Maroon Dam Boonah, 18 - 20 April 2008
Well what a great weekend, it was fun, the weather was crap and the fish were shy but we made the most of it.
We had 13 attendees for the weekend with Paul(PDO), Wazza(Seadog), Jeff(Jeprox), Steven(Steven M), Toni(Estuary Girl), Pete(Gigantor), Tom(Tomtre), Graeme(Gra), Gerard(Shoey), Brad(Fishbrain), Andrew(Turley) and myself of course turning up for the Weekend and Wayne(Wayne d) coming up Sunday morning for a fish.
PDO and I arrived Friday Morning to find Wazza almost set up, we had initially booked a site closer to the gates to access the dam but moved up to a higher flatter area with great views of the dam close to the BBQ and the amenities block. Shortly after Gra, Toni and Gigantor arrived and we all set up and soon were having some drinks and lunch before setting out for a fish for the afternoon.While we were out fishing Steven M and Turley arrived to be there for the friday night.
We knew the fishing would be tough with southerly winds blowing to about 25 knots with over cast conditions. Gra showed incredible skill to catch a fish on his first cast, a 30cm Yellowbelly. It was to be a tough afternoon for us with few fish caught. I had agreed to meet PDO at the sunken trees on dark, I was over there for ages then saw a flash in the distance toward our launch area. I peddled over to find Paul working the bank very close to our cars. Paul had caught already caught 5 off the surface when I got there and with us continuing to fish there he caught another 4 while I caught none to bring his total for the day to 9We went back to camp for the usual fun, food drinks and tall stories from Gra mainly. We all hit the sack early and Jeff came into the camp late that night after going to the Titans game to see his Broncos get beaten. We must have all been tired or full because not one of us heard him.
Next morning I woke at 4.00 am to get up early for a fish. I went over and woke up Paul and we were on the water by 5.15am, giving us about 45 minutes of fishing in the dark. Because Paul had caught so many fish the night before by using surface lures I started surface fishing with poppers and insect type lures. Paul continued to catch fish with many hits and misses also. I would work a spot only for Paul to come in behind me and catch a fish, it seemed I was teasing them and Paul was catching them. Turley also joined us and caught a great fish of 42cm on one of his first casts for the day. Finally after many hours of casting and hits and misses I caught one, a small one at 28 cm. Turley and Paul continued to catch fish while I went back to catching nothing.
We soon got hungry and headed back to camp for brekky around 9.00 am. Had Brekky and a relax with the others joining us after they had done their later morning session. Their stories were of not many fish about. We all had a relax, we had a show and tell of lures which was a learning experience for some of seeing the different array of lures we all had and then we decided to hit the water between 2 - 3. I had decided to go with Paul and Turley again with the plan to head up past the dead timber and around the corner to the end of the dam. I was getting frustrated as everywhere I went Paul was catching fish off the surface one after the other and I couldn't even get a hit. The wind came up and for some reason I decided to head off and find some others. Later I found this to be a huge mistake as Paul had a great session, catching 12 bass for the afternoon all off the surface again. Paul told us he was even changing a lure and had thrown the lure to the edge of the yak in the water and was about to pick up his rod and wind in the slack and cast again, but he couldn't as a Bass hooked up on his lure beside the yak, just incredible. I went off to find Wazza on the way who had lost his favorite lure after his knot pulled and Gigantor who had finally caught a fish. I stumbled upon the Hobie crew and soon there were four Hobies working a bay when gra hooked up to something massive as it snagged him up all so quickly. I tried to help by prodding my paddle along the bottom and also tried to talk Steven M into swimming for the mighty fish. But it was all for nothing as the leader soon broke under the force.We all went ashore and took refuge from a massive storm that was brewing in the dam. Mucking around as the Hobie boys do, while Gra was thinking of what could have been, bad luck Gra I made a run for it back across the dam before it got too dark as the winds were blowing straight into me at 30 knots, took me ages as I was exhausting and needed a few stops on the way over to catch my breath. Paul and I had planned to do a night session but I was exhausted and Paul was sick of catching fish as he had caught 12 that afternoon.
We made our way back to camp to find the Bass Boys had arrived for the electric comp the next day. Our campground had turned into Forest Lake ti was OK in the end, all was well. Fishbrain and Shoey had also joined us now with both of them bringing their sons. Later that night we gave out the prizes for the day with PDO getting first place with a bass measuring 42cm and because we did not have the noodle chuck because of the wind, Gra was given second prize for his 39cm bass.
The usual carried on through the night with more social drinks and Toni making us yet another cob loaf dip as she had done the night before, just sensational Toni. Next morning we were woken up by 30 - 50 bass boats moving out to launch for their competition and soon after we all joined them to have our final fishing session. Paul, Pete and Tom decided to pack up early and head home while the rest of us went for the fish.Wayne D also arrived to have a fish with us. I worked the bank where PDO had caught all of his fish and soon discovered they were not there mainly because all the bass boats had just launched there. It was very windy Sunday morning and I noticed Wayne D and Toni on the opposite bank, so I went over to them and suggested we go to the other end to get away from the dam, it was a long way over but worth it for me in the end any way as I finally caught my second fish for the whole weekend in some weed beds on a popper. I left soon after to go back to camp to find everyone packing up to leave. Wayne soon came back an hour later to report no fish for him.We all had a look at Wayne's new trailer and his new swing then most of us made our way home.
The weekend turned out well except the fish weren't playing the game and it showed just how good PDO has become as a Bass fisherman, he almost immediately realised the bass weren't feeding on the bottom and soon changed his tactics to fish the surface. In the end Paul caught 25 bass and took out the Saturday first spot and will collect the $50 Dollar Charltons fishing voucher tomorrow night at our meeting for the largest bass caught for the weekend, Well done Paul I'd like to thank everyone for coming along, the conditions and the fish were trying but we all still managed to have a great time, make some new friends and learn more from each other about our great sport. I can't wait for the next weekend trip, they are just too much fun.
Submitted by Sel