# Awonga Calling - "The Report"



## Biggles (Jan 6, 2008)

After almost 8 weeks of nail biting anticipation our trip to Lake Awonga West of Gladstone was about to become a reality. Our accommodation booked and confirmed over the phone, the trailer packed, tackle checked, re-checked and then double checked, we were ready. The ugly crew for this epic adventure included the following group of roosters, Terry (TerryH), Paul (Nodds), Lee (PCsolutionman), Adam (Lee's 16yr cousin visting from Sydney) and yours truley. Lee was on a mission to beet his previous PB standing at 104cm, Terry wanted to crack the 1 Metre mark, Adam wanted to catch every fish in the lake, while Paul and myself just wanted (desperately & secretly) our first ever barra. Neither of us had been fishing for barra ever and our anticipation was high in the hope of getting our first. With the yaks and all the gear loaded, we filled up with "RedBull" and headed North.
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We arrived at the Awonga cabins around lunch time, unloaded our gear and made a beeline straight for the dam, a quick arvo pre-fish was on the menu in preparation for "the big one" on Friday morning. We were met at the ramp by Doug (Dougout) who had been following our forum count down and wanted to come and say g'day. We rigged our gear and shoved off in the direction of Dingo Island about 7km to the West, Doug choosing to stay closer to the ramp because of having no lights come sundown.
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We were on the troll early following the depressions of the old creek bed clearly visible on the sounder, I had out a couple of Predetek's and I was real keen to get a good fish on my new rod that Lee had delivered only that morning. My second/backup rod was another of Lee's creations that he made for me 6 months ago, I was running a 2500 Sol reel, 15lb braid with a 50lb leader which seemed a little small for these big fish on this particular rod.
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Almost to Dingo Island around an hour and a half after launch at it happened, BANG zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz the little rod in the rear holder went spastic, I reached back grabbed it and made a conscious decision not to tell anyone, I just wanted to pull in this fish and then holla out that I had the first one, wrong, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz holy mother of god zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz "I'm on", I'm ON, I'M ON zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Oh crap these things can pull hard and I knew I had a good fish. All the lads quickly got their own gear in and came to help at break neck speed, Lee on the camera, Terry came in a retrieved my second rod and Nodds was on his camera as well at that point. After about 5 mins I could see my leader but had no colour, what's doing here???, then she floated to the surface and lay beside the yak, Oh my this is not a Barra, this was a HUGE barra and everyone did their bit to help secure this prize fish. Terry came straight back in again and helped with the bigger boga grips, Nodds came to the other side and released the bail arm on the reel Lee still recording my adventure, and Adam watching the whole time with eyes as big as dinner plates.
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I had done it, my first ever barra within 1.5hrs, she went 116.5cm on the mat and all done on the yak, how happy was I?. We made a conscious decision not to release this fish but to eat barra fillets and support the official line that metre plus barra should be removed from the impoundment. Lee and I headed for the nearest foreshore for some more pics as we were loosing daylight quickly, while Terry and the boys went back to the task at hand.

There are several chapters to our 4 days away and this is only the first instalment, others include Nodds smashed my 116.5 PB barra a short time later that evening with a whopping horse at 125cm, we have tales from Baffle Creek, Matty Mott's charters, Nodds first mangrove jack and Dr Biggles operates on Lee. Our chapters will evolve over the next few days along with many many pics. I would like to thank the guys for helping me secure my first ever barra, in particular Terry (midget) Hessey who helped secure my prize before any head shaking, thanks mate. Great to also meet Doug and enjoy a nice cold beer.

Regards
Al


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## Biggles (Jan 6, 2008)

A few more pics of interest.
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Regards

Al


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## BJM (Oct 5, 2008)

AMAZING !
Great read, look forward to the other chapters for sure


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## azzaroo (Aug 17, 2007)

looks like a killer trip :lol: those barra pics r awesome :twisted:


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## Sellz (May 3, 2008)

Massive Barra.......& some great pics!! A trip to remember.


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## YakCult (Nov 4, 2008)

What an exciting read, Al!!
Catching that monster must have been the equivilent of a carton of Redbull!!!  
Great pics - great report......
Many thanks for the first installment!


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## DougOut (Dec 31, 2006)

a great report Al, well done 8) 
my Hat's still off to Paul and yourself for achieving exactly what you had set-out to do.
Excellent work men, first Barra/s and over that magic 100cm mark .... *from Yaks* .... top effort all round 
I thoroughly enjoyed meeting up with you guys ( always good to put faces to names and meet fellow AKFFers )
must do it again and better luck to me, next time ;-) 
really should get myself a torch or two  :?


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## butts (Oct 7, 2007)

Gday Fella's

Well done Al on the Barra mate (was it uncomforatable to pedal after you caught her :shock: )
And congrats goes to all the helpers that were willing to lend a hand. It's great to have the comaraderie with a good bunch of blokes on a trip like that. Well done boy's.

Butts...


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## Rstanek (Nov 5, 2007)

Well done Al and Nodds on those two monsters, can't wait to hear the rest of the tales! Al, what is the reason for taking 1m+ barra out of the impoundment? Do too many barra in the ecosystem stunt the growth of the littler ones (like redfin)?


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## Biggles (Jan 6, 2008)

Thanks guys, as I understand it the much bigger barra eat the smaller ones.

Al


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## ArWeTherYet (Mar 25, 2007)

Your a bloody legend Al! 
Sounds like a great trip.......125cm barra :shock: , great work Nodds . What were the conditions up there? Stormy? hot? was the dam full? What colour lure?....stuff I need to know. 

OK so what did the big show off Lee get?........come on he must of got at least a 130cm one......cant be that he was out classed. :shock: :lol:


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## pcsolutionman (Apr 9, 2007)

Well what an awesome 4 days away with the boys. We got to awoonga thursday arvo and hit the water for a session, straight to the submerged weed beds we pulled the fish from last year and as we approached them Al got absolutley smashed on a Gold and green Viper, well ill let this video footage I took tell the story.

PLEASE NOTE IF U ARE OFFENDED BY THE F WORD DONT WATCH






thats my first installment more to come soon

Lee


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## fourbee4 (May 6, 2008)

Al,

Great Fish Congratulations. Looking forward to reading the other installments.

Great Video. Was that Gordon Ramsay doing the commentating?

Cheers
Fourbee4


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## mcbigg (Jul 14, 2007)

Absolutely awesome work boys!

Always love a video in a report too!

Sounds like a trip to remember.


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## pcsolutionman (Apr 9, 2007)

After dark on the way back from dingo Paul got onto an awesome fish, he was yelling for us for a little while b4 we heard him he was yelling against the wind when we did hear him we turned back and headed to give assistance if needed, I was first on the scene, as I approached all I could see was whit water and hear loads of spashing. well after a couple of misshaps (Ill let paul tell u about them) he landed a absolute horse of a barra. heres a few more pics




























Next Awoonga day 2 Terry and Lee hit the water with MAtty Mott

Lee


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## sbd (Aug 18, 2006)

Fantastic, great pics & vid too. They're big mothers.


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## keza (Mar 6, 2007)

jesus those are some big fish
well done guys, looks like a great trip.


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## onemorecast (Apr 17, 2006)

How could the word #uck not enter into those battles. Well done just doesn' suffice!

I'm still plannin my trip to Awoonga in Feb, I hope you pros might see clear to drop a couple of pointers my way. But that will wait, I want to hear more!


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## Prawndog (Jan 9, 2008)

What the...

That is a big effort boys, great stuff.

Howd they taste?

Did you use the scales as your dinner plates to save doing the dishes, you could have if you wanted 

PD


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## pcsolutionman (Apr 9, 2007)

Day 2 Awoonga

We slept in after having a few celebratory drinks after the great session we had first up. too hot middle of the day so it was going to be another arvo/ Evening session. Matty Mott was staying in the Cabin across from us. so we went and had a chat to get all the goss. He had got 2 that morning and 9 the previous morning with some clients, so 
Terry and I hit him up to take us out for a charter that Arvo, he wasnt all that keen to start but after a quick chat and realising we had a good idea and wanted him to be fishing with us he was onboard. We set out at about 3:30pm in his boat and headed over to some banks he had been having some success on. Tied on some plastics and proceeded to work a nice drift along the bank bouncing plastics along the top of the weed. it didnt take long and Terry was on, well for a little while






Nothing more doing on that bank so over to nother little bay, worked hard there for nothing then across the dam to anohter point where Matty picked up this little feller






Getting darker now and we are in a new bay, I almost got my rod ripped from my hands but it didnt hook, Then a min later Terrys on in the same spot.






that was it for the Charter, no fish landed but loads of hits and dropped fish and we certainly learnt a fair bit from a true champ, thanks a lot Motty. I would reccommend a charter with him any day.

Lee


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## keza (Mar 6, 2007)

jeez it was dark :lol:


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## pcsolutionman (Apr 9, 2007)

mm the original video is DARk but not that dark. oh well u get the idea

Lee


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## paulo (Nov 1, 2007)

What a sensational trip fellas. I was pissed when I realised I couldnt make the trip and extra cranky I couldnt make it now!! :twisted: Well done Paul and Al on two absolute horses and the rest of the team supporting you.


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## pcsolutionman (Apr 9, 2007)

its all good still loads to come, Still 2 days fishing at Baffle crek to report on this includes Jacks,GT's,Cod,Flathead,Grunter etc

Lee


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## Biggles (Jan 6, 2008)

paulo said:


> What a sensational trip fellas. I was pissed when I realised I couldnt make the trip and extra cranky I couldnt make it now!! :twisted: Well done Paul and Al on two absolute horses and the rest of the team supporting you.


That's probably the one big thing at that continues to impress me the most Paul, when you get onto big fish the rest of the crew are there to support. We do it so often it just becomes natural after a while, but when you are onto really big fish it makes the difference between boating and not, especially if you want to release your catch with a minimum of fuss. This fish busted one trebble in half and straightened 2 others, so close to being lost. I was pleased Terry was with me on this occasion.

Al


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## CameronH (Nov 28, 2008)

Awesome trip fellas, great footage too, now if i can just convince the wife i need to be in qld for abit, keep up the good work guys very inspiring.
Cheers Cameron


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## spottymac (Aug 29, 2005)

Awesome fishing guys, well done,


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## Wrassemagnet (Oct 17, 2007)

absolutely amazing! congrats all round. :shock:


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## JTC (Oct 19, 2007)

Great report Al, and congrats on an awesome fish....

Come on Nodds, we need to hear your account now.

Keep the reports and pics flowing... Loving it!

Cheers,

Jason


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## mickldo (Nov 29, 2008)

Awesome trip guys.

I didn't know Barra were related to whales :?


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## Nativeman (Sep 6, 2005)

Amazing footage, showing sheer exhilaration, :shock: :shock: :shock:

Well Done to Al and Nodds.

A great Team effort.

The fact that you made it up to Dingo is amazing too, that's a long way on that dam, you must have had great weather.

Who needs a Boat, Yaks rule 8)

Cheers


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## Cuda (Sep 18, 2006)

Yep, it has all been said in previous posts - bloody awesome Barras there Al & co :shock: Big Barras certainly get the blood pumping eh and you have great memories to treasure for many years to come after that trip


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## MangoX (Feb 18, 2006)

Mammoth Fish :shock:

Well done on a trip to remember. Loving the video reports, keep them coming

Love your new avatar Al.... so jealous..

Come on Eric, Ken, Steve !!! gotta be pumped on making the Barra Road Trip happen in 09 ....


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## Dodge (Oct 12, 2005)

Al and Paul a couple of magnificent meteries fellers... congrats and look forward to the next episode on the trip


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## madkeensam (Jul 27, 2008)

Bloody hell top report guys.  
Great video as well, I think it deserves a golden globe award. :lol:


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## RedPhoenix (Jun 13, 2006)

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

----

QlpoOTFBWSZTWUd15MYAAA9XgAAQYAMwhBEgL++eICAAYIp+iZCTepHqemoemKFAAAAAIIZWomPlTE66wpJI+7LzOJ7vyEJrUl+W4TjBqV55vKndd9eGgG24RurmwIAgHMaxmWXemn6dXbydYwBGmwpFf4u5IpwoSCO68mMA


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## Biggles (Jan 6, 2008)

*Day's 3 & 4 @ Baffle Bob's*

Saturday morning 0600hrs and the anticipation was again beginning gather momentum, we were destined for Baffle Bob's caravan and holiday park located on Baffle Creek near Rules Beach. I had never been to this part of the coast nestled in the quiet surrounds of country life, somewhere half way between Bundaberg and the town of 1770. We checked we had everything right down to the Google Earth spots and Nodds pointed out one spot and said, "Jack lives there". Apparently Nodds has lived in every town in Queensland or knows someone who did :shock:
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We had been told of and heard rumours of big mangrove jack, Queenies, GTs, wild barra and all your regular river / esturary species down at Baffle, and although not really admitted to, the sore heads were disguised well as the boys were keen to hit the road. We stopped at the local servo on the road out of town filled up on pies, lollies and RedBull, Terry even stocked up on juice.
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We arrived at Baffle Bob's around mid morning and were instantly greeted with local stories like "the Jack were going off last week", "there's barra at the mouth", "crap those yaks are cool, how much are they??, you blokes got sounders on there, Aaaaarh you peddle them heh", you get the drift. After stowing our gear we headed straight for the ramp and decided some quick livies would be the go. The water temperature was very warm and very inviting so getting wet this weekend was not going to be an issue. Lee waded in to about knee deep and then, "Oh Bugga", the look on big Shreck's face was somewhat bemused as he said I just cut my foot on an oyster. What transpired next was like a scene from Jaws as Lee exited the water that had turned a blood curdling red, Terry was heard to say something like harden up Lee we going fishing. As Lee sat on the boat ramp watching blood spurt from his foot, you could clearly see for the first time he wasn't sure quite what to do next. Nodds suggestion of a quick trip to the doctor for some stitches was met with utter contempt, how dare he suggest such a thing we are here to fish. With no first aid kit between any of us (note to self), I walked back to the car and took out my $500 towel given to me by SWMBO as an anniversary present last year, camly took out my filleting knife and cut a long wide strip from one side and and gave it to the big fella. Righty ho, we are away for a quick afternoon sesh.
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The lads picked up all the usual species, flatties, grunter bream, small jack as we explored this beautiful pristine water. I found some real quiet water that looked good and decided to flick a Jackall toward the mangroves. I was absolutely smashed twice in this area, done by a couple of jack who now had $30 lures suck to their top lips, these fish really can play with your mind if you let them.

Mid afternoon and the worms biting because it was much more important to be on the water than to have some lunch before we departed, we headed back toward Baffle Bob's and ice cool drinks, ice creams and juice for Terry. In the case of Shreck's foot, I got the big shella a cold drink and stitched his flesh back together with some sterile strips, disinfectant and some elastoplast that I brought from Bob's shop. We all had a rest, washed up and headed for the Baffle Creek hotel, hot pizza, cold beer and a few games of pool on offer.
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More to come later, maybe.

Al


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## Choicey (Nov 29, 2008)

> I walked back to the car and took out my $500 towel given to me by SWMBO as an anniversary present last year


Geez what the !! a $500 towel.

A. What were you doing with a $500 towel in the car ??
B. There is no way I would have been using that on the big girl.. lol

Heading up that way myself in a few weeks.. So thanks for the heads up on a couple of fishing options.
Hopefully we hook into the Barra half as much as you blokes.

Cheers


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## crazyratwoman (Feb 26, 2007)

wow Al... that barra's awesome! I bet yr still on a high hehe


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## paffoh (Aug 24, 2006)

Well done, cant comment anymore than others have already! ( That will take some topping )

Next time leave Lee at home, I concur with the WTF $500 towel though (Gold weaved monogram?)

What did you tell the missus?


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## Biggles (Jan 6, 2008)

paffoh said:


> Next time leave Lee at home, I concur with the WTF $500 towel though (Gold weaved monogram?)
> 
> What did you tell the missus?


LMAO, I told SWMBO my mate Shreck was bleeding to death and had no choice.

Al


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## onemorecast (Apr 17, 2006)

MangoX said:


> Come on Eric, Ken, Steve !!! gotta be pumped on making the Barra Road Trip happen in 09 ....


Oh I'm still keen..not doubt. Thought I'd give the intended trip a bump just before Christmas as I've been flat out with work for the past 5 weeks and haven't had a chance to think about it until I read this thread. 125 cm Barra! :shock: Now that's what I call a PB!


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## varp (Sep 12, 2005)

My GAWD!!!!

    

Massive congrats. Unbelievable....

Don't normally read reports that aren't local.....images of those mega barra are why...


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## Nodds (Feb 28, 2007)

Hello and sorry for not getting on here sooner but every time I've gone to get on and post my report someone has turned up or rang for a yarn.

So I found the time today and my bloody camera wont download due to lost cord :? :twisted: so it;s off to get a new cord tomorrow if at all possible.

A big CHEERS to all that have responded to the reports so far, it's still a little hard to grasp that fish like that can be got on your first go :shock: :shock:

I will post my report tomorrow if I can get the pics in my comp but the other boys have done a cracker of a job so far I recon.

cheers nodds ( with a new PB AND A HUGE SMILE      )


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## pcsolutionman (Apr 9, 2007)

Baffle Creek

Day 1

Got to BAffle bobs and decided to go hit bottle creek fro some jacks that arvo, Got out on the water after a nice cut to my foot (thanks DR BIGGLES) I started wokin the edges for a while with a rapala Xwrap shallow diver but without any luck so i decided to tie on a MAd Mullet and get down a little deeper faster, didnt take long and I landed a nice little JAck in the early thirties










headed further up bottle where I almost got my rod ripped clean out of my hands by a suspected JAck, I cas the area with the Mad mullet for a couple of mins then swapped to the other rod which had a slick rig on it and first cast ZZZZzzz im on this thing had some toe and was headin straight for the snag then nothing the hooks Pulled hmy: dam. Picked up a 45cm flatty and a couple of grunter bream on the troll back. I dont think any of the other boys caught anything first arvo

had a great dinner and shot some pool at the tavern that night B$ an early start the next morning

Day 2

Terry Adam and myself decided to head towards th mouth hopefully chassing a queenie or trev while Al and Paul headed upstream in search of a Jack, got on the water and started throwing some poppers and metals along the way. Adam was first to hookup with a small GT of about 30cm, then he got absolutley smashed on the surface by something that bhit him clean off lol. next it was Terrys turn on a metal this time solif hookup and he called it for a good fish and that it was as I was coming towards him I see a nice queenie leap clean out of the water behing his yak then i hear a F**K, mm threw the hooks :blink: looked to be 80cm or so. not getting much until we turned for home. Terry jagged a ray then got onto this nice flathead that gave him a bit of curry



















he went 64cm a nice fish

I couldnt raise a scale to this point and it continued for a little whil with Terry getting hit after hit with little Moses pearch, COD and GRunter



















Then my luck changed with a little GT of only about 30cm then BANG ZZZZZZZZZZ ooh this is a bigger boy :woohoo: :woohoo: nice solid fish pulling some drag about time lol.










a couple of mins later I landed this nice Gt of 53cm










This was followed 2 mins later by another GT  this one went 50cm man they go hard










getting close to our launch site I picked up this nice Grunter bream that went 45cm










HEres a few more pics of the trip

Lee


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## Shorty (May 11, 2008)

I reckon Queensland has won the State of Origin for kayak fishing for 2008.

From Snapper to Barra and everything in between,,its been a top year for the banana peelers. 8)


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## rural (Mar 5, 2008)

Great work guys - those Barra look amazing! I've been reeding about Awonga for a while now and it would be great to get up there for a fish. I'll be in QLD over Christmas and may have to think about making a detour up to Gladstone ;-)


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## efc (Sep 19, 2006)

fishing will be very boring for you guys from now on! i really do feel for you 
those Baffle pics look like paradise

Just a few questions, whats the caravan park like up at baffle creek? Are the ramps fairly decent up there? Am i going to get eaten by a croc if i go swimming there?

cheers

Nick


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## youngfisho (Feb 13, 2008)

serious fish and a serious bit of trailer there. very nice setup

andrew


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## Zed (Sep 18, 2006)

FKNA!


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