Cooks River 30/07/08

[sherackattack]

went bike riding with a mate from school along the cooks river

kept riding till we found a decent spot, under one of the many bridges that go along the cooks

stopped at a spot, my mate used some prawns and i tried the lures and sp's

we were fishing in 1-2m water and first cast, my mate got a nice little bream around 30cm.. scales looked a bit discoloured though.. he was keen to eat it but i advised otherwise

put on an 3' berkley gulp minnow and cast it around a bit.. got nothing

with no success in that i decided to try out a surface popper... got nothing

my mate kept bringing in small bream

im not sure if its just me or my rod or line or something but i really suck with plastics

it was evident there were fish around.. .. and we were fishing on the run-in tide

2nd time going with plastics and having no luck

would anyone have any suggestions on what is wrong?

i use a 6-7kg rod, small bream reel, and 6lb hercules braid line

[Anti-Carp]

I think you may want to reconsider your rod a 6 to 7 kilo stick is a bit heavy for bream. Ideally if your fishing plastics you may want to consider a light graphite rod rated at 2 to 4 kilo's between to 6 to 7 feet in length.

Bream on plastics are a bit tricky to start off i'd suggest you first target flatties first.

When I target flatties on 3 inch gulp minnows I'd use a 1/16 to 1/32 ounce size 2 jighead with a 4 foot 8lb flurocarbon trace

The retrieve I use is a i cast out let it sink to the bottom with the rod tip down, lift the rod up about a metre wine inthe slack and then when the line is tight drop it again and let the plastic hit the bottom again and follow this pattern till the lure is back at your fit.

I hope this helps and keep at it, once you get your first fish on plastics u'll become a junkie.

[mr magoo]

keep at the plastics ,reckon you get more fish on sp,s then bait in most circumstances,your outfit seems alright although your rods might be too heavy ,causeing you to use to heavy jig heads ,but that would be asuming of me (6-7)kg rod

i use a 2-4 kg rod 8lb braid,with most plastics the lighter the jighead the better the action and the slower the sinkrate,work them slow,i use 3inchbass minnows ,by berkley powerbait and my favourite colour is the pumkinseed ,these work great for me, there my go to sp ,wont go flicking if i dont have a couple of packets at least

keep your head up cause sometimes they just wont feed

cheers arman

[aleung]

Just like the others pointed out, rod is way too heavy for sp, 1-3kg or 2-4kg is more suitable, you may not be able to feel the take with a heavy rod, as far as jig head goes, use as light as you can so it can present natually to the fish, hope you have better luck and don't give up

[SAfisho]

Don't eat anything from the cooks. It's very polluted and the fish are full of nasty dioxins.

[spirit_fall88]

Don't eat anything from the cooks. It's very polluted and the fish are full of nasty dioxins.

I ate big fat mullets upstream near the storm water drain section from the cooks river before. They tasted very yummy. But then again its very toxic

[drkcld]

I ate big fat mullets upstream near the storm water drain section from the cooks river before. They tasted very yummy. But then again its very toxic

im pretty sure thats where he caught his breams too

u see big 5kg mullets jumping out in summer around that area of cooks river

Edited August 1, 2008 by drkcld

[SAfisho]

I ate big fat mullets upstream near the storm water drain section from the cooks river before. They tasted very yummy. But then again its very toxic

I could almost guarantee a beach mullet would taste better, but it varies fish to fish and mullet move in and out of systems frequently unlike bream who can stay in a certain area for a long time, sometimes their whole life. Nonetheless you are correct in saying they are toxic.

If a feed is the target, fish in cleaner water near the mouths of waterways.

[sherackattack]

thanks for the help guys

and yeah, im not sure cooks river fish are worth taking a risk with

i guess you have to look at this history of the river and use some common sense

such a shame its polluted, would've be such a convienient place to drop in a line

heard people used to swim, fish and even drink the water in the cooks, (way back in the day when there were no cement walls)

o well, what can you do ay

the damage is already doen

Alex

[luderick -angler]

My father grew up on the river and remembers getting prawns at Canterbury! Don't give up on the SP's before comig to NZ we were getting trevs, bream and blackies all on SP's around Marrickville even managed a few jew on dusk casting in the ddies formed by the various bridges in the area particuarly Illawarra Road keep an eye out when the mullet enter the Cooks!

I have personally caught bream to 4lb on bread mid day in the river! You'd be surprised whats in there mate its an A1 C&R fishery.