A year on i thought i'd pop up this old post as it's a perfect time to have another look at our great impoundments and not take them for granted. I realise many of you will know everything i have to say in this thread, but i hope it will help those out new to the Impoundment Barra Scene. Thats why we originally started this thread last year.
The competition guys are all organised for the tour so i thought i'd pop this post back up for the social fisho to get their rod arms twitching againI wish comp and social anglers the best of luck this summer. I know a lot of you and you are some of the nicest people i've met.
Learning: A year on you can see clearly at the improvement some have made and the lack of improvement in others who don't listen to $100 000 worth of free barra information floating around on here. I for one couldn't believe how bad i am in a heap of areas. I now realise impoumdment barra could be a decade or 2 long apprenticeship for travelling anglers. I'm sure it will all be fun.
Donuts: Honest reports of donuts have never been higher and it's bloody great to see the real fishing reports finally being printed. It took some fellow ausfisho's with a lot of guts to start that trend and for for the most part they were travelling social anglers - well done guys and girls
Plastics: Plastic Quality to hit our shops has improved 1000% with number 1 in 2006/7 now number 101 when compared to the fantastic weapons on the shelf at the moment. Hook Quality or lack of is still a problem for many plastics across many brands. Berkley has started the year with a bang by winning a comp with 40 fish caught by Scott,Matt & Trev in a couple of days. They even left them biting - crikey who knows how many they could have caught? Hollow Bellies have been flying off the shelf like squidgees in the past. They are right, Hollow Bellies can be fished very slowly.
Aussie Dollar: Brace yourself for a 30% price rise. It's the perfect excuse to go out and buy more gear
Lures: At the last 10 campfires on our barra trips we have hardly talked about lures. 5 years ago it would have been Predateks and Classics talked about. Plastics have dominated tackle talk. For decades lures have been number 1. I'd say plastics are taking over a big share of the market.
Dams: Monduran has hit the boom phase, yet walking to your car at the Awoonga ramp still smashes the legs. The ramp was full again this week at Awoonga. Tinaroo looks like it's back to it's prime. Faust still has big fish. Callide, Wuruma & Lenthals are on a bit of a downer. A couple of years stocking with good rain should see them back online.
Travelling Anglers: This lively bunch seems to be increasing. We met a bunch of blokes at Foxies on the weekend who drove from Canberra to Awoonga. Keen.
TV: Barra fishing on the box (AFC) keeps the industry ticking over and business alive. Last year was the first that barra were included and it was a viewer success with many first timers sparked to head north. Taylor brothers were successful in the barra tour (ABT) and TV comps.
Hard Fishing: Fishing at Awoonga seems to be getting a little specialised and i heard more reports of donuts at Monduran and Awoonga in the last week than ever before. Some went 2 weeks without a touch. Many went a week. Many cleared out mid week and cancelled the back half of their trip. Interesting.
Yet people still caught fish at the same time. At times Harro & Mitchell have said it will require A grade fishing to catch fish at Awoonga when it's tough.
Trolling: Gone are the days of just rocking up to do a spot of trolling to land a barra. In the past we used to see 40 boats troll the main basin. Trolling has decreased from where it used to be. In peak times when there is a hot bite on the basin can still get packed.
Boats: We only ever saw one bass boat on dams 5 years ago. From Toowoomba he was and we all thought the boat was unusual. Now it's common to see one when you are launching at the boat ramp. They are well set up for fishing and their utilisation of space is awesome & aussie brands could learn alot from them. They are also very fast. Tinnies still have a place and so do side consoles from major aussie brands. Rod lockers and storage needs to be standard issue on aussie boats aiming for a slice of the market. If they don't hurry up they might get left behind - caught napping a few have been.
Quintrex only rating top enders to 60hp was a big mistake, we struggled to get on the plane in a big swell a awoonga on the weekend - very dangerous if we were at sea. How are hornets rated to 100+hp and Top enders not? Crazy for such a good boat with untapped potential in salt and fresh. Fitting the wrong props is pretty much standard as well with a lot of manufacturers. This has to change, especailly for $30 000+ when Trevs Skeeter was around that mark. With the dollar down the price has gone up. Food for thought.
Kayaks: Yaks are getting big with more and more seen out chasing barra. Some Yak events are springing up all around the place..Might have to get one.
I'd imagine lots of serenity on one, except for when you hook a barra
Fishing Gear: I reckon we are still way behind getting the perfect barra setup. e.g. rods and reels. Especially at decent prices. e.g. many rods still have small guides and the wrong balance.
Fishing Talk: Frogs, Frogs footage, Stiffies & Berkley Hollow Bellies & Big barra.
Comraderie: Is alive and kicking with the Sweetwater Meet & Greet great fun in May this year with Fitzy and the boys being great hosts around the campfire. Watching the Barra and Huge Cod DVD was magic. The camp oven cook off was a good laugh as well. Fitzy never got that crackling i left him. We never found who ate it? I still can't believe Swano gave our Garlic Prawns & Snapper dish to our neighbours becasue he had the same shirt on as me. A mistake we can all make.
The Mondy Muster: Was a bunch of keen Ausfisho's meeting up at Monduran for a spot of fishing. Good laughs were had all round and faces put to names. Nagg has to get a special mention here for arranging everyone. Tony M catching his pb 114cm barra to take home the the trophy was special. First barra on spin, first on a plastic, first on a skeeter, first on 30lb and a pb to boot.
More and more people are helping each other on here which is great, especially for newbies. Comp guys are a bit quieter at this time of the year nearing the tour but are all very helpfull if you are nice and ask questions. Many are tinkering with stuff way ahead of the mainstream stuff, so are a lot of quiet anglers.
Ladies Fishing: Is alive and well with great people attending the No Blokes Barra Bash and the L a d y f i s h e r s events at Lake Awoonga. The L a d y f i s h e r s is on this weekend. Organisers Amy & Bev do a lot for womens fishing & are good value.
Business: Foxies Barra Havoc has established itself as a market leader in just over a year. No mean feat in the tackle industry. Jacky and Foxie should be proud of their achievements and it stems from a lot of hard work behind the scenes. Foxies is located in Gin Gin, right next to the butcher, very convenient.
Sexy Coffee has won awards based in the middle of nowhere. They serve up some of the best coffee going around and are located near the Maryborough turnoff.
The Peanut van has a thriving trade at Childers. Make sure you stock up on your future trips.
Guides are going strong with more and more business from far and wide. Harro and mitchell are hard to track down at times they have so much work at Awoonga. Paul Dolan is popular in both salt and fresh from Monduran, Lenthals and the Bay with Jason and Rob coming online at Monduran/Awoonga in the last year. Rob took over from Adrian.
Caravan Parks: They get dearer by the year. Fees go up and not a lot changes. Since the barra boom started some have doubled in price for a block of dirt. Big companies now buy them up and turn them over as cash cows. There are good people in parks that work hard with what they have got.
Barra Information for Everyone: A bit of a collection is starting to stack up now. Schultzy was one of the first to travel from SEQ to Tinaroo and back chasing barra about 20 years ago. We have the original Dam Hot series by Matt Fraser and co done about ten years ago, Jack Leightons DVD's, Harro's, Jasons sections on barra in DVD's, Johnny Mitchells Fish Awoonga DVD hit the market years ahead of it's time and many were not ready to register the content filled text and visuals which dumped 1000 pages of good barra info in to 43 minutes.
Some did learn a lot from this informative dvd..They won a heap of comps & caught stacks of fish. This will be seen as level 1 in years to come. If we don't get it we might have to think about taking up another sport because it won't be getting easier.
Tip: Every sentence and visual needs to be paused.
Old but good: Even going through old gems like Bransfords Fishing Guide from North Qld over the weekend was great and it had some hidden gems in it with the section by Jack Leighton on Impoundment barra way ahead of it's time. Note the anchoring tip and no stubbies on the side of the boat. If you are noisy with an anchor you will have to wait half an hour. He has heard boofing on cold winters nights and fished successfully for barra in the cold over a decade ago. Many only started doing this in the last year or 2. Point is that some good info has been around for a while, it just gets skipped over for the next best thing. Even JM was impressed with the booklet.
New Presentations On Barra: Harro's book is packed with tips. Some subtle so slow down and read things clearly. His book on Qld dams also has a few gems in it, but you won't find them by skim reading.
Jason has a book coming out. Harro is working on more as well. Johnny Mitchell has DVD's in the works, Books and new web site stacked full of barra info. More and more people are sharing info on here so i think we are in a pretty good state at the moment. What do you think?
Funny Stuff
Nath seeing a barra jumping over a log has to be up there.
Trev seeing a flying barra hit his mate in the middle of the back on a dark night would have been painfull but funny.
Whitto being keen for a 5min to 5 hour chat was legendary this year.
Mitchell landing barra on handlines, alveys, no shoes on then dressing up in commando gear and paint to hunt barra was classic stuff.
Pigsy taking one step too many while casting at Peter Faust resulted in bathtime arriving early. His mates were in stitches so they just left him in the water holding his fishing rod as they were rolling around the deck. Eventually the less than happy Pigsy was hauled in.
Oldy but a goody: A couple of years ago i think my brother and i were on our 3rd fishless day at Awoonga. Anyway these 2 grey nomads in a 12 foot tinnie were using hand lines with egg sized sinkers attached trolling squidgee's around the main basin depth charging in 80ft of water. You guessed it they came back to camp with grins after catching barra when we had all the flash gear and couldn't raise a scale. We had to laugh.
Interesting Stats
Guide: Mitchell fishing over 500 times in a year for salt & fresh barra in all 24 hour time periods of the day including salt and fresh sessions on the same day is what i'd call raising the bar slightly. Insane stuff.
Comp: 40 Fish in 2 days by Trevor Burgess, Matt Fraser & Scott McAuley has to be acknowledged as a fine effort.
Big Fish: Scott McAuley's (Polar Bear) Barra was around 35kgs and 1.30m long. Barry the Barra is a huge fish caught in winter at Awoonga.
Salt: Terryn Sharp's (Sharpy) 141cm salt fish was a monster.
Fat Fish: Steve B's Homer was a barra in the 120's and showed more guts than Merve Hughes. Homers brother a few weeks later wasn't exactly kate Moss.
Mangrove Jack @ Awoonga: Not many have been caught over the years. I think around 14 000 have been released with mitchell catching some of the brood stock way back. Kel got her 52cm Mangrove Jack back in 2005. Mitchells mate or clients got one, another was caught and reported to be 70cm's - i think there was a photo of a big one in Harro's articles in Freshwater Fishing not long ago.
The photo attached is the Jack i caught this year on Aussie Day - it was in the 50 odd cm range and was a huge highlight for me.
Saratoga: I hear Trev took a mate fishing as he is a Toga nut, tatt and all etc. He caught his toga about a month ago at Awoonga. A good effort.
Feel free to add your great lake photo's to this thread and keep things positive.
See you on a barra dam soon.
Don't forget to enjoy the camping & social side as well.
Good luck on your next trip.
Cheers Lyndon.
Great post Lyndon, i never saw it when it first started a year ago. Great photos and information you have shared with us. You've become a bit of roving ambassador for the dams, Barra, camping and social side of things. Thanks for all your efforts. Its amazing how much the sport and interest in impoundment fishing has accelerated. Who knows where it will be in 5 years from now and how big these barra will be getting. - cheers Richard
Lyndon .... once again a great piece of writing based on keen observation & passion for what we love ...... BARRA.
Being part of a site like this & actually meeting many of the contributors has fueled my interest ...... in not only the fishing but also the interaction both online & better still on location - Its the trip as a whole package.
On the fishing front ..... we all need to up the ante if we want to avoid feasting on pastries ....... not only during tough weather pattens but also during favorable timesSharing information & experiences will improve everyone - be it pro guide , tournament angler , local legends , regular devotees or occasional dangler ......... put it out there
There is a certain satisfaction that comes helping others achieve their goals
Chris
Give a man a fish & he will eat for a day !
Teach him how to fish
& he will sit in a boat - & drink beer all day!
TEAM MOJIKO
Hey Lyndon
As always love your writings, more like a tale than a story, now i know why you love the camp fire.......your kids and grandkids are going to love the times spent hanging with you and that perspective you have...
Haven't tried Mr Peanuts though...Very dangerous going in there....I love Peanuts!!!!
Thanks mate
Ben
Im speechless as Im usually am.....that was a Brilliant read....thank you Kel and Lyndon
Good Mates....Good Food.....Good Fishing....Priceless
Great work Lyndon, I also missed the original post, I've only been active on the freshwater section of Ausfish for about 10 - 12 months - since the IBD kicked back in late last year.
Your pictures and words clearly shows your passion for these impoundments and their inhabitants! Its hard for that enthusiasm not to rub off on anyone who reads your work.
cheers,
Matt
Thanx Lyndon for the usefull post. was a pleasure to read and much food for thought umongst it. Cheers again and i hope more to come.
Cheers PM
great post mate,
im looking forward to chasing some barra this summer,
does anyone know if you can take the dogs to monduran or awoonga camp grounds....?
cheers,
Ben
Hi Yellahunter (Ben) you can take dogs to Monduran mate. Not Awoonga.
I remember a couple camped there for a few months & were training border collies. They had pups we watched grow up on each trip.
They used to run them down the back of the camping gounds. The parents would scoot around in a big 100m circle and so would most of the pups, however a few took short cuts and met the parents half way!!!
Waking up to watch this unfold on sunrise was awesome.
Have a good trip.
Cheers Lyndon.
thats great,
Monduran here we come!
Thanks Lyndon...obviously written by someone who has their eyes open and their ears pricked up to whats going on around them.
A fantastic read.
Cheers mate.
Shrimp, what shrimp? Is this like a fight club thing with little pictures of brad pitt popping up between the scenes?
Yep Lyndon.
Certainly a great read mate. You are dead set the ambasador for all things Aussie we love about camping fishing and the outdoors....You instill a passion for fishing, socialising, and sharing....all great things that we share to help others....and to gain ourselves from other experiences. As Chris says, its about helping each other...no matter what level we are at....we all learn. Appreciating the nature around us, and the company is just as important.
Thanks mate for keeping out feet on the ground, lures in the water and mind in overdrive!!
cheers steve
Hi Rc@hinze yes it will be interesting where things will be in 5 years time mate.
Campfires: The guys i know all get on well together around a campfire so you get decades worth of tips in one sitting. Even young fellas like Locky on here have the bug and we witnessed him and his mate do all nighters after getting off from school early, then back to play cricket the next day with no sleep. The future looks good if these 2 are barra fishing in 5 years. The more new people providing barra info the better it is for everyone who loves barra fishing.
Info: With Vet & Locky doing all nighters, Trev doing most of the times in the day and nights, JM & Harro out from sun up to sun down we had a 24 hour perspective around the campfire which was awesome. This alone will result in better info coming out in the future.
Where will all this be in 5 years? A good question.
I think the reader and angler will be the winners as there will be more barra info out in the next 5 years than the last 50. You just have to look at a couple of net sites where all reports and chat sections are libraries full of good info. Let alone the increasing book and dvd sections of tackle shops.
The buyers of barra books and dvd's will be the winners. Not the writers. Costing less than a carton of beer (2 lures) for a lifetimes knowledge on barramundi is cheap. But thats all people will pay. I just hope they use all that info.
Fishing: Barra being hard to catch in hard fished lakes is a good thing for the future of lake fishing. If they were easy we would see hundreds pulled out each week on each dam, which would soon stuff the fishery. The downside for us is that it's hard to catch a fish on our short trips, but atleast we know there are still plenty of fish to catch.
Big Fish: After looking at Vet's big monster barra (35kg+) on our back seat all the way up to Awoonga i'll be happy just to hook and see one of those monsters jump. Just to know they are lurking out there is enough to get the rod arm twitching.
Without any severe weather changes the impoundment barra future will be good.
Thanks again for your kind post Richard.
Good luck on your next trip mate.
Cheers Lyndon.
Great pics guys. There are some really great moments captured there by the looks. Thanks for sharing.
Colo
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