Posts
Cough, splurt, what? Ohhhhhhh
Damn these 5:30am starts are killing me, after loading the car after a strong brew and my morning ciggie I woke Claire for a lift to Black Mountain peninsula to meet up with the rest of the Canberra crew, wasn't too sure who the attendees would be but was pleasantly surprised to see Red Pheonix, Victor, Funda & Ash rigging up ready to get on with another early morning yak fest on a pristine Sunday morning on Lake Burley Griffin ( Most were admiring Leigh's new Hobie Adventure whilst giving me crap about being 7 minutes late, although Red knew that was a stella effort considering my usual 7:30am - 8:00am body clock routine ).
We all headed off right of the ramp ( except Leigh who flew off east at mach 10 in the opposite direction ) in near darkness heading for the now infamous corner near the rowing platform that holds giant Cod and the obese Golden Perch, after struggling to wake I decided to do the obligatory 'Stroll & troll' away from the main group concentrating on keeping my big Boomerang lure ( Upgraded last night to Owner hook setup ) as close to the overhanging tree line as possible, lots of fish gleaming on the surface as I travelled along towards another temporary rowing platform marking the end of my trolling distance.
"Good quality snagzzz, might just hang here and try some spinnerbaits" I whispered to myself, drifting slowly approximately 800m towards the crew, threw my spinnerbaits carefully and covered small amounts of ground eventually stopping to have a smoke and extract any native who dared to cross my path ( Sat at one particular snag for about 25 minutes ), unfortunately the only native encountered was a hairy bushy man named Allan who left the thick and fast Redfin action to also troll a big deep diver down past the willows... "Any luck mate?" said Funda with a perplexed look on his face, I exclaimed that I had been sitting at this particular snag for a while and was about to move on, took about 3 paddle strokes towards the main group before I heard my name called out ( Quite calmly I might add, they dont call him Cod Whisperer for nothing ).
Funda just passed my snag when his Jumbuck Swagman lure in a yellow and black pattern was belted from below, with the fight drawing out we both knew it was a decent Murray Cod or Golden Perch but how big it going to be was another story, the facial expression said it all around the 4 minute mark with Funda grinning from ear to ear after a show of colour confirmed it was a big Cod ( I applauded his efforts but secretly was a little miffed, this was MY snag and that was MY fish! ), after being schooled on the results of spinnerbaits over hard bodied lures by Cod Whisperer the mongrel does the exact opposite of what he has showed me and catches a trophy winning fish...
Only joking mate, what a quality fish and a great entry for yourself and Canberra in the AKFF monthly fishing competition, First stop Lake Burley Griffin, next stop the world.
Left the western side in a huff over towards my favourite trolling ground ( Redfin Land, Perch City ) and bumped into Ash again and Squidder asking Jason if he had seen the Birthday boy Leigh yet, first decent bend in the light gear since embarking on our journey forcing a huge struggle on my new rod setup, my new personal best English Perch at 41cm was landed quickly followed with Ash smashing his former P/B before almost being steam rolled by a rowing squad ( Who also managed to snag poor Ash's lure in the scull, needless to say I was yelling and cursing in there direction ).
Saw some commotion at the boat ramp so decided to head over passing Jimmyak in Allan's Bass SIK moving out for a paddle, said hello and spied the grey Outback of Garrick in the distance moving slowly near the thick willow trees, got to the ramp thinking the main party was leaving but they were all checking out Victors thumper 43cm Redfin ( That is some fish mate, is that your personal best English Perch? ), Red headed home to nurse the bubby while we all headed out again for one more attempt at some bigger fish...
So many bloody rowers made for one busy body of water, some heated words were exchanged between vessels helping the decision to bring the end to one hell of a successful day. Thanks for the company guys and a big cheers to Ash for his work organising us all at such an early hour ( Well done on the fish again mate, hope it tastes as good as it looks ), Nice to meet you Garrick ( Finally, taken a few trips to catch up with you ) and a big thankyou for Jason showing me ( And actually doing it for me ) a top way to fillet Redfin...
Good luck this afternoon guys, may the dedicated few catch some stonker Redfin and perhaps get lucky enough to snare the elusive native fish that seem to keep getting fatter and fatter with there heavy diet of a certain red striped introduced species.
Damn these 5:30am starts are killing me, after loading the car after a strong brew and my morning ciggie I woke Claire for a lift to Black Mountain peninsula to meet up with the rest of the Canberra crew, wasn't too sure who the attendees would be but was pleasantly surprised to see Red Pheonix, Victor, Funda & Ash rigging up ready to get on with another early morning yak fest on a pristine Sunday morning on Lake Burley Griffin ( Most were admiring Leigh's new Hobie Adventure whilst giving me crap about being 7 minutes late, although Red knew that was a stella effort considering my usual 7:30am - 8:00am body clock routine ).
We all headed off right of the ramp ( except Leigh who flew off east at mach 10 in the opposite direction ) in near darkness heading for the now infamous corner near the rowing platform that holds giant Cod and the obese Golden Perch, after struggling to wake I decided to do the obligatory 'Stroll & troll' away from the main group concentrating on keeping my big Boomerang lure ( Upgraded last night to Owner hook setup ) as close to the overhanging tree line as possible, lots of fish gleaming on the surface as I travelled along towards another temporary rowing platform marking the end of my trolling distance.
"Good quality snagzzz, might just hang here and try some spinnerbaits" I whispered to myself, drifting slowly approximately 800m towards the crew, threw my spinnerbaits carefully and covered small amounts of ground eventually stopping to have a smoke and extract any native who dared to cross my path ( Sat at one particular snag for about 25 minutes ), unfortunately the only native encountered was a hairy bushy man named Allan who left the thick and fast Redfin action to also troll a big deep diver down past the willows... "Any luck mate?" said Funda with a perplexed look on his face, I exclaimed that I had been sitting at this particular snag for a while and was about to move on, took about 3 paddle strokes towards the main group before I heard my name called out ( Quite calmly I might add, they dont call him Cod Whisperer for nothing ).
Funda just passed my snag when his Jumbuck Swagman lure in a yellow and black pattern was belted from below, with the fight drawing out we both knew it was a decent Murray Cod or Golden Perch but how big it going to be was another story, the facial expression said it all around the 4 minute mark with Funda grinning from ear to ear after a show of colour confirmed it was a big Cod ( I applauded his efforts but secretly was a little miffed, this was MY snag and that was MY fish! ), after being schooled on the results of spinnerbaits over hard bodied lures by Cod Whisperer the mongrel does the exact opposite of what he has showed me and catches a trophy winning fish...
Only joking mate, what a quality fish and a great entry for yourself and Canberra in the AKFF monthly fishing competition, First stop Lake Burley Griffin, next stop the world.
Left the western side in a huff over towards my favourite trolling ground ( Redfin Land, Perch City ) and bumped into Ash again and Squidder asking Jason if he had seen the Birthday boy Leigh yet, first decent bend in the light gear since embarking on our journey forcing a huge struggle on my new rod setup, my new personal best English Perch at 41cm was landed quickly followed with Ash smashing his former P/B before almost being steam rolled by a rowing squad ( Who also managed to snag poor Ash's lure in the scull, needless to say I was yelling and cursing in there direction ).
Saw some commotion at the boat ramp so decided to head over passing Jimmyak in Allan's Bass SIK moving out for a paddle, said hello and spied the grey Outback of Garrick in the distance moving slowly near the thick willow trees, got to the ramp thinking the main party was leaving but they were all checking out Victors thumper 43cm Redfin ( That is some fish mate, is that your personal best English Perch? ), Red headed home to nurse the bubby while we all headed out again for one more attempt at some bigger fish...
So many bloody rowers made for one busy body of water, some heated words were exchanged between vessels helping the decision to bring the end to one hell of a successful day. Thanks for the company guys and a big cheers to Ash for his work organising us all at such an early hour ( Well done on the fish again mate, hope it tastes as good as it looks ), Nice to meet you Garrick ( Finally, taken a few trips to catch up with you ) and a big thankyou for Jason showing me ( And actually doing it for me ) a top way to fillet Redfin...
Good luck this afternoon guys, may the dedicated few catch some stonker Redfin and perhaps get lucky enough to snare the elusive native fish that seem to keep getting fatter and fatter with there heavy diet of a certain red striped introduced species.
