Monduran Dam - Barra Trip 2012

[paul.kenny]

Hi Raiders – buckle in for a long, but hopefully interesting and useful post,

A week late but here is the final summary of Bassboy's and my trip to Monduran Dam for our annual Barra trip. Reading all of the reports and the lack of big fish being taken we knew it would be another challenging trip.

We left early on Saturday 22 September for the long drive north to Monduran Dam, near Gin Gin in Central QLD. We arrived at Monduran Dam mid afternoon on Sunday and with excited anticipation set up camp and prepared the boat and gear for our first session on Monday morning. Once we had prepared our gear we spent some time speaking to fellow campers and Rob the guide seeking advice on how the fishing was going. Everyone confirmed that the fishing was still tough with most of the fish being caught at the top end of bays above the B Arm (about 10km from the ramp). Their advice was to get out on the water early as most fish were being caught in the first couple of hours of daylight using suspending lures, such as the Hank Tuned Jackalls. Additionally there was no evidence of any big fish (ie more than 75cm) being regularly caught.

Consequently Bassboy and I decided to head up to Insane Bay, which had produced the bulk of our Barra last year. Despite the advice that suspending lures were the go to lures we still prepared the ripple shad soft plastics, which were the go to lure last year, and some surface frogs. We also established the rules for the trip: If you have a donut during a session you have to wear a Hawaiian shirt throughout the next session and if you catch a catfish you have to immediately don the catty hat (a green Bunnings bucket hat) until you catch a Barra. With the rules established we enjoyed a couple of beers whilst watching the park staff conduct a burnoff.

Day 1 – 24 Sep: We headed out early to Insane Bay to explore and sound out likely locations. We found that the weed beds had grown substantially since last year and our previous honey-hole was filled with 8 foot of weeds. We noted the Guide working a large lay-down surrounded by a large weed bed, consequently we worked some likely weedy points and flooded shrubs with our suspending lures. We worked Insane Bay until midday for a couple of missed strikes, but found some likely weed walls and snags. We also found a huge abundance of bait throughout the bay. On return to camp I headed into Gin Gin to buy some more suspending lures from the local tackle shop and seek the owners advice regarding the fishing. His advice was the same as the guides and fellow campers….. fish deep in the bays with suspending lures using a retrieve and pause technique near weed walls and snags, with most fish being taken in the first couple of hours of daylight. That afternoon we headed out to explore ‘The Jacks’ but the session was cut short with a thunderstorm arriving mid-afternoon.

Day 2 – 25 Sep: Once again we headed into Insane Bay, working the snags and weed beds along a wind blown bank with suspending lures and frogs as we moved deeper into the bay. We spooked a couple of big fish amongst the snags and had a couple of missed strikes on the surface frog. We eventually made our way to a weed wall we had found on Monday which immediately paid dividends….three small but feisty barra and a couple of more fish that threw the hooks.

That afternoon we headed back into The Jacks as we had spotted a large gathering of pelicans and cormorants feeding on a large school of bait deep in a flooded creek marked on the map as the Rainforest. As we approached the birds flew off and we found many dead baitfish on the surface and large fish deep in the water column apparently feeding on the school. We worked the flooded creek for two hours but drew a blank and headed back to the ramp early due to more storms on the horizon. That night it rained on and off all night.

Day 3 – 26 Sep: We woke to a cloudy and misty morning and despite the unpleasant conditions we headed straight out to Insane Bay for our best session of the trip. We moved into a non-descript bay within Insane Bay to fish a deep gully (10 ft) lined by steep weed walls. We caught 8 barra during a hot 2 hour bite, which only stopped when the sun broke through the cloud. The successful technique was to cast the suspending lures parallel to the weed walls and retrieving slowly with a number of jerks and long pauses of up to 10 seconds. We found that the fish would only strike the lures on the pause and the larger fish liked a longer pause.

One of the fish spat out its breakfast and confirmed that our suspending lures were the right size.

That afternoon we headed back out to Insane Bay to work our weed wall again. It was hard work but I was rewarded with a nice 69cm Barra, which was to be the largest fish of the trip. Unfortunately Bassboy dropped his only fish of the session and earned the ‘coveted’ donut Hawaiian Shirt.

We also had the pleasure to meet a rather helpful local, Lindsay Burgess, who is a bit of a Barra fishing guru. He had sought us out to find out how we were catching the fish as he had heard about our haul of fish the day before. We shared some stories and he provided advice on how to better tune our Lowrance Structure Scan

To be continued……….

Edited October 8, 2012 by Basscatcher

[paul.kenny]

Day 4 27 Sep: On Thursday morning we woke to a cloudless morning and headed back to Insane Bay. The action was a bit slower and this time Bassboy caught the lone Barra to lose the Hawaiian Shirt, whilst I caught a catfish to earn the Catty Hat for the remainder of the day (sorry no photos). We tested other techniques and lures to see if the fish had just changed their feeding behavior for no luck. It appeared that the clear morning and increased boat traffic in Insane Bay had slowed the bite.

That afternoon we went back into explore Jacks. Once again we found a large flock of pelicans and cormorants actively feeding deep on bait fish they had shepherded into a bay. This time we approached quietly with the electric motor and we found a huge school of large fish below the bait. I dropped a large plastic into the school large fish and as the lure dropped to the bottom I felt a big strike and I was on. The fish fought hard with Bassboy and I thinking I was finally onto a 80+ Barra, only to be disappointed with a 60cm catfish…uuuurghhhhh I was keeping the cattie hat. I dropped the soft plastic again through the school of baitfish only to catch another large cattie. We decided it was time to move on. We worked further into the Jacks and found some very warm water and great structure. Unfortunately we dropped a couple of large Barra, with Bassboy losing a large fish very close to the boat whilst we were fishing in an extremely narrow flooded creek. This large fish hit his suspended lure after a long pause close to the boat. During this session I kept the cattie hat whilst Bassboy regained the donut Hawaiian shirt.

Day 5 28 Sep: We decided to give Insane Bay a break and we headed straight to the Jacks to fish the structure we had found on the day before. We worked the structure hard and Bassboy pulled a nice little Barra out of a lay down lying parallel to a weed wall. He also caught a cattie from the same snag…….earning him the cattie hat. We worked deep into Jacks until we could go no further due to walls of drowned Tea Trees. Unfortunately I earned the donut shirt for the first time.

The afternoon session was spent back in the Jacks for another afternoon donut for both of us, allowing me to remove the shirt.

Day 6 29 Sep: As this was our last day we headed back into Insane Bay, departing the boat ramp well before dawn to be the first boat into the bay. This approach worked and I scored 2 nice Barra back in our new honey hole.

Unfortunately the second Barra dived straight into a snag close to the weed wall and we had to work hard to get it out……Bassboy even donned his bathers to save the fish, thereby earning a shared catch and saving him from the Hawaiian shirt. This was to be our last Barra on the trip.

We spent the afternoon session with Lindsay learning how to better use our Structure Scan. He was able to tune our Sidescan so well that we could clearly seen the outline of individual Barra and schools of catfish. With this knowledge we were able to directly cast onto the fish, unfortunately the Barra werent interested in our offerings whereas the catfish were……we caught 8 of them in a space of 30 minutes. Despite the lack of interest by the Barra we were still happy that we had finally learnt how to properly tune our side scan to clearly identify fish, if only we learnt this on day one!!!

Later that evening we headed down to the river below the dam wall to try to catch more of the monster Bass we had caught last year. We focused our effort on surface lures and despite many good strikes we only caught the one bass….. a healthy 46cm fish. It was a great way to end the trip.

Overall we caught 20 Barra, with five over 60cm (all released to grow into bigger fish), 1 Bass and more than 12 Catfish. It was an outstanding trip and we look forward to the fishing improving next year as the Barra feast on the abundant bait…….the look of contentment of our dog only highlights how great the trip was.

This was our last trip in our Stessco Basstracker TSF430 and I sold it today in preparation for our new boat.

Edited October 9, 2012 by Basscatcher

[Hodgey]

A crackin' read mate, full of very useful information and hints. Good to see your perseverance rewarded with some very nice fish and some terrific photos. Well done fellas!

Cheers

Hodgey

[bassboy888]

YOU mean you got 4 over 60 and i got one!

[paul.kenny]

A crackin' read mate, full of very useful information and hints. Good to see your perseverance rewarded with some very nice fish and some terrific photos. Well done fellas!

Cheers

Hodgey

Thanks Hodgey, Bassboy and I always look forward to these father and son (& dog) trips. It was an excellent way to farewell the old boat.

Cheers, Paul

[pmak]

Great report guys. Always look forward to reading about your epic trips. Even with tough conditions you guys seem to manage to catch Barra anyway. I remember the big bass you guys caught last year at the river below the dam wall.

[Jewhunter]

Great report mate & a great trip as well.

I would have loved to have joined you for a weekend but the Swannies put paid to that.

Don't go on grand final weekend next year!!

I think a week is the way to do it. That way if it shuts down for a day or two you have more time.

Well down on finding some fish. Hopefully the 1mtr+ fish show next year.

Cheers,

Grant.

[brendong]

Great read lads....love the catty hat and Hawaiian shirt concept too....I reckon it would make you work that bit harder to try and avoid getting handed it for the next session....Father and son trips rock I'm sure next years will be pretty special with a new rig too.

Congrats on some cracking fish I'm sure there are a few 1m+ fish swimming with your names on them...

[paul.kenny]

Great report guys. Always look forward to reading about your epic trips. Even with tough conditions you guys seem to manage to catch Barra anyway. I remember the big bass you guys caught last year at the river below the dam wall.

Thanks mate, we really enjoy the trips away......great way to bond and sufficient time to work out how the impoundments are fishing.

Cheers Paul

[paul.kenny]

Great report mate & a great trip as well.

I would have loved to have joined you for a weekend but the Swannies put paid to that.

Don't go on grand final weekend next year!!

I think a week is the way to do it. That way if it shuts down for a day or two you have more time.

Well down on finding some fish. Hopefully the 1mtr+ fish show next year.

Cheers,

Grant.

Thanks Grant! Can't blame you for going to the Swanies grand final. We will let you know about our next trip, but it won't be until late November or early December next year. We are thinking about a trip through Monduran Dam for a week then up to Kinchant Dam for a week. A week is a must to work out the fishing pattern........we should also have worked out our structure scan as well

cheers Paul

Edited October 10, 2012 by Basscatcher

[paul.kenny]

Great read lads....love the catty hat and Hawaiian shirt concept too....I reckon it would make you work that bit harder to try and avoid getting handed it for the next session....Father and son trips rock I'm sure next years will be pretty special with a new rig too.

Congrats on some cracking fish I'm sure there are a few 1m+ fish swimming with your names on them...

Thanks Poddy, you will need to take your boys up for a road trip to give them a crack at the Barra......you might need to wait until December so you can target them with surface frogs .

We find the novel competitions help to keep us focussed and provide some humor on the tougher days.

I am hoping the larger fish appear during our next trip late next year.

Cheers, Paul

Edited October 10, 2012 by Basscatcher

[Jew Stalker]

Great work guys and thanks for putting the effort in with the story and photos, it made me want to go and do it myself. I can't wait until the kidlets grow up and can come with me.

[paul.kenny]

Great work guys and thanks for putting the effort in with the story and photos, it made me want to go and do it myself. I can't wait until the kidlets grow up and can come with me.

Thanks Jew Stalker, it was a great trip and something you can look forward to in the future......I know I am already counting down to my next trip in late 2013.

[Lizardboy]

Good read guys, thanks for the effort documenting, also a good personal archive to refer back to!

We are headed up this Friday for the time since 2008, things have changed a bit since then, floods and 85% v's 18%, smaller deeper suspending lures like squirrels fished with long pauses lures v's big bouyant tropic anglers and b52's.

The water level was dropping super quick recently with all weed and lillies dying off, but they had 100mm of rain a few days ago and it shot up 70cm's, so we are hoping its stirred the fish up and hope to target the creeks flowing in and any fish sniffing around the wall.

Cheers,

Gus

[bassboy888]

Good luck Gus, hope you smashed some good sized barra. The dropping water levels as bad as they are, does make the fishing a whole lot better as it pushes the Barra into more accessible areas. It has to be one of the biggest dams full and at 100% its insane all the places the big bad barra can hide.