Cod Opening 2020

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So who is heading to the Murray River this year for the opening of Cod Season.

I'm packed and ready to leave at 5am tomorrow and return late Monday, heading to Strathmerton to swag it on the banks with 7 other mates for our annual trip, we all put in $10 each for a bit of a comp for biggest Cod or Trout Cod as a little incentive to try that bit harder, should be a great 5 days away and I'll take some pic's and do a follow up next week with the washup of the trip.

Finished packing and itching to hit the road.
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Won't be on the Murray, Goulburn upstream from Yea chasing beer trout :lol: (catch and release) taking the tinny and might venture downstream of Yea and try for Cod. Wasn't ment to be this weekend we usually hit the Goulburn or Howqua in late September for obvious reasons that went pear shaped. Have a great weekend Pete looking forward to reading the washup :Y: :beer:
 
Looking foward to a report .My kids are fishing at Cobram for the week .Wish i was there ,but work gets in the way .Last report i got they have a few fish .Catch take photos and release.No details though on size .
 
Teemore said:
Look forward to seeing how the opening shapes up this year ..... thinking that at Mulwala you'll be able to walk across the lake going from boat to boat, gets pretty busy.

There's been a few monsters caught early (all released) bloke caught a 1.4 two weeks ago and quite a few just over a metre.
 
Ok time for the washup from the trip.

We arrived on Thursday 11am at Doctors Point Strathmerton and got home on Monday afternoon, back at work yesterday and feeling like I need a holiday :argh:
Totally exhausted since getting back and have copped a sore throat and cough, not sure if it was from the fire or the drinking until 2am every night, either way, I'm feeling it and should have realized the wise old 50+ guys should leave the partying to the 3 young blokes that were there, but they were all asleep by 12 - 1am and we had to get them to the swags :lol:

In total there were 8 of us, 3 young blokes and 5 old farts, 3 boats and the weather was a mixed bag.
On the Thursday we set up camp then went on a firewood run, I got in a bit of strife in a sandy corner and sank quick, tried to power out but no go so dropped the tyres to 15psi and had to rock back and forth before powering out. It would have been a long walk back to camp to get a recovery vehicle so thankfully we managed without resorting to that.

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After the wood patrol we launched the boats and headed out for a late afternoon session, fishing was quiet and I was the only person to catch a fish, a nice Trout Cod of 54cm on Pork, quick photo and released unharmed.

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On Friday the morning was slow due to the big night before, only a few hours sleep.
We got the boats out around lunch time and there were a few small Cod and Trout Cod caught and released.
PC nailed a nice 65cm Murray Cod on beef to top the leader board for our camp, quick photo and released.

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Saturday again started slow, there was a cold change due after a warm day, the winds were very gusty and caused carnage on the river, gazebos were dropping like flies and we had a casualty as well.

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The change seemed to pass early afternoon and 2 of the boats ventured out, we decided to stay and glad we did as it rained on and off with a cold Southerly for a few hours, when the others got back they were drenched and cold, and no fish.

On Sunday the winds were still up but no rain, we all headed out around midday and the 3 boats fished near each other, Tony caught a nice 74cm Murray Cod on Pork and was quickly released after a measure, I don't have a photo but saw it from our boat.
After returning to camp for a quick feed we headed back out for a the last session for the trip, PC hooked onto a big fish, it stripped 5 meters of line before PC gained a couple back, the fish turned and stripped another 5 meters before turning to the boat, PC had locked up drag, 30lb braid with a 5/0 circle hook (which we all use) and slowly started to gain line, about 40 meters behind the boat it showed itself on the surface, we cleared the decks as we knew this was a BIG Cod and PC had a hell of a time battling the current and the cod with flared out mouth, it dived deep 15 meters before the boat and we hadn't got a proper look yet, when it was straight under the boat Phil was yelling "bring it up" "bring it up", I'm yelling "back off your drag", PC is in a panic and just put his back into it and dragged it to the top, the fish showed itself and we all started yelling expletives as this was the biggest Cod I've ever seen, it sat there in the current beside the boat for about 15 seconds before taking a big dive , PC tried to stop it and PING went the 30lb braid.
The 3 of us all sat with hands in head for a very very somber few minutes, then I put my hand on PC's shoulder and asked if he was ok? He replied yes but he was devastated, he said " that is what we come away for, right there" with a sad look on his face.
He never backed the drag off and refused to run a 60lb mono leader but what could I say...........apart from saying "mate, it could have been worse, it could have been me", don't think he appreciated that comment for some reason :p

Phil has caught a 105cm, Tony a 116cm last year from the same general area and said this one was definitely bigger than those, we estimated it to be somewhere near +120cm, we know where it lives and we will be back to try again.

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Baits used were Pork, Beef, Chicken, Roo, Lamb, all cut in strips and all caught fish, we use circle hooks for jaw hookups and easier release, all fish released safely and we never keep any.
All in all a great few days away, back to detecting after work tomorrow and next week in Bendigo area then look forward to 2021.
 
Tony won the $80 with the 74cm Murray Cod.
He didn't appreciate me paying in shrapnel as I later saw all the silvers spread across the sand, I'll have to bring the Equinox 600 up next trip and recover them :)
 
My young blood Charlie had a good weekend around Nagambie bagged an 80 and a 56 with a tag in it :perfect: They released a few with tags recently a couple worth 2k and one worth 10k :D not sure if his catch is one we'll find out tomorrow morning :beer:

80cm
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56cm with tag
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All fish were released :Y:
 
Well unfortunately for Charlie the tagged fish wasn't one of the recently released money bags 8.( the upside of the story is he won a stubby holder and receives the history of the fish from release and each time and location it's been caught :perfect: :beer: gotta be happy with that.
 
This morning Charlie's mate caught this one in the Goulburn at Jamieson :8 never known of Cod being caught here before. The interesting part is he was using a spinner on 8lb line :lol: Didn't have a brag mat scales or tape so they used the spinning rod to get an idea and will check it out once their back at the house :lol:
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I'm tipp'n 75/80
 
Very interesting mate, couple nice fish there.

I have no idea if its true but a mate was telling me that as the cod get bigger and numbers grow the can out compete invasive species like reddies and carp.

After a decade or so of proper replenishing of stocks every year, introducing a season and size limits, and encouraging catch and release maybe we will see more fish in more places.

Mates reckon its been a cracker season, those photos are just more evidence.

Keep em coming!
 
I'd say it swam up from the lake, not sure how far up from the lake they fished I'll find out when I get home.

A mate had a few lines snapped off upstream of Yea which to my knowledge there haven't been any Cod caught that far up. Maybe now they are up there due to restrictions and size limits. About 5 years ago we were fishing the King River at Edi and had a rod disappear overnight, found it about 150/200 metres upstream in the morning :| a bloke said a big Cod was hanging around now that is a bloody long way upstream from any main water. The following night Charlie set a rod up in the same spot and got snapped off dragging his rod through the thick timber but we saved the rod, he had 20lb braid with a 40lb mono leader using a 3rd of a snag off the BBQ :lol: definitely a big fish.
 
xcvator said:
Going to Pickerings Flat for the loooong w/e :drooling:

Fantastic :perfect: beautiful spot. As usual I'm working 8.( this year's schedule ending in May has me working every PH :rolleyes:

You should do well if the water level stays up and the water temperature doesn't rise, quite a few years ago heaps of fish died due to water temperature rise and bugger all rain. Charlie and his mate who caught the Cod today caught 16 trout in 2 days (all released) and a few were around the kilo :perfect: back in September last year. The restocking is working a treat, back in the 50's & 60's they were bagging out in a 300 metre strech they were so plentiful :D
 
OldGT said:
I have no idea if its true but a mate was telling me that as the cod get bigger and numbers grow the can out compete invasive species like reddies and carp.

That's exactly what is happening.

And somebody sort of foretold it back in 2003:

"Although Carp may compete with Murray Cod for space, there is no evidence for any other form of competition between Murray Cod and Carp, and young Carp may provide a source of food for Murray Cod."

National Recovery Plan for the Murray Cod

https://www.environment.gov.au/syst...b-4c52-88c5-42ce4d44b864/files/murray-cod.pdf

A damned good read.......and a plan that came not a moment too soon.

I also think that the demise of the commercial drum nets gave the cod a chance to rebuild their population to levels where they were able to tip the balance in their favour.

As stated in the above paper:

"A smaller peak in the fishery occurred in the 1950s, when almost 300 tonnes of Murray Cod per year was caught in NSW and SA, followed by a sharp decline in the commercial catch and a major decline in abundance of cod between 1955 and 1964 in NSW and SA. Commercial fishing continued for another 40 years, but the catch declined to less than 10 tonnes/year in NSW in the 1990s"

300 tonnes!! And that was a "smaller peak". The fishery peaked in the early 1900s, so one can only imagine what sort of tonnage was being removed at that time.

Fortunately we seem to have taken the necessary action just in the nick of time.....and it's paying dividends.

I hope the recreational cod fishery continues to prosper, but alas....I'm a trout bloke myself :)
 
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