GregL Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 Did a run up to Gladstone over the last few days. Rich had a job to do up there so a quick few phone calls to a mate a bed a few days fishing were planned. We arrived Thursday morning with beautiful sunny conditions with a light westerly. We got into the job wrapping a boat up n buy lunch time it was hot, damn hot! Punching down the waters I watched Rich do his magic from the comfort of the shade. First time I have sat and watched the process, impressive! Final product was sweeeeet! Me, I was playing with photo editing programs on my phone and taking pictures of nothing LOL A little selection, some hmmmm. Gotta love I phone! Epic fail.... Been having a mushroom photo comp with a friend of late. Now with a place thats had 3 weeks of stable weather with 3-5kn varible winds n sunny conditions, what do you think when the southerners come up? Of coarse day one when we had things to do would be crackers, then 20-35kn from the south with rain! All plans to chase GT's and coral trout went out the window! We didnt want to waste opportunity so we went out for a few quickies chasing barras in the salt. The dams up that way have still not recovered from the floods last year and again overflowed 2 months ago. They still have a few years to get back to former glory..... We ended up catching 6 barra in total and lost a few plus missed several hook ups..... Fishing was tuff! Here are a couple of em. Rich caught this one late one arvo I got this one second cast of the day. It was tuff work casting tight along bridge pylons contending with 25kn winds straight into your face plus 3-4kn s of current. Only 25% of your casts would land sweet, most would tangle ya tranny on the trebbles and leader as it spun once the wind catches it. Bloody wind! Oh well a few barra is better than none plus it was great just getting away and hanging out with the blokes! A different water way one arvo. Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassboy888 Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 good work in tough conditions greg. I certainly wouldnt be dissapointed with those barra, they are great looking fish. I know i cant wait for my next barra trip up that way.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foolforjesus Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 Nice looking couple of Barra's there Greg. Getting into some Barra is definitely on my fishing to do list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul.kenny Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Well done in tough conditions Greg. What system were you fishing? I assume the water temp was down? PS Rich's work looks outstanding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Iceman Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Well done in tough conditions Greg. What system were you fishing? I assume the water temp was down? PS Rich's work looks outstanding. Its the Boyne river near the mouth I know what you mean about the weather up there Greg I reckon the last four trips I did up there were too windy to get out to the reefs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregL Posted March 22, 2012 Author Share Posted March 22, 2012 Yeah that was the Boyne, the others were the Colliope and some little water way that runs under the HWY, pretty cool riding the rapids in a Skeeter with leccy power only I tell ya that sticker biz is way harder than it looks! I tried to put a little bit of edging on, Rich puts 4 pieces on in my one and he had to redo my bit cause I had a bubble! The water temps were dropping as the dams are at 100% so any rain went over the wall.... Even during our stay it dropped by 3 degrees. Was only a balmy 27 lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hooked-Up Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 Yeah that was the Boyne, the others were the Colliope and some little water way that runs under the HWY, pretty cool riding the rapids in a Skeeter with leccy power only I tell ya that sticker biz is way harder than it looks! I tried to put a little bit of edging on, Rich puts 4 pieces on in my one and he had to redo my bit cause I had a bubble! The water temps were dropping as the dams are at 100% so any rain went over the wall.... Even during our stay it dropped by 3 degrees. Was only a balmy 27 lol you get around dont ya lol, nice barra boys would looove to target them one day, they remind me of giant bass, do they head for the snags like bass once hooked? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregL Posted March 23, 2012 Author Share Posted March 23, 2012 you get around dont ya lol, nice barra boys would looove to target them one day, they remind me of giant bass, do they head for the snags like bass once hooked? I do try my best! NEXT trip planned is WA part II at the end of May, Exxy is about to be RAIDED by a few of us! Some are a little bit excited....... Me, I dont like thinking about it or talking about it. Been on to many trips to be stuffed by weather, now I just take em as they come! The barra know where to brick you, especially when your fishing bridge pylons! We had 2 massive bust offs didnt even get a wind! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul.kenny Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 Just looked at the water levels at Lake Monduran......major flooding with 2m over the spillway. Looks like another tough year in the southern Barra Dams , but the rivers below will get a refresh and more Barra Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregL Posted March 23, 2012 Author Share Posted March 23, 2012 Just looked at the water levels at Lake Monduran......major flooding with 2m over the spillway. Looks like another tough year in the southern Barra Dams , but the rivers below will get a refresh and more Barra I was informed that the river below Monduran is hard to get to and not as many fish compared to the Boyne River. Jas doesnt even charter anymore because of the barra fishing is so poor. He thinks that if you want to go catch 80cm barra go NT and catch 100 a day as thats all thats left! The metre plus ones are so far in between it's just not a viable option. It'll be criminal to take peoples money when it's that hard..... Peter Faust dam is an option and is ment to be still fishing very well..... Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hooked-Up Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 I do try my best! NEXT trip planned is WA part II at the end of May, Exxy is about to be RAIDED by a few of us! Some are a little bit excited....... Me, I dont like thinking about it or talking about it. Been on to many trips to be stuffed by weather, now I just take em as they come! The barra know where to brick you, especially when your fishing bridge pylons! We had 2 massive bust offs didnt even get a wind! sounds great man, id be excited and praying for good weather if it were me lol. whats the target in WA samsons? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hooked-Up Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 sounds great man, id be excited and praying for good weather if it were me lol. whats the target in WA samsons? after seeing where exmouth is situated i reckon its GTs your after, yay? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregL Posted March 23, 2012 Author Share Posted March 23, 2012 after seeing where exmouth is situated i reckon its GTs your after, yay? GT's, sails, I think we are wanting a session with the long wands chasing permit and bones off the flats, Coral trout, golden trevs, monster dollies, blue marlin and all of them other line burners on the reefs. Night time will be bull sharks off the back jetty of our house we have booked..... Aw sugar now ya got me excited! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassboy888 Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 I was informed that the river below Monduran is hard to get to and not as many fish compared to the Boyne River. Jas doesnt even charter anymore because of the barra fishing is so poor. He thinks that if you want to go catch 80cm barra go NT and catch 100 a day as thats all thats left! The metre plus ones are so far in between it's just not a viable option. It'll be criminal to take peoples money when it's that hard..... Peter Faust dam is an option and is ment to be still fishing very well..... Greg Didnt know he stopped chartering, that really does say something about the quality and difficulty of the fish in the dams at the moment! Must be great knowing some one with the knowledge of Barra like Wilhelm though, much easier to find those fish with local info I Heard the same thing about faust getting back to its prime, with some big fish being taken in the ABT rounds last year. Exmouth sounds awesome, cant wait to get over there..... one day...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul.kenny Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 Greg, I spent my Christmas holidays fishing the Dams around Mackay and had much better success on the large Barra than those in the Southern Dams. Kinchant Dam was absolutely firing during the last couple of weeks of December and through January. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Iceman Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 Yeah that was the Boyne, the others were the Colliope and some little water way that runs under the HWY, pretty cool riding the rapids in a Skeeter with leccy power only I tell ya that sticker biz is way harder than it looks! I tried to put a little bit of edging on, Rich puts 4 pieces on in my one and he had to redo my bit cause I had a bubble! The water temps were dropping as the dams are at 100% so any rain went over the wall.... Even during our stay it dropped by 3 degrees. Was only a balmy 27 lol Little waterway that runs under the HWY? North or south of Gladstone Sounds a little like the topend of the Calliope Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hooked-Up Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 GT's, sails, I think we are wanting a session with the long wands chasing permit and bones off the flats, Coral trout, golden trevs, monster dollies, blue marlin and all of them other line burners on the reefs. Night time will be bull sharks off the back jetty of our house we have booked..... Aw sugar now ya got me excited! got me excited and im not even going lol, bullsharks out the back hehe sounds great, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregL Posted March 23, 2012 Author Share Posted March 23, 2012 Barra are cool but there's to many fish in the sea and so many that pull harder and eat surface more consistantly. I like fishing with Jas and I think I'll keep my barra experiences there on a more sociable level now that I have caught my 1m goal.(took me like 5 trips to get it and 2 99's.) n that's just with Jas! Bloody barra have cost me a fortune! At the moment I like fly, I use to do it but fell into the bream thing and dropped it. Now, back again the fly rods are back out. Relearning the cast and so on. Gt's are always going to be a fav and hard to turn down a trip chasing them. I want a monster one so bad.... My fishing at the moment is pretty diverse, pretty cool that many of the things help one another. My casting at the moment is very relaxed but still gets distance as I feel the rods load better and punching in the sweet spot after casting the fly again where the feel is so important. My goal is to get better at casting the fly and then when good enough, chase a tarpon..... I think I have been watching to many fly DVD's and man I gotta get me some of that action! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slinkymalinky Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 Nice work with the fishing and the photos, Greg. Good to hear you're getting the fly rods back out. I've been back at the tying bench and picking up some new gear myself to get back into it more seriously. There's something about a fly rod loading up with that first cast of the day that just gets into your blood. Hope to see some good pics when you head west. Cheers, Slinky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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