Lizardboy Posted November 28, 2006 Share Posted November 28, 2006 (edited) An unplanned boat purchased in June inspired a road trip to central QLD to fish a new dam rumoured to hold a good population of both barra and bass, what more could a man want! So after a few months of planning and some hard work getting the boat up to scratch Pete and I set off on what is likely to become an annual pilgrimage North. A couple of mates from Grafton were joining us, which made a good half way point from Sydney and we managed to fit in an afternoon bass session on the clarence before setting off for Monduran the next day. Pete landed this one from the bank before we even got the canoe in the water! [br]We got a few more and although small by clarence standards it was great just being back on the mighty river again. Monduran is a lesser know dam 4 hours north of Brissy, its a big dam, but quite narrow and less wind affected than somewhere like Awoonga, which is great when your boat is less than 3.5metres! The secret to tracking down the barra was water temperature, the variation in the surface temperarture while we were there was enormous 19.5 degrees was the coolest we found and 28 degrees the warmest. [br]Lumbar yard in the bay of plenty The second most important thing was finding good structure, theres heaps of standing timber, but you really had to find the horizontal stuff. At a guess the barra we caught averaged about 75cm's, with quite a few in the high eigties, early nineties. Pete's with an 89cm fish that came from the base of the two large trees in the shot above, it did a good job on the lure nearly straigtening the owner 4x's [br] We were really luck with the weather, the days were warm, but still comfortable and the wind was generally light to moderate. All the locals told us to target the dead lantana and the best fishing was in hotter part of the day, but we found mid afternoon and into the evening was much better We managed a few surface hits as well, which really got the heart pumping, this 87cm fish fell to a Cultiva tail dancer that was cranked flat out for 3 or 4 metres before being slowed right down and walked next to some timber. The biggest fish was a 102cm model, whick came from the unlikely looking snag below, he wrapped me round the timber and i had to put the reel in free spool and thumb it until i could get to the log and unwrap it. [br] 33.3 KB[/size=1] Even the forkies go hard The ramp was dirt, but in good condition. We didn't find any bass in the dam, we got the impression they were pretty much a deep water target. Lizard Edited November 28, 2006 by Lizardboy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flattieman Posted November 28, 2006 Share Posted November 28, 2006 (edited) Wow! Looks like a fantastic trip up North, Lizardboy. The little boat looks great too! Lovely barra (102 cm!!! )... but do you still target lizards? Flattieman. Edited November 28, 2006 by Flattieman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insolent Posted November 29, 2006 Share Posted November 29, 2006 Great report and top pics, some fantastic looking Barra . What line, leader and gear were you using? Cheers Evil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kantong Posted November 29, 2006 Share Posted November 29, 2006 bloody awesome report!!! great work! wat a dream of a trip!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penguin Posted November 30, 2006 Share Posted November 30, 2006 What a top adventure and top quality fish, and thanx for all those pics to.Excelent effort. penguin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TunOFun Posted November 30, 2006 Share Posted November 30, 2006 Great report guys. Must have been one hell of a fishing holiday Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizardboy Posted November 30, 2006 Author Share Posted November 30, 2006 Cheers Guy's, Yeah it was an awesome trip, it took a lot of preperation and planning to pull it off though. flattie man, Yes i still target Lizards, that was where my lurefishing started, but i don't target them nearly as much as i used to. Evil as for the gear we used either or 50lb braid rigged with either a twisted and doubled back on itself flurocarbon or 100lb braid as a leader. We used mainly shallow diving hardbodies like the b52 and troipic anglers that got down to a metre or so, the hooked were upgraded mostly to owner 4X or VMC's and we retreivee the lures with regular sharp downward jerks of the rod tip whilst slowly winding to take up the slack...basically a slow overall, but eratic retreive. Cheers, Gus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest madsmc Posted December 1, 2006 Share Posted December 1, 2006 Love your work Gus. Top report as always. Shane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barrykrocker Posted December 1, 2006 Share Posted December 1, 2006 Awesome report Lizard boy That looks like a boston whaler 13? original wood? mahogony? beautiful boat Let me know if your ever interested in selling! not that I would if I were you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizardboy Posted December 9, 2006 Author Share Posted December 9, 2006 Awesome report Lizard boy That looks like a boston whaler 13? original wood? mahogony? beautiful boat Let me know if your ever interested in selling! not that I would if I were you G'day Bazz, Yeah, its a Boston whaler, but i think its a bit smaller, 3.5metres perhaps, it used to have 3 bench seats and was used as a tender, perhaps the wood was mahogoney, not sure, but i've modified it now, carpeted the front and rear so it has 2 nice casting decks and a couple of hatches for storage. Its an incredibly stable and really halls ass with a 25hp on the back, it doesn't handle boat wake that well. How much woud you offer me for it? Gus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stillrockn Posted December 11, 2006 Share Posted December 11, 2006 Wooo hooo! Great report & Pics , Great fish Bass, Barra,,,,, Awesome. Cheers Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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