dirvin21

Another free day meant another cod trip, this one back to the Namoi where I'd had some recent success, so it was a 4am start with my daughter Georgia. 3.5 hours later we met Steve @Hill373737 at the NP entrance. We hit the river hoping for a repeat of last trips success, didn't take long to figure out this wasn't the case. The fishing was tough, tried surface, chatterbaits and spinnerbaits for not even a looker. Pulled out the secret weapon, a 5inch grub rigged weedless. Even my favourite cod lure was struggling but eventually I hooked up A tiny cod to break the doughnut. To cut a long painful story short we fished hard through some very brutal terrain, climbing boulders and wading through blade grass for not even a follow. Eventually the call was made to head back out on the return I decided to put a cast in on a small backwater pool we'd had success last trip. It's always a surprise when something actually pays off tye cod came from nowhere and smacked my soft plastic right in front of me, played hard too had to get down to the water to land him A beautiful cod to improve the mood He measured 58cm, a surprise from such a small pool And to top it off I did the same thing in the last pool before our walk to the car Not nearly as big but a nice fish to end the session. We didn't get home till late, ended uo being a very long day with only 3 fish landed, worth it, absolutely! Steve was a 10/10 bloke to fish with, hopefully I'll get the opportunity again soon Cheers for reading Dave

I second definitely a big-eye, the easy giveaway is the black spot at the top corner of the gill plate once you can tell the difference between a big eye and a GT they are like comparing apples and oranges

I don't pay a big amount of attention to moon phase although I've definitely never associated full moon light with good fishing especially for bass and bream

beautiful shots mate, I'll be seeing the sun rise for the next few days unfortunately because of night shift

None of those reels are sealed but 8f you look after them by spray rinsingafter every use tgey last. The Nasci are a good value reel, I like mine as much as my stradics The rod depends on whether you're using lures or baits

Deckee, covers pretty much everything, it's free and supports fishraider

The good old Eastern water dtagon or commonly known by bass fisherman everywhere as "ya bastard!" You did well they are nasty things to de hook, but they are cool, seen tyem big enough to near breath fire It's a shame when creatures get snared in discarded line always serves as a reminder to not leave discarded gear if it can be helped and pick up any we find As fishraiders we set an example for the rest of the fishos out there

Awesome Mike You've inspired me to have a pre-work cast tomorrow

Atleast you got out mate, no fishing here at the moment

Did a trip back in December, hiked the Eucumbene river and a couple of creeks There's literally miles of rivers and streams you can walk and potentially pack camp I'd have some serious planning and gear at this time of year during December we experienced 4 seasons in the hour including low temps, I could only imagine what late April may bring

You can't use live fin fish in NSW freshwater If your planning on baitfishing, cheese pr chicken breast are great cod baits, a 10/0 circle hook and slab of chicken breast will get you a cod For smaller fish species like yellas, silvers and cattoes shrimps, yabbies and garden worms are the go

That's awesome Jeff!

A short video from our recent cod trip slowly getting my head around filming and editing

I'll get Amy to do that

With our recent wedding and clashing rosters we seized an opportunity for another cod trip. It was a late arvo set-off after work we arrived at Copeton in the dark but luckily the moon obliged to give some light for setting up camp It was definetly worth the drive in during the night when we were greeted by a cracking day We wasted no time getting moving heading to the river to get fishing. Conditions looked amazing and the river was looking great the flow was half what it was last time (not letting water out of Copeton). We had a couple of hits straight up but otherwise was a bit slow. Amy decided a photo was in order. Yep definitely married a looker😍. Took awhile but I put a cast in the right spot and was rewarded with a hit that stuck. A beautiful average river cod to get the trip going, video footage to come later on. Confidence got high unfortunately the fishing did not we struggled for a couple of hours. There were a couple of missed hits but they just wouldn't stick. Sometimes you just need to stop regroup and come back later so we headed back to camp for lunch And returned for a hopeful arvo bite. The afternoon felt fishy we saw some serious sized carp next time I'll definitely bring some small plastics. The fishing wasn't redhot still but finally Amy called out she was on, A new pb cod, Amy has had a tough run with fishing so this fish caused some serious yahooing. We worked our way downriver, getting late I switched to surface, my fisrt surface strike near ruined my pants, Amy had a good chuckle, unfortunately missed the hook up. Not long after Amy had a cod launch out of the water right beside her Kayak, funniest thing I've seen in years. Shortly after Amy yells out, she's on again And she's got her second cod for the trip another nice fish. With fading light and a decent paddle and walk ahead of us we started heading back, going past the tree I'd missed the surface strike on, decided to give it another cast first cast went a bit wide thinking about where the next cast would go I wasn't expecting the strike, near soiled my pants again only this time it stuck Another beautiful cod to finish the session, we hustled back as there was loads of fresh wild pig tracks around Finished the evening with steaks And catching crays which made an appearance for breakfast We didn't end up fishing Copeton, it's a tough place to fish at near full, so we ended the trip on a tie. Ended up an amazing trip, couple of fish each, incredible weather and being able to spend it with my wife doesn't get any better Cheers for reading Dave

That's awesome! Some great cod🙌

This story started just over 4 years ago, I was in a low and lonely place and through a dating app I first met Amy. It took a few dates, a lot of phone conversation and me turning up to the emergency department for her in the middle of the night to win her over. Didn't take me long to know she was someone I couldn't live without Amy had never fished or really done any of the outdoor activities I loved to do, why? No one had ever taken the time to include her or teach her, it didn't take her long to develop a love for fishing and adventure in a short time she has ticked off bucket list species for many anglers Through work and family commitments we had to live separately for the first few years but always made time for each other at every opportunity, when a plan to move in together was finally hatched, I decided a proposal was in order, so in the middle of a remote set of rapids in our favourite cod fishing spot I busted out a ring and asked Amy to be "my fishing buddy forever" Poor Amy nearly passed out from shock and surprise then screamed yes, yes yes!!! Between then and now Amy has completed her nursing degree started working as an RN planned a wedding and still had tome for our adventures, then on March 12th she made me the luckiest man to walk the earth Remember Raiders fishing isn't just about the fish, it's about who you share it with! look forward to writing up our next adventure cheers for reading Dave

I've seen stitches required from them, they're nasty slimy demons that I'm sure only exist because they were cast put of hell for being to viscous

AMEN!!!!

That's him

fishing very public urban areas for bream, crappy weather a bit of cloud cover and wind chop can often make bream lose a few of their inhibitions especially arounds walls and areas that food like crabs get dislodged from a bit of chop

I used to follow a guy on a bream forum years ago that specialised in land based bream spinning in metro Melbourne, he used to catch (and assume he still does) some absolute beasts

"the junction" is on the junction of the Nymboida and little Nymboida rivers you're probably thinking of "Georges junction" on the upper Macleay

my lures are stored in tackle boxes according to target species or lure type, they're stored in the garage at home rather than in the boat otherwise my boat gets cluttered I take what I need for a trip according to target species and what rod setups I'm taking, 90% of the time I'll use 2 or 3 lures in a days fishing

Chase bream on the deep structure Hopefully find some lical GTs in the upper estuary