On our December road trip down the east coast of Queensland, we stopped in at Proserpine and spoke with freshwater barra expert Lindsay Dobe about the latest impoundment barramundi techniques.
Lindsay owns the local Proserpine tackle shop Barra World and has also run barra charters to Lake Proserpine for many years. So he was just the man to speak with and brush up on my freshwater impoundment barra techniques.
As you may know, if you’ve followed my blog for a while, my focus for the last 30 years has been saltwater barra, but after a trip to Proserpine Dam landing a freshwater metery in two casts from the boat ramp, it renewed my interest in freshwater. We also decided to create a freshwater impoundment module for our Barra Basics students and this was the perfect location to do so.
Impoundment Barra Techniques
Our week long trip to Proserpine Dam was in early December 2016 and we spoke to Lindsay about the time of year and barramundi habits. It was also raging weather which didn’t help haha.
Lindsay explained that this time of year in the lead up to the wet season, the barra tend to aggregate in the deeper areas of the dam, close to the dam wall usually, as the big girls are instinctually wanting to head downstream to spawn.
Add to that the boney bream are also in spawning mode and a bit easier for them to catch and eat, so the big girls are not only schooled up but in feeding mode as well.
Related: If you’re looking for some basics around catching barramundi, read our getting started guide to barra fishing.
Basically we troll as a means to an end until we find the schooling fish, then use other luring techniques to entice a bite.
The Keitech Swing Impact Fats work well, as do smaller 95 vibes. Elephants eat peanuts as they say.
The smaller vibes generally have a better action, however a heavy leader tends to be a bit of a dampner. So you’ll need to trade off the possibility of losing the fish vs not getting a bite.
Watch the video below for the detailed discussion we had with Lindsay while at his shop Barra World in Proserpine.
Proserpine Dam is probably THE premium impoundment at the moment because there have been no lost fish with the dam overflowing. As I mention, I caught a metery in two casts from the boat ramp last time we were here. Be sure and drop in to Lindsay’s shop while you are there for up to date tackle and location advice.
Behind the scenes look at the the making of a whole new Barra Basics module: Impoundment Barra
Early December we spent a week at Prosperine Dam and created a whole new module for our ecourse Barra Basics.
For those of you that might not know, Barra Basics online course is a step by step guide to catching saltwater barra.
The new freshwater module is a mini version of the existing course complete with framework specific to freshwater impoundments, demo videos, and a full in depth interview with Lindsay Dobe with all the secret squirrel tips and techniques only for Barra Basics students.
Hope you enjoy the behind the scenes videos including getting caught in a rainstorm, releasing barotrauma in a big barra and underwater footage of my wife jumping in to untangle a big girl from a log.
The things we do for you guys haha
The short video below demonstrates how to release the gas inside barra suffering from barotrauma.
Comment below what you think of my wife’s effort with this fish.
This 120 cm big girl wrapped herself up in the reeds and I was about to give up but Karen was having none of it. What a woman!
If you are interested in finding out about Barra Basics just CLICK HERE
Jump on our free barra strategies workshop and find out how you can improve your catches next trip with some simple steps.
