TINAROO BARRA ON FLY

[baldyhead]

Does anyone target barra on Tinaroo ?
What sort of success do you have and what weight line, type of fly used and in what sort of area ?
C'mon spill the beans
baldy

[team_mongo]

baldy,

Have only fished tinaroo on fly once, so i'm no expert, but have fished it quite a few times on spin. I hope you've got one big casting arm coz its pretty hard work.

I was using a 9 wt but from the fish i've caught on spin i'd say 11wt would be more suitable.

The fish can be found on the edge of weedbanks up the arms, and in shallow bays. Sometimes very shallow - caught one less than 2ft of water. Once we found 9 fish ?schooled up on 3ft bank.

Extrapolating from spin, they seem to like something with a flash or glint to it, often taken close to the boat.

Cheers
George

[baldyhead]

Thanks George, I do have a 12wt wand so I will give it a go in the areas you suggested. Am going there for a week or so very soon, so will start exercising my casting arm muscles in advance. Will try a bit of night stalking too..baldy

[Nick_Currey]

Hi Baldy,

I used to fish up that way 5 years ago and targeted big Barra on fly - best was about 40lb. I used a 12wt with varying weight lines (10kg tippet), depending on depth of water. The rarely run more than 80m, and if timber around will need to lock up. Best places were where there is an old creek,river bed and drop off. The fish sit in the depressions and wait for bait (flies) to come across flats into strike zones. A good sounder is essential to mark fish. You then have to stir them up and they are fat and lazy and you may have to put up to 50 casts into strike zone (or move on and come back). Best flies were big (1/2 chook on 6/0- 8/0 gamagatsus worked well). Big deceivers or pink things or gold bomber flies - plenty of flash. Timing - several days either side of full moon and morning/evening are best times.
Good luck - the right arm will get a good workout.

[baldyhead]

Well I waved the wand all over the place, waved it till I was black in the face, I'm a great disgrace to the fly fishing race as I never caught a bloody thing !
Unfortunately I drank a hell of a lot of rum...checked out all the flies in the many tackle boxes.. weathered the few electrical storms... but the fish were elusive.
I had a great time and am looking forward to the next time up there.
Thanks for the advice Guys....cheers baldy

[88fishframe]

Tinaroo, not an easy place to fish. I fished all the places the barra should be, hours on end, only to see my mate hook up on 3 in 20 minutes trolling the middle of the dam >

It's pouring down rain as I write, come Feb I'll be tying into the big salties. Already know where as well, got amongst them on Tuesday