Fisho's weekly fishing report - 25th November 2021
by Fisho's Tackle World 25 Nov 2021 15:17 UTC
Kurt Rowlands with a nice barra from a recent trip to Lake Awoonga © Fisho's Tackle World
La Nina declared and a wet week ahead for us
Many fishos enjoyed last weekend's glorious weather, heading far and wide in search of reef and pelagic fish. At the same time, quite a few headed for the barra dams, whilst plenty of fishos stranded onshore hit the pier and other local land-based hotspots. That great weather didn't last however, with a bit of rain and wind since Monday restricting fishing activities somewhat.
We only had around 35mm of rain here in Hervey Bay on Monday apparently, but just to our north copped an absolute drenching. Falls in excess of 100mm were recorded around the Howard area and even more just north of there. They didn't cop as much rain in the previous event, but all streams are flowing fresh up that way now.
The weather bureau is predicting big rains in coming days for our district. Friday could see the best of it, but most weather sites are suggesting in excess of 20mm of rain daily until mid-next week. Storms are very likely with the peak rain activity, but otherwise, once the trough moves overhead, the moderate northerly wind should swing to the southeast throughout Sunday and then tend lighter from the east or variable for the early part of next week.
Perhaps riding out the rain and northerlies onshore and then sussing out the latest from the bureau with a view to fishing Sunday or mid-week would seem prudent given the current synopsis. Even once the wind eases, the rains will continue, so expect to get wet over the coming week. Please do not take risks with floodwaters in our rivers and creeks. We don't really have the hilly terrain that triggers flash-flooding as frequently as elsewhere, but the risk is still real in extreme conditions.
Tides-wise, there will be minimal current flow in coming days as we enter another neap phase courtesy of the half moon Saturday. This heralds the start of the third quarter moon phase, which means dark nights prior to a moon rise later in the evening. The neap tides and excess freshwater run-off will mean our streams will be fairly fresh, so keep that in mind if planning to head upstream in our estuaries.
Rains lifting our dam levels but barra still on the chew
Good rainfall in Lake Lenthalls' catchment has resulted in a rise in water level of over a metre, on top of a lesser rise previously. In storage-level terms it has risen from 48% a couple of weeks ago to somewhere close to 70%, and is still rising. So far, the influx of water has been relatively clean, courtesy of the earlier rains greening the countryside and minimising the inflow of exposed topsoil.
There is every chance that the predicted rains this week could fill or over-top the dam, as even though Lenthalls is only a tiny lake, it fills very quickly due to its multi-stream catchment. Level 3 Water Restrictions are currently still in place in our council area, but perhaps these restrictions may be eased in the near future.
Fishing-wise, the cooler days and lack of sunshine has dropped the water temperature and taken the sting out of the intense barra bite of recent weeks. If you know impoundment barra though, you will know how they react to heavy inflows and would soon be hooked up regularly, even in cooler conditions. There has been a lot more people fishing Lenthalls this season than usual (but ain't that the case everywhere). Groups of kayakers have been having a ball, catching bass and barra with all manner of lures on a regular basis.
If you were at Lake Monduran on Monday, then you would have experienced a rather significant downfall. It teemed down for hours and the lake rose over 100mm just from the local fall. Thereafter, the lake continued to rise from the inflows from every little gully and creek. It has risen at least 300mm from Monday's downfall.
Being the owner of the only vehicle at the otherwise-crowded boat ramp Monday afternoon, suggests that perhaps your scribe was the only one to ride out the weather in a boat. Did those fishos sheltering from the weather miss out on much? Hell, yeah, they did. Apart from having to pump the boat out a few times and sit out the worst of the torrential falls, the barra went absolutely ape and smashed lures all over the joint. But hey, they bit just as well all day the day before as well, much the same as they have done for at least the past two months. Let's all hope the impending rains don't mess things up too much.
Minor floodwater inflows through the small gullies and waters tumbling down the many waterfalls scattered around the more mountainous terrain offer a unique fishery rarely enjoyed in Monduran. You must be there during or immediately after the rain event to reap the rewards, but when the barra stack up in these frothy inflows, the fishing is something to behold. An opportunity-missed this week perhaps, but something to consider for the potential rainfall event/s this week coming.
There was quite a crowd of trollers working the main basin and the nearby stretches of lake for "pelagic" barra cruising the deep water and its fringes. Apparently, the bite was good, and many hooked up regularly right up until the passing of the full moon. Thereafter, the bite waned dramatically, at least early in the night anyway, with the late moon-above period saving some persistent trollers from dough nutting.
Something else for Mondy fans to consider for the near future - the frogs. Spend any time on the water up there after dark and you will appreciate that they are almost deafening (at least in the echo-prone tight gullies). Duck your head underwater in the daytime too and you will hear a similar noise.
Frogs will now be high on the menu for Mondy barra and they are already scoffing artificial versions worked both slow and fast across the surface. Make sure you pack some frogs and give the lake's edges and gullies a good working over for some of the most visually-exciting barra fishing you can do in a lake. Similarly, other topwater offerings such as poppers, fizzers and stickbaits will all come into their own for those fishing dawn, dusk or evenings.
Reef Fishos scored a good feed up and down the coast
Last weekend's great weather saw stacks of larger vessels heading for the horizon. A few locals ventured north to 1770 and scored well on trout and a mixed bag of reefies. Others headed south and scored quality red emperor, snapper, pearl perch and parrot over the Wide Bay Bar.
A number of boats headed for Breaksea Spit and fished shoal country and continental shelf waters east of there. Great hauls of large venus tuskfish combined with a good mix of reefies from the shoals that included the likes of coronation trout, maori cod and red throat, amongst plenty of others.
Those that snuck out to the deeper waters of the shelf and deployed the deep dropping gear found a mix of species in fishable conditions due to the light winds and slight-moderate current. Snapper and pearl perch were found in 200m by some, whilst others found bar cod, flamies and other jobfish a little deeper again.