Made a solo, first-time trip to Lake Monduran to investigate the barra fishery.
Day 1 – Packed up and headed north. Arrived about midday, set up the tent and organized the camp. Great camping area with good facilities and very close to the lake. Decided to wait until dawn on Thursday to hit the lake. Began reading Lord of the Rings again to fill in the down time.
Day 2 – Hit the water about 4.30am and started exploring. Investigated the margins of the open water in sight of the dam wall and the arm of the lake extending off to the south. Threw a variety of lures at every snag and gully I could find until about 11.00am for absolutely nothing. Retired to camp to avoid the heat of the day. Resumed about 3.00pm and continued until about 6.00 for a nil result. Just as well I brought a packet of snags in case I didn’t catch anything. Frodo and the hobbits meet Strider at the Prancing Pony, avoid the attack of the ring wraiths and head off for Weathertop on foot.
Day 3 - Read as for Day 2. A lot of work for nil return. Talk to other campers; no one is catching anything – that made me feel a little bit better; maybe it’s not me. Bacon and eggs for tea (well – I didn’t have any breakfast!) Gandalf falls into the chasm at the bridge of Khazad-dum in his fight with the Balrog.
Day 4 – Read as for Day 2 and 3. Lots of people in for the weekend. Traveled up the main dam beyond ‘White Rocks’ and fished many new areas. Talked to lots of guys at the ramp about 7pm. Everyone said the same – nothing. Only one guy reported getting a 75cm barra in the morning session. Thinking of writing a new book – ‘101 things to do with muesli.’ Unfortunately not many of them involve eating it. Victory at Helms Deep and Isengard falls to the attack of the Ents.
Day 5. Traveled up the main dam for about 16km to try some new water. Caught 3 bass on deep diving lures trolled slowly past the timber. Best went 45cm. Kept the big one for tea and released the other two. As Ugluck said to the Uruk-hai on the edge of Fangorn Forest (in the movie, but not the book) ‘Looks like meat’s back on the menu boys.’ Cooked up the bass that night – tasted like mud! Frodo is paralyzed by Shelob and carried off by the orcs to the Tower of Cirith Ungol.
Day 6 – Headed back to where I caught the bass on Monday since it was the only place I had had any success. Took 3 barra (best 78cm) and 2 bass (best 47cm). This is more like it! A piece of barra for tea was a bit better than the bass the previous night. Victory at the battle of the Pelennor fields.
Day 7 – One last session in the morning in the same region as the previous two days. Took 2 small barra and 1 bass 46cm. Sauron is defeated, Frodo leaves Middle earth for the Grey Havens and I leave Lake Monduran for Brisbane.
What a great week! I didn’t catch one of the big ones, but that doesn’t matter in the slightest. It would still have been a great time even if I hadn’t caught a thing – it’s such a beautiful place and a HUGE body of water. One day I did over 30km and did not encounter a single other boat. The highlight of the week for me was having a platypus surface right beside the boat in one of the little gullies and swim around for a bit not even realizing I was there. I will go back, that’s for sure.
Cheers Freeeedom
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but sounds like you had to work for it. Monduran is an awesome spot - and even better when it fishes well (like Day 6). Can switch on, and switch off quickly. Have done about a dozen one day trips to Monduran over the last couple of years and have had 3-4 successful trips. Best day landed up to 5 fish (up to 93cm) in about an hour, magical afternoon - that's enough to make you go back for those other days when you can't raise a scale.
Originally Posted by young
