# S.A. Land base; 4.9kg Murray Cod & 1.45kg Rainbow Trout



## Zilch

Sent a text to my mate (Mike) on Tuesday asking him if he was interested in a day trip to the Broughton River, got a instant reply "Really Keen". The Broughton River is in our states mid north and is approximately a 2 hour drive from Adelaide, it is known to hold some nice trout and a few cod. The part of the river at Spalding that we wished to fish is a series of reed lined deep pools and runs through private property. So you have to contact the owner and pay $10.00 / person. Having been their twice before, this simply meant phoning the owner and advising him we will be fishing his property tomorrow and would call into his house as we were leaving to pay.

After a bit of texting to and from Mike we agreed Thursday (9th Feb) best suited both of us and the mild weather of 21c was perfect. To fish the lenght of river we intended requires about a 5km walk then odviously a 5km walk back to the car. Plan set in place, Mike arrives to pick me up at 5am and we arrive at Spalding at 6.50am.

The first pool we fish is known to have trout to 4kg. After 3/4 hour and heaps of casts all that we have show for it was that I had one slight touch and hooked up to another fish for 4 seconds :twisted: I reckon. We then proceed to fish the remainder of the river, going from pool to pool. Hundreds of casts later and unfortunately Mike loosing 3 lures his dad had made, to snags on the opposite bank, I finally hook up. Initially thinking I had a huge trout as line was peeling from my Stradic 1000 c14 (spooled with 5 lb Power Pro Braid & 6 ld Vanish leader) and I was using a SX40 International lure, I eventually slow him down. After a couple more runs, the fish seemed to use its weight to slug it out. At this stage I knew it wasn't a trout and Mike arrived with my landing net, upon seeing my rod (Berkley 1-3kg Drop Shot) well and truly bent he asks what the f..k have you got ! Although at times I had the fish within 1/2 metre of the bank we couldn't get a look at him, as it stayed deep. The fish then went in and out of the small reeds either side of me, whilst in reeds to my left and directly in front of Mike I managed to raise it high enough for Mike to glimpse it and blurt out fen Cod  . A couple more short runs in and out of the reeds and I finally had him in the clear patch in front of me . After a couple of failed attempts to get him into the net, we deciced the only way he was going to fit into the net was head first. Mike simply held the landing net out as far as he could and as the cod tired I eventually guided him into the net. Whilst the two of us were carrying on like pork chops we weighed it in the net, 5.7kg, after the mandatory quick photo the fish was released to fight another day. Once normality returned we weighed the empty landing net, 0.8kg, so the cod was a healthy 4.9kg.

Click on photos to enlarge.




























We decide it was pointless staying at this pool and moved further along the river. The second pool along and Mike's 3rd cast he yells out to me he is on and to bring the landing net. Mike fought the fish brilliantly as the reeds he was standing in were as tall as him.










After several good runs Mike guides the trout into the net  . The combine weight of net and fish is 2.25kg, minus 0.8kg for the net the Raindow is a P.B. for Mike and is a very respectable 1.45kg (3.2 lb). A quick photo of Mike holding the trout and back into the landing net he goes, while Mike keeps the net in the water I grab my brag mate out, then we quickly measure the trout, 53cm.



















The fish was then returned to fight another day. After several minutes of back slapping and yippees, it sunk into Mike that the lure he caught his P.B. trout on was one his dad had made.










Mike's dad Paul was my best mate for 30 years, we had fished most of Australia together and he was the one to get me into kayak fishing a year before he passed away. You could see Mike's pride and enjoyment grow as we had finally had a trip together and both scored a great fish each as his dad and I had done on hundreds of occassions.

We fished a couple more pools before deciding to call it quits and walk the 55 minutes back to the car. After removing our wet and smelly shoes from our aching feet we headed into Spalding for well deserved cold drink and something to eat. On the way out of town we called into the owners house and paid our $10 ea entry fee. Geoff the owner advised us that Robson Green from Extreme Fishing (show on ABC) had fished his property 2 weeks earlier with S.A. number one trout fisherman as a guide and they caught nothing :shock: .

Whilst Mike's and my fish may not be huge they were P.B.'s for both of us (my first ever cod) add the friendly banter, stirring etc. and I think we may of cemented a freindship that hopefully will last for years, even if over time we fish / see less of each other we will remain mates and the tradition continues. Got to love fishing  .

Steve


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## Samboman

Good stuff mate, a great place to fish and Geoff is a top bloke... I have fished this place a few times and caught some ripper fish, 60cm Callop (Yellas) got a 20lb Murray Cod and an 8lb Brown trout using a stump jumper for cod....

It really is a great spot 8)

*****


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## Geoffw

What a great story. This is what fishing is about - a couple of mates getting together with a plan in mind and icing on the cake if the plan yields results. Thanks for sharing.


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## samrota

Great fish guys, well earned.

Sam.


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## skorgard

I used to fish the Broughton near Yacka about 40 years ago and used to get good trout. I wondered what had happened to the fishing. Looks pretty good.........


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## simond

Well done, some nice pools on Geoff's property.
Not sure about all the walking larky, as we were able to drive around Goeff's to all the pools with some having a short walk to get too.
Unless you have some secert honey hole :lol: :lol:


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## YakCult

Couple of magnificent fish there.....
A MOST interesting post Steve - many thanks!


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## solatree

Wonderful story Steve - and a couple of great fish !


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## Zilch

*EDIT; must learn how to use a computer :lol: , deleted most of this post by accident * :twisted:



> now that I have achieved this it might be *time to get back into the yak. Watch out West Lakes mullies. *


Kept my word, viewtopic.php?f=17&t=53146

Steve


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## solatree

Zilch said:


> P.S. not sure if you heard a 8 kg snapper was caught in the lake and was posted on Fish SA, I am not a member so I can't access it.


 :shock: Bloody amazing








"caught on a Jarvis Walker Marado bf5000 with 50lb Jarvis Walker Hercules braid and 2 x Jarvis Walker 6/0 suicide hooks using a live trumpeter as bait."


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## Samboman

Howdy Zilch, there are bigger cod in there ;-)

*****


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## Steve24622

Hello All,

How can I find this spot ?

Please share... 

Cheers
Steve


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## OldDood

Great job Steve. Looks a bit sedate to me though.
I am sure you would much rather get rolled and smashed by the Somerton sand monster in the middle of a 2 degC winters night?


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## Zilch

Steve24622 said:


> Hello All,
> 
> How can I find this spot ?
> 
> Please share...
> 
> Cheers
> Steve


 :shock: WTF

Sorry mate but my post was 2 1/2 years ago, all seems rather strange / creepy to me that your 1st post here is about such a old post and you are asking where the spot is.

If this is all legit can you explain how you came to dig up my post ?

Perhaps a bit of background or introduction by yourself may of been more appropriate.

I await for your explanation and if legit, I apologize for my scepticism.

Steve


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## Squidley

Was probably just searching for "SA cod", not noticing the timestamps and posting a _really_ optimistic question. I was going to make fun of OldDood for posting but realised I'd clicked the like button before noticing it was an old thread.


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## Zed

You can still like it. I do and I missed it first time round but I wont ask for directions.


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## Steve24622

Hello,

I Googled fishing at Broughton River and found your post.. 

I have fished there 20 odd years ago caught some brown trout..

Stopped at a bridge near spalding and just walked the river..

I thought if there was some good spots on private property I would like to know where and try there..

When I went there before my 2 kids were both very young.

1 was in a pusher 18 months old the other was a few months old.

We (me and the missus) lowered the kids down a small cliff face in the pusher and car seat with rode so we could get down to the water..

Found a very nice grassy area to fish and have lunch..

Didnt know nothing else about the river or the private property..

We lived at Clare at the time..

There ya go a bit of background..

Oh, i am on holidays from work till the 25th August.

Was going to go there to fish during that time.. 

Cheers
Steve


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## Steve24622

Squidley said:


> Was probably just searching for "SA cod", not noticing the timestamps and posting a _really_ optimistic question. I was going to make fun of OldDood for posting but realised I'd clicked the like button before noticing it was an old thread.


Correct. was googling fresh water fishing in SA.

Didnt look at date and time.....

But does that matter ?

An Old post got new blood on your forums..... 

That has to be a good thing..

Cheers
Steve


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## Steve24622

Zed said:


> but I wont ask for directions.


lol


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## Zilch

Steve24622 said:


> Hello All,
> 
> How can I find this spot ?
> 
> Please share...
> 
> Cheers
> Steve


Mate IMHO you will find very few anglers that will give out any location unless they know that person or are at least are going to do the session with them thus build a rapport. I am not saying you would as I have never met you but some anglers have a different attitude to a limit resource than what I have, all freshwater natives and trout are catch and release for me (others, as long as there abiding by the law are rightly entitled to do what they like with a fish they catch).



OldDood said:


> Great job Steve. Looks a bit sedate to me though.
> I am sure you would much rather get rolled and smashed by the Somerton sand monster in the middle of a 2 degC winters night?


 :lol: Dunny you are a sick cruel bastard :twisted:



Zed said:


> but I wont ask for directions.


Easy directions for you, make / find your own way to Adelaide and then I will pick you up from the airport and take you their 



Squidley said:


> I was going to make fun of OldDood for posting but realised I'd clicked the like button before noticing it was an old thread.


Chris stir the really old dude up !



Steve24622 said:


> Didnt know nothing else about the river or the private property.


Mate I don't think anyone can actually own a river but if you access that river via there property you must get there permission otherwise you initially trespassed. The land on the right side of the bridge as you approach Spalding is crown land, up to the little creek on the left I believe, so no permission is required. I hope that helps.

I probably was shocked somewhat by reading your post as early in the day I did a fish with a "Fishing SA" magazine columnist (Tony Bainbridge) and he caught a nice 2.15kg Rainbow Trout and when I changed my lure to the same one as mentioned in my original post I mentioned that I have caught a Broughton Cod on it (this post) which he was amazed at, that such a small lure could handle a Cod. So strange / coincident that a 2 1/2 year post is mentioned twice within 3 hours :shock:

As you can see by Tony's capture yesterday we / I always play it safe about how much info we make available i.e. the background is whited out, as not to give out the spot.










PS. mate my recommendation would be to join one of the freshwater fishing clubs if you want to learn about or target Cod. The club I am in has access to privately stocked dams and although I am not allowed to give out there locations, let's just say there is a ;-) northern suburb one that has Cod up 7.5kg in it. Welcome aboard and good luck in your quest.

Steve


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## OldDood

Squidley said:


> Was probably just searching for "SA cod", not noticing the timestamps and posting a _really_ optimistic question. I was going to make fun of OldDood for posting but realised I'd clicked the like button before noticing it was an old thread.


@Chris
Yep it may be an old thread to you young fellas, but 2012 only seems like yesterday to me.
I am also not sure why you were trying to push my like button (wherever that is located on my personage?) or even trying to push my buttons generally I find a little weird?
You don't have a fetish for old garden gnomes do you?


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## solatree

OldDood said:


> @Chris You don't have a fetish for old garden gnomes do you?


 Don't be ridiculous Dunny - Chris is just not like that.

That would be discrimination.

His fetish is for all gnomes regardless of their age or where they come from.


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