The previous month has fished very well with water temps constantly hitting the 30ºC mark. Once again windward bays and points like Bird Bay, Pig Trap, Jacks, Rainforest and Insane Bay have produced many of the bites. Jackall Squirrels and Zerek Flat Shad soft plastics have accounted for many barra through November and I don’t think things will change in December.

As a guide I get asked a lot of questions, but one of the most frequently asked is, should we be targeting snags, lay down logs, and structured areas?

My answer to that is yes, but there are a number of other ways to fish for barra at Lake Monduran. A percentage of barra will sit, hide and ambush feed on their prey in structured areas and lay down logs. The amount of baitfish hiding out in the structure is enormous and as most know, there is nothing quite like the feeling of casting your lure down beside a log or in between a group of snags, willingly knowing that your accurate cast may result in your lure getting smashed.

Another way to target barra here is to fish large shallow areas in 3m or less of water with little or no structure at all. This mainly occurs in windward bays and points where currents are pushing bait and oxygenated water in or around them.

In this instance barra will school together and take on the role of a pelagic fish, hunting down bait schools much like a tuna or mackerel. Casting to the open areas may not feel right but barra are usually there in big numbers and they are a lot easier to get to the boat in a snag-less environment.

My daughter, Emily, and I were lucky enough to be invited to join Rob Woods team to fish on board his Black Watch 34 (Black And Blue) for this year’s game fishing tournament.

Even though I have had extensive experience fishing at sea, I’d never been heavy tackle bill fishing. Through Rob’s vast experience in this area and Andrew’s (aka ‘Goldie’) excellent deck handing we took out first place overall in the tournament making it 4 years in a row for Rob.

We tagged and released 5 big blues on heavy tackle, the biggest being around 250kg, and 3 small blacks, 2 of which were caught by young Tommy Wood who took out the Junior Champion title. Emily got 1 small black and a cracker of a Spanish mackerel.

Overall the fishing was unbelievable, the weather was great and HBGFC put on an amazing weekend. Thanks Guys.

For further information on accommodation and charter availability call our office on (07) 4157 3881. With the school holidays approaching there will be plenty of activities for the kids and plenty of fish to be caught so book early to avoid disappointment.

I have recently had the pleasure of trailing the new Zerek Flat Shad 5” soft plastic conceived by the team at Wilson Tackle. This lure has many well thought out features that include, weedless hooks, longitudinal flutes in belly region for easy compression for bites around the hook area, stretchy plastic for long lasting durability and a great colour range.

The lure has a nice rolling action with plenty of tail movement when slowly retrieved back to the boat, it is also perfect for those hard to negotiate timbered areas as it flutters and bounce’s nicely from one limb to another without being snagged up.

So keep an eye out for these lures, they are a must-have for fishing Monduran and they have been very successful for myself and my clients.

Merry Xmas and happy New Year to all.