Weed beds, snags, lily pads and any form of structure is a common target destination for many lake anglers. Awoonga has all forms of structure, but which is best? Many say weed banks, but its funny how weed banks can cover 90+% of the lake's fringe, so it stands in good stead that weed edges will produce barra somewhere. Not all barra lakes have the same structure, yet these dissimilar lakes still produce barra for anglers, basically everyday. Start with Awoonga, let's remove all timber and take a closer look. The barra numbers haven't changed. Now let's remove the rocks, most of the weed, the lilies and any other form of noticeable structure. Interesting is the fact that the barra population still hasn't changed. Now look behind you out into the middle of the lake, barra abound in these open waters where trollers toil anxiously. Very little visible structure as mentioned in the lists above exists in deeper reaches of impoundments where barra congregate.
So is structure as important to barra as it is to anglers, or is there something else more dominating that these fish work with? There is one thing in common between all barra lakes that is chief in importance- Water Quality! It's the water that barra live in, and the very same waters change by the hour. Suitability for their existence, their comfort, feed and digestion habits are constantly varied by external elements such as wind, temperature changes and current flows within a lake. Water that was great today may have produced quality fish from structure for busy anglers, but the changing circumstances will see that location tomorrow with water chemistry of a different kind. Water is one of the keys to barra success. Find the right water, which consists of up to at least 9 variables and you are on your way to the right spot. Snags, weeds or a boring featureless bank could be the right location on the day, so too can open expanses far from the shoreline. Johnny Mitchell

Johhny Mitchell
www.fishawoonga.com.au

Related Topics:
Lake Awoonga Hotspots - Johhny Mitchell
Gearing up for Big Lake Barra - Jason Bird
Lake Awoonga - Information Page
Winter Barra - Shallow or Deep - Garry Fitzgerald
Solving the Barra Puzzle - Jason Bird