Leslie Dam report

[jordo]

My local fishing club and a near by club had our little interclub comp this weekend at leslie so i headed down.

Got there late friday arvo and only got on the water late and headed up sandy creek way and picked a piece of bank thats held fish before. A look on the sounder and there were fish holding around 20 foot deep on the bottom and it wasn long into the troll and i was into them. All fish seemed to be undersize though. As the wind got up i switched to the opposite bank for a bit of shelter and noticed the arches on the sounder seemed to be a little bigger in size and little more off the bottom. Bit of a troll along there and i landed a nice 40cm fish just before dark.

Next morning i hit the same bank as the arvo before. I was picking up plenty of yellas. Nothing huge and a fair few undersize but enough good 1s to persist with this stretch of bank. A mate came out for a arvo fish and we got back into them. I mentioned to my mate if we get a few more good yellas we might head up to a rocky bank and try for a cod. Then only 5 minutes later i hooked up something heavy. As it came up i thought this yella has a bit of weight and then i got a glimpse of it and thought hell its a cod. Soon as he seen the boat he took off. I finally netted him after a good little fight on light gear. He was no world record fish but the 1st cod i've ever caught so i was happy as. Only went 55cm so took a quick photo and got him back in the water. I wouldn keep a cod of any size but as i think they're a unreal fish. Im so stoked to finally have caught 1 and im keen to get back out now an get a bigger 1. Think the bass may get a rest for a while as i think i have the cod bug now!

Anyway got a few more yellas this morning before i packed up and headed home. Think i would of boated well over 40 yellas with alot just around the legal size. Biggest would been around the 40cm. Had another awsome weekend out on the water. Oh and my local fishing club easily outfished the other club so even better!

[Binder]

Lovely cod, I must say I know how you feel -  I dont use to many Yella sized lures anymore if there is even a slight chance of a cod being around!

[Fitzy]

Great work Jordo, congratulations of your first Murray Cod. 

What was the water level & color like? Much weed?

Cheers,

Fitzy..

[jordo]

Thanks fellas.

The water colur up the creek was a little brown but not too bad. A mate fished down towards the wall though and said it was very dirty and stunk. I noticed alot more rotting timber and stuff around the edge down there though when i drove past. The dam i think is about 97%. The lady in the camp area said they are letting water out for down stream farmers and it had dropped a foot or 2 in the last week.. I pulled up near the wall on the way out to check boat and the water coming out below it stunk real bad. There was no real weed beds where i was fishing and didn see any but 1 bloke said that there was in 1 area. The shrimp fishing guys had a hard time catching fish and they found out that night why. When they set the pots they came back to traps absolutely chockers. They said the water around the edge was alive with them. Be a good thing i recon for the fish. Most fish seemed healthy but a few had some red sores on them.

Cheers Jordo

Great dam and i hope to fish it more often.

[2Dogs]

Nice report Jordo. Did you camp at washpool reserve or at the tourist park?

[jordo]

Thanks mate. I think it was the washpool camp ground. The 1 right on the waters edge. I dont mind it there. I usually camp right on the waters edge where i can pull the boat out of the water easily and leave beside camp. Showers are always clean and provide free firewood which is tops. I think its a great spot. I've had mates get gear pinched while camping there but i've never had anything touched but im very careful. Hope to get back there soon.