Lake Awoonga: Barrametre

There's something about a big barramundi that seems to get the most seasoned anglers' heart racing. I'm not sure if it's the thumping strike, gill flaring jumps, powerful runs, or seeing those big silver flanks materialise beside the boat -- big barra are indeed a favorite for many.

When I talk about big barra I'm referring to fish over a metre long. This seems to be the benchmark these days and catching a 'metrey' is a burning desire for any barramundi fisherman that hasn't achieved this milestone.

While many fishing purists may say that a barra doesn't count unless it's caught in the wild, Queensland's stocked impoundments have certainly made joining the Metre Club far more achievable for anyone.

Not only are there plenty of big fish in these impoundments, but access is far easier than trekking for days into a remote Northern Territory billabong. For example, the two dams that I regularly fish, Lake Monduran and Lake Awoonga are just five and six hours drive from Brisbane respectively.

Now when I say there are plenty of big barra in these dams, don't get me wrong -- it's not like shooting fish in a barrel. These are very big dams and the fish can be very difficult to catch.

Even experienced anglers should consider hiring a guide for a couple of days to pick up some local tips before they go it alone.

I and four of my best mates recently had a weeklong houseboat holiday on Lake Awoonga, which is just west of Gladstone in Central Queensland.

Although we are all competent anglers we decided that hiring a guide was going to improve our chances of catching our PB barra.

We planned on employing the services of Jason Wilhelm from Barra Madness who is recognised as the gun guide in these parts. Unfortunately, Jason couldn't stay the week, but he did spend a few hours with us on the first day of our trip to pass on some tips and techniques. What we learnt in those few hours was invaluable.

HOUSEBOAT HUNTERS
The beauty of the houseboat was we could go wherever we wanted on the dam and because we also brought our own trailerboats, we had no restrictions whatsoever.

Having the houseboat parked five minutes from where we were fishing was awesome. It not only maximised our fishing time, but made it very easy to slip back for a meal and a snooze between fishing sessions. Not having to put the boat on and off the trailer all the time was pretty cool also.

So armed with the wealth of knowledge learned during Jason's express clinic we set out on the first evening to catch ourselves a beast.

Brent Higgins, Jeff Murray and myself were fishing out of Brent's 4.5m Bluefin while Peter Bain and David McMaster were fishing from Peter's 4m Quintrex Hornet. In my opinion, you wouldn't want much smaller than a 4m boat to fish Awoonga as the open basin can get surprisingly rough.

Our plan was to anchor up off the exposed windblown points, cast our lures towards the weed beds and slowly roll them back to the boat.

The theory here is the fish move out of the deeper water on dark and move into the shallows to feed on bony bream and garfish. Obviously shallow running lures work best in this scenario and we had been told that Squidgy Slick Rigs and Berkley Hollowbellys were the current lures of choice.

The sun sank on our first evening on the dam and after what felt like 100 or more casts I finally got the telltale whack of a barra sucking in my Slick Rig.

I had only just tied on a new leader and recommenced casting when the unmistakable 'boof' from a barra engulfing a garfish off the surface broke the evening silence near the boat.

A couple of more turns of the reel and whack -- I got slammed again but was hooked up solid this time. As 30lb braid poured from my Shimano spin reel I could see the splashes of a mighty fish jumping in the darkness.

When the fish appeared beside the boat I knew immediately that it was going to go a metre. Once in the Environet, Brent struggled to bring the fish aboard.

The Bragmat doesn't lie and at 7pm on night one of our holiday I had caught my personal best barra at 107cm. I was stoked!

I had one more bite and Jeff jumped off a nice fish, but that was all the action for session one. As we had driven from the Sunshine Coast earlier that day it was decided that a few drinks on the houseboat and an early night was called for. After all we were on holidays.

The wind was light and nicely pushing our boat down the edge of a large weedbed. An occasional tap on the Minn Kota electric troll motor was all that was required to maintain our course.

I was fishing Zoom Horny Toads over the weeds while Brent peppered the edges with a Slick Rig. I had a fish chase my Toad but unfortunately, he didn't commit.

Once again the Slick Rig did the job though and Brent found himself connected to a nice fish that put on a great display of acrobatics in the early morning light. This fish hit the Bragmat at 102cm which was Brent's first metre-long barra.

That afternoon we were having a few drinks on the houseboat when we received a visit from Trevor Burgess from the Berkley Pro Team. Trevor knows Awoonga like the back of his hand and kindly suggested we try another bay not far from where we had been fishing. It was good advice as I managed to up my PB with a 112cm fish and Brent added to his morning catch with a 95.

Fortunately the wind didn't stay from the south for long and by afternoon of day four the warm northerly was pushing onto the points and stirring up the weed beds.

It turned out to be a great session with Jeff catching his first metre-long fish at 106cm, Brent upping his PB to 106cm and Dave going straight to the top with a 114cm beauty. Hardly worth a mention, but we better not forget Peter who chipped in with an 85.

With everyone now in the Metre Club the pressure was off and with only a couple of days before the full moon we were confident of a couple more hot sessions.

On the evening of day five we anchored up where we had caught the fish the night before. Jeff managed to score a nice 111cm fish before dark but once the sun set it appeared a different place.  The bait activity wasn't there like the night before so we decided to move. We didn't have to go far though, a big weed bed in the very next bay was alive with activity.

My first cast in the new location resulted in a little 82cm model then Jeff gets on the radio saying Dave just boated a 123cm beast. Truly a fish of a lifetime!
Our night wasn't over yet either with Brent scoring another metrey and once again I managed to up my PB to 116cm. This fish was so fat that Brent and I both struggled to lift it. We estimated it to be more than 50lb.

PHOTOS SAY IT ALL
Our final day came way too quick and although we had concentrated mainly on the evening sessions, I was keen to get some nice daylight photos so a midday session was called for.

I'm happy to say it was worth the effort. Brent got proceedings underway with an 85cm fish and I managed to catch my fish of the trip at 119cm. It was an awesome fight and catching it during the day and getting some great photos made it even more rewarding.

Jeff came home strong on the last night with a 104 and a 92 and I finished proceedings with an 88cm tiddler.

The final tally for the week was 19 barra with 12 of those over the metre.

It was an awesome trip and without doubt the houseboat and some local help was what really made it. It was a very affordable week away and because the weather doesn't play a major role, at least you know you are going to get to fish every day. We have already booked for next year…