Murray Cod Opening Options

[nimrod]

Loaded the boat and headed for Burrinjuck, arrived around 10.30 Thursday morning 1st December all on time.
Marty " Acorns " , John G, Col " Brewer " and Cols wife Colleen were already there and had their caravans set up and drying out from the previous days flooding.
The dam level at this stage was 87.8 and rising. The water was up to almost the top of the carrols creek ramp.
Didn't put the boat in Thursday and just sat around the camp talking and planning the strategy of the following days, Col's first time at the Dam and didn't know the area at all.
Fri morning we put the boats in and I discovered that I left my bum seat at home and had no seat up front to drive the electric motor, I can't stand for very long these days especially balancing on one leg so all I could find was a 10 litre bucket which I stuffed with whatever I could find, and put upside down, but it was too low and soon collapsed with my weight, so used a small esky which was also too low and very uncomfortable, so a bad start to my fishing. ( with hindsight I should have unscrewed my drivers seat and put up front and I could have knelt at the controls to drive with main motor,, but didn't think of that till I got home. )
We both started fishing, well trolling if that's counted, and within 1/2 an hour I got the call that John G was on, he was in Col'c boat and I had Marty in my boat, we slowly motored around to where they were and by the time we got there John had landed his maiden Murray Cod, went 70 cm and he complained about how heavy and slimey the thing was.

 johng_cod.jpg ( 227.93K ) Number of downloads: 18


Soon released and after all the high fives and so forth we continued fishing, within another 1/2 hour it was Cols turn to produce his first Cod, and it also went exactly 70 cm, a pair of book ends.

 cols_cod.jpg ( 237.52K ) Number of downloads: 17


Marty later got a strike but didn't connect and that was it for the mornings session.
The wind came up and made it impossible to fish that part of the lake.
We motored over to the other side but the wind was swirling around and at this stage was gusting at about 25 knotts, so we decided to head back for some breakfast.
With the lake continuing to rise with the run off the level had risen to 97 persent.
Went out for another afternoon session but unfortunately was a non event, and the word around the camp site was a similar story with all the other fishos saying the same thing.
Col and John went out Sat and Col got another 2 cod around the same size or a touch smaller, not measured and not taken out of the water.
I didn't take the boat out again and headed home early Sunday morning.
The other guys are still there and maybe some more photos when they send them to me.


Almost forgot, we did have a session trying to catch some Redfin for the plate but all we could get were Yellowbelly so released all them and had steak for tea.

Excese the poor photos as we were in a hurry to get them back in the water and didn't take a lot of time in setting up for photos.

This post has been edited by nimrod: Dec 4 2011, 06:48 PM

[kkw]

Beaudy Frank. Shame you didn't get one. Isn't old age a bugger!!. Haven't experienced it yet, but from what you describe, it mustn't be all it's cracked up to be

I went out this morning for 9 big niggers. Kept four and released the rest. Should have seen the ethnic arabian men Jumping up and down when they saw it. They didn't catch a thing. My mate Geoff got one. They were really finicky today, but full of fight. Hope someone declares a Christmas gathering soon. The Club would be the most central and easiest venue.

[Fed]

Are they edible fish Frank, pretty fat looking.

[nimrod]

Are they edible fish Frank, pretty fat looking.

Fed. Don't know if you're taking the piss but yes they are edible, but in todays enviroment and catch and release attitude toward native fish, it's very unfashionable to keep Cod for the table.
I havn't kept one for the past 15 or so years, I do have a Murray Cods head that I caught about 15 years ago and that's the last one I kept. I will end up making a trophie out of it.
I am going to run a compitition for the best Cod story of the season and present the trophie to the winner.

[Fed]

No I'm serious mate, I know nothing about freshwater fish.

[nimrod]

No I'm serious mate, I know nothing about freshwater fish.

My opinion on edible status on Murray Cod is fish from 55 to 75cm are very tasty IF prepaired properly, size limit now is minimum 60cm and max 100cm so any legal Cod would be fair table quality.
Other Fresh water fish that are likely to be caught is Carp of the uropean veriety are the most common catch and you would have to be a desperate to even attempt to eat them,, the smell is enough to turn you right off, Redfin or english perch is in my opinion the best tasting fresh water fish available, they are noxious species that are a real danger to our native fish and must not be released back into the water. Fresh water catfish is well edible especially smoked, Australian Bass are tasty but release is advisable, Yellowbelly or golden perch are good table content IF you remove the fat tissue from the flesh before cooking, the other fresh water species are so rare that they are best not kept and eaten, though may be edible.
Hope this gives some insight to Fresh water species.

[Fed]

I did eat some trout once when I was about 12 years old, freshly caught & cooked just the other side of the mountains.
Being kids our job was catching grasshoppers.
Did I mention I was a city boy, I was middle aged before I found out that sheep had tails.

[nimrod]

I did eat some trout once when I was about 12 years old, freshly caught & cooked just the other side of the mountains.
Being kids our job was catching grasshoppers.
Did I mention I was a city boy, I was middle aged before I found out that sheep had tails.

WOW forgot about TROUT, yes they are good eating.

[kkw]

Did I mention I was a city boy, I was middle aged before I found out that sheep had tails.

Yeah - pull the other one. Sheep with tails. I doubt that very much. Saw a sheep once. Had to drop some food on the ground just to find out which end was which.

[Fed]

Are you taking the piss KK?

I think cutting their tails off was started by the Kiwis just to make things easier for them.
BAAAA!

[kkw]

Makes sense (if you are a kiwi)

[kkw]

Who changed my avatar? Massa of Niggers!!

[nimrod]

I did eat some trout once when I was about 12 years old, freshly caught & cooked just the other side of the mountains.Being kids our job was catching grasshoppers.
Did I mention I was a city boy, I was middle aged before I found out that sheep had tails.

Why did you cook them on the other side of the mountains,,,, didn't you want the smell spoiling your camp site.

[Fed]

I can almost smell them now Frank, jeez they tasted good.
This was nearly 50 years ago and the number of fish taken in a very short time would make you cringe now, it was a 'different' time though so that's no reflection on the attitude of the fishermen back then.

[Spudly]

Have eaten Cod, Yella's and Cats and Caught my PB trout many years ago as a kid with my dad at Wyangala.

Saltwater fish are definatly my prefered... I should go for a fish tomorrow.. Might just do that I think...

[Jumpus GooDarus]

Wot gives frank ??????

It's well documented on FOZ nimrod dosen't catch fish

Only possible explanation is ewe adopted jumpy tactics & started ketching instead of catching

Welldone but next time take Fed with ewe cut him up as yabby baits