RSS Feed (xml)The big Glenelg trip finally arrived. We left on Thursday night and I picked Dad up near the West Gate at about 5.15 and we were off. A quick stop in Camperdown for some fish and chips and then straight through to the shack, which was situated at Donovans, just inside the South Australian border and 480km from our starting point. There we met up with Paul and Patto who had arrived earlier in the day, and we finally got to bed just after 1am.
On Friday it was up early and on the water at daybreak, launching the kayaks at the boat ramp near the bridge. We didn’t have a clue where to go, but headed towards the mouth and fished a bit between the 8 knot marker poles and back towards the ramp in the area known as “The Poles”. Dad and I both flicked lures including squidgy fish, strike pro cyber vibes and ecogear VX50’s. During the morning we probably fished for about 5 hours and then returned in the afternoon to fish until dusk for another 3-4 hours and did not have a touch. It turns out the mulloway must have been smarter than us. Paul and Patto did slightly better than us, although they were plagued by undersize bream and didn’t manage a keeper fishing pippies and prawn baits.
On Saturday morning the alarm again went off at 5.30 and by 5.31 Dad and I were both back asleep. We decided on a change of tactics and our commitment to casting fruitlessly was wavering – Not the best for guys hoping to catch a mulloway! We got up about 8am and pottered around the shack for a bit whilst Patto was casting a line off the top deck (The shack was one that is on the water with a 2 storey deck and boat mooring on the lower one). He was having bite after bite and not hooking up at all as the bream were all in the 10-15cm range. He finally got tired with the peanut gallery (AKA Me) giving him advice and handed me the rod. I cast out, had a bite within 15 seconds (As was the norm) and struck hard, reeling in a 15cm bream. He claimed it didn’t count as it turns out I had jagged the poor fish but I’m claiming it as a victory. The very next cast Patto did manage another small bream, so all parties were happy. Here is a pic of myself and Patto with my bream - Note to self: Hook one in the mouth next time!
Dad and I headed to Nelson to the boat hire place and had a chat to the guy there who was the most helpful tackle store owner/employee I think I’ve ever dealt with. He gave us heaps of advice and said that the EP fishing was the best it’s ever been, and we were about a week late for the jewies (Isn’t it always the way? I think the rain during the week had something to do with it). He gave us some great advice on jighead selection (I got 1/32oz and he told us to get the one with the #2 hook instead of the #4 as the shank was longer allowing a better hook up rate but not affecting the motion of the plastic) and we also walked out of there with some strike pro micro vibes, a rebel fast track jointed minnow and some 3” banana prawn “fry” gulps.
The afternoon challenge was to fish artificials from the shack and get the biggest bream, a herculean task considering we were surrounded by tiddlers. I started with a micro vibe and so did Dad, and he had a small hit almost immediately. After a fruitless while, I changed to a turtleback worm which got a few small hits. I then cast under the neighbours deck and was on straight away. Embarrassingly the fish took off straight around a pylon and broke me off. Oops. I went inside to re-rig and got mildly distracted by Tiger Woods’ run up the leaderboard.
We headed out in the kayaks again Saturday afternoon at about 4pm, launching from near the bridge at Nelson but on the opposite side of the river. We paddled about 150m to a moored yacht and Dad said “You fish on the other side, I’ll fish this side”. I pulled out my new combo with the stradic ci4 1000FML and the shimano jewel rod. I was a bit skeptical as I had set it up with 4lb power pro braid and 4lb leader, particularly as I had heard of some 50cm+ EPs but was excited nonetheless. I had a few casts then aimed for a snag, and the turtleback worm sunk and stuck on an underwater snag…. It was back over to Dad who had the jigheads. I re-rigged and was heading back to my promising looking snag when I noticed a school of fish on the sounder in about 2m of water. I paddled off them and cast back, and on the 5th or 6th lift I was on – And managed to land a healthy EP of about 32cm. Next cast I lost another jig (If you’re keeping score that’s Fish: 2, Trav: 1). I paddled over to the boat hire place (How convenient it’s on the water!) to get some more jigheads but when I arrived it was closed as it was now just after 5, so I made do with some 1/24th oz jigheads and returned to Dad to see him hooked up to an EP. He informed me that he had landed 4 while I was away and we got straight back into them. Until dusk we probably landed 20, most of them on the 3” fry in banana prawn that was recommended by the boat shop guy.
Sunday morning we had our last session, heading towards the snags again. 4th or 5th cast I was on (Again the banana prawn 3” fry) and it was a good one. I was a bit worried as it kept running towards the snags and I couldn’t really stop it with the 4lb leader but eventually it was guided away and into the net – A 38cm EP. A couple of casts later and I was on again, and this felt even bigger. The fight lasted about 20 seconds, most of which involved the stradic’s drag screaming and me frantically trying to guide this fish away from the snags. Turns out that I wasn’t able to stop it as I felt the leader rub against something then part. I changed to a 10lb leader then, but didn’t manage another hit. Dad was still fishless aswell. We went around the corner and I started trying a galaxia minnow in the pink/silver colour and first cast was on! It was a monster 15cm mullet – A first for me on a lure and I started rigging up a bigger rod to drop it over the side as a livey in the hope of a mulloway. I was almost rigged up with the mullet swimming happily in my footwell and went to reach him and noticed his head was out a scupper hole so I tried to grab him by the tail and actually assisted his escape. This prompted me to put the big rod away and keep casting with the lures. We headed up to the bridge, past the bridge and back down to the ramp casting at all of the boat moorings, however did not have another hit for the morning. We then left as we had to pack up and head back to Melbourne. A slow morning with only the 1 EP, a mullet and a bust off and Dad not troubling the scorers. Patto and Paul again had managed some small bream on prawns and pippies. Here is a pic of the boys with my 38cm EP, which was the "fish of the weekend" (And one of the only ones we kept) and they were going to have it for fish and chips last night:
Some lessons taken from the weekend:
- You would need a lot of time to explore the river – We did all of our fishing within 1km either side of the ramp and the river is something like 75km long.
- The lighter jigheads work brilliantly, and get snagged less!
- The commitment to try to catch a mulloway is still huge, so we should endeavour to keep trying and set aside days on end to this quest.
- Down in the country places, people are so much nicer than in the city! Everyone helps you, says G’day and there is no ramp rage.
- If you ever want up to date fishing advice or reports, call the guy at the boat hire place as he said he’s always willing to help.
