Category: Results

It came down to the last event and the last session of fishing to decide the Norther BARRA AOY Champion for 07.

Take a look inside to see who came out on top.

Ruth Rules at Tinaroo

Tropical thunderstorms and tough fishing was the order of the day at the final northern round of the Daiwa BARRA Tour, the Classic Lures Tinaroo 2-day Evening Event.

Mastering the bite the best and taping into all the local knowledge he had to secure victory was Cairns local, 21 year old Tackle Store Attendant Nathan Ruth (7/10, 388cm). Not to be overshadowed was Ruth’s team mate Lance Richards (7/10, 360cm), who fished hard on the final day to nearly steal victory from his partner.

Victory though belonged to Ruth who spent his tournament fishing a run of locations in the Yungaburra area of the lake.

“We hit a series of spots that ranged in depth from one through to five metres”, explained Ruth.

“Weedbeds, lilies and discouloured water were prominent features in these locations, as was the occasional bony bream flicking about”, he added.

With the boat anchored in one of his hot spots Ruth would work the area over with a multi-lure approach, swapping rods and presenting a different lure as the bite slowed and changed.

“While swapping lures kept the fish interested it was a rattling hard body that drew the best responses, especially in the dirty water”, explained Ruth.

The retrieve used when opting for the hard bodied approach was an aggressive twitch and pause presentation, stalling the lure to draw a strike and add another fish to his catch sheet. Once the bite died Ruth would lift anchor and move to another spot to continue his multi-lure approach.

The choice of tackle Ruth used to present his lures included a, G.Loomis CR722 rod, Shimano Curado reel, spooled with 30lb Nitlon braid, and 55lb twisted Schneider leader. While Ruth’s assortment of lures included soft plastics, fizzers, and jerkbaits, it was a Reidy’s B52 (colour- purple) that produced the bulk of the fish.

“The B52 was the money bait both days”, explained Ruth.

“And the hottest bite we found when they really produced was on day one when all the thunderstorms rolled through. It was action stations up until about 7.30pm when the storms had passed through”, he added.

For event runner-up Richards it was a similar approach to Ruth, with an over the top twitch and pause presentation delivering the bulk of the fish.

“The majority of fish came from right up in the shallows near the waters edge”, explained Richards. “A twitch and pause really pressed their buttons and they couldn’t help themselves when it came to hitting the lure”, he added.

The go-to lure for Richards, like Ruth, was a rattle-heavy bibbed minnow, with a purple Classic Lures F18 his number one choice. When it came to presenting it Richards used a Shimano Raider rod, Shimano Curado reel, spooled with 9kg Fins braid, and 45lb Schneider leader.

Like most tournament anglers Richards had a tale of the one that got away, with Saturday night offering the fish that would deliver victory. Finding its freedom in the only piece of timber on the bank, it was definitely a case of the one that got away.

Tinaroo as expected produced its share of big fish, with the Go-So Big Barra title going to a 117cm specimen caught by Matthew Wallace on day two. Tempted by a 7” Storm Wild Eye Suspending Minnow (colour- grey ghost), the prize winning fish nailed the lure on the third cast at a weedy point in the upper reaches of the lake near Yungaburra. The second metre plus fish of the night for Wallace, it was due reward following his first night when he dropped three similar sized fish.

“I was just glad to finally boat a decent fish after losing those three the night before. If had done so I might have had a shot at winning the event”, he added.

The battle for the title of the Northern BARRA Angler of the Year came down to the wire, with one point separating the top three places. Matt Coleman (277/300 points) claimed his first AOY title, relegating defending Northern AOY champ Kerrin Taylor and Cy Taylor to second and third place, respectively.

The event drew a close to the northern leg of the tour, with attention now turning to Lake Awoonga and the opening round of the southern tour. The Daiwa Awoonga Night Championships, November 24/25th will kick start the second half of the tour, for entry forms and rules visit australianbarra.com.au, or contact ABT (07) 3268 7958.

BARRA Tour Dates

Southern Tour
R4 Daiwa Awoonga Night Championships- Nov 24/25
R5 Squidgy Awoonga Evening Event- Nov 26/27
R6 Halco Monduran Morning Event – Dec 1/2

Classic Lures Lake Tinaroo Evening Event Indivdual Results

Classic Lures Lake Tinaroo Evening Event Teams Results

McNamara Rules the Roost at Faust Muswelbrook resident and BARRA Tour regular Alan McNamara became the first angler to win three BARRA events by claiming the second round of the 2007 Daiwa BARRA Tour, on Proserpine’s infamous Peter Faust Dam.
Continuing his winning ways from the Teemburra event two days earlier, McNamara showed his form on multiple venues, (8/10, 597cm), to narrowly claim victory over 2nd placed young-gun Cy Taylor, (8/10, 562cm).

Targeting a large flooded weed bed in the middle reaches of the dam, McNamara utilized a technique he and team mate Brendon Horner cracked during the prefish. With the weedbed sitting in ten feet of water the pair focused their attention, working the hot zone, the three feet of clear water that sat above the flooded growth.

“We started by slow rolling Slick Rigs (110mm) over the tops of the weeds, and while we could get bumps, we couldn’t get a hook-up”, explained McNamara.

“So we swapped to a lift and drop jigging retrieve to give the fish more time to look at the plastic”, added McNamara.

The approach paid dividends with the technique delivering McNamara three fishing on day one and five on day two.

“It wasn’t always the most polished technique though”, explained Alan. “The lure was regularly buried in the weed, and rather than cranking the lure in to clear it of weed and making another cast, we’d just rip it out of the weed and continue the retrieve”, added McNamara.

The rough and ready approach was high-lighted by an hour of mayhem on the final morning, when the boys struck a red-hot bite between 7.30 and 8.30am.

“The bonies started flicking, the birds were working and the barra were just going off”, explained McNamara. “I landed six fish, dropped another four, and probably had an additional five hits, it was awesome”, he added.

The only angler to bag his limit on the final morning McNamara could take satisfaction in cracking the pattern the best and going two-from-two from the first two events of the BARRA Tour.

His choice of tackle used to begin his great start on the tour included his prize winning rod and reel from the first round at Teemburra, a 5’9” Millerods Jack Extract rod and Shimano Cruxis reel, spooled with 50lb Bionic Braid and a 80lb twisted Jinkai twisted leader.

While McNamara’s choice of lure was the ubiquitous Squidgy Slick Rig (colour- evil minnow), it was perhaps its’ modification that is most note-worthy.

“I cut the lead down so it was virtually not existent, leaving just enough weight to allow the plastic to be cast and swim correctly”, explained Al.

The cut-down was just what McNamara needed to keep the plastic above the weed.

Event runner-up Cy Taylor in contrasted opted for a surface presentation to catch his fish. Targeting the shallow margins in the upper reaches of the dam Taylor worked the area with a series of long searching casts and retrieves fished parallel to the weed line.

“Getting the lure close to the weed and working it through the maximum strike zone was the key”, explained Taylor. T

he tackle he used to present his topwater lure included a, Millerod Stiletto spin rod, 2500 Shimano Stella reel, spooled with 20lb Berkley Fireline (crystal), and 60lb Black Magic leader. His choice of lure was his go-to topwater lure, a Cultiva Tango Dancer. Retro-fitted with size one owner hooks, and double split rings, the after-market fit out of the lure provides added benefits over the standard model as Cy explains.

“Double split rings allow the hook points to hang a little lower on the lure, therefore increasing the hook-up rate, they also hopefully reduce the fish’s ability to twist the lure out of its’ mouth during the flight”.

With five fished dropped during the tournament and a mere 35cm deficit to event winner Alan McNamara, Taylor is sure to work and strive for an even higher strike rate when it comes to fishing topwater for barra.

Peter Faust lived up to its’ reputation produce multiple fish over the one metre mark, with the Go-So Big Barra prize falling to a 120cm specimen caught by Kerrin Taylor on day one. Suc*****bing to a Squidgy 110mm Slick Rig (colour- evil minnow), the monster came from a weed bed in the upper reaches of the dam and saw Kerrin chase the fish through the timber before being landed.

The next round sees the series move to the most northern stop on the tour for 2-day evening Classic Lures Tinaroo BARRA Round.

Entry forms and rules can be found at australianbarra.com.au, or can be obtained at the event briefing and registration at Tinaroo Holiday Park, Friday 12th October, 1.00pm.

Northern Tour
R1 Daiwa Teemburra Night Championships- Oct 6/7
R2 Shimano Peter Faust Morning Event- Oct 9/10
R3 Classic Lures Tinaroo Evening Event- Oct 12/13

Southern Tour
R4 Daiwa Awoonga Night Championships- Nov 24/25
R5 Squidgy Awoonga Evening Event- Nov 26/27
R6 Halco Monduran Morning Event – Dec 1/2

Shimano Peter Faust BARRA Round Teams Results

McNamara Tames Teemburra

A fickle early season bite greeted anglers for the opening round of the 2007 Daiwa BARRA Tour on Teemburra Dam, 6/7th October.

Twenty teams and forty anglers signed up for the all-night marathon Night Championship event, with victory going to Muswellbrook resident and BARRA Tour regular Alan McNamara, 5/5, 240cm, while Townsville barra addict Matt Coleman claimed the runners-up position, 3/5, 227cm.
Victory for McNamara was a relief and due reward for a week of analytical prefishing that saw him crack the inconsistent bite pattern.

“It was tough fishing all week”, explained McNamara.

“It was only after a lot of fishless sessions, and the elimination of a lot of habitat types and locations that we managed to establish some sought of pattern to the fishing”, he added.

This pattern saw McNamara target the shallow points and leading edges in the Middle Creek reaches of the dam.

“The presence of submerged grass and lilies were the dominate features on the locations that produced”, explained McNamara.

“The key was to get the lure close to the structure and the weeded edges were the fish were holding and feeding”, he added.

Targeting these vegetation lined edges McNamara down-sized his lure from his usual go-to 110mm plus options, instead using a 100mm Squidgy Slick Rig Light (colour- drop bear) to tempt his fish. Using a slow rolling retrieve McNamara found most of the hits forthcoming when the lure was, at the most, three cranks of the reel handle out from the edge.

“They were holding really right to the edge and you had to get the lure in the zone and in their face to get a response”, Al explained.

The tackle used by Alan to tempt his edge dwelling fish included a, Daiwa Procaster X, medium rated rod (6’6”), and a Daiwa Procaster reel, spooled with 30lb Bionic braid and finished off with 50lb Penn 10X leader.

Event runner-up Matt Coleman opted for a similar edge approach to fill out his catch sheet. Hitting weed and lily lined points and flats in the middle reaches of the dam Coleman fished a lightly worm-weighted 80mm Squidgy Slick Rig tail (colour- drop bear) rigged weedless on a 4/0 Gamakatsu worm hook.

“The fish were sitting along the weedline and on the apex of the points”, explained Coleman. “So it was here that I focused my attention, working the area over with a slow rolling, lift and drop retrieve”, he added.

The approach paid dividends with the kicker fish in his 3-fish limit being the event’s Go-So Big Barra. Tipping the brag mat at 78cm it was the fish Matt needed to stave off 3rd placed Colin Slade, a meare 3cm behind.

Coleman’s arsenal of tackle included a Shimano T-Curve, medium/ heavy rated rod, Shimano Cronarch reel, spooled with 60lb Japanese PE line, and 60lb Penn 10X leader.

The Champion team honours for the event was claimed by Coleman and his fellow team mate Jason Cameron, who compiled 327 cm to secure the title ahead of Team Lost Bass Fishos (318cm) comprised of event winner Alan McNamara and Brendon Horner.

The next round of The Tour sees the series head north to the big barra Mecca of Lake Proserpine for the Shimano Peter Faust 2-day Morning Event, 9-10th October.

Entry forms and rules can be found at australianbarra.com.au, or can be obtained at the event briefing and registration at Proserpine Bait and Tackle, Monday 8th October, 7.30pm.

Northern Tour
R1 Daiwa Teemburra Night Championships- Oct 6/7
R2 Shimano Peter Faust Morning Event- Oct 9/10
R3 Classic Lures Tinaroo Evening Event- Oct 12/13

Southern Tour

R4 Daiwa Awoonga Night Championships- Nov 24/25
R5 Squidgies Awoonga Evening Event- Nov 26/27
R6 Halco Monduran Morning Event – Dec 1/2

Daiwa Teemburra Dam Night Championship Individual Results

Daiwa Teemburra Dam Night Championship Team Results

Lake Monduran, the vast body of water scattered with timber, just North of Bundaberg, was the final venue for the 2006 Daiwa BARRA Tour.
Lake Monduran, the vast body of water scattered with timber, just North of Bundaberg, was the final venue for the 2006 Daiwa BARRA Tour.

And it was the newly crowned ‘Barra Vampire’, in John Schofield that took out the Champion Angler Title with 6/10, 548cm. With the assistance of his partner in crime ‘Lord’ Peter Morgan scoring a couple of fish himself on Day 2, the pair was also successful in taking out the Champion Team Title for Nitro Tournament Rods.

Schofield fished the creek, adjacent to the dam wall, opposite the concrete boat ramp, targeting areas tight on the bank with a lot of brush timber. His hotspot for the weekend was a shelf, off a point in 10-12 feet of water that went for approximately 30-40 yards.

Equipped with a Nitro Extreme Tournament Barra Rod matched to a Shimano Chronarch spooled with 50pd Scientific Angler ultra thin fly line backing and finished with a length of twisted 80pd Black Magic leader. Schofield worked various Jonesy’s lures in the Nifty and Rhino range, finding the Rhino’s acquainting for more fish as they are a deeper diving lure. The colours of choice being brown and white and grey and white.

“I would give the lure 10 winds to get it down, then general twitches punctuated with pauses. Finding the fish would hit on the pause” he explained.

Second place went to Les Reibelt with 6/10, 490cm, Third (Steve Kanowski, 5/10, 411cm), Fourth (Matt Coleman, 4/10, 295cm) and Fifth (Stephen Cheng, 3/10, 240cm).

Reibelt, a Process Operator from Beerwah has been fishing Monduran for three years. He used an Egrell B58 rod matched to a Daiwa CVZ 203 reel spooled with 60pd Fins braid and 150pd doubled Penn Power Pro braid as leader. Using the same Arafura barra lure for the whole weekend was the key to Reibelt’s success.

“It was more a confidence thing”, he explained. “At one stage, a barra snapped the 60pd braid and stole the lure. Then I found it rising to the surface. I replaced the back treble, put on two split rings, and continued to catch fish on it” he said.

The Go-So Big Barra and Berkley Bonus went to John Schwerin with a 114cm horse caught on day 2 on a Big B52 lure.

“It didn’t fight much. It went for a run then I got it next to the boat; the young fella was holding the net up in the air expecting the barra to jump in! We eventually netted it and it sorted the men out from the boys” he joked.

A $200 stocking donation was made to M.A.S.A for the continued stocking of barramundi into Lake Monduran. Over the weekend 60 fish were photographed and released at an average size of 81.86cm.

With the final event now completed, the Southern and Overall Barra AOY winners were announced. Jason Medcalf narrowly beat his partner Nigel Webster for the Individual Southern Angler of the Year Title with the guys taking out the Southern Team Championship for Team Halco/Berkley. With the Northern AOY already under his belt, the young Barra gun in Kerrin Taylor narrowly beat his twin brother Cy by one point for the Overall Daiwa BARRA Tour AOY Champion. The boys also taking out the Overall Team AOY Trophy for team Millerods-Shimano.

With the suspense now building for that trip of a lifetime aboard the Eclipse Charter boat in Weipa, all entries into the Daiwa BARRA tour were shuffled. To his disbelief it was Gary Leather that had his named drawn out and is now still coming down to earth with the good fortune that has bestowed him.

From the staff at ABT we would like to thank all anglers, sponsors and people involved with the venues for making the 2006 Daiwa BARRA tour a most memorable adventure and look forward to catching up with everyone at another ABT Tournament in the near future.

Final Southern AOY Points

Lake Awoonga lived up to its name of being one of Australia’s premier impoundment barramundi fisheries for the two days of the Halco Evening BARRA Event with further records broken.
Lake Awoonga lived up to its name of being one of Australia’s premier impoundment barramundi fisheries for the two days of the Halco Evening BARRA Event with further records broken.

The Champion Angler Title was claimed by local veterinarian Scott McAuley with a new record 9/10, 856cm limit. Second was consistent performer Kerrin Taylor (8/10, 773cm) while Simon Barkhuizen (7/10, 706cm), Harry Watson (7/10, 643cm) and Kerry Symes, 8/10, 641cm completed the top five places.

The Champion Team Title went to the Barkhuizen brothers fishing for Team Charltons with 14/20 fish for 1238cm.

McAuley used a variety of arsenal to land his fish. For flicking Squidgy soft plastics he uses a G.Loomis 7ft GLX matched to a Daiwa HRF reel for long casting. For his timber work he uses a G.Loomis 756 matched to a Daiwa Blue Backer reel with 50 pound Jigman braid. Finally for taming those large impoundment barra he uses a 50 pound Live Fibre rod matched to a Daiwa Black Sheep reel and 30 pound twisted leaders.

Fishing the timber in the Ivoreagh arm McAuley chose to throw RMG Scorpions with sticky lead attached between the trees where he would wind them down then stop and pause, twitching the lure occasionally.

Catching four fish there on the first day he chose to return on the second day to find that the water temperature had dropped and there were no active fish. Deciding to move he checked Bath Tub Bay but continued to Tree bay with a few boats already working this area.

With the wind making conditions a little rougher McAuley moved once again to Riverstone Creek where he found bait jumping in the warmer water.

After having his favourite RMG Scorpion destroyed by a large fish, he swapped to a 14cm Rapala X-Rap on the heavy outfit.

“I basically poled the next seven fish in the boat over the hour, including the 108cm fish at 9.30pm” he said. “I then decided to leave them biting to get back in time” he continued.

Kerrin Taylor the Northern Tour BARRA Angler of the Year once again proved the goods with a second place finish. Working the Ian Miller Camofish Barra rods and Shimano Digital Calais reels he choose to upgrade to 50 pound Rapala Beast Master braid and 60 pound coated wire for this event.

The Millerods/Shimano team scored their 10/10 fish on the first day by sounding a steep weed edge where they anchored and cast their famous modified Squidgy Slick Rigs to the weed face.

Returning to the same spot on the second day only returned one fish before they decided to move to the weed points of the main basin. Here the Taylors found roaming barra on the sounder in 4 metres of water.

Kerrin explained, “We would gets hits for 10 minutes then have a 20 minute period of nothing before the fish returned again.”

The Go-So Big Barra prize was awarded to Mike Connolly for a 119cm fish caught on a 100mm Squidgy Slick Rig in black/gold colour. Mike explained that he likes to use them straight out of the pack fishing weed flats in 4-6 feet of water.

“I was ripping them through the weeds then letting them drop, where the barramundi would inhale them and result in good hookups” he said.

A new record 198 barramundi were caught, photographed and released, with the average size just over 80cm for the two days.

The final event moves to Lake Monduran for the Berkley Morning BARRA Event where the AOY points will be finalised.

If you would like to join in the fun for either the remainder of the 2006 Daiwa BARRA Tour or want to start planning for next year, check out all the info at www.australianbarra.com.au.

It was perfect conditions for a record breaking weekend at Lake Awoonga for the first Event of the Daiwa BARRA Tour Southern Leg.
It was perfect conditions for a record breaking weekend at Lake Awoonga for the first Event of the Daiwa BARRA Tour Southern Leg.

A record field of 72 anglers gathered for the Ecogear Night Championship Event and 15 year old Jake Schwerin showed exactly how to do it. Blitzing the record Go-So Big Barra landing a 125cm brute and a new record 5 fish bag of 514cm.

The Toowoomba Grammar student has taken a week off to fish the Tour with his father in team FCM. Fishing Futter Creek, Schwerin landed 14 barramundi in the boat throughout the night. For his efforts, he takes home $1000, a Millerods Camofish Barra Boof Stik, Shimano Cruxis reel and various other prizes.

Followed in second place winning $500, a Daiwa Team Advantage rod, Daiwa Millionaire SW203 reel and TD sensor braid was Ben Platten with 5/5, 485cm. Third (Nigel Webster, 5/5, 459cm), fourth (Brad O’Sullivan, 5/5, 455cm), fifth (Matthew Mott, 5/5, 423cm) taking out the remaining places winning cash and prizes including Angler DCX and Ian Miller Raider Barra Mauler rods.

With the previous ABT Big Barra record mark set at 118cm, Schwerin caught 2 fish of 120cm and 125cm on slow rolled Squidgy Slick Rigs.

His father John, as proud as punch commented, “Getting those two big ones was unbelievable! The biggest I’ve seen! It blew me out of the boat! Magic!”

“I tried to follow the contour of the weed whilst slow rolling the lure” Jake explained.

His rod of choice was a G.Loomis GL3 matched to a Daiwa CVZ spooled with 50pd Whiplash braid and 80pd Penn 10X leader. Tying a double in the braid to a single length of leader attached to a 130mm Slick Rig with a Gamakatsu stinger hook.

Second placed and local Tackle World Gladstone worker Ben Platten used a hard body approach to score his 5 fish. Catching two fish early in the timber of the Ivoreagh arm on a Rapala Barra Magnum, he later changed to shallower suspending baits such as the Rapala X-Rap and Owner Rippin Minnow for fishing at night in the weedbeds in the main basin.

The Champion Team went to Evakool-Squidgies with Matthew Mott and Kerry Symes scoring the only 10 fish limit for a total length of 830cm.

A record 105 barramundi were caught and released during the Ecogear Night Championship with an average of 81.95cm per fish.

With all anglers getting a much needed sleep, the next event is the Halco Lake Awoonga Evening Event commencing 3pm Monday November 6.

If you would like to join in the fun for either the remainder of the 2006 Daiwa BARRA Tour or want to start planning for next year, check out all the info at www.australianbarra.com.au.