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Winter Cod

tomca

By tomca
in Saltwater

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tomca Newbie

tomca

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Day 1:

6am meet up at my place, keen-as-fisho and Lindsay load the trailer and head to Glen Lyon Dam and set up camp before lunch. The torment of KAF began by me activating the child lock on the back door and leaving him there. Had a chin wag with Brian the caretaker about hitting some skinny water and comes back with some maps with launch sites and specific instructions and the go to lure, some handmade Terry Marshalls.

We pull up at our first launch site 15 mintues out of camp and launch into some cattle country, had to negotiate some electric fences spanned across the water without too much incident. 15 minutes in I pull a nice little cod out of a snag

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Not too much portage required between the pools and in the next stretch I look over my shoulder and declare I'm going to pull a fish out of this snag and fluked a ferocious hit and a nice little battle on my 30lb gear. I had a fair bit of a very big cod in my net. All hell broke loose and here is what I ended up with

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Shortly afterwards I was devestated when i saw KAF capsize his yak in the icy water and I was too far away to get a shot so unfortunately no photo, didn't happen. The rest of the afternoon continued the same, we turned around and headed back to camp at sunset.

Around 1am rain started and didn't stop til 10am the next morning.

Day 2:

We head to the next launch spot before lunch and head upstream and KAF has high hopes of his first cod. He peppers this snag relentlessly with his lure for zero interest and i come up behind him and hook up straight away to another nice healthy little cod. Unkind words were spoken. He zig zags across the river to the next snag and on his 3rd cast is on and he squeals "it's a cod it's a cod!!!!!" but a yellow belly ends up in his net, at least he is off the donut. The fish is attempting Kreel's freckle identification method.

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Lindsay is not having much luck but is enjoying the scenery and the relentless sledging of KAF. Shortly afterwards KAF's dream comes true and he lands a cod after dropping another cod which did a very aggresive surface strike.

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A farmer approached us and demanded to know why we didn't ask permission to fish his stretch of the river. I pointed out to him that he didn't own the river as it was public property, he pointed to the fence on the far side of the river near the road and said that his property ran all the way to that fence. I advised him that we were not going to trespass and we are catch and release fisherman anyway. (as if i would walk 3km up a paddock to his house to ask anyway) Tool.

Moved to another river and fished a short stretch in the late afternoon and KAF was onto another cod 2min after hitting the water.

My hayfever got the better of me so I had a little lie down while the boys fished. Back at camp that evening the temperature plummeted and wind and rain picked up. We pulled the fire pit into the gazebo to try and keep warm. A couple of the locals joined us in our shananigans.

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Day 3:

Freaking cold and foggy as we launced at around 8am on the dam and fished the inlets in front of camp for a couple of timid strikes on soft plastics from suspected silver perch. Headed home after that. Thanks boys for a great weekend.

And it was a trip that just keeps giving, found a tick that looks like its been there a couple of days. Explains the light headedness I was feeling Hmmmm.

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tomca Newbie

tomca

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People would get sick of me cause ALL of the cod i caught looked the same, just some were bigger than others.

Kris, Linsday got a kayak from a hire mob for $65 for the long weekend just to get out amongst em. There is no reason you can't do it too.

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Keen-as-fisho Newbie

Keen-as-fisho

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Awesome trip despite the BS, thanks Tom and Lindsay. Cheering got my first cod although a little disappointed about the fight or lack of, great looking fish but.

We saw some great stretches of water, country side and it was hard seeing all the ferals out and about pigs, goats and deers, bit hard when all you've got is a rod and reel :whistle:

Spot the ferals

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Can't wait to get out there and do it all again B) Few more pics to come

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aussie123 Newbie

aussie123

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No farmer anywhere in NSW or Victoria for that matter can stop you fishing any natural watercourse.

I am not sure how the laws work here in QLD but I think it would be similar as its a commonwealth law but there is variations between states.

All landholders with land adjacent to any natural watercourse must allow access to the water and even though the law states you must ask permission first legally they can not deny it even though 99.9% will and do.

They must by law provide a gate for access or styles over the fences for safe access but again 99.9% do not.

If you come in via the water course they also cannot evict you if you are within 1 chain,20m, 22 yards or 66 feet from the high water mark or mean high water mark for tidal waters.

Crown land and leased crown land has an easement of I think from memory of around 30m.

The only exception to the rule is some landholders do hold a 99 year lease on the actual riverbed therefore they can stop you wading the river unless you ask permission first but they cannot stop you if you are in a boat or canoe,ect.

These old leases only extend to the centre of the river bed unless they own the opposite property as well and also hold the relevant lease on that side of the river bed.

The New England area is particularly bad since the cod fishery boomed 15 years as most farmers are tied up somewhere with fishing guides and get a kick back for access through their properties.

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tomca Newbie

tomca

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and just out of interest, there are 2 rivers in Qld that have sections that are private property, one of them is the Stanley River. Also creeks running through properties can be privately owned, as only rivers are gazzetted public. The farmer was just being protective of "his" cod and I think you are right, he probably charges punters for the priveledge of fishing from his riverbank

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