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Author Topic: Awoonga Report 16th-20th Oct  (Read 9959 times)

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Awoonga Report 16th-20th Oct
« on: October 25, 2010, 08:02:30 AM »
G'day,

Myself and the old man (travelling from Victoria) made the annual trip up to Awoonga last week for four days of solid fishing.  Having not been there for almost a year it was impressive to see all the new water, likely fishing areas and  not to mention bait, it seemed to be everywhere.  We arrived on the Saturday to very cold westerly winds hoping that it hadn't knocked the dam and barra around too much.  Word at the Awoonga caravan park was that fishing was very tough but we were still confident of landing a fish over the time period we had.  How wrong we were.  Over the time we stayed we heard of one fish being caught and one dropped beside the boat by other travelling fisherman staying at the park.  I personally didn't get a hit and the old man was doubtful as well.  Now, we're both good fishermen and I've spent a good amount of time on barra dams, mostly Monduran, but this trip was a new low for us.

We fished the windward side of the dam on likely looking points and bays for most days out and ventured up into Futter creek a couple of times, which is looking absolutely great with some very big weed beds.  Futter was probably the most demoralising since it screamed fish but we just couldn't get a barra to hit our lures.  We tried every technique we could think of with a variety of plastics and hard bodies, fishing the plastics more, I'd say about a 70/30 ratio to the hard's.

We did hear of fish being caught by a few guys fishing the dam very regularly, namely the guides whom had much better success on the water that week.  I spoke to a few campers that went out with guides and I did not hear of any fish less trips with Johnny Mitchell's charters seeming to get better and more impressive as the week went on and the wind conditions improved.

It was a long drive back down to the Sunshine coast before I loaded the old man onto the plane with plenty of time to discuss the fishing.  We both agreed that travelling anglers going up to try and catch a barra generally do it very tough and it's likely that a lot go home empty handed, especially at the moment.  So of course we turned our attention to prospect of using guides since they had done well enough that week.  In my opinion, if you don't hit the dams regularly or fishing a dam for the first or second time you could do far worse than hire a guide on your first day there just to give you that head start.  If you are spending a lot of money travelling interstate, towing a boat etc then maybe saving that extra few hundred before you go is a wise move if you are hell bent on catching a barra like we always are!  Since the old man only gets up once per year maybe we'll look at that option next time around depending on how much time on water I can fit in between working and commitments. 

As tough as it was, I still can't wait to get back out there again soon to try and work the barra out this season!

Shaun




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Re: Awoonga Report 16th-20th Oct
« Reply #1 on: October 25, 2010, 06:28:39 PM »
Hey Shaun,

Nice report, just a shame there's no pictures of Barra lining the boat and sending your Dad home empty handed.

As we have discussed regularly, it can be quite frustrating learning from fishless trip experiences as too learning from trips where fish have been caught or at least seen a fish or hooked up.

Fishing with persistence as we have been and patience will reward us soon mate, I can feel it!

Remember your not on your own, my confidence too in fishing these Barra impoundments has taken some major punishment this year as you know, only returning home absolutely guttered and lost to what the heck you have to do to land one or at minimal even to get one intereseted to chase your lure, yet wishing you were still up there chasing them the next day.

I think your advice in getting a guide is definately worth while concidering to a travelling angler in these tough times especially if you are travelling from far away places to forefill a life long dream in landing one of these Australian iconic sport fish.

How sweet it is when everything aligns itself and you are rewarded with a fish? :youbeauty

Dave


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Re: Awoonga Report 16th-20th Oct
« Reply #2 on: October 30, 2010, 08:44:21 PM »
Hi Shaun,

Yep, that's barra lakes for you. They can be caviar ir vegemite. I recon you need a week to get one good day. Local knowlege is an advantage for all fishing, but on the barra lakes, it's huge.

I recon hiring a guide for your trip is a good investment, eve if its only on day one. Every day after that is going to be better for the experience. A good guide isn't just about catching you fish, they should be teaching you the things to look for on your sounder, wind direction, currents, temps & current trends.

Shaun its good that you posted a report, even if you didn't get any fish. We can all learn from the vegemite trips as much as the caviar.

Cheers,

fitzy..

 

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