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Brian and everyone.
Firstly Brian, Sorry about the ordinary trip to the big A. If you cant catch them, then it was tough fishing!!!
I was going to post a report last night after reading the interest and questions in Bass here at Monduran but I was KNACKERED!!
The MASA family fishing classic was a great success, unfortunalty the weather was crap to say the least, especially at the worst times around presentations and lucky draws!!! We had 840 (record) competitors, and would have been over a 1000 if not for the rain!! The comp ran really smoothly..as it was my first year, I was amazed at the efficiency of such a small number of dedicated MASA workers to pull off such a big comp. Poor Rob at the park and his family and workers were kept run off their feet all weekend but they did a great job. the crowds were excellent. Kids had a great time too..with heaps of mud and free givaways they loved it!!
For the fishing side.
I manned the upper weigh station (where all the action was) and we weighed in 40...yes 40 Bass....heaps more were caught and released too. The secret weapon was live schrimp, with a couple trolled up as bycatch to barra!!!
It was refreshing to see so many people opting to release their fish (without persuasion!)
5 barra weighed in for the whole comp...biggest was 117cm 28kg. All were released too. (1 died).
The usual 1.2 tonnes of catties were weighed in and now are being taken on ice to the bundy cold stores to be used as crab bait.
I managed to fish off the bank at the weigh station for 10 minutes. I landed 2 catfish in 2 casts on a handline with the same piece of squid!!! I sat back down with 100% strike rate and had a refreshing beer!!...life doesnt get much better!!
All in all it was a top weekend, and I never heard anyone complaining about the lack of barra....it was a genuine family weekend. For the hard core fishos, it is still a great comp to be in because there is stacks of unfished water up the bays at the top of the dam...the majority of people either troll around basin or below white rocks, or bait soak for catties and bass. The boat ramp was not very busy as most people (myself included) left their boats in the water. There was VERY tight security from a guard and local SES. The ramps were very well organised. The fishing pressure will probably be worse around the full moon. So I highly reccommend the comp to anyone...I wished I could have fished now. $1000 bucks for the biggest barra would have been a good chance with so few caught. A mate of mine Paul Macay was leading with a 98cm for most of the morning....pipped at the post with 1/2 hour to spare.
I hope that covers most of the action from the weekend.
cheers steve
Originally Posted by Steve B
