Estuary Cod 9/2/2015

TR by tunny
Trip date: 9/2/2015
Participants: tunny
Launch Site: Lions Park
Conditions: Wind very light SW; Run out tide (low at 6.20 am at Munna Point)
Keen Angler Program: Nothing donated

Following Eyetag's success on the river early Sunday morning I decided to head out on a similar route.  I arrived in the car park at 3.15 am and was on the water by 3.30 am, trolling a Gold Bomber past the Sheraton and across the Woods Bays to Ricky's.  I then turned to follow the current line towards the river mouth.  I repeated the route from Ricky's to the mouth for over an hour without any success, probably because Eyetag had caught all the fish the day before.  So I returned to Woods Bays and trolled the line where I had recently had success with Mangrove Jacks.

Sunrise in Woods Bay
After half an hour of trolling the bays from the Sheraton to Ricky's and back I finally had a strike.  The fish moved straight towards a boat which made me think it could be a Jack.  But after a short tussle I had the fish on board, a beautiful 41 cm Cod.  I was not sure if it was an Estuary Cod (size limit 38 cm) or a Flowery Cod (size limit 50 cm) so after quickly taking a photo on the brag mat I released the fish unharmed.  I later compared my photo with those in Grants Guide to Fishes and confirmed it was an Estuary Cod.

By now the boats were arriving so I did one last trip following the back route to the car park and on the way picked up a Big-eye Trevally around 30 cm long.

Estuary Cod, confirmed by comparing with the photo below from Grant's Guide
Photo from Grant's Guide to Fishes

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