Lizardboy

Nice work Trav, catching catching 4 solid fish like that between you, it probably only takes a little bit of extra luck on the day for a good result to turn into a great result! A lot of boats would have done it tough, but 5 over a metre shows great winter fishing potential! It gathering little pieces to the puzzle here and there, bird activity is one i’m going to keep an eye on. cheers, Gus

Nice Thanks Brendan!

Awesome report Dave, I saw it you had posted it a while back, and was looking forward to it but only just sat down to enjoy the read! Interesting re Khaki grunter, never new that, and your right about crocs. Reminds we a lot of a trip I did more than 10 years ago! Although we never got to the Herbert Gorge which looks awesome! Cheers, Gus

Great angling Trav, I was at Wyangler (Grabine area) the same weekend, it was our first trip there, we really struggled, so your results are both disheartening and Heartening. Mostly heartening, as I know there is hope for future trips as the dam/terrain looked so awesome! We fished a mix of light, hopping blades and vibes, even briefly some plastics in the trees briefly as well as spinnerbaits, surface and the odd swimbait, even had a Lucky craft magnum MR on briefly! We got a big carp each on blades in the first 30 mins, then struggled for the rest of the weekend, eventually opting to troll for 1 small cod and a few missed hits. cheers, Gus

Thanks, it was real heart in the mouth stuff, particularly because, I have bent these hooks on much smaller fish, it’s not straight forward to charge them, so I was cushioning every lunge. The 16lb fluro leader faired surprisingly well despite being so deep, I was getting worried about that, but I now wonder if the same theory from big flatties and light leader applies to cod. Every big fish you catch us special, but your first is generally the most memorable, I clearly remember my first big Bass, Barra and now Cod, the last taking me nearly 15 years. cheers, Gus

Hi Rick, This holiday I explored Trout and Cod water in the Oven’s and Bidgee river systems. I’m not familiar with the relative levels but Someone I spoke to indicated the river was up a bit after being very low. Later in the year i’m Planning my first foray into the New England Area, so hoping things improve up that way during the year. Cheers, Gus

Thanks guys, happy to have some good content to post, tell a story, and share it with like minded anglers who can relate to what goes on in a fisherman’s head!. cheers, Gus

I’m in awe of the majestic beast who towed my packraft from pool to pool for several minutes before I was finally able to land her. I was on a family camping trip and with young kids, fishing windows were short, up before dawn 2 days in a row, and back to the tent by 7 or 8am. Not a hit the first morning, then I convinced my wife and kids to come out paddling and trolling in the packrafts for an hour or so during the day, hoping to get my son onto something, but still no interest. The 2nd day I decided I needed to hike further to find less pressured water, so I set off in the cold, well before dawn, hiking, paddling, wading and general boulder scrambling, stopping briefly to cast surface lures along the way. I found some nice water but I still wasn’t confident it had enough depth for natives to hold up during the day so I continued on. I covered a fair bit of ground and after a long shallow stretch and a more major rapid, experience told me a deeper pool wouldn’t be too far away. A bit further and there it was, I decided I shouldn’t waste the premium bite period on surface lures, given my limited time and no interest the day before, so I opted for a sub surface offering, Into the raft and after about 5 casts I was thinking how good the water looked and it was only a matter of time, but there was still doubt in the back of my mind. I saw a big tree right on the edge of the river with some rock at the base and possible undercut bank so I cast at it, 2nd cast having just clicked the reel into gear I got hit on the drop and all hell broke loose, the fish immediately took off across the pool and came to the surface with an enormous boil and tail slap that had me thinking oh F$#% this is the one! Over the next several minutes I was towed through 3 pools and the narrow channel connecting them, doing my best to cushion the lunges and powerful runs as she pulled line with ease. She was in control, I was just along for the ride! I was just hoping everything would hold and she wouldn’t find any timber, at one stage the line made a guitar string like sound, but I had her on a short leash and was able to apply some pressure and she swam clear. I spotted a sandy beach and did my best to slowly paddle towards it one handed whilst maintaining pressure. Eventually making it to the beach I jumped out and started to get things ready, but she wasn’t quite done, I maintained patience and didn’t rush, it was a massive relief to finally get the lip grips in and I had quick celebration. Careful handling, a few quick pics and holding in the water as much as possible in between and she swam off strong! A memorable encounter I won’t be forgetting! cheers, Gus

Thanks for report, interesting about the Hydrid. cheers, Gus

Thanks for report. cheers, Gus

Yes, a year or so ago

Nice work Dave, I got in there for season opening, had a great few days on the river with my mates, very special place!

Cheers Dave, thanks for the report, some solid bass for small water. One of my first ever fish (a flathead) was caught in the Nambucca so it’s a bit sentimental, the freshwater reaches lol great, hope to check the out one day! Gus

Yes, read about it not good:( Gus

Love casting spinnerbaits to snags, glad you still have your trusty red one!

Nice report, hard work has it’s rewards. cheers

Thanks Neil, always enjoy your reports. Cheers, Gus

Special place, thanks for report.

Thanks for report, haven’t managed any on plastics yet! What scent and retrieve were you using? cheers, Gus

Headed away last weekend to try to track down some cod. I usually prefer to go in the warmer months but was really keen to explore a new area despite the cooler weather. It was cold and we started fishing just after dawn with surface lures, then our trusty spinnerbaits, fished downstream a few km's from our packrafts without a hit, switched to big and small spinnerbaits and then the same in divers along the way and kept methodically plugging away as the day warmed up nicely. By mid afternoon it was time to start heading back and we'd had just one very non commital tap from what I suspect was a small carp or golden pecking at the blades. On the way back we passed a couple of locals walking the bank and fishing the way we came, we were surprised to hear they had managed a couple of small Cod in a short time on chatterbait style lures. So we switched to something similar and my mate managed a 53cm cod within half an hour before following up with another smaller model. No more fish in the next couple of holes, so we swapped back to surface arriving back at camp an hour after dark. We packed up the next morning and decided to check out some other possible spots for future trips, I was encouraged to have a few casts from the shore and as luck would have it I was onto a nice 52cm Cod within 5 or so casts. With some renewed confidence I spotted an accumulation of fallen timber downstream and made my way down to it, hooking another within a short time, I could feel the line in the timber but I went hard and managed to get him out and then over a few final sub surface logs. A good trip turned into a great trip with a few fish and some good recon for further exploration. cheers, Gus

Hi, For Carp I'd try early or late in the day when it's quieter near where the ducks get fed and hang out, it's a 100 metres or so from the dam wall. Maybe some bread or corn burley and single corn kernel for bait. The bass are generally only small, I do well trolling small deep diving hard bodies from my canoe using my sounder to fish the outside edges of weed beds in 2-3 metres of water. Great fun with small kids. cheers, Gus

Thanks Neil, Agree a day on the water is always a bonus, particularly at your local spots! However, given my small number of trips outside of Sydney each year (1or 2) And the travel time I try and go at the more productive time to maximise my chances, I've been wanting to check out this particular area for a while but things haven't lined up until now. I've now had some separate feedback to say that the first frosts can sometimes trigger a good bite, so fingers crossed! I luckily don't have to deal with dam releases and abrupt water level drops like you! cheers, Gus

Cheers Rick

Thanks for the report Neil. If you were just dealing with the water temp drop alone would you expect to be doing significantly better? I'm thinking of heading west of Sydney near Bathurst this weekend and low minimum temps around 0-17 have me questioning whether the fish will still be active enough! cheers, Gus

Good work, my mate lives up that way, I managed to get a baby one out the back of his place on a surface lure once, have to give it another crack! They are solid fish once they get to around the 40cm mark. cheers, Gus