Winter Barra Tactics

[DEANO68]

also chris, is trev comin down for the weekend..????

[Tropicaltrout]

Yeah the biggest winter tactic mate imho is pretty simple look at the timber a lot more find sheltered bays that seem to have the bait slightly warmer and fish hard... The most important thing is ugg boots, beanie and a fire !!!! Yes Princess beer!!!!

[NAGG]

so do you know these other pieces of the puzzle chris..??.was trev only letting half the story out.??..stealth and persistance, and yes adaptability, lookin forward to next weekend, will prob look at a couple of different areas..very keen for some winter action.(barra) just keep casting..
deano.

I wish I knew what the other pieces were All I know is that I will need to fish differently than I had.
Trevs approach & ideas are solid ...... certainly worth heeding -


At this stage , I'm not sure what Trev is doing ! ...... . Maybe he will pop down if I have a go fast prop with me ....... The reality is " The fishing at awoonga .... SUX! atm" ...... We'll see how he goes at the Tannum Hookup this weekend

Chris

[DEANO68]

havent seen a report from awoonga for quite a while..wots the go there, ??spose only the fish know that answer..

[NAGG]

havent seen a report from awoonga for quite a while..wots the go there, ??spose only the fish know that answer..

Not pretty ..... From what I'm hearing , the fish are very few & very far between.
...... lots of pastries on offer & there doesn't seem to be a logical explanation.

[darylive]

With the wealth of knowledge and Rs accumulated here you would think if there was a secret some one would have discovered it.

Like most I just try to find a quite likely looking spot where the water temp is up a bit flog it. and move on .

[DEANO68]

With the wealth of knowledge and Rs accumulated here you would think if there was a secret some one would have discovered it.

Like most I just try to find a quite likely looking spot where the water temp is up a bit flog it. and move on .

do you have a cast or two also..??? ..

[NAGG]

With the wealth of knowledge and Rs accumulated here you would think if there was a secret some one would have discovered it.

Like most I just try to find a quite likely looking spot where the water temp is up a bit flog it. and move on .

Maybe you should try some fishing

[darylive]

You might be on to something there

[DEANO68]

anyways back to the main topic, cold....we all know that weedbeds and timber hold heat,and shallower water in the afternoons.(weather permitting).and wind direction.areas like the two mile , j, and jacks, ect,ect, have all of the above,and are well worth a look throughout the day , mornings dunno, mabe look at dropoffs to deeper water in these areas, where the water may be a tad warmer away from the overnite surface chill.
and these bloody fish may hang awaiting for the sun to warm the banks to go hunt ..and of course stealth.lots of casts and lots of thinking..but very enjoyable..my first real crack at the winter thing also chris.....so just a couple o thoughts that i will put into practice next week..
deano..

and beer and fire..

[NAGG]

anyways back to the main topic, cold....we all know that weedbeds and timber hold heat,and shallower water in the afternoons.(weather permitting).and wind direction.areas like the two mile , j, and jacks, ect,ect, have all of the above,and are well worth a look throughout the day , mornings dunno, mabe look at dropoffs to deeper water in these areas, where the water may be a tad warmer away from the overnite surface chill.
and these bloody fish may hang awaiting for the sun to warm the banks to go hunt ..and of course stealth.lots of casts and lots of thinking..but very enjoyable..my first real crack at the winter thing also chris.....so just a couple o thoughts that i will put into practice next week..
deano..

and beer and fire..

Yeh Deano ....... What can we say about Daryl's methods - but I'm sure he has it well in hand
I certainly feel more comfortable with the afternoon scenarios & I have a couple of spots that I'm dying to try if conditions allow...
The mornings I'm not so sure about

Chris

[DEANO68]

as for lure selection, mmm, i think a slow rolled placcie will do exactly that, slow roll past a big fat lazy barra, where as a nice shiney suspending H.B. will hang in its face a bit, 5 , 10 , 15 , secs, twitch, same again, and again, big fat bitch dont wanna move to much in winter, bit like me..if i can get a feed served up to me with little movement involved, yep i,d. attack it...
deano..

[Obi _ Wan]

I guess i should throw my two bob's worth in here for what it's worth

Most of you guys on here, from what i have read, would not have any trouble locating the fish

I believe that the problem, as i alluded to in another post about patches, is getting the fish to take a lure

Over the past year and a bit i have seen this happen at both Faust and Awoonga.

Last year at Faust i had no problem finding plenty of fish, but getting them to strike, well that was another thing If you could entice a fish to have a go most of the time it would be a half harted swipe, just a bump and nothing, no matter how long you cast or what hour of the day or night, just didn't make any difference.
Plenty of fish were found by day on the shallow flats soaking up the sun, bite? no bloody way, bump the boat and there would be swirls every where.

At the begining of winter at Awoonga last year with Trev, fish all day, zip and then cop a five minute bite just on dark then gooonnne.

At Faust at the moment there are are lot of fish, the DPI just electrofished over 1oo barra to 126cm's. Fishing there now, a day or two good then nothing for a couple of weeks. Good bite today, tomorrow perfect weather no bite, WHY?????

Trev is not having any problems finding fish at Awoonga at this time, he is just not finding too many fish that will bite. One guide has stopped charters, another has gone pig shooting and another is working Mondy, go figure????

We are not talking about mugs here either, these blokes are the Guru's of barra fishing.

What's happened?? the only thing i can come up with is stability within the lake!

Faust has seen some massive increases in water levels resulting in weed beds dying out affecting water quality, other weed beds are growing in very deep water and at depths unheard of (certainly by me) Trev has told me of weed beds in Awoonga growing in fifty feet of water, they have almost reached this depth at Faust also as i am told. This is caused, i am informed, by the weed continuing to grow as water levels drop, it just lays on the surface and when the water level rises the weed straightenes up to stay at the surface or at a depth where it still gets enough light to continue to grow to reach the surface.

At Awoonga we had two increases in water level (from memory)that you could state as significient. So with that, what are we left with? massive increases in boney's shrimp and crays all good barra tucker, with the barra gaining good condition.
Most of all the barra are reluctant to take a lure, now i could be very wrong here but a desperate man with IBD will clutch at anything if i can remember rightly, the golden days i have experienced at Faust came when there was very little in the way of weed beds.

Mondy i believe, is not the same as the other two yet, why?? no major increases in water level, a more stable lake environment?, no where near as much area covered with weed beds (or not that i have seen) but appears to suffer from a large amount of boat traffic, some driven by some with no consideration for others what so ever.

So my thoughts for Mondy next week?

I think we all know that shallow water heats up in sunshine quicker in the daylight hours cooling off again at night, so what does that mean?

Well the fish will move into the shallows by day to get warm and at night they will retreat to deeper water that will be more stable temperature wise. So i would select a spot where shallow flats adjoined deeper water in an out of the way place so as not to be disturbed by others, evidence of bait would also be desirable.

Methods?? Stealth will be very very very important, one bump in the boat will see many swirls in shallow water and the big girls will be goooonnneeee. Use all methods, meaning lures and retrieves.

I hope you can make some sense from this as i am only a silly old bugger who just loves catching barra and i really don't know what i am talking about.

Cheers,
John.

[McCod]

Well , I'm just about to have my first real shot at winter impoundment barra ..... Not too sure what to expect - particularly since fishing has been tough with little visible bait activity , water temperatures that have been falling & constant SE winds which have been the norm.

So with all of these factors going against us - what do you do to improve your chances of catching barra ?
Where do we look for warmer water ...... will it be sheltered small bays with deeper water or just where the wind / current has been pushing ( shallow or deep)
Do we concentrate our efforts in one area ...... or run & gun
What structure is targeted .... Weed edge or timber / lantana
Creek beds
Do we put the placcies away .... & just fish shallow running HBs (Stiffies , B52s , Bombers)
Do you still look for a sunrise bite or will the fish be less active
Sunset bites over sun warmed flats.
Do you target fish that are sounded
Troll
Are there areas that are known winter producers
Is winter fishing just HIT & MISS
Do you look for what you are seeking before you start to fish..... even if it takes most of the day
Do you look for bird activity & bait
If you find inactive fish , do you stay in the area & cast for the bite



The fish will be where they are ! ...... but can we get them to bite?

I have my ideas - but I'm interested to hear yours .... Plus its an opportunity to put ourselves in the right mindset

Cheers all

Chris

G'day Chris and fello Ausfishers' long time no see!

Mate you have lots of unanswered questions there! I have some advice that you may want to take on board?
Fist and most importantly is do not try and reinvent the wheel to much so to speak but do mix it up a bit with common proven tactics that you already know!
Stealth and long casts is a top priority!!
Late morning till sunset fishing is the go!
There is no doubt that you will find fish when you go….. it’s just getting them to take a lure will be the challenge!
Do not get stuck in a rut with any particular type of lure , size or style’
Slow rolled rubbers will work at times in shallow or deep water but sometimes you will get better results from sick fishing them.
Slowly worked hard bodies are worth trying as well in all depths of water …… now remembering all the lures you have in your tackle box??
Well pull em out and try a few different ones’ Try dead sticking them for periods of up to a minute!
One thing a few are getting wrong with winter Barra fishing is that you always have to go slow!!!
Not true as reaction strikes from fast ripped hard bodies both shallow and deep can still get you plenty of Barra in the winter…. Barra will still explode onto a lure over a short distance in sub 20’C water temps!
Shallow stuff like Stiffies, Gold Bombers etc are great around the weeds!
Mate I’m out of time on this one as working night shift ….. so guess I better do a bit of work before quitting time.

Cheers Les

[Awoonga]

I wish I knew what the other pieces were All I know is that I will need to fish differently than I had.
Trevs approach & ideas are solid ...... certainly worth heeding -


At this stage , I'm not sure what Trev is doing ! ...... . Maybe he will pop down if I have a go fast prop with me ....... The reality is " The fishing at awoonga .... SUX! atm" ...... We'll see how he goes at the Tannum Hookup this weekend

Chris

Day one of the Hookup..... Fishing at Awoonga Not a touch zip.... but the leader... yes there is a leader caught his 103 Trolling...l fished for at least 16 hours and yes l trolled too !...John you think Faust F####s with your head .. Add Awoonga to that list