Fishing Dumbleton Weir - Mackay

Author: Carl

Category: Trip Reports

Created on Sunday, 14 March 2010 19:49

Written by Carl Holland

 With the wet season well and truly still here coupled with 20 - 35 knots us CQ guys had limited options for fishing today. Last year we had 3 days of rain in March, this year we would be lucky to get 3 days without rain. The ongoing rain has really damped the Barra fishing (pun intended) keeping the water temps down resulting in less active Barra. Last year I had 20 or so Barra caught by now and so today's efforts went into trying to correct the balance.

Deciding to target Dumbleton was a tradeoff against protection from the wind, the presence of Barra for the pro's and the con's were the tides and the water temperature. Dumbleton fishes best on low tide when the fish are forced into the holes, today I was fishing the high. With the fresh water still pouring over the weir the temperature would be right down.

As I drove there the heavens opened up and the wind had it flying horizontal making me question this whole exercise. However as I reached the launch the weather cleared somewhat and I didn't get any more rain. The track to the launch is so badly eroded that I came close to not getting back up after I set up the kayak, bottoming out in the soft soil I luckily avoided any significant damage.

Timing my launch to catch the last 2 hours of the incoming tide I made for upstream as a matter of priority since the tidal change would mean 4 metres for tidal movement. Add this to all the water coming over the weir and strong currents were the order of the day. The water as expected was following fast, cold and with the wind. With the wind behind me and going with the current I made quick time upstream. I trolled and cast the whole way without a touch.

As I got to the rocks I started to see people fishing both banks and by the time I got as far upstream as possible there were 15 people on any vantage point they could access. I did not see one person catch a fish and those I spoke with reported only one little barra and a couple of follows. One guy echoed thoughts about the tide and temperature and we parted, him heading through the scrub and me downstream. I now had the benefit of the outgoing tide and the fresh coming over to propel me along. However the wind had other ideas and I had a 20 - 30 knot wind bearing down on me face on, so much so it over powered the current some what.

Finding a sheltered spot I waited for the tide to drop so that the rock bars would be exposed and give more structure to cast to and concentrate the fish somewhat. Once the tide receded enough off I went trolling and casting both banks in an effort to raise any sort of fish. This is when the Barra hit a cast squidgy, it hit it once and missed then came back and nailed it leaping out of the water as soon as it felt the hook. This threw the lure and left me with mixed feelings of exhilaration and disappointment at the same time.

I start to head down stream now moving through the rock bars casting and trolling when my trolled lure gets hit big time. Securing my casting rig and grab the rod I feel a solid connection to a deep running fish, increasing the drag I was unable to stop the fish from putting a shallow rock bar between me and itself. Quickly running out of room I tighten the drag and started to utilize the abrasive qualities of the 50lb braid by trying to pull the fish over the wall. It works and I see the dark red colour of a big Jack, I have it clear only for the fish to run under the yak and lose itself amongst the branches of the fallen tree the wind has pushed me into. I spent nearly ½ an hour trying to get that fish out only for my leader to fail when I was just inches away from reaching it.

The flathead was a let down and it was quickly released without much ado soon after. Given the conditions of high winds and opposing water current I needed very little effort to make my way down stream which did feel strange especially since I was heading into the teeth of a very strong wind. Getting back home I was greeted by more heavy rain and really hope it buggers off soon.