queensland Albert River 19/6/09

[Dazzamcgee]

Albert River (upstream of weir)

18/6/09 9am

Target species: Mary River Cod

Hit the water Running so to speak with a late start wishing I could have only of made it a few hours earlier due to feeling as if I had missed the most productive part of the day. Conditions were pretty good weather wise however the water was very discoloured and quiet cold.

Started trolling upstream with a deep diver and a spinner bait stopping off to sound out any submerged structure also taking my time to inspect around shag snags and any other above water timber. I was trying to concentrate on timber type snags as after reading a report by the DPI on a survey they conducted that "45% of Mary river cod in their field trials preferred Timber piles to holed up in" so timber it had to be.

I took the stealthy approach and slipped in and out weaving my way through the maize of timber trying not to bump any with a keen eye fixed to the sounder screen. With this approach it wasn't long before some big arches made their way across the screen deep in the snags and with that I had a boost of confidence confirming that maybe there's some cod left in the Albert after all. I have seen Bass in the past hold up in snags (like they do) but most times they tend to hang (suspend) in the timber however these images were of a single large fish on the bottom, mmmm got me thinking!

A change of tactics was needed to present a lure in heavy timber so I switched 1 rod over to a weedless rigged plastic and continued with the willow blade spinnerbait dropping them down through the snag in hope of bagging the prize but for no luck.

I was now thinking (running through a step by step plan) "it isn't a bass sitting in there otherwise it would have taken my offerings or a carp as they tend to school up in the deeper open water this time of the year, so what could it be"? So after about 30 minutes of trying to tease a bite it was time to move on.

I continued on upstream when I noticed the water tep gauge on the sounder was only reading 12 degrees "that's cold" I thought "no wonder the fish don't want to play, their icypoles"!

The next move was to avoid all the snag no matter how good they looked from above and below and go in search of warmer water if there's such a thing at this time of year? After a long slog upstream the temp was only getting colder and fish becoming far and few between so a quick U-turn was in order thinking "if the temp go's down heading upstream heading down the temps got to go up, right"? Sure enough it was long before I found a patch of 3 metre deep warmer water reading 15 degrees on the sounder (3 degrees difference). The sounder now was showing fish everywhere both in open water and around the snags all poaching in the slightly warmer water.

Over the side with the spinner bait into a huge mess of fallen timber letting out plenty line to ensure the lure hits the bottom meanwhile I sat the rod down while I rolled up a smoke and just after lighting up I lifted the rod to feel heavy weight "BUGGER, I'm snagged again" I snarled after snagging up so many times before. It didn't click for sometime why the line was moving slowly to the right before I let out "OH #%$@ fish on" so after a slow fight with a soggy paper bag in pops a very cold Bass.

This bass was in very healthy condition for winter compared to the scrawny ones I see throughout summer.

Just before letting him go I looked it in the eye and asked

"Seen any Cod around mate"? It replies with " Narh Bro"! before fading away into the murky depths.....

Shortly after the one and only fish for the day the weather had taken a turn for the worst with the increase of wind and the rolling in of some very dark clouds making any further fishing very unpleasant so it was time to call it and head back to the launching pad...

(NOTE:Before anyone wants to have a go at me for catching a Bass I can asure you that it was an unintentual bycatch which wasn't measure and remained out of the water only long enough to have it pic taken for the sake of this post!)

Thanks for reading.

[chris_stewart14]

Good report mate - well written and a good read. A lowly Bass is better then no fish at all.

[Dinodadog]

Never mind Dazza you will find them. There have been cod released around the hinterland where I fish but they would have to be small or they would be half out of the water as its that shallow.

[tomca]

Good to see you caught a fish and dodged a donut.

They really are a sluggish fight when the water temp drops. I might wait til the warmer weather before trying the Albert.

[Dazzamcgee]

Thanks guy's!!

Yeah summer is more productive for the Albert so I might try the same method when it warms up abit.

Though if I can rake up some shrimp I might head back up to see if any can be teased.