Awoonga Feb 18 19 20

[Member]

I took Pam and Estuary Girl up to Awoonga to fish the No Blokes Barra Bash for 2011.  It sorta turned in to the No Barra Blokes Bash.  Only one Barra was landed during the comp and the lovely lady who trolled that 99cm fish really cleaned up on the prizes.  The fish was caught on a trolled soft plastic right on the bouy line at the wall.  Being aware of the lack of recent Barra action, the organisers expanded the Forkie sections so people could still go out and catch plenty of fish.  For the weekend there were 287 Forkies landed for a total of over 84 metres.  4 of these found their stinking grunting way into my boat.  (Girls, I've got the tooth brushes, so anytime you're ready you can come and scrub the slime out of the carpet.)  Many of the "Skippers" took advantage of the early finish on Saturday and hit the Boyne River.  You may have heard the term "Turkey Shoot" and this is pretty apt in this case.  One angler landed 20 Barra on Saturday fishing off the bank at the highway bridge in Benaraby.  I've heard reports of 14 fish in 17 casts at Pike's Crossing as well.  Fish well over the 130cm mark have been landed.  I would think if somebody had a passion to catch a big barra from a yak, or on fly, the Boyne River is the place to go.
As far as Awoonga is concerned, I saw fish, plenty of them in fact.  The vast majority were sitting on the bottom in about 70'.  We utilised the new iPilot (What a fishing weapon) and sat over a few where the arches were stacked up and the girls dropped big blades in amonst them.  With the Humminbird zoomed onto the bottom, I could watch the blades bobbing up and down through the fish but none even got angry enough to give it a smack.  My theory, which may be wrong, is that the influx of cold fresh floodwater has sunk to the bottom causing the warmer water that was there to rise to the top, bringing with it the general decay and low oxygen levels.  I think the oxygen is down deep, and the earth core temperature has the very bottom layer warmer.  I also don't think the barra like to go down much more than 75' so where you find a river bed 70 to 75 feet deep, on the edge as it rises up you'll find Barra hugging the contour.  We fished shallow weed beds up near Boynedale, trees up near the cattle yards and did some deep trolling as well.  Most of the Forkies were taken in the Ski Club arm.  Anyway, Pam's keen to have another shot next year as the social atmosphere is really good.  Pam came home with a little prize for catching the first fish on Saturday morning.  She landed a Forkie at 6.25am at the Futter Creek railway bridge.  (Fast boats count for something.) 

[Member]

Its a pity the organisers couldnt have swapped the location to the river Dale. Would have given everyone a chance at catching fish, instead of making it fishless.

[Member]

The thing is, nobody cared that the fish weren't on the chew.  They could have taken the lead from elsewhere and cancelled the comp rather than have poor catch rates, but to me, it's the perfect time to run a comp.  What better way to find the best of the best, than when it's damned hard to catch one.  They could have joined the Turkey Shoot in the river but it wouldn't have been the same thing.  The ladies purposely went out and targetted Forkies because they could be caught and they're bloody good fun.  Some of the practices in the river are disgusting, but people who should know better.  Big noters entering restricted waters and catching fish in a supposedly land locked situation and then promoting themselves with pictures of them.  A bit of a joke, and the thinking angling reader will eventually see the reports and put two and two together. 
More power to the ladies for sticking with their layout, and making the last minute decision to include Forkies in the results.  They don't have the same things to measure that us blokes have.

[Member]

Huge thanks to Dale for giving up his weekend to captain Pam and I.
Thank you to Pam for asking me to be part of the team of "Sweetwater Sweeties" too.
Another learning curve for me and I'm enjoying the experience.Each time I go to Awoonga I learn a little bit more and even though the fishing is incrediblely hard at this point in the dams life I'd rather do the hard yards and learn as I go.And boy am I learning!!
I think my right arm is slightly more muscled after casting so much during saturday's session.Thank god it was fairly easy to fish with my left arm being in a cast. 
It was great to meet other ladies with the same passion for fishing and I look forward to doing it again.
Only regret was wish I'd known about the comp a few years earlier.
Dale, I grabbed your toothbrush on sunday and gave the boat a quick scrub down.Hope you didn't mind.
Hey... I did hold up my end of the bargain to do a Rex Hunt with my forkie if you let us bring 'em aboard for the photo shoot!
Thanks again Dale for everything.
 

[Member]

Congrates to all the girls for sticking it out and having a go.

It maybe a while still before things improve.

Thanks for posting up a report Dale. I was within a stones through, within a 100km's, give or take a few of Awoonga over the weekend catching up with friends and was contimplating taking the drive and having a look at the comp. I even went past Monduran twice over the weekend without having a bopeep too due to time restraints.

Cheers Dave

[Member]

It's always a pleasure to take the drive up the patchwork quilt they're calling a national highway.  The run home down through Goomeri and Nanango isn't real flash towing an 8' wide trailer either.

[Member]

Hey aussiebasser,  we were there for the comp as well, part of the lively ladies support/drinking crew, we stayed in the "tent ", I think you may have parked there for the presentation???
Fishing in dam may have been off but the girls always seem to make a good time out of it which is the main reason for making the journey up there from the sunnycoast.
Have to catch up next time?
Cheers deefa

[Member]

Hey Deefa, yeah, we parked beside your place to pack our gear before the presentation.  We'll be back next year, no doubt.  I noticed the Lively Ladies crew, I hope Alan is supporting your team.  Pam made the comment on Saturday, that it's the nicest place to not catch any fish.  The comeraderie among the ladies was great, and the poor lady who caught the only Barra was so embarrassed to have won it, she was blushing as she collected her prizes.  Amy knows how to turn it on for everyone up there.  We'll have to catch up next time.