Lizardboy

Continued... The water we fished was remarkably clear and I spotted everything from tortoises, eel tail catfish, Nepean herring and cod whilst cruising along in the canoe. At one stage we spooked a large cod from its snag and it headed off into the depths before cruising back right under the canoe to check us out. In a big eddy just below some rapids in another pool we looked down below us only to see three cod sitting under us, one of them followed us round for several minutes, sheltering under the shade of the canoes, but had no interest in our lures. The highlight of the trip was pulling my PB 51cm bass from one of the meanest looking snags I've ever seen, from a distance it just looked like a large fallen log, but on closer inspection the following day their was a whole lumber yard of timber involved. A large tree must have fallen from the cliff above and taken several other smaller trees with it when I fell, giving it a lattice type appearance. I'd been busted off, once the previous day fishing the same snag before upgrading my leader, tying on another Jackall and landing a nice 2.5kg cod. The next day I hooked up throwing to same snag within a couple of casts and with the powerful surging runs I was certain I was onto another cod, it wasn't until the fish was laying defeated beside the canoe that I yelled oh my... its a f$%king bass , then I remembered I'd left the net in the car and the barbless hooks looked to be only lightly pinning the fish, with a bit of luck I was able to slip in the lip grips on the first attempt in gently cradling her as I pulled her aboard for a few quick snaps. Thanks to all the fishraider members who pointed me in the right direction before I left. I'm already planning my next trip. Lizard

I just got back from one of those fishing trips that you never forget, my first taste of big river fishing of the NSW north coast. The place blew my mind, but it wasn't the size or the number of fish I encountered that impressed me so much it was the sheer beauty and pristine condition of rivers I fished. Before I left one of my mates had put me in touch with Aaron, an old friend from Grafton who he'd grown up with. All it took was one phone call and I had a place to crash and a local fisho to show me around. Over the course of a few days I fished the Clarence, the Nymboida and the Mann Rivers and I have to say that a canoe is the only way to properly experience these waterways. I got to take on rapids for the first time and even though I came un stuck, rolling the canoe on more than one occasion it was all part of the experience...you just have to be prepared for it by having things tied down and in waterproof containers where necessary. The Minn kota and battery seemed to handle be being briefly submerged just fine. I lost my baitcaster outfit briefly during a rollover, it was few seconds of panic before I spotted the gold frame glistening from beneath the shallow rapids. The fishing was good, but we had to work hard, I had a couple of fishless trips and our first session fishing the Clarence only yielded bass in the 25-30cm range. We did an overnighter on the Nymboida, camping on the river bank, the weather was perfect, many a beers was consumed as we told fishing yarns around the camp fire and after dinner the bass evaded us, but we had good fun catching and carefully releasing some small eastern cod on surface lures. Continued...

Swoffa, Interesting you should bring up the absence of big-eye's, I had 5-10 dawn or dusk sessions at the Goon (mainly around the dropoff) over summer and not once did I see any surface action that I thought was caused by big-eyes, whereas the previous summer i saw it quite regularly. I wonder if they have been choosing to feed further upstream or? I have however seen plenty of EP's clumsily boofing away as they do. Jocool, Be persistant with the Goon, In my experience its one of the hardest Northern beaches lagoons to fish, but the fish (bream, flatties) are generally larger in size. I've lost count of the number of fishless sessions I've had there, but the chance of an exotic keeps me coming back. Lizard

Good to hear they are still responding to fizzers, those koolabung ones are my first choice for bream and the goon EP's are fond of them to. I'm up on the north coast, had some fun taking on rapids in the coleman in the mann river that feeds the clarence, manged a small Eastern cod yesterday. Gus

Thanks Tyrone, I have just checked out the Severn on the Map. Thanks again Dacobra, I've had a breakthrough... It looks like I'll be heading to Grafton.... I just got off the phone to a mate . who used to live in Grafton, he's teed me up to meet up with an old friend of his...so I've got a place to crash and local guide that loves bass fishing . And he calls them Perch not bass, apparently the local lingo up that way! Jethro, i mentioned Copmanhurst and he mentioned we may head up that way. The following week whilst I'm based in Lismore for Uni I have booked a Cabin in town on the banks of the Wilson River, its apparently 100 metres from the water so guess what I'll be doing before end after uni...its a marine science degree I reckon I can get way with calling it study Cheers, Gus ps look forward to posting some pics!

Thanks Dacobra, Whatever you can come up with will be greatly appreciated! I have an old Subaru wagon, 4wd, but without the clearance, although with the air suspension you can jack it up a couple of inches. Cheers Jethro, Just the type of info I was after, I'll have a look for Copmanhurst on a map tonight. Any idea if there's anywhere to camp around there or cheap accomodation? You said there is some rapids just up from the boat ramp, do you have to negotiate any rapids further down stream (i haven't tried to negotiate any in my canoe as yet ) and would the electric motor be suitable for getting back upstream? One last question any Cod around? (replied on SF as well) Swoffa, I've been meaning to check out some of the streams around newcastle. Port Stephens way, but I'll be heading much further North this trip. Cheers, Gus

Hi, I'm heading up the coast this Friday to attend residentials held in Lismore for a marine science course I am undertaking externally through Southern Cross Uni. Uni doesn't start until next Tuesday so I'm looking stop off somewhere along the way and do some river bass fishing. I was thinking somewhere around Grafton or further north and maybe fish the Clarence, Nymboida or Richmond but I'm really not sure where to start as I don't really know any of these areas very well. I will have my canoe and electric with me and it will be all C & R. If anyone can point me in the right direction as to where to start looking that would be really apreciated I'm hoping to escape the main drag and access some less fished areas, but still only be doing day trips. Any accomodation suggestions also appreciated. Cheers, Gus

I enjoyed myself and it was a great experience, despite finding the fishing pretty tough. I really liked the randon boater, non boater pairings. I spent the entire 2nd session jigging the deep water and found it pretty boring (the to hits I got came while my rod was in the rodholder...I was putting on sunscreen), I understand that's were most of the fish seemed to but I would have liked to have least spent 1/2 hour casting to weed fringes even if it proved as fruitless as the previous day. Congrat's Jorg Gus

G'day Joe, I'll also up there as a non-boater. It will be a first for me as far as competition bass fishing goes, looking forward to it, should be a good weekend...not sure what the weather has install for us as yet..the BOM website says "Rain periods. Mild. Southeast winds." for the hunter region friday and Sat, sunday is not listed as yet. I have been stocking up on expensive lures for the last week or so! See you there, Gus

Extasea and I hit the Goon up at dawn last saturday morning and I Haven't had a chance to post a report until now. It was still quite dark when we arrived at the Goon, the wasn't a breath of wind and the water level was quite high as a result of the recent rain. As usual we started with surface lures, extasea working the shallow flats for bream with his lure of choce the buggi pop and myself prefering to cast a slightly larger surface offering in the deeper water. Not a lot happened for the first half an our or so, but once it became light enough Extasea open his account with a bream that hits his buggi pop god knows how many times before being hooked. A short while later I was aggressively retreiving my heddon's tiny torpedo accross the surface in short sharp bursts when it got absolutely walloped in front of the reeds on the opposite side, the fish thrashed on the surface almost tail walking for a half a metre or so as the drag started to sing briefly before The hooks somehow pulled ...well at least it got the adrenaline going! A short time later Extasea utilising a much more subtle retreive hooks up to a solid fish, in slightly deeper water, the fish was thrashing on the surface briefly before digging deeper with a few short surging runs. As he worked it toward the shore the call from Extasea was EP, which was confimed as he hastily scrambled down the bank and hauled onto the grass...a happier man I have not see for some to time A quick measurement against the rod (later confirmed to be 35cm's) and a few quick snaps before release. a short time later with it now being reasonably light he was on again...with the tell tale surface thrashing about on the surface, before another smaller EP was brought to shore. The scenario repeated itself a couple more times over the next half our, with plenty of boils and missed hits behind our lures, luckily I was able to get into the act as well landing a nice one on my koolabung cicada fizzer. All in all a memorable morning session and it was very surprising to see the EP's so willingly responding to surface offerings...but hey its the goon expect anything! Lizard

Good Report Chris, I'm hoping to do an overnight trip there at some stage, Did you take the electric or just pack light because of the portage required. Hope to catch up for a fish one day. Gus

Just don't do it with braid

Good to hear the drags got a real workout Lizard

Thanks Guys Chris, the canoe handles the open water pretty well as long as their is no major wake from other boats, which isn't a problem with Googong being an electric only fishery. We had the dam to ourselves saturday afternoon and we only saw one other kayak fisho sunday arvo. I does get blown round a bit though and we had 20 knot winds late on saturday arvo which made stationery casting a bit difficult...Do they make a foot control pedal that could be used on a canoe The sounder was invaluable, especially for trolling as we new what depth our lures were running at and could locate dropofff structure etc. I noticed a lot of very large densy packed schools of small redfin on the sounder particularly around the dam wall and I reckon thats what the cod would have been feeding on of a night time. Pete's deep diver that did all the damage on day two was in a redfin type pattern, which may have had something to do with its success. You should get down there mate! Lizard

Does anyone know if their is bass up there? Lizard

Headed down to Googong Dam, just outside of Queanbeyan saturday morning. For those who don't know it was formed by damming the Queanbeyan river and its now canberra's main water supply and such it is accessable with electric motors only. It was the first time that I've fished the place and the water level is really low, with the ramp is a long way out of the water. As a result of people getting stuck trying to launch there boats the national parks have blocked off access, so that you can't drive within 100 metres of the water...which makes launching a bitch , canoes and kayaks are pretty much the only option. Pete who some of you may know from the fishing department at Gowings came along and the car trip down was nothing but fishing talk, I lost cound of the number of future trips we planned as well as the fishing stories that we recounted. Anyway we got to Queanbeyan about 1, found a cheap motel and headed for the dam. We trolled our way up to the Dam wall, before opting for spinnerbaits that proved the undoing of a cod each. They really are impressive fish, they look amazing, hit hard and are exceptionally powerful. Pete managed a couple of Golden Perch later in the afternoon, whilst I managed a tiny redfin. My First Murray Cod at 8lb's Sunday morning we headed straight for the dam wall and it seems Pete had the right lure, which was nailed on three consecutive passed of the wall. One thing that sticks in my mind is Pete groaning every time a cod slammed his lure. The rest of the session was pretty quiet with only a few tiny redfin landed. All in all it was a great trip and I'm definately keen to head back there in the near future. Lizard Pete's Biggest for the trip an 8 1/2 Pounder

That's a horse Lizard

My two favourites, Are the koolabung cicada fizer in the smallest size (molded on a real cicada) and the river 2 sea black buggi pop. As for colour for cicada imitations you can't go wrong with black. I find that a painstakingly slow retreive is best made up of short pulls of about an inch with plenty of pauses...don't be afraid to let it sit for 30 seconds or more after the initial cast. Lizard

That's a lump of a fish...good stuff

Ah, Got you Jocool, No guess it didn't, but I measured it roughtly and photographed against my rod. Ken, Glad to see it inspired you, I thought I'd hooked a giant herring, until I got it on shore and it didn't look quite right and remembering the recent pics you posted about the poon hole it did look quite similar, but I wasn't sure they came this far south, upon returning home I was able to use your photos from the poon hole to confirm it was indeed a Tarpon . Cheers Pedro, Pete and I hit up Queenscliffe lagoon at dawn last saturday from the canoe, but only managed a couple of bream and a flattie, I might be meeting up with him for an arvo flick at my local lagoon tomorrow, but knowing the number of casts I had to put in, I doubt I'll be hooking another Tarpon out of there in a hurry. Gus

Cheers Guys Jocool, what's the lie detector test??? It ent about 33cm to the fork. Lizard

Its been a long time coming, I've lost count of the number of times I dragged myself out of bed at 4:30am just to be there at dawn or kept casting poppers until long after dark. I certainly have spent a lot of hours down at the goon over the past two summers in search of the elusive exotic. I was getting very frustrated and really starting to doubt their existance despite seeing the occasional photo and the tell tale explosions...you really don't believe it 100% until you see one with your own eyes! Being a nice afternoon with a light nor- easter I decided to head down to the local goon for a relaxing hour or so. The session started ok with a small bream on a berkley tournament grub, soon followed by another on a buggi pop casting to my favourite snag, which rarely lets me down. It was starting to get dark as I neared completion of my lap around the lagoon, so I tied on a berkley blade dancer for a few casts just for something different, before changing to a popper. I experimented with various retreives from flat out to slowly blooping but there didn't appear to be any significant predatory activity about and I was starting to lose interest. I flung another cast out as far as I could letting the popper settle, before giving it a short pull and leaving it to sit , the next thing, I see the lure gets smacked, the capricorn starts to sing and my heart starts to pump as the fish goes on a short burst, the fight continues with the fish powering off towards a mangrove, but I'm able to turn it and start to work him towards the shore, next thing he takes to the air with a flash of silver before running up and down parralell to the bank as I ease of the drag and fumble for my head lamp. After some thrashing in the shallows, I was able to trace the Tarpon and haul it onto the bank and I realised how much I'm shaking.... I finally cracked it!

Hey Leelee, I'm hitting up Queenscliffe from my canoe with Pete from Gowings tomorrow morning. Alana and Pete pretty much run the fishing section between them and I think you are right they are not happy the place had improved out of site over the last few months and its real shame to see it go. It leaves complete angler with almost no competition and that is not a good thing. Pete's a champ, he loves his fishing...he asked me what time we were hitting the goon, I said be there 5am and with no hesitation whatsoever he said I'll be there that's commitment for a saturday morning! Lizard

Brent, I've actually been considering rolling it, just to see what would happen other than the obvious Just so I can be prepared for the worst and work out how i would handle it. I would of course be taking the electric, sounder, seat cushions, battery etc out before attempting such a manouver. If I did roll it I assume the sounder and battery would be pretty stuffed, not sure on the electric, If it was salt water I imagine I assume everyhting would be stuffed, but fresh maybe a different story and I guess It would depend how quickly I was able to right it. I'd be interested to hear peoples opinions on this. Clarkie, the extra weight doesn't seem to bother me, I don't generally carry it with everything in it and use a trolley if I'm taking it a distance and once it on the water i can't really tell the difference. The seats themselves are very light, the sounder doesn't weigh much, the battery is the major weight 80amp/hour Delkor weighing it at about 23kg's i think, possibly a bit big. The motor also ways around 5kg I think. Byron, JD, I've been getting a few I manged a few bass down the south coast just after christmas, nothing spectactular in size, but good to explore some different waterways. I've got the odd flattie from Narra lake, but haven't been hitting it up too much. I'm planning another Dawn Goon session Saturday morning. Other than that I've just been exploring local rivers and creeks and pushing as far upstream as the canoe will let me! The wind anchor sound handy Yellow Sub, how much do they set you back? Lizard

Lure, Stability isn't really a problem, I haven't noticed any difference that is. The top of the cushon on the new fold down seats probably sits at about the same height as the top of the bench seats before they were lowered. Lizard