dirvin21 Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 I had a short window to head out after murray cod again Dad decided to come with me to suss out the spot. I had a pre plan of being dropped upstream and kayaking down to the campsite about 2.2km of river I'd seen most of the bottom end on foot last time I was out there and had most of the rapids sussed as a nice easy run. Launched the kayak full of confidance water was looking good except I didn't realise the river had dropped atleast 1.2m since I was out there last. The first couple of holes didn't produce but they were a bit shallow with short portages at the end of each one, after an hour came to a decent portage with there being 20m of boulders with a tricle of water through them after a bit of teeth gritting the kaya was dragged into a beautiful looking pool Wasn't long before I hooked a fish only small he fell off beside the yak, now filled with some confidance kept hitting the snags with casts an eternity passes before a "hail mary" cast into a log gets smashed had to fight the fish hanging over the back of the kayak but managed to extract a beautiful little cod measuring up 50cm excuse the photography its hard to use auto timer and a tripod on a aya with an angry cod now full of confidance kept casting and casting reaching the end of the pool with no result then I saw a nasty looking portage through low branches and boulders still the fish kept me motivated. Onto the next pool again no fish and another nasty portage this was the case for the next couple of pools and finally I coud see the cliff opposite the campsite the portages were nearly over. That was the moment I realised the river was down and the nice easy rapids were a atleast 300m section of boulders with a trickle around them so what was meant to take 10 minutes took about 1.5 hours so after loads of lost skin a broken rod and falling in a freezing pool of water I finally reached the end and chanted a great HALLEF#*@KINGLEAYAH and turn to see a family who had been walking the riverside trail and apparently the kids had taken great amusement in watching me curse my way along the river. With every muscle aching it was food beer and sleep for the evening. Up early the next morning for another crack this time heading downstream luckily only one small portage to the pool I wanted to fish and it wasn't long before a cod charged the spinnerbait down he put on quite a fight for a small fish never get sick of these fish beside the kayak kept casting for a few miss hits and then spent about 20 minutes watching a platypus go about his business with basic pain from head to toe and a 5 hour drive home decided to call it quits. I have never worked so hard for 2 fish and despite the pain and frustration all I can think about is when can I get back out there and have another go cheers for reading Dave 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big Neil Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 What a wonderful report Dave. Full marks for sticking to the mission, despite the very difficult conditions. As Swordie says they are an iconic fish and (often) not easy to come by. Great photos (as always), to accompany the report. Be interesting to see how it changes when, and if, we ever get any decent rain. Cheers, bn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omally Posted April 25, 2018 Share Posted April 25, 2018 Top stuff Dave Nice fish mate What part of the world were you fishing ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirvin21 Posted April 25, 2018 Author Share Posted April 25, 2018 4 hours ago, Omally said: Top stuff Dave Nice fish mate What part of the world were you fishing ? Severn river near Ashford Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big Neil Posted April 25, 2018 Share Posted April 25, 2018 15 hours ago, dirvin21 said: Severn river near Ashford I fished there many years ago Dave and still have distinct memories of my first 2 Yellowbelly. Fishing the Severn near to Pindari Dam (and Ashford) I found a deep hole and using worms for bait hauled in a 12 and 11 lb Yellowbelly fishing no more than 6 feet from the bank. Got nowhere near that success since and most likely, never will. Lovely area, Cheers bn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rah Posted April 25, 2018 Share Posted April 25, 2018 Top report mate. Great effort, can be difficult draging the yak around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirvin21 Posted April 26, 2018 Author Share Posted April 26, 2018 6 hours ago, big Neil said: I fished there many years ago Dave and still have distinct memories of my first 2 Yellowbelly. Fishing the Severn near to Pindari Dam (and Ashford) I found a deep hole and using worms for bait hauled in a 12 and 11 lb Yellowbelly fishing no more than 6 feet from the bank. Got nowhere near that success since and most likely, never will. Lovely area, Cheers bn I used to fish Pindari with my Uncle when I was young thats where most of my yellowbelly have come from, the area I've been fishing is downstream from Ashford it's certainly no well guarded secret being in national park, the next time I'm out there I'm gonna take some bait and have a crack a yella 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omally Posted April 27, 2018 Share Posted April 27, 2018 (edited) On 24/04/2018 at 6:36 PM, dirvin21 said: I had a short window to head out after murray cod again Dad decided to come with me to suss out the spot. I had a pre plan of being dropped upstream and kayaking down to the campsite about 2.2km of river I'd seen most of the bottom end on foot last time I was out there and had most of the rapids sussed as a nice easy run. Launched the kayak full of confidance water was looking good except I didn't realise the river had dropped atleast 1.2m since I was out there last. The first couple of holes didn't produce but they were a bit shallow with short portages at the end of each one, after an hour came to a decent portage with there being 20m of boulders with a tricle of water through them after a bit of teeth gritting the kaya was dragged into a beautiful looking pool Wasn't long before I hooked a fish only small he fell off beside the yak, now filled with some confidance kept hitting the snags with casts an eternity passes before a "hail mary" cast into a log gets smashed had to fight the fish hanging over the back of the kayak but managed to extract a beautiful little cod measuring up 50cm excuse the photography its hard to use auto timer and a tripod on a aya with an angry cod now full of confidance kept casting and casting reaching the end of the pool with no result then I saw a nasty looking portage through low branches and boulders still the fish kept me motivated. Onto the next pool again no fish and another nasty portage this was the case for the next couple of pools and finally I coud see the cliff opposite the campsite the portages were nearly over. That was the moment I realised the river was down and the nice easy rapids were a atleast 300m section of boulders with a trickle around them so what was meant to take 10 minutes took about 1.5 hours so after loads of lost skin a broken rod and falling in a freezing pool of water I finally reached the end and chanted a great HALLEF#*@KINGLEAYAH and turn to see a family who had been walking the riverside trail and apparently the kids had taken great amusement in watching me curse my way along the river. With every muscle aching it was food beer and sleep for the evening. Up early the next morning for another crack this time heading downstream luckily only one small portage to the pool I wanted to fish and it wasn't long before a cod charged the spinnerbait down he put on quite a fight for a small fish never get sick of these fish beside the kayak kept casting for a few miss hits and then spent about 20 minutes watching a platypus go about his business with basic pain from head to toe and a 5 hour drive home decided to call it quits. I have never worked so hard for 2 fish and despite the pain and frustration all I can think about is when can I get back out there and have another go cheers for reading Dave Just received re read your post about the platypus Surprised savage or someone hasn't made a platypus lure I reckon a metery would love chowing down on one of em Edited April 27, 2018 by Omally Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rickmarlin62 Posted April 27, 2018 Share Posted April 27, 2018 Nice report dave i havnt been yo my fave spot cause the river is so low glad u got a couple buddy...rick 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirvin21 Posted April 27, 2018 Author Share Posted April 27, 2018 6 hours ago, Omally said: Just received re read your post about the platypus Surprised savage or someone hasn't made a platypus lure I reckon a metery would love chowing down on one of em I was thinking the same thing when I was out there not much would be off the menu for a metery Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirvin21 Posted April 27, 2018 Author Share Posted April 27, 2018 1 hour ago, rickmarlin62 said: Nice report dave i havnt been yo my fave spot cause the river is so low glad u got a couple buddy...rick you should head up this way soon Rick with the bit of rain we've had hopefully the fish will fire up 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizardboy Posted May 10, 2018 Share Posted May 10, 2018 Nice report, hard work has it’s rewards. cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now