Upper Severn River..."Jimargie"...

[Hardb8]

Hi Ausfishers,
The Murray Cod has long been on my much catch list,And untill recently,We'd never crossed paths.With my Australia Day ritual of casting for one of our natives being missed due to other draining commitments,A special trip to make up for it was planned...

Jimargie was to be the destination,And a chance to meet a legend was the prize.

As usual,Kyle was more than keen for the trip.The calls were made,The accomadation booked,The gear and tackle jammed into bags,And off we went in hope and wonder.The trip was 5 and a half hours from home (Redcliffe just North of Brisbane) that included 1/2 an hour to stop and stretch the legs,The total distance to Jims house was 423km's.

Make sure you have everything with ya,As it's 54km's and a 45 min drive to the nearest fuel and supplies in the town of Deepwater.That makes it a 100km,Hour and a half return trip if ya low on anything.

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A little about Jimargie...

Mr Jim Cowin is the owner,And a polite and informative character indeed.He told us alot about both the land and it's dangers,And also about our quarry.He also spun us some very cool storys of himself,And of his experiences on his property.Also of his times abroard.He is a man who really cares for his land and it's inhabbitants.

Jimargie is a 2000 acre block of land in the town of Emmaville,Situated in the N.S.W granite belt.It has approxamitly 3km of the Severn River headwaters running through it.It's real gorge country,And a true natural habbitat of the Murray Cod.

There are some very real dangers to consider when in this habbitat,Such as snake bites,And slips and falls can cause :- Sprains,Fractures and breaks of bones.As your in a gorge,And have no communication,These scenearios can even prove to be deadly.Dehydration must also be seriously considered.It's tuff walking,And I went through my water very quickly.Fortunantly for us the water was running,And I drank from the rapids with no ill effects whatsoever.Jim had informed us that this can be done if needed.

I'd personnaly recommend fishing two up,And within sight of ya partner at all times.After I had a slip and fall,I realised how easy it would be to,Slip,Bang ya head,Sustain a concussion,And fall into the water to drown.Jim insisted we take compression bandages with us,Just in case.

Jim also had us watch a short movie that had Mr Neil Shultz starring.It was to ensure we had correct knowledge on how to care for these fish,And sustain the fishing of the waterway.He also asks you use a minimum 20lb line,And a minimum size of 100mm lures.All barbs must be crushed down,And there is no bait fishing.It's lure and fly only.

Then we got some words of advice on 4WDing.Little did we know just how sketchy some of the tracks were to the water from our bunkhouse.Low range 1st and 2nd gear 4WD was the order for a fair amount of the 8km trip to the river.The drive to and from is great,And only added to the adventure.It took us about half an hour to make the one way trip.It was like being in a zoo.On our first trip down,We seen :- Dear,A mob of about 20 pigs,Kangaroos,And heard of mountain goats.Other critters we came across were,Wallaroos,A couple different varietys of Snake,Spiders and a few big Goannas.Really stuff.

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The fishing...

We were already on a high from the drive in,And seeing the water only made it worse.We were greeted by a beautiful waterfall cascading over massive boulders into a fairly large pool.Everything was worth it already .The enviroment is pristene,And I would imagine unchanged for thousands of years .

I had a purple 1/2oz chatterb8 tied on,A style lure I've never used before,But my confidence in it was high after the first few casts.The vibration it put off was wicked,And my rod throbbed and pulsed as the lure flashed through the water.Kyle had tied on a large spinner blade,Also in purple,And was casting away at the studded boulders in the mid section of the pool.I was at the head,And on about my tenth cast recieved my first whack,But no hook up.Kyle was recieving quite a bit of attention in the middle of the pool,So I moved down to join him.It was here that a dream was realised.He was only small,Around 30cm,But a scale perfect Murray Cod was recorded on camera,Breifly admired,And released.I was STOKED!

We soon began pool hopping,And the next bend syndrome was as bad as I've ever had it.And although we are novice Cod anglers,We were aware that several casts can be needed to one area,To draw a strike,So we thoroughly worked over the pools.Fish started to come on both rods,Taking a liking to both our presentations.Our confidence began to grow with each fish,And we observed the type of habbitat and the retrive speed needed to draw strikes.It was great as always to be learning,And refreshing to be in new country.And the new species made it that much better.

We discovered that these fish will hide in the smallest of cracks,And don't need much water.I've pi$$ed bigger puddles that my best Cod came from.It blew me away that such a fish would hide in such shallow skinny water.But it had shade,Current,And an eddy.

We also discovered that a slow to medium constant retrieve speed worked best,And drew most attention.

The best habbitat we found was pools that had 1 to around 10 foot of water with large boulders studding their lenght.These areas soon became our favourites,And almost always produced the goods.I assumed the deeper more still pools were home to the larger fish (20+ pounders) as they were void of smaller Cod.But we found these areas barron and lifeless.The lack of small Cod in these prime looking spots,For some reason,Told me that this is where the big boys were,And were eating the little blokes that entered unaware of the danger that lurked beneath.I put my theory in practice and used big lures,And worked prime ambush points in these areas,Frustratingly for no result.....(So much to learn).....

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Night time.

Our session on sundown was one that will be long remembered,And one of the most awsome topwater bites I've been part of,If not the best!

We were aware of the Cods fondness of surface prey,And as the sun changed through it's hues,And began to dip over the cliffs of the gorge,Topwaters was the call .We both selected stickb8's.Kyle used a Riding Pepper,And I,A Megabass Dog X.Both our lures were yellow.And both got absolutly HAMMERED!The aggression was unbelievable.The Cod transformed into another fish,Like a product of the devil himself as night began to fall.Several strikes on the same retrieve were common,With water,Lures,And Cod flying in all directions.I copped one strike that saw a tiny bloke (About 30cm) launch a vertical attack from beneath to smash my lure,And continue towards the stars .We had double hookups from the same rock,Birdsnests caused from strikes before the reel was even engaged ,And detonations on our b8's that'd do a depthcharge proud.

It is now dark and visability at a minimum....ZZZZZZZZZZZZ bloop,Kyle makes his cast."Where's ya lure" I ask?KAPKOOOOOOOOOW!And as if on request the Cod would let me know exactly where it was.It was crazy!

Our end tally :-

Kyle...18 Cod.Best fish,59.5cm.

Gear used :- Rod-Megabass Destroyer-Griffon Evoluzion.
Reels :- M-Ito 103 Millionaire Limited Edition & Daiwa Monoblock XR100.
Line & leaders :- 20lb Daiwa Sensor braid.32lb twisted & 20lb single strand.

B8...19 Cod.Best fish,63cm.Also got a thumpin yella.

Gear used :- Rods-Megabass Destroyer Evoulzion-Espada & Gan Craft Killers 00 Dictator.
Reels :- Daiwa Millionaire I'ze Light & Daiwa Steez.
Line & leaders :- 20lb Daiwa Sensor Braid.32lb twisted & 20lb single strand.

It was a pleasure and a privlige to fish Jimargie,And I will definantly return.

I had a great time,With great company.Beautiful surroundings,And it was topped of with the meeting of a very special fish,A true legend...The Murray Cod.

A quick thanks to both Jim,And as always Kyle.

Another one off the list....Regards. B8.

[Obi _ Wan]

G'Day Rick,
Thats a bloody good report mate, congrats on your first Cod, got any pic's to follow? Have heard thats a very, very good location.
By the way mate we released 100,000 bass fingerlings on Saturday so the future looks good at Kurwongba.
By the way, has Kyle had a haircut yet?

Cheers,
John.

[Hardb8]

Hi John,
Thanks m8,My first Greenfish will long burn brightly.It is a top spot,And I highly recommend it.

Looks like the hard work of the members is paying of at Kurwongba,I hope to take my little girl there and show her the ropes in the future.

Still no haircut for Kyle.LOL.Would you believe me if I told ya his Mum owns a hairdressing saloon???She does.

More below of Jimargie.

Cheers. Rick.

[Obi _ Wan]

Thats good stuff mate, i must have got into the post somehow before you edited it. Can see now the gear you both used and pic's
Can also see that Kyle has not had that hair cut,haha.
Good pic of the thumb, they call that Cod Thumb, you should get a copy of the DVD, called "COD ALMIGHTY" In that they talk about COD ARM LOL.

Cheers,
John.

[yellahunter]

great report mate,
Jimargie is such a special place,
good to see Jims still going ok,
must get back there myself one day

[bdowdy]

great report ,great photos, and great fish, welcome to the cod club,youll be hooked for life. gotta love those surface hits,congrats fellas.cheers bdowdy...brett

[Little grey men]

Now that's a report...nice one B8, many congratulations on getting onto the cod.
What an amazing fish they are.
Got my first one when I was a little fella a long long time ago, can't wait to get my little bloke onto one......one day.

Thanks for showing us those great pictures...there's some good ones there for your fishing album......well done to Kyle and yourself.

[gunna]

Great report. I fished that river with an Emmaville guide a few years back. Three days of canoing down the rapids/gorges and sleeping on the bank at night. Your photos have brought back some great memories.

[tiges]

Wicked report Rick, looks like you guys had an awesome time.

[NAGG]

Top stuff & great report b8 ........

Talking about coincidences ... I was handed a copy of The Fishing DVD ( Vol 2) over the weekend ........ & there is a great little story on Jimargie ( Rob & Leeann Payne + Shannon Watson) ......... well worth looking at !

Thanks for the report b8

Nagg

[Reel]

thankyou fantastic story and great pics, im just damn jealous, where exactly is the place you stayed. I was at Glenlyon and sundance national park at chrissie.

cheers

Ron

[1337]

Mate awesome report - did you boys camp out under the stars when night fishing?
Also - how much does a trip of this nature cost?

Sounds like a must-do-trip in life - any idea when the peak cod fishing season is ?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Regards
Caleb

[BR65]

Good stuff Rick, plus some excellant piccys as well
cheers
brian

[Hardb8]

Hi All,
Firstly I'd like to say thanks to all for your humbling comments.I hope you enjoyed reading,As much as I did writing.It's something I like to do .

where exactly is the place you stayed

Hi Ron,
We stayed on Jim's property in self contained cabins that are joined onto his home.They have everything you need.Beds,Cooking facilitys,Hot shower,Etc.

From here the river is about 1/2 an hour drive in a 4X4.

did you boys camp out under the stars when night fishing?
Also - how much does a trip of this nature cost?

Sounds like a must-do-trip in life - any idea when the peak cod fishing season is ?

G'day Caleb,
We returned back to our accomadation and beds after the night session.It was EXTREMELY HARD to navigate the terrain in the dark.We only had our small head torches though.Next time I'll be spending much more time out and about in the twighlight hours.

Cost.....First there's ya fuel,This obviously depends on how far ya have to travel,And what ya drivin.And ya tucker.

Jim's accomadation varies a little in price,And from memory there's three types to choose from.We went the delux package,And it was $85 per person per night.

Consider your level of fitness,And ability to recover from hardcore hiking.Jim informed us that 1km in the gorge is equivilant to 4km on flat ground .

I'm carrying 20kg of belly I shouldn't be at the moment .But I seem to be able to switch off and keep going no matter how tired I am.I'd recommend a 2 day stay,And about 3-4 days there at the most.Lactic acid will burn,And you WILL get tired .

I'm not sure exactly when peak Cod season is,As I'm a novice Greenfisher.I always read everthing I can on them,And devour articles by :- Mr Rod Mc Kenzie,Mr Dave Hodge,And the odd one from Mr Gus Storer.(True Greenfish students)
I'm sure some of the more experienced Cod anglers here can share some light on this for ya though.

Regards. B8.

[wamjam]

Gday mate
I'm not going to read all that, but the pics look the goods.
congrats wamjam