Day 68 – Saturday 25 September 2021 –  ?Km

The alarm went off at 4am this morning, a quick breakfast then I am on the road out to Peter Faust Dam, a bit over 20km west of Proserpine. I am meeting a fishing guide at 5am at the boat ramp on the dam for a 6 hour session of barramundi fishing.  The temperature is 11C and there is a bit of fog on the road on the way to the dam. I arrive at the dam at 4.50am & as I get my bag & coat out of the car my fishing guide turns up with his shiny red bass boat in tow with a 160HP Mercury 4 stroke motor on the back of it. My fishing guide’s name is Col & he quickly gets the boat in the water & we are away from the dock just before 5am & blast across the dam in the dark at around 80 km/hr. This is a very big dam with a surface area of around 43 sq. kilometres and is renowned as the best barramundi fishing dam in Queensland. Col is following his tracks on his GPS unit & is missing all the trees sticking out of the water. He has some very powerful LED driving lights on the front of the boat that turn night into day.

We pull up in amongst a lot of dead trees & Col points out some big barramundi he can see on the side view sonar scanner. He hands me a fishing rod & we start casting lures towards where the fish should be as the dawn starts to approach & the stars start to fade.  We cast for a while & I get a tap on my line. Col explains that this is how the barramundi usually bite this time of year, not a big snatch & run that I am used to with other barramundi I have caught.  A few casts later & I am on to a big fish, it gives me a bit of a workout then I manage to get the fish close to the boat & I have to avoid the electric motor on the front of the boat so that the fish doesn’t wrap the line around it. I manage to drag the fish away from that & then it dives under the boat. My rod tip is under the water & way under the boat, I am desperately trying not to let the rod touch the boat as the rod may snap if it does. I manage to drag the fish out from under the boat, then it makes a few more short runs before I manage to turn it & get its head into the mouth of the net that Col is holding in the water.

Col gets the lure out & we try to measure the fish, it is a huge barramundi & gives a few more kicks as we try to measure it, 98 cm long & very fat. This barramundi is a beautiful deep golden colour with some brown on top, perfect disguise in the waters of this dam. I pick the fish up & Col takes a few photos on my phone before I return the barramundi to the water head first so that it gets a flow of water over its gills. We keep fishing in this spot as the sun comes up but no more luck. Col then takes us to another wooded spot in the shade of the hills & again, there are plenty of big barramundi on the fish finder, but no luck.  We try a few more spots then troll slowly to another spot, again no more luck. We finish in another nice spot with lots of big barramundi swimming past & I get one more touch but no fish. My arms are nearly falling off when it turns 11am & we call it a day. Col thinks the water temperature at 22C was too low, the temperature should have been around 26 or 28C for the barramundi to bite more freely. We blast back to the ramp at around 90 km/hr & Col wastes no time in getting the boat out. There are a few holiday makers with boats messing about around the ramp.

The air temperature is around 28C as I drive back into Proserpine through all of the cane fields. The town of Proserpine is marked by the tall smoke stacks billowing as it is in the middle of cane harvest time now & the sugar mill in town is working 24 hours a day. I get back to the caravan before midday & have a very quiet afternoon, I am exhausted from the full morning of fishing & the early start. A little later I head into town & buy some prawns & fresh buns for dinner, they are delicious. Tereza is still feeling unwell & is more subdued with dinner. We have a game of cards & then it is an early night for both of us. A good day.