Mother Shipping for Mega Monduran Barra.

I just got back from one of the best impoundment barra fishing trips I have ever been on and much of the enjoyment and success had to do with being able to park and live on a house boat right next to the best fishing spots.

In all the previous trips getting to a good spot involved getting up at 4 am, stuffing down some breaky and then driving up to the local Barra Lake (eg Monduran, Proserpine, Kinchant, Temmburra) to launch a boat and then speed up to the best spots before daylight arrived.

This process can take some 2 hours! By 9 am you have only fished for 3 hours and are facing a lot of hours in the sun before the next good bite time starts at 5 pm! However, with the tips that we picked up from Steve Fields (B1) proved invaluable in us catching fish this time around.

With a house boat you simply wake up and fish nearby from 4 am to 9 am and then come back for a big breakfast. Too easy!

From there we spent the middle of the day in comfort while comparing lures and knots, sounding out new spots, having a nap, catching up on writing, or baiting for barra from the back of the house boat.

Interestingly enough a whole 6 pound catfish got smoked by a barra! The barra spat the bait and we didn’t see it but we could only imagine how big it was…

By the time 4 pm rolled around we simply headed out to the best spots with our reflexes fresh and ready to catch big barra, and this along with no curfew for dinner back at camp meant we could really concentrate on the fishing.

This is why we got our best fishing ever: 12 barra over a meter for 4 anglers over 3 easy days. Quiet a few more were lost while we waited for the camera boat to catch up; electric powered bass boats are much slower than a hobies mirage drive.

You can google up my article “barramundi nights” for lots more info on Monduran Barra and the tackle and lures needed, but since that article (mid 2009) I have learnt a few more valuable lessons.

Having a few hobies tied up to the back of the house boat made life really easy; you simply jumped in and went to which ever near by spot you wanted to fish and started casting without having to wait for anyone.

A meter plus barra is something pretty special to experience from a kayak, and much easier than you would think thanks to all the mod cons of the large stable Pro Angler Hobies we were using.

Along the way I did learn a few new tricks about using the new Hobies, including poking the stake out hole through the cart hole-this is easier and quicker than using an anchor if you are in shallow water.

If we had to anchor tying off the rear end was best; it means you are comfortable and facing where you are fishing. Simply pick your anchoring spot so that you are directly up wind of where you want to cast;

A few times I also placed the built in bungy cord around a tree and a mate docked nearby so we chatted quietly and fished at the same time.

You always have to minimize noise and stay stealthy when impoundment fishing but I really enjoyed having barra not get spooked as easily thanks to the kayaks small footprint. Most of the time we were anchored just 20 meters from the edge of the weed and the barra strikes came half way back to the kayaks: spectacular stuff!

The technique was pretty straight forward; pick a place where the wind is blowing directly onto a point: wind creates heck of a lot of water flow and the points divide the water and food past these spots. Barra move onto the front corners of such spots to ambush their prey, especially at dawn dusk and at night.

A lot has been written about moon phases and bite time predictions, but fishing a point that is facing into the wind, especially a warmer northerly wind, in the low light periods is far more important. Any moon phase is good for dawn and dusk fishing providing you haven’t had lots of cold southerlies, and even then our guide Rob Wood still catches plenty of Barra.

Rob mainly uses Storm Bait ‘n’ Switch lures and methodically makes 50 or more casts to each point. Each cast is aimed at the edge of the weed and slow rolled back occasionally touching the bottom. This lure allows Rob to quickly change the lure colour every ten casts of so (hence the name bait n switch) to see what the barra prefer on the night.

To top things off 10 year old Tom Woods fought and landed a whopping 120 cm barra estimated at some 66 plus pounds! I followed him around with a camera as his little sport travelled at some 4 knots through the timber. Great footage for next years Fishing Australia Series and we are all looking forward to seeing it.

The houseboat costs around $300 a night; you can get more info at http://www.lakem.com.au If you need more help to catch one of Mondurans Mega Barra contact Rob Wood http://www.hotelgingin.com.au or 07 4157 4342. For more info on the Hobie Pro Angler check out www.hobiecat.com.au/fishing/proangler.html

[View with PicLens]

Rob Pax (blog)

Readers may have noticed a friendly comp has broken out as to who is B1 ie Barra 1 and who is B2, B3 etc.

And while all the adults fought it out for this title; young 10 years old Tommy snuck up on us with this 120 cm 66 pound plus monster hooked in his hobie sport.

It towed him some 200 meters through heavy timber, at night, but he did a Stirling job and got the fish beat, after which his dad Rob Wood (pictured) came over with the landing net.

Look at the size of it-Now that is a barra!  

Rob Pax