Invisible Barramundi - Monduran Dam - Jewhunter, Slinky, Dan

[arpie]

Hi Raiders

Better get a coldie or a cuppa ....... this is a longish one!!

Earlier this year, Grant/Jewhunter made contact to see if I was interested in a road trip to Monduran Dam, as Brown Dog/Greg was unable to attend! Was I interested?? YES PLEASE!! This was all organised well before we knew that Keith would get ill during the year - so from mid year til late October, I wasn't even sure if I'd be able to make it, all dependent on how Keith was coping with the chemo & post chemo recovery. Thankfully, since Keith completed Chemo last month & had a very good report from the Surgeon - he was happy for me to head north for a week, whilst his brother came up from Sydney to keep him company!

Late Thursday morning, I arrived home from a terrific road trip with Fishraider Moderators Jewhunter and Slinky Malinky and fellow Raider, Outdoor Dan ....... in the quest for one of Australia's most prized fishing trophy - the enigmatic Barramundi!!

On the way up & back, I caught up with my ex Forster fishing mate, Wendy, up near Stuarts Point and spent the night there, sleeping in the campervan - it was great to have a chat about fishing with another fishing fanatic! I look forward to getting back up there maybe in Jan 11 some time, to fish for some bass in some of the back creeks up that way!!

It was terrific catching up with Outdoor Dan again - last time I had seen him was at the Forster Blackfishing social, some years back & of course at The Entrance Social, where I taught him how to pull Beach Worms (and he caught his first worm on his first lesson!!) And his second, and his third .... a real natural!!! In keeping with his forum name, he has indeed been 'outback' working on a large contract at Alice Springs for most of this year!! He will be heading back in a few days.

Grant, Tony & Dan had all had good fish on in previous outings to Monduran & Grant boated a whopper earlier this year!! Tony & Dan had both lost good fish at the boat (after epic battles) so were keen to remedy the situation ....... & me - well, I reckon I was the novice of the group, who'd spent way too much on lures & not enough on hooks, split rings & rods!!

I'd taken a few rods with me for Grant to look over & that is about all he did!! Nah - they won't work!! Here, try these 2 of mine!! One had an overhead with an Abu (the same as one of mine) as it was part of MY mission to become better at casting those pesky reels without getting too many birds nests ....... more about that later!!

I arrived up at Grant's place on Wed afternoon and spent time with Di and Lucas (who was MAD keen to get into his BRAND NEW school uniform!!)

JJ was home from school & amazed us all with his skill with his 'bow & arrow' (make that electrical conduit with 100lb mono & lengths of bamboo!) He chose his targets, named them, then blow me down if he didn't come within 5cm of them!! Just imagine how good he will be with a real bow & arrow & some instruction!!

Dan had also arrived & we met up with Grant's neighbour & fellow mad fisho Greg, who has been out on many sorties with him, including barra hunting! Greg kept us entertained with tales of BIG FISH, eh?

We double checked that we had packed all the essential gear (and a tackle shop worth of lures & sps! ) then headed off to the Gold Coast, where we would hook up with Slinky & hit the road in convoy! I'd forgotten how far up Monduran is! It was a good 5hr drive from Slinky's, I reckon - plus the hour from Grants, so a long day on the road!! We stopped at Gin Gin & checked out the local tackle shop to see if anything 'special' was working just now ........ funny - most of the walls were taken up with Hollow Belly Sps (or about 10 other similar products ....... including a Shadalicious pack, which I purchased ........) then we did a food shop-up ...... which was duly packed away into the 2 cars ...... and we were on our way to the dam & our first fishing session of the trip!

Did I mention that it was raining? Hey! A little rain wasn't going to put off any serious Barra Hunta, eh?? The fish were already wet, eh??

Unpacking the food & gear at our cabin, Slinky came to a sudden halt & said "OMG! I left my rods at Gin Gin - I took them out to fit the food in & forgot to put them back in" I felt sick to my stomach! "I've got to go back" We had the horrible suspicion that they would not be there, and Slinky said "I'll just have to buy some more gear!" Grant (who was unpacking stuff from his boat) held up a rod & said "I've got plenty of rods with me - you can use one of these!" I still felt so sick to my stomach & so sorry for Tony in this dilemma ....... "No, no," says Slinky "I've got to use my own gear & I'll need more than one rod setup." Grant holds up 2 rods & says "Plenty of rods here, mate, save yourself a trip & just use these!!" Slinky was just about to jump into his car and head back to Gin Gin when Grant yelled at him - "MATE! THEY ARE YOUR RODS!! We saw them on the ground as you drove off & we picked them up for you!!" Slinky had been so distracted, he hadn't even recognised his own rods, even in their distinctive Blue Shimano Reel Covers!!

Slinky after getting his rods & reels back! Happy chappy again!

In the meantime, it was bucketting with rain, but we still decided to go out & have a fish anyway, just to blow the cobwebs out of our gear. We came to regret that decision!! We hooned around the lake - I was with Tony & Dan was with Grant. We chucked Hollow Bellys at every weed bed and around some standing timber in the bays & between trees along the edge of the dam ...... chucking into the little pockets of water behind the trees, for any lurking Barra!

Slinky was Saturated in the rain!

Upon returning to base, soaking wet & looking like drowned rats ...... the wind chill factor alone was enough to freeze us .... in Qld in Nov!! Unheard of!! Tony cooked up a terrific pasta meal called Mexican Special! Yum! Tony was our major Chef for the trip - who needs Master Chef?

During the downpour, Tony had regaled me with stories of the strongest knot yet!! It was called the Mid Knot & was a bit tricky to tie, but if done correctly, the line will never break at the knot. So the Knot class was in session most evenings - replacing the Mid Knot. Satisfied with the knots, we all fell into bed, exhausted!

Now, Grant had a super duper lure, called a Super Barra which, when said in an oriental accent, sounded really funny, so that became the catch cry for the day - SUPER BARRA!!!

We headed out in the morning & went in different directions, all looking for the 'right conditions' conducive to catching barra!! Once a likely spot was decided on, we chucked half the tackle shop at it, hoping for a hit. We had the odd bump, but that could have been a bass or a cattie (catfish!) Catfish don't count for much when you are after Barra, so anyone who caught a cattie was delegated to doing the washing up!!

Some of the lures that we were casting would have suited bass as well & we didn't even catch a bass either (which were in the dam) as we reckon that any smart bass would be keeping as far away from a barra as possible - bass would be like 'jelly beans' for Barramundi!

Dan & Grant headed out & the idea was for all of us to be using different lures, to try & 'crack the pattern' & then we'd all use the successful pattern! I was using the overhead reel & was relatively happy with how I was casting - given that any other time that I had used it, I had had major problems with backlash! I got the odd backlash, but none that I couldn't undo & continue casting! Usually, it was the 'super cast' that resulted in the worst backlash - you know, the one that would hit the other end of the footy field!!

Dan & Grant head off!!

Capt'n Slinky was talking me thru the 'theory' of barra fishing, patiently explaining about the wind lanes & food pushing onto weed beds etc - it all made so much sense, that we were pretty confident of finding ourselves a barra! We knew that the fishing on Fri wouldn't be up to much, as the water would still be too cold from the bad weather - so looked ahead to Sat & Sun as being the more successful of the 3 days on the water.

For nibbles, we also had some biltong to chew on - I'd taken up a few vacuum packed bags & was really pleased that the boys enjoyed it!!

Chef Jewhunter took care of most breakfasts - nice bacon & eggs with bread - good tucker to keep us fishing hard!!

Monduran is known for its standing timber! Every bay had heaps of timber for barra to hide in - and we went into most of them, trying to hunt out our prize! We were chucking sps, hbs, poppers, deep divers, shallow divers ........ top water lures, like froggy patterns (some of which were found to be 'wanting') as they are supposed to leap across the top of the weeds or the water, not sink like a stone!! We all met up & tied to a tree for lunch - and had coleslaw and chicken sandwiches every day! YUM! Di had made up a great tub of coleslaw & we'd bought 2 roasted chickens to put with it. Terrific standby for easy lunches on the water.

meeting up for lunch

Back at base, we discussed our day & decided that tomorrow would be a far better day, as it had been difficult to find a water temp up to 27 degrees that we needed to find actively feeding barra! Mid Knots were re-tied & I showed the boys one that I had tied after I had to bust off from a snag that was too deep to save with Slinky's lure retriever! Boy! That lure retriever earned its keep with Slinky & I - worth it's weight in gold. The guys from the cabin next door had left us with some very nice 'meat on the bone' roast & Dan expertly boned it out & turned it into 4 lovely steaks & then cooked them expertly! YUM! My potato casserole went down well too! Tomorrow, I was teaming up with Grant - we were going to show these amateurs how to catch Barra!!!! (I wish!!)

Not long into my session with Grant, he saw a stack of barra sitting down deep - we dropped some slick rigs and numerous other lures around them, trying to excite them into bite, but nothing would work! Just seeing them there frustrated us even more!!

Capt'n Jewhunter took us up to a few bays & the bait fish were going 'off'! Schools of them were being spooked at every turn and the temp was up over 27 degrees, so we really thought that this could be 'the spot'!! We put in a cast of thousands ....... and still only got the odd 'bump' but no bite! We really couldn't understand why we weren't getting hits! It really wasn't fair, as we were putting in the hard yards & tossing lures in what should have been productive spots! I had a go with Grant's Curado reel & WOW!! How easy is THAT to cast with! You don't even need an 'educated thumb' like you do with most overhead reels!

We had superb weather for the Fri, Sat & Sun (contrary to what the weather maps had suggested!) It was stinking hot! Topping up on the sunscreen was a MUST! Both my hands got a bit pink tho! We were washing our hands carefully after touching the sunscreen, so that no taste of it would be transferred to the lures - and most lures were liberally covered with S Factor, to help entice the victim to the hook! It was a beautiful evening & Grant & I had anchored off a weed bed that was being fed by an active Wind Lane, when I spotted what I thought was a plastic bag waving in water! Grant took one look & said "Tailing Barra!'' He'd heard about it, but never seen it before!! That got us all excited, but we had to change boat position to be able to cast towards where they were tailing, but they had disappeared! That didn't stop us from casting around that weed bed for another hour or more before heading back to base for dinner, chat & bed!!! Now the war cry had changed to STUPID BARRA!! Once again, we had been putting in tight casts all day - I was in awe of Grant's & Tony's casting in particular - their lures seemed to float in the air, landing within an inch of its target, time after time after time!! Mine was a bit more hit & miss!! Bugger!! (Or words to that effect) were heard regularly from the rear of the boat - usually when I got a backlash knot in the overhead, which I was using more than the spinning rod! I was getting more confident in using the overhead, and will continue to use it, now that I have 'educated my thumb' a lot more!!

Our evening chats were hilarious, covering many varied topics & at one stage we were almost rolling on the floor with laughter, with tears in our eyes! What a hoot!! With Tony recovering from the flu & coughing a bit & Grant priding himself as a 'good snorer', espcially after a few tinnies (not the nautical variety!) Early one morning, I heard a shout something along the lines of "SHUT UP"!! My ear plugs had kept Grant's snore to a 'gentle purring, like a cat & didn't worry me much! Most evenings were taken up with even more Mid Knot practise- practise makes perfect!!

Sunday and I was fishing with Outdoor Dan, for our final full day on the Dam. Capt'n Dan is very innovative with some of his fishing gear & I really liked the way he added a bit of weight to his Hollow Belly lure!!

Once again, we hit the bays and weed beds, hoping to find that elusive barra - having seen the tailing barra the evening before had made us feel more confident on Sunday & with the weather being glorious, the water temp soon went well beyond the 27 degrees that we were looking for! It went up around 30, which was really a tad warmer than we really wanted!! We followed the edges of the weed beds & cast to the pockets that were likely barra holding spot ...... to no avail!

Dan (and Tony & Grant) took me to spots where they had hooked up a few times on his previous trips, but the barra did not show themselves there this time! Meeting up for lunch with Grant & Tony, our confidence was lagging a little bit - those darn Invisible Barra were becoming a problem!

Dan's Mid Knot was an excellent example to show how slim the knot is on 20/30lb braid & 40-80lb leader! Shame it doesn't work as well with the lighter lines! When pulled up, it seems that the heat generated by the knot actually welds the leader to the braid, by almost melting it, tho not loosing strength!

When I'd snagged up with Tony, it had taken enormous strength to break the line & it broke in the braid Later, when Tony snagged up, the extremely strong hook gave well before the line or knot!

Heading home for the final time, it was a despondent, bedraggled bunch of Fishraiders - about the only thing that kept our heads up high was the fact that NO-ONE was catching barra over the period that we were there! We'd heard of only the one fish, lost at the boat.

WHY IS IT SO? (I may hear you ask?) Maybe there was a big fish kill during this winter (like at Callide last year where all the biggest fish were killed in the cool snap.) Perhaps that had happened here & no-one had let anyone know about it, to keep the punters still coming!!? All the boys took me to 'known barra spots' and not spots that others had told them about - but spots where THEY had previously hooked up! I know that Grant in particular was keen to get me onto a 'metre PLUS barra' and it didn't happen ...... at this point in time, even a 'hit & miss' would have been appreciated!!

I had learned quite a few new skills during this trip - I'd never driven a boat before, but was now handling the boat whilst the boys were parking, nudging onto the shore to pick them up for heading up the dam & bringing the boat to the trailer at the end of the trip - even driving Jewhunter's boat up onto the trailer!! (Sorry about that one time when I unknowingly trimmed up your motor whilst it was still going tho ...... only for a couple of seconds!! Dan & TOny were both yelling from the shore .... Put it down! Trim it down!!

Monday morning came all too quickly & once again, it was RAINING!! NAH! No fishing this morning - we'd better pack up & head towards home! I was checking the cupboards & fridge to make sure that we left nothing behind when I had to laugh .......... I found a boof frog in the freezer!

and the microwave, and the food cupboard - methinks their performance did not live up to the advertising hype!!

We were on our way back home!! As happens when travelling distances, some idiot always tries to overtake when the 'Lane Finishes in 500m' sign comes up - this bloke had already hooned past us in the previous merging lanes when he dived in front of us, in a space that was barely smaller than his vehicle ...... and yes, off he goes again, at the end of the next double lanes - & dives back in front of Grant's car & boat (who was following a very large 4WD and HUGE caravan!) Virtually as soon as (or maybe because of it) this bloke dived in between the caravan & Grant's car ..... the 4WD and caravan started wobbling. Immediately, Grant & the car between him & us & Tony & our boat slowed down dramatically, as this lurching car & van was dancing in front of us! Just when we thought he was getting back into control, the caravan almost tipped, only to lurch to the side, back & forth a few more times, in ever widening arcs! At this point in time, I am hanging onto the arm rest of the door, with my foot on an imaginary brake, leaving indentations on Tony's console ..... thinking that this bloke & his caravan was going to do a 360 ....... when the car & van suddenly lurches off the highway & onto the grass verge, narrowly missing a large ditch by just metres ...... and 1 second later, the car & van had stopped perfectly straight, as if he'd just pulled off for a lunch break! The driver hops out & just stands there! Boy! That was a VERY lucky escape! With heavy traffic in both directions on the highway, if he'd gone over, at least 4-6 vehicles could have been involved in a fatal accident. We were so pleased that a tragedy had been avoided. We reckon the interior of the van would have been a mess tho!! The microwave would probably now be found in the dunny & the dunny, in the lounge room!! We reckon that the bloke who had ducked in behind the caravan less than a second before it started swerving, would have ended up with brown trousers after such a fright!!

At this point in time, we stopped for a lunch break & Grant wasn't really happy with the noise coming from his engine. It sounded like his gear box was playing up. After lunch, we headed towards Tony's place at the Gold Coast. We made the turnoff, but Grant's ute was nowhere to be seen! Damn! They had missed the turn off! The phone rang & Grant said "Mate, the gear box is stuffed. I've only got 4th gear! I'll be there soon." We heard it long before we saw it! It was making a weird grinding metallic sound as the ute & boat limped to a stand still. There was no way that the ute could tow the boat all the way back to Grant's home. Tony came up with a brilliant idea - he would unhitch his own boat & store it, then hitch up to Grant's boat & drive it back to Murwillumbah, behind Grant all the way, in case the ute stopped & couldn't be started again! That is the Fishraider Spirit - to help a mate out when he is in trouble! Good on you Tony - you are a gem! We followed Grant & Dan all the way back home, with only the final hill being a major stumbling block! If he'd had the boat, no way would he have been able to get up that hill! Even with a speed camera set at 80kph, a bit of a run up & Grant nurses the ute up the hill. What a miserable way to end an otherwise somewhat miserable fishing expedition (fishing companions excepted!) Let's face it, we hadn't come up with any fish, so technically, the trip was a disappointment - but we had some really great times over the 4 days, that we still have heaps to look back on!! We were just glad that Grant had been able to get his ute back home. Bad luck mate!

That night, after dinner, Dan goes down the back of Grants yard & tosses a lure into the Tweed River! He gets a hit! He gets another hit, then he is on ...... and he comes back holding up a 40cm wild river bass!!! AMAZING!! We'd just done a round trip of about 800k, only to catch one of the target fish in Grant's own back yard! Even HE hadn't caught a bass there before!!! A Sammy 'lookalike' pencil did the trick!! A few pics & off he goes, back into the river!

What a terrific way to finish off a 4 day fishing trip - with a very nice 40cm bass!!

Four very dejected fishing folk - disappointed that at least one of us hadn't brought home a barra!

So there you have it in a nutshell - trials & tribulations, overcoming adversity & still able to laugh with your mate, eh? We still couldn't fully understand WHY we didn't catch a barra between us - we did all the right things, at the right places, but fate had conspired against us - we'd have to wait til another time to get us a barra from Monduran!! Bring it on - I'll be better prepared the next time!!!

Cheerio & thanks for reading

Roberta

Edited November 10, 2010 by Roberta

[Ray R]

What a bugger, all the prep and travel for no fish, Roberta that was a great read and although the dam was empty of fish

I am sure you all had a great few days away. Hope next years trip see's you with armfulls of barra...

[Hodgey]

Take heart Roberta.

You're not the first despondent fishos to leave Monduran and you sure as hell won't be the last.

Good to see that you all managed to have a great time amongst yourselves though. New knots, new casting techniques and a veritable smorgasboard of great tucker ... infact everything except the elusive barra. Thanks for the report and photos mate. NEXT time you'll brain 'em

Cheers

Skip

[DarkHorse]

Great post. Sounds ALL TOO familiar to me. Exactly how every one of my trips ends. Extreme effort for no return.

Oh well an experience none the less, great friends and wonderful scenery.

Lucky with the caravan/car. Dad being a truck driver, I asked him what do you do when the trailer/boat/caravan starts to sway. The best thing is to actually accelerate, pulls the trailer etc straight!

You ALWAYS get some moron that cant stand being behind someone and they will always overtake or squeeze in at the worst possible time. Even with your average car/4WD and boat being close to 4 tonne in total, it takes a while and effort to stop! I hope he did mess his pants! Luckily everyone walked away unscathed, thankfully.

The old birds nest, had heaps of those in the past. Very frustrating, more so when you cant get them out and you have to revert to cutting the line.

Regards,

Rob.

P.S. Tony, I will post the items today!

[james7]

Brilliant report Roberta!

Shame no barra, but it seems a great time was had by all. You'll just have to go back next year!

That last photo of the four of you is an absolute ripper! Just love the expressions on your faces.

It's good to hear that Grant made it back okay with Tony's help. That's an example of a good mate!

Thanks Roberta for a fantastic read and some great photos.

Cheers

Peter

[pmak]

Wooh! What a read - can sense the effort you guys put into the trip. Sorry it didn't turn out the way you wanted Glad the traffic incident didn't turn out for the worse.

[slinkymalinky]

Thanks for making our trip into such a great report . I'm still a bit shellshocked after putting thousands of casts into what seemed ideal water and locations for precisely zip.

Before Grant puts me in it, I'll own up to having caught the only fish in Monduran... a stinky Catfish! At first I thought it only counted as minus 1 until it was pointed out I caught it trolling so technically it counts as minus 2.

After realizing that Catties can be taken trolling in 50' of water, maybe a whole new sportfishing frontier is about to open up... trolling small pushers around the middle of Monduran on outriggers. Aaaawwwesome sportfish, the old Cattie :ranting2:

Putting aside the total lack of fish, I had great fun. The banter didn't stop for a single second that anyone was awake. I'm very impressed with your ability in particular, Roberta, to keep up with the boys in the blue language and ribbing stakes.

We found some great new locations in the dam including a great sloping grassy shore and some amazing bays full of fallen timber, that I'm itching to get back to when the fish are 'on'. I'm already starting to think about just hooting up there on a couple of weekends to try and catch my Barra between Friday night and Sunday.

I'll just need to make sure that I practice my dam safety so that my boat doesn't go sailing over the dam wall as apparently can happen if you fish too close to it

May the pain be dulled by time and blue cans... Slinky

[tide'n'knots]

bad luck on the fishing side of things guys but a great fishing report as usual anyway roberta.

there is always next time guys - I believe that 45cm plus bass and metre long barra are smashing anything thrown at them now and came on the day you left They have a particular liking for catfish!

a couple of days ago I woke suddenly to what I thought was a chainsaw outside my window but could not find the culprit - now I know that it was grant snoring and the sound resinated all the way to sydney!

sounds like a fun trip, bad luck about the fish

pete

[brendong]

Hmmm sounds like a great time away minus the fish....read an article this week that said some of QLD dams had gone from 20% to 80% in 12 months, that's a shite load of extra water to work to find fish....those same guys only pull 1 fish in 4 days, some even chatered an expert who still couldn't put them onto fish.

However, one guy that was camping there headed out at night and from memory got onto a fish almost every night right infront on the camp site in his yak...

sorry this info probably comes in a little late....

There's always next year....

[paul.kenny]

Outstanding post Roberta, but would have better been better with some stories of battles joined with metre plus Barra . Did you try any night sessions?

I just hope that the barra are on the chew when I visit Monduran in mid January .

[Breambucket]

Bad luck guys i really feel for you!

My cousin runs a holiday park there so ill be staying a couple of weeks in February! even if we dont have any luck its still a wonderful place to fish but the looks of it

Pete

[IVZ350]

barra fishing is tough at times been there done that, if ya cant find any bait round where ya fishing ya wont find the barra 99% of the time, we covered alot of hinchinbrook to find them over a week period last time, but hey thats fishing....at least ya's had a good time

[outfisher]

Thanks for the report roberta...i was going on the 17th but have changed

my fishing holiday destination this year

Pitty about the no fish situation herd if the temps drop the fish can shut right off.

[arpie]

THanks guys - please don't take our experience as the 'norm', as it most likely isn't! We were just unlucky to have had that cold snap just as we arrived - we DID find the higher temp water (even up in the low 30s (which is almost TEPID!) - but just couldn't bring them onto the chew! Please don't change your fishing plans on OUR account!! We found the wind lanes, we found the bait fish going CRAZY, we found the warm temps, we found the barra 'tailing' ...... it just wasn't meant to be 'our time' this year! It wasn't for lack of trying, that is for sure!!

Hi Bass catcher, No, we didn't fish at night - too tired!! We DID consider it, but that was as close as we got to doing it!

Hey Tony - At least you caught SOMETHING!! You are our Hero!!

My girlfriend from Canberra is here & she tells us of having caught a stack of barra up out of Darwin a few of months back - they were taking flourescent chartreuse coloured divers! Don't think we had any of them, tho!

Hi Poddy Trapper - the increased water level could have been an influence - who knows?!

Hi Rob - thanks for the tip on actually SPEEDING UP to correct the wobbly caravan - I'd heard NOT to brake & definitely NOT to SWERVE for ANYTHING .... just drive thru it & you have a better chance - so speeding up actually makes sense to take the wobble out of the situation! I was really quite chuffed that my overhead casting had improved markedly - even getting out every birds nest, too!!

Looking to rectify the 'no barra' next year!!

Cheerio

Roberta

[Jewhunter]

That's a wonderful report Roberta!

It was a shame the barra decided to shutdown right when we were there. That's fishing I guess.

We still had a hoot though & spirits remained high throughout.

You are a champion with the baitcaster now!

I have to give a big thanks to Slinky for helping me get the boat home. You're a bloody champ mate, even after I was giving you heaps & trying to claim the new outfits I found in the carpark!

Cheers,

Grant.