Barramundi tackle

Keith ,

You need a baitcast reel with 30-50 lb braid on it . You will never need that strength but the diameters below this breaking strain get a bit hard to deal with .

If you are going to be casting more than trolling , I would suggest you get a low profile reel such as a Shimano Curado - it's what most of the guides use in the N.T.
I just tried out a new low profile baitcaster in November made by Okuma . The drag was better than the Shimano and it wqas brilliant to use and cheaper too.

If you will be trolling more than casting , then I would get a classic round style baitcast reel which will hold more line than the low profile and probably cost a lot less . Actually , I can sell you some nice ones for $50 which would do the trick , a rod as well for another $50 , but I do't know how I would send a rod . I have got so much barra gear , I don't know what to do with it .

You need a 5'6" graphite rod rated for 8 KG or maybe 10 KG if your a strong fella and you want to stop them getting to the snags .

Cheers ,

Willie .

Mate. Our local barra spot is Lake Awoonga and for the last 2-3 years has been producing some of the biggest impoundment barra in Australia, some of these horses are well over a meter in length and anywhere from 20-30kg. I know blokes who are using their mackeral rigs ie 40-60 pound mono or braid on an overhead real with 100 pound leader with basically a rod that resembles a broom handle, and their still looseing fish. Personally I like the challenge of catching large fish on light gear, My set up is a 5600 Ambassadore real on a 6ft Ugly Stik rod with about 100 yards of 40lb mono on the spool first then I fill the spool with 40lb braid with a meter of 60lb mono leader. The lure of choice for me are the Predateck Vipers they dive to about 4mtrs. I have a range of colours. Mind you not all my lures are Vipers but anything from 100mm long and over should do the trick to catch the big fellas. If your fishing from a boat, when trolling we have found that the best speed is the slowest, we have the boat just in gear with no throttle (just idleing).
I hope all this crap helps, It may not be the right way to do it but it's my way and it's worked so far.
Good luck on the weekend

Olly

I use an Abu Garcia 6500 overhead reel and mathcing Abu rod. I've been catching barra with it lately and it's got good quality 15lb mono on it. That line won't catch monsters but it'll catch decent, legal barra as long as your knots are good. I'd rather have 20lb braid on it but it's expensive. 20lb braid will handle most legal barra (it's breaking strain is usually much more than 20lb).

Be careful if you're going to put heavy braid on a baitcaster. You've gotta know when to bail out because if you hook something big enough you'll rip the guts out of the reel well before the line will break. I've seen it happen and it would not be a good feeling to destroy a $150+ reel like that.

Proven lures: gold Bombers and blue/white Nilsmasters.

matt

Don't forget to include a lure retreiver in your tackle kit. They cost about the same as a Barra lure. I have retreived countless fouled lures from the deep and even a couple from land based, lure sucking, bushes.