Christmas 2014

Catch and Release Cod Season Opening 2014

Cod season officially opened on December 1st after a three month closure to allow breeding. Murray Cod size limits have been adjusted to be the same in NSW and Victoria with a minimum length of 55cm and maximum 75cm and a possession limit of 1 (2 max for impondments). All others must be released.

I fished at the Nyah Vinifera park and also downstream at Belsar and Yungera Islands. I bagged just two at Nyah with one around 35cm and one at 45cm which I had great pleasure in releasing and seeing them swim off to grow bigger.

There is a great free camping spot behind the old Harness Club at Nyah. Lots of free campers stop at this spot with plenty of trees, toilets, a dump point and drinking water. Just a few hundred metres downstream is the Nyah Vinifera park that is a great camping and fishing destination and where I stayed the first night. See http://parkweb.vic.gov.au/explore/parks/nyah-vinifera-park

Baby Cod 35cm

Bigger Cod 45cm

 Boat

 Good Scrubbies

 River Red Gums

 That cutie again

Further downstream past Boundary Ben is Belsar and Yungera Islands which are formed by anabranches of the Murray River, with Belsar Island to the west and Yungera Island to the east. Great camping and fishing here too. Belsar and Yungera Islands however was where I caught and did not release two wopping carp, one 65cm and one 75cm. While a popular angling species in Europe, in Australia the carp is considered a pest carp and listed as a noxious species. These ones were permanently relocated well away from the river.

Brutus the outlaw fish