Aussie W/End Mondy

[SeekingBarradise]

Hi Chris thanks for the light hearted fun on posts. A good laugh. Thanks for sharing your experience on the litte nips/touches/bites on plastics. I've been chatting with the Awoonga boys about this for a few years. I reckon you guys would have had this happen because of boating pressure e.g. pre-fishing with 50 boats all searching etc. They would be on notice etc as most of the fishing grounds would have been disturbed for days on end.

Brian and Chewie thanks for adding great tips for everyone. Hopefully everyone can grab a couple of tips from your post.

A Bit Of Info From Awoonga: I noticed the guys up there have had to fine tune their methods & tactics and they register every bump and observation barra throw at them. They are very advanced in their plastics fishing, and chafe up the leader is seen as a missed fish. Too many of these instances where leader is worn a few inches above the lure/plastic is seen as poor fishing/setup/position and reactions etc. Something has to be wrong and changed quickly.

JM has said that when the fishing is this tough it can be an artform to present baits - trigger fish to bite and put them on the boat etc.

Scotty and I usually had one hard body and one plastic in the water at all times.
The bite on Scotties suspending plastic was invisible. We reckon the fish would have been following the plastic - then it was paused - the fish was right behind it and hardly moved when it inhaled the plastic, then it didn't appear to move at all.

We used the same hard bodies as you guys with a few timber and rapala's thrown in as well as a smaller dozer etc. Most suspended or slightly rising e.g. Very slow.

With sounding up barra on plastics. Depends on how they are used i reckon. Plastics can be heard from a long way as well - e.g. modified or speed! And a more natural sound at times compared to rattle traps. Rattles will definately be heard from ages away. Although the fish at Mondy still seem to be hitting rattles. It will be interesting to see if they are hitting as many in a couple of years down the track or if they are looking for more natural presentations? Do you guys think the ones caught will wise up about rattles as danger in the future? At times i thought the Awoonga fish wised up on them a bit. The changes i saw Mitch, Trev and Harro go through gave away a few clues & the lack of trolled up fish did as well.

Anyone in the northern dams notice any changes over the years?

We had short 50-60mm presentations and Scotty some 100mm presentations. The major tail nips i thought i got were on the larger plastics, with no leader marks, just a graze at the back of the plastic after a quick strike. Only a very small mark. I used this valuable info as a good find e.g. this plastic works, i will just modify it now. The 50-60mm got hammered and that's the fish i faught but lost just before netting, hooked in the corner of the lip etc. I would have thrown this plastic for probably 30% of the time with 3-5 different retrieves in all the different areas we fished for no more hits.

After talking with many of the guys that made the trip to Mondy i reckon that boating traffic and heavy fishing pressure is starting to make the fish at Mondy more wary. e.g. We experienced bites like this at Awoonga years ago after it was pounded by boats. That's why the Awoonga crew have had to rack their brains and evolve so much as they have had to endure tough fishing for years - in my opinion after about 500+ yarns with them. Their short 5-6 hour sessions have also resulted in forced refinement.
It would have been interesting to have them down and see how they would have approached the fishing on the weekend. I'm just putting this info online as it's what i've seen, i hope nobody minds? It's all interesting Barra info to me.

Weather would have had a bit to do with the fish mood. There was more stable weather before the trip. When we got there the weather changed most days, with cloud cover coming over for many days.

Note: There were a couple of short boof sessions at Mondy where you had to be in the good area at the right time. Also noted was that most of the boats were off the water at this time. The area was skillfully found by Brian & Nath who know the dam well & it was great to hear the boys used their knowledge to pick the conditions.

We were only a couple of hundred metres away with water all flowing in to our location down the back of a good looking bay, yet there was no boofing - we might have left just before it started as we were tired and fishing through hour 15, 16 and 17 to catch fish didn't appear to be a fun idea at the time


All interesting stuff for the memory bank guys.
Cheers Lyndon.

[Awoonga]

Hey Lyndon,
Im no SP expert thats for sure, but I do know that the sessions Ive had on softies that have fired have allways involved plenty of taps, plucks, nips and bumps on the retrieve. Personnally I reckon a lot of it is boneys and gar haveing a bit of a nip, cause Ive often had them tail a SP to the boat, and I like that cause it means Ive got bait in the area. Ive had that happen twice now Lyndon, a tap on the retrieve and subsuquent inspection revealed a chaffed leader, I know I asked a question similar to this one other time, and the Awoonga lads recommended striking on suspicion at everything!
Every half dozen casts I change the retrieve a bit, I mix and match retrieve pace, slow roll, roll and pause, burn, let it drop a bit, change the depth, have a picture in my mind of what the bottom contour is (based on what I can see out of the water, and a sounding session when I leave a spot for future reference, never sound over a spot when I turn up to start a session) and try to follow that contour at differant levels. Everything I can do to vary it up and offer something differant to a fish that might just be sitting there watching my placcy swim by over his head and out of his interest range. After 15 minutes or so, I put down one rod, and start chucking something differant, maybe a suspending HB, or differant style placcy, or shallow diver twitched and jerked, just keep mixing it up till something hits the on button for the fish.
I also reckon the use of a twitching HB during a session helps to entice a curious fish into the area, the extra vibration etc in the water would be heard/felt a lot further away by a fish than a slow rolled placcy IMHO, and I think it helps to "call" a fish in to the area.
Its a funny way of fishing compared to brawling in the timber, endless mind numbing casts interrupted by a tap and jolting hit out of no where.
Anyways, just my thoughts, the Sp style is new to me, and no doubt those who have been fishing them for a while have been there, done that.

This is one switched on Dude......... Best you stay away from Awoonga

[eotbmg]

Lyndon,

I found the boating pressure the most influential thing to the barra going off the chew. We were up there Thursday and fished Saparras Friday morning, the most important observation found was that the bait was everywhere on the surface aftre the crowds came the bait was scarce [surface flicking]. This is the reason i crow bar my butt out of bed at 3am to get to the spot before the traffic arrives. We all know the story-bait=fish.
That point i always go to is a prime example. Always bait there. It has never let me down on a morning bite. Similar to another point we all used to fish before the water rise. Shallow point, deep water close by. Bait. Cy or Kerrin said exactly that on the AFC. I am now 75% sure [ like most of us on here] that a point will hold fish. Both Chewy and Brian called it on the weekend. We can sniff out a fishy spot a mile away. Now i just need to find them in deep water, shallow flats, deep points, thick weed, Silver backed hill, the list goes on.
All i am saying is that if you fish a shallow point at the right time[ sunrise, sunset, or peak bite time [moon above or below] you have put your self in the areas where FISH are.
Ben

[BR65]

Yeah, your right Ben, at this stage of the game those points are holding fish on the low light bite periods, and during the day as well, as long as boating activity is minimal. Its not hard to pick, shallow point with some structure, decent water adjacent, active bait, even this gumby managed to find one or two! Point + bait will eventually = fish, just keep on casting! Its a war of attrition, who gives up first, your casting arm or the fish's tolerance to an intruder in its space? I said to Nath that if you throw enough casts, eventually you can foul hook a fish! I think I said to you that next time up Im bringin a cast net, signs of a desperate man!
One thing I did notice though was when Nath and I fished side by side, hitting the same general area, but each one of us targetting a specific zone in that area, there was a marked differace in results. The first time Nath was belting casts at the only tree on the point, and i was working the area to the side, Nath saw the hits, I saw nothing. The second time I was working parralel to the point edge, Nath was more at the tip of the pint, I saw the hits, Nath didnt.
In the first instance the fish were holding on the dropped branches under the water on that lone tree, I know those branches are there cause they've claimed a few of my jig heads. In the second instance I reckon I was intercepting moving fish as the cruised along parrallel to the points weed edge, before they made their way further along to where Nath was tied off.
The next big in-flow, or extended pump out, will change it all again though. Personally, Id be glad to go back to the sticks myself, I enjoy the hand to hand down and dirty stuff way more. But youve got to fish whats in front of you, and at the moment if thats where the fish are, then thats where Im fishing.
Dont know about crow barring your ass out of bed at 3am though mate, I seem to recall calling you at 3.30 on Monday when I was at the ramp, wondering if you were back at the cabin still eating bacon and eggs!

Trev, Ive got nuthin, if it wasnt for blokes like yourself, and all the other barra nuts on here that so freely give up their hard earned tips, Id still be running around the basin casting at the first vertical stick I came across.
Any one who missed it, have a look here, this is what Im talking about : http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/sho...d.php?t=144928

[eotbmg]

Dont know about crow barring your ass out of bed at 3am though mate, I seem to recall calling you at 3.30 on Monday when I was at the ramp, wondering if you were back at the cabin still eating bacon and eggs!

Thats because i had the mexicans, paul and the brothers of darkness to wake up, floss their teeth, search for a newly cleaned freshly pressed shirt[ which is a new ranger installment] cook coco pops, wipe their bums and shake the last drop off, before we thought about looking for keys for the car, unit or boat!!!!!!

[Tropicaltrout]

[quote=BR65;963854]Yeah, your right Ben, at this stage of the game those points are holding fish on the low light bite periods, and during the day as well, as long as boating activity is minimal. Its not hard to pick, shallow point with some structure, decent water adjacent, active bait, even this gumby managed to find one or two! Point + bait will eventually = fish, just keep on casting! Its a war of attrition, who gives up first, your casting arm or the fish's tolerance to an intruder in its space? I said to Nath that if you throw enough casts, eventually you can foul hook a fish! I think I said to you that next time up Im bringin a cast net, signs of a desperate man!
One thing I did notice though was when Nath and I fished side by side, hitting the same general area, but each one of us targetting a specific zone in that area, there was a marked differace in results. The first time Nath was belting casts at the only tree on the point, and i was working the area to the side, Nath saw the hits, I saw nothing. The second time I was working parralel to the point edge, Nath was more at the tip of the pint, I saw the hits, Nath didnt.
In the first instance the fish were holding on the dropped branches under the water on that lone tree, I know those branches are there cause they've claimed a few of my jig heads. In the second instance I reckon I was intercepting moving fish as the cruised along parrallel to the points weed edge, before they made their way further along to where Nath was tied off.
The next big in-flow, or extended pump out, will change it all again though. Personally, Id be glad to go back to the sticks myself, I enjoy the hand to hand down and dirty stuff way more. But youve got to fish whats in front of you, and at the moment if thats where the fish are, then thats where Im fishing.
Dont know about crow barring your ass out of bed at 3am though mate, I seem to recall calling you at 3.30 on Monday when I was at the ramp, wondering if you were back at the cabin still eating bacon and eggs!

Trev, Ive got nuthin, if it wasnt for blokes like yourself, and all the other barra nuts on here that so freely give up their hard earned tips, Id still be running around the basin casting at the first vertical stick I came across.
Any one who missed it, have a look here, this is what Im talking about : http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/sho...928[/quote]


Yeah Brian has it nailed points are the choice spots at the moment, here is my take on it.. As we drive around looking for that spot we all take in the surroundings water, is it clear dirty etc deep, cool, hot what ever. Some read water well,where others it takes time and with guys like JM most are starting to grasp it with both hands. 3 different blokes of the day were based there fishing on this trip on points why? wind water clarity and Bait was there.. casting to a point is dull but as was experiance worth the wait.. a couple of years ago we worked logs timber hard but the lake itself was different, low water, and no inflow at any stage, and very little movement, so the chennels in the timber were our choice of attack I think Brian will remember that well this scenario... Now the water is up the bait move up into the bays and a hold off the huge amounts of weed that lines the shore so with this we focus on the points of bays were there is water movement and bait... Anyhow thats how I sum it up probably all bloody wrong but gee whiz its fun trying to nut it out..

Nath

[BR65]

Dont know about crow barring your ass out of bed at 3am though mate, I seem to recall calling you at 3.30 on Monday when I was at the ramp, wondering if you were back at the cabin still eating bacon and eggs!

Thats because i had the mexicans, paul and the brothers of darkness to wake up, floss their teeth, search for a newly cleaned freshly pressed shirt[ which is a new ranger installment] cook coco pops, wipe their bums and shake the last drop off, before we thought about looking for keys for the car, unit or boat!!!!!!

LMAO brother, specially the freshly ironed shirt as Ranger uniform. I suspect a bit of time was also lost with Vin and Nav ensureing they were colour co-ordinated with their shirts???

[SeekingBarradise]

Great replies guys. Tackle shop guys, general public & even barra nuts should grab a line or 2 of good info from this thread.
The descriptions of the areas fished and why are great guys.

Part of what my thread is about (Awoonga Differences) is summed up by this thread i'll paste on the bottom for everyone to check out. At the very least it should get us thinking even more about the tackle & techniques we use, and where it will stand in the future. What if the tackle and tactics on Monduran (In current form) have a limited lifespan?

If it's not broken, don't fix it. But what if like Awoonga all the tyres were pumped up and travelling well, then all of a sudden we had 4 flat tyres and felt deflated as the fishery evolved and constant refinement was needed to constantly catch fish, even in good areas? (See lures thrown out). I only ask this question because it will be the same at Monduran if it keeps getting hammered by the crowds. It's an interesting line of thought regarding the future and what we will have fun working on (now) with our fishing to prevent a broken wheel or flat tyres in the future. What do you guys think?

Looking back critically on the trip we might have spent about 25% of the time on points. It seems others spent maybe 80%+ of their time on points. We also fished river bed, upper arm of river bed edges, flat weed edge bays and main basin edges. I reckon we didn't spend enough time in more active fish areas and might not have waited long enough in these spots.

TACKLEBOX CLEAN OUT


Cheers Lyndon.

[Tropicaltrout]

If it's not broken, don't fix it. But what if like Awoonga all the tyres were pumped up and travelling well, then all of a sudden we had 4 flat tyres and felt deflated as the fishery evolved and constant refinement was needed to constantly catch fish, even in good areas? (See lures thrown out). I only ask this question because it will be the same at Monduran if it keeps getting hammered by the crowds. It's an interesting line of thought regarding the future and what we will have fun working on (now) with our fishing to prevent a broken wheel or flat tyres in the future. What do you guys think




Cheers Lyndon.

I reckon make the two silver backs go to potty in the water and wait for the barra to float up

Yeah good question mate never know whats the next big thing I guess but mondy I belive will take alot longer to educate due to the massive amounts of structure there are probably fish in there that will see a whole life span and not see a lure at this present day, but as stocking pro longs then yes things may get harder a lot harder

[Whitto]

I reckon make the two silver backs go to potty in the water and wait for the barra to float up

Yeah good question mate never know whats the next big thing I guess but mondy I belive will take alot longer to educate due to the massive amounts of structure there are probably fish in there that will see a whole life span and not see a lure at this present day, but as stocking pro longs then yes things may get harder a lot harder

We are at the very least Gentleman Silver Backs and we would never pollute our playground.....certainly the surrounding Knolls are fair game....Monduran at 36/38% is very interesting enough....Imagine 80% now talk about a challenge......18% not all that long ago was Magic...for my experience the less water was easy.... the more the water rises the more difficult it will become...we just might see Mondy at 80% if the weather forcast are accurate

[Steve B]

We are at the very least Gentleman Silver Backs and we would never pollute our playground.....certainly the surrounding Knolls are fair game....Monduran at 36/38% is very interesting enough....Imagine 80% now talk about a challenge......18% not all that long ago was Magic...for my experience the less water was easy.... the more the water rises the more difficult it will become...we just might see Mondy at 80% if the weather forcast are accurate

Too right Whitto,

All fun and games now in our fav spots...chuck in another 10% even....shes a new dam again....time to look up the bank is now....if the turkey nests are anything to go by..

Lyndon.....What do we do with 4 flat tyres?...work out why they went flat, try 4 new different ones, see which ones work the best....then take them on a different bloody track....mabey to Awoonga

cheers Steve.!!!

[black_sheep]

Sorry for my late entrance into this post (sorry for tagging on Whitto) but since getting back from Mondy, I have been suffering a bout of gastro and for a change, it’s not from the donuts . I aslo put this on Freshwater chat my mistake yesterday - doh.

Basically, between Brian, Lyndon and Ben, the trip has been summed up so there’s not much for me to add. Vin and I landed 6 fish with a couple of 80’s, 90’s and the 2 metrey’s going 105 and 109. Our best day was same as Brian - the Monday when boat traffic was minimal and over the 19hrs, we boated 3 and lost 3. Tues was turning out to be a great day too but we had to pull the pin to check-out of the cabins at 9.30am when they were still chewing .

Other than 1 fish that I pulled from a sunken logjam up the Kolan that I had marked when the dam was at 18%, we got all our fish off points lower down the system. Vin lost 3 fish through not setting the hooks in time . Vin also had a couple of tiny love bites but on closer inspection, his leader was scuffed 5 inches up so didn’t feel the barra implode and explode the placcy. I lost a horse in the last 15mins of the last session caused by 80lb leader wearing through . 2 fish were caught on 35lb braid with 80 mono and 4 fish on 78lb braid with 80 fluro. We had success on Barrabaits, Slickrigs, Storm Wildeye Shads, Bombers and B52’s.

As always we had a few antics:

Unlucky fish No1 - Vin nearly lost a 91 after it ran around the tree we were tied off to. As I untied and tried to drive around on leccy, I told him to free-spool which resulted in the barra continuing its merry-go-round around the tree. I eventually had to jump on the petrol and do 3 donuts around the tree to regain direct contact but eventually landed it.

Unlucky fish No2 - two hrs later and after 16hrs continuous fishing, Vin casts a bit too long into the bank and starts working his rod tip high to get it over the shallows when a barra surprises him (awakens him up) and decides to take his Wheezer stick and Daiwa Luna for a swim. For anyone that doesn’t know, Vin could probably get his scuba license with the amount of hrs he has spent underwater at Mondy and therefore doesn’t hesitate for a split second and launches himself into the depths. A couple of seconds later, he surfaces with the rod in hand and barra still attached. He hands the rod to me while trying to lug his drenched arse into the boat. Now, I’ve always wanted to really put the hurt on a barra even if I busted it off but haven’t been game to do it on any fish I’ve hooked so now was my opportunity . I jumped on the rear casting deck and even though the barra was clear of any obstructions and in open water, I cranked up the dial on his drag to max and started pumping and winding as hard as I could . I even resolved to high sticking this fish trying to get it to jump so I could pull it through the air in an attempt to have it boatside before Vin could get in . Unfortunately Vin was onto me and quickly clawed his way back into the boat. I did manage to get the fish within a boats length away which was somewhat satisfying before he snatched the rod out of my hand and had the glory of the last few turns of the handle. The unlucky 97cm was netted, tagged and released.

I just shook my head thinking how can he be my brother!! Vin is the most unfocussed and relaxed fishermen I know so how could he have been the fastest swimming sperm in the millions that he competed with!!! The mind boggles .

Next upgrade to my boat is a 3mtr springboard off the stern so Vin can get a bit more air into his triple pike.

Thanks to all the boys for a great weekend. Nice to catch up with Nath, Lyndon and Brian (your a barra catching machine mate and must congratulate you on your solo efforts - not the first time I've seen you up there by yourself). Would have been nice to catch up for a bit more socialising but 4 days never seems to be long enough to do it all – next time.

P.S. Having trouble downloading photos at the moment but should have them on by tomorrow. Sorry Brian, I will post a couple of yours and send you the rest.

Tight lines.

[Peter4]

Nice read and some great fish there Navi.

As always, it sounds like you had a ball and the usual few hair-raising moments provided by Vin.......

Regs

Pete

(and Brian sneaks into the pics....again!)

[SeekingBarradise]

Well done Navi & Vinnie. Your report is a great read mate. Big hours, hijinks and funtimes catching Big Monduran Barra.

I can't wait for the next trip.

Cheers Lyndon.

[eotbmg]

Nice work mate,
You are going to give Vin the instruction booklet from your new camera to study!
Hes got NFI.