queensland Glenlyon Dam 14-16 August 2020

[ellicat]

Mitch and I are heading out to Glenlyon Dam next Friday. We'll be chasing yellas and murray cod.

Hopefully we'll get onto a few to enter into the Suburbs of Origin comp on Sunday, but unsure if we'll have wifi reception so may not know the secret code in time. I could always keep one alive and put it in my pond to catch again, @christophagus ?? haha

Checked the weather today - it was 9 degrees at 11am. We'll be camping this trip so the fire will be welcome when we get back from fishing each evening.

A little bit of excitement is creeping in. All rigged and ready already.

 

One for yellas and one for the cod.

[Another Wazza]

Nice work, It’s been almost 15 years since I was down there last, 9 degrees at 11 is a bit ordinary though

[kmcrosby78]

Unfortunately you're one weekend too early Brian ...... Suburbs of Origin! 22nd of August – 20th of September 8pm. 

Good luck all the same, hope you get a nice cod.

[ellicat]

Oops. Might have to go twice.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hey ellicat

Good luck, I hope you crack some monster cod and a big yella. Ellicatch will sure be a handy asset.

Those lures look very serious. Are they soft vibes/swimbaits?

Cheers Hamish

(Also, bugger it's not in the Suburbs of Origin time!)

[ellicat]

Thanks.

I can't remember what they are called, Hamish, but they are like paddletail soft plastics.

[Drop Bear]

Any luck mate?

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

48 minutes ago, Drop Bear said:

Any luck mate?

I'm hoping ellicat has smashed some real big cod and yellas. I'll be excited to hear the report!  

Cheers Hamish

[ellicat]

Donut, but it was good to have a camp with Mitch - the first time in 9 years !

A major fail occurred packing up on Thursday night when I found the 100 shrimp I'd bought were all dead as someone nearing senility had accidentally turned off the aerator, ironically when checking on their condition in the afternoon. Yes, it was me.

So we headed off early Friday morning and were at GL at 10.30 passing through some foggy patches.

Setup camp and had a chat to Brian and Debbie who manage the park. No 'catchable' shrimp in the dam yet. Bummer. Brian said they were catching some yellas on blades. We didn't have any blades but he said spinnerbaits might work. I also mentioned my Tenterfield Dart lure that I bought off them in 1994 for $15. He said they were now fetching $150 - $300+ and Debbie was one of the collectors. I have now removed it from use and transferred ownership to my superannuation fund. haha

 

Apparently there were a few 120cm cod at the dam wall worth having a look at to tease the fisheremen/women.

Had an afternoon fish and into the night. The plan was to head as far up as we could laying a track on the chartplotter and then meander back. Well that went by the wayside as a few stands of trees were too inviting to pass by. A lot of the stands were already being fished by a boat so we played the etiquette game and left them to it. We eventually came to a vacant stand and sounded up some yellowbelly. After half a dozen passes for a couple of hits that didn't stick we headed up as far as we could, which wasn't as far as expected because the dam is only at 14%. We then followed the track back to the spot where we'd had a good show and tied up to a tree so we could have a cast at these fellas. It was about 7pm now and was pitch black.

The weather forecast wasn't great and just after we tied up the wind went strong on us. I'm guessing above 30 knots. Our loose tie came undone and we were set adrift amongst the trees. With both of us trying unsuccessfully to pull on the rope to get us back to the tie-off tree I decided to cut the rope and start making our way back to camp.

This is where the mistake of not following the plan to lay a track came back to bite us as we had to meander our way back through the trees. It took us about an hour to get back. I was glad we hadn't been able to make it the 22km all the way up the dam otherwise we would have been out there until sunrise Saturday. We made i t back and prepared a late dinner of Porterhouse, chips and avocado before turning in for the night.

It rained all night and the forecast for Saturday was for more rain all day. It was cloudy with patches of blue when I got up. Brian said there would be a storm in the afternoon. So today's plan was to head out to the creek on the road to Tenterfield and try for some shrimp there under the bridge and a little further upstream under advice from Brian and use what we caught to bob for yellas in the afternoon before the storm. We let the traps rest for 45 minutes and pulled them in with a hundred little gudgeons and a couple of tiny unusable shrimp. So we reset them and headed back to camp before returning an hour or so later where we found the traps filled with gudgeons but no shrimp.

Assessing the sky in the afternoon we thought the storm was off the cards so planned to again fish into the night. As we put in we had a chat at the 'ramp' with a regular cod catcher. He said they had gone days without a touch. They said they had also been using chicken strips for bait that had been pickered without a proper take. I suspect spangled perch were the culprits. He told us his spot that has previously been fruitful for him. We tried there and many other places that arvo/evening for nothing. Only lost one lure to a snag that even the tackleback couldn't save. the storm never eventuated , so at least we got one call right.

Back at camp we fired up the camp oven with some garlic chicken breast and sweet and normal potatoes to fill our holes. Before heading to bed we made the plan to get up at 5 and head out for a final session using some raw chicken breast strips we had saved from dinner.

At 5am it was cold. I woke Mitch and discussed our plan from Saturday night. We agreed that neither of us could face walking into the cold water at this time of day when the fishing was as tough as it had been. When I confessed this to Brian Dare as we were checking out he did confirm with me that we were both sooks and that October was warmer. I said we will be back then. He aslo confirmed that no-one had caught anything all weekend except for one guy got two cod on chicken strips. Probably should have headed out with them afterall.

We hit the road for home and somewhere after Aratula I suffered my first ever blowout. The left trailer wheel. So glad it was the left one as we didn't have much of a verge to pull up on and the traffic was reasonably heavy with a lot of long weekenders making their way home to the east. The tyre was shredded and knocked the mud guard off its mount to boot. We were also lucky that we had some firewood left over to put under the jack as the angle of the bank showed the inadequacy of a scissor jack that doesn't go high enough.

I have no idea how old the tyres are on the trailer but will be replacing all 3 now with a non-Chinese brand for our next trip.

The trip was still a good getaway for me and Mitch who I haven't been out with since he discovered girls and drumming. I learnt new things about him, like his unusual taste buds that he didn't learn from home including a sandwhich with philly, vegemite, tomato and tuna!

We will go back when the barometer is looking more friendly.

 

Border closure.

Waiting for dinner to cook

Bacon and Eggs for breakfast

Sorry for the dodgy photos from Mitch's Apple phone. Must have auto-resized when he sent them to me.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hey ellicat

While you did donut, that is a mad camping trip. Looks like great fun. (I've been sick all weekend, and to make matters worse we've realised someone's nicked my phone and school computer from our home). I love the fire shot, and the border closure pic seems to show that when they say they've blocked all exits, they mean it! (They being the government). 

Looks like a good trip, and good times. Hopefully the next time you're back it gets some big cod and yellas. I saw a video of a fella on the internet (I believe his Youtube channel is ' Timmy Turtle', but he caught a metrey on a bit of steak! Amazing).  

Cheers Hamish

[ellicat]

Bugger about your gear getting stolen. Hope you didn't lose too much info/data,

I don't know if I could sacrifice a steak, chicken yes; steak no. haha

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

2 minutes ago, ellicat said:

Bugger about your gear getting stolen. Hope you didn't lose too much info/data,

I don't know if I could sacrifice a steak, chicken yes; steak no. haha

Yes, fair enough @ellicat. To make matters worse in some ways I think it was pig he shot himself (even though it was the tiniest chunk). 

Luckily all my information was backed up on my account, so I don't think anything to bad will happen. We're just more annoyed because the only way it happened is if someone quickly sneaked in, then straight back out, grabbing the first thing in sight!  

Cheers Hamish

[Another Wazza]

Hi there ellicat, what colour dart lure do you have?, I had a bloke try to buy mine whilst at that dam, he spotted it in my tackle box and started salivating, I told him not for sale, I’ll be using it, he must have thought I was mad, It did however catch me a 70cm model, the ones that command crazy prices are usually in mint condition,

[Old Scaley]

You sure know how to add some excitement to a few days camping @ellicat. Russell Coight would be proud of you. Glad you mad3 it home safely mate and had some quality time with Mitch.

[ellicat]

56 minutes ago, Another Wazza said:

Hi there ellicat, what colour dart lure do you have?, I had a bloke try to buy mine whilst at that dam, he spotted it in my tackle box and started salivating, I told him not for sale, I’ll be using it, he must have thought I was mad, It did however catch me a 70cm model, the ones that command crazy prices are usually in mint condition,

It's a predominantly brown one with a yellow belly and a bit of red. I'll post a pic when I regain the energy to retrieve the lure trays from the boat.

 

Here's some better quality pics that I can't be bothered putting into the other post.

[kmcrosby78]

Good trip there Brian despite the busted tyre and lack of fish. Quality time with your young fella which is always good - get some more in before he breeds and has no spare time ...... . Certainly wasn't the best spot to get a flat tyre - I'd suggest you plan that a bit better next time .......    That's a serious fridge you've got there - is it an Oztrail and if so, how long have you/Mitch had it and do you rate it?

[ellicat]

That's a Bushman 3 way running on gas. Excellent 61litre freezer. First trip with it and very impressed. It is big and weighs 40kg when empty, so needs two men (with dodgy backs) to maneuver into the tray when full of stuff.

https://bushman.com.au/product/xd70/

[ellicat]

13 hours ago, Another Wazza said:

Hi there ellicat, what colour dart lure do you have?

Here she is -

On closer inspection she is black not brown.

[Another Wazza]

Nice, It’s in a bit better condition then mine too

the top of this lures had a seeing to

[Drop Bear]

Wow mate sounds like an eventful trip. 

[GregOug]

On 17/08/2020 at 5:00 PM, ellicat said:

Donut, but it was good to have a camp with Mitch - the first time in 9 years !

A major fail occurred packing up on Thursday night when I found the 100 shrimp I'd bought were all dead as someone nearing senility had accidentally turned off the aerator, ironically when checking on their condition in the afternoon. Yes, it was me.

So we headed off early Friday morning and were at GL at 10.30 passing through some foggy patches.

Setup camp and had a chat to Brian and Debbie who manage the park. No 'catchable' shrimp in the dam yet. Bummer. Brian said they were catching some yellas on blades. We didn't have any blades but he said spinnerbaits might work. I also mentioned my Tenterfield Dart lure that I bought off them in 1994 for $15. He said they were now fetching $150 - $300+ and Debbie was one of the collectors. I have now removed it from use and transferred ownership to my superannuation fund. haha

 

Apparently there were a few 120cm cod at the dam wall worth having a look at to tease the fisheremen/women.

Had an afternoon fish and into the night. The plan was to head as far up as we could laying a track on the chartplotter and then meander back. Well that went by the wayside as a few stands of trees were too inviting to pass by. A lot of the stands were already being fished by a boat so we played the etiquette game and left them to it. We eventually came to a vacant stand and sounded up some yellowbelly. After half a dozen passes for a couple of hits that didn't stick we headed up as far as we could, which wasn't as far as expected because the dam is only at 14%. We then followed the track back to the spot where we'd had a good show and tied up to a tree so we could have a cast at these fellas. It was about 7pm now and was pitch black.

The weather forecast wasn't great and just after we tied up the wind went strong on us. I'm guessing above 30 knots. Our loose tie came undone and we were set adrift amongst the trees. With both of us trying unsuccessfully to pull on the rope to get us back to the tie-off tree I decided to cut the rope and start making our way back to camp.

This is where the mistake of not following the plan to lay a track came back to bite us as we had to meander our way back through the trees. It took us about an hour to get back. I was glad we hadn't been able to make it the 22km all the way up the dam otherwise we would have been out there until sunrise Saturday. We made i t back and prepared a late dinner of Porterhouse, chips and avocado before turning in for the night.

It rained all night and the forecast for Saturday was for more rain all day. It was cloudy with patches of blue when I got up. Brian said there would be a storm in the afternoon. So today's plan was to head out to the creek on the road to Tenterfield and try for some shrimp there under the bridge and a little further upstream under advice from Brian and use what we caught to bob for yellas in the afternoon before the storm. We let the traps rest for 45 minutes and pulled them in with a hundred little gudgeons and a couple of tiny unusable shrimp. So we reset them and headed back to camp before returning an hour or so later where we found the traps filled with gudgeons but no shrimp.

Assessing the sky in the afternoon we thought the storm was off the cards so planned to again fish into the night. As we put in we had a chat at the 'ramp' with a regular cod catcher. He said they had gone days without a touch. They said they had also been using chicken strips for bait that had been pickered without a proper take. I suspect spangled perch were the culprits. He told us his spot that has previously been fruitful for him. We tried there and many other places that arvo/evening for nothing. Only lost one lure to a snag that even the tackleback couldn't save. the storm never eventuated , so at least we got one call right.

Back at camp we fired up the camp oven with some garlic chicken breast and sweet and normal potatoes to fill our holes. Before heading to bed we made the plan to get up at 5 and head out for a final session using some raw chicken breast strips we had saved from dinner.

At 5am it was cold. I woke Mitch and discussed our plan from Saturday night. We agreed that neither of us could face walking into the cold water at this time of day when the fishing was as tough as it had been. When I confessed this to Brian Dare as we were checking out he did confirm with me that we were both sooks and that October was warmer. I said we will be back then. He aslo confirmed that no-one had caught anything all weekend except for one guy got two cod on chicken strips. Probably should have headed out with them afterall.

We hit the road for home and somewhere after Aratula I suffered my first ever blowout. The left trailer wheel. So glad it was the left one as we didn't have much of a verge to pull up on and the traffic was reasonably heavy with a lot of long weekenders making their way home to the east. The tyre was shredded and knocked the mud guard off its mount to boot. We were also lucky that we had some firewood left over to put under the jack as the angle of the bank showed the inadequacy of a scissor jack that doesn't go high enough.

I have no idea how old the tyres are on the trailer but will be replacing all 3 now with a non-Chinese brand for our next trip.

The trip was still a good getaway for me and Mitch who I haven't been out with since he discovered girls and drumming. I learnt new things about him, like his unusual taste buds that he didn't learn from home including a sandwhich with philly, vegemite, tomato and tuna!

We will go back when the barometer is looking more friendly.

 

Border closure.

Waiting for dinner to cook

Bacon 847.37 kB · 0 downloads and Eggs for breakfast 847.37 kB · 0 downloads

Sorry for the dodgy photos from Mitch's Apple phone. Must have auto-resized when he sent them to me.

Now this sounds like my normal trip

[boleropilot]

G'day All, me and the First Mate are heading up to a nice little house at the top of Glenlyon for a few nights, little bit different conditions to your trip two years age - it's currently 109% !!!

Taking our half cabin up, House owners say they have a "good spot" for launching the boat on their land so we're hoping to leave the boat in the water (depends on security)

Haven't caught a fish in about 4 decades (not a misprint) and the fishy solunar numbers are good for my birthday on 17/10, so watch this space...

BP 

[ellicat]

Good luck and happy birthday. I've had more luck when the dam has been full, so now you just need the barometer to hit 1020 for fish aplenty.

Let us know how you get on, whether good or bad.

[boleropilot]

g'day ellicat - baro is forecast at the dam on 17th as 1013 at 4pm rising to 1018 at 8pm.  Solunar forecast shows 94.1% major activity 4.30pm to 6.30pm

based on those numbers, there is a one percent chance I might catch a fish !!!  ah well, fishing is for relaxation - catching a fish is a bonus...

BP 

[ellicat]

1018 is close and rising so there is hope (as always). If you're using shrimp, try bobbing around the trees for yellowbelly. If you haven't got a sounder to find them, start at about 12 feet and then go down from there.

[Bob9863]

It's never a bad idea when going away chasing yellow belly and cod to pack along some chese. 

Works good for both, chicken does work but I reckon cheese is much better and cheaper.