I'm a bit tired at the moment so I'll get it started and I'll add to it later on... feel free to add anything brad and correct any mistakes



Well as you all know Brad and I had two nights barra fishing at our favourite spot this weekend. We both knocked off work early and headed up to Samson quickly as we could on friday afternoon. It's still really early in the season but with 37.7 degrees that afternoon (officially it ended up getting to 38.6 a new highest maximum for september) we were confident the water temps would be good.



We launched and started heading into the chop. As we were wating for Anth and Co, we slowed down and I threw out a Classic 120. It wasn't long before I got a hit but it busted me off straight away, perhaps a school of little mackies?



Once Anth had caught up a bit we continued heading up towards the creek. It was a little uncomfortable but after we slowed down a bit it was fine. It was good having the wind on our backs. It wasn't long before we could see the mouth. Unfortunately Brad lost his track on the GPS so we just had to go by memory and eyesight to find the channel. Fortunately there was plenty of water and we made it in no dramas.







First things first we dumped all our gear at the camp spot and headed up to the shallows to catch some livies. Mullet were pretty scarce. We worked pretty hard all afternoon and we ended up with quite a few average sized ones but not the turbo's we were after. Once the sun went down we found the spot we were looking for and dropped the sand achor. It was time to start fishing.



We both threw our livies out and sat down for a beer, hopefully our afternoons hard work would bring in the goods. We had a couple of early hits but nothing that screamed barra. About 30 minutes into the session Brad had something playing around with his livie. He picked up the rod, ready to strike if it started taking line. It went quiet and then he came back for a second shot a couple of minutes later. He was still only playing around with it, not typical barra behavour.



Eventually it took the bait, brad struck and it was on. He launched out of the water and in the moonlight you could see him get fully airborne. Brad fished with a light drag as it is not snaggy ground, to give himself the best chance of landing the fish. Brad fought the fish for a good 10 min or so, with about 4 jumps thrown in it was one of the best barra fights I've seen. 



We didn't have a net but I was confident that we could leader the fish close to the boat and go for a lip grab. We tried, but he was still a bit green and took off. On the second shot I grabbed him with my left hand, then got my other hand in and pulled it into the boat. We layed him on the brag mat and confirmed he was 915mm. A couple of photos and he was in the water for the release. Brad swam him for quite a while, like you need to do with all big barra and after a while he gave a nice kick and was off.



Very satisfying experience letting those big barra go. Brad and I were stoked and now the pressure was off for the rest of the trip...





91.5cm





Brad is a very happy man...





Release shot



After we released him it was time to start fishing again. We were under the impression that it could have been the start of a good session but the remainder of the night was fairly quiet with a couple of half hearted runs and takes. I managed a small shovelnose and Brad managed a nice blue nose. After a couple of hours it was time to head back to camp for a cook up (sausages in bread with tomato chutney) and bed, ready for the following days fishing.



The following day we were up bright and early and after a good feed of B&E with some spaghetti it was time to gather some mullet. Brad landed a nice cast into his turbo mullet hole which gave us 5 honkers. That put the pressure off a bit. We busted our arses again trying to get some good mullet but it was hard work. We ended up getting a few and soon it was time to start fishing.





Early morning at camp





Brekkie!



Livies went out and thus started the waiting game. We put in quite a few hours with a bit of interest. Micks crew whom were fishing just down from us a bit got a nice boof but it managed to suck the mullet right off the hook. Brad had a couple of good runs but the barra weren't feeding very well. After a hard mornings work brad headed back to camp to get our lunch. A good feed of ham in buns with some of that delicious chutney went down well and then it was back into the fishing. The blue nose salmon kept us occupied while the barra were being difficult.





My little blue nose threadfin





Jonesy's blue nose



We put in a few more hours for nil luck and it was back to camp for a drink and an early dinner. We kept a few of our huge mullet for the night session. The evening wasn't any more eventful than the days fishing. We had a couple of nice hits but every thing failed to hook up and the barra weren't keen for a second shot at the bait. That's what you get when it's early in the season. The highlight of the evening was watching Brad go for a swim to collect our live bait bucket that had started floating down stream



We retired fairly early for a good nights sleep ready for the early start and trip home the following morning. It was a fairly unproductive trip but when fishing so early in the season we didn't really expect any more than what we got.



I'd like to thank Brad for taking me along, there's nothing better than good company and the opportunity to spend time fishing at one of my favourite fishing destinations. Seeing such a qaulity fish nailed early in the season is just a bonus. Well done mate!