big Neil

Stop it Dave. You're driving me crazy with envy. Lovely catch there especially the 40cm+ Bream. Great feed of Whiting there too. Enjoy! bn

Nothing wrong with the way they look Fil. Good to see that you got plenty of action on the soft plastics, the Pillies will always come in handy down the track. I would love to have a good feed of Flathead but that's unlikely till I manage to get to Sydney in the next month or so. Tight lines, bn

WOW, what a great report Max Power. I had lots of questions to ask you based on your earlier responses to some of my reports...but you have answered them. Very well done on catching such a fantastic specimen. Your persistence was definitely rewarded. I have often argued that you don't always need the most expensive or right-coloured lure to catch fish. I believe that fish (particularly Murray Cod) are reactive and will attack for one or both of two reasons. Hunger or protecting its space. They seldom sit and think of what they do. Ever contemplated using spinnerbaits as your go-to lure of choice? They are less likely to get snagged and on their day work really well. One of the issues where people fail with them is that they cast them and start to retrieve immediately. Often they get hit as they descend in the water column. Their natural retrieve pattern is to come up in the water column as they are retrieved, so are better off starting on the bottom. Sure there is more risk of losing the spinnerbait using this method, but with Cod fishing you have to take risks to get results. If I can offer you a tip, consider this. When fishing from a boat, the best results are achieved by casting hard into the snags at the bank. Cod will occupy the most difficult, inaccessible areas you can find. You can do this by walking the bank and casting a few metres in and around the snags. Have a look at videos from Whistling Willy Cod fishing and you will see what I mean. Get a good extendable landing net and some of your smaller, cheaper diving lures and give it a go. Not something I do from the bank (I have mobility issues), but certainly do from the boat. If you want to invest in some spinnerbaits, I have a mate who makes great quality ones in Wagga Wagga and is usually about half to two-thirds the cost of retail outlets. If you would like his details, send me a PM. He will post them to you. Good luck with your Cod fishing. Keep in touch, always nice to have someone else on here with their experiences of chasing these iconic fish. Cheers, bn

That's a great report and result MaxiTroll. Still on my bucket list to crack a metre long Kingie. Cheers, bn

Many thanks for your kind words Max Power. What area do you seek the Cod in? I'm finding a lot more Carp this season than previously. Do you get many Carp where you fish? Been a very hot start to the season, weather-wise. Previous times I would have gone in for a cooling dip. Not these days though, I'm too decrepit. bn

So that was a bit of media experimentation prior to getting some photos edited. I had my American friend Larry here last week, supposedly for 4 nights but ended up with us only getting one session of fishing completed. That was at Darlington Point where there's a fabulous new boat ramp and pontoon. The conditions were ideal and I caught 3 Cod to 78cm. Larry managed quite a few Carp and a small Murray Crayfish. I fished from the bank at Euroley when the ramp was full of mud, and caught a couple of Cod and Carp. Had a recce trip to Narrandera to check the conditions and fished from the bank whilst there. Several Carp and the tiniest, beautifully marked Murray Cod came into the net. I ascertained that it was ok to launch the tinny so I headed there this morning. I had a lovely morning fishing as I sought to keep out of the hot sun. 6 Cod and 5 Carp kept the numbers rolling over. So far, since Cod opening I have been out fishing 6 times and caught 21 Cod, the biggest being 78cms. 14 Carp from the river too. Lost a cracking Cod today when I couldn't get it loose from a snag and ended up breaking the line. Here are some photos from the various sessions, in no particular order... My American mate Larry... Then some scenery photos, and a few of the fish caught. Thanks for reading the post, bn

went fishing...caught some fish! bn

I really enjoyed reading your initial post Rob. It reminded me of a time when I was down at the ferry terminal with Derek, fishing, (and learning), when a guy standing nearby became involved in the rapport and ended up as one of Dereks' students. His name was Ryan and he has become a very accomplished angler as a result of that encounter. The Uni knot is indeed a very valuable tool in the angler's repertoire. I always remember Swordie saying it was the only knot anglers needed to learn to tie. QUOTE... I know that this isn't much of a fishing report, but I really want to thank Derek for giving up his time to help someone like me. Its is this helpfulness to others that to me makes Fishraider so valuable. It is one thing to look at a video on Youtube but one-on-one mentoring takes it to a whole new world of learning. I singled out the above section of your post Rob because it emphasises my thoughts on the invaluable benefits that Fishraider offers. You are now on your angling journey and I look forward to seeing how you get on as you learn and practice all the newly found techniques that abound in the modern days of angling. Good luck Rob, I look forward to reading your progress reports. bn

My main experiences of losing fish have been with the other part of the tax department....seals. They definitely follow boats around and even become cheeky as they take your catch, sometimes teasing you in the process. On one charter from Narooma we went out to Montague Island and there is a seal colony there. We were hooking into decent Snapper but the seals were taking them as we retrieved back to the charter boat. The seal would often surface with the Snapper in its mouth and look at you, almost cheekily, sort of saying "what you gunna do now, ya punk?" Occasionally they would let go and you would reel as fast as possible only to have them take it again boatside. The charter skipper had seen all this before, of course, so he said "Bring your lines up". We took off towards another charter boat and the skipper had some chit chat with the other captain. Suddenly he took off at a great rate of knots and left the seals there with the other boat. Later on we went back towards the island and a rather large seal jumped up on the back of the boat trying to take the pilchard baits from the bait board. Thankfully sharks don't mimic that particular behaviour. So these creatures of the deep are more than capable of working out the best way to get an easy meal, with little respect for the fact that it's your hard earned they are working with. A bit like the TAX MAN does anyway! A good post and pictures Jason. Cheers, bn

Good onya for taking a punt on the cheaper lures. It may be true that some more expensive lures work better than their cheaper cousins, but the hungry fish knows little of our world of economy. Nice little feed of Flatties for your efforts. Cheers, bn

I always admire anglers who go fishing against their better judgement, like you did. Pity you weren't able to get out for some Flatties and the crabs were a bit uncooperative, but you gave it a shot and next time may be better. Good onya for giving it your best shot. bn

Thanks Andrew, you have a good perspective of how it is. It's a long way from what we were used to many years ago. Still planning a trip up your way, but not till after the busy holiday period. bn

Too true. Haha, I love your little emoji (hope that's what it's called). bn

What a great post Rob. Congratulations on your successes with topwater lure fishing. As has been mentioned it's not the easiest thing to do and to get a result. Derek is an excellent tutor who has the patience of Job. You are the right sort of person for him to teach as you are keen to change plans and catch up with your tutoring. I wish you continued luck as you get out more and practice what you have learned. Good luck on the topwater Whiting. I'll look forward to your report. Cheers, bn

Well done. Creativity is the mother of invention, or so they say. Definitely is in your case. Memo to self...take the fly rod. ' bn

I am really saddened to hear of your lost gear. I think you need to widen your appeal to encompass news media like newspapers and tv, in the hope that it was taken unintentionally. You should have no trouble gaining access to media groups as you had an international celebrity with you. Good luck with getting the valuable footage and your gear back. bn

I think Derek should chip in to this query. bn

The Murray Cod season has only just begun and I am already annoyed with so many authorities. Fair dinkum they couldn't run a chook raffle! After the long wait for Cod season to open (Friday, Dec 1st) it finally arrives and the river is in great condition. Bear in mind that the last time this happened was in 2015. I went out and got some very nice Cod. I was busy on the weekend so went out on Monday. The river was running pretty fast but I managed a couple more decent fish. My American mate (Larry) arrived and on Tuesday we went way downstream (50 kms) to the new boat ramp and pontoon at Darlington Point. I hadn't fished there for ages but knew that the water would be much better there because of the long distance between weirs. Proved to be a good choice with several more good Cod caught there. I am waiting on some photos that Larry took before I put a separate post up. Unfortunately, work interrupted Larry's plans to stay the week and he had to head to Deniliquin. My own plans got disrupted too and I was heading out EARLY this morning (Saturday). Headed to the boat ramp to find the water had been diverted 2 weirs upstream and there was 5mtrs of mud on the ramp. Too risky for me to perform a solo launch/retrieve so I headed home. Got home and contemplated putting the tackle in the COW and going fishing from the bank. However, by the time I was sorted the sun was well up as was the temperature, 40c +. Decided against it. The other organisation that annoys me lately is the NPWS. I have imagined that they are set up to provide access to the National Parks by the public. IT APPEARS NOT. To people living in rural NSW the river is our source of recreation, of getting together with family and friends to enjoy the outdoor activities provided by the river (swimming, water skiing, fishing, camping, sitting around the fire having a few cold ones, and relaxing...especially at this time of year). They have all but banned access to many usual places that locals frequent. Apparently, you can pay and pre-book a short visit to the river but the days of big get-togethers are gone. So farmers have no water to produce food for local and export usage (it's been hijacked under the Murray Darling Basin scheme by entrepreneurs, many of these secret opportunists believed to be our esteemed politicians. The dams that store the water for irrigation purposes empty millions of megalitres out to sea south of Adelaide every time it looks like decent rain. Then it doesn't rain and the dam levels have dropped dramatically. We even have several fishing comps held each year and the water levels could be managed to accommodate the numerous visitors to the area...BUT NO, that doesn't happen either. Fair dinkum, if I wasn't a well- established old timer, I'd be LIVID at the incompetence of these autocracies who fail us time and time again. bn (aka whingealot)

You can only take it back to a Shimano agent with your proof of purchase and ask if it is a warranty job. My personal thought is that it probably won't be, given that you may have done something to it outside of their framework of usage. However, it is definitely worth asking as companies that offer 10 yr warranty are usually proud of the products that they sell. The Sienna is the bottom of their range in quality and price but I would definitely ask the question. There is no harm in asking, you may be pleasantly surprised to find that they are willing to fix the issue. Would you please post (on here) how you get on? The information would be helpful to many others who use their products. Good luck, bn

Another good initiative that you are pursuing Donna. I trust it will prove very beneficial to the numerous Fishraiders who read the posts on a regular basis. Cheers, bn

A very welcome report Josh, always great to get out fishing with Dad. Good result all round , you with the cephalopods and Dad with a PB Flattie. I will look forward to your posts now that you have created more time for fishing. Keep up the good work. bn

Only the smaller ones look a bit underdone. The larger ones (breeders) are in very good condition. This probably means that they have had a very good breeding season, in my opinion. Many thanks for your comments, cheers. bn

Very well done Mass. Just shows how healthy the estuaries can be if you know your way around them. What rig did you use with the nippers? bn

I was reading through the posts of your journey into boat ownership DD and wondered how things are going with the boat ownership. Trust that your plans are coming together and you haven't had too many issues to overcome. Be nice to hear how you're progressing with it all. Good luck, bn

Good result Dave and Georgia. Not surprised at the colour of the water after the Statewide rains of last week. Great pics Dave. None of the fish appear to have a lot of condition about them. Healthy enough, but they seem to have been working hard for their food. Do you ever take one home for a feed Dave? Hope that Georgia recovered well and is keen to get back out there. Lovely countryside! Cheers, bn