Fishing- Who's Hooked.

[LF]

We ended up going last night,not a good one this time,I caught an undersized Skippy but otherwise it was just blowies

[My Chumps]

Caught a stack of mullet over Easter. All small ones but was still fun reeling them in to the shore. Coupla flathead, trevally, few nice sized salmon and a single black bream. Excellent weekend.

Sweet, where'd you go, sounds like somewhere in WA with that bag?  Fresh mullet are hands down the best bait to put in your crab nets, you will clean up.  Heading down to Long Point on Sunday morning down in Rocko, try our luck for some Tailor.

Nah mate, all the way down in East Vic, Marlo/Cape Conran to be specific. Go there every Easter and expect just Salmon. Never seen a black Bream down there before but there ya go.

[Grazz]

Some of my eldest son Michael's Cod catch and release trips. Haven't managed to catch one myself as yet hopefully my day will come. Have another to post which I can't as yet as it's going into Freshwater Fishing Australia magazine shortly and Mick will get in the shower if I did.









They are a spectacular looking fish particularly when their this size. Far to beautiful to catch just once so all are returned to fight another day.

[Grufflez]

^ Wow, that's a big cod!

We used to get up to Barmah / Mathoura over Easter and after Chrissy, i have personally never caught anything close the that
size with around 2 ft being my largest catches.

The camping is beautiful up their and really enjoy getting out in a tinny having a few beers whilst snagging a few Cod,Carp,Yellow Belly with the odd Silver Perch & Australia freshy Bass, like a decade ago we use to catch a few Trout-Cod but they seem to have disappeared sadly.

Nearly all catch and release, Don't think i'll ever catch a monster like your sons as i am a bait fisherman and rarely Trawl but thanks for the
inspiring photos mate, cheers.

[Grazz]

^ Wow, that's a big cod!

We used to get up to Barmah / Mathoura over Easter and after Chrissy, i have personally never caught anything close the that
size with around 2 ft being my largest catches.

The camping is beautiful up their and really enjoy getting out in a tinny having a few beers whilst snagging a few Cod,Carp,Yellow Belly with the odd Silver Perch & Australia freshy Bass, like a decade ago we use to catch a few Trout-Cod but they seem to have disappeared sadly.

Nearly all catch and release, Don't think i'll ever catch a monster like your sons as i am a bait fisherman and rarely Trawl but thanks for the
inspiring photos mate, cheers.

All 3 of those are rippers mate, I haven't caught anything close to those either. His biggest Cod to date is 131cm long, that's a massive fish lol. I have another photo of another big Cod he caught which i'll put up after it appears in the magazine Freshwater Fishing Australia, he told me I can't post it till then.

He does a bit of trawling but the majority of them have come from chucking big hard bodied lures at snags like fallen trees etc.
Like you I really enjoy fishing the river, it's easy fishing and the scenery is beautiful, it's peaceful if your away from all the ski boats and jet skis. Camping we love up there, sitting round a camp fire at night discussing what you caught the one that got away over a few beers, can't beat that.

It's a shame about the Trout Cod, don't think i'll ever see one of those now. Like the Catfish they are disappearing because of how we've treated the river over the years. Thankfully Cod seem to be making a comeback and I hope this continues.
The NSW and Vic Govt's have spent alot of money introducing Cod fingerlings back into the rivers which has helped their resurgence for sure, I take my hat off to them wish our Government would do something similar. Our Cod fishing down here in SA has improved alot off the back of what Governments up stream are doing, we are fortunate for that as some of those fish they are releasing are finding their way down here over time.

Every Cod big or small that we catch down here goes back in the water, their to important to the system to keep and to be honest the big Cod aren't worth eating as there's to much fat in them and the little ones you want them to become big ones and breeders more importantly.

Have a crack at fishing for Yellow Belly with lures mate, the boys got me into it and it's good fun. We can pull 30 fish in a 6-7 hour session some days but like fishing is you can come back catching none some days or just a few. Again we release all of those we catch aswell, we're not big on keeping fish out of the river, the river needs all the help it can get down here and putting them back we feel we're doing our bit to help improve it rather than the opposite. All our fish go back with tags put in them for research purposes etc through the Lower River Murray Fishing club and the Dept of Fisheries here. We've actually caught fish again that we've tagged which is a buzz when ya do.

Most of the Yellow Belly we catch on lures come from the edge of the river out to about 10-12 feet from the bank but an electric auxilliary motor off the front of the tiny is a must otherwise you just spook them with a outboard. Still enjoy bait fishing tide up under the big river gums on the river having a very relaxed time and a few beers, that's still great fun but the majority of late has been with lures. Mt son has the state record here in SA for Yellow Belly, he's goes ok the bugger, taught him all he knows haha.
Tables are well and truely turned now though, he's teaching me i'm the student now.

Tightlines mate all the best to you, may you get amongst the big ones. ;)

[Nails]

How would you even cook a fish that big? #notafisheater #notreallyafisherman

[Grazz]

How would you even cook a fish that big? #notafisheater #notreallyafisherman

You'd have to fillet it mate or cut it into cutlets but at that size their really not worth eating is what we've been told. Never actually tried them so I wouldn't know for sure. To beautiful to kill though, fish like that are the major breeders and need to be left in the system to help the Cod recover in our rivers. All those that fish for them have said the last few years have been some of the best Cod fishing years they can remember so hopefully they are making a good recovery and in a couple of decades they are back as good as ever but for that to happen these big fish have to be returned to the water in good health. I urge everyone to do the same thing, if they are extremely large don't even try to take them out the water, bring the fish to the bank if possible and get in the water for a photograph if that's not possible just take a picture of it in the water then let it go on it's merry way. A picture is all you need. You'd be amazed how good it feels to let these remarkable fish go, I haven't caught a Cod like these but iv'e released big tuna 30-40kg's and other large fish and it's a buzz to know their probably still out there swimming around. Catch and release for threatened species is a must and every fisherman should do their bit to ensure it happens so our kids and their kids get to experience the thrill of catching one well into the future.

[jvalles69]

Salmon aplenty here in Perth metro, hitting the North Mole tomorrow morning to try my luck off the rocks on my day off!

[Grazz]

Salmon aplenty here in Perth metro, hitting the North Mole tomorrow morning to try my luck off the rocks on my day off!

Good luck mate. ;)

[jvalles69]

Salmon aplenty here in Perth metro, hitting the North Mole tomorrow morning to try my luck off the rocks on my day off!

Good luck mate. ;)

Thanks bud, hoping for a couple of fat 7kg+!  More importantly for the fun of the catch as they like to fight and I've never caught them off the rocks before, will be taking a solid net with me.  Most will go back to fight another day, but I think I'll keep 1 and give the meat to mum to make a curry.  :D

[Grufflez]

Good on ya for tagging the released fish, the research teams must love people like you, reckon that's great Grazz.  ;)

[Grazz]

Salmon aplenty here in Perth metro, hitting the North Mole tomorrow morning to try my luck off the rocks on my day off!

Good luck mate. ;)

Thanks bud, hoping for a couple of fat 7kg+!  More importantly for the fun of the catch as they like to fight and I've never caught them off the rocks before, will be taking a solid net with me.  Most will go back to fight another day, but I think I'll keep 1 and give the meat to mum to make a curry.  :D

If you can get onto some around 7kg's off the rocks you're going to have a lot of fun that's for sure. Pound for pound Salmon go pretty hard. In a curry hey never tried them like that, we brought some back from Streaky Bay over here in SA that were 10kg's and we tried to cook them every possible but I thought they were rubbish really, good for bait I reckon haha. Great fun to catch though.

Good on ya for tagging the released fish, the research teams must love people like you, reckon that's great Grazz.  ;)

Anyone of us can tag fish mate, it cost you some money for the privilege though, a one of registration fee and then the price of replacement tags and log book etc, probably why not that many guys do it because you have to pay to help the Dept of Fisheries out which is wrong really, I think if your in a Fishing club Fisheries should give them to you if you're interested in doing it.
Clubs run classes on how and where to tag a fish without causing it any harm, 15 minutes is all you need to teach someone.

Michael started doing it up the river where he fishes mainly to see if the fish actually recovered well from being hooked and how long it took for them to have a go at a lure again etc but mainly he wanted to know that the fish were surviving capture so when he started to catch fish he and other mates had tagged they knew they were handling them and doing everything correctly particularly with the Cod, tag the Yellow Belly also (we call them Callop here).  What helps us also helps the Dept of Fisheries aswell, it benefits both parties. When we catch a tagged fish the length weight and condition is all noted in your tag log again.

The fish aren't to bright they tend to hang around the same snags and you capture them in similar areas to where you caught them last time. If I remember correctly (dodgey memory) the quickest re-capture said they've (him or his mates from the club) had of a Yellow Belly is 4 days and the quickest re-capture of a Cod was about two weeks but don't quote me on that lol, could have that all wrong. I'll ask him when he gets back from holidays and if i'm wrong i'll post the correct length of time for each.

[jvalles69]

Yeah, our Salmon isn't the best eating, has to be bled completely and hen cooked perfectly or it's rubbish.  Hence a curry, you've got other flavours to take away from the crap quality of the fish.  Got to cut out all those red fatty parts of the fish too when filleting, if it's cooked right it's ok, but to easy to get wrong!

[Grufflez]

Grazz, i was discussing the use of cheese as bait for Murry Cod with a mate a few weeks back
since it is the recommended bait by locals the entire length of the Murry/Darling system.

I have never used it personally as i have never been certain that it doesn't harm the fish should they
nibble/ be released after been caught and swallowed the bait.

It only just occurred to me that you might be a good person to ask as when i searched for information
on the subject all i could find was a ton of conjecture with no real evidence or proof one way or the other.

I just thought with your son/you being serious cod fisherman that you may know if any studies have been done
on the subject by fisheries or what-not. cheers, rob.

[Grazz]

Nope you got me there mate, haven't heard anything regarding cheese and Cod liking it. I'll ask all the boys and see if I can throw some light your way on the subject. I have heard it being used as a bait for other species over the years but from memory they were all salt water fish if memory serves me well.
Personally have never fished for Cod with bait , has always been lures either big hard bodies or spinner baits and you just keep casting to likely looking snags, if there happens to be a Cod in there wether hungry or not they'll smash them eventually simply because they get the showers with the lure cruising around their territory. Their very territorial and will eat another Cod if it happens to stray into the wrong place at the wrong time, anything and everything is fair game to them if it fits in their mouth ducks included.