Lake Mondurans Barramundi Nights by Rob Paxevanos – Issue 5

Despite what you may read or hear catching big impoundment barra is more often than not about hard core persistence than it is about numbers. When it comes to the meter plus trophies even the very best local guides only have an overall yearly average of a just couple landed per 6 hour session.

Sure there are days when multiple catches come; like when a lake fills with flood waters and the barra congregate near the dam wall, or when perfect weather conditions get resident snag or bank hugging barra on the chew. Reality is though that unless you can drop everything and be fishing the next the rare ‘hot bite’ is often long over before you even get there, that’s the nature of perch fishing the world over.

The night time fishing can be a little more productive but it is still a case of knowing some reliable techniques and sticking at it for hours on end. This is true when chasing trophy impoundment fish anywhere in Australia; but in this case we are talking fish in the 40 pound plus category that explode across the surface and get your heart pumping absolutely flat out. The effort is certainly worth it! A diary of a recent trip to Monduran will illustrate how persistence pays off.

Day one I hopped aboard guide Rob Woods boat at about 4 pm; the aim was to get a feel for the lake and the conditions and hopefully get a barra early in the piece for disc 2 of dvd series I was completing.

We pulled in near a timber ridden point in 3 meters of water where Woody had been getting results over the last 2 months. The proven technique of late was to cast shad tail plastics in towards the weed bed and slowly wind the lure back to the boat.

The water was a lot murkier than I had expected and some under water vision we filmed revealed that us humans only had about 30 cm of visibility at the very most. It was hard enough to see the lure let alone the leader, and straight away I got out of the ‘leader’ shy mindset that I had brought with me from a recent snapper fishing expedition in the ocean.

Three catfish, a huge 40 cm bony bream caught by Woodys son Tom and couple of ‘double clunks’ from barra that didn’t connect was the final score sheet when we decided to call it a night at 8 pm.

We had effectively flogged the one spot to a foam for no result and it looked like we had another 5 days of the same ahead of us! Hardly an exciting prospect and to make things worse I had invited some guests to join me at a lake that when running cold is nick named Lake Misery! To add to matters the rain showers were forecast to get heavier.

A little disheartened I continued to cast as Woody and the camera team packed up.

Then suddenly out of the blue a savage boof was transmitted down the line the likes of which I have never felt before, even from meter plus Proserpine fish. I lifted the rod and wound the little baitcaster like mad trying to move the fish but she was un turned by the force. A few shakes of her head and the line sprung limp.

An inspection of the leader showed that she had chaffed through both strands of the twisted 30 pound fluro carbon that Woody uses. All this and the fight was hardly under way! Woody explained the really big fish have hard almost scissor like bits in the corner of their mouths. Perhaps this is what brought me undone??

A few nights earlier Woody had two similar bust offs on the bite along with one bite off on the jump and one chaf off after a long fight. His client finally landed a gob smackingly fat 120 cm beast estimated at around the 34 kg mark (pictured here abouts). I am pretty confident that is the sort of beast that monstered my leader!

While the bite was still slow by Woodys standard our spirits were well and truly rekindled and while we failed to connect to another fish over the next few hours we went home confident we would land a few big fish over the next 6 afternoons.

For the record 30 pound twisted fluro carbon leader is roughly equivalent to 50 pound single strand fluro carbon. Given there was the possibility of a real beast in these waters I went straight up to 80 pound Rapala Fluro Carbon and ditched the bait caster in favour of a 45 sized Okuma V system spinning reel that has a fish energy sapping drag that many seasoned anglers have yet to realize.

A spinning reel has a much faster retrieve and with the this new type of drag system you can set the hook easier and also glide a big fish away from snags much more effectively.

That and just one backlash from an overhead is one back lash to many. An egg beater allows you to cast light lures further in any direction across marathon sessions and the retrieve speed is much more controllable. Simply tie a rod length of double and then hang tie on 60 cm of the 80 lb leader and you have enough to stop the biggest barra chaffing you off when they inhale the softie. With a leader this short you can leave the knot outside the tip when casting and you’ll have no more problems with bulky knots running through the guides. A suitable 7 foot spin rod rated at 4 to 8 kg will help you stay connected to the fish when they jump.

On day two we hit the water at around 3 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.Over the next few days the weather came in from the south east which eventually cools the shallows off which along with other factors makes this sort of fishing tough. It was a race against time but I had help: I was joined by kayaking experts Steve Fields and Mal Grey from Hobie.

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 occasionally 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 75 cm 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 Woodys 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 levels 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 your lure in the strike zone as long as possible. The barramundi were either working there 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 means 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 powerfull…well we all know this helps with immensely with converting bites into soild hookups and it was again the case in this scenario as Rob had found out in the weeks leasing up to my trip.

After another couple of hours at it my turn finally came. The bite was a more subtle but a definite double clunk which is the inhale and immediate exhale a barra performs when the hook point stings back. No one in fishing is quick enough to beat a barras 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 around the 24 kilo mark. Needless to say we went home that night stoked. With phase one completed we planned to do the same with out of a kayak…the adventure was far from over.

Even under the less ideal conditions we got more bites from the kayaks including some during the day which is no doubt due to the small crafts stealthy nature.

One beast around the 115 cm mark made a spectacular leap well above my head height and then towed me out into the open. The hooks pulled on this fish and the leader was un chaffed suggesting a face hooked fish (which often get off) but none the less this was right up there with any fishing experience I have ever come across in my years travelling around this country.

That same night Steve fought and landed a ripper around the meter long mark. The action was caught by the Fishing Australia Film Crew and it was mission accomplished for all involved.

Despite the Adrenaline Steve was quick to credit everyone for doing a great job, that’s some real sportsmanship and it was a pleasure to be part of this capture; I could watch it a hundred times over.

I brought back a lot from this trip and it was all about relaxing; treading lightly, moving slowly and being confident and doing the right thing for a long amount of time.

Banging a hard body lure sharply for extended periods is hard work and when slowly rolling a softie is working better I know what I’d prefer; especially from a kayak.

The Monduran barra are like smelting trout at the moment; they don’t want or need to chase a large energetic baitfish when they are surrounded by small baitfish they can pop down at will. This is one reason why small subtle softies have worked so well in the current conditions.

One huge tip I can give you is to keep your rod tip to the side or up high (perfect in a yak) so there is around 75 degrees between the line and the rod. This means when the barra boofs the lure it will actually go down their gob more often. I have polaroided way to many barra with people pointing their rod straight down the braid and the barra is left sitting there wondering why they are not chewing on what they tried to suck in! Unless you luck across a rare hot bite there is simply not enough chances to stuff this up. The tournament fishing Americans are also well onto this with some species and they have it right I can tell you.

With hard bodies this is a tad less important and some barra swim towards the lure and scoff it regardless of the slack however a measured slack works best over time. Rest assured when you get the clunk you will lift the rod and wind; it’s an automatic reaction that sets the hook and is as reliable as any method. Bonus is you can do it for hours on end without trying to be quicker than a fish that is faster than you to start with.

Another tip I nutted out is to trim the wrist of the paddle tail plastic from each side rather than the top or bottom. The Storm Bait and Switches I used already wiggle better than any other shad tail but this adjustment makes the tail wiggle at even a super slow crawl and is handy when you need to walk them past a snag or weed bed. That and grease them up with some stimulate barra gel. You’ll lose a few more tails to catfish using these tricks but it is a small price to pay given the end results on the big barra.

Finally when you do hook up stay calm and use just enough drag to put a strong bend in the rod. Try and guide a barra out away from a snag sure but if she’s under full power and near the timber ease of the drag follow her and de weave the line rather than breaking something in panic. There is no rush when you eventually her in the clear; they will go belly up in under 3 minutes when using the above tackle after which you can take your time and savour what is a truly memorable part Australian Freshwater Fishing.

See you on the water.

Rob Paxevanos.

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