Page 78 - Bush 'n Beach Fishing mag

With eyes on the top of the head and a large bony mouth, barramundi are a purpose-built predator.
Lures similar to this 100mm jerk bait are merely a snack to larger sh. This also demonstrates the need for tough leader material – barra mouths can wear through light traces.
Leaon Walker is de nitely a victim of the dam barra bug and travels north from the Sunshine Coast regularly to tangle with these great sh.
Page 78 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2020
Tired and sore at 2am but still smiling. Fish in excess of 25kg are a real pos- sibility in Queensland’s barramundi impoundments and they ght every bit as hard as their wild cousins.
Hints for catching Edam barramundi
VERY year when December rolls around many bar-
Handy Hints
by BOB THORNTON
ramundi anglers simply pack their gear away for three months and wait with bated breath for the season to re-open in Feb- ruary.
impoundments littered up and down the coast that hold fantastic num- bers of big barra.
portant factor and my standard for impound- ment 1m-plus speci- mens, which are com- mon, is 70lb fluorocar- bon or mono.
What’s interesting is a good portion of these dedicated barra nuts choose not to tap into the many freshwater
Anyone who says dam fish don’t fight like their wild counterparts definitely hasn’t caught one, and I absolutely relish the challenge these exciting and enig- matic fish present. Gearing up
I find monofilament is more hard-wearing around structure and it doesn’t scare barra off – a species that aren’t known to be leader shy. The allure of dam barra
Standard estuary bar- ra tackle might not cut it in the dams.
Lure choice is where the fun begins and hav- ing a decent range in your boat will put you in with a good shot at cracking a pattern on these fish.
Depending on the waterway you choose, you may run into fish in excess of 25kg and 120cm, so it pays to scale things up a bit.
If I had to list lure types to have on hand at all times, I would class hard-bodies, topwaters, swimbaits, soft plastics and vibes as essential.
As a general rule, I like to start with rods in the 3-6kg range at the absolute lightest – spin or baitcast – and I run braid of at least 30lb on my reels.
From there it’s a mat- ter of working out what
Leaders are an im-
* continued P80 www.bnbfishing.com.au