Lake Borumba

[Jewhunter]

G'day all.

I had a weeks downtime from work last week so I made a quick decision to head up to Lake Borumba with my young fella, J.J. I made a call to Outdoordan & it took him all of 30 minutes to organize the week off & book his flights!

So last Tuesday the three of us made the 3hr trip from my place with the boat in tow. The plan was to fish that arvo, then do a morning & arvo session on the Wednesday & Thursday, fish Friday morning & head home. Here's the breakdown of the trip.

TUESDAY = RECON DAY.

Tuesday arvo saw us hit the water around 2.30p.m to suss the place out. I'd only fished the main basin before in the Bass Electric so this was all new water for us. We headed right up the back of Yabba creek. Wow, what a great looking stretch of water. Weed beds, lily pads, fallen trees, it had the lot. After alot of driving around checking the place out & making a plan we ended up with 8 bass to 40cm's with some good fish dropped & couldn't wait for the next morning.

WEDNESDAY = TOGA PARTY.

This morning didn't fire as expected. The bass weren't on the job. Actually not alot was! Dan missed a few Toga hits & I pulled the hooks on some good fish. J.J was doing it a bit tough but his casting was improving by the minute. Not a word of complaint from him & he fished really hard. Amazing for a 7 year old. Only 6 bass for the morning & I missed a good Toga on surface that came clear out of the water but missed the hooks.

The arvo session was better. The bass were still quiet but the Toga fired up. I pulled a 50cm Toga from a tree & a yellowbelly as well. 5 minutes later I managed 2 Toga in 2 casts at the one tree. One was the smallest I've ever seen, the other a 45cm model that I let J.J wind in. This one was fired up & jumped all over the place.

3 bass, 3 toga & 2 yellowbelly was the end result. Dan really wanted his 1st toga but it wasn't to be. J.J kindly offered to let Dan wind one in if he hooked up!!

That night while J.J was reading to us a very friendly deer walked into camp. J.J fed it a little bread & then patted & cuddled it! It made his day & was a great sight.

THURSDAY = THE GOLDEN DAY.

This morning looked & felt a bit different. It was a little cloudy & still. Dan got a silver perch at the boat ramp after I sounded over a school before we got under way. I flogged the surface & even though there were active fish boofing I couldn't get even a swirl. Dan was smashing them on spinnerbaits so I changed over & all three of us caught plenty. For some reason the Golden Perch were out in force. By the end of the day we had 8 of them as well as plenty of bass with some nice ones in the high thirties & forty cm mark among them but nothing huge. We had a couple of double hookups as well which is always fun. J.J was fishing like a champ but the bigger fish eluded him. He pulled the hook on a really good bass near the boat but at least he was getting some smaller ones as a reward for his efforts. There were alot of short takes & missed toga today. Keeping the hooks in the buggers was proving difficult with Dan pulling out of a good toga just before dark & I got smoked in the sticks by a big bass.

FRIDAY = J.J'S MORNING & NOT HAPPY DAN!

We hit the spot close to the ramp where Dan missed his toga the evening before. J.J had it all down pat by now, picking where he was going to cast & landing it between trees & next to logs. Dan & I put several casts into a likely looking area for no result. J.J lands a cast to the same spot & gets a hit. He puts another cast in & is on. He does all the right things & comes up with his p.b bass of 34cms. We were so happy for him. He fished as hard as we did & never once complained or gave up so he really deserved that fish. In fact in no time at all he had 3 bass in the boat before Dan or I had landed a fish!

We tried a few spots for not alot so headed back up to the weed beds. The place was firing with some really nice bass hitting the deck. Dan got a 40cm & 38cm in consecutive casts.

Then the fish that will haunt us for a while hit. Dan put a cast onto the front edge of a lily pad island that had sunken tree on it. He loaded up & a massive Saratoga came flying out of the water, shook it's head & sent the lure flying back at Dan. This was easily the biggest toga I had ever seen, long & very fat. It must have been close to a metre. Not alot upsets Dan but he was shattered to lose that fish.

We ended the quick morning session with another 12 bass & a golden.

All up it was a great trip with 3 toga, 10 goldens & 60 odd bass for the trip. We would have added more to that tally but I spent alot of hours trying to get a toga on a surface lure. It just didn't happen.

We saw plenty of deer at the deer park where we were staying, swimming goannas, rabbits & a hare, wallabys & 'roos & even a bilby! J.J was knackered by the end of it but loved every minute of the trip.

Thanks for coming up Dan. We always have a heap of fun together & J.J can't wait for you to come back.

Here's some pics, hope you like them.

Cheers,

Grant.

[Hodgey]

What a great trip!

That is a tremendous effort from JJ to stick at it for all that time, and he was justly rewarded with some very nice fish ... and a new furry friend. Well done young fella! :thumbup:

That's another little spot to add to my bucket list. Congrats to all on a terrific report.

Cheers

Skip

[paul.kenny]

What a great report Grant and thanks for sharing the experience....felt like I was there with you . Great to see young JJ work so hard and be rewarded for the effort. I reckon you and JJ have many more early mornings and great fishing adventures ahead of you.

Bad luck for Dan on that big Toga, it is one fish I am yet to catch and I would love to give them a crack. How do the Togas fish during Dec and Jan? I am driving from Sydney to Mackay for another Bass to Barra trip and might drop into Lake Borumba for a quick session.

[Jewhunter]

What a great report Grant and thanks for sharing the experience....felt like I was there with you . Great to see young JJ work so hard and be rewarded for the effort. I reckon you and JJ have many more early mornings and great fishing adventures ahead of you.

Bad luck for Dan on that big Toga, it is one fish I am yet to catch and I would love to give them a crack. How do the Togas fish during Dec and Jan? I am driving from Sydney to Mackay for another Bass to Barra trip and might drop into Lake Borumba for a quick session.

The time that you're going is prime time for Toga. The warmer it is the more active they get & for surface action that would be the time to go. They happily smash spinnerbaits as well.

I reckon it would fish better around the dark moon as they would be more active during the day. From what we heard the toga were everywhere 2 weeks ago. My theory is they are more active at night on the full moon. Just a theory but it makes sense to me.

I love the place & can't wait to get back. The bass in there get up to 2.5kg's & the toga up to 10kgs. It's alot of fun & you have to give it a go if you're passing through.

Cheers,

Grant.

[paul.kenny]

The time that you're going is prime time for Toga. The warmer it is the more active they get & for surface action that would be the time to go. They happily smash spinnerbaits as well.

I reckon it would fish better around the dark moon as they would be more active during the day. From what we heard the toga were everywhere 2 weeks ago. My theory is they are more active at night on the full moon. Just a theory but it makes sense to me.

I love the place & can't wait to get back. The bass in there get up to 2.5kg's & the toga up to 10kgs. It's alot of fun & you have to give it a go if you're passing through.

Cheers,

Grant.

You have convinced me....I will just have to look at the moon cycle for either the drive north or the drive south to give myself the best chance. Can I assume you are using your Bass gear for the Togas or should I use the lighter Barra gear?

Cheers PK

[Jewhunter]

You have convinced me....I will just have to look at the moon cycle for either the drive north or the drive south to give myself the best chance. Can I assume you are using your Bass gear for the Togas or should I use the lighter Barra gear?

Cheers PK

That is a really good question mate. I reckon Dan missed so many toga because his 2-4kg rod was to light to get a good hook set into them. They have a hard, bony plate mouth. You need something with a bit of grunt & fast taper to get them to stick.

I was fishing a 4-6kg 7ft procaster with 10lb braid & 14lb leader & a little baitcaster. Great for throwing 3/8th & 1/2 oz spinnerbaits. Maybe a bit heavy for most of the bass but I still managed to get smoked & also stay connected to some toga. Stinger hooks on the spinnerbaits are also a must.

I think you would really like fishing there. It's not big & can be worked out quite quickly. It's also regarded as the best toga dam in the country.

Good luck!! I hope you get your 1st toga.

Cheers,

Grant.

[Guest]

Great report fellas and well done JJ shame about the lost fish but thats what makes you go back .

Cheers Stewy

[slinkymalinky]

Great to see you had such a great trip. Congrats JJ and commiserations Dan. Maybe next time, JJ will get the hit from the big Toga and let you wind it in

Dan, you'll just have to come back up and do it again. I have to say that Borumba is a whole lot more fun than Monduran... particularly at the moment with the M fish averaging around 55cm.

Great photos... that particular stretch in Yabba creek has me salivating every time I see a pic. Borumba and Clarrie Hall have to go down as 2 of the prettiest places in Australia to fish... and they're both right here on our doorstep. Hopefully next time I can make it along too.

Cheers, Slinky

[outdoordan]

Looks like my Mojo is still on walk about.... Grrr

What an awesome trip though. Its great to harrass some fish with good mates. It was an absolute pleasure to fish with young JJ. His eagerness and determination blows me away.

Shame the quality fish we were after eluded us, but I'm sure i can speak for all of us when i say we'll be back.

Hey Slinky, Whats this i hear about you breaking windscreens??? If you ask JJ nicely he might be able to give you some pointers on casting

[Joco]

GREAT trip Grant...

Thats a nice catch, especially for the little one... Smile on his face says it all....

Thanks for sharing....