dirvin21

They work well Really good eel bait in freshwater too

Great fish mate, forgot to mention

That's awesome I've never caught whiting on fly or much else but apart from obvious surface lures I've caught plenty on soft plastics and diving hardbodies, with hardbodies whiting like a really erraric non stop retrieve and with plastics they like it to flick along the bottom not hop upwards like a flathead, you may be able to apply with fly

Sounds like a good trip Mike, can't beat some family time and few few fish

Good to see you're finally back into the greenfish Neil

Good work for getting into freshwater The fish in the first photo I'm pretty sure is a macquarie perch, quite a rare capture and protected species

For cod fishing I use chinlockz 1/8 oz HWS or similar weight, if I want extra weight I tie small ball sinker into the look knot For everything else, jacks, barra etc I use snakelockz

Amy and I were lucky enough to have new years off together, with the river looking great out west the only option was cod fishing. Our favourite form of fishing in our favourite spot, we made the near 6 hour drive to the NP there were a few people (usually empty) but the river was looking great. A quick camp set-up and we were on the river We decided to leave the video cams behind for our first session we just wanted a relaxing low pressure session, what a mistake that turned out to be. The river was looking amazing as ever We by passed the top pools with the aim of fishing back towards camp as daylight faded later on, after our usual bush bash, hand walking yaks down a rapid and me going for an early swim, we started casting. Conditions were perfect, our plan of attack was ise our usual 5inch plastics rigged weedless, it took Amy all of 5 minutes to get hit, the fish ended up running her into trees but with some persuasion it came back out A really nice fish to get us started, gave us a obligatory cod shower on release luckily it was hot 🔥 So with confidence booming we got the casts flying and of course whilst I'm finally getting half an enquiry Amy's on again, the fish really went hard and after some good angling Amy had number 2 on board Another quality fish so now I'm 2 down literally minutes later I'm about to cast at the fish I got hit by Amy's on a 3rd time I actually may have muttered a profanity A really nice cod and the biggest for the trip, now I'm 3 down. I couldn't get a touch yet Amy was getting hit nearly every cast just wouldn't hook up, finally whilst having a day dream lifting my plastic out of the water a cod mouth appears snaps shut with a crack and gives me a shower scaring the life out of me Finally a fish on the board another nice healthy specimen Of course Amy couldn't allow that so 5 minutes later She has to get another it was definetly her session. The hits kept coming for Amy but I still couldn't tempt any I reckon I had 1 hit to her 15 or so, thinking she was getting plagued by yellabelly. The light fading we made our way back up, I really needed another fish one little pocket looked to good not to cast and thankfully I was right Another nice cod to restore a bit of pride. As were finishing up on dark, Amy landed yet another cod only a smallie but any cod is a good cod. That ended session number 1 with Amy smashing it, and yes she was chuffed. The next morning we set off to a different section we haven't fished before, it saddens me when I see set lining Amy did mention to those responsible it's illegal but they just shrugged, another report to fisheries. The fishing was a little slow with Amy having a couple of follows, we stopped had a swim getting munched by big shrimps which bloody hurt. We changed our lures to small chatterbaits, if it ain't working try something else not long after I was rewarded Kept the casts going for another cod of similar size, but with the sun high and hot and even a red belly wanting a dip we had a swim and pulled out for lunch went for a spin up to the falls lookout And had lunch by the river near camp Recharged we hit the river for another evening session we did the same thing, and again it didn't take long for Amy to get hit with a boof so loud beside her kayak that scared the crap out of both of us, inspired I put on a surface lure it didn't take long for it to get nailed Tried surface for a bit longer but with no luck switched back to the plastic, first cast gets nailed by a cracker which I saw but couldn't pin, this started the most insane cod bite I've ever witnessed thet were all over my plastic near every cast they just wouldn't hook up, my theory is they were so agro they hit it and kept charging forward so the line wouldn't come up tight Thankfully I did manage to pin one Poor Amy in a complete role reversal couldn't turn a trick for the arvo session, but with 11 cod landed for the trip, so many hits and absolutely buggered we were happy to head back to camp and spend new years eve by the fire definitely an unbeatable way to end 2022, hopefully 2023 will see some great fishing cheers for reading Dave

We've chosen a trip with loads of variety, really hoping to land a decent payara and arowana bit I'll happily take anything I can't catch in Australia

Nice... we're going to hit the Severn haven't been up there for ages so we're pretty excited

Let me know when you're heading to "chase bass" up there might be able to join you and show a few spots

It's more about access to quality fish, especially fish like barra and Saratoga Generally speaking impoundment fish are way harder to catch

This will be one my last posts for 2022 as in true Dave and Amy style we're spending New Years put cod fishing miles from the internet. Just wanted to thank all my fellow raiders for all your contributions this year I love reading about other people's fishing almost as much as fishing itself. Of course a thankyou to my fellow mods and especially Donna aka @mrsswordfisherman who without FR wouldn't run Amy and I have had some great trips and amazing captures this year knocking off sime bucket listers and breaking pb's not to mention become Mr and Mrs Dave and Amy. Working as a nurse through 2022 has teally highlighted to me don't put it off, do it now the future is never guaranteed so in true style Amy and I are off to the Amazon in March on the fishing adventure of a lifetime All the best for 2023 looking forward to all the reports I've chucked up a few highlight shots from 2022 Dave

Some great fish as always Rick

You don't need a licence to fish in Qld like you do on NSW, but you do need a stocked impoundment permit to fish in the dams you're talking about, available online There shouldn't be any closed waters around brissie and GC from memory only ones I know of are Barrier reef sanctuary zones I think there are some closures on the Mary river catchment for cod spawning season but they are specific creeks I did loads of research before a recent 3 week trip to Qld, SEQ is pretty straight forward it's when you go north it gets complicated

that's a great fish mate, 50+ bass don't come around very often, took me 30+ years of bass fishing to get mine

That's awesome, whole new challenge for you now knocking off the fly species

Let me know when you're up there Bob, we might be able come up for a day trip

Cracker of a cod Steve

They can appear a long way up river, we often catch them targeting bass in certain area

Check the rudder cables and have a good look at the mirage drive and blades for damage

Water's finally coming good, if the rain behaves ot should be a great summer for fishing

some great fish there, would have been one hell of an adventure

running sinker to swivel worked fine when I was last there 10lb will be fine

head over to Lake St clair, good spot for land based fishing with kids, have taken mine there a few times, kids caught plenty of catfish and bass on baits of the bank at the main camp area, used worms we took with us and freshwater mussels we gathered from the weed in ankle deep water