where do barra hide during winter

[mick]

im talking fresh water(awonga). do they hide in deep holes or in the shallows? what can i do to intise a strike.

[jaybee]

Hey Mick if they are anything like me..I hide under blankets during winter ;D

[Maxg]

Interesting. The littlies from this years crop will be in the rivers and water holes growing up as males, after 3 years they will head for the estuaries, on the wet, to breed with the big females who will migrate in from the ocean. Then the males will, supposedly, change sex to female and do the migration thing. There are of course resident fish, quite a lot really. But those residents will be mostly in estuaries and those bigger water holes of the rivers.
They have a wet dry cycle, are a particularly interesting fish of the Lates genus and are crespucular in lifestyle. ie they love the evenings nights and early mornings.. I think. Max

[Steve_Ooi]

You'll probably find that due to the cooler water the metabolism of the barra have slowed, the fish are not moving as much and are probably holding up somewhere.
But the question is where.?
I 'd try looking for warmer water, up in the shallow bay area's if there's any in Awoonga (i've never been there so i don't really know the topography of the dam) and try around the weed beds,near a weed bed it would be alot easier for barra to ambush prey with out expending to much energy, lots of little fish (food) like to hang around the weed beds as well.
When barra are sulking in cool whether they don't like to move far to obtain food. So very slow trolling,or cast and retrieve methods could be the go (soft plastic can be very effective for this kind of work) that way you keep the lure in the lure in the strike zone for as long as possible.
Like Max has suggested fishing the peak times, around low light levels can be favourable for barra( dusk, dawn and night) overcast weather can be good too as long as the wind ain't howling.

It would be very interesting to place a radio tracker on one of these big impoundment fish , just to see what they do in different condition , if they hold up, or move about.

poony

[Fitzy]

Just saw some research on barra growth rates in lakes. They definately have a hiatus for 2-3 months in winter.

[gumby]

speaking of barra. what would be the best time of year to fish for them with lures if i was planning atrip up north?

[mick]

thanks. #i walked about three ks around the edge of awonga flicking a pink thing at the lily pads and weed beds. no hook ups but a couple fish followed the fly only to turn away at the last minute. #might try some lures and spinners.

it seems people on land try to cast as far from the bank as posible but people in #boats try to get as close to the shore as posible. go figure