Moonie River 9-13th-01

[fishingnottake]

Went out to the farm to see the family at about 3 i went for a drive down to the moonie dropped in the shrimp traps, had a scratch around for some worms loaded one up dropped it n a likely loooking spot, jammed the rod in a rod while i went to check the traps, i got about five steps when the ratchet on started screaming, i spun around grabbed the rod and jambed my thumb on the spool and tried to put the brakes on, but the bloody thing had already wrapped itself around the roots under the ledge at the waters surface , so i had to slid down the bank face first using one hand to support myself and the other to follow the line under the water tracing it along to the fish after about 10 mins i found it and lifted it out, it was a fat yellowbelly of about 3 kilo, i dropped it into the bucket, went back cut my hook off and pulled the line back through the snags and rerigged, befroe rebaiting i went and pulled the traps up and scored 3 huge blue claws in and some smaller yabbies and about 6 shrimp, dropped one trap back in and baited up with a yabbie, found a nice shady spot on a bend with a semi-submurged log about 2 meters out from it, dropped the yabbie down and started bobbing the float, started getting some hits, but after i pulled the yabbie in the tail was gone but the head was still attached so was more than likely bobbies, had to head back on dark due to the mozzies moving in, went back the next morning at about 4 and fished unitl 10 when the heat took them off the bite but managed two more yellowbelly on yabbies, 6 carp and too mnay bobbies to mention, as well a 20 odd blue claws in the trap so was a good feed in all.
ash

[Haji-Baba]

My type of fishing.
Good one to get a feed of yellowbelly and some craybobs.

Spent a lot of time fishing those waters and to the East, Condamine, Dumaresque, and a lot of creeks in between. The old jew are getting scarce now mainly because of the rotten carp i think.

Still some good ones further out west, Barcoo and Thompson.

Enjoy.

[fishingnottake]

i didn't even know you could get jew in there :o i'v only ever got yella's bobbie, carp and the occasional bony bream, though there is talk of cod

[morty103]

The freshwater jew is no relative to the saltwater jew, the fresh jew is another name for an eel tailed catfish and they are top notch eating

[fishingnottake]

thanks for that, there would be catfish in there, i know we used to get some huge ones outside tara

[mattooty]

What are bobbys? Great catch mate. The yellow would have fought hard if it didnt burrow straight into the roots.
Matt

[fishingnottake]

i think they're called spangled perch, and the yella's in there are lots of fun fight like buggery, just takes some time to find them sometimes, this rain seems to of brought them back out though, heading out there again next week. looking forward to really getting into them without work getting in the way.
ash

[Haji-Baba]

The old freshwater "Jew" is good smoked. They are the same as the freshwarter "Jew" we catch in the East Coast
rivers. I release them all now because of the drastic reduction in numbers in all the streams invaded by carp.
There are many species of jew in our waterways, some are quite unique.
In recent years jew have made a slight comeback and this is directly related to native fishes, Yellowbelly and Cod learning to eat carp.
"Bobbies" are "Spangled Perch" and can grow up to 1/2 kilo in some streams particularly on the East Coast. They will take lures and can put up quite a fight.

There are, or were "Murray Cod" in all the rivers and streams that flow into the Murray system. Including The Moonie River. To my knowledge Cod do not occur naturally in the Lake Eyre System.

Cheers "Haji Baba"