planning as well.

Hey Ben, thanks mate, the rods went really well....the Boof Stick is very smooth and loads up really well under heavy drag. The spiral wraps take a little etting used to but it is a beautifully balanced blank with a reasonably fast taper and plenty of guts in the engine end. It is without a doubt my favourite stick now

Cheers
Paul

[Big_Ren]

[quote author=Big_Ren link=1160265126/15#22 date=1160266315]Navi and a 101 barra with attendant blow flies in the back ground At one stage we had between 4 and 6 other boats queueing to join our troll line >

If this ever happens to me, someones gonna cop a Squid Jig right in the eye ! Must be pretty irratating to contend with...

Great shots there mate, must of been a ripper of a trip! Well done!.[/quote]

Yeah thanks Theo. Mate they just come from out of nowhere and it is really disappointing because the boys had worked so hard to find a deep snag holding fish between two cross channels. It was in the middle of nowhere and suddenly we had a conga line of boats playing follow the leader. We were almodst tempted to drive away some times because unless you picked up the right lines using GPS, you'd miss the snag completely.

Cheers
Paul

[Smailesy]

cant wait to get up there going to have to make time unreal fish

[Roo]

great pics paul. like the look of the xstream boat. nice rig.

cheers, roo.

[Big_Ren]

Cheers Roo. Sounds like you boys did all right yourselves. Well done mate.

Cheers
Paul

[mikooh]

Great story and photos, we were up there from the 30th to the 2nd and I can't remember seeing your boat once, which just goes to show big Awoonga is. It is so frustrating when people take over your productive spots because sometimes it takes alot of effort just to find fish, let alone catch them!!!

[DNO40]

Excellent Stuff.

Awoonga is a beautiful place and has plenty of fish. Some excellent photo's there Paul, and even better to see tagging and release.

Glad you had a good time



DNO

[blue-mako]

Big_Ren: Thanks for the reply mate. I too will probably use a twisted leader. How did you end up making yours? Also thanks for describing your Barra combo's helps a lot!

Troy

[Big_Ren]

Hi Troy

They are very simple to make.

The tools/materials you will need are as follows:

Crimping/swaging tool
2 x 1.3mm aluminium crimps
Leader material
#6 halco cross lock snap swivel
Clear plastic line guard (thin clear tubing) 2-3cm in length
1 small plastic bead or ball (this is to stop the top crimp going through the line guides and damaging them).

Start with your length of leader. I generally determine the length of my leader by measuring from just outside the level wind on the reel to the tip of the rod and add 20cm (if that makes sense). This ensures your braid to leader knot cannot go through the level wind when you cast and still allows you plenty of leader to work with in case of bust-offs/re-rigs etc.

In order (from the lure end of your leader), thread on two crimps, the platic line tubing and finally the snap swivel.

Thread the bottom end of the leader back through the bottom crimp, leaving about a tag of 20cm and crimp it tight. This will lock in the snap swivel and line guard, with a small loop left where the snap can swing free.

Grab the bottom crimp in your right hand between thumb and forefinger, and the 20cm of tag end and the main part of the leader with your left hand, and rotate the crimp between your thumb and forefinger until the tag starts twisting around the main leader.

Thw twists should be nice and tight but not too tight that it kinks the leader.

Once you finish the twists, thread the last portion of the tag end through the top crimp that is on your leader, and crimp it tight.

Thread on a small bead or plastic ball and tie your leader to your braid double.

Voila. That's it!!!

You can make up half a dozen of these for a fishing session....saves valuable time on the boat.

Cheers
Paul

[nathan_fishing]

nice barra
good photos,good boats and great report

nathan

[black_sheep]

Ren,

Back at work now and just read the report. Really didn't need reminding how good the trip was and that I'm now sitting at my desk wondering what I did wrong with that monster that poleaxed me. I see that we meeting the boys up there again next year - sametime????? Think I'll have to do a pre fish between now and then though - say Jan/Feb. Would like to get to Monduran in December - I need to get a few casting again.

Thanks for posting the report and photos Paul.

"Navi and a 101 barra with attendant blow flies in the back ground At one stage we had between 4 and 6 other boats queueing to join our troll line "




Tinaroo - Home of
the Giants.

Gender:
Re: Awoonga Pilgrimage - 30/9-7/10
« Reply #33 - on: 09.10.06 at 10:58:28 » Quote from Big_Ren on 08.10.06 at 10:11:55:
Navi and a 101 barra with attendant blow flies in the back ground At one stage we had between 4 and 6 other boats queueing to join our troll line

"If this ever happens to me, someones gonna cop a Squid Jig right in the eye ! Must be pretty irratating to contend with... "

To say the least.

When trolling, this is expected to some degree as everyones trying to find fish. It's like going offshore to soemwhere you not fimiliar with and seeing a boat in the middle of nowhere, another boat will pull up thinking it must be a good spot and before you know it, every boat that passes or is within viewing distance stops for a drop thinking it's a good spot. Meanwhile the original boat only fished it for 1/2 hr, caught nothing and moved on.

The secret is subtitly, drive close to but straight past the spot that you see another boat fishing, make a note of when, where, how etc they fishing it and try it later when THEY are not fishing it - basic fishing etiquette.

Paul, I guess we should be flattered. remember the afternoon Wilhem and Harro launched, they probably zoomed around the dam for the first 20 mins to 3 different locations before heading up the system - I'm sure this was to try and get rid of the blowflies. Lucky we not that good - yet.

The only other thing I'll add to this post is that if you troll the main basin in open water and know where fish are holding, you can drop back to 30lb braid (I'd still use 60-80lb leader for their gill rackers) and have heaps more fun without loosing many fish.

The spot we trolled was a ledge on the edge of a cross channel and had sunken trees growing in about 22 feet of water. If you weren't hitting the snags on your troll - no fish but if you managed to find the snag and successfully pull your lure through it without snagging it - hang on.

I was actually fishing 78lb braid (not 50lb) in YGK Ultracast Jigman. PE5 rating but max breaking strain is 78lb and still got done. On the first afternoon and my first troll for the trip I was twitchin the rod and got a loop of braid caught around the tip. Instead of just reaching up and unwrapping it, I started to really twitch the rod hoping the loop would come out. All I managed to do was entice a huge barra to hit my lure which clean popped my 78lb braid - bugger. Brand new Scoprion beefed up with 3 "owner" trebles and 30-40mtrs of brand new braid (as it snapped at the tip) - GOOOONE.

Basically for those who asked about gear we use. I only fish this heavy because of the location of this particular snag which has now accounted for about 40 out of 50 Awoonga Barra. We also fish Monduran more than Awoonga nd if casting to timber, you need to go as heavy as you can.

In January, when we last fished Awoonga, the guyts staying next to us caught about 35 Barra all in the main basin using 20-30lb braid. They only caught 2 fish under a metre and most fell between 110 and 120cms. They also never lost a lure or got busted up. tehy only lost fish to jump offs. They reckon the lighter line/drag actually helps keep the hooks set as you less likely to tear open mouths or straighten hooks.

Cheers and tight lines.