FAUST BARRA

[Chris.Y]

Hey Andy, I've got plenty of fly's but I might need some spare jocks by the sound of it

[Toddy]

Hi Chris,

Always ready to help someone get hooked on a Faust Barra.

Rattles are a good idea, but not essential. #Weed-guards save you hooking little branches, and let you fish right in heavy timber. #Rod Harrison showed me a mono guard that is very effective, simply just a single strand of 60pound tied under hook and bent down wards.

As for a fly that big fish will not eat, sorry. #The average fish caught in Peter Faust at the moment is 70cm-100cm, with many over the meter. #Big fish still eat little flies, my advice is to use heavy leader and buy a couple of spare flies...

Gday Andy,a quick question about your flys......How much weight do you tie in(if any) and what size hooks do you use??

Toddy

[kelvin]

Damn, 1.7M???

I remember hearing from Doug at Camp Kanga a few years ago that the lake had a natural population of Barra before the daming. Maybe he wasn't joking after all !!!

What's the biggest barra they've got out of there now??

[Scott_Matthews]

hey Kelvin, are you still coming to brisbane at the start of August.

[andy_thomsen]

Hi Toddy,

I don’t weight my flies, they are almost neutrally buoyant, best thing for Barra is a dead stop retrieve. I tie them on #3/0 - #5/0 hooks, anything smaller would bend under the strain.

Kelvin,

I think the biggest Barra is around 124cm, my biggest is 120cm. But I have seen fish well over 130cm, and swirls from small whales!!! (bigger than the boat) 120cm is just scratching the surface, catching them is the problem.

[kelvin]

Andy - that's a fair lump of barra? what'd the one at 120cm weigh??

Scott - check your PMs.

[Toddy]

Thanks Andy.

Toddy

[big_george]

Hi guys.
My two bobs worth re faust.Fished the 2002 comp with George Voisey.The blokes a legend.He used a 12 and 14 wt. over the two days of gail force winds.The blokes got arms on him like pop eye,and has the ability to sniff barra out.He normally fishers in speedo's so he can dive in to the water if a #barra snags him.Val Talyor/ben cropp eat your heart out.Landing the big girls is like hand to hand combat.The barra have the back yard advantage.Luck does play a role in the capture of some of the big ones.I'll stick to my trusty Loomis 665 /bait caster combo thanks.The fly rod comes out when we get some barra on the board.
cheers george. #

[swano]

yeah yeah yeah gunna have a good time

[andy_thomsen]

From memory the 120cm was 47 pounds.
There are signs of the food getting scarce up there, as a lot of smaller barra are not as fat as they used to be. It's not a bad idea too keep a couple once in a while, eapecially the big girls.

[big_george]

Andy.
How much has the water level fallen in faust since last oct.Feet please,not %.The 1200 barra looks lean.How much are the 80 and 100cm barra weighing??.Last year a 100 would pull the 30 -35 pound mark and 104-106 bottom out the scales at around the 40-45pounds.
cheers george.
PS.118cm [57.5 pounds]. [smiley=2thumbsup.gif]

[kelvin]

Have you fellas been picking up many footies (oops i mean sooties) whilst chasing barra up there??? What size are they getting up to these days (length/weight)??

[Chris.Y]

What's the best time to be there?. I heard the lead up to the full is usually the best for the bite, but it alway's seems to blow it's head off ???. I don't like casting fly's in gale force winds

Fly'n'hi Chris

[big_george]

Hi Chris.
Have landed some football size sooties.50 plus cm.Average weight 8 to 12 pounds for the 50 plus models..Pull hard for there size.By catch whilst fishing for barra.re the moon phase. Some dam fisho's say leading up to the full is the go.Have #fished for two weeks prior to comps[1st 2 weeeks in oct].Full and 1/4 moon and couldn't say that any day was better than the next.I feel water temp and barometer play a bigger role in your success.last year the wind played a major roll with the fishing.We started at 6-6.30 am.on some mornings by 10 it was blowing its titts off.we then fished the salt in the arvo.We did troll when the wind picked up on the last day .We picked some 80-105 cm barra.Sooties love chartrues colours? spelling.In the calm mornings skitter pops and fizzers worked on sooties.as the sun gets higher look for shaded areas,Some times it would take 20 casts to ark the lads up ito striking..We're fishing from the 27th sep till the weekend of the comp 2003.Hope to land some 1300 girls.
cheers george. [smiley=2thumbsup.gif]

[andy_thomsen]

Hi Kelvin, Footies are right. #The sooties are averaging between 50-60cm, most around 55cm. #These fish are very fat...

Hello George, #The smaller Barra are comming out of the water much thinner than before. #Most under a meter looks like lean fish compared to last year. #The water level rose very slightly when we had rain, but it has gone down again. #Sunwater extended the ramp about 6-8m down the slope, but it is also now about a meter out of the water. #The spit is about 8 feet out of the water now and you have to drive at roma peak to get around it safely. Nice fish George, wish mine was that fat, guess i will just have to get a 130cm.... hehe.

Hey Chris, The best time for the barra will be a week after it starts to warm up, then right until it gets too hot, before christmas. #Mind you it can be great and shitty any time, mostly depending on the wind and the day time temps.

Catch you all later,