Episode 183: Lake Monduran Barramundi With Rusty Townsend

Rusty’s Top Monduran Barra Tips

• Spend some time researching the lake and have a map when you arrive there. Identify points and bays that are exposed to the wind and position yourself with the wind at your back.
• Stable, constant wind that blows from the same direction for a few days results in good barra fishing because the fish move to those areas where the wind is accumulating food and oxygenating the water.
• Don’t go too light on Monduran barra. The fish in this system are not leader shy and there’s plenty of structure for them to drag you into. Rusty recommends 50lb line and 80lb leader so that you don’t hook the fish of a lifetime and never get the chance to see it!
• During early autumn the water is quite warm and a lot of fish are in water of 10m or so depth but are sitting about 2m down in the tops of submerged trees. As the weather cools some fish will move to the shallower water around the points while others will go a little deeper. The deeper fish in cooler water can be targeted with vibes.
• Rusty likes the periods a few days either side of the moon, especially when that coincides with a few days of consistent wind (doesn’t matter what direction the wind comes from). However, he’s caught plenty of quality fish on all phases of the moon. Consistent wind and temperatures, especially with major bite times around early morning or late afternoon are the ideal scenario.
• During Autumn Rusty typically starts his day by fishing among tree tops in the bays into which the wind has been blowing. As the wind starts to strengthen he’ll move to the points and fish in deeper water around 4-6m. During evenings he’ll concentrate on shallow water around the points.

Rusty’s Monduran Barramundi Tackle

• Rusty prefers baitcast gear over spin for the control it gives him when playing fish. He favours shorter rods of 6ft or 6’6” and likes to use 6-10kg Barra Raider rods with Curado reels
• Spin gear works well too. Again, Rusty prefers shorter rods of around 6ft coupled with 4000 size reels.
• Power Pro braid (50lb) and Black Magic supple mono leader (80lb) complete the outfit. Rusty likes a longer leader and connects his lures with a loop knot rather than a clip, however he’s happy to not replace his leader until it gets to 50cm or less in length.

Rusty’s Barra Fishing Lures

• The Jackall Squirrel 79DD is a great suspending lure that catches most of Rusty’s autumn barramundi in Monduran. When fishing for Barra suspending in the submerged tree tops he likes to fish the lure very slow, with long pauses. Fish will almost always hit the lure on the pause. Cast well past or over the top of the timber, crank it down a little then work the lure as slowly as possible with plenty of long pauses. The Jackall Hank Tune is a larger version with a wider action but also works well.
• The Lucky Craft Pointer DD and Pointer XD also take plenty of barra from Lake Monduran and are fished in much the same way as the Jackall Squirrel. These lures have a wider action and are a little larger than the Squirrel.
• Rusty usually has a bunch of rods rigged with the above selection of lures and will keep working the various options until he find what’s working.