Hi Country Hi Jinks

Down to Victoria last weekend with top bloke and good friend Mike Fitzgerald. Mission - to pick up his new Quintrex 420 from Leigh Marine in Wodonga:

Then a couple of days testing the boat, fishing, and deer hunting planned. Free and easy trip with the only rule being, buy Gaytimes every time we stopped for fuel:

We picked up the boat mid-Thursday afternoon and headed straight for Lake Hume, east of Albury. This gigantic reservoir is at 100% capacity. It’s full of fish – particularly the introduced but delicious redfin. A friendly local recommended we launch at Tallangatta, and motor over to a telephone pole sticking out of the water a hundred metres or so west. That worked:

It was a hook up almost every drop, although some were pretty small. When I boated this one Fitz asked, ‘which one's the lure?’

Next day we headed for Dartmouth dam. It’s a beautiful wilderness water storage, holding seven times the volume of water in Sydney Harbour:

Our intention was to downrig for trout, a proven deadly technique at this spot. But when we got out on the water, the temperature gauge read 24 degrees C! Insanely hot:

We figured that the trout would be holding deeper, where the temperature and oxygen levels made them comfortable. But nothing showed on Fitz’s big Garmin sounder. Which explained why there was only one other car and trailer parked at the ramp. After two hours in the blistering heat we bailed. Our backup plan was to fish the Mitta River for Murray Cod. Keen to do that from a boat, since overhanging willow trees make casting very difficult in most places. Our friend suggested a launching spot but when we arrived it looked too hairy. Someone had been slipping around ahead of us and our tow car wasn’t 4WD:

Instead, we cast off the bank:

The third day was our final day and I had a balanced program in mind. Carp fishing in the morning and deer hunting in the afternoon. Before we left Dartmouth on Friday I had burleyed near the ramp with a mix of breadcrumbs and corn nibblets. In still water you need at least eight hours for the burley to work its magic. When we got back there on Saturday morning they were crazy hungry for our baits. We were using our Downrigger Shop Rod Pod which makes everything ten times more exciting:

When a carp takes off and the alarm sounds, you jump a foot into the air. Check this out:

Rod pods are a fantastic way of hooking up wary fish from the bank or wharf
A collapsible frame that’s quick and easy to assemble
Adjustable legs for uneven surfaces
Polished aluminium to fight corrosion
Three rod holders
With buzzer alarms and flashing lights at the business end
Cast out your bait and either open the bail, or backoff the drag
When a fish picks up the bait it feels no resistance
But you see the lights flash and hear the alarm sound
Pick up the rod, close the bail arm, and hook up
Great for trout, carp, jewfish, bream
Check ours out here? But note we’re out of stock until March:

ROD PODS

Had a ball on the redfin and carp over the weekend!

But it looks like we’ll need cooler temps to score big on the trout. Next trip planned for autumn. Thanks for reading
Andrew Hestelow

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