Mann river Bass by-catch

dirvin21 · November 7

Amy and I had a very short trip window for the opening of the Mann-Nymboida river closures for the eastern cod spawning.

A quick disclaimer our target in the Mann-Nymboida is bass there are XOS models in there but catching Eastern cod is inevitable and often dominate over bass captures.

Our trip started with Amy finishing work and us heading off at 4pm for our destination 3 hours away, of course I managed to forget something and so our actual lraving time was 5pm so it was a setup camp in the dark something we are far to familiar with.

The morning was an early start very foggy but water was looking stunning

This photo was taken later but you get the picture

this place is stunning

Enough scenary the fishing didn't start red hot, Amy and I got hit early on but otherwise it was a slow start, I spotted 2 solid cod that appeared to be still spawning and a atleast 90cm cod cruising the shallows, I didn't know easties even grew that big.

We kept casting and of course when you least expect it, I got nailed running a spinnerbait off a log, the fish buried me multiple times but after a few swear words and some fancy rod work first fish on the board

A beautiful Eastern cod quick photo and release

Feeling a bit of confidence straight back to it and on the outside of the log spinnerbait gets hammered again, same thing buried but managed to extract

Only a small cod but stunningly marked.

With confidance up, I kept hitting the prime areas, I had 2 setups one a 20lb baitcast with a spinnerbait and the other an 8lb with a jigspinner and soft plastic (big joshy swimbait) not available in Australia sent over by our American friends Dan and Shawn, my aim a solid fish on the big joshy. It didn't take long to realise casting the light gear around timber would be irresponsible with the number of cod around.

Casting the heavier gear around I had a solid bass follow up to the kayak, thinking I could switch bait it I cast the light gear and was almost immediately slammed, the fish b lined for the edge fortunately turned out into open water turns out it was a solid cod being chased out by a bigger cod, it was a sketchy fight but finally managed a good fish on a big joshy