Fun times on the Burrum River...

[Peter4]

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