EIGHT tagged Murray cod have been released in waterways around Shepparton, including five on Monday and one in Victoria Park Lake, as part of a Golden Tag competition which could see lucky fishers land up to $10,000.
The Victorian Fisheries Authority’s (VFA) Golden Tag fishing competition started in February to encourage visitation regional areas and to get people fishing. To date, 46 anglers have bagged tagged fish worth either $2000 or the more lucrative $10,000.
Now that the Murray cod season opened yesterday, fishers can follow the Burnanga trail along the Goulburn and Ovens rivers to the Murray and chase tagged Murray cod. Burnanga means cod in the language of the Yorta Yorta people.
On the banks of the Goulburn River on Monday morning VFA officers Russell Strongman, Brooke Coonrod and Craig Ingram tagged some golden perch (destined for locations further afield) and some cod.
On hand was Steve Threlfall of Trelly’s Outdoor Shepparton, a hunting and fishing store on Corio Street. Steve, who lobbies each year to ensure environmental flows aren’t surging down the Goulburn River on the opening weekend of the cod fishing season, said the conditions for this weekend would be ideal.
“The last environmental flow has passed, so the river level will be lower,” he said.
“There should be great conditions of water clarity, temperature. The flow-on effects from a good opening weekend of fishing impact the entire tourism sector up here.
“If people are catching fish from the first weekend, there’s excitement, and it even flows through to sales of fishing gear.”
Steve even released one cod into Shepparton’s Victoria Park Lake – just for a bit of interest – although no-one in the know would reveal where the $10,000 cod had been released.
“It creates a bit of excitement,” VFA officer Craig Ingram said.
“There are some great stories around the state of people pulling out tagged fish.”
For anyone who needed an excuse to throw in a line, this is it.
