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Christmas Cod!

tacklebox

By tacklebox
in Freshwater

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tacklebox Newbie

tacklebox

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For Christmas this year we decided it might be fun to go somewhere we'd never been before to try to catch a new species of fish. It was between barra and murray cod and the closed season for barra made the decision to go to Glenlyon pretty simple. We booked our cabin about 6 weeks in advance and eagerly started planning our trip.

At the Maroon bass social we had a play with tomca's baitcaster and both kinda liked it, so my birthday present for kreel was a Qantm Smoke which he paired with a Daiwa Generation Black rod. I bought a Daiwa Lexa for myself and saved a few bucks by putting it on a Mojiko rod kreel had won at a BFO event a few years ago. We gave these a test run at Hinze a few weeks back and there weren't too many birds nests so we were happy. :)

Looking at all the handcrafted cod lures and lure carving videos online was what inspired kreel to carve his first lure recently. Sadly The Fudd wasn't ready in time for the trip, but maybe that was for the best.

My last day of work for 2012 was on Wed the 19th and we were on the road on the 20th. It took about 6 hours to get to the dam due to numerous pit stops including Warwick Tackle & Tusk to buy a couple of cod lures, and Stanthorpe to stock up on groceries for the week.

On arrival at the dam, we checked out the lures in the kiosk and asked Debbie (the proprietor) which lures were working.

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She said bright colours were the go and recommended a fluoro yellow spotted Mitto lure for kreel since it had a slow wide action that apparently would only catch cod and no other species. I asked her to pick out a spinnerbait for me and I was handed a bright yellow and orange McCod spinnerbait that kreel nicknamed the Shredded Carrot.

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We fished the morning of the following day (Friday), bright and early at 10am :whistle: , by launching in front of the cabins and working our way up the dam.

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On about the 3rd or 4th cast with my baitcaster I hoiked out the spinnerbait and heard a massive crrraaaaack. My one piece rod was now a two piece. :pinch: You get what you pay for right?! No matter, I'd brought two rods with me. Except that after casting a hardbody out, the ceramic insert fell out of one of the guides. :blink: I kept fishing with it and it took a while for kreel to land the first fish of the trip which was a 45cm yellowbelly. :)

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We trolled and cast for another hour or so but it was getting hot and I wanted to head in to replace my broken rod.

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It was slim pickings in Stanthorpe. One of the boating/tackle shops we visited only had one rod that was suitable which was a combo with a Pflueger Trion rod for about $240. When asked how much for just the rod we were offered $180 so we decided to pass on that bargain. Luckily there was a toy/sports shop that had a 6-8kg Catana as part of a combo which they were happy to split and sell to us for a fair price. :)

The owner of the toy shop told us about a spot near the dam wall that he likes to fish so we headed there the next day at 7am which some of you know is early for us when we're on holiday.

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We were casting lures all the way down for nought, not even a swirl. Kreel made a long cast into a tree and while he was busy trying to get his lure back and I was mindlessly winding in my Shredded Carrot it got eaten! :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: The fish took a bit of line and made a few short lunges but after the initial run it popped up to the surface and was spent. It was a respectable 52.5cm and my first cod, first fish on a spinnerbait and first fish on the new rod and reel. I was pretty pleased with myself having caught my first cod on day 2 of our trip. :cheer: A storm was rolling in so we chose to play it safe and quickly headed back to camp.

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On Sunday we launched in the Dumaresq River on Brian's (Debbie's husband's) advice. The spot looked so fishy yet the only fish caught was a yella caught on the troll back after I'd stopped fishing.

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On Monday we launched near the dam wall to try the same spot that I'd caught the cod two days earlier.

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After working the whole bay, we pedalled over to the opposite side of the dam to do the same. As soon as we entered the bay I noticed a strange smell. It didn't take long for me to realise it was the stench of bird poo from the hundreds of shags nesting in the trees dropping their guts. :sick: Again, this spot looked sooooo fishy with heaps of standing timber and natural berley but we still couldn't catch a fish and both ended up on a donut.

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Tuesday being Christmas Day, we did something completely out of the ordinary and went fishing at 5am. We tried the same spot in the river that by now two locals had told us about, thinking the early start and downsizing our lures would make all the difference. It didn't. Just the one yella on a spinnerbait for me and that was it.

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Wednesday was our last day before we had to leave. We did some research the night before on where else we could launch and picked another spot along the river. This spot had a bit more water, more flow and even more snags.

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We headed upstream and it wasn't long before kreel casually asks me 'guess what?' I turned and saw him hooked up to his first fish in 4 days! It was a 53cm cod, just pipping mine by .5cm :ohmy: :lol: Hooray we'd both caught one!

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Buoyed with confidence kreel quickly caught a yella not far from where he'd caught the cod.

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It was extremely shallow and hard work heading upstream so we turned back and went the other way.

There were so many carp around. You could get right up close to the big 70cm ones without them getting spooked. We'd seen big carp the other day but this spot also had schools of 30cm models.

We kept casting at every fallen log and snag pile and eventually I caught my second cod on a Damiki GPS spinnerbait! :cheer:

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I had my drag set pretty tightly so I think the catch damaged its face. This cod was also 53cm and was tagged. I reported the fish online but it didn't come back with any results which is disappointing. After that I had another big hit which snapped my braid in a random spot and saw another cod roll on the surface chasing my spinnerbait. Kreel also had a couple of misses which kept the day interesting. It was too hot and once we'd run out of water we headed in, happy to have caught a cod each on the final day. Mission accomplished! B)

Now for some gratuitous lure shots:

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kreel Newbie

kreel

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Congrats! Let Debbie know the tag number as she keeps the data for out there I think. It's a nice bit of river out there isn't it.

Thanks Wayne, we didn't think to mention it to Deb (she's a real character) we'll drop her a line.

Deb and Brian have some plans to start a lure museum when they finish at Glenlyon. She showed us some some amazing lures in her collection including a box packed full of 'nude' lures, and a hand made wooden Oar-Gee that's worth a pretty penny. They are great folk down there, it would be a nice spot for a Murray Cod social.

Oh and Pussca, sticks and stoned will break your bones - so I'm collecting. :evil: :woohoo:

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dassa Newbie

dassa

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Great to see the pair you fishing and finaly some great fish in some very pretty spot's,

I hade a chuckle about the guy at the toy & camp shop we had to stop in there when we went out to sundown as somebody forgot there tent and had to stop there for 1 but he even gave us a discount I think it was more out of feeling sorry for me and a nice guy to boot.

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kreel Newbie

kreel

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Welcome to the club Cod3 and Cod4 :P Some nice coddies there.

Shame you didn't get the pfleuger trion, pretty good rod for the dollars. Although probably bit exxy considering you just broke one.

Eug you don't know the half of it! The rod was not an issue - I'd won it as a prize, the real money went on lures, probably $300 worth. Which again isn't a problem - we love the hand-made lures. It's just the way tBox, lure and snag became a combination. I suppose that the old axiom: if you're not getting snagged you're not trying hard enough is true.

Still, I have nothing to crow about - that first yella of mine, still has my lip-grippers and I also lost a bait knife - just slipped out of my hands.

I can't wait to get back and spend too much money on lures and target some of the bigger models.

Cod4

(kreel)

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tacklebox Newbie

tacklebox

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tom, er thanks?

wayneD it sure is, and all the more rewarding to have sussed it out and found the fish on our first trip out there.

denis: thanks. saw lots of goats and pigs plus some foxes around the dam and thought of you.

kmcrosby78, surfing ant, doobsy: thanks.

Eug most of my rods are under $100 so the $70 Catana was better suited to my tightass budget.

sweresy if we can catch them...

dassa, funny I can't remember that story from your report at the time. just like the 5 lures and tackle back i lost in the dam.

wesfish thanks. the mitto lures (last 2 pics) were about the same price. If anyone's interested Debbie accepts orders over the phone.

I forgot to mention that kreel caught the first yella on the lure that wasn't supposed to catch them.

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tacklebox Newbie

tacklebox

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well that is it!!! I am throwing all my cod lures away. Even bloody Baden can catch a cod.

Gratz Lisbeth on the first Cod. Looks like a nice place to spend Christmas.

Thanks Ted. Throwing out the cod lures is not a bad approach. We had more success in the river on small bass sized spinnerbaits. That, and a 9-10am start :lol:

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