He was keen to try and catch his first meter Barra in winter so I arranged to take him up to Monduran Dam where he hadn't fished before.
It was going to be a tough day with the forcast of clear skies and very little wind.
Normaly I love conditions like that for guiding but on the dams in winter when the Big Barra are mooching around in the shallows keeping warm, it can be very difficult as they spook very easily but they can be caught with a stealthy approach.
Monduran recieved a good dose of rain the previous week and the water was slightly discoloured and the temperature was down a few degrees from my trip there a few weeks earlier.
Later in the day when the water temp had just about peaked in the bay where I had Brad casting, his rod suddenly buckled over and the fight was on.
After a few tense minutes of jumps and head shaking by the Barra in the effort to free it's self, he glided a healthy Monduran winter Barra into the waiting enviro net.
He was a very happy angler to have land his first Barra over a meter and soon after there was another lost after a short battle on a soft plastic when the hook pulled and he missed another on the strike with the fish failing to hookup.
Here is a pic of a Black Swans nest I've been watching for a while from a distance and unfortunately the rising waters have forced the mother to abandon the nest leaving 7 eggs to go unhatched.
Mother nature works in strange ways sometimes but with 2 good increases in the water level in the last 2 months things like this are bound to happen.
I've also seen a few big dead Barra floating around the dam in different locations and wether it's from the cold or bad handling practices I'm not sure but it will be good when the temps start to rise again so none are lost to the cold like last year.
Brad it was a pleasure having you on board again and guiding you onto a memorable fish.
Paul
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