Winter Barra Tactics

[Jeremy87]

Well this time last year I decided to say bugger it and went up to Darwin. Night temp dropped to a nippy 20 degrees and didn't get much higher than 30 during the day. Bloody cold but i managed. spent most of the time walking the bank and did a billabong trip on the last afternoon. Quality isn't as good as stocked impoundments 70cm was about the biggest smallest was about 40cm but the numbers were exponentially better. My mates went back in Novemeber (middle of my exam block bastards) and cleaned up on 70-85cm fish. But you guys wouldn't be interested in that probably not your scene lol.

[warrior]

jeremy spent 2 winters up there in darwin and had a ball on the winter barra fished the rock heaps and landed some memorable barra ,one night we landed 7 all over a metre

[vet]

Gday Jeremy87, I just got back from 5 days at arnemland barramundi lodge. We picked up 60 odd barra a day, the biggest went 71cm, but most of them were a lot smaller. I found it quite boring, easy predictable small fish that couldn't pull drag and you really didn't care if they got off or not. No heart in mouth sort of stuff like you get when you get a big dam barra on and you want to land it. I went out to Awoonga as soon as I got back and got 1 bite for a 98cm fish landed and this was much more challenging and interesting than the whole trip to arnemland. I've done it once, don't think I'll be rushing back.
To each his own, scott.

[NAGG]

Gday Jeremy87, I just got back from 5 days at arnemland barramundi lodge. We picked up 60 odd barra a day, the biggest went 71cm, but most of them were a lot smaller. I found it quite boring, easy predictable small fish that couldn't pull drag and you really didn't care if they got off or not. No heart in mouth sort of stuff like you get when you get a big dam barra on and you want to land it. I went out to Awoonga as soon as I got back and got 1 bite for a 98cm fish landed and this was much more challenging and interesting than the whole trip to arnemland. I've done it once, don't think I'll be rushing back.
To each his own, scott.

Gee Scotty ...... They would be fun on 3kg bass gear

Gotta say .... love the impoundment stuff - but get a real buzz snag bashing crocodile infested creeks
Chris

[Jeremy87]

Yeh Chris we were running our bass canoe sticks with 8lb since we had to dead lift the fish up the banks alot of the time. Every now and again we'd hook an 80 or 90 in the really skinny stuff and get smoked lol. The little 40cm barra get boring pretty quick when they're away from cover like in the billabongs we caught 105 in an afternoon, it got to the point where we were seeing what they wouldn't hit which was pretty much nothing. 1 session is fine 5 days i'd be getting over it too We were up there for 6 days and broke up the fishing with some hunting. I personally found fishing for the sooties in the creek alot more fun, The challenge was not finding the fish but being able to make a cast in such thick bank vegitation, and then getting them out of the snag. The reward and excitment of hooking a really big fish is great but sometimes you just want to go somewhere where you know your going to catch a heap of fish. I'm going to try to do something similar this July at Rocky rather than hit the dams fingers crossed it all falls into plan.

[Dick Pasfield]

Yes rats are a pain, but they got to be rats before they become horses. When they're in the way and you can't get anything around them best to move rather than sit there and catch them all day. The bigger ones will still be there, just a matter of finding them, or if all else fails target another species

[Whitto]

Yes rats are a pain, but they got to be rats before they become horses. When they're in the way and you can't get anything around them best to move rather than sit there and catch them all day. The bigger ones will still be there, just a matter of finding them, or if all else fails target another species

Ican understand the boring comment......Gee's it's a nice problem to have catching rats

[Dick Pasfield]

I can understand the boring comment......Gee's it's a nice problem to have catching rats

lol yes you can look at it from either angle. skull dragging small fish in and the inevitable damage you do to some of them when you're catching heaps does have its low points though. As mentioned earlier gearing down, catching less and challenging the fish is a good way to overcome that.

Rivers systems will always have a mixture of fish sizes. Often within the system and at certain times of the year you'll get mobs of little tackers hanging around, all keen to eat whatever you put in front of them.

Both the numbers brigade and the freezer fillers will target these spots, often breaking bag and possession limits.

If you ignore the temptation to target them you'll generally find bigger fish, often close by

[matt fraser]

Hey Scott,

Good to see you back into some barra action!

Matt

[vet]

Gday Dick, when you're on a guided charter you don't have much choice where you fish and the guides kept taking us back to them.
Hello Matt, had a six month break from the barras and went chasing reds and large mouth nannygai for a change.
cheers scott

[Dick Pasfield]

Agreed Vet, and in some instances suggesting you may not be happy doing what they think you should be happy doing gets a poor response that can affect the rest of the trip. Bit of a fine line for balancing things at times