Reply With QuoteG'day Steve, sorry to hear you didn't do so well there this trip. It's not always like that though. There are good patches and bad patches.
Well, Stonecold,myself and company planned the trip of the year to Copeton and fished the last new moon looking for one of those green metre long fish.
Spent close to a week there from the weekend of the Jackyl Yellowbelly comp.
There were quite a few floating yellas in the water after that event too.
The planning was spot on with the start of some chilly mornings and a new moon to set the fish off on a feeding frenzy and we had all the intentions of losing some lures to big fish.
I was talking to a friends son who lives in Inverell, he fishes the comps regularly and got some hot pointers off him including how to fish deepwater for cod.
It was a bit daunting though when he said they average a metre cod about every 50-60 hours fishing time in Copeton.
We had all the gear and clocked up over 120kms by my GPS in the search for a "fish".
All was looking great after the frenzy of boats screaming across the dam after some yellas had wound up on sunday, and I got in some practise by imitating the competition anglers style and marking a few of their spots they had fished.
In the meantime I kept myself busy by pulling unwary boat launching cars out of their boggy holes on the edge of the dam down from our camp as most of the good ramps were filled with cars and boat trailers.
Even I had to do quick launches with my boat and Colorado 4wd as I could see the vehicle slowly sinking as it sat there while I got the boat off the trailer. It wasnt unusual to have the vehicle sink down about 100-150mm while I was launching and then get out before I broke through the dry crust into oblivion..
We fished long and hard,night and day,Just giving ourselves a break for eating,drinking and a nice warm shower every day.
The surprise of the trip was a big old catfish jigged up on a spinnerbait in 15 metres of water, The other surprise was the lack of fish for the hours spent on the water.
We caught a small yella, a catfish and 2 cod which were about 50-60cm long and they were hooked within metres of each other after dark on hardbodies but they basically hit the lure and rolled over and floated to the surface.
The other surprise was the amount of boat traffic there all week which has increased dramatically over the last few trips to Copeton.
Im starting to think that Copeton has got on the commercial bandwagon and is getting a lot of traffic and the fish can recognise the brands of lures that are passing in front of their faces and are getting lure smart.
We cannot complain about the services provided at the dam though as its all laid on, Nice food, fuel, warm showers, plenty of rubbish collection sites and plenty of places to set up a camp.
A great family spot.
Probably give it another go in the future but I may have trouble talking Stonecold into going.
I went out lure fishing back here at the coast a couple of nights back and as I was hooking up to a jewfish every 5th cast I thought to myself, its not so bad over here
Cheers, steve.
G'day Steve, sorry to hear you didn't do so well there this trip. It's not always like that though. There are good patches and bad patches.
Cheers, Doug.
Love to use Preditek or Kingfisher lures or Viva Lures when I am out fishing.
You didn't have much luck Steve but it is a bloody hard dam to crack & you need a lot of luck, since I have been injured I have been going out a lot & had a lot of those bad trip's, went out Wednesday chasing Reddie's & hooked up to what we think was a very big Cod on my 2-4 kg stick took heap's of line before the hook's pulled but got a few Reddie's...Went out again Yesterday arvo & fished until 9.30 last night for 1 little Cod very disappointing..
Baz
Stick to the coast I think mate..
Hi Guys,
Metre long fish used to come a lot easier when I lived there, We have had some spectacular day trips out to copeton..
I think we are just a bit peeved at having spent a working week fishing for one little fish each in what was once a prime time to catch a cod.
I did notice a lot of the good granite rocks were getting hit by fishos a few times a day.
A mate from Inverell came out one day and got onto redfin but they were not that big. He did get some nice Bobby cod, Spangled Perch I think?
I told him to have a crack at the Bobbies but he wouldnt come at that suggestion.
Have you been getting any size in the reddies Baz?
The big bonus of the trip was a good pink Kingfisher 35'+ lure found floating around the dam but it was a job to hang onto while trying to troll it. I did check it to make sure it didnt have Doug written on it anywhere..
We still want to have a crack at getting a good cod out of copeton but it may be put on the backburner for a while.
The food at the kiosk at copeton is really nice ,and good value. That might be the drawcard for the next trip..
cheers, steve
Never caught a Bobbie big enough to eat Steve but the reddie's are up to 30cm & even the smaller one's are thick enough to get a good fillet off...You might have to come back over in July August that's when I get my most of my bigger Cod, but I can see why you were peeved off..Originally Posted by rabbi
Baz
Overall it was a good break. No, we didn't catch that meter long cod but I guess if it was easy there'd be none left. Im working on a new strategy for the next trip as we speak..;-)....Any break you can have with a mate and your boys is something to treasure regardless of the fishing.
Hi Steve, yeah that wouldn't be my lure mate.
I agree with Baz about the time of year for the big ones to come on the bit.
Cheers, Doug.
Love to use Preditek or Kingfisher lures or Viva Lures when I am out fishing.
Mite have to get the Ugg boots out then guys..
Stu got some Bobbies as big as the bigger redfin. I have eaten bigger bobbies from down fishermans camp way and they were not far away from redfin for eating qualities.
Yeah it was a great trip with mark and the boys and was relaxing & entertaining to say the least..
Sometimes you cant see the forest for the trees
I'll Be back for another crack at them..
I know a couple of local guys that might help with advice
cheers, steve.
I'll Be back for another crack at them..
I know a couple of local guys that might help with advice
cheers, steve.[/QUOTE]
Good on ya mate, don't give up on those special meter green fish.
Cheers, Doug.
Love to use Preditek or Kingfisher lures or Viva Lures when I am out fishing.
G'day, I spent from 14th to 21st at Copeton, more of a family catch up than full on cod chasing (family involves Bobby Hallam so we had a few drinks).
Topical easter fishing once the full moon has its night the fish seem to go quiet for a few days. Also the busy boat movement doesn't help I'm sure.
Between four fishos we ended up with 8 cod around 50cm and 2 at 59cm (the non fishos wanted one to eat so we only got 59cm one's).
Three good yella's, six or seven reddys and sh%t load of spangleds.
Awesome weather, great company and one of the best easters.
Scott
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