Winter Barra Tactics

[NAGG]

Well , I'm just about to have my first real shot at winter impoundment barra ..... Not too sure what to expect - particularly since fishing has been tough with little visible bait activity , water temperatures that have been falling & constant SE winds which have been the norm.

So with all of these factors going against us - what do you do to improve your chances of catching barra ?
:-/ Where do we look for warmer water ...... will it be sheltered small bays with deeper water or just where the wind / current has been pushing ( shallow or deep)
:-/ Do we concentrate our efforts in one area ...... or run & gun
:-/ What structure is targeted .... Weed edge or timber / lantana
:-/ Creek beds
:-/ Do we put the placcies away .... & just fish shallow running HBs (Stiffies , B52s , Bombers)
:-/ Do you still look for a sunrise bite or will the fish be less active
:) Sunset bites over sun warmed flats.
:-/ Do you target fish that are sounded
:-X Troll
:-/ Are there areas that are known winter producers
:-/ Is winter fishing just HIT & MISS
:-/ Do you look for what you are seeking before you start to fish..... even if it takes most of the day
:-/ Do you look for bird activity & bait
:-/ If you find inactive fish , do you stay in the area & cast for the bite



:scholar: The fish will be where they are ! ...... but can we get them to bite?

I have my ideas - but I'm interested to hear yours .... Plus its an opportunity to put ourselves in the right mindset:favorites:

Cheers all

Chris

[darylive]

;) Sleep in till the sun is up.

Yes Chris Troll ::) till you find 'em ;D

[robersl]

Hi Chris
Last week at mondy i was always 1 of the first on the water at daylight and even though we had no strikes in the morning there was a lot of bait being taken off the surface in both the shallow bays along the weed edges and out in water 7 metres deep but they would not touch a lure or placcie tried shallow deepdivers and frogs on the surface water was 19c -23cin the arvo but hung around the 22c from lunch time the only fish we did see on the surface and there was quite a few was in the cattle yards we were going through and bumped a tree then about 6 barra took off across the surface they seem to be hanging in a foot of water amongst the tree's pete hooked up one on a small drop bear but lost it to the sticks the only other fish we caught was trolling a shallow weed ben in a metre of water with bombers hope this helps a bit

shane

[robersl]

also watch the cut through in the main basin it looks like it is getting shallow and sticks just under the water in parts of nth b near the so called secret spot

shane

[Whitto]

AAAAwwwww Noice......Now Im worried Chris I mean Daryl.......I was going to follow you::)

[DEANO68]

CHRIS, trev answered alot of those questions on his chat nites,,,..were you not listening...????::)

[Whitto]

CHRIS, trev answered alot of those questions on his chat nites,,,..were you not listening...????::) WTFGO Chris....you really have to pay attention at these evening Chat nights......We will have to do some REMEDIAL work on Thursday night around the Fire and a Beverage::)

[BarraBandit]

Hi guys,


Heading up to Mondy from Melbourne in early July... Any ideas? Spots?

Bloody long drive to catch nothing... be good to know what its like in winter (only ever been in summer)...

[NAGG]

CHRIS, trev answered alot of those questions on his chat nites,,,..were you not listening...????::)

Intently
However - More pieces to the puzzle are required :P

Seriously - Trev's approach is quite unique & I will certainly utilise what I have seen ....... however I just feel that things will be tough & flexibility / adaptability will be paramount.

Chris

[NAGG]

WTFGO Chris....you really have to pay attention at these evening Chat nights......We will have to do some REMEDIAL work on Thursday night around the Fire and a Beverage::)

With the gunn anglers struggling ....... a mere mortal like myself needs extra help ::)

A few bevvies around a fire side discussion certainly cant hurt :P

Chris

[BR65]

Hi guys,


Heading up to Mondy from Melbourne in early July... Any ideas? Spots?

Bloody long drive to catch nothing... be good to know what its like in winter (only ever been in summer)...


watch this space mate, the boys will wind themselves into a frenzy over the next week, there will be more theories tossed around than soft plastics at Pepper Point on a summer week end, should be entertaining.
Myself, I have a few ideas based on trips last year in June and August, be interesting to see if basic principles remain the same this year.
As for sleeping in, both winter trips last year saw a dawn bite. At least dawn is a bit latter now...........

[Tropicaltrout]

8-) Well Chris my old mate I got one " buy a POLY " Stealth!!!!:P ;D

[DEANO68]

8-) Well Chris my old mate I got one " buy a POLY " Stealth!!!!:P ;D

good call biatch....bloody noisy tin hornets...::)

[NAGG]

8-) Well Chris my old mate I got one " buy a POLY " Stealth!!!!:P ;D

Just melt into the environment hey ;)

[DEANO68]

Intently
However - More pieces to the puzzle are required :P

Seriously - Trev's approach is quite unique & I will certainly utilise what I have seen ....... however I just feel that things will be tough & flexibility / adaptability will be paramount.

Chris

so do you know these other pieces of the puzzle chris..??.was trev only letting half the story out.??..stealth and persistance, and yes adaptability, lookin forward to next weekend, will prob look at a couple of different areas..very keen for some winter action.(barra):P just keep casting..
deano.8-)

[DEANO68]

also chris, is trev comin down for the weekend..????

[Tropicaltrout]

Yeah the biggest winter tactic mate imho is pretty simple look at the timber a lot more find sheltered bays that seem to have the bait slightly warmer and fish hard... The most important thing is ugg boots, beanie and a fire !!!! Yes Princess beer!!!!

[NAGG]

so do you know these other pieces of the puzzle chris..??.was trev only letting half the story out.??..stealth and persistance, and yes adaptability, lookin forward to next weekend, will prob look at a couple of different areas..very keen for some winter action.(barra):P just keep casting..
deano.8-)

I wish I knew what the other pieces were :-/ All I know is that I will need to fish differently than I had.
Trevs approach & ideas are solid ...... certainly worth heeding - 8-)


At this stage , I'm not sure what Trev is doing ! ...... . Maybe he will pop down if I have a go fast prop with me :P ....... The reality is " The fishing at awoonga .... SUX! atm" ...... We'll see how he goes at the Tannum Hookup this weekend

Chris

[DEANO68]

havent seen a report from awoonga for quite a while..wots the go there, ??spose only the fish know that answer..:P

[NAGG]

havent seen a report from awoonga for quite a while..wots the go there, ??spose only the fish know that answer..:P

Not pretty ..... From what I'm hearing , the fish are very few & very far between.
::) ...... lots of pastries on offer & there doesn't seem to be a logical explanation.

[darylive]

With the wealth of knowledge and Rs accumulated here you would think if there was a secret some one would have discovered it. ;)

Like most I just try to find a quite likely looking spot where the water temp is up a bit flog it. and move on :-/.

[DEANO68]

With the wealth of knowledge and Rs accumulated here you would think if there was a secret some one would have discovered it. ;)

Like most I just try to find a quite likely looking spot where the water temp is up a bit flog it. and move on :-/.

do you have a cast or two also..???:P ::) ..

[NAGG]

With the wealth of knowledge and Rs accumulated here you would think if there was a secret some one would have discovered it. ;)

Like most I just try to find a quite likely looking spot where the water temp is up a bit flog it. and move on :-/.

Maybe you should try some fishing :oops: ;)

[darylive]

You might be on to something there

[DEANO68]

anyways back to the main topic, cold....we all know that weedbeds and timber hold heat,and shallower water in the afternoons.(weather permitting).and wind direction.areas like the two mile , j, and jacks, ect,ect, have all of the above,and are well worth a look throughout the day , mornings dunno, mabe look at dropoffs to deeper water in these areas, where the water may be a tad warmer away from the overnite surface chill.
and these bloody fish may hang awaiting for the sun to warm the banks to go hunt ..and of course stealth.lots of casts and lots of thinking..but very enjoyable..my first real crack at the winter thing also chris.....so just a couple o thoughts that i will put into practice next week..
deano..8-)

and beer and fire..:P

[NAGG]

anyways back to the main topic, cold....we all know that weedbeds and timber hold heat,and shallower water in the afternoons.(weather permitting).and wind direction.areas like the two mile , j, and jacks, ect,ect, have all of the above,and are well worth a look throughout the day , mornings dunno, mabe look at dropoffs to deeper water in these areas, where the water may be a tad warmer away from the overnite surface chill.
and these bloody fish may hang awaiting for the sun to warm the banks to go hunt ..and of course stealth.lots of casts and lots of thinking..but very enjoyable..my first real crack at the winter thing also chris.....so just a couple o thoughts that i will put into practice next week..
deano..8-)

and beer and fire..:P

Yeh Deano ....... What can we say about Daryl's methods - ::) but I'm sure he has it well in hand::) ;)
I certainly feel more comfortable with the afternoon scenarios & I have a couple of spots that I'm dying to try if conditions allow...:P
The mornings I'm not so sure about :-/

Chris

[DEANO68]

as for lure selection, mmm, i think a slow rolled placcie will do exactly that, slow roll past a big fat lazy barra, where as a nice shiney suspending H.B. will hang in its face a bit, 5 , 10 , 15 , secs, twitch, same again, and again, big fat bitch dont wanna move to much in winter, bit like me..if i can get a feed served up to me with little movement involved, yep i,d. attack it...:P
deano..8-)

[Obi _ Wan]

I guess i should throw my two bob's worth in here for what it's worth :-/

Most of you guys on here, from what i have read, would not have any trouble locating the fish ;)

I believe that the problem, as i alluded to in another post about patches, is getting the fish to take a lure :'(

Over the past year and a bit i have seen this happen at both Faust and Awoonga.

Last year at Faust i had no problem finding plenty of fish, but getting them to strike, well that was another thing :o If you could entice a fish to have a go most of the time it would be a half harted swipe, just a bump and nothing, no matter how long you cast or what hour of the day or night, just didn't make any difference.
Plenty of fish were found by day on the shallow flats soaking up the sun, bite? no bloody way, bump the boat and there would be swirls every where.

At the begining of winter at Awoonga last year with Trev, fish all day, zip and then cop a five minute bite just on dark :'( then gooonnne.

At Faust at the moment there are are lot of fish, the DPI just electrofished over 1oo barra to 126cm's. Fishing there now, a day or two good then nothing for a couple of weeks. Good bite today, tomorrow perfect weather no bite, WHY?????

Trev is not having any problems finding fish at Awoonga at this time, he is just not finding too many fish that will bite. One guide has stopped charters, another has gone pig shooting and another is working Mondy, go figure????

We are not talking about mugs here either, these blokes are the Guru's of barra fishing.

What's happened?? the only thing i can come up with is stability within the lake!

Faust has seen some massive increases in water levels resulting in weed beds dying out affecting water quality, other weed beds are growing in very deep water and at depths unheard of (certainly by me) Trev has told me of weed beds in Awoonga growing in fifty feet of water, they have almost reached this depth at Faust also as i am told. This is caused, i am informed, by the weed continuing to grow as water levels drop, it just lays on the surface and when the water level rises the weed straightenes up to stay at the surface or at a depth where it still gets enough light to continue to grow to reach the surface.

At Awoonga we had two increases in water level (from memory)that you could state as significient. So with that, what are we left with? massive increases in boney's shrimp and crays all good barra tucker, with the barra gaining good condition.
Most of all the barra are reluctant to take a lure, now i could be very wrong here but a desperate man with IBD will clutch at anything;D if i can remember rightly, the golden days i have experienced at Faust came when there was very little in the way of weed beds.

Mondy i believe, is not the same as the other two yet, why?? no major increases in water level, a more stable lake environment?, no where near as much area covered with weed beds (or not that i have seen) but appears to suffer from a large amount of boat traffic, some driven by some with no consideration for others what so ever.

So my thoughts for Mondy next week?

I think we all know that shallow water heats up in sunshine quicker in the daylight hours cooling off again at night, so what does that mean?

Well the fish will move into the shallows by day to get warm and at night they will retreat to deeper water that will be more stable temperature wise. So i would select a spot where shallow flats adjoined deeper water in an out of the way place so as not to be disturbed by others, evidence of bait would also be desirable.

Methods?? Stealth will be very very very important, one bump in the boat will see many swirls in shallow water and the big girls will be goooonnneeee. Use all methods, meaning lures and retrieves.

I hope you can make some sense from this as i am only a silly old bugger who just loves catching barra and i really don't know what i am talking about.

Cheers,
John.

[McCod]

Well , I'm just about to have my first real shot at winter impoundment barra ..... Not too sure what to expect - particularly since fishing has been tough with little visible bait activity , water temperatures that have been falling & constant SE winds which have been the norm.

So with all of these factors going against us - what do you do to improve your chances of catching barra ?
:-/ Where do we look for warmer water ...... will it be sheltered small bays with deeper water or just where the wind / current has been pushing ( shallow or deep)
:-/ Do we concentrate our efforts in one area ...... or run & gun
:-/ What structure is targeted .... Weed edge or timber / lantana
:-/ Creek beds
:-/ Do we put the placcies away .... & just fish shallow running HBs (Stiffies , B52s , Bombers)
:-/ Do you still look for a sunrise bite or will the fish be less active
:) Sunset bites over sun warmed flats.
:-/ Do you target fish that are sounded
:-X Troll
:-/ Are there areas that are known winter producers
:-/ Is winter fishing just HIT & MISS
:-/ Do you look for what you are seeking before you start to fish..... even if it takes most of the day
:-/ Do you look for bird activity & bait
:-/ If you find inactive fish , do you stay in the area & cast for the bite



:scholar: The fish will be where they are ! ...... but can we get them to bite?

I have my ideas - but I'm interested to hear yours .... Plus its an opportunity to put ourselves in the right mindset:favorites:

Cheers all

Chris


G'day Chris and fello Ausfishers' long time no see!

Mate you have lots of unanswered questions there! I have some advice that you may want to take on board?
Fist and most importantly is do not try and reinvent the wheel to much so to speak but do mix it up a bit with common proven tactics that you already know!
Stealth and long casts is a top priority!!
Late morning till sunset fishing is the go!
There is no doubt that you will find fish when you go….. it’s just getting them to take a lure will be the challenge!
Do not get stuck in a rut with any particular type of lure , size or style’
Slow rolled rubbers will work at times in shallow or deep water but sometimes you will get better results from sick fishing them.
Slowly worked hard bodies are worth trying as well in all depths of water …… now remembering all the lures you have in your tackle box??
Well pull em out and try a few different ones’ Try dead sticking them for periods of up to a minute!
One thing a few are getting wrong with winter Barra fishing is that you always have to go slow!!!
Not true as reaction strikes from fast ripped hard bodies both shallow and deep can still get you plenty of Barra in the winter…. Barra will still explode onto a lure over a short distance in sub 20’C water temps!
Shallow stuff like Stiffies, Gold Bombers etc are great around the weeds!
Mate I’m out of time on this one as working night shift ….. so guess I better do a bit of work before quitting time.

Cheers Les

[Awoonga]

I wish I knew what the other pieces were :-/ All I know is that I will need to fish differently than I had.
Trevs approach & ideas are solid ...... certainly worth heeding - 8-)


At this stage , I'm not sure what Trev is doing ! ...... . Maybe he will pop down if I have a go fast prop with me :P ....... The reality is " The fishing at awoonga .... SUX! atm" ...... We'll see how he goes at the Tannum Hookup this weekend

Chris Day one of the Hookup..... Fishing at Awoonga Not a touch zip.... but the leader... yes there is a leader caught his 103 Trolling...l fished for at least 16 hours and yes l trolled too !...John you think Faust F####s with your head .. Add Awoonga to that list

[MORFIN]

I have just had my first 2009 winter barra session at mondy & it was tough but I did manage to land 1 barra in the afternoon in 22 deg water temp SE winds .
It was my first trip there for some months & after travelling all over the dam to suss out the conditions I found the better water to be from white rocks down to the main basin , more baitfish , birds & better water quality.
I managed to land the fish on a quick stop & start retreive in 3mtr of water jut of a weedy point with timber , the lure was a 12+ rob gaden classic barra in purple.
Hope this helps.

PETE MATE

[NAGG]

G'day Chris and fello Ausfishers' long time no see!

Mate you have lots of unanswered questions there! I have some advice that you may want to take on board?
Fist and most importantly is do not try and reinvent the wheel to much so to speak but do mix it up a bit with common proven tactics that you already know!
Stealth and long casts is a top priority!!
Late morning till sunset fishing is the go!
There is no doubt that you will find fish when you go….. it’s just getting them to take a lure will be the challenge!
Do not get stuck in a rut with any particular type of lure , size or style’
Slow rolled rubbers will work at times in shallow or deep water but sometimes you will get better results from sick fishing them.
Slowly worked hard bodies are worth trying as well in all depths of water …… now remembering all the lures you have in your tackle box??
Well pull em out and try a few different ones’ Try dead sticking them for periods of up to a minute!
One thing a few are getting wrong with winter Barra fishing is that you always have to go slow!!!
Not true as reaction strikes from fast ripped hard bodies both shallow and deep can still get you plenty of Barra in the winter…. Barra will still explode onto a lure over a short distance in sub 20’C water temps!
Shallow stuff like Stiffies, Gold Bombers etc are great around the weeds!
Mate I’m out of time on this one as working night shift ….. so guess I better do a bit of work before quitting time.

Cheers Les

Hey Les ..... nice to see you back online
Lots of holes , lots of theories - Thats why I put it up ......... just to promote discussion from others that have been there & done that !

Thanks for your thoughts Les ......... & dont remain a stranger on here :)

Chris

[NAGG]

as for lure selection, mmm, i think a slow rolled placcie will do exactly that, slow roll past a big fat lazy barra, where as a nice shiney suspending H.B. will hang in its face a bit, 5 , 10 , 15 , secs, twitch, same again, and again, big fat bitch dont wanna move to much in winter, bit like me..if i can get a feed served up to me with little movement involved, yep i,d. attack it...:P
deano..8-)

I'm not ready to throw away placcies just yet ......... lightly weighted hollow bellies ot slickies rigged weedless thrown into weed edges & dropped down the face of the weed - - - - just cant do that with a hard on ( starting to sound like Daryl :-[ )

Chris

[darylive]

I'm not ready to throw away placcies just yet ......... lightly weighted hollow bellies ot slickies rigged weedless thrown into weed edges & dropped down the face of the weed - - - - just cant do that with a hard on ( starting to sound like Daryl :-[ )

Chris

Well mate it might motivate you to get a hard on
if some big mumma sucks in your softie :P

[NAGG]

Well mate it might be enough to one if some big mumma sucks in your softie :P

As long as its not spat back out ;D

[Whitto]

I guess i should throw my two bob's worth in here for what it's worth :-/

Most of you guys on here, from what i have read, would not have any trouble locating the fish ;)

I believe that the problem, as i alluded to in another post about patches, is getting the fish to take a lure :'(

Over the past year and a bit i have seen this happen at both Faust and Awoonga.

Last year at Faust i had no problem finding plenty of fish, but getting them to strike, well that was another thing :o If you could entice a fish to have a go most of the time it would be a half harted swipe, just a bump and nothing, no matter how long you cast or what hour of the day or night, just didn't make any difference.
Plenty of fish were found by day on the shallow flats soaking up the sun, bite? no bloody way, bump the boat and there would be swirls every where.

At the begining of winter at Awoonga last year with Trev, fish all day, zip and then cop a five minute bite just on dark :'( then gooonnne.

At Faust at the moment there are are lot of fish, the DPI just electrofished over 1oo barra to 126cm's. Fishing there now, a day or two good then nothing for a couple of weeks. Good bite today, tomorrow perfect weather no bite, WHY?????

Trev is not having any problems finding fish at Awoonga at this time, he is just not finding too many fish that will bite. One guide has stopped charters, another has gone pig shooting and another is working Mondy, go figure????

We are not talking about mugs here either, these blokes are the Guru's of barra fishing.

What's happened?? the only thing i can come up with is stability within the lake!

Faust has seen some massive increases in water levels resulting in weed beds dying out affecting water quality, other weed beds are growing in very deep water and at depths unheard of (certainly by me) Trev has told me of weed beds in Awoonga growing in fifty feet of water, they have almost reached this depth at Faust also as i am told. This is caused, i am informed, by the weed continuing to grow as water levels drop, it just lays on the surface and when the water level rises the weed straightenes up to stay at the surface or at a depth where it still gets enough light to continue to grow to reach the surface.

At Awoonga we had two increases in water level (from memory)that you could state as significient. So with that, what are we left with? massive increases in boney's shrimp and crays all good barra tucker, with the barra gaining good condition.
Most of all the barra are reluctant to take a lure, now i could be very wrong here but a desperate man with IBD will clutch at anything;D if i can remember rightly, the golden days i have experienced at Faust came when there was very little in the way of weed beds.

Mondy i believe, is not the same as the other two yet, why?? no major increases in water level, a more stable lake environment?, no where near as much area covered with weed beds (or not that i have seen) but appears to suffer from a large amount of boat traffic, some driven by some with no consideration for others what so ever.

So my thoughts for Mondy next week?

I think we all know that shallow water heats up in sunshine quicker in the daylight hours cooling off again at night, so what does that mean?

Well the fish will move into the shallows by day to get warm and at night they will retreat to deeper water that will be more stable temperature wise. So i would select a spot where shallow flats adjoined deeper water in an out of the way place so as not to be disturbed by others, evidence of bait would also be desirable.

Methods?? Stealth will be very very very important, one bump in the boat will see many swirls in shallow water and the big girls will be goooonnneeee. Use all methods, meaning lures and retrieves.

I hope you can make some sense from this as i am only a silly old bugger who just loves catching barra and i really don't know what i am talking about.

Cheers,
John.From one silly old bugger to another John...I very much agree with your thoughts on Monduran...have never fished Faust or Awoonga....The Rodeo keeps turning right into Monduran and refuses to go straight ahead....see ya soon Whitto

[Whitto]

I guess i should throw my two bob's worth in here for what it's worth :-/

Most of you guys on here, from what i have read, would not have any trouble locating the fish ;)

I believe that the problem, as i alluded to in another post about patches, is getting the fish to take a lure :'(

Over the past year and a bit i have seen this happen at both Faust and Awoonga.

Last year at Faust i had no problem finding plenty of fish, but getting them to strike, well that was another thing :o If you could entice a fish to have a go most of the time it would be a half harted swipe, just a bump and nothing, no matter how long you cast or what hour of the day or night, just didn't make any difference.
Plenty of fish were found by day on the shallow flats soaking up the sun, bite? no bloody way, bump the boat and there would be swirls every where.

At the begining of winter at Awoonga last year with Trev, fish all day, zip and then cop a five minute bite just on dark :'( then gooonnne.

At Faust at the moment there are are lot of fish, the DPI just electrofished over 1oo barra to 126cm's. Fishing there now, a day or two good then nothing for a couple of weeks. Good bite today, tomorrow perfect weather no bite, WHY?????

Trev is not having any problems finding fish at Awoonga at this time, he is just not finding too many fish that will bite. One guide has stopped charters, another has gone pig shooting and another is working Mondy, go figure????

We are not talking about mugs here either, these blokes are the Guru's of barra fishing.

What's happened?? the only thing i can come up with is stability within the lake!

Faust has seen some massive increases in water levels resulting in weed beds dying out affecting water quality, other weed beds are growing in very deep water and at depths unheard of (certainly by me) Trev has told me of weed beds in Awoonga growing in fifty feet of water, they have almost reached this depth at Faust also as i am told. This is caused, i am informed, by the weed continuing to grow as water levels drop, it just lays on the surface and when the water level rises the weed straightenes up to stay at the surface or at a depth where it still gets enough light to continue to grow to reach the surface.

At Awoonga we had two increases in water level (from memory)that you could state as significient. So with that, what are we left with? massive increases in boney's shrimp and crays all good barra tucker, with the barra gaining good condition.
Most of all the barra are reluctant to take a lure, now i could be very wrong here but a desperate man with IBD will clutch at anything;D if i can remember rightly, the golden days i have experienced at Faust came when there was very little in the way of weed beds.

Mondy i believe, is not the same as the other two yet, why?? no major increases in water level, a more stable lake environment?, no where near as much area covered with weed beds (or not that i have seen) but appears to suffer from a large amount of boat traffic, some driven by some with no consideration for others what so ever.

So my thoughts for Mondy next week?

I think we all know that shallow water heats up in sunshine quicker in the daylight hours cooling off again at night, so what does that mean?

Well the fish will move into the shallows by day to get warm and at night they will retreat to deeper water that will be more stable temperature wise. So i would select a spot where shallow flats adjoined deeper water in an out of the way place so as not to be disturbed by others, evidence of bait would also be desirable.

Methods?? Stealth will be very very very important, one bump in the boat will see many swirls in shallow water and the big girls will be goooonnneeee. Use all methods, meaning lures and retrieves.

I hope you can make some sense from this as i am only a silly old bugger who just loves catching barra and i really don't know what i am talking about.

Cheers,
John.


G'day Chris and fello Ausfishers' long time no see!

Mate you have lots of unanswered questions there! I have some advice that you may want to take on board?
Fist and most importantly is do not try and reinvent the wheel to much so to speak but do mix it up a bit with common proven tactics that you already know!
Stealth and long casts is a top priority!!
Late morning till sunset fishing is the go!
There is no doubt that you will find fish when you go….. it’s just getting them to take a lure will be the challenge!
Do not get stuck in a rut with any particular type of lure , size or style’
Slow rolled rubbers will work at times in shallow or deep water but sometimes you will get better results from sick fishing them.
Slowly worked hard bodies are worth trying as well in all depths of water …… now remembering all the lures you have in your tackle box??
Well pull em out and try a few different ones’ Try dead sticking them for periods of up to a minute!
One thing a few are getting wrong with winter Barra fishing is that you always have to go slow!!!
Not true as reaction strikes from fast ripped hard bodies both shallow and deep can still get you plenty of Barra in the winter…. Barra will still explode onto a lure over a short distance in sub 20’C water temps!
Shallow stuff like Stiffies, Gold Bombers etc are great around the weeds!
Mate I’m out of time on this one as working night shift ….. so guess I better do a bit of work before quitting time.

Cheers LesYour right Les it has been far to long since we have heard from you...but we do what we have to do....as always good easy to understand advise.....for any new or first time Barra fisherman you will do well to read anything that Les.....Trev......and John on what you may very well have to adopt at this time of year......Just a heads up Les keep in mind The Muster in September (week after Fathers Day) would love to see you there if possible......Whitto

[Steve B]

I guess i should throw my two bob's worth in here for what it's worth :-/

Most of you guys on here, from what i have read, would not have any trouble locating the fish ;)

I believe that the problem, as i alluded to in another post about patches, is getting the fish to take a lure :'(

Over the past year and a bit i have seen this happen at both Faust and Awoonga.

Last year at Faust i had no problem finding plenty of fish, but getting them to strike, well that was another thing :o If you could entice a fish to have a go most of the time it would be a half harted swipe, just a bump and nothing, no matter how long you cast or what hour of the day or night, just didn't make any difference.
Plenty of fish were found by day on the shallow flats soaking up the sun, bite? no bloody way, bump the boat and there would be swirls every where.

At the begining of winter at Awoonga last year with Trev, fish all day, zip and then cop a five minute bite just on dark :'( then gooonnne.

At Faust at the moment there are are lot of fish, the DPI just electrofished over 1oo barra to 126cm's. Fishing there now, a day or two good then nothing for a couple of weeks. Good bite today, tomorrow perfect weather no bite, WHY?????

Trev is not having any problems finding fish at Awoonga at this time, he is just not finding too many fish that will bite. One guide has stopped charters, another has gone pig shooting and another is working Mondy, go figure????

We are not talking about mugs here either, these blokes are the Guru's of barra fishing.

What's happened?? the only thing i can come up with is stability within the lake!

Faust has seen some massive increases in water levels resulting in weed beds dying out affecting water quality, other weed beds are growing in very deep water and at depths unheard of (certainly by me) Trev has told me of weed beds in Awoonga growing in fifty feet of water, they have almost reached this depth at Faust also as i am told. This is caused, i am informed, by the weed continuing to grow as water levels drop, it just lays on the surface and when the water level rises the weed straightenes up to stay at the surface or at a depth where it still gets enough light to continue to grow to reach the surface.

At Awoonga we had two increases in water level (from memory)that you could state as significient. So with that, what are we left with? massive increases in boney's shrimp and crays all good barra tucker, with the barra gaining good condition.
Most of all the barra are reluctant to take a lure, now i could be very wrong here but a desperate man with IBD will clutch at anything;D if i can remember rightly, the golden days i have experienced at Faust came when there was very little in the way of weed beds.

Mondy i believe, is not the same as the other two yet, why?? no major increases in water level, a more stable lake environment?, no where near as much area covered with weed beds (or not that i have seen) but appears to suffer from a large amount of boat traffic, some driven by some with no consideration for others what so ever.

So my thoughts for Mondy next week?

I think we all know that shallow water heats up in sunshine quicker in the daylight hours cooling off again at night, so what does that mean?

Well the fish will move into the shallows by day to get warm and at night they will retreat to deeper water that will be more stable temperature wise. So i would select a spot where shallow flats adjoined deeper water in an out of the way place so as not to be disturbed by others, evidence of bait would also be desirable.

Methods?? Stealth will be very very very important, one bump in the boat will see many swirls in shallow water and the big girls will be goooonnneeee. Use all methods, meaning lures and retrieves.

I hope you can make some sense from this as i am only a silly old bugger who just loves catching barra and i really don't know what i am talking about.

Cheers,
John.

Bingo John. the rest is history....look to history.

summer feeding fish
winter reacting fish

Steve.

If you see them, you wont catch them. leave them alone....they need to be left alone as tempting as it is to annoy them or attempt to hook them.

[Dick Pasfield]

Lower down a bony. If you need to add some sophistication to as a means to justify such barbarism bridal rig it and ultra slow troll it on a downrigger. Use your pelagic nous on where and how. I'd pass on the outriggers though;)

[NAGG]

Lower down a bony. If you need to add some sophistication to as a means to justify such barbarism bridal rig it and ultra slow troll it on a downrigger. Use your pelagic nous on where and how. I'd pass on the outriggers though;)

Thats right Dick ....... Barbarian tactics ;)
And you can rest assured ..... live baiting has been talked about - Recently ! ..... & I have no doubt that it would bring success.

However ::)

Chris

[Dick Pasfield]

Nothing more than hillbillies across this way Nagg so the peer pressure is somewhat different......however we don't go hungry

[Awoonga]

Dick been there done that... Gar. Boneys even a perch....Catfish after catfish and some big ones too ! Day two of the Hookup been and gone and l am on the board with a 840 .Yesterdays winner was a 970.. Biggest fish still a 103..Lost a good fish on a frog. Meter+ At least l have found them. They are playing in the shallows in the warm water...Hoping that they are still there today...But its raining and cold today .Today is the final day its all or nothing...Now where is my raincoat ?

[Whitto]

Go get-em Trev......Surprise Surprise the Barra are in Shallow water trying to warm up.....despite some opinions Hammer them and keep hammering one or two or more will get shitty enough to attack;)

[birko]

G’day Chris
Cant really comment on the dam you are heading to as my record there is abysmal in summer let alone winter, but up here since the water temps have dropped I have noticed a few things that have changed.
I’m finding up here that the barra are still around the open points and bays, but are easy to spook and hard to entice. Finding these areas very frustrating, trying to do the right thing by lining up with the breeze and drifting in from a long way out just to see fish scatter due to the ripples of a cast or a small wave slap on the boat. So at this stage I tend to try this approach once a session to see if anything has changed (it will eventually) and then move on to plan b.
The fish in the hard structure by contrast seem to be actively feeding and stacked in numbers against that structure be it lantana or submerged logs. But they seem very particular in what structure they sit around. Flog one snag to death for nothing, move 20 feet to a similar snag and you pull fish in numbers. Most productive snags seem to be in 6 to 10 foot of water and clear of the weed bank that extends from the bank. Obviously fish are always around these types of snags but I haven’t come across it before when they are there in these numbers once found.
Also finding these productive hard structures are located in areas that are not overly affected by wind. They get breeze but not the full wind effect and the water still looks good, it probably gets current too, but I have yet to figure out how to spot current with any sort of confidence. I think being out of the full wind this causes the water to be that bit more stable at this time of year, not the warmest water but a bit more consistent in temperature throughout all the wind directional changes we have been having.
As for the lures I have had most success on plastics. The active fish are hitting them as always and given that the fish are being a bit fussy about which snag they hang out in, the plastic is a quicker way to suss out a snag verses snigging a suspending hard body . Once the active snag is found I guess it might be well worth changing over to a hard one.
So pretty much I have taken a run and gun approach, but between snags and only in certain bays that are a bit wind protected with good looking water. It hasn’t worked for me every session as a number of doughnuts have been recorded but it the most consistent pattern that I have come across since the temps have started going down. The fish are probably smaller than most would like to see but I did get my PB a few weeks ago (still yet to crack that metre fish).
I also have an intention to try jigging in the deeper water, but need to gather a bit more info on techniques, presentations and get much better on the sounder interpretation before giving it a go, but I think there is a bit of merit to it in winter and will try it before winter is gone.
Anyway I hope you have a blinder up there.

Craig

[NAGG]

Good read there Birko ....... Are you just sticking with Teemburra or hitting Kinchant too :)

The water depth (6-10ft) combined with structure away from the weed edges is interesting ! - stable water (away from the direct exposure to wind) - Sounds like what I need to look for of a morning.:P

Chris

[birko]

Chris.
Pretty much all Teemburra and always in the afternoon (just works out better that way family wise). Have only been to kinchant four of times. Twice fishing for barra a while ago and recently since the temps have started going down twice to take my young daughters sooty fishing. Must get there again, bit more interested after reading Dan Grechs article in QFM where he believes top water is the way to go around the weed beds in winter.

Cheers
Birko

[NAGG]

Chris.
Pretty much all Teemburra and always in the afternoon (just works out better that way family wise). Have only been to kinchant four of times. Twice fishing for barra a while ago and recently since the temps have started going down twice to take my young daughters sooty fishing. Must get there again, bit more interested after reading Dan Grechs article in QFM where he believes top water is the way to go around the weed beds in winter.

Cheers
Birko

A subsurface ribbit frog swum through those gaps in the weed ..... would be cool too
I cant wait to fish there again

Chris

[Big_Ren]

Bingo John. the rest is history....look to history.

summer feeding fish
winter reacting fish

Steve.

If you see them, you wont catch them. leave them alone....they need to be left alone as tempting as it is to annoy them or attempt to hook them.


Check your PMs from last week Stevo. We're up there next weekend (13th). Might catch up with ya.

Cheers
Paul

[BR65]

Paul, who's going up with you?

[Steve B]

Check your PMs from last week Stevo. We're up there next weekend (13th). Might catch up with ya.

Cheers
Paul

PM back to ya mate....see you there in the ranger sat arvo.!!!!;D

Steve

[Big_Ren]

Paul, who's going up with you?

Hey Brian, one of my best mates Gaz (gaz066 on here). Ben was going to come with us, but the recent deluge we've had on the Sunny Coast means he has lots of work to catch up on in his line of work.

Are you up then?

Cheers
Paul

[BR65]

Hey Brian, one of my best mates Gaz (gaz066 on here). Ben was going to come with us, but the recent deluge we've had on the Sunny Coast means he has lots of work to catch up on in his line of work.

Are you up then?

Cheers
Paul

Yeah mate, rolling in on Thursday nite, out on Sunday morn, no doubt we will cross paths somewhere along the line ;)

[Big_Ren]

Yeah mate, rolling in on Thursday nite, out on Sunday morn, no doubt we will cross paths somewhere along the line ;)

Good stuff Brian. Fishin with Stevo on Saturday (possibly Nagg on Sunday)...maybe lookin' at catchin' up somewhere on the water for a lunchtime chat/drink with a few of the boys on Saturday.

Cheers
Paul

[Tropicaltrout]

Hey Lads

Looks like we will pull up around 9 pm thursday night and out sunday aswell, so looks like a few up there Deano, Chris, John, Whitto, Brian, Paul, Gaz and myself. We will have the fire going I am sure fellas so a ale on the friday or saturday night will be a treat.

Cheers Nath

[Whitto]

I have to say Girls the weather looks good as well......Looking forward to catching up.....I will be on site Thursday arvo...will have a fire going and Jack to keep me company.....rug up I think were going to need to:o

[Tropicaltrout]

I have to say Girls the weather looks good as well......Looking forward to catching up.....I will be on site Thursday arvo...will have a fire going and Jack to keep me company.....rug up I think were going to need to:o

Too right mate it is going to have a fridge like effect on the nights;) Princess brought around a heap of solid hardwood logs for the fire so we will have plenty of wood;) .. I am sure with the fire HTFUP princess we will be plenty warm;D

Did ya get your swag back Deano????

[DEANO68]

yes will be a tad cool...got some good hard wood,::) ..to keep the home fires burning...good on ya whitto, will need the warmth when we get there thursdy nite..
deano..8-)

[DEANO68]

yep swag back, loaded with warmth ready to rock...

[Whitto]

Too right mate it is going to have a fridge like effect on the nights;) Princess brought around a heap of solid hardwood logs for the fire so we will have plenty of wood;) .. I am sure with the fire HTFUP princess we will be plenty warm;D

Did ya get your swag back Deano???? Well I hope he has got it back.....He's not sleeping with me cause he Farts too much::).......there's nothing worse than a grumpy Silverback;D

[Whitto]

Just a tad slow on my reply:o

[DEANO68]

Well I hope he has got it back.....He's not sleeping with me cause he Farts too much::).......there's nothing worse than a grumpy Silverback;D

just trying to share the warmth around...no need to get grumpy..:P

[Whitto]

Grumpy Me.....Never.....TIP FOR THE DAY.......Check your trailer Wheelbearings:-[

[Awoonga]

Chris.
Pretty much all Teemburra and always in the afternoon (just works out better that way family wise). Have only been to kinchant four of times. Twice fishing for barra a while ago and recently since the temps have started going down twice to take my young daughters sooty fishing. Must get there again, bit more interested after reading Dan Grechs article in QFM where he believes top water is the way to go around the weed beds in winter.

Cheers
Birko
its one way to catch them. l used frogs to good effect yesterday and caught a couple of 800s then last night at Awoonga a 121 ,102 and a meter where caught using the subsurface method...Hollowbellys where the lure used .The bite time lasted about ten minutes

[NAGG]

just trying to share the warmth around...no need to get grumpy..:P


But keep clear of naked flames :wreck:

[NAGG]

its one way to catch them. l used frogs to good effect yesterday and caught a couple of 800s then last night at Awoonga a 121 ,102 and a meter where caught using the subsurface method...Hollowbellys where the lure used .The bite time lasted about ten minutes


Good to hear you got on to some good fish Trev ......... It would have brought back a smile to the dial :)

Out of curiosity ..... were you confident that there were fish in the area when the switch was turned on :-/

Chris

[Awoonga]

There was a few Boofs in the Area and two other Boats in the Area as well..Scotty was in one and Earl in the other one ..........Earl not a touch..... Scotty dont know ? There where no bites .....just the three hookups ....l was in the back of a bay the other two where in the front part of the bay

[Braidmaster]

Day one of the Hookup..... Fishing at Awoonga Not a touch zip.... but the leader... yes there is a leader caught his 103 Trolling...l fished for at least 16 hours and yes l trolled too !...John you think Faust F####s with your head .. Add Awoonga to that list


I am a new member to this site, so i say g'day to all ausfishers. i also fished the hookup on the weekend and spent 5 hrs fishing awoonga on friday. i also caught a 103 cm barra . the money bait was a deep diving richo's weighted to suspend. casting parallel to the weed with big long casts keeping it in the zone. i not sure where the trolling idea came from, but either way that fish was enough to seal to deal. might see you on the water this weekend, as long i dont blink i wont miss ya.

[Awoonga]

I am a new member to this site, so i say g'day to all ausfishers. i also fished the hookup on the weekend and spent 5 hrs fishing awoonga on friday. i also caught a 103 cm barra . the money bait was a deep diving richo's weighted to suspend. casting parallel to the weed with big long casts keeping it in the zone. i not sure where the trolling idea came from, but either way that fish was enough to seal to deal. might see you on the water this weekend, as long i dont blink i wont miss ya. Looks like l got the wrong info .Five hours = one fish = HOOKUP WINNER You have to be happy with that

[BR65]

Bradmaster, congrats brother, and interesting choice of lure...

3 meteries, inc a 120+, in 10 minutes, now thats fishin Trev.

[vet]

Gday Nagg, Trev should have had confidence in the area he was fishing as Ben got 2 fish there on friday and I got 4 fish in that bay on saturday and it is the same bay that I got my 130cm fish last june so the bay has past and recent winter form. Great work again Trev, congrats, we only managed another couple of high 90,s, didn't crack the metre for the weekend. Cheers scott.

[NAGG]

Gday Nagg, Trev should have had confidence in the area he was fishing as Ben got 2 fish there on friday and I got 4 fish in that bay on saturday and it is the same bay that I got my 130cm fish last june so the bay has past and recent winter form. Great work again Trev, congrats, we only managed another couple of high 90,s, didn't crack the metre for the weekend. Cheers scott.



Thanks Scotty ....... Its one of those questions that never seems to be asked :-[ Why were you there ?
So it was a case of recent captures & a historical producer ........ Then you need to get the fish to bite:P

Well done to both of you .....

Chris

[Braidmaster]

Looks like l got the wrong info .Five hours = one fish = HOOKUP WINNER You have to be happy with that


very happy, though didn't think it would be enough. not much luck pulling any of size the rest of the weekend.

Cheers BR65.

[Steve B]

I am a new member to this site, so i say g'day to all ausfishers. i also fished the hookup on the weekend and spent 5 hrs fishing awoonga on friday. i also caught a 103 cm barra . the money bait was a deep diving richo's weighted to suspend. casting parallel to the weed with big long casts keeping it in the zone. i not sure where the trolling idea came from, but either way that fish was enough to seal to deal. might see you on the water this weekend, as long i dont blink i wont miss ya.

Well done Brad on your win.

A deserving winner using a terrific alternative tactic that worked well for you..thanks for sharing it with us. Hope you can keep contributing to the forums.

Cheers Steve

[Jeremy87]

I'd say keep driving north and then north some more to where its warm all year round. And go hit some dry season billabong barra.

[Awoonga]

I'd say keep driving north and then north some more to where its warm all year round. And go hit some dry season billabong barra. Please tell us more !

[Jeremy87]

Well this time last year I decided to say bugger it and went up to Darwin. Night temp dropped to a nippy 20 degrees and didn't get much higher than 30 during the day. Bloody cold but i managed. spent most of the time walking the bank and did a billabong trip on the last afternoon. Quality isn't as good as stocked impoundments 70cm was about the biggest smallest was about 40cm but the numbers were exponentially better. My mates went back in Novemeber (middle of my exam block bastards) and cleaned up on 70-85cm fish. But you guys wouldn't be interested in that probably not your scene lol.

[warrior]

jeremy spent 2 winters up there in darwin and had a ball on the winter barra fished the rock heaps and landed some memorable barra ,one night we landed 7 all over a metre

[vet]

Gday Jeremy87, I just got back from 5 days at arnemland barramundi lodge. We picked up 60 odd barra a day, the biggest went 71cm, but most of them were a lot smaller. I found it quite boring, easy predictable small fish that couldn't pull drag and you really didn't care if they got off or not. No heart in mouth sort of stuff like you get when you get a big dam barra on and you want to land it. I went out to Awoonga as soon as I got back and got 1 bite for a 98cm fish landed and this was much more challenging and interesting than the whole trip to arnemland. I've done it once, don't think I'll be rushing back.
To each his own, scott.

[NAGG]

Gday Jeremy87, I just got back from 5 days at arnemland barramundi lodge. We picked up 60 odd barra a day, the biggest went 71cm, but most of them were a lot smaller. I found it quite boring, easy predictable small fish that couldn't pull drag and you really didn't care if they got off or not. No heart in mouth sort of stuff like you get when you get a big dam barra on and you want to land it. I went out to Awoonga as soon as I got back and got 1 bite for a 98cm fish landed and this was much more challenging and interesting than the whole trip to arnemland. I've done it once, don't think I'll be rushing back.
To each his own, scott.

Gee Scotty ...... They would be fun on 3kg bass gear :P

Gotta say .... love the impoundment stuff - but get a real buzz snag bashing crocodile infested creeks :)
Chris

[Jeremy87]

Yeh Chris we were running our bass canoe sticks with 8lb since we had to dead lift the fish up the banks alot of the time. Every now and again we'd hook an 80 or 90 in the really skinny stuff and get smoked lol. The little 40cm barra get boring pretty quick when they're away from cover like in the billabongs we caught 105 in an afternoon, it got to the point where we were seeing what they wouldn't hit which was pretty much nothing. 1 session is fine 5 days i'd be getting over it too We were up there for 6 days and broke up the fishing with some hunting. I personally found fishing for the sooties in the creek alot more fun, The challenge was not finding the fish but being able to make a cast in such thick bank vegitation, and then getting them out of the snag. The reward and excitment of hooking a really big fish is great but sometimes you just want to go somewhere where you know your going to catch a heap of fish. I'm going to try to do something similar this July at Rocky rather than hit the dams fingers crossed it all falls into plan.

[Dick Pasfield]

Yes rats are a pain, but they got to be rats before they become horses. When they're in the way and you can't get anything around them best to move rather than sit there and catch them all day. The bigger ones will still be there, just a matter of finding them, or if all else fails target another species

[Whitto]

Yes rats are a pain, but they got to be rats before they become horses. When they're in the way and you can't get anything around them best to move rather than sit there and catch them all day. The bigger ones will still be there, just a matter of finding them, or if all else fails target another species Ican understand the boring comment......Gee's it's a nice problem to have catching rats;)

[Dick Pasfield]

I can understand the boring comment......Gee's it's a nice problem to have catching rats;)

lol :) yes you can look at it from either angle. skull dragging small fish in and the inevitable damage you do to some of them when you're catching heaps does have its low points though. As mentioned earlier gearing down, catching less and challenging the fish is a good way to overcome that.

Rivers systems will always have a mixture of fish sizes. Often within the system and at certain times of the year you'll get mobs of little tackers hanging around, all keen to eat whatever you put in front of them.

Both the numbers brigade and the freezer fillers will target these spots, often breaking bag and possession limits.

If you ignore the temptation to target them you'll generally find bigger fish, often close by;)

[matt fraser]

Hey Scott,

Good to see you back into some barra action!

Matt

[vet]

Gday Dick, when you're on a guided charter you don't have much choice where you fish and the guides kept taking us back to them.
Hello Matt, had a six month break from the barras and went chasing reds and large mouth nannygai for a change.
cheers scott

[Dick Pasfield]

Agreed Vet, and in some instances suggesting you may not be happy doing what they think you should be happy doing gets a poor response that can affect the rest of the trip. Bit of a fine line for balancing things at times