Bit Of Salt, and Some Fresh!

[Hill373737]

A few months back, @big Neil and I hatched a plan to meet over the coast at North Haven for a few days fishing in the local estuary.  I use a local mechanic there to service my boat motor and anyway, it would be week one of closed season for Murray Cod so it seemed like a perfect way to catch up and hopefully annoy a few flatties.

The weather wasn't great while we there, strong SW winds on the first two days and a cold snap certainly didn't help fishing but we managed to find a few fish in the Camden Haven River as well the Hastings River up at Wauchope.

Naturally, as you would expect with more than 100 years of experience between us,  there was plenty of talk of fishing  and a lot of it centred on Murray Cod, a passion we both share.

We didn't solve any of the worlds problems but did get into the weeds on important issues such as Colorado v Willow blades on spinnerbaits, and why SP frogs make spinnerbaits work better.

@dirvin21 dropped in to where we were staying on one of the afternoons and it was great to chat about some of his and Amy's fishing adventures. 

bN also caught up with @Hoods for dinner one night and came home with a few nice snapper fillets that I suspect he has probably eaten by now.

There were a few standouts in the fish we caught ...... bN picked up two 43cm bass out of a creek that runs off the Hastings River and I picked up a 58.5cm flatty from one of my favourite spots to fish in the Camden Haven River.

I fish solo a fair bit so for me, it was a special few days shared with some-one, who would best be described with the best Aussie compliment - he's a bloody good bloke!!

Enjoy the photos, we didn't take a lot, probably because we were both talking too much!!

cheers 

Hilly

 

 

 

[big Neil]

Great to catch up with you and spend a few days chewing the fat Hilly

Always good to catch up with someone with similar angling goals, especially a typical Aussie Larrikin. Didn't matter a lot that the fishing was ordinary, we gave it a good shot in trying conditions and managed to put some runs on the board. More importantly, we had a few laughs and exchanged viewpoints on relevant Murray Cod techniques. Your cooking skills are a step up from mine, thankfully. It would be nice to have another shot at the estuary, which obviously has a lot of potential, sometime down the track.

The trip back home was interesting with the GPS taking me on a route I hadn't travelled before. Went through some small communities that are within a few hundred km of home...had heard of them but never been to any of them.

 

 

 

 

Cheers, bn

 

[Little_Flatty]

Great report and fantastic to hear of a raider meetup.

SP frogs on spinnerbaits? Though I’m unlikely to see a scenario where I’ll use that, I’m curious. Do tell!

[LuckyFil]

Nice story to read throughout, and yeah sp frogs on spinnerbaits sounds like a cod special not for bass?

[jenno64]

Wow, looks like a wonderous waterway with plenty of options. Beats sitting in my office!

[Yowie]

 A good mixed bag of fish, nice ones in there.

Certainly different in the country, compared to the big smoke.

[Hill373737]

4 hours ago, LuckyFil said:

Nice story to read throughout, and yeah sp frogs on spinnerbaits sounds like a cod special not for bass?

Yeah, definitely a cod thing ... although some of the smaller frogs would work for bass as well.

[Hill373737]

6 hours ago, Little_Flatty said:

Great report and fantastic to hear of a raider meetup.

SP frogs on spinnerbaits? Though I’m unlikely to see a scenario where I’ll use that, I’m curious. Do tell!

Definitely frogs on spinnerbaits is the way to go for the rivers around Tamworth, the river that bN fishes is a different propostion in that it often has higher flow rates to what I fish in my kayak that are in many places, hardly more than a creek!!

My thinking on adding the frog to the spinnerbait is that it adds bulk and action to the spinnerbait and slows the sink rate as the Zman 4 inch frogs I mostly use are floaty and I generally only fish a 3/8 oz spinnerbait.

Cod are often found sitting hard against the bank in undercuts and tree roots so slowing the sink helps attract those fish and get them interested.

 

[Hill373737]

6 hours ago, big Neil said:

Great to catch up with you and spend a few days chewing the fat Hilly

Always good to catch up with someone with similar angling goals, especially a typical Aussie Larrikin. Didn't matter a lot that the fishing was ordinary, we gave it a good shot in trying conditions and managed to put some runs on the board. More importantly, we had a few laughs and exchanged viewpoints on relevant Murray Cod techniques. Your cooking skills are a step up from mine, thankfully. It would be nice to have another shot at the estuary, which obviously has a lot of potential, sometime down the track.

The trip back home was interesting with the GPS taking me on a route I hadn't travelled before. Went through some small communities that are within a few hundred km of home...had heard of them but never been to any of them.

Cheers, bn

We should definitely plan another trip, I might end up down your way in November as we're thinking of spending a few weeks along the Darling / Murrumbidgee / Murray, will let you know .

cheers mate!!

[big Neil]

2 hours ago, Hill373737 said:

We should definitely plan another trip, I might end up down your way in November as we're thinking of spending a few weeks along the Darling / Murrumbidgee / Murray, will let you know .

cheers mate!!

Be good to have another catch-up. Let me know when you are heading this way too. Looks like you have tweaked the interest of several more anglers with the frog/spinnerbait adaption. I will certainly be giving it a go in the bidgee, though I will probably use a big willow blade if the water is running a bit. Keep in touch Steve.

bn

[big Neil]

9 hours ago, Little_Flatty said:

Great report and fantastic to hear of a raider meetup.

SP frogs on spinnerbaits? Though I’m unlikely to see a scenario where I’ll use that, I’m curious. Do tell!

I reckon they would work in deeper water on Flatties. Should be able to cast them a good distance and retrieve them very slowly. Cheap lure too.

bn

[Hill373737]

9 hours ago, big Neil said:

I reckon they would work in deeper water on Flatties. Should be able to cast them a good distance and retrieve them very slowly. Cheap lure too.

bn

I think they would definitely work on flatties, I've tried throwing big chatterbaits on the flats, they don't work so well on shallows but I reckon would work in 1 to 2 metre water depth.

Funnily enough, this week I've been using Jig Spinners with plastics for yellas and it got me thinking I should try them for flatties, maybe this coming week as I'm heading back over the coast again for a few days! 🙂

[dirvin21]

Some great fish guys