Fun times on the Burrum River...
I headed up the Bruce early on Friday morning with the plan to meet Chewy and Rakey at the boat ramp at Burrum Heads at 8.00am. Felt a little lonely without Kyle in the shotgun seat for the drive up!:(
After exchanging pleasantries and finding out that Chewy had a spewy night, Mick Baker joined us and our three boats headed up river, laying GPS paths to avoid the many sand banks and rock bars. We finally pulled up at a likely looking snag and started casting while Rakey headed around the next bend to try another spot.
After 5 minutes Rakey comes roaring back, fist pumping with a monster barra in the net! He had already smacked two barra in the first 5 minutes. I'll let him tell his story as there is much more to come from him...
When I found out where Rakey got his fish I threw a couple of casts into the same spot and got whacked! After a little tussle a 58cm barra came aboard. Later that morning I managed a small trevally and that evening I got a couple of tarpon at the Buxton Hole rock bar. Poor Mick fished the day with me and didn't manage to land a fish though he dropped two tarpon boatside.
We had a big BBQ dinner and all met each other that night, many for the first time. I went to bed early with the plan to hit the rock bar again just after dawn. Mick came with me again and promptly landed his first fish of the trip, a good sized estuary cod. Soon after he hooked up to a big barra that ran deep and threw the lure after a brief fight. We then headed up river and fished many spots for another cod to Mick and a few bumps and a brief barra hook-up to me. I managed another tarpon that evening at Buxton Hole before I got my best hook-up of the trip.
A big barra smashed my threadybuster on the lift and then peeled off 30lb braid against a tight drag. My angles were all wrong and the fish went under the boat where I thought I lost it when the line went slack. I untangled myself and re-applied pressure to see more line peel off the reel! Suddenly one hook pulled...I reached across to loosen the drag but before I could the second hook pulled and my fish was gooonnne! Damn, that would have made my weekend!
A good pub counter tea at the Burrum Heads hotel that night before another early sleep and a pre-dawn start on Sunday. Mick and I tried the rock bar again but only managed two tarpon and a small grunter to Mick. Nothing for me! All in all it was a top weekend with just about everybody managing a fish or two. Rakey had a cracker so I hope he posts a detailed report - hint, hint!
Thanks muchly to the Chews who organised a fantastic weekend. Jodie is a marvel, Andy goes OK and Paul is a legend. Nothing was too much trouble for this ActiveAngler family. I'm sure we all appreciated it.:):)
You should all get to the next one if you can! Will post some pics later.
Cheers
Pete