Yakabout - Teemburra Dam #1

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Teemburra Dam #1

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Wednesday, 17 October 2007

Hunting Hillbilly Barramundi

Carl 'Astro' Holland in his playground

Launch:	- 3:30 PM
Landed:	- 8.00 PM
Tide:	- N/A
Weather:	- Hot, 31 °C, calm
Caught:	- Nothing
Method:	- Trolling and casting soft plastic lures

Carl 'Astro' Holland had been building me up to the experience of catching my first Barramundi from the kayak so expectations were high when we arrived at Teemburra dam, which just so happens to be his favourite local Barra haunt. Upon arriving at Teemburra I could see why it is so high on his list. Protected by picturesque hills and mountains the waters here are shielded from winds that would otherwise make many other areas much less comfortable to be kayak fishing in. That's partly why we chose Teemburra for our first Barra hunting trip in the Mackay area - north easterly winds had been building throughout the afternoon. The other reason we chose Teemburra for today's outing was simply because there's no shortage of fish there - even if they can be tough nuts to crack.

Nice to be in fresh water for a change

We turned up just after 4PM and had both kayaks in the water soon after, beginning the afternoon's proceedings with a quick tour of the Dam where Astro pointed out the various areas that have typically produced good fish. There is quite a few options as it turns out, although he did mention that his 'spot X' of the area is actually very close to the boat ramp where we launched from. As the sun made it's way to down towards the horizon line we tried our luck at a few of these spots, casting various lures along close to the banks, in amongst submerged trees and trolling them as we moved around each area. No bites came, however, so as night rolled in we made our way back to his highest producing hotspot and continued to cast lures.

Astro in his pedal-powered pride and joy

It was when the sun came down that the fish got active and although we couldn't see them, we could hear fish jumping all over the place. Some were small but others were quite obviously pretty large. Now is probably a good time to mention that I'd forgotten to take my headlamp out with me, so that, coupled with the growing number of mozzies (that I was hopelessly ill-equipped to deal with - I also forgot my insect repellent) made way for frustration. It probably didn't help that it seemed as if the fish - active or not - simply weren't interested in the lures we were flicking past their noses. Each of those factors turned me into a killjoy and I pulled the pin at around 8PM. Astro was determined to catch one of those fish, however, so he stayed on the water a little while longer, but was unable to change his fortunes.

Never mind... there's always tomorrow.