Bonding Moments

[El Presidente]

You have all been there before I am sure. The perfect weekend away planned .......and then God has a cackle 

Background. For my 60th, my two sons arranged a 2 day fishing trip 4 1/2 hours drive away in country Queensland at Lake Monduran which is a legendary big Barramundi fishing locale. 

This is what a big Barramundi looks like at Lake Monduran. No....this isn't us. 

Lake Monduran is a trek to the middle of nowhere and a 34 square mile water monolith filled with woody hiding spots for this brilliant sportsfish. 

We thought it would be a good idea to tow the boat up. Myself and the two sons (Ben and Tom) have equal shares in the boat and looked forward to taking the boat out in this mythical big fish lake.  Still, I know my stuff and decided to hire one of two professional guides on this massive expanse of water. We were to do two sessions with "Jake" ....one on the Friday evening and one on Saturday morning /half day. 

Ben had it worked out. 4 1/2 hour road trip, leave 8am, lunch at a country pup in the town of Gin Gin (population a couple of 100)  20 minutes out from lake Monduran, check in at 2pm to the three bedroom lake house and meet Jake at 4PM for the evening fish. As a dad, I took it upon myself to take up copious beers, rum, whiskey, tomahawk steaks, sausages, eggs, bread rolls and 4 loose leaves of salad (for dressing). 

What could go wrong? 

90 minutes from our destination, both tyres on our boat trailer blew on the highway. 

Yep...the other one was much the same. 

Ben was driving  and he safely pulled over off the highway but we were in a pickle. One spare, two tyres down, nearest town (Maryborough) 30 minutes away and not much chance of finding the exact wheels for our trailer at nearing 12:30Pm on a Friday.  We put a plan in action. Decouple the boat/trailer on the side of the road and the lads scoot off to Maryborough to do their best.  I stayed with the boat. 

One wheel/was eventually found in Maryborough. Another eventually found in the town of Childers a further 30 minutes away. 

I had a litre of water and a cigar while I waited. It was around 33 degrees Celsius, humid and on a freeway. We eventually got it sorted 3 1/2 hours later and were back on our way. I had  a nice little case of heat stroke and a splitting headache. 

We rolled into Monduran at near 6PM. I had travelled to Hong Kong quicker the week prior. Jake was waiting for us on the boat ramp and I told the boys to go and fish without me. I needed a beer, a rum a cigar and some down time. They dashed out.....to the wrong boat ramp... but eventually caught up with the ever patient Jake. 

Jake runs a professional bass boat imported from the USA. More screens that the space shuttle with a livescope set up on the front. I haven't witnessed a livescope in action before but essentially for the non fisherman out there, you find the fish, you cast to the fish and you see everything in glorious real life as you bounce the lure off the fishes head. 

The fish were timid. Ben landed a nice one and Tom dropped a 1.2 metre Barramundi next to the boat. he didn't quite tie his knot correctly. Devastated to say the least but all was looking promising for the morning session with Jake. The lads arrived back to the house at midnight and fishing was scheduled again for 4:30am. 

This was Ben's night time catch. One day he will look at his first child like this. 

We hit the water early. it was going to be a Barramundi slaughter. 

8 hours on the water. Travelled maybe 40 km. 

Livescope was working brilliantly. We were bouncing lures off the head of  giant fish. It was hot as Hades but we were pumped. 

Fish Tally:   0  

Jake our guide was devastated but told us that if they were not biting in the am they would be biting late afternoon early evening as the "Barra" needed to feed. He instructed us to take our boat out at 4Pm and fish through to 9pm. The "bite window' was 6Pm to 9PM. he sent through some fishing marks on the other side of the lake where we would no doubt be in Barramundi heaven. 

We jumped in the boat at  and travelled across this mammoth tree filled lake at 4:30Pm and gunned it for 45 minutes before flicking our lures in great anticipation of the "bite window". 

Nada. Zilch. 

It was getting dark and so we made a plan to head back in this unfamiliar water moonscape to a place closer to the home. Made sense as there was no moon and becoming darker and darker as the minutes flew by. 

Our boat light went out. 

Let me cut this short. it took us near 4 hours to head back at 5 knots as we could only see a few metres ahead us at a time. I couldn't take a photo as it was too dark. 

It started to rain. 

Back at the house on midnight, we were mentally and physically knackered. We decided on a relatively early departure and hit the local Gin Gin bakery for a few of their famous meat pies. Ben talked up this bakery over the weekend no end. I don't eat meat pies as a rule but after this weekend from hell I was going to indulge. A good feed and then 4 1/2 hours drive home. Unfortunately we hit traffic coming into Brisbane so 5 1/2 hours. No problem, the pies would make up for it. 

The bakery was closed. 

.....it was a great "bonding" weekend 

 

 

 

[riderpride]

But permanent memories were implanted on the boys. A whopping success by a father's measure. 

The last pic still looks like all were relieving themselves overboard. Just a note for next time - the fish don't like it.

Cheers!

[Li Bai]

Memories for life, without a doubt.

That trip will still be remembered with laughters in decades, had everything gone smoothly it might not have been the case 😉

[ha_banos]

And not the mention of the utterance of one expletive. Come on...who was the potty mouth?

[El Presidente]

2 hours ago, ha_banos said:

And not the mention of the utterance of one expletive. Come on...who was the potty mouth?

We held our shit together pretty well. When it comes to expletives, I am generally the culprit. Ben can let a few fly. Tom is "cool hand Luke". 

[Fuzz]

The best laid plans of mice and men.

[WestCoastSmokin]

And that’s why they call it fishing not catching 😂 ahh oh well. The memories with the boys will last you and them a life time! Glad everyone got home safe! 

[helix]

Trailer tires can disrupt an itinerary.

[madandana]

Would have been easier and quicker to fly down to Texas. I would have put you on the fish. 😂 🎣🐟🐠

[joeypots]

On 3/26/2025 at 2:05 PM, riderpride said:

But permanent memories were implanted on the boys. A whopping success by a father's measure. 

Cheers!

Indeed, I seem to remember the challenges encountered on trips more than the smooth sailing. 

Boats...anyone with nautical experience who says they have never been in trouble with their boat is lying. Fresh, salt, river, lake, ocean, big or small things can go south in a heartbeat. 

On 3/26/2025 at 1:01 PM, El Presidente said:

Our boat light went out. 

Let me cut this short. it took us near 4 hours to head back at 5 knots as we could only see a few metres ahead us at a time. I couldn't take a photo as it was too dark. 

It started to rain. 

Been there done that. We were fishing in the ocean when the wind picked up and the harbor light went out. It got rough and dark. The fact that we caught a 21 Lb blue fish (that’s pretty big) was nothing compared to the thrill of getting back into safe water. 

[SUP8333]

Should have used some Cuban cigars as bait, you might have caught one of us there.