Fishing in the Wallagaraugh

The Wallagaraugh River is in southern New South Wales, or northern Victoria, depending on the stretch of river you happen to be on at the time. The Wallagaraugh is a big river, wide and deep in parts. Other areas are narrow or shallow, and upstream near where the Princes Highway crosses the river, it breaks out into pools.

For anglers who regularly fish Mallacoota Inlet, the Wallagaraugh is well known. Some fishing reports from this part of the world refer to the Genoa River, when in fact the fish were caught in the Wallagaraugh. The reason for this might be that the Wallagaraugh flows into the Genoa upstream of Gipsy Point. The junction is signposted but it’s easy to be confused.

Mind you, for most anglers, where they caught their fish is less important than what they caught. As for telling everyone where they were fishing well, then you begin to understand why there is sometimes some geographical confusion.

The Wallagaraugh produces dusky flathead of more than 5kg, estuary perch and bream. In the upper reaches, the much sought after Australian bass are present.

Cameron Whittam with a good dusky flatead

Most anglers use bait or lures. A small number work saltwater flies. Bream and perch are caught among snags, and these can be fished with unweighted baits, or small lures.

Black bream caught on a soft plastic

Areas where the river shallows and sandflats lined with weedbeds are the domains of the big dusky flathead, and here lures take preference over bait. Flathead to 7kg can be caught, however, old timers talk about much bigger flathead being caught.

Motoring along the river from one fish-yielding snag to another, there are fallen trees that have fallen in recent times, and like a good wine, are maturing and will soon have the potential to be good perch or bream holding areas.

It’s a pristine part of the world, one that gets better the further away from civilisation you head. One stretch of the river boasts a tropical rainforest, and that’s about what it is: Tall trees and dense scrub covered in verdant green vines. If you weren’t so far south, you’d swear you were in North Queensland fishing the Daintree. Mind you, there are no crocodiles in the Wallagaraugh, although the goannas in this part of the world can grow to a fair size.

Upstream from the Wallagaraugh River Retreat campground, past Johnson Bridge, is the famous Bullring. Known for its bream, the Bullring is a bend in the river with a small island and plenty of rushes and trees. Nobody knows how it got its name, but the area is well known for the quantity and sixe of the bream it can produce.

If you motor upstream as far as you can go, you reach a wall of rocks. Park the boat on the north side of the river, scramble through the scrub and you reach the first of the freshwater pools. These pools can be good for Australian Bass, and I have caught them to just over 1kg, but know of bigger specimens that fell foul of anglers.

OUTFITS

A small threadline and light spin stick will suffice for all bait and lure fishing. A size 20 threadline spooled with 5kg braid is ideal. The rod needs to have sharp recovery to enable accurate casts. Make sure the rod isn’t too soft, you may need a bit of grunt to steer a big bream away from a snag.

BAIT

Here is a place where anglers use bait to catch bream. I for one am always happy to thread a prawn, bass yabbie, and sandworm or scrubworm on a hook.

A successful method is to use unweighted baits and fish the snags along the river. Sinkers are a liability you can do without whenever conditions allow. Sometimes when shore fishing you can’t avoid rigging up with a running sinker rig. In that case, always use as small a lead as conditions allow.

After a flush of freshwater, scrubworms become serious bait. And some of the scrubworms you dig up in this region are more like small snakes. The preferred hook size is about No. 4 to 1/0, and the Baitholder pattern is ideal. When using large scrubworms, keep threading them up the line if they are too big.

Flathead take prawns, pilchards, scrubworms and live mullet. The difference in fishing technique is that you can catch flathead in areas where there are no snags. A bit of deep water combined with mud is often best.

LURES

Small hardbody minnows, vibes and soft plastics will all work. Colour, size and action influence results, but not as much as presentation.

Hard body lures are presented with a pause and twitch technique to imitate a crippled baitfish. For soft plastics, the presentation procedure is a simple lift and drop. Regardless of lure type, the retrieve needs to be ultra slow for both species – unless of course the fish inhales the lure on the first drop after it hits the water.

Our extensive BrownTrout list of Australiana titles will be in store next month!

The Australian Birds Mini Wall Calendar includes 12 amazing images, a clean datepad for calendar entries and National Australian and New Zealand national and school holiday dates.

We have been notified of a caption error for the March image (included above for your reference). BrownTrout apologises for the error and have provided the correct caption below.

March image - Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo (Lophochroa leadbeateri) also known as Leadbeater’s cockatoo or pink cockatoo.

Answers are provided below the questions.

Our New Boxed Calendar with over 300 Australian Sports Trivia questions is in store August 2014 – the perfect gift for sports fans and work colleagues.

Questions

1. In what year did Lleyton Hewitt win the Men’s Singles Wimbledon Championship?

2. Who did Nick Kyrgios defeat in the 3rd round of the 2014 Wimbledon Championship?

3. How many Goals did Australia score at the 2014 FIFA World Cup?

4. Who scored Australia’s second goal against the Netherlands in the 2014 FIFA World Cup?

5. Who scored all 6 of New South Wales 2014 State of Origin Game 2 match points against Queensland?

6. In how many of the 3 Rugby Union recent series matches did Australia defeat France?

7. How many riders will make up the Orica GreenEdge cycling team in the 2014 Le Tour De France?

8. Who is the Australian Speed Skating  Duke Trophy named after?

9. Who was Australia’s last winner of the Men’s British Open Golf Championship?

10. True or False. At the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Tim Cahill averaged a goal every 79.5 minutes he was on the pitch?

Answers

1. 2002

2. Jiri Vesely (Czech Republic)

3. 3

4. Mile Jedinak (Penalty in the 54th Minute)

5. Trent Hodkinson (1 try, 1 goal)

6. 3-0

7. 9

8. Len Duke, the first Secretary/ Treasurer of the AAIRC in 1952 

9. Greg Norman 1993

10. True. He scored 2 goals in 3 matches and played 159 minutes

Curlwaa is an irrigation settlement a few kilometres upstream of Wentworth on the Murray River in far southwestern New South Wales. The Abbotsford Bridge spans the Murray River between Yelta, Victoria and Curlwaa, New South Wales.

Cruising down the Murray River below the Abbotsford Bridge at Curlwaa, the rod tip flickered in time with the pulsing action of the deep running lure. My rod bucked, then bowed and line went running off the reel against the drag. Not a big fish as Murray cod go, but at about 12kg it was enough to brush away the cobwebs. It was my second cod on the day.

Rod Mackenzie netted, photographed and then speared the cod back into the water. What I like about Murray cod is the strike; sudden and hard. The ensuing fight is much slower and more about bulldogging on the part of the cod.

Cod have a fascinating diet. Adult Murray cod are carnivorous and will eat just about anything they can inhale. As well as other fish, cod will eat those cricket ball size freshwater mussels and tortoises. Birds are also at risk with shags on the cod menu.

Gus Storer and Alex Julius arrived a couple of days later and I fished with Gus, and Alex with Rod. Gus caught a couple of cod, and Rod managed a fish of about a metre. Over the next four days I never had a hit, Gus caught three cod, Alex a couple, and Rod hooked some bigger cod. That’s fishing.

Sometimes the learning is more fun than the fishing, making me more appreciative of the prize. Along the way, I enjoyed the camaraderie of campfire tales told with colourful language against a backdrop of flickering flames, eucalypts and water. Fishing for Murray cod has and continues to be a uniquely Australian experience, one that I always enjoy.

TIPS

The accepted rule of cod fishing used to be that success meant being prepared to put your bait or lure among the snags. However, big cod are often caught about a third of the way out into the river than in close among the timber. Cod will hang on structure such as drop offs, rock and sunken trees, and this sort of structure also exists away from the shore.

When bait fishing use an 8-10 kg outfit. Trollers can go heavier and use braid lines to 15-24kg, as they are much thinner than equivalent monofilament. Leader material is important, especially for big cod, and should be about 15-24kg breaking strain.

Hook size is governed by bait. A No.2-4 long shank hook is popular, as is a 6/0 Suicide pattern. Both hooks will suit bardi grubs, yabbies or large shrimp.

BAIT

Bardi grub is the favoured cod bait followed by shrimp, yabbies, woodgrubs and scrubworms. Cheese has become popular bait in recent years, particularly mozzarella.

LURES

Top cod lures include the Koolabung Codzilla, Stumpjumper, Halco Poltergeist, Predatek Boomerang, and Oargee. Spinnerbait lures are popular among anglers casting to snags.

METHODS

Murray cod thrive on shrimp, yabbies, freshwater crayfish, frogs, and anything else small enough to fit in their mouths. This fish has reputation for feeding on the unusual including chicken bones and golf balls.

The best places to seek out cod are from submerged timber, deep eddies and under overhanging vegetation.

Bait rigs vary, but for the most part anglers fish on the bottom with a running sinker rig or else use a fixed sinker or paternoster rig.

If you prefer trolling, try to work your lure within a metre of the bottom, and close to structure. Braid lines come into their own for trolling as you can feel when your lure is bouncing over submerged logs.

When cod feed, they flare their gills and inhale their prey. To that end, most fish are taken at the broadest surface. It is the same with lures, which is why you should place special significance on the front trebles, even to the point of increasing their size.

The Great War – Recruitment Posters from the First World War Deluxe Wall Calendar 2015 From 2014 to 2018 people around the world will commemorate 100 years since the events of the First World War. This important centenary period is an opportunity to learn from the experiences of those who served, and to remember those who sacrificed their lives from 1914 to 1918. Posters were essential for spreading information and propaganda during the war. Countries on both sides of the conflict distributed posters widely to gain support, urge action and boost morale. Many posters asked men to do their duty by joining the military forces. In Australia, two attempts to introduce conscription failed by narrow margins to win enough popular support, so the recruitment poster remained a crucial tool for encouraging enlistment. This 2015 calendar features twelve classic recruitment posters from the Australian War Memorial’s extensive art collection, and includes designs from Australia, England and France. For more information about the Australian War Memorial and its collections, please visit awm.gov.au

Test your Australian sports knowledge with over 300 questions covering a wide range of sports. From football and swimming to Olympic sports and famous sportsmen and women, you can test yourself and your colleagues and friends.
This handy day-by-day calendar for 2015 will keep you guessing all year!
The boxed calendar includes an adjustable easel so that you can place it on your desk or hang it on a wall.

Find the Hook 2015 Boxed Calendar

Find the Hook each day in this historic collection of Jeff Hook cartoons.

Jeff is an award winning Australian editorial cartoonist. Join with others to search the cartoons and challenge your colleagues and friends to see who can find the hook first!

The boxed calendar includes an adjustable easel so that you can place it on your desk or hang it on a wall. Includes Australian and New Zealand national holiday and school holiday dates.

Watch out for new questions updated weekly on our Australian Sports Quiz blog page.

Send us your questions and categories so that we can share these with sports fans and quiz enthusiasts.

JUNE QUESTIONS

FOOTBALL (SOCCER)

Question 1: Who Scored Australia’s First Goal in the 2015 FIFA World Cup?

Question 2: What was Australia’s World ranking going into the 2015 FIFA World Cup?

Question 3: What number does Mark Bresciano wear for the Australian Socceroos?

Question 4: What position did Australia finish in the 2014 AFC Women’s Asian Cup?

Question 5: Which Belgian Football Team does Australian Goalkeeper Maty Ryan play for?

HOCKEY

Question 6: What medal did the Australian Women’s Hickey Team win at the 2014 Hockey World Cup?

Question 7: Who did the Australian men’s hockey team defeat to win the 2014 Hockey World Cup?

Question 8: Who won the 2014 Hockey World Cup’s player of the tournament?

Question 9: Which Australian Women’s Hockey player scored the most goals during the 2014 World Cup?

FOOTBALL (NRL)

Question 10: Who scored the first try in the 2014 NRL State of Origin series?

Question 11: How many South City Rabbitohs players are part of thje Queensland 2014 State of Origin side?

ANSWERS

Question 1: Tim Cahill

Question 2: 59th

Question 3: 23

Question 4: 2nd (Lost to Japan 1-0 in the Final)

Question 5: Brugge KV

Question 6: Silver (lost the final 2-0 to the Netherlands)

Question 7: Netherlands (6-1)

Question 8: Mark Knowles (Australia)

Question 9: Anna Flanagan (6 goals)

Question 10: Darius Boyd, Queensland

Question 11: 3 (Greg Inglis, Chris McQueen, Ben Te’o)

A perfect gift for dad on Father’s Day. The content and fishing tips for this 16-month calendar, including September to December 2014, are co-ordinated by Steve Cooper, author of Australian Fishing Guide by Hardie Grant Publishers.

See Steve’s regular blog on when to catch the best fish and where. Tips, fishing trips and locations from all over Australia. Post your fishing stories, trips, tips and images to share with other fishing enthusiasts.