I was invited up to a private property on the Ovens River for an NFA Murray Cod fishing weekend.
Having heard that this stretch of the river lends itself to fishing from a kayak.
I went onto Gumtree and then after some reading and research , i found a Dagger Drifter Kayak that had superficial scratches for about 300$.
This seemed like a good deal to me and from what I had read, this is a good stable kayak for a beginner.
When we reached the river, it looked absolutely gorgeous. Crystal clear, with quite overhanging trees, the odd log jam to break up the flow.
Slow moving pools connected by shallow rapids, really magical place.
I started off fishing a red/black Oargee Diver, and had a follow on my third cast. Well, this seemed to be working after all.
4/5 casts later , having worked up and parked against a snag, I got belted by a nice 40cm fish.
Finally I had caught my first Cod on lure , this kayak has brought me some good luck!
My friend was around to assist in photographing and unhooking.
Up river, at the next snag, I got hammered again. by a slightly smaller fish,
The second day was a mixture of rain and patchy fishing. I spent the day just exploring the river and trying my luck but apart from a bump or too I was fishless.
It rained all night and made the early start on Sunday morning a chilly one.
Air temp was 6 degrees and there was steam coming off the river.
I set off at 530 am , hoping to catch a fish on surface again. I had been boofed a few times near a big snag and that is where i headed too. I parked downstream of it and just waited for about 5 min without casting , letting the noise from parking the kayak to die down.
I had read that its all about annoying the fish to hit the lure at times, and my strategy was to count down 20 casts at every snag in the stretch of water I had access to in the kayak to induce a strike.
17 casts later, a 57cm Cod smashed my purple Taylor made surface walker.
Locked down drag kept it out of the snags and a short fight later I had my PB cod! There was some water on the lens and the Photograph was hazy, but you can see my smile!
All in all, I had a lovely time and cant wait to get out there!
If anyone has suggestions on places that would be suitable for this style of fishing , please do drop a PM.
TIA
