Tonnes of Cod with Wayne

[bersim]

Wayne had mentioned while we were up at Hervey Bay that he was keen for a cod trip some time, so with that in mind I decided to plan another trip to the river that was flooding last week.  We left Brisbane at about 12.45pm on Friday afternoon in the hope of having a quick surface fish before bed.  After the reasonably long drive down south we arrived at the spot with enough time to squeeze in a short fish.  It was looking absolutely beautiful with the river down to a perfect height and it now being quite clear again.  Unfortunately it was a mere 15 degrees celsius, blowing a gale and was raining!  Anyway we got the kayaks off the roof very quickly and began throwing surface lures for the mighty murray cod.  3 days before the trip I decided to whip up a quick surface paddler that was mainly just a tester and wasn't real flash.  But on my second cast I got a big "BOOF" but no hook up.  That was how it went for most of the afternoon until Wayne hooked a small cod to start the trip.  

After a lovely warm night's sleep in the swag with just a pair of undies on because I was sooo warm (I think Wayne also had a great warm sleep but I may be wrong ) we got up early to the sound of rain and wind.  Luckily it did die down and we were out on the water before the sun was up.  It became clear early on that this was going to be a session that was just loaded with cod and we were rapt!  After at least 24 surface hits and only 4 cod landed we headed back in for a late breakfast at 10.30.  Neither of us were hungry during the fishing though as every cast we were waiting for that awesomely addictive explosion!  As you can see from the photos the country that we were in was just unreal.  Boulders, overhanging trees, small gorge type sections and best of all - full to the brim with solid healthy cod!

Wayne was using a Doof Doc cod lure.  Doesn't seem hard to make so I'll be designing a few cod surface lures taking some inspiration from these!

BOOF

Out of the few that we landed before breakfast I was just over the moon to get one on the Aquaholic "Fat Boy" (great name thanks Wayne ).  And it smashed the lure right at my kayak.  Something that I won't forget for a long time!

After having a cracker session before the sun was creating any kind of heat we packed up the swags and headed off the explore a different piece of water down the other way.  We were both using different lures at this stage and it was obvious that Wayne's black and red spinnerbait was the lure of the day.  Luckily I had a Bass Pro Shops spinnerbait with me that was black and red and sure enough the cod started coming in pretty quickly!

Most of the cod were sitting right hard up on the bank and as the spinnerbait would fall they would see it.  After 1 or 2 cranks of the handle you would then feel "crunch"!  They also really liked to sit under that gunk that you can see just above my foot in the picture below.  If the cast was even a foot out from the bank then that meant no hit most of the time.  

Another technique that proved to be quite successful was changing lure once they hit it and wouldn't take it again.  Wayne had this one hit his spinnerbait, so quickly dropped down a jackall and the results are clear.  A brilliant cod on the tn60.

After plenty of cod around the 50cm mark Wayne hooked this beast.  She was 70cm and had shoulders about the same size as his!

More and more fish came on the spinnerbaits and once the sun began to drop out came the surface lures again.  Thought this spot looked fishy...

Sure enough it did!!!  I really should have taken a picture of Wayne fishing his surface lure.  It was a perfect example of how to fish each snag.  I paddled past a little inlet and I could see bubble trails coming from every snag including a big patch from where he got smashed!  

Oh and one of the funniest parts of the day was at the very end when Wayne was getting a bit bored.  He decided to cast right at my kayak to hit it and after giving me a fright, he hooks up as the lure is sinking!!!  And that was number 25 for the day!

So we called it a day after that and began setting up the swags.  We were both freezing because it was so cold so we sat in the car for a bit, had dinner and talked about the day.  After warming up a bit we both couldn't resist the temptation of blind casting into the small hole beside the swags to see if a surface cod may be lurking around the banks.  2 casts later and I get a swirl right at my feet.  Cast back out and "BOOF" spraying water everywhere!  It was so cool!  After releasing mine Wayne hooked up in the same spot on a buzz bait!  What a day!

Well all of that was only Saturday...

We got up early again and caught some more great fish off the surface.  Best fish of the morning for me was a 66cm cod on my jackall pompadour.  A new PB and on surface too!  Got the hit on the go pro and man was it big!

After getting a few fish off the surface it was tough fishing for the rest of the day.  However the few fish that we did get were very rewarding!  Wayne got a great cod on a jackall doozer right in the guts of some really snaggy overhang.  

The last fish of the trip was also another rewarding one and I caught it on a gold booyah spinnerbait from the bass pro shops.  The amount of quality lures I got there at very low prices still amazes me!

 

After a day and a half of full on fishing Wayne and I were absolutely stoked to be driving home after catching 38 cod and losing at least 30+ fish on surface!  And it was so good to catch them on at least 8 different types of lures!  Thanks for coming Wayne as it was a trip to remember!  

Now to plan my next cod trip...

James

[Old Scaley]

Absolutely epic trip. Thanks for sharing.

[samsteele115]

Sounds like a blast fellas. Awesome report and photos again James 

[Luvit]

Thanks for the invite James.

Easily the best cod fishing session I have ever experienced. So many firsts with your PB, a cod on a home made lure, catching fish at our feet, casting at you and a  cod jumping on the line. I'm still on a high today.

Thanks for the effort you put into the reports and the photos. Back to work today but still daydreaming about different parts of the trip.

It will be a hard trip to beat. I 

[bersim]

Thanks @Old Scaley and @samsteele115.  Sure was a great trip with a lot of awesome fish!

No problems Wayne!  Thanks for taking your car... means I didn't have to worry about cleaning it up when I got home. I can't stop thinking about the trip either.  Must have been hard going to work this morning.

James

[kmcrosby78]

Awesome trip and report fellas - congrats on heaps of beautiful cod.  Going to have to catch one of them one day.

[Nog]

Brilliant work. Great looking country. Was down the Dumaresq after the New Year but we caught the 65mm of rain event

 

[bersim]

Thanks @kmcrosby78.  They are definitely a bucket list fish!

Yeah we were down there last week and on the first night they had 85mm of rain!  Ruined the spot that we were wanting to fish so we had to spend most of the time finding new water.  Turned out to be loaded with cod though so the effort was rewarded @Nog

James

[kiara_poltegerist]

Great report bersim! I was down Stanthorpe way looking for cod as well over new years but got ripped off by a misleading advertisment that promised 7km of private water but was effectively less than 500m all up!!!

[rayke1938]

James you may wish to catch with Tom Barratt http://www.gidgeelures.com/  one of the Tenterfield school of handcrafted lure makers. He moved to brisbane as his so n needs specialised treatment .

He knows the new england area like the back of his hand.I think he still lives at Castledine.

He gave a lure making class where you made your own hand made lure to PRFMA members years ago and also gave demos at the original lure expo at Fernvale.

Have you been to one of the lure expos that Sweetwater sponsors?

 Cheers

Ray

[fishingnut]

Great stuff fellas, deffinetly something I have been meaning to do for years but never actually gotten around to it. 

[helibase]

25 cod in one day  

Great report guys, thanks for sharing.

I think the majority of us are now planning a cod trip

Ian

[bersim]

That's a very frustrating thing! @kiara_poltegerist.  Did you end up catching any cod in that stretch of river?

Thanks for that Ray.  I haven't ever been to one of those lure expos as they have always been at a busy time of the year.  That would be very helpful though! @rayke1938

It's a great few days and definitely something I will be doing again when I get the time! @fishingnut.  Well worth the effort!

Well it was actually 27 cod in the one day hahaha .  Couldn't believe how great that session was!  But the next day it was a completely different story.  They were quite shut down and we had to work very hard for every fish!  Yeah it certainly sounds like a lot of people are now planning a trip.  

James

[kiara_poltegerist]

@bersimWe spooked one in the shallows that would have gone 60-80cm. Just really dirty because we were actually planning to fish at another private property but this property provided more amenities. Dragged the boat out of the water and back onto the trailer and drove to Ballandean and door-knocked all afternoon to find a property that would allow us to fish. Finally found a obliging land owner at 4.30 but it was too late to do any serious fishing then. 

 Will be heading up that way again mid Feb to fish another private property. Hopefully better luck then

[samsteele115]

If you launch from a public place and kayak up or down the river, it can't be anyone's property can it? I thought creeks were crowned land, so no need for the hassle of asking land owners for permission to enter their property to the go down to the river on their land. Might be wrong, but I have never bothered to ask land owners when kayaking a creek. @kiara_poltegerist

[Angus]

So jealous of these reports at the moment but it has certainly fired up my enthusiasm to finally crack one of these iconic fish.

Angus

[bersim]

Oh well, always next time and those cod will still be there waiting for you!  

From what I read it seems like @kiara_poltegerist needed a place to actually get the boat in as they couldn't get their boat in from the road?  But yeah I agree you don't need permission to kayak on a creek that actually runs through someone's land.  But you do if you are accessing the creek from their land.  @samsteele115

Haha that's great!  Glad to hear that you are keen to tick one off the list now!  Probably one of my favourite freshwater fish to catch.  That surface hit is just unreal!  @Angus

James

[samsteele115]

Ohhhh I didn't read the 'boat' part. Makes sense @bersim

[ellicat]

When are you heading back, James ?

What is the address - thinking of moving there !

[bersim]

Surely that wasn't just a coincidence that I had a read through this post today just to get myself keen for my next trip haha.  Did you see that I was reading that post? 

Haven't yet planned anything but definitely going to be heading back there some time during either December or January.  It's down New England way so if you moved there you'd have to be farmer ellicat . 

[ellicat]

Yes, I saw you were looking at it so I thought I'd have another look at my favourite fish.

I have an Akubra and some RM Williams boots - does that qualify me ?

[bersim]

Haha yeah I reckon that does .  

It must have been a while since you did a cod trip?  I think it was a bad idea looking back at this awesome trip cause now that's all I'll be thinking about haha.  

[ellicat]

I did one in July (sort of)  just after it had snowed at Glenn Innes, so a bit too cold for them. Only tried for one afternoon.

I have too many life things going on to get away any time soon so make sure you go as early as you can

[Luvit]

Make it later James, then when Ellicat can't make it i'll get another Guernsey. Good to look back on the report.