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Thanks for all the suggestions guys. The Berkley one Dave pointed out was the one I had seen before, have also seen a circular type bag somewhere - looked a bit like a CD bag. Swoff, I'll have to take a look at yours on Sunday... Ben

This is getting a little off the hairtail topic, but on my recent trip up North, one of the guides was talking about catching golden snapper (fingermark) off the reef. He reckoned that if you let any fish go, or lost a hooked fish, they would go off the bite straight away. He would keep even undersized fish in a livewell till he had finished fishing before returning them to the water. Strange but (possibly) true (but hey, its a fishing story, so who knows!).

I know you weren't having a go swoff, but I was being defensive cause I know how bad it looks! I was suprised at the time that the guide told him to lift the fish like that, and I was more concerned when the fish took a while to recover. It was good to see when the fish finally started kicking hard and took off after swimming it for a few minutes. The guide did mention supporting big barra though, maybe they have more concern for the "trophy" fish, ie meter plus barra, than other less desirable species?

I now have about 7 spools of Nitlon fluoro in various test strengths, and was wondering where I can get one of those bags that you can store all your spools of line in? Saves me having to rat around in my bag pulling every spool out and checking it for the strength I want. Does ABA have them? Thanks, Ben.

Thanks swoff - we released him, but yeah I know, a fish that large shouldn't be held up in the boga grips like that, but we swam him for about 5 minutes after the picture and he gave a good kick and motored off. So hopefully no long term damage was done. Ben.

Photos have been added

Nice fish Tony. Just wondering what sort of jighead you rig the Pad Tue on? I have used them with regular Squidgy finesse heads, but it sems they might look better on a tube head jig, with the lead inside the hollow body? Thanks, Ben.

Telco - would definately take my own stuff again, feels good catching fish on stuff you have chosen and rigged yourself. I reckon ideally I would get a Calcutta or similar for the Loomis rod and troll with it, or cast with it aswell if the big girls are around. For a short stiff rod it casts really well. I would then buy another (yeah, I need another one) baitcaster in the 4-7kg range, similar to the Millerod I ended up using for most of the time up there. My current preference would be something in the Heartland or Battler range, or I'm still thinking of getting some Kistlers from the States. I'd use my Chronarch on that. The BD spin rod/Tica Taurus combo worked really well for throwing plastics, so I'd take that again too. I'd also take heaps of bomber style lures in gold and silver, plus some 15'+ lures which I didn't have any of this time around. From what the guides said, VMC extra strong hooks are the only thing they trusted, they didn't like the look of the bigger Owners I had, but I never got to test them on fish either. I'd also take a lot more weedless hooks for plastics, plus bullet weights to sink them in the snags. I got a good fish on the 30lb fluoro leader I had, but would probably get some 40lb for insurance. Using their 55lb mono didn't seem to put off even small fish. FYI, the gear they provide is Shimano Curado baitcasters spooled with 30lb Fireline and 50lb Snyder mono leaders, and Penn rods. I ended up using one at the end of the fourth day, and it was no where near as nice as my Millerod/Chronarch rig, but it got the job done. I wasn't a fan of heavy Fireline on a baitcaster, much preferred the limper Fin-S I had on mine. Sputnik, one of many things I learned which I can apply to all my fishing is that accurate casting makes a big difference. Many times we would pepper a snag with casts, then someone would drop the perfect cast deep in the back of the snag and bang out came the barra. The guide called it "putting it in the kitchen" A couple of inches made a big difference. Varying the retrieve would also make a difference, slowing things right down and twitching lures in the strike zone for as long as possible helped with shutdown barra, whereas speeding up seemed to help with threadfin and blue slamon. I learnt heaps!

Hi Folks, This could be a long one, but I'll see how I go! After a day's travel we arrived at Top End Sportsfishing's camp on Melville Island at about 4 in the afternoon. The "camp" is incredibly well decked out, with electricity, hot and cold water, multiple showers and toilets, ice machine, massive drinks fridge etc. You sleep in converted shipping containers that are air-conditioned, and your beds are made up each day while you're out fishing, so calling it a "camp" is a bit of an anomoly! Its very luxurious and the food was awesome. Les and Annette Woodbridge run the place and they were incredibly friendly as were the guides who were all great guys. I took up a 6' BD Bass Predator 3-5kg baitcaster, a 6'6" BD 4-7kg spin rod and a 5'6" G-Loomis CBR 15-25lb, a Shimano Chronarch spooled with 20lb Fin-S braid and a Tica Taurus 4000 spin reel spoole with 12kg Fireline XDS. I also had 30lb fluoro for leader and a bunch of lures and soft plastics. The afternoon I arrived I had the guides take a look at my stuff, and the first thing they said was the 30lb fluoro was too light, they use 50lb mono for leader, one of the guys also joked about my spin rod asking me how the hell I was going to cast it accurately. Les took a look at my 3-5kg baitcaster and said it was "on the edge", while one of the other guides had a go with the Loomis and loved it. Headed out into Snake Bay on Day 1 with my Chronarch on my Loomis, and my spin rod (which I didn't end up using that day). We were on a 6.5m fully surveyed plate boat with 6mm bottom and 5mm sides and a Suzuki 140HP 4-stroke (which I was happy to see!!!) . Had the guide re-tie my leader with the 50lb mono, and tied on a gold bomber which ended up being on my rod most of the day. Started casting around snags and drains, and it wasn't long before Stephen pulled the first barra of the day, and then another soon after. Nothing too special around the 45cm mark. His next fish suprised me a little, a 50cm lizard (the southern variety that is, a flathead, not the northern lizard - croc). I made a decent cast on top of a submerged log and bang I was onto my first barra, a little specimen, but I was still stoked. As the guide went to take a picture my camera decided to die even though I had put brand new batteries in that morning. Tried other batteries from another packet when we got back but still didn't work, so all the pics are on other guys cameras, will post them as soon as I can. Went on to catch 4 barra that day with the best being 64cm/6lbs which was also the best of the day between the 9 of us up there. Betwen the three of us on the boat we caught 11 barra that day. Also caught two jacks, one of which was very nice 45-50cm I reckon (didn't measure it), a small cod and a catfish. My old man got a very feisty barracuda. The amount of snags and drains I saw was amazing, and many we just drove on past as I drooled. The three of us also caught a lot of "treefish" that day, our casting definately got better over the four days. Day 2 saw us hit the other side of Snake Bay fishing small creeks and also drains in the main part of the bay too. The evening before I had been speaking to Mike who was an investor in the camp and fishes there every 6 weeks or so (lucky bastard!!). I mentioned that my Loomis was little heavy for the calibre of fish we were getting, but I was scared of getting a big fish on my 3-5kg. That morning Mike came out with a Millerods Salty Barra Light 3-6kg, handed it to me, and said try that today. I thanked him, and he said it was his spare (he used Loomis IMX and GLX rods), and that I could use it for the rest of the trip if I wanted, which I did. That day Dad and Stepehen both dropped some good barra (estimated in the 80s), and we had an awesome little session in a drain were Stephen pulled a very nice threadfin salmon and a barra, and my old man and I both got a good one each too (I think mine was a 58 from memory). It was amazing how many fish were milling around in such a small amount of water, the water was very dirty so you couldn't see into it, but it seemed like the fish must have been bumping shoulders in there. Later on in another little drain filled with fallen trees I made a precarious cast in behind a log, twitched my gold bomber, and bang, zzzzzz, off he went straight into a snag, I reefed back on the rod but I was too late, the fish bricked me in the snag and busted me off. I was very dissapointed as it was the only gold bomber I had taken with me, lucky the guide had bucket loads of them I'll be takin a sh*t load of bombers next time I head up there....Ended up with 14 barra on the boat that day, plus a fingermark for the old man, a threadfin for Stephen, and a bunch of jacks. Day three and a lot of the guys (who weren't full-on fishos) decided to fish half-day and go to a Tiwi-Dutch festival which was on to celebrate 300 years since the Dutch landed on the Tiwi islands (of which Melville is one). I said screw that, I'm fishing all day so ended up with only me, Pat and the guide on the boat. We made a half hour run round to a place called Goose creek, which is a long river on melville that ends up fresh at the top. Unfortunately due to the recent cyclone the top of the river was blocked by fallen trees, so we couldn't get up to the fresh (and the saratoga), but we got into plenty of barra. Early on, I cast a Storm mid-Thunder into a drain and got hit hard. After a few minutes of fighting I got the fish up to the boat and saw it was a good one, but it took one look and the net and screamed off again. This happened twice more with the fish seeing the net and taking off, but the guide finally scooped it up for my and the groups best fish of the trip at 70cm and 7 and a 1/2 pounds. A quick photo and it was released. I was stoked to say the least, and decided that I may as well try for a barra on soft plastics for the rest of the day. I rigged up a 4" bass minnow on a Nitro jighead and got a good hit from a barra I saw, but then snagged up, meanwhile Pat pulled 4 out of the same gutter with a gold bomber. I decided I had to rig up weedless, so put a 5" Atomic grub on a weedless, weighted Gamakatsu. We came across a nice drain and I threw the plastic in deep, with no fear of snagging up. After flipping it over a few branches I let it sink down and I was on. Pulled a nice 60cm job, and was happy to tick another goal of the list. A little later we came across a very small drain that was leaking clean fresh water into the dirty saltwater. Again I cast in deep and pulled a 58cm. The weedless rig worked really well, and even the guide was suprised by my accuracy with the spin rod. It definately helped that if I overshot the mark I didn't get snagged up, and allowed me to get in under trees and over mangrove roots that I couldn't with a hard lure on the baitcaster. I switched between a few different plastics, and chucked on a 4" Berkley Neonz lizard, which our guide called the ugliest lure he had ever seen. "Barra are stupid, but not that stupid!" he said, which encouraged me to try to prove him wrong and get a barra on it. I got a nice hit and thought here we go, only to pull in a good size archer fish. I then got some familiar feeling bumps, and saw a piky bream following it up. At that point I admitted defeat and switched to something else. We ended up with 14 barra between us that day, Pat got 8, I got 6, but mine included the 70, 60 and 58. Day 4 was a very tough day. Our guide said it was one of the worst days he has ever had. We went back to Goose creek and the spots where we pulled multiple fish the day before were dead. I started the day with a catfish which was a bad omen. We hit a bunch of great looking snags for zip, even though we spotted a fish or two amongst them. They just weren't hungry. After throwing a bunch of different lures and plastics at a spot called the honey hole for zip, we decided to troll it. On the third run, Stephen got a big hit, and the fish fought it down deep. It seemd like a big barra was on its way. After a 15 minute fight we fnially got colour and to Stephen's dismay, up came a huge Queensland groper, that went 36lb. I would have been stoked with that fish but Stephen is a barra snob, anything that isn't barra is crap to him. We took some photos then swam the big fish for 5 minutes before it kicked and off it went. Next troll Stephen gets another big hit, and this time its definately a big barra. It headed straight into the mangroves and within 15seconds or so had bricked him. Stephen was not happy! The rest of the day was very slow. I got a small cod and a small jack trolling, and the other two got a barra or two. As we reached the mouth of Goose Creek at about 3.30, we saw jelly prawns frantically jumping around and spotted some threadfin amongst them. We started manically throwing bombers at them, but they weren't interetsed in anything except the prawns. The guide switched me to a Nilsmaster spearhead in blue and white, and I wa on first cast to a good threadfin. Unfortunately I dropped him next to the boat, and estimated him at 80+. Dad then hooked up to a decent barra which he also dropped near the boat. Despite the fish still being there busting up the prawns, they lost interest in our lures again, and we moved along. We spotted a good barra sitting in a snag, I cast first and snagged on a small branch about 6 inches from its head. Dad then cast before my lure had hit the water and landed just behind it, and Stephen almost bonked it on the head half a second later, and it lashed out at his lure and he hooked up. Stephen made a nice extraction and the fish went 66cm which was a good way to end a bad day. We got back to camp and heard the other two boats had had a fair day, and had found lots of nice clear water to sight fish in - I was jealous!!! The end tally was over 60 barra in 4 days on 3 boats and 9 anglers. Species tally was 9,9 and 8 on the three boats, my 70cm was best barra and Stephens 36lb groper was the biggest. I achieved all my goals except a threadin, and I'll definately be back up there shortly for more. I'll end this mammoth post there, pics to come shortly. Cheers, Ben. Edit: Below are some of the pics, still waiting for my 70cm barra and SP barras... My first barra 64cm Barra from Day 1 A nice jack A small cod, but a new species for me. 36lb Qld Grouper from the last day Dad with an average threadfin. The Milikapati Boat ramp

LAB boats at Taren Point are about to release their bass/bream glass hull. Anyone who knows their ski hull know that they make incredible hulls. I had a look over it recently and its friggin awesome. This is the first Aussie boat that I think can surpass most of the Yank boats, can't wait for a ride... Ben P.S. LAB sells their boats direct, Yabbie won't be selling them...

Chris, You can't blame us for a being a little suss, by my count he's building a game boat and "I am going to bring it upon myself together with others and build a customized bream boat." Harry turned up on a number of forums and his first post was about US vs Aus boats, he then went on to criticise US boats fairly strongly and Aus manufacturers - "At the time of construction Australian boats did not provide me with any ideas and to my disappointment still don't." "I strongly believe that there will be a Aussie manufacturer who will bring out the ideal bream boat that will compare to the American bass boats. Maybe not in fibreglass but alloy might be the way to go."- and talk up customization of Australian boats, then reveals he is building a game boat and is going to build a custom bream boat. My apologies for casting any aspersions on Harry, but it didn't seem like he was a non-commercial project boat builder... seems I was wrong...

So Harry, interesting that it turns out after reading your comments on this thread and on other forums that you're an Australian boatbuilder eh

I've been wathcing this thread closely, and have typed a number of replies only to delete them after a re-read. A few vey good points have been made. Its obvious that the Yanks have economies of scale and a much bigger, more mature and more competative market. This kind of environment will always produce top class products. The current exchange rate is a big help when it comes to the Yank boats competing price-wise with the top end Australian boats, I wonder what will hapen if the Aus dollar goes to crap again though. The market for these kind of boats is definately growing fast over here, but is still minute when compared to the overall fishing boat market. The number of fishermen who want a serious alloy (or polyethylene ) tournament style boat is still very much a small minority, its funny how many fishermen I get in the shop who look at me strangely when I tell them I lurecast for bream, and release all my fish. I recently saw a prototype glass boat that will seriously compete with the Yank imports, although at this stage the boat may not even be sold in Australia, but instead just shipped straight to the States. I believe its going to be fitted with a 250HP Verado, and will have a hefty pricetag, possibly too hefty for the Australian market at this point in time. It will be an interesting few years on the boat scene though, especially if the tournament scene keeps going from strength to strength, and more money starts getting sunk into big-dollar glass rigs. Australian manufacturers are certainly more than capable of producing boats that can compete, its just whether the price point that they do it at is economically viable. I'll stop rambling, just some of my thoughts, Ben.

Jacks have been cuaght in Sydney apparently - Manly lagoon I believe...

The Japanese are well known for their command of the English language... http://www.engrish.com/

I've bid on ebay for DD Cherry's a few times but they have always ended up too expensive (around US$20). Is that one you have there the "0 footer"? When will ABA have them in stock Mick?

He he - good talking to you too Coast Bloke. We have three second hand bream boats at Yabbie at the moment (two of which have minn kotas). A small Stacer, a glass haines hunter, both with minn kotas, and a very nice Stacer Barra, that has everything but an electric. If I really was a good salesman I would have told you about those too today, but I just love the Polys, and know you would too. Give me another yell for details on the second hand ones mate. Cheers, Ben.

You definately sound like you should check out the Polycrafts. Great boat at a very affordable price. Come and see me at Yabbie Marine in Taren Point (or call me on 9524 6488), or see the boys at ABA in Penrith, whatevers more convenient for you. I'd be happy to take you for a demo run in my side console Poly. Cheers, Ben.

Gee thanks swoff, but, umm, my b'day was on January 1! My "career change" means I'm not online as much as I used to be, so I have been a little quiet on the forums - just lurking. Will catch up with you at the Pittwater day shortly - will you be in Byrons beautiful Poly or your tin can?

As the first person to question the initial picture, I'd like to offer my apologies In my defence, it was posted on April 1, and while I now know its not, that first pic still looks photoshopped to my eyes. Great fish guys!!!

Hi Folks, Been a while since I posted a report, mainly because, while I have been catching fish lately, none of them have been worth photographing. Headed out this morning about 7am, was a beautiful day, and at that point only a very light breeze. Headed over to Woolooware Bay, which I have been fishing a bit lately. Heaps of hits under the boats and barges there, and my mate dropped a nice one near the boat. I picked up a fat little 27 to the fork, then we headed over to the oyster leases in Woolooware Bay and had a quick flick there for zip (it was low tide and only 2-4 feet deep). At this stage the wind had picked up a little more, so we headed back to the river and into the Kogarah bay boats. Again quite a few hits, but they were tentative. Finally I picked up a fish on an Ecogear Tank. It didn't pull too hard, so I was a bit shocked when I saw it. It basically came straight up, then sat stationary in the water shaking its head trying to throw the hook, then one short run and we netted it. Went 34cm to the fork, and the best bream I've caught in a long while. Went on to get another 29 to the fork which pulled much harder than the bigger one. My mate picked up the obligatory undersized flatty before we moved on. Drifted the bank just beyond Como bridge, then hit a few pontoons on the way back for zip. Heaps of boat traffic and wind kept building. Finished the morning fishing the boats in Gawley Bay for more hits and follows but no hookups. Wind was howling by the time we got out at midday. Seems to be plenty of fish about at the moment, just wish I could have converted a few more hits into hookups... Ben.

This fish wasn't caught today, April 1 by any chance was it? No offence if it wasn't!

Thanks again guys, good advice all round. Changa, would love to attend the meeting, just have to decide whether the drive from Taren Point to Pitt Town in peak hour is tolerable! I'll let you know ASAP if I'm coming. TelcoBroker - good points, think I might have to invest in at least a couple to take up. Theres a 4 for $40 deal at my local tackle store at the moment - think they are Barra Magnums. Pedro - yep, its Snake Bay. Sounds like I should take some placcies then. I've got some 4inch Berkley Lizards here that I reckon will go alright on a weightless rig. On that note, whats everyones suggestions on barra plastics? I'm guessing Ecogear mini tanks are not appropriate Wouldn't mind getting a barra on a 3" minnow though! Spose I'll take some sluggo's, 4" minnows, big shads, lizards, and some bigger craws. Got a few bigger "creature" plastics that might go alright too. What size/weight/brand jigheads would be appropriate? Thanks guys - to fishraider advice!!! Ben.

Yellow sub, thanks for the info. My Chronarch is brand new, so presumably the drag will be sweet. Not sure how good the drag is on the Tica Taurus - its new too, but only a 3000, so drag may not be up to it. Pedro - The guide is Les Woodbridge, I didn't organise the trip, so all I know is that it is on Melville, haven't heard of Manupi. I presume its all 8-10kg rods and Calcuttas or equivalents, which makes my 3-5kg and Chronarch look undergunned. Can you explain why you would take your own lures if you went again? Not sure if plastics are part of their regular arsenal up there, the website only mentions the usual barra HBs. Can;t see any reason for me to stock up if they already have the ones that the guides know work up there. Apparently there is no baitfishing allowed, barbless hooks only, so not sure if livies will be used. Thanks for the info guys - still wondering if the guides will laugh their heads off if I turn up with the 3-5kg rod...

Hi Folks, My four day trip to Melville Island is approaching (end of April) but I'm still uncertain as to what to take. I'll be droppping an email to the guides, but in the meantime thought I'd ask any raiders who have been up north fishing for barra. The guides website states: Single handed baitcasters, spinning outfits or fly fishing gear (not supplied). Line class: 10 kilo minimum breaking strain. Reel capacity of not less than 120 metres. So my question is, should I bother taking up my 3-5kg Black Diamond Bass rod w/ Chronarch 101 spooled with 20lb braid, or will I get badly smoked (ie the rod won't be up to it)? My other thought is to take just the reel (since its a lefty) and use it on one of their rods. I also have a 5-7kg BD spin rod w/ Tica Taurus 3000 spooled with 8kg Fireline XDS, which I think could be alright. A few people I spoke to said take your own gear, while others have said just use the guide's gear. I'm also unsure as to whether I buy a bunch of barra lures or just use theirs. At this stage I'm inclined to just use the guides lures (on a replace if lost basis), but take a bunch of bigger soft plastics with me. If i get over excited I may end up buying a heavier baitcaster rod and put my Chronarch on that. As much as I would like to, I don't think I'll be packing the Saegake, Flats Ranger or Sustain 1000... Anyways, all these questions will probably be answered when I email the guide, but I really wanted to post the question here pretty much so I could brag about going!!! Cheers, Ben