FISHING: On day two we hit the water at around three pm and coasted the 15 kilometres back to the spot dubbed ‘animal kingdom.’
We were determined to even the score with the beasts in residence.
The spot was still on the quite side, but a pattern was starting to appear.
Despite the low visibility in the water even the bait fish seemed to be aware of us and it was all about any noise we made.
If we stopped talking for 10 minutes the bait fish would move closer and the surface sucking catfish and occasionall boofing barra would also venture within casting range.
It was evident that the barra and friends were living primarily off feel rather than sight.
If you need any convincing of this imagine how vibration-sensitive barra are to find a soft plastic lure in murky water when it is dark.
I hooked a small 75cm barra that pulled the hooks late in the fight and Animal Kingdom was still not firing so we tried a bay near Pepper Point.
Tied up to one of Woody’s favourite trees, a few interesting touches and bumps was all we got. So we drifted along the weed edge where I hooked and landed an 85 cm barra.
It wasn’t a beast but still a stunningly conditioned specimen that put in a great show.
We were one step closer to the holy grail of impoundment barra fishing a fat hulking meter-plus specimen.
At this point it was clear stealth was certainly the name of the game; tip toe around the boat to stop noises through the hull and keep chat down to a minimum and at a whisper level at that.
From there on it was a case of setting the trap by casting towards the edge of the weed bed and making a slow retrieve to keep the lure in the strike zone for as long as possible.
The barramundi were either working their way along the bank as they mooched around or they were coming out of a nearby laying down snag to have a snack.
Paddle or shad tail softies had been working best which was good because the chances of barra instinctively rubbing you off in the snaggy timber terrain were far less with a single hook than with a hard body lure covered in trebles.
Rob Woods favourite lure, up until a few weeks ago, had been a Berkley Hollow Belly rigged on a 10 gram jig head, but the new Storm Bait and Switch lures had since won him over by catching his heaviest ever barra (35kg) and convincingly out-fishing the hollow bellies in the numbers stakes as well.
That’s a pretty good testimonial from someone who is a master of the lake.
Part of this success is due to lures action and also the smaller size.
That and the hook was perfect for the lighter 30 pound braid main line used these days.
At first the hook on the bait ‘n’ switch appeared a little light but its smaller gape meant less leverage and on a bend-to-bend stretch test they were just as strong if not stronger than much bigger gape thicker hooks that are par for the course on soft plastic barra.
A smaller gauge hook that is just as powerful…well we all know this helps immensely with converting bites into solid hookups and it was again the case in this scenario as Rob had found out in the weeks leaning up to my trip.
After another couple of hours at it my turn finally came.
The bite was more subtle but a definite double clunk which is the inhale and immediate exhale a barra performs when the hook point stings its back.
No one in fishing is quick enough to beat a barra’s fastest double clunk, as is often the case though, the hook grabbed on the exhale so I set it properly and a huge fish crash tackled through the surface and shattered the serenity of the moon-lit night.
Phew wee this is a huge buzz.
Luckily the big girl was coaxed into a clearing in the tree line where I was able to play her
out over a few more scary but exciting jumps before she slid into the net.
She measured 110 centimetres and was as fat as can be.
These beasts have scales as big as 50 cent pieces and Woody estimated the fish to be about the 24kg mark.
Needless to say we went home that night stoked.
With phase one completed we planned to do the same without help of a kayak…the adventure was far from over.
Special thanks to BCF Bundaberg www.bcf.com.au.
For travelling info check out www.queenslandholidays.com.au, and for fishing info check out www.hotelgingin.com.au
See you on the water.
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