queensland Somerset after the crowds left.

[SchultzyT]

Dad and I went up to Somerset on Sunday afternoon for a few hours. We didn't know until we were driving past the shop at the dam and saw all the bass boats that there was a tournament on.

Not to worry they'd obviously finished fishing but dad thought the fish might be a little gun shy after being thoroughly worked over by lots of anglers for the entire weekend.

Then when we drove into the spit we saw hundreds of jet skis. There was a race weekend happening.

Dad did a U turn straight back out the gate and drove up to Kirkleagh to launch. There were a few ski boats and one lonely fishing boat up there when we launched.

We headed up to Neil's Rock and started fishing. Actually I took the tiller and fished while Dad sat up the front with his big camera outfit taking photos of sea eagles and having a throw now and then.

Working the edges by casting spinners was hard work and three hours only produced a couple of bass. I thought a cod would be a chance in the timber so took the boat among the trees and kept throwing.

At about 5.30pm I had a fish slam the lure and miss the hook. But about one second later he hit it again and stayed on. This fish went hard and was making me work hard to keep the line away from a couple of big trees. It took a few minutes to get it to the surface where we saw it was a really good sized cod. I got it a couple of metres from the net when the big girl opened her mouth and my lure came flying out straight over my head. Gawn.

:pinch: :X Spewing.

Thats two big fish I've lost in the last two trips.

[Angus]

Hahahaha Tony thats closer to a big cod than I have been

Angus

[kriso]

omg how pissed where you lol

[benno573]

bummer...

[Rocket75]

Sounds like he/she was playing with you! Just as well it's a big enough area that you can escape the traffic and still find some fish. Thanks for the report

Rocket

[SchultzyT]

Yeah it is a long drop from being so hyped when you know its a cod to that hollow feeling when it makes an early getaway.

I thought it must have been my turn after I've been the one to net so many for Dad.

Well at least it won't be too hard to talk Dad into making a return trip or two or three.

[pcsolutionman]

Thanks for the report Tony, a real pitty about that cod though

Lee

[Plastic Man]

nice report mate dam i would be upset if that happend to me you did well to hook theres always next time

[Schultzy]

I had the camera around my neck and managed to snap a quick shot of Tony's fish when I saw the lure fly out. Got this out of focus shot of the fish as it turned to bugger off. [img size=500]http://www.australianfishing.com.au/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/sset_cod_escape.jpg

[jeff f]

commiserations on your loss tony

great action shot shultzy

[Cowfish13]

Jeez that's a solid fish:blink: Look at the shoulders on him:blink::ohmy:

Bad luck, but you've gotta be doing something right to hook him in the first place:)

Well done

[Plastic Man]

man thats a awesome pics great stuff guys

[ellicat]

Didn't get to land my biggest fish either....it still hurts.

At least you got to see yours.

Good story. I'm sure it's got a few of us thinking about a fish there soon;)

[jeff f]

last afo trip to sommerset wasn't real spectacular

maybee we should try again soon

[Schultzy]

Cowfish,

It was a very good fish, larger than the one I got on Christmas morning. I'd guess it was around 15kg.

Those big cod can be hard to hook on spinners. They appear to clamp down on the rubber skirts with those big sandpaper teeth so hard that the angler can't set the hook. The teeth pads on those large cod are too wide for the hook's gape.

Plugs will slide across the teeth on the strike to allow the hooks to find some soft tissue but spinners don't. Have to get the spinner either inside the mouth or be lucky enough for the fish to be facing the right direction when it eases off the jaw pressure to let the hook point be pulled in by the line instead of pulling it out of the mouth.

[Feral]

jeff f wrote:

last afo trip to sommerset wasn't real spectacular

maybee we should try again soon

And from Kirkleagh, so people can chose timber or deep water easy enough.

[Schultzy]

Hey Lee,

Don't feel too sorry for Tony.

It's not as though he hasn't caught cod in Somerset before.

Here's a shot of his first. Taken from the canoe so we had to pull over to the bank and jump out to get a photo. The fish was caught in the mid nineties, around '95 I think and was released after a quick piccie. Those of you who fish the lake regularly should be able to recognise the area. [img size=429]http://www.australianfishing.com.au/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/Tony_sset_cod_1995.jpg

[STU]

Neil where is the pics of the eagles

[Schultzy]

Just posted some pics in the gallery for you Stu.

[Cowfish13]

If you havn't had a look at Schultzy's pictures of the Eagles, please do:)

They're amazing shots:)

[Schultzy]

Schultzy wrote:

Hey Lee,

Don't feel too sorry for Tony.

It's not as though he hasn't caught cod in Somerset before.

Here's a shot of his first. Taken from the canoe so we had to pull over to the bank and jump out to get a photo. The fish was caught in the mid nineties, around '95 I think and was released after a quick piccie. Those of you who fish the lake regularly should be able to recognise the area. [img size=429]http://www.australianfishing.com.au/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/Tony_sset_cod_1995.jpg

The missus just refreshed my memory. Tony actually caught this one in 1993 when he was 8 years old.

[Schultzy]

Stu & Will, I've just added a couple more eagle photos to the gallery. Shot these yesterday morning.

[Brian D]

Lucky you had your camera Schultzy, not that long tail tony would tell long tail stories. :woohoo: :S

Eagles are my favourite bird, they like eating Bunnies - go Manly.

[Mozza]

Unlucky about the big cod mate. Next time maybe

[Feral]

Schultzy wrote:

Schultzy wrote:

The missus just refreshed my memory. Tony actually caught this one in 1993 when he was 8 years old.

My young fella got his first at 8yo as well, got his at Glenlyon on a live shrimp.