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A day to remember


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Plan was to leave for Wyangala Dam chasing cod at 3:30am but by 2:30am I couldn’t sleep through a mixture of trying to get out of night shift mode and the anticipation of the day ahead. Little did I know I had a good reason to be excited. 

Arriving at the dam just after 4am I set up and head off slowly in the dark to where I wanted to start my mornings fishing. 

The day started slowly as I fished swimbaits as the sun came up with no sign of a fish. There were cormorants and pelicans everywhere a good sign of bait in the area so the fish shouldn’t be far away I thought. 

As I fished my way along the bank casting as I went I cast to a tree in slightly deeper water and a fish slammed my lure and no hook up. Twice more it hit and didn’t hook up. Across the river was another large tree so I made my way over and first cast bang I’m on then moments later that sinking feeling as the hooks pulled. 

The two previous missed opportunities showed me a bit of a pattern the cod were relating tight to timber no real surprise but it was the biggest of the trees that held the fish. From then on I set the electric motor on high and purely fished the biggest trees and that’s when the results came. 

It was 8:50am when the first cod hit the net a solid 72cm cod. After a quick photo and release I was back into it. 

I fished on and had a couple more missed fish before I hooked up again landing another solid 80cm cod. Again quick photo and release. 10:08am 2 fish so far and the water was starting to get shallow so I was thinking of moving back to deeper parts of the  lake but I pushed on. Glad I did. 

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10:30am I found a group of trees where a drain led into the dam from the surrounding hills. It looked very fishy but I thought it may have been too shallow. First cast was stopped mid retrieve only to miss the hook up. Twice more the fish hit the lure and failed to hook up. I changed angle and cast back to the same area and this time the fish ate it properly boating a 70cm fish. Next cast into the same group of trees was crunched again. I thought surely not the same fish but it was slightly bigger coming in at 74cm. 

After that I returned to a tree I’d earlier missed a fish. First cast was on the money and it was still hungry only to pay the ultimate price for not retrying after the last fish as the leader broke must have had a nic in the line I hadn’t noticed. Gutted as it felt like a big fish. 

I fished a few rock walls after that focussing on the steepest sections that had timber on them. Landing another 70cm cod and missing a few more. 

I fished until dark and landed a 73cm cod on a jackall gigantarel. 

One of the craziest days cod fishing I’ve ever had. Not because of size just sheer numbers. Ended up landing 6 and lost count of hits and missed fish. I fished a few different lures but majority of the action came on Lucky Craft magnum crankbaits which allowed me to cover water quickly. I fished a shallow diving lure in water less than 4 meters and the same lure in deep diving in the deeper water. 

Cheers for reading, Trav

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Wow Trav what a fantastic result. We know how difficult it can be getting one Cod but to have such a fantastic day, as you described, is nothing short of amazing. You certainly put the rest of us to shame with your knowledge and determination. Not doing much fishing down here so keep the reports coming, they're great reading. Cheers, bn

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  • 4 weeks later...

Great angling Trav,  I was at Wyangler (Grabine area) the same weekend, it was our first trip there, we really struggled,  so your results are both disheartening and Heartening. Mostly heartening, as I know there is hope for future trips as the dam/terrain looked so awesome!

We fished a mix of light, hopping blades and vibes, even briefly some plastics in the trees briefly as well as spinnerbaits, surface and the odd swimbait, even had a Lucky craft magnum MR on briefly!  We got a big carp each on blades in the first 30 mins, then struggled for the rest of the weekend, eventually opting to troll for 1 small cod and a few missed hits.

cheers,

Gus

 

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Hi @Lizardboy

Sounds like you tried all the right stuff. I have spent plenty of time in the Grabine area as well and actually fished there at one stage this day. There is definitely potential in Wyanagla, a lot of really big fish get caught there that aren't widely talked about so don't give up.

If you are planning on heading back feel free to send me a DM I'll try help you out with what has been working and where to try as I fish there fairly often.

Cheers,

Trav

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