Ferals Folly! - Condamine River 7&8 July 2009

[Feral]

Well we were going camping, regardless of the forecast. So about 6:30 on Tuesday morning we headed off for the Condamine.

2 hours later we actually got to the Warwick turn off on the Ipswich motorway. (Traffic snarls and roadworks with crap signage getting us lost).

Rolled up at my mates place about 10ish, to find Ray basically had his rig unloaded, and was well on the way to setting up camp. We quickly followed suite, had camp well and truly setup by lunch time. Time to kick back and soak up the peace and quiet. However that peace and quiet was broken by a local lad fishing a few hundred yards down stream catching himself a corker of a carp, 60cm! Gave him a bit of stick to! Got photo's of him and his girl friend with the fish, but forgot to get one of the fish only, so not wanting to put up photo's of someone elses kids without their permission you'll just have to believe me!

Anyway the wind started to get up, and the clouds got more menacing, but we stuck it out, spent a comfortable, but stressful night listening to the wind howl outside with the odd skitter of rain drops hitting the tent, to wake up to a fine morning, but still blowing a gale. (So much for Bom's 15 knot easterlies, it was a 25 to 30 knot south - south westerly!).

Anyway we decided to stick it out while the sky was still clear, it was way to cold and windy to put the boat or yaks on the water, but we could still bank fish and relax.

Anyway about 10ish this morning the cloud cover started moving in, the wind was getting stronger, being black soil flats where we were camped I was getting a little worried, so a quick conflab with Ray and we decided to pull stumps and head for home.

Daughter had a huff and puff and declared she was still going to fish, so she picked up a fishing rod for the first time for the day and started tossing out a bit of corn (I'll be generous and call it burley, and not surly!). Ray and I start packing up camp, then the next thing she is squealing like a stuck pig. She is stand there holding the rod with a great bend in it, not moving, Ray and I thought - yeah just a snag. Then I heard the drag running.....and running..... Whatever it was was big, on a 2-4 kilo ugly stick with a 1000 series reel loaded with 6lb fireline and 6lb leader, this was going to be interesting!

After a half a dozen runs, around the jetty 3 times (I was petrified it would go around one of the support posts) it got close enough for me to reach with Ray's net and we had it! a 70cm Carp! Biggest I have ever seen!

Daughter was happy to go home after that! However she was not satisfied with a photo, she wanted to take it home to show mum! So as we were packing up camp, we pulled the last of the cans of drink from the drink esky, which was still half full of ice and plonked it in.

We finished packing up camp and hit the road. Quicker trip home, back by about 4ish.

You want to know how tough Carp are? 4 hours that thing was in the ice slurry, when we pulled the esky out to show mum, I flip the lid back , daughter points, I get abused by SWMBO!

How dare you keep that poor fish alive in there for so long I get! What the? So I go round and look in the esky, and stuff me - here is the rotten thing floating in the ice slurry, (which is still at least half ice), its gills going and tail twitching!

Talk about tough!

Do something she says, no worries dear I say! As soon as she is outta sight - I Wack the lid back down and shove it under the boat. Lets see how tough it is in the morning I reckon!

Trailer all packed

Alex hard at work helping set up camp (not)

Ray setting up the tent he Erin and I used.

A Bit cool

Ray fishing

Erin trying to get dinner, we had to settle for the pork chops we brought along.

Kids having a paddle on the first day before it got really cold!

Daughter in a huff after being told we were going home

Not in a huff any more!

Needless to say I never even got a bite! Looks that that fishing mojo that Alex got from Grandad might have gone to Erin as well!

Next trip will probably be when it is a little warmer, -2 degrees with a 25 knot wind is not really yaking and swimming weather!

[fishingnut]

bummer about the weather mate, thats one tuff FAT arse carp!!

[dan25]

thats a cracking Carp! :woohoo:

[rayke1938]

Do something she says, no worries dear I say! As soon as she is outta sight - I Wack the lid back down and shove it under the boat. Lets see how tough it is in the morning I reckon!

Put it in the new pool.

Cheers

Ray

[Feral]

rayke1938 wrote:

Do something she says, no worries dear I say! As soon as she is outta sight - I Wack the lid back down and shove it under the boat. Lets see how tough it is in the morning I reckon!

Put it in the new pool.

Cheers

Ray

I thought about it!

But

1. My balls are not big enough!

2. She would make me catch and remove it, no hooks allowed!

[yoyo]

speaking of tough fish, back when i was younger we went fishing over on fraser and caught a pretty small stone fish....popped it into an old jam tin, forgot about it (whoops), 3 days later found it, opened the tin and the friggin thing was still alive !

[nadders]

lol thats a great way to keep yourself entertained, stock the pool full of random vermin fish and see how annoyed the wife can get

not a bad little goldfish though hey? people pay hundreds and thousands to catch the buggers in europe!

[rayke1938]

On reflection we may have been a buncha wimps but I have fond memories of being stuck on black soil falta after anly a few points of rain and it was a long walk to nearest property to borrow a tractor to pull us out. When the weather started to look threatening on Tuesday night we moved our cars to the top of the ridge in case it rained overnight but it would have been a long haul having to carry all the gear 1/4 of a mile to load the cars and it would have still been doubtfull if we would have got out with Feral being in the camry and heavily loaded trailer.

I was running a bit early and stopped in Warwick to pick up milk and bread and by coincidence parked outsite local gun and tackle store and purchased a few goodies.

Just cant help myself.

This is my $60 garage sale tent that I picked up last weekend whilst AWOL at Esk.

This one that the boys were in was only $5 at local tip recycleworld.

Another one of Erins fish. Boy it certainly has turned her into an expert carp angler. Not afraid to tell you what we were doing wrone.

By the end of the first day I had it all worked out with the yak trolly converted into a rod holder and moved the chair along the bank and proceeded to cast all my lures in a vain effort to conjure up a fish. I really gave the napjarus a good workout.

On the way home.

.

The weather was a bit off but I still enjoyed myself.

Thanks for the invite.Feral we will just have to do it again when its a bit warmer.

Cheers

Ray

[dhess]

Nice report and stonking carp.

Even though it's a pest etc. leaving a carp to suffer for your entertainment is pretty uncool. Why not just dispatch of it humanely?

[Feral]

Bunging it in the ice slurry is supposed to dispatch it humanely! Short of chopping it s head off with the axe, letting the ice do its job is all I could think of.

[Dinodadog]

cant beet that family bonding no matter what the weather, I dropped the wife at canungra today and was going to have a cast in the creek but the rod never came out of the car as it was freezing, was supposed to stay for tea but got outer there quick.

[dhess]

Fair enough. Feel free to remove my comment from this thread. I am probably overreacting but I feel quite strongly about humane treatment of animals. Live baits excepted ofcourse. Live baits serve a purpose though.

My logic is it's alive so it is suffering. I like to wack fish a few times with a donger or break their neck. Instant death.

[Davo_Dinkum]

nice carp .wtg little miss

looks like u guys had a ok cpl of days .

the wind is a pain making the cold feel 10 times colder.

black clay and rain a bad mix .

even with 4x4 it would be messy .

everyone and everything in camp would end up black and covered in it .

we live on black clay here .yard turns into a messy bog with decent rain.

we 4x4 out the back here in the bush when it rains a little ,but not a lot as i have got since of the 1/2 a day to clean the clay of the 4x4.

anyways looks like a lovely spot a jetty to use that pretty kewl.

[faulked]

how cruel you are you shouldve just picked up a brick and smashed its head in humanely

ps very nice report makes me wish i was there despite the brass monkeys

note to self must go camping soon

[Rocket75]

I guess it gets pretty cold out there (the pics sure look a bit chilly), so that carp doesn't mind a bit of icy water...just like home, but smaller!

I too thought that an ice slurry would have put it into a never ending sleep...tuff fish.

Big congrats to Erin on a ripping capture. Thanks for the report.

Rocket

[Lozzel]

Rocket75 wrote:

I guess it gets pretty cold out there (the pics sure look a bit chilly)

Thats not "Cold" Feral arrived during a heat wave :laugh: :laugh: -2.5 and below just prior to him leaving.

[rayke1938]

First time that I have heard of a fish surviving an ice slurry bath which is one of the recommended methods of killing and preserving fish.

I know that redclaw survive an ice slurry bath as we throw them into the esky and whilst they appear dead when we arrive home the heads seem to come to life after removing them from the tails and the heads warm up.

I have placed the heads in a freezer night before placing them in the rubbish bin and wife freaked out when she went to bin and found heads crawling around.

Anyone with a humane method of dispatching redclaw?

Cheers

Ray

[Big_Bream]

dan25 is in love

[faulked]

rayke1938 wrote:

First time that I have heard of a fish surviving an ice slurry bath which is one of the recommended methods of killing and preserving fish.

I know that redclaw survive an ice slurry bath as we throw them into the esky and whilst they appear dead when we arrive home the heads seem to come to life after removing them from the tails and the heads warm up.

I have placed the heads in a freezer night before placing them in the rubbish bin and wife freaked out when she went to bin and found heads crawling around.

Anyone with a humane method of dispatching redclaw?

Cheers

Ray

hey ray ive found that my favourite carp brick works a treat on redclaw

:silly:

[AZZA]

Wouldn't want to get caught with that monster carp in the esky by the EPA it would be an expensive trophy

[Davo_Dinkum]

maybe u can spike redclaw like crabs .

i'll ask dad he has blue claw in his dam .

think there blue ,maybe red ,i'll ask anyways ,next time they ring.

they reckon to freeze toad's to get rid of them the nice way.

guess it would be the same with fish ,freezer or ice ,or ice slurry ,think the ice slurry would work quicker .

imagine how cold all them creeks and rivers get in winter at night.

any of them inland of the Brisbane area would be getting cold as.

[Brian D]

Are you mad - it's winter. Oh that's right Ray breed you, that explains everything.

I love the bit do something so you shut the lid and stick in uinder the boat - "see how tough you are in the morning" hahahahah poor carp.

[ellicat]

Where's your sense of adventure Feral and Ray ? If it was too wet to drive out you could have just stayed longer ! The big fish were obviously just coming on the chew. Memorable catch for Erin that's for sure.

It's a great lookin' spot for some R&R.

Have you thought of throwing a tarp over that trailer - looks like it'd make a good shelter for your gear or something.

[Angus]

Nice

I got this text but for some reason the number didnt show up. (my fault most likely as my camera has been playing up). In short I was like, who the hell is sending me pictures of massive carp!!!

Angus

[kriso]

fricken awesome carp hahaha you wouldnt get me there at -2.5 no matter how much rum you had with lol

[Feral]

Its my personal camper trailer Ellicat cant convince the kids to leave the tent at home though!

Angus, poor Shayne rang me up immediately, I think he thought it was a pic from NPD! Much happier sounding when I told him where we were!

[Do$tylz]

Ahaha... So hows the carp now Feral?? I would have thought the thing woulda died as well.

each time I read these reports it brings a little urge for me to go camping... but then I consider a nice hotel with hot shower, tv and crisp sheets. Hotels the winner

[Feral]

The carp was suitable stiff in the esky this morning, still lots of ice, so it did eventually do the job. I suppose they live under ice in england, give them a bit of resistance to the ice slurry.