Hi guys, I just got time to sit down and type this post about the last trip away in November.
I was lucky enough to get away from the J O B for a week & head up to Peter Faust Dam @ Proserpine. As most of you would already know its famous like Tinaroo for its XOS barra!!!
I was accompanied on this adventure by fellow fisherman Steve Blaney from Tweed Heads.
The reason for this pilgrimage to North Qld was to compete in the first series of the ABT Barra comps that were spread over 4 locations.
We chose to only fish Faust, as our time was limited & ABT decided to hold an all night comp as well as the two day comp.
This gave us a good opportunity to suss the dam out & give us hope of being competitive.
We were lucky enough to be asked by Drew & Mike from Attack Boats on the Gold Coast, to show off the new fishing machine they have developed over the past twelve months.
The Intercoastal 2300 is an amazing craft to look at as well as fish from. Its spacious casting deck provided us with both with a stable fishing area & somewhere to roll the swag out at night. Yes! I did mean we slept in it. During a 16hour comp the old eye lids seem to let gravity take over after a while. Both Steve & myself managed a few solid hours of sleep inbetween casting sessions that seem to go on forever. You appreciate a boat of 23 feet in a comp like this, I know that some other guys in the comp would have swapped us in a heart beat just so they could streach out in comfort for a few hours. (A 4.3mtr punt only has so much room.)
Our techneque was far from ground breaking stuff, but the combination of soft plastics & hard bodies we chose seemed to produce the goods.
Attomic S.Ps & Squidgy Slick Rigs in drop bear colour 110mm size worked well. Fished in conjunction with Barra Classic F18,s & all of a sudden we started catching more fish!
We found large amounts of Boney Bream (bait) just wide of a large weed bed in the middle of the lake. The weed rose strait up out of 10 feet of water, forming a wall with small narrow corridor,s through it. The barra used this as a highway at night, prowling back & forth in search of an easy meal. Keeping this in mind we anchored the boat just wide of the weed & peppered the area with casts untill the fish became active.
It must have worked because after a week we had landed 30 Barra from 50cm runts to 114cm stonkers. We would have lost just as many from jump/bust offs which kept us well entertained.
Imagine this, your mind is numb & your arms ache from casting, then suddenly you feel a WACK WACK & a JUMP!!!! your ticker speeds up a little & line screams off the reel (unless its a Black Sheep haha) you'll need a bucket of lemons to take the smile from your face & thats when you remember why it is your here in the middle of the night. Its a must if you hav'nt tried it!
During the day comps we fished as Team Attack Boats/Gamakatsu, we placed 1st overall, Steve came 3rd & I managed 6th place. During the all night comp the team came 6th & I came 4th beaten by the master, Linsay Dobe by 3cm for 3rd place. If you look at the scores in QFM January you'll notice that there is only about 1 fish seperating the pack thats how close it can be.
All up I had a fantastic time fishing this event & its truly a credit to Steve Morgan, Simon & the crew at ABT for putting it together.
I have heared a wisper of big things for next year so put this one on the calendar if you have a competitive nature & I'll see you there!
Cheers for now
Toppy
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