Motivated by Sy's recent trip to the farm, we headed down there this afternoon to catch us some barra. If you were to ask my 4yo is it cheating, he would wonder what on earth you were talking about!! A fish is a fish - how and where it is caught is irrelevant to him (but we do talk about things like legal sizes, methods of catching them, putting fish back etc -I don't intend to raise a poacher! )

I chucked a bunch of tackle in the car (but no rods), esky full of drinks & food, hats, changes of clothes & footwear, a couple of folding chairs, mozzie spray, sunscreen, camera etc etc and off we went (my son John, Poppy and me). Got there a few minutes late, but the briefing was fairly casual and the safety part was at the end, so we didn't miss anything of significance.

Off we went to the ponds. You get to fish for a couple of hours, and the first hour was slow with a couple of fish caught (but not by us). Everyone has a fish for a while, and then we keep moving around the pond, fish again, then move on. John was starting to get a bit bored and was starting to throw a few stones & lumps of dry mud into the pond, was stopped, and then proceeded to kick some in because that is not throwing!!! Every one eventually worked their way around to the viscinity of the inlet pipe where the salt water was being pumped in. All the groups started to catch fish, and finally my son, who has been wanting to catch a barra for months, got his first (we count it as his first even if dad cast the lure, hooked it and worked with him to bring it in - he is not able to cast yet, and not physically strong/big enough to bring the fish in unaided; that would only result in either the rod ripped out of his hands, or getting dragged into the pond which might tend to reduce his enthusiasm for fishing somewhat).

John was very excited as you can imagine, and was suddenly not bored anymore (surprise surprise) having a good old time running up to the groups either side of us checking out their fish as well. All in all, we caught six fish; Poppy two and junior four, ranging in size from 65 to 75 cm (avg 70cm). All the families seemed to have a good time, with a bunch of tired kids getting carried back to the cars just on dark (we were lucky enough to hitch a lift back on the farm ute).

For those considering going, while the rods supplied are perfectly good, you might want to take your own.
The website talks about using 50lb+ braid and 100lb leader (to pull the fish up quickly and not foul aerators or others fishing) and I only use 20lb mono on my reels and up to 80lb leaders. Their rods are not rigged up how I would have and I didn't think it my right to change their setup. The problem for me was that they use a humungus swivel and clip onto the leader which works alright for the 150mm lures provided, but when I rigged up a popper it simply submarined, and the smaller lures I used (90/100mm) tended to sink a bit much. I suspect though that if you had a chat with the the owner (Adam) beforehand and he was aware that you knew what you were doing, you might get away with line of a lower breaking strain (but might have to crank the drag up a bit more).
This though is really only a minor gripe.

All in all a fun afternoon and will be going back again sometime soon!

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Great stuff Ash, another dedicated fisho in the making.

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Great report - cheating or not, it is fun out there

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Thanks OF, John doesn't need much encouragement to go fishing! He already has a fair list of species he(/we) have caught in a few different places, including stripeys, small cod, a night 'barra' off Dunk Island ( before it was filled/covered with sand), a black jewfish in the estuary at Cairns, a little bream off the Woody Pt jetty on the Redcliffe Peninsula, heaps of snub nosed gar at the North Pine Dam which is north of Brisbane, needle nosed gar and long tom in Rapid Crk, and a GT, Queenie and mud crabs at Mandorah.
There's plenty more to go of course, but I think he is doing pretty well so far even if I say so myself!!! I am just a little bit proud of him, and not just because he enjoys fishing.

Matt, thanks for the article a few months ago - that was the first time I became aware of the place. BTW, I assume you did catch your first Yellow Tail Kingfish on Lord Howe a few years ago, and that you (and Geraldine) enjoyed the company of Rambling Ronnie and his wife!!!

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Hey could i please ask how much it costs to go out there? And im guessing this is the one out at berry springs? I wanna take my better half out there to catch her first barra cause she will not come out to corobborree or even get on a boat where crocs are

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Essentially works out at $100 per rod, plus $10 for each extra adult. So for yourselves if you were sharing, it would cost $110, but if you each wanted your own rod for fishing, it would cost $200. Their website is www.reelbrainfood.com

Hope this helps.

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Charter skipper at 16, Book me ticket now mate...5day/skippers choice.

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Will do!

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