Col Wright’s whopper measured in at 92cms but still not big enough for bragging rights.
When Ian Matheson caught a 90cm Murray Cod off the bank near Bundalong a couple of weeks ago (Yarrawonga Chronicle April 15), it created quite a stir among those in passing boats and gave him a great story to take home to Melbourne.
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But Ian’s not the only one with a story to tell.
Ian Matheson got the shock of this life when he reeled in this 90cm beauty, prompting other readers to share their stories.
Col Wright caught a beauty last September, about a kilometre upstream from Ian’s catch, and just eclipsed it in size measuring in at 92cm.
Whereas Ian used cheddar cheese and cranberry sauce as his bait, Col used the more conventional 60mm Jabberjaw lure.
“It was a lot of fun,” Col said.
“It was too big to keep, even if it was in season, so I let it go.”
“I’ve never eaten Murray Cod; I wouldn’t like to kill one, they are such an iconic thing.
“But it’s ok to, as long as people stick to the rules.”
Col has fished the Murray River waters for almost 20 years and on this occasion was fishing for yellow belly.
But when the fish hit his line, he knew something bigger was in order.
“I thought it was going to be a metre fish and so did my mate Cam who I was fishing with; we were both flicking lures around,” he said.
“Normally the Murray Cod won’t put up much of a fight; they hit hard, grab and go.
“This one put up a good fight though, because I was only on light tackle for yellow belly.”
But the bragging rights didn’t stay with Col, instead they went to a 12-year-old boy from Townsville.
Bragging rights belong to 12-year-old Weston Crothers who was visiting his grandpa in Yarrawonga when he hooked this 115cm monster off the bank on the foreshore.
On April 10, Weston Crothers, visiting his grandpa Joe Crothers, reeled in a 115cm monster off the bank at Yarrawonga foreshore, using a chicken chip for bait.
“It was wild, I thought I was in a dream,” Weston said.
“I never thought I’d catch a fish that big, and just outside Grandpa’s house.
“I caught a 49cm cod earlier that day, and I was pretty excited because it was nearly legal.”
But just on dusk, almost ready to pack up and head home, Weston used his last chicken chip and hooked the big one.
For a kid who only started fishing a year or so ago, and admits he’s not very experienced, it was hard to contain his excitement.
“I’ve never seen a fish that big. I thought it was just in the movies,” Weston said.
“There were people around eating dinner, everyone came up to look.
“Only its head fit in the net, so we had to pick it up by the gills.
“Once we got it up and took a photo, we put it back and it swam off quick and easy; we didn’t want to hurt it.
Weston says it was hard to go to sleep that night, and his arm was pretty sore the next day from trying to haul the fish in.
But he has one almighty good show-and-tell when he gets back to school in Townsville.
For the record
• The biggest Murray Cod ever caught was in 1902.
• It was 1.8m long, weighed 113.6 kilograms and estimated to be between 76 and 114 years old.
