Doobsy Cod trip a tale of what may or may not have happened

[Zim man]

A plan was hatched by tomca a few weeks ago to go and chase some cod, invites were sent out and pretty soon a team was assembled. Myself, tom, jarryd, sweresy and doobsy. Many discussions were held and what type of tackle and lures etc was best so give us our best chance at smashing these fish. Out of all of us, only tom and jarryd had caught them before. To add to that only tom and jarryd were regular yakkers leaving the rest of us with a big learning curve. I had my supplies so was confident of a good weekend

We left long before sparrows on Saturday morning, grabbing some coffees from macca’s on the way. Ben (doobsy) was moaning about how cold it was so we cranked up the heat and hit and the road, the plan was the catch up with tom who left earlier in his truck which was allegedly slow. We got to Stanthorpe and met them there for a quick breakfast before hitting the last leg of the journey.

It was my first time In that part of the country and it is really scenic, lots of feral animals though which is a shame to see. We soon got to Glenlyon where were were going to camp and set up base camp. Ben was stilling going on about the cold and refused to leave the warm of the kluger.

Camp was soon set up and we then set off for our cod hunting. The water was cold to say the least but luckily the day was warming up quickly.

The river had large shallow parts which meant that the heavier fellas had to wade and drag the yaks and in some cases so did the lighter guys as well. Ben decided to stick with his long pants for warm which did not make sense as they soon got wet.

All of the wet and cold was soon forgotten as I hooked into my first of what I hoped were many cod. Top fish, what a strong hit as well.

Not to be outdone, tom and kris got into some beauties as well.

Shortly after Doobsy got into one as well and it was a cracker

Later that night we reminisced about how great the fishing was and told jokes and the like. Top night that was…………

That is what could have happened…..had doobsy been well enough to travel. Unfortunately , too much golf or something had left him in a fit unwell enough to travel on the trip. All we could do is torment his via sms and facebook of how many cod we caught.

What really happened is this

We did leave at sparrows and meet at maccas at Stanthorpe. It was cold but not too bad. We set up camp and tom and kris hit one river and jarryd and I another with a plan to meet up at an agreed time. The river was really scenic

Jarryd and I flogged that river for hours and jarryd had one hook up and I had 2 ham rolls and some lamb ribs.

Jarryd also saw a red belly right near his yak. I almost bailed out the yak when trying to go through some rapids and my rod got caught in a tree. The rod made an s bend and is somehow still alive today. We were very frustrated at the days work and when we met up with the other two they also said it was tough,…..tough for amateurs but not for them coz they had two each…

The sledging then began at breakneck speed and wore jarryd and I down as they explained in details how hard they hit how easy it was etc.

Lucklily I had my supplies and whilst the fire was going, we hit the dam to practice casting.

More sledging followed before an sms from doobsy inquiring how the day went. That gave us a laugh for a while we told him how many we all had. We hatched a plan for day two and once we awoke on Sunday we abandoned it and went to another river instead. Tom paired with me and kris went with jarryd

This was better than the previous one as I actually caught something, I was retrieving my crank along a fallen trees roots whn I had a hard thump and I was on, I got it out the trees and thought small cod is better than no cod then I saw it was a yellow belly perch and the cursing was head from many miles.

my yella

Holding it Runty Style

The yella which we found out later are pretty hard to find in the river so i declared my weekend mission a success. We fished every stump, some with more gusto than others

We hiked through some more shallow waters

and tom casually pulls this out.

I was gobsmacked, but it is all a learning experience

I even posed with it to look the part.

thinking about eating it

We met up with the others to hear that kris had a yella and a cod and jarryd , poor bugger , was weekend camera man.

All up, 6 cod and 2 yella for the weekend. it was awesome and I will do it again, this time with me catching a cod .

Thanks for reading and thanks to Doobsy for allowing us to take the mikey out of him without his permission.

a few arty pics to leave you with

I have more pics but too much effort to post them 8 at a time.

[Angus]

Hahahaha Tom in a man scarf... after all his jests he finally came around

Awesome report guys!!!

One of the best in ages.

Angus

[aussie123]

Well done guys,looks like an awesome trip.

All the fish look like they are in top condition out there.

I gotta get out that way soon myself now that I have bought a yak.

[tomca]

Hahahaha Tom in a man scarf... after all his jests he finally came around

Angus

Glad you noticed. I found it in the ladies section of a crazy clarkes for 5 bucks and thought it would be a good way to take the piss out of you.

Was a bit slow and the river I usually fish was silted up and very few holes in it. Day two we went 20km downstream and found better looking waters.

Highlight was Rob's disbelief at how little water I cast into for a legal cod. I was knee deep casting at a felled log in a stretch of fairly quick flowing water.

[Angus]

That is awesome. It looks quite clear as well or is that an optical illusion...

It is ok to publicly shun how much you love your new accessory. I will look for it in future report

Angus

[Eug]

Good report boys... sounds like a top trip. Did you find the cod hole Rob?

[tomca]

That is awesome. It looks quite clear as well or is that an optical illusion...

It is ok to publicly shun how much you love your new accessory. I will look for it in future report

Angus

Water was really clear. Unfortunately Kris didn't get to see any cod strikes, but I saw 2 of mine and had an absolute cracker follow my lure out of a massive stump to just look at the lure and turn around and go back into its hole. Peppered it some more and pulled a smaller one out instead.

And as long as I am fishing a secluded spot away from public humiliation, I will take it along again just for you

[sweresy]

Epic trip, still sore but still smiling... stoked to have popped my cod chezza... It has been on my bucket list to actually target them for years now. Some of the most picturesque country i've been in for a while (despite the 3 XOS Red Belly Blacks still active in 5 degrees!!)

Many thanks to Tomca for the expert guiding. Rob and Jarryd always an absolute pleasure. Will be very keen to do some rock hopping for some more of these fish soon.

I have seen so many pics of these fish over the years but to finally catch them was a privilege! SUCH a beautiful fish in real life; photos don't seem to do them justice.

cheers again

[tomca]

The reason we invited Sweresy

And unlike the environmental vandal from efrika throwing plastic rubbish into the river, I am ecologically responsible, using 100% biodegradable termite approved lures.

watched a falcon take a eel tail cattie out of the shallows and eat it

Also listened to Rob have a cry about ramp facilities being less glamourous than he is accostomed to.

and a release shot

[demarc]

Awesome catch guys! Tom: Can we except to see this tale in bush 'n' beach mag? Read your article in there on the plane on the weekend. Very good!

[tomca]

Good chance there may be a technique based article in Junes mag, that should keep robs mug out of it

[JarrydA]

Top report rob.

Cheers for the good weekend all, despite my lack of fish i still had an awesome time and am already planning my next cod assault, if anything its made me more determined for next trip.

Was great to see the grin on sweresy's melon all weekend after getting onto some cod for the first time.

Cheers for the invite tom.

[demarc]

Good chance there may be a technique based article in Junes mag, that should keep robs mug out of it

Not to hijack... How long have you been writing for the mag? I only discovered it in February and been addicted ever since. Best fishing mag out. I was actually surprised to see yourself and rob in there. Good surprised though!

Going to do an offshore article?

[Doobsy]

lol

[sweresy]

Couple of pics from me..

[tomca]

Good chance there may be a technique based article in Junes mag, that should keep robs mug out of it

Not to hijack... How long have you been writing for the mag? I only discovered it in February and been addicted ever since. Best fishing mag out. I was actually surprised to see yourself and rob in there. Good surprised though!

Going to do an offshore article?

Sweresy writes for Fishing World, a glossy monthly.

I have been with BnB for a couple of years. I do one offshore piece a year, but am a bit wary about doing them. Last thing I want to do is put the idea into someones head that it is easy and an inexperienced newbie to the sport with poor paddle fitness gets out there and into trouble. Wind, current, waves, big a-s-s ships and other dangers are very hard to articulate in 800 words while trying to also put technique across in the same space.

[Doobsy]

That second last one's a cracker! Perfect composition and framing.

[demarc]

Good chance there may be a technique based article in Junes mag, that should keep robs mug out of it

Not to hijack... How long have you been writing for the mag? I only discovered it in February and been addicted ever since. Best fishing mag out. I was actually surprised to see yourself and rob in there. Good surprised though!

Going to do an offshore article?

Sweresy writes for Fishing World, a glossy monthly.

I have been with BnB for a couple of years. I do one offshore piece a year, but am a bit wary about doing them. Last thing I want to do is put the idea into someones head that it is easy and an inexperienced newbie to the sport with poor paddle fitness gets out there and into trouble. Wind, current, waves, big a-s-s ships and other dangers are very hard to articulate in 800 words while trying to also put technique across in the same space.

Understandable... You'd have to be quite fit to head offshore in a Yak I'd imagine. I did yakking in Vietnam for the first time with my wife and I was buggered after an hour paddle. The locals however took advantage of the newbies who became too tired to paddle back to the mother ship. They'd tow them for a very high price! Smart!

Keep up the articles man, good read.

[sweresy]

That second last one's a cracker! Perfect composition and framing.

Jarryd was pouring all his skills into taking pics this day

[Eug]

i see a pic of booze but no shenanigans... someone is holding out on the embarrassing pics lol.

[tomca]

That second last one's a cracker! Perfect composition and framing.

Jarryd was pouring all his skills into taking pics this day

I thought it was all about the cod?

And also the donut :whistle:

[Keen-as-fisho]

haha looks Y'all had a good time

[tomca]

yeah, except Jarryd, he bacame the butt of our jokes in your absence.

I think the problem was Ted wasn't there to get the fish on the hook and give the rod to Jarryd to wind it in :ohmy:

[Manni79]

Congrats on a couple firsts/PB's nice work getting them on to some Cod Tom!

[ryanyoung]

Top trip fellas, sorry I missed it! Rob, keep paddling that yak and it will shine through, it has the mojo ha ha ha

Looking forward to the next one, when hopefully work/other committments don't keep me away.

Well done on a top report, and some quality pics to back them up!

Cheers,

Ryan.

[Surfingant]

Hahahaha great report boys looks like a top trip, I'll be sure to make an effort to get to the next one :blush:

Some beautiful cod there Tom and Sweresy Oh Rob, how you must feel at not having caught one, look on the bright side though, a yella is better than nothing at all.......

Just ask Jarryd :ohmy:

[Zim man]

big thanks to Ryan for lending yaks for the trip, really appreciate mate.

I have also added this pic which failed to upload the first time. it is now in the report in the right place. good catch doobsy

[Doobsy]

Hahaha!

I call fake and reckon no fish were caught and all photos are photo-shopped.

[sunnydays]

Really great report guys! Thanks

[ellicat]

This isn't a yellowbelly. It is the rare Golden Stumpy Cod and is worth triple the points of a MC. Congratulations Rob :woohoo:

Great thread, participants.

Doobsy, Stop sending me PM's...I will not delete it.

[dassa]

i see a pic of booze but no shenanigans... someone is holding out on the embarrassing pics lol.

I feek case of black mail happening mate.

[WayneD]

Nice one boys. Can't wait to get out there myself this weekend. One of the bonus's of not having a wife anymore and a mum that lives 1300km's away

Rob the yella is more common than Tom is letting on. My last trip out there (which the launch looks like where you were the 2nd day) I caught 3 cod and was harassed by around 10 yellas. It really was a yella-athon that day. As for not catching one, well I have done that on more than one occasion. 4 hours is a long time to drive for a donut but you know what, it's still worth it I reckon. Feels like there is no one else in the world when you are on some spots in that river.

I am testing out a new spot on Saturday so I hope it produces.

Does this look like the spot where you launched? It had been a while since someone had been there last time I went there!

[JarrydA]

That looks pretty similar Wayne.

[tomca]

I never said yellas were a rarity. Brian Dare talked up his catch. Robs own fault for throwing little lures while I threw big lures to avoid embarrassment of catching a yella

[sweresy]

Wayne you're keen camping in that stuff mate.... those Red Bellies sunning themselves bank side with a girth as thick as a tennis ball put me off the long grass

[Surfingant]

He's not that keen Sweresy, should have seen how quick he moved when he poked one with a stick

[WayneD]

I never said yellas were a rarity. Brian Dare talked up his catch. Robs own fault for throwing little lures while I threw big lures to avoid embarrassment of catching a yella

Actually now that you mention it Tom I was throwing a DC100 that day to try something different. I did get a small cod on it but yeah these yellas kept pouncing all over it and my spinnerbait.

Ant you were beside me when I poked it. I seem to remember we both moved pretty bloody quickly!

Sweresy I arrived at 10:30 at night and it was either pitch the swag there or sleep in the car. I've slept in the car before and it is not comfy. Trust me, I made sure every zipper was done up tightly!

[tomca]

next time I would like to head a little further south hitting one of the dams and tick redfin off my list and maybe fish the Severn downstream from Emmaville incorporated into the same trip.

Just trying to work out how to earn a 4-5 day leave pass :ohmy:

[WayneD]

Ifish has had a few pieces on Emmaville the last couple of days. Monster Murray Cod is the name of the place that he visited. Looks good.

I'm interested in the trip if you get around to doing it.

[tomca]

If I do it will be in June, before it gets too cold and making it a long weekend. Already found a few access spots on the Severn, not really yak water though. Lots of rock hopping and climbing around gorges.