North Australian FISH FINDER TM forums

got this girl in Awoonga...right infront of a crew having beers in their rented houseboat...they'd been there for 4 days x 5 blokes for 0 results
that's fishing...seems a little hollow claiming an impoundment barra though
but when things like this clear the water at the edge of the boat your heart still gets going

Hi Itsinmeblood mate well done on your great capture at Awoonga.

It could actually be looked upon in the total opposite light e.g.
the Awoonga barra are so hard to catch at times as they are some of the most wised up barra in the country, all caught and released to learn valuable lessons to avoid lures in the future. No crocs makes them get even older and wiser, no sharks makes them fear humans even more as the natural enemy in the food chain side of things.

Mate you should be damn proud of that barra as thousands of people will never catch an Awoonga barra as the fishing isn't easy. I camp & fish with Harro a lot and and he said again on the weekend "Awoonga barra are by far the toughest barra to catch in Australia" and he has guided there for about 5 years straight, and lives on the lake collecting thousands of travellers catch totals daily, weekly, monthly and yearly.

In summary mate be damn proud of any fish you catch on hard fished dams as it ain't easy fishing for most of the year. Some blood rush moments are the genetic weak spot in barra at certain times of the year etc, but compared to anywhere i've fished for barra (Grew up and born in NT) i have never seen so many thousand donuts (fishless days/sessions) than on Qld lakes.

Enjoy the great fishery you have in the NT mate and maybe put that Awoonga barra photo a little higher on the fish board, they are hard earned fish at the best of times.

Cheers Lyndon

What Lyndon said

thanks guys don't get me wrong I rate this fish very highly or I would not have posted it... a crew had necked one at 96 cm around the same proportions and it weighed in at 17.2 kg...not sure what line class it was on about 20/30 lb...I pulled about 250 metres of braid and a gold bomber out of the trees and along the road from the buff creek ramp and spooled it onto my reel before I left Darwin

An awesome fish IIMB. Well done!

The only diff between impoundment barra and wild caught barra is

Wild barra thoughts when you throw a lure at it:
Movement......"Bite it!"

Impoundment barra thoughts when you throw a lure at it:
Movement....."what the frig was that?.....looks like....looks like a frog....nah its got a stoopid line in its nose....oh wait it moved again....I feel an urge to....um.....I forgot what I was thinking...hey whats that?...oh its that frog thing.....frogs dont move like that....maybe I should bite it anyway...oh look...a lily pad...hey that frog thing moved again....I wonder why the sky is blue............hey frog thing...where are you going?.....come back......."

An interesting reply mud, summed it up well.

If we could put a underwater camera down to see just how many fish followed our lures, sized us up and said "Nope i'm not biting you, i've seen you before and you are trouble", it would be a very interesting bit of research to have.

I'd go one step further. To see how many barra didn't even move when they heard a lure go by, as they registered the familiar (danger) sound and held their perch or even swam away because of the noise associated dangers.

At the end of the day it's like taking on a fully trained state of origon team at times when you fish for these dam barra... Just think, we have generations of old barra now teaching the young dumb barra to flee dangerous area e.g. outboard motors, electric motors, lure sounds and even sounders pinging. If this provides a great challenge for two of the best barra fisherman getting around like Rod Harrison and Johnny Mitchell i reckon the fish have turned the tables on us and our technology.

Nature hey you gotta love it, what was that line in that movie.

Nature overcomes and adapts. It finds a way.
All in all it's a fun challenge.

Cheers Lyndon

Top fish IIMB, as the other boys said ,a great achievement considering the amount the place gets cained, and MUD ,i cant stop at your view on "barra thoughts" the first thing that came to my mind was the movie "freddy got fingered" when he becomes the deer "be the animal"