A week at Monduran

[youngharry52]

Gday all,

Haven't tried a report before, so here goes.... Lynn and I had a week up at Mondy in 1 of the cabins from Sunday to Sunday last. Nice cabins they are too with a great view. After fishing Monday and Tuesday 8 till 5:30 and no result, it was time to seek the aid of a guide. This is a big dam going back some 15 k's I reckon to the back and more dead trees than we have ever ever seen. Would be easy to get lost in there, especially at night. We went out Wednesday with Rob Wood from Gin Gin in the "Guidelines" Quinnie. Talk about flog the water to foam. After 6 hours, we gave up and called it a day. Rob was good enough to only charge us for 4 as agreed. Still, it was worth it as neither of us had fished for barra before, apart from the Maroochy Barra Park, so we knew how smart and fussy they can be. We tried plastics, hard bodies and "stiffies" but to no avail. However we did learn where to expect to find fish at this time of year in these dams and what conditions to look for.

We were so b*ggered from Wednesday's effort that we didnt get out on Thursday till around 2pm. Those Shimano Stiffies are bl**dy hard yakka. Thusdayand Fridays result, still a big donut. Desparation and stress was setting in at this point, so, a big effort for Saturday was needed. Out on the water by 8, no point in going much earlier apparently as the water is too cold at the moment. We searched and searched for the right conditions and at about 3:45pm we found a spot down in Bird Bay that looked good. After a couple of skittish baitfish and a bit of a boil, we were excited to say the least. We were both using slick rigs and Lynn had a flash on 1 retieve. My next cast got hit but missed. I called it for about 700, the adrenalin was pumping. Another cast and whack... The rest was a bit of a blur to tell the truth. She came out of the water 3 times that I recall, awesome!!! Back and forward in front of the boat, there was nowhere for the big girl to go, no trees to hide in. Lynn grabbed the net and in the excitement of the moment managed to attract 4 lures that were hanging on the rack. She was trying to get them out..... , b*gger the lures I said, jus get the net in the water. In she swam. How good was that, now we are hooked. She went 106 cm and a quick dangle on the scales saw 16kgs.

Couple of pics then back into the water. A bit of a swim then off she went to do it all again some day, I hope. Talk about an eleventh hour reprieve. We fished for 6 days, all casting, then got the gold at 4pm on the last day. It sure is a beautiful place, and that big girl made a tiring but great week into an unforgetable trip that memories are made of.

Will we be back? You better believe it!!!!

Will add some pics soon when I get to downsize 'em

Regards

Chris

[TonyM]

Way to go Chris - sounds like you'll have the bug now! There's nothing but nothing that beats the rush of adrenaline when you get hooked up to a Barra! After a donut on my previous trip to Mondy it was a huge relief to get another "fix" last weekend.

Smart move to use a guide as well - there's so many little tricks that are good to know, plus with the helpfull guys on the forum and at the dam there's always something new to learn.

Cheers
Tony

[Whitto]

Gday all,

Haven't tried a report before, so here goes.... Lynn and I had a week up at Mondy in 1 of the cabins from Sunday to Sunday last. Nice cabins they are too with a great view. After fishing Monday and Tuesday 8 till 5:30 and no result, it was time to seek the aid of a guide. This is a big dam going back some 15 k's I reckon to the back and more dead trees than we have ever ever seen. Would be easy to get lost in there, especially at night. We went out Wednesday with Rob Wood from Gin Gin in the "Guidelines" Quinnie. Talk about flog the water to foam. After 6 hours, we gave up and called it a day. Rob was good enough to only charge us for 4 as agreed. Still, it was worth it as neither of us had fished for barra before, apart from the Maroochy Barra Park, so we knew how smart and fussy they can be. We tried plastics, hard bodies and "stiffies" but to no avail. However we did learn where to expect to find fish at this time of year in these dams and what conditions to look for.

We were so b*ggered from Wednesday's effort that we didnt get out on Thursday till around 2pm. Those Shimano Stiffies are bl**dy hard yakka. Thusdayand Fridays result, still a big donut. Desparation and stress was setting in at this point, so, a big effort for Saturday was needed. Out on the water by 8, no point in going much earlier apparently as the water is too cold at the moment. We searched and searched for the right conditions and at about 3:45pm we found a spot down in Bird Bay that looked good. After a couple of skittish baitfish and a bit of a boil, we were excited to say the least. We were both using slick rigs and Lynn had a flash on 1 retieve. My next cast got hit but missed. I called it for about 700, the adrenalin was pumping. Another cast and whack... The rest was a bit of a blur to tell the truth. She came out of the water 3 times that I recall, awesome!!! Back and forward in front of the boat, there was nowhere for the big girl to go, no trees to hide in. Lynn grabbed the net and in the excitement of the moment managed to attract 4 lures that were hanging on the rack. She was trying to get them out..... , b*gger the lures I said, jus get the net in the water. In she swam. How good was that, now we are hooked. She went 106 cm and a quick dangle on the scales saw 16kgs.

Couple of pics then back into the water. A bit of a swim then off she went to do it all again some day, I hope. Talk about an eleventh hour reprieve. We fished for 6 days, all casting, then got the gold at 4pm on the last day. It sure is a beautiful place, and that big girl made a tiring but great week into an unforgetable trip that memories are made of.

Will we be back? You better believe it!!!!

Will add some pics soon when I get to downsize 'em

Regards

Chris

Well done Chris on the metery...believe it or not u have done very well...have just come back from Monduran left for home on the sunday morning Barraless not even a Cattie....Im not sure if u have been to Monduran or caught a barra before...but I'll bet u will be back with bells on.....If I could just give u a bit of advise...certainly use u landing net to get your fish into the boat measure the fish..try and avoid hanging the fish to weigh it...the weight of the fish is enough to have broken a neck bone which kills the fish...as u said it swam away but unfortunatedly it would have died later...they are just too heavy to be weighed....it's all about the length...u estimated 20/30kgs maybe more....with alength measurement most blokes will have a good idea how heavy it is......again well done and hope u catch many more down the track....Whitto

[Obi _ Wan]

A great report Chris, well done to both you and Lynn.

I had forgotten that you were there, i could have said Hi as i was there on Friday to say G'day to the Ausfish gang that had a meet and greet there over the weekend.

I was on my way home from Awoonga, i'll have to extract the digit and post a report myself.

Congrat's on the metery mate, you would now be hooked for life.

Cheers,
John.

[youngharry52]

Here are a couple of pics (hope they worked).......... By the way, if any of you blokes know Rob Wood (I recall he runs one of the pubs in Gin Gin), ask him if he enjoyed his swim?

Regards

Chris

[Obi _ Wan]

OK Chris,

Now tell us all about the swim?????

John.

[youngharry52]

Thanks fellas. Whitto - we were very careful when we weighed her, easing her weight gently, so I hope she was ok.

Big John - Rob had 1 foot on the gunwales fixing a backlash when we drifted onto a bit of a undersurface branch. Over he went. He did well to avoid being speared by the branch. We reckoned it was about a 7.5 with a degree of difficulty of 3.75.

Regards

Chris

[rc@hinze]

Thanks for the report Chris and good on you for your perseverance. You look pretty pleased with yourself in the photo. It is sure satisfying when you finally land a fish on a trip. Well done to you both. - Richard

[SeekingBarradise]

Well done Chris and Lynn on your first report and well done on getting a nice barra on your trip. That fish looked in good nic. I got a nice donut over a day and a bit at Mondy.

Keep posting reports as there are a lot of nice people on here who would appreciate any barra info & stories. You would have seen a lot of us out there on the weekend (Mondy Muster etc). I have the Aussie flag on my boat so if you see us on a barra dam come over and say hi.

All the best on future trips.
Cheers Lyndon & kel

[Lindyloo6au]

thanks for that Lyndon we will look out for your boat on future trips. Which I can assure you there will be plenty of them now that Chris and I have succumbed to the dreaded IBD............ Unfortunately I didn't get a barra this trip but I did manage to catch the biggest cattie I've ever seen which was better than nothing.
Chris is still walking around with a great big grin on his face. I can't wait to go back again and have another go. Who knows next time might be my turn to come up with the big one while Chris gets the cattie.

thanks again
cheers
Lynn

[Steve B]

Here are a couple of pics (hope they worked).......... By the way, if any of you blokes know Rob Wood (I recall he runs one of the pubs in Gin Gin), ask him if he enjoyed his swim?

Regards

Chris

Chris, Mate well done on a hard worked fish!! Sometimes (alot of the time) this dam can be dam hard work (not like the 'shoot fish in a barrell" fishing at awoonga ) you guys did really well.


I haven't stopped giving it to Rob about falling in. It was funny the first time I heard it and it still is I only wish you had of got photos for me!!

well done to you and Lyn again. Dare say we will see you up here again!

cheers steve

[youngharry52]

gday steve,

thanks for your reply. poor ole rob he was outta that water in a flash and dripping wet for the cold run home. next time you see him, can you thank him for his help on our behalf. it was his knowledge that got me that fish i reckon

[themissus]

Well done Chris and Lynn, we have just got back from mondy today. Had a great trip, bit slow at the start of the week but fired up mid week. Chris a 106cm is a great way to open your mondy account. I wish we had gone out with a guide our first trip. Hang in there Lynn, I was fishless our first trip but next trip out fished Roo 4 nil. It can be a heart breaking place but the IBD keeps us coming back.
If you do want to weight the fish, you can weight it in the net and then deduct the weight of the net later.
Cheers Kim.