- Joined
- Jan 16, 2015
- Messages
- 181
- Reaction score
- 196
Hi all,
This year I took a 7 day break from gold detecting holiday in WA and flew to PNG exchanging the cold and rain around Kalgoorlie for tropical warmth. A very understanding wife and caravan & car was left at Perth.
It's always been my dream to catch a metre plus barra by lure casting and this has been at times a frustrating target.
After making several trips to the NT, 93 cms was the longest barra I had ever landed.
Friends returning from Bensbach spoke highly of the excellent fishing including many fish over the magical I metre mark. Bensbach is on the southern side of PNG, very very close to the West Papua border.
My first time to Bensbach two years ago, saw plenty of fish coming in including PB's for Saratoga but no XXL Barra. I did stuff up one blistering run and it probably was a very big fish, but inexperience by jamming my thumb on the spool for extra drag resulting not only in pulled lure but also a sorely blistered thumb.
This year, fishing was again good with barra each day but on day 4 it all came together. A 1.21 metre barra took my soft plastic and all 125 metres of braid leaving only a few turns of nylon backing on the bait-caster. Thankfully the indigenous guides showed exceptional boat handling skills in the strong current and amongst the snags to allow me to slowly recover line and 20 minutes later she was netted, photographed and released.
For the rest of the afternoon, a very happy angler just sat in the boat watching others fishing and looking forward to shouting the bar that night.
What's next on the bucket list, a 1 oz. gold nugget, hopefully this trip?
This year I took a 7 day break from gold detecting holiday in WA and flew to PNG exchanging the cold and rain around Kalgoorlie for tropical warmth. A very understanding wife and caravan & car was left at Perth.
It's always been my dream to catch a metre plus barra by lure casting and this has been at times a frustrating target.
After making several trips to the NT, 93 cms was the longest barra I had ever landed.
Friends returning from Bensbach spoke highly of the excellent fishing including many fish over the magical I metre mark. Bensbach is on the southern side of PNG, very very close to the West Papua border.
My first time to Bensbach two years ago, saw plenty of fish coming in including PB's for Saratoga but no XXL Barra. I did stuff up one blistering run and it probably was a very big fish, but inexperience by jamming my thumb on the spool for extra drag resulting not only in pulled lure but also a sorely blistered thumb.
This year, fishing was again good with barra each day but on day 4 it all came together. A 1.21 metre barra took my soft plastic and all 125 metres of braid leaving only a few turns of nylon backing on the bait-caster. Thankfully the indigenous guides showed exceptional boat handling skills in the strong current and amongst the snags to allow me to slowly recover line and 20 minutes later she was netted, photographed and released.
For the rest of the afternoon, a very happy angler just sat in the boat watching others fishing and looking forward to shouting the bar that night.
What's next on the bucket list, a 1 oz. gold nugget, hopefully this trip?