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Thread: Almost

  1. #1

    Almost

    It had been sometime since I specifically targetted Barra and decided to hitch a ride with my Brother and Sister in Law out to Croydon to chase a few dam fish in Lake Belmore.
    The best thing about this lake is that it is small. You can drive around it in a tinny in about 10 minutes. It means that the b*stards can't hide!
    Not that we had to look far as Mick landed the first fish of the trip 10 metres into the troll right at the boat ramp. She went 92 cm and made for a great start.
    After a few circles at the ramp for nil after that we headed over to the original destination and it didn't take long to start getting hits. A very notable thing with this trip was the Barra certainly knew how to throw a hook. By the end of the first session of the trip, a 3 hour one, we landed 6 fish but lost around 20 more. Lengths in this session were 60, 65, 73, 85, 91 and 92.
    The 91 had a tag in it and the data showed it was 65.5 cm back in March 2007 so after over 5 and a half years it had only grown around 25-26 cm, very slow.
    Night session two saw us target the same area to start with and a similar pattern. No real action until after dark and plenty of thrown hooks. My Nephew Ryan got into the act as well in the search for the metre specimen he landed an 85, 92 then a 98 all in quick succession. The bite was incredible at one stage. I lost two good fish in two casts so Erica threw her SP where I was throwing and also hooked up and caught hers. I got a 92 shortly after which made up for about 10 lost fish by me alone.
    We then went to the opposite side of the dame where the action was even hotter with a strike every pass of this one spot.
    I was in the Canoe with Mick this time and we stayed within 50 metres of Erica and Ryan in the tinny where they were getting a hit about every 5 minutes. We had the same action with most fish throwing the hooks. One fish threw the lure stragiht past my head with the braid touching my head. One fish almost jumped in the Canoe and we got a double hook up with both fish landed in the Canoe. Nearly all were good quality but still no metre fish.
    The last night saw me back in the Canoe this time with Ryan and not long into the troll he landed a 55 cm fish. This was one of only 2 undersize fish in terms of legal lengths. I had already lost two others by this stage around the 70 mark.
    Not long after that fish in the same area his little rod with a tiny Penn Conquer 2000 bent over and the Nanofil screamed off like a Spanish Mackerel was on the other end. The fish didn't jump and the hooks stayed in. After a fantastic fight in the Canoe he subdued a fish smaller than what I thought but still an awesome catch.
    It went 99cm and we still had not cracked the metre!
    It ended up being the biggest too as we almost go that magic ton on the board but it wasn't to be.
    Around 30 Barra were landed with a guess of a 1 in 5 catch rate at best so we were close to the 200 strikes for three nights fishing. Pretty awesome fishing considering most fish were over the 65 cm mark. 5 were in the nineties and probably double that in the 80s so good quality for the most part with a coupel fo metre fish lost we reckon.
    Can't wait for round two!
    The photo of Ryan and I was of my 92 and his 98 caught at the same time.
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  2. #2

    Re: Almost

    Some really nice barra caught there.

    Good on ya mate and well done.
    Cheers, Doug.
    Love to use Preditek or Kingfisher lures or Viva Lures when I am out fishing.

  3. #3

    Re: Almost

    Awesome! Im heading up there for work next week- this report is absolute gold!

    I'll be landbased but I rekon I can snag a few fish. How good is the access from the bank?

    Cheers
    Pete

  4. #4

    Re: Almost

    Excellent access mate. There is the ramp and you can walk a fair bit either side of that. Before there though is a turn off that lets you drive to another area with access points along the entire road just about. Along that wall area just after the first dry pontoon was were the bigger fish were caught and are within casting range of the bank. One fish was caught about 2 metres off the bank and a 92 was about 3 metres off. The rest were all less than 10 metres off that wall in that area so no real need for a boat except for trolling purposes.
    If you are really keen I reckon you are better off waiting until around 9 pm for the bite to heat up, unless conditions have changed. We found the fishing at that time and after simply brilliant.

  5. #5

    Re: Almost

    ^^^ That Info very much appreciated, thanks.

    I'll post some pics if I get anything. I did see a report of someone getting a 1.25m outta there so fingers crossed.

  6. #6

    Re: Almost

    Nick Salmon if you are reading this clear your PMs mate. I tried to reply but your inbox is full.

  7. #7

    Re: Almost

    I wouldn't feel too bad about not cracking the metre mark in that dam. We electrofished it a couple of years ago (this time of year too) and we got about as close as you did. There were heaps of fish though, a surprising amount for such a small dam. We did hit one big guy (over near the dam wall) who tail walked away from the boat that would have been well over the metre mark. He was just too quick to get stunned properly and he got away.

    Otherwise I was impressed with such a nice little dam with heaps of barra in it, so close to to town too. Good to see it's still fishing well, thanks for the report,

    cheers

    Richard

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