# QLD Mackay Pioneer 07/10



## SamT (Feb 27, 2011)

Mackayaker, Waterboy71 & I paddled the Dumbleton stretch this morning.
A 46cm barra for me & a brief hookup for Waterboy in the shallows foretold of a good session.
By the time we got through the rapids to the deep pool, I'd brought in another barra at 48cm.

Then things slowed down, without much action for an hour or so.








The sounders were showing occasional schools of bait near the bottom, so i was trying to drop my little gulp mullet down there as if fishing for flathead,
That eventually paid off, with a 71cm barra grabbing hold of it.

With the pressure off, I tried trolling through the deeper sections with a big 3/4oz and a ridiculous 6" fluoro green jigging grub (in case there were some coral trout or similar up there).

Oddly enough, that worked! One near-legal barra dropped at the net, then my biggest barra to date (86cm) boated a while later.








Waterboy snagged himself an unattractive jack & an undersized barra.








I was starting to feel bad for the Mackayaker, who was having a very quiet session until...
OK Scotty, here's where you insert the photo of your horse.


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## mackayaker (Aug 14, 2010)

Dumbleton was at its very best today with amazing weather and light winds. We arrived with the tide on its last run out and headed along the shallows where I picked up a 46cm Barra almost straight away on a large popper. After that it went very quiet for me as I was persevering with the popper. With Sam T landing 2 solid fish down deep I decided to change to the Zerek Prawn, almost instantly I was getting interest but no hook ups. I then drifted over to my favourite snag when my lure was crunched by a freight train, I don't know how long I fought it for but seemed like ages. I was a passenger for the first half then it decided it wanted to keep swimming under the yak! :? Eventually it tired itself out and I managed a clumsy netting and a 97cm/21lb Barra was in the boat. I would like to thank both SamT and Waterboy for their support during and after the event and I am glad that their call of a giant catfish was wrong. A barra PB and a great morning on the water with mates, could not be happier 

Cheers Scotty


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## Waterboy71 (Jul 2, 2012)

Awesome stuff , glad to be part of it.


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## bungy (Jan 1, 2008)

Holy Smokes Fella's

Obviously a great session had by all. Sam fantastic fish mate....Scotty you are a champion...Awsome fish mate.

It's ok i have shed a little tear...Would have loved to come..The boss just said that i am a bad omen....


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## clarkey (Jan 13, 2009)

Well done fellas,some nice very nice fish.


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## kayakone (Dec 7, 2010)

Holy guacamole!

"a 97cm/21lb Barra was in the boat".... Damn lucky it didn't tip or sink the yak.

Stonker!! (hope BB is not reading this  )

trev


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## mackayaker (Aug 14, 2010)

Lets just say it was a bit big for my esky Trev :lol:


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

I got nothing on that this year!

The flathead I caught this morning wouldn't have even cut it as a livey for those horses!

So what's the plan for next weekend?

........and I'm not jealous at all, not a bit, not the slightest little bit MUCH!


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## Murdoch (Aug 25, 2010)

Congratulations guys,
Bloody awsome barra season so far.


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## kayakone (Dec 7, 2010)

Barrabundy said:


> ........and I'm not jealous at all, not a bit, not the slightest little bit MUCH!


Con
That is unmitigated BS. You're jealous as. :lol:

trev


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## malhal (Jul 8, 2008)

I spent 13hrs at work loading a ship at the harbour from 3am instead of 8hrs sunday. You guys have cut me deep.

Cheers Mal


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## Slide (Oct 25, 2007)

I spent 3.5 hours paddling round and round Slade Island for one ribbonfish, and I could have been in the river slaying barra  
Great fishing fella's


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## carnster (May 27, 2008)

That's what i'm talkin bout.


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## kayakone (Dec 7, 2010)

carnster said:


> That's what i'm talkin bout.


Yep...no crocs on the Goldie (cause I haven't been there yet  ), but what about crooks?

trev


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## bundyboy (Sep 6, 2009)

Wowsers what a great session you guys had Sunday, good stuff. Here is my tag on trip reports for Friday, Saturday and Monday&#8230;

*Day One - Friday 5/10/12 *
Hit the Pioneer River between Edmund Casey and Ron Camm Bridges around the early morning low tide on Friday. Lost my first fist of the day within the first half an hour&#8230;a sizable flathead of about 50-60cm. Despite losing another solid feeling fish (barra I suspect) around the rocks near the pipeline beside Ron Camm Bridge I still came away with a few fish including a 51cm flatty, and three legal bream the biggest going 33.5cm, a new PB for me. The biggest of the bream fell victim to a 100mm paddle tail soft plastic on 4/0 size jighead, man it must have been hungry.









*Day Two - Saturday 6/10/12*
After a brief barra encounter yesterday I decided to head further upstream to Dumbleton Saturday on the hunt for my first legal barra of the season. A few solid taps around my first spot but no fish until I headed upstream to our usual spot. Three barra in quick succession from the one spot as the water started to warm up. First fish went 63cm which took me a little while on the 4lb bream setup. First legal barra for the season&#8230;check! The two other barra were both high 40's. I had a few enquiries fishing the deeper holes, but the only other fish caught at Spot X was a 59cm giant herring&#8230;which was just as much fun as the barra to catch. Coming back through the rapids I was throwing the usual weapon around which was scoffed by what felt like a decent bream until it just kept going and going. Finally saw some colour and it was red&#8230;42cm of Dumbleton jack. Not a bad effort considering the very shallow and fast flowing rocky flats I pulled it from with the light gear once again.

























*Day Three - Monday 8/10/12*
Back up to Dumbleton again hoping to get onto a few larger barra similar to those caught Sunday by the other lads. I was tempted to race straight up to Spot X however I had all day so I took my time and had a flick around a few different spots on the way. I had four fish in the net before reaching Spot X, three bream between 30 and 33 and a barra of around 45cm. Not bad going when you can pull 30+cm bream off snags as barra bycatch. Things were pretty quiet at Spot X although there were plenty of fish arches and bait balls showing the on the sounder. Had a sizable barra follow my plastic just about to the yak before it got spooked and did a quick u-turn, scaring the absolute shyte out of me. Hooked and lost first jump another sizable barra estimated to be 80+cm which was disappointing to say the least. I did however pick up a nice jack bouncing a big plastic along the bottom in the same spot, at 43cms and a new PB for me it was too good to pass up for dinner. Also hooked and lost another legal(ish) sized barra in the shallows roughly where I nabbed the jack on Saturday. I saw the fish come from the deeper water up into the shallows, check the lure out for a bit while I paused the retrieve, then bang I was on&#8230;.gotta love how close to the action you are in a yak. Three trips, over a dozen reasonable fish caught and half a dozen that got away&#8230;I'll get you next time.


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## malhal (Jul 8, 2008)

Nice effort. I have a mate up from Gladstone on the weekend and we may hit Dumbleton either sat or sun.
If we drink too much I have monday and tuesday off at this stage as well.

Cheers Mal


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## mackayaker (Aug 14, 2010)

Some nice fish there Brett, I cant wait to get up there again this weekend. This time I am going to target some of those nice jacks you have been getting onto.

Cheers Scotty


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## AJD (Jul 10, 2007)

Top effort boys. That 97cm fish is a big unit. Looks like a big fish BBQ up your way!


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

Missed this report thinking it was the other one, never mind, I don't pay attention!

Pity about the ones that got away but those jacks are well and truly worthy fish to take home. You guys seem to be really getting amongst them now!


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## squidlips (Nov 24, 2008)

Holy crap - that barra is a ripper! :shock:


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## Junglefisher (Jun 2, 2008)

It's shaping up as a great barra season here in CQ, sounds like NQ is having a good one too. It's gonna suck when November rolls around.


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## mackayaker (Aug 14, 2010)

Here are some photos of the trip out on Sunday taken by Waterboy.

Cheers Scotty


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## Ado (Mar 31, 2008)

I caught a Flathead the other day  .

You guys have the life. I've never even seen a Barra caught. My bucket list has holes in it. Well done on the trips and thanks for the great reports.


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