awoonga barra nearly takes world record

chelepy87 · Post by **chelepy87** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 4:25 pm

At Lake Awoonga Dam, in the dying hours of Monday, Glenn Smith was about to enter the annals of fishing history. There are thousands of stories of the big one that got away, but a fish caught locally this week may have been too big to get away. Fishing for most of the day with Barra Madness tour operator Jason Wilhelm, Mr Smith and his son Shannon had their lines hit several times, but were yet to be blessed with staring a barra in the eyes. When measured, the barra measured 132cm and weighed 36.56kgs; however, the most startling aspect was the 100cm girth. The biggest ever record barra was caught in Tinaroo over a decade ago, and weighed in at 37kg

slapper1 · Post by **slapper1** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 5:09 pm

almost as big as my fish 38kg

Dick · Post by **Dick** » Sun Jun 27, 2010 11:58 am

Lovely advertorial, fishing must be a bit slow

http://www.frasercoastchronicle.com.au/ ... ord-barra/

maxpower · Post by **maxpower** » Sun Jun 27, 2010 12:32 pm

Didn't someone catch a 147cm down the Roper a few years ago?

Harty · Post by **Harty** » Sun Jun 27, 2010 3:06 pm

Yeah I heard the same, and a 150+ caught on a set line in the Ord in 2004ish...or was that one curteousy of photoshop?

chelepy87 · Post by **chelepy87** » Sun Jun 27, 2010 5:46 pm

yeah dick i live 15 mins from the dam fishing has been very slow as it did a role over in MAY and only just starting to return back now. I just thought i would put it on for others to see who would not of seen the newspaper article

Dick · Post by **Dick** » Sun Jun 27, 2010 6:23 pm

chelepy87 wrote:yeah dick i live 15 mins from the dam fishing has been very slow as it did a role over in MAY and only just starting to return back now. I just thought i would put it on for others to see who would not of seen the newspaper article

No worries chelepy, credit given to where it belongs, the angler and the guide both, it's a fish of a lifetime.

The kudos with regard to it's to it's proximity to a world record whilst accurate tends to ignore other caputures equal to or better than it, all fish of a lifetime to other anglers. Scotty's 130cm 80lber, Steve B's Homer, ol'mate on page 25 of Harro's book 'Barra' holding up a Tinaroo 90lber and plenty more demonstrate it's not a unique catch hence my tongue in cheek comment. Particullarly with this line in the article -

Having landed the second-biggest barra on record,

chelepy87 · Post by **chelepy87** » Sun Jun 27, 2010 7:30 pm

totally agree with u dick it just good see the big girls are still there and active just a shame it never survived to see another day.

maxpower · Post by **maxpower** » Sun Jun 27, 2010 7:45 pm

Its a great fish. Thanks for sharing it on here mate.

It makes you wonder what the biggest barra ever caught actually is. I reckon there were reports of a couple caught this year at Shady Camp around the 130 mark. I reckon there has been bigger ones caught but not sure what the 'official record' would be. The Tales from the Tinny boys were doing a thing on their site earlier in the year about finding the first 1.5m barra.

chelepy87 · Post by **chelepy87** » Sun Jun 27, 2010 8:48 pm

im not sure how the world record status works of a fish but appaerntly it has some somethin to do with length, weight and the girth size im goin to some investigation and even ring the guide and ask him how it works. will keep the forum update with the how it realy does work

itsinmeblood · Post by **itsinmeblood** » Mon Jun 28, 2010 12:17 am

has there been any reports on the growth rates of the mangrove jack that have been stocked in the impoundments?...if it's comparable to whats going on with the barra they'll be taking waterskiers one day

chelepy87 · Post by **chelepy87** » Mon Jun 28, 2010 3:28 pm

the awoonga dam is stocked with mangrove jack but to be suprised very hard to catch in the dam you hardly ever hear any reports of a jack being cuaght the only time i have seen it was on you tube where johnny mitchell one of the tour guides caught one

slapper1 · Post by **slapper1** » Mon Jun 28, 2010 8:50 pm

any guess how big this one is ,im 180cm tall and the tail is still on the ground , it went 38kg

Harty · Post by **Harty** » Mon Jun 28, 2010 9:59 pm

I'll guess...145cm? Nice Nile Perch.. did you photoshop the pyramids out?

No seriously,,,, great fish

slapper1 · Post by **slapper1** » Mon Jun 28, 2010 10:09 pm

no photoshop here its for real