Monduran - 23-30/04/06
Weather conditions were very good with temps between 16-28?C. Water temp
varied between 24 and 27?C but strangely didn’t seem to impact on the
fishing. We caught good fish in bays that only registered 24?C. No rain and
winds varied between 5-15knots from the SE/SW in the morning to NE/NW in
the arvo. Min baro 1006, highest baro 1016.
Arrived at Monduran at 2.00pm to check into cabins. This trip comprised of
me, Big Ren and my brother Vin in my dinghy and Gary, Dale and Kim and
Gaz’s tinnie. Due to the Broncos game being on at 4.00pm, we decided not to
fish and have a few ales instead while watching the game.
Mon – Launched at 7.30am and fished a few bays we did well in last November
but due to the dam levels dropping a metre or two since then, most of the
good snag were high and dry. We travelled up to White Rocks as we haven’t
seriously fished this area. Flogged the bays and finally at 1.20pm I got a
Barra at 68cm from a point. Fished it until 3.30pm before heading back in
to refresh and get ready for a night session.
8pm – Launched in total darkness (new moon) and couldn’t see a foot in
front of my face. Still persisted and trolled for an hour before anchoring
up on a point and casting. No good so trolled back in and called it quits
at 10pm.
Tues – 9am launch and again only headed a few kms up the system. Found a
bay that we have caught small fish in before and after 10mins of casting
had a Barra attack a lure on 3 separate occasions without hooking up. Gave
the spot a break for an hour and hit it again with the same result. Barra
swirling at lure by no hook up – more than likely the same fish as snag
wasn’t that big.
10.45am – headed up the system and fished a small bay just off the main
channel and within 10 mins, Vin hooks an 85cm fish from some Lantana -
tagged and back in the water. About 45mins later, Reno struggles to land
his first Barra after it takes him into timber for a few seconds before
constant pressure forces it out and Big Ren is able to regain control over
the fish – not a bad christening at 83cms.
2.37pm – Headed into the main channel and fished the Western bank about
50mtrs from the channel. Only 10 mins passed before Vin hooks another fish
at 68cms. At this stage, both Dale and I are fishless with only a few
tentative hits before Dale gets busted up but gets a bonus as lure floated
up. A few more missed fish and Vin gets another at 60cms.
4.00pm – Followed channel into another small bay and Reno gets his 2nd
Barra at 64cms (skulled dragged this one in). 45mins later Reno gets
another Barra at 84cms to beat his previous PB.
5.10pm - This time it’s my turn to donate a lure to a big fish – gold Viper
gonnne. This fish just busted my 80lb leader. It didn’t even need a snag.
Saw Barra swirling in snags trying to free itself of lure and even jumped
once (could hear the rattle of the lure in mid air when it jumped so knew
it was the same fish).
5.40pm – quickly approaching dark but one more cast produces a 73cms Barra
for Vin.
This was the best day of the week with 7 landed fish, 2 bust ups and at
least a dozen hook ups or hits.
Cancelled the night sessions for the rest of the week as too dark, wind
picked up and chill kicked in.
Wed – Headed up to where we had good action late yesterday. Tried looking
for my gold viper to no avail.
10.15am - Fished the snag that I got busted up on and Gary lands barra at
68cms. Continued fishing bay for 1 more hit before working our way back
into the main channel.
12.20pm –Dale gets barra at 65cms and 10 mins later gets another at 73cms.
SHUT DOWN – we managed a few more brief hook ups but things really shut
down.
5pm - Gary’s wife Kim hooks her first Barra (momentarily). Fortunately, Kim
got to see the Barra leap clear out of the water before unfortunately,
parting with her lure.
6pm – back at ramp.
Thurs – As Vin had to work today at the Burnett Dam and Gary had to spend
time with Kim. Dale, Reno and myself decided to head up the system to show
Reno how big the dam is and to fish some country that we have scored fish
in the past. After 45mins and about 25kms travelling, we started fishing
country that had produced fish in the past but again, most snags were high
and dry. I hooked the first catty of the trip and only 1 of 3 for the whole
week. We have found the catty catch rate dropping dramatically in the last
12 months??
In hindsight, this day was a wasted day both time and petrol and we should
have continued fishing the areas that we were doing well in, but as they
say, you never, never know…..
10.45am -persisted anyway and Dale did manage a lonely Barra at 70cms and a
few hits. Unfortunately, that was it and although we did work our way back
down the system late that afternoon, we couldn’t raise a scale.
6pm – back at ramp.
Fri – quickly fished 2 bays that we had success in on Tues but only 1 hook
up that got off. Pulled the pin after an hour and headed up system to try
some new bays.
9.20am – After fishing a bay for 15 mins, I loose a fish that straightened
hooks and Reno gets busted up by a really good fish – lure floated up. 10
mins later and Reno gets busted up by another fish, this time no floaters
and Reno finally donates a lure to the cause.
9.50am – I get a barra at 630cms and 10 mins later, Paul gets done by
another fish that bolted around some timber before tearing hooks free. Reno
is getting a bit pi%%ed off by now.
11.05am - I get another little barra at 64cms again from this same bay and
although fish was rather small, it still took me into snags before I could
force it out.
1.05pm – the barra are shrinking and my 3rd for the day is a whopping 60cms
but none the less, still a barra.
We lost contact with the second boat but in this time, Dale lands 2 barra
from the same bay at 65 and 68cms.
2.35pm - slowly worked our way into next bay south and Vin lands barra at
64cms of sunken tree.
I get lure caught on springy branch and try twitching rod to free it – no
good so twitching gets more violent to the point where I smack the rod on
the boat and thought I’d snapped it. Lure still caught and I’m getting
super frustrated so give it a few solid flicks before lure dislodges and
heads straight back for my face. Just manage to turn my head in time to cop
it in the jaw. I was waiting for the lure to hit the deck of the boat but
it never did – buggers I knew it was now in my face. Although a treble
penetrated and the point was just about poking out of my face, the barb was
still exposed (albeit by only a millimetre), we managed to get it out
(unfortunately wasn’t quick enough to get a photo).
3.00pm – decided to run back and on the way stopped at another bay that we
have fished previously. This bay looked very average but thought we’d give
it 1/2hr.
3.30pm – Just about to pull the pin when Dale gets a Barra at 72cms. Boats
parted at this stage as we wanted to fish different bays.
4.30pm -Unfortunately, we had no action but Dale looses a Barra next to
boat.
5.00pm – Dale lands Barra that comes close to doing him – 86cms and the
biggest for the trip. No more action.
6.00pm Back to ramp.
Sat – Final day on water.
7.45am – Headed only 10mins from ramp to where Dale got 86cm fish
yesterday. Flogged it hard for an hour with not a hit.
8.45am – Decided to head to bays we fished yesterday as we didn’t flog it
that hard and confident that fish would still be active.
10.38am – I get a barra that I got a hit from yesterday at 65cms.
10.55am – Separate boats but double hook up between Dale (64cms) and Reno
(65cms). A few more lost fish between the boats.
12.15pm – Starting to get monotonous with Dale getting most of the action –
68cm.
1.15pm – Headed to next bay north and Vin hooks Barra but reel comes flying
out of the reel seat (obviously not tightened enough or worked it’s way
loose after 6 days fishing) which Vin catches mid flight before handing
reel to me. So Vin is at front of boat with rod, I’m at the back of the
boat with the reel and Reno is in the middle with the landing net!!
Somehow, I manage a few turns on the reel while Vin keeps the rod fully
loaded. First net shot and Reno lands the unluckiest fish of the trip.
Barra only went 65cms and may explain why we landed it. Any bigger and we’d
have no chance.
This is the last bit of action for the trip and although we fished solid
from now til dark, we didn’t get a touch.
Sun morning- packed up and hit the road.
All in all a pretty bloody good trip with a total of 28 Barra between 60
and 86cms. Definitely hooked bigger fish that got the better of us. We did
fish 50lb braid with 80lb leaders on basically top of the range rods and
reels so couldn’t even blame the gear.
The barra were definitely active the week we fished it (and from local
reports, the action has been good for a few weeks). Just about every bay we
fished from the 7 Day Adventist Bay right up to past “F”. We thought that
gold was the lure colour but anything worked - vipers, barra baits, classic
barras, river rats, scorpions etc. Hopefully get a metre plus fish next
trip.
Some guys staying in cabin one scored 30 fish for the week with 3 going the
metre mark and weighing 50, 52 and 60lbs all casting in 2 feet of water. We
caught fish anywhere from 1 foot to 30 feet so go figure??
Big Ren will post some pics tonight.
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