RIVER MURRAY FISHING WITH KIDS

For many die-hard anglers, having kids and starting a family can challenge the amount of free time available for fishing. All day sessions can be cut down to half day quick missions and fishing the ideal tides or conditions changes to fishing when the kids are asleep.

As our kids have gone from babies to toddlers and are now both nearing their third birthdays, we have gradually been increasing their exposure to fishing with a longer term view that they will one day love coming out for a proper day of fishing.

We have started by subliminally watching fishing shows, building home-made fishing mobiles and then eventually getting their own rods and ‘fishing’ on the lawn or pool in the backyard.

They have now reached an age where they like the idea of fishing and can finally come along and participate in meaningful fishing, albeit a bit shorter and more family friendly than our pre-kids fishing adventures. Picnics by the Torrens while the dads fish, dragging a cart full of gear to the banks of Happy Valley Reservoir and short boat fishing sessions for puffer fish, undersize whiting or trumpeters in the bay at Island Beach have all been successful kid-friendly exploits so far.

With about 630km of the Murray River flowing through SA and a huge biomass of fish, this presents another great option to get the kids into fishing. Although around 90 per cent of the fish in the Murray are carp, which do not have a great reputation as a target species, they do present a great option for initiating kids or first time anglers to fishing. The river is full of plenty of fish in the 1-2kg range that are great for junior anglers, but they do grow to 10kg or bigger, particularly if you are willing to venture off the main river. With the weather starting to warm up and some free weekends in the calendar, we have recently been able to introduce the kids to this type of fishing. For us this has been in the form of a couple of camping weekends on private property near Bow Hill. While it is not exactly offshore fishing for tuna or kingfish, it is still a step in the right direction!

Whether it be camping, renting a house or a day trip, picking a great location to fish is the first step. With water easy to come by, plenty of these locations have pristine lawns with plenty of space to set up deckchairs, a picnic lunch and space for the kids to play. This in itself takes a bit of the pressure off the fishing side of things, meaning the kids can do other things and come and go as they please, instead of being stuck in a deck chair or standing on a jetty watching a rod for hours on end. On one of our recent camping weekends the kids had icy poles, played cricket, had a sleep and we even set up a paddle pool for them to wade in while the adults kept half an eye on the rods.

Another thing to look out for when searching for the perfect location is a playground in close proximity to the water; if you can find this, you’ve hit the jackpot! Many of the major towns do have playgrounds within a short distance of the River, with the Barmera playspace overlooking Lake Bonney and the Waikerie Water and Nature Play Park among the best options.

Setting shrimp traps and yabby nets are other great side activities to provide additional entertainment. Just make sure you have swapped from the opera house style of yabby net to the pyramid nets to reflect the recent change in regulations.

In terms of what part of the river to visit, the options are endless, with pros and cons for lots of different spots. Distance can be one factor to keep in mind, with closer locations to the city such as Goolwa, Hindmarsh Island and Murray Bridge a bit easier to do for a day trip, but carp are likely to be the predominant catch. It is definitely harder to line up a kid-friendly spot with a good chance of a native fish, but it is certainly not impossible. Callop, or golden perch, can be found all through the Murray system and seem to be getting caught more commonly in recent years. We have had most success ourselves when fishing in the backwaters past Renmark, but good catches also occur between Blanchetown and Walker Flat. Murray cod are even more rare, and can be caught in the main river around snags and fallen trees, but lining this up with a kid-friendly location can often be a challenge.

In terms of gear, river fishing with kids can be pretty simple, and really any smaller combo you have used in the past when targeting bread and butter species will do the job. We tend to use two or three piece travel rods, which can make life easier when packing up the car with tents, eskies, kids bikes etc. Our rods are rated at 3-6kg and we match them with a 3000 or 4000 reel with 10-15lb line. This is generally sufficient for most carp, while some of the bigger fish may require something a bit heavier to prevent them taking you under a snag and snapping you off.

Some of the other gear that can really make things easier includes a rod holder; generally a spike style one that can go into the grass is a good option. This will allow you to keep the rods up with a good view of any potential bites and will stop you from losing a rod if your drag is set a bit too tight and you’re distracted by the kids when a big fish takes your bait. A bell that clips on to the end of your rod and alerts you to any bites can also help significantly and is well worth the couple of dollars they cost.

Carp can often play with the bait, sucking at it and making the rod tip gently or bounce around before taking it properly. It is important to be patient and not strike at every little bit of movement or ringing of your bell, as this can pull the bait away from the fish and scare them off. Instead, wait until the carp seems to have swallowed the bait, then a gentle lift of the rod is normally enough to set the hook. Striking too hard can pull the hook out of the carp’s mouth. They have soft, rubbery lips that can tear easily if the hook is pulled too suddenly or, similarly, if they are dragged up out of the water if only just hooked.

Catties are still an uncommon catch

There are plenty of bait options that carp will take. Supermarket bait, including bread and corn, will catch as many carp as anything else, while cheese will also work and has the added benefit that it also works on cod. There are several suggestions on why Murray cod eat cheese, with popular theories being that shrimp are attracted to the cheese and the cod strikes at the ball of shrimp, while others think the fat or oil that seeps out of the cheese is appealing to the fish. Other baits that can catch carp, but also keep the native species as a possibility, include nightcrawler worms and scrub worms, which are both a lot bigger than your average garden worms and stay on the hook a lot longer. Fresh shrimp or smaller yabbies are also a great bait for any of the fish in the Murray, with yabbies in particular tending to often result in bigger fish being caught.

In terms of what rigs work best, both paternoster rigs and running sinker rigs work well. Generally, a fairly light sinker is needed, but this can be a bit dependent on the river flow. There seems to be lots of snags, branches and logs all throughout the river, so lots of lost rigs are a part of river fishing, particularly if you are leaving your rods in the rod holder and doing other things.

Another trick we have used to keep the kids entertained and also safe, is to set up a small kid- friendly combo with a larger fishing lure without any hooks attached. We used a Shimano Raider Junior rod, with a 1000 size Sienna reel and attached a large swivel and a hand painted lure that the kids could play with. Another trick with setting up this sort of rod for kids (or adults who don’t have much idea!) is to thread a lumo bead that is too large to fit through the rod’s end guide on to the mainline, before it is tied to the swivel. This acts as a cushion and stops kids from damaging the rod if they wind in the lure too fast or too far. This combination means the kids can happily practice casting and reeling in without the worry of them coming into contact with hooks.

Although a hook to the finger sounds scary, the biggest risk of fishing with kids near the river is drowning. Keeping the kids under close supervision is essential. Putting them in a life jacket when fishing or playing near the river is another option, as you never know when the excitement of a bite or a flapping fish could cause a child to topple over and end up in the water.

Fishing school is in!

The last thing to remember when fishing for carp with kids is disposing of the fish, as it is obviously illegal to return them to the water. To avoid too much blood and trauma to the fish we used a small fish bat to quickly kill the fish, before putting it in a bucket. Overseas many people eat carp and this trend is slowly growing to Australia to some extent, with some top restaurants around the country now serving carp dishes. If like us, you haven’t yet been game to try eating carp, the fish can be used as crab or crayfish bait, buried in the garden to help the veggies grow, buried well away from the river or thrown out in a bin at home. With the ongoing talk about a carp herpes being released into the Murray River, more and more ways of utitilsing the fish need to explored, and this is something we will continue to monitor.

All in all, while catching carp on the banks of the Murray doesn’t quite equate to a bucket list fish, it is certainly a great step in the right direction when getting the kids into fishing, and also a relaxing way to spend time with mates!