we could not believe our luck as we admired the 113cm barra lying on the surface beside the boat, speechless as my first 1m+ fish slid awy into the darkness after less than an hour of fishing on friday evening and 10 hrs after leaving home. However the fatigue of the long monotonous drive soon set in and we retired with big expectations of the following 3 days. Once again the fishing gods were kind to me with a 105cm and 72cm released before lunch on saturday, much to the envy of my fising partners Roo and Hooky who were yet to raise a scale. It wasnt long before Roo's rod buckled to the aggressive strike of a 70ish fish and Hooky was smashed by a solid fish which decided to take his lure and leader home with it before heading back to camp for an afternoon siesta before the evening session. Back on the water at dusk I was again rewarded with a 95cm and a 105cm, while Hooky continued his bad run losing 3 more fish via teminal failure and he was devistated.
Sunday brought a change in the weather with the wind moving to te south east and icking up a fair bit the fish had shut down at our honey hole so we decided to try trolling around in the hope of finding some hungry barra. Two hours passed before the monotony was broken with Roo picking up a little 60cm fella just off a weed bed soon to be followed by 110cm of leaping barra shortly after before losing the gun lure to a smaller model not long after. By this stage Hooky is a mess after his lack of action and thigs only got worse as he lost another 2 big fish in quick succession, and contemplates trowing his rod overboard as I land another 2 70ish fish before the wind forced us off the water.
The weather calmed at dusk again and after contemplating watching the grand final we headed back out and Hooky finaly got to hold a fish up to the camera, but at 65cm the pressure was still well and truely on with myself and Roo having caught the magic meter alredy. He struck again with an 84cm model before the devistation of limp braid knocked on his door twice again as i released a 98 and a 105 beside him and Roo sliding another 86 back into the inky lake.
Monday morning saw Roo and myself catch 5 more between 68 and 105 as hooky missed fish after fish to just plain bad luck and with only 1 session left you could cut the tension with a knife.
The evening session did not look promising with the wind again picking up sowe reveted back to trolling after 2 fruitless hours in the hope of hooky staying connected to a big one. Time was running out as other boats headed for home we stayed out, determined to turn things around and it was wll into the night when Roo opened the accout with a 118cm, the biggest of the trip, closely followed by a 116 and a 105. We followed his lead and changed to chrome and gold vipers. The barra were very picky, just tapping at our lures as we lost count of the hits and missed hookups between landed fish, Hooky landing a 90 and myself a 102 and 115 before Hooky was smashed by another solid fish, his drag singing as we retrieved our lures, only to have Roos inhaled boatside by a 106cm as hookys fish escaped wearing his viper again. after a few more lost opportunities Roo had a cast as Hooky and I rerigged, "I'm on!" he called as another barra of around 90cm tail walked across the surface before being released. The next pass brought a jarring hit to me as Hooky and Roo both leaned into solid fish at the same instant, but the pandamonium of the double hookup stopped abruptly as the fish crossed up and Roos 20lb gave way to Hookys 50lb and we were all relieved to see 116cm of silver barra attached to Hookys line on the deck. Roo and I proceeded to land another 1m+ fish each, both released in the water without a photo before the time got the better of us, with a long drive ahead tomorrow.
With 28 fish caught in 3 days, that number again lost and countless more strikes we had the time of our lives, and i am sure it wont be too long before we are back again [img][/img][img][/img]
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