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Lake Awoonga BRC Trip

Feral

By Feral
in Freshwater

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Feral Newbie

Feral

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This will be no doubt a joint effort from the people who went, as they trickle home

Ferg was home yesterday, Myself today, Ray tomorrow, and Brian I think will be there until his wife sends out a search party.

We fished mostly Awoonga, with a day trip to callide when it was just to windy for Awwonga, as well as threw a few lures around in the boyne river (the caravan park backs onto it)

The count when I left was as follows

Ferg - 103cm 18kilo barra

Ray - 450mm catfish

- 130cm 28 kilo barra

Ray and Graham both had lost fish during the fight

Alex and I both lost fish during the fight (at Callide)

Brian lost fish during the fight

reports from today

Brian - 77cm Barra

Ray - 55cm barra

Graham - 1m plus lost at the boat (Spat hooks as they were trying to get it into landing net)

Had a great time, even if it was so windy there was surf at the boat ramp, and on one day we took waves over the stern during the launch! The fish were very few and far between, but to see one of those horses leaping in the air, then boated, was more than worth the trip for me, even though Alex and I were the only ones to not boat a Barra!

I had hooked mine at Callide dam on a 6\" soft plastic, and played it for about 5 minutes, it had leapped twice, I had had it run twice, so I gave the line to Alex (As fish were so rare, I thought the young fella would like to \"do the honours\". But it took one final run and wrapped him around something and broke the 50lb leader clear through. To add insult to injury it spat out the mauled plastic for us to recover!

I was with ferg when he got his (the first boated) and he got it on a little bait caster, and 17lb braid. We followed it around the bay for about 15 minutes while he played it. The lure he used was a 10 year old 2 piece green garr fish, that had never caught another fish!

Ray caught his on a Halco deep diver in purple and yellow, you'll have to await more detail from the others on their latest catches.

Oh and by the way, 1m plus barra do taste fantastic when cleaned correctly! I, the person whom does not normally east fish, can vouch for it in person!

Photos to follow

PS Angus, Alex wants to know if an assist with catching Ferg's Barra counts as fish of the week, (He and I manned the landing net!)

Ferg's 103cm Barra

[img size=500]http://www.australianfishing.com.au/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/Dscn0135.jpg

Post edited by: Feral, at: 2006/11/19 17:03

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Feral Newbie

Feral

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Cant remember who, but someone got a photo of the idiot's from sunwater at callide, who launched their boat, and left the trailer and car in the middle of the ramp, trailer still in the water over the wheels. Apart from the ignorance, definately your tax dollars at work.

I get hold of the photo and it is definately going to the relevant Minister!

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werewolf Newbie

werewolf

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Feral. You boys might have only got a few fish between you, but at least there was a couple of biguns! Well done. I've got dreams of catching a big barra, but I couldn't join you guys this time round as I'm saving my holiday up for my Northern Territory barra fish next year:)

Well done again! Hope we get some more pics from the other boys. And that one with Brian? Maybe he was just getting hot lol B)

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Angus Rookie

Angus

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As you said Andrew,

I would have been stoked being in the boat when one of those fish were landed.

So well done anyway looks like you had a lot of fun.

I think maybe we should start planning the trip for next year!

Maybe we could look into even fishing one of the less known dams?

Anyway plenty of time to discuss it.

Angus

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Feral Newbie

Feral

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Dunno about that Angus, Ray is talking Glenlyon in January! not much time until then.

Here are Rays photo's - First one is what happens when you catch and \"release\" a big barramundi and dont do it right. This was a navigation hazard at night while we were there. It looked to have been dead for quite a while, eyes gone, fins all rotted

[img size=500]http://www.australianfishing.com.au/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/awonga_023.jpg

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Feral Newbie

Feral

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Ray with his Big Barra

129.5cm 28kilograms (roughly - had to weigh the frame and filets seperately and add them up, scales only go to 25kilo, each fillet weighed 8kg!)

Caught on a 6kg Loomis, Calcutta reel and 30lb braid, single 50lb leader, Halco Crazy Deep lure

[img size=500]http://www.australianfishing.com.au/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/awonga_032.jpg

Post edited by: Feral, at: 2006/11/21 14:40

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rayke1938 Experienced

rayke1938

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score that i know of

ray 2 barra boated one 129 and one 55 ( released) one straightened hooks whilst jumping probably around one metre. 3 catfish

Graham .one unseen snapped 30 lb braid, one looked like metre plus straightened hooks at side of boat. 2 catfish so that leaves brian to add his total.

Although the fish were a bit light on with the barometer down and very windy i still had a ball with the good company and the bonus of my grandson showing maturity and sportmanship way beyond his years.

I wouldnt have missed it for quids and hope to repeat trip next year.

Has anyone else had problems with halco lures ? I had been lead to believe that they were bulletproof and that there was no need to upgrade trebles both graham and myself lost fish due to hooks straightening and my big fish spat the lure in the landing net by straightening the hook

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Feral Newbie

Feral

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Ferg straightened one hook on the one he caught,and it was an old quality lure, but it still had 3 hooks in the fish's mouth.

Everybody reports straightened hooks on big Barra, but they also report upgrading hooks to bigger stronger units ruins the balance and action of the lures, so they dont get any hits, so damned if you do, and damned if you dont upgrade.

Me - I just dont catch anything, so its not a problem for me!

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Angus Rookie

Angus

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Ray: Halco have hooks about as good as you get with lures. However a lot of people still upgrade when tackling those meter plus barra. On that note however, even when stronger hooks, a 130 horse like yours would still have the potential to straighten them. Just think of it as more competition :)

Angus

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Brian D Newbie

Brian D

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Hi there guys - I made it back for those who care;) and for those who don't :P .

In short I had a great time but man it was hard work. I did over 40 travel hours in the boat and at least another 20 drifting and at anchor. The 40+ hrs was actual motor time.

I ended up boating 2 barra at 75cm and 78cm, 2 catfish and a yabby.

Typical for me - my new camera clapped out but I did get some shots which you can see in my report. I have some more in the phone but can't figure out how to down load them yet.

Here's a photo I got before the camera clapped out. Scott caught it. 117cm and 21kg however,I think it was bigger but the scales wouldn't take anymore.

[img size=485]http://www.australianfishing.com.au/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/brc21.JPG

Post edited by: Brian D, at: 2006/11/22 10:16

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blue_mako Newbie

blue_mako

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Great fish guys! If you went a week later or before you wouldn't of had to battle the wind so much :P . At least you pulled some good fish and not only from Awoonga.

Gus: Halco, Classic and most other Australian lures come with just about the cheapest and crappest treble hooks on the market a lot of people lose fish because of them. (Dropped fish and straightened hooks). Also they use 3 treble hooks per lure which is something that makes people think it has a good hook up rate.

Though this is not the case.

Japanese lures would out fish most Australian lures. They come with great quality treble hooks like Owner and Gamakatsu. Also Japanese lures like Yo Zuri will use only 2 high quality treble hooks that will hold much better then 3 cheapo trebles. If you compared the cheap Aussie trebles to Owners it's not hard to see the difference.

Because fish are used to seeing the same lure over and over they would be more egar to take an uncommon lure. With Japanese lures they pay way more attention to detail in the paint jobs and effects, etc. They mould scales, eyes and gills into the lure instead of having them just cheaply painted on like Classic and Halco Lures.

Although Jap. lures will cost an extra $10 per lure it saves you buying the good quailty trebles that will cost around $10+ for 3 and putting them on an Aussie lure. Plus you get the points I mentioned above in the Jap. lures. Compare the 2 lures side by side and you can see the difference.

That's just my two cents ;) .

Troy

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Brian D Newbie

Brian D

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Wrong guys and right.

I spent like more then $800 on lures both importted and aussie, trebles and split rings. Some Jap lures are crap and some aussie lures are crap but also some aussie lures are great as are some jap lures.

I changed and upgraded every treble on every lure to an owner treble just to have confidience in every item.

I know that some people say colour and shape don't matter and to that I say if the lake is in shut down mode clour and shape is the most important thing. More important then the trebles cause at this time the fish don't fight very hard.

The Halco lure was the only thing that hooked a fish in my boat and on both boated barra even the owner trebles were straightened.

For casting I started useing a Jap made sinking lure cause the fish were down deep and the halco deeps were to noisy to get down to the fish. This Jap lure allowed me to sink it quietly then work it back up to the surface but I had to change the hooks before I threw it in the water cause a cat fish would have bent the factory hooks.

The lure itself is amazing. I had a slight tangle so I dropped it over the side and instead of floating it sank to the bottom and was hit by a cat fish on the way down while I was untangling the birds nest.

The best Aussie lure I found for shallow casting was the Egogear Lure.It came with Owner hooks but cost $29 off the shelf.

Sorry Troy but I found the 3 trebles a important factor as the barra were actually slapping the lures rather then engulfing the lures. The 2 I landed had the lure stuck on the outside of the head.

So to generalise is hard as the lake changes so quickly and so we must change too. This trip Halco deep divers win but next trip I bet that the surface lures win.

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Brian D Newbie

Brian D

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Yeah wolf it's a mind blower. Here's a story.

I was casting at some sticks (sunken trees) for more then 2 hours. I was just floating with the breeze around the trees casting lures. I tried everything I had in my kit and when every I needed to start the motor to reposition the boat I would change lures. This would allow the fish time to forget the motor before the lures hit the water. I was using 3 different flick sticks so I got a pretty good go at each spot.

Anyway on one cast I heard a big boof behind me so I turned my head for about 2 seconds then turned back to my lure and at that instant a big barra tail slapped my lure out of the water. I saw the monster arch it's back and swoosh it's tail at the lure to say \"get the fck out of my space\". the fish was not hungry or it would have eaten the lure - it ws just pissed off at the persistant invasion of a lure into it's spot.

He was well over a meter. It took me nearly half an hour to settle my heart rate. What a buzz! I find it hard to imagine what it will do to my heart when I actually do hook up on the surface.

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