Rbb

Competed in the Rocky Barra Bounty this year for the first time, great comp with a good bunch of people.

Bit of a wrap on how it turned out for us. Two nights before the comp the water in the town reaches turned to milk as the dirty water from up stream arrived. Our plan of attack was to find the cleaner water downstream which we did from nerimberra down stream.

Day one opened with hot bite of both Barra and salmon. Landed a few Barra around 560-780 and a few school king around that 650-1000mm. Put a cast in to the same spot and the lure got walloped and came to the top spinning in the current with the tow point almost folded over( not sure how that happens). Changed lures and put in a handful of casts for not hits, so I cast the lure back out onto the pressure Edge and let it work away in the current while sitting in the rod holder. I said to my team mate to watch the rod as it get nailed, I turn around to tie on a lure on another rod and he says your on. Line is peeling off at a rate of nots then up comes a big boil and a half tail slap of a big yellow paddle. At this point I knew the fish was decent. The fight seemed to last for ever, burnt out the Curado drag in the process.
Next minute this Barra decides to porpose, at this point we realise the sheer size of this thing and the nerves and jelly legs start kicking in. The fight seems to last for half an hour, quickly realised the net was going to be useless and no set of bogas on the boat. As this fish surfaces with its mouth slightly ajar I just grabbed on to the bottom jaw with two hands and hung on while it had a few last kicks in the water, then slid her on to the back casting deck. The comp ruler only went to 120 so I had to put my brag mat down to extend the measurement. She went close to 135 but I logged her at 133 just to be safe. The sheer depth and width of this fish was phenominal, the pics don't really do it justice.

Pulled 1 more Barra and 1 king from the same spot and dropped again as many as we had caught. The rest of the day we couldn't stay away from the king everywhere we went they were thick.

Day 2 our spot from the previous day didn't fire only pulling one little Barra and swags of cod with a through grunter thrown in. Changed tacs a little on the second day and we struggled dropping every Barra we hooked. It was hard to pick up he spirits in the afternoon but finished the day off with a few king.

Day 3 we covered as much ground as we could in search of a few Barra from structure using both paddle tails and prawn imitations. Only landed one and dropped two but the salmon and cod made the numbers.

First major comp I've ever been involved with and enjoyed it. The river is definitely holding plenty of fish and has a bright future. Attachment 35835Attachment 35836Attachment 35837Attachment 35835Attachment 35836Attachment 35837

"The comp ruler only went to 120 so I had to put my brag mat down"
- Best!

Great fish mate.

Was that was the biggest caught in the comp?

Cheers,
Roo.

Some nice fish there well done

Great fish mate, well done.

Thanks guys, that was the biggest this year though there was I think double the amount of meter Barra caught and threee or four times the amount of meter salmon compared to the previous best results.

brilliant work ,that's a cracker for the salt and goes to show what happens when pros are taken out of the areas .

That’s awesome mate. Some cracker fish there. And a good time had by all

Cracking fishing that..

That's a cracking saltie, congrats. Yes indeed, the fitzroy is alive and well. Just can't imagine the tourist dollars flooding into the town since the netters have gone. The fishers party need to do a doco on the fitzroy and showcase what it means to a region that has banned netters.

Beast of a Barra there and plenty of Salmon sounds like a awesome comp to me.
Congratulations on the Barra.

Well done mate, all great fish.

So that was you that got the 133! Massive congrats man, that is a cracker fish! What lure did it eat?

Thanks Rakey, ate a lethals detonator I believed they are called. 90 mm in length in the 4m version with decoys on it.

G'day Lou

Congratulations on the big fish and the circumstances.

I'll be talking to Bill this morning with 1 subject to be longer measuring boards.

There were 2 fish over the 1200mm max of the boards.

I reckon they should be 1400mm boards so people don't have to mix and match extra rulers as a makeshift measure.

I can think of plenty of fish caught over the 120cm mark over the years.. 8 over 120, 3 x 130, 133 (yours), 135, 146,148, 150 (2000 Bounty) and a 154. That's what I know about but there'll be others.

Bit of extra publicity too I guess if the organisers have to get bigger measuring boards.:cool:

Might need to issue saddles to competitors next year.

I think you're right Apollo.

There were in fact another 10 fish (10 threadfin) that were over the 120cmmark making 12 in all.

I'm still trying to hit my bucket list of a 1m threadfin.

35 over that plus 10 over 120cm is awesome.

Maybe the competition will become a defacto king threadfin comp separate from barramundi and will become an alternative comp worthy of a trophy in its own right..