Ashton Weaver had his first taste of catching Murray Cod when he nailed one out of the South Para Reservoir in 2022 and needless to say Green Fever had hit him instantly. Flash forward,and post flood in the Murray River has seen Ashton juggling year 11 at high school and 35 hours a week working at KFC, with every spare minute spent fishing locally here in Murray Bridge or on the boat with me when I went up river. He came close to nailing his dream fishing alone last year but lost that fish at the bank of the river. Not only did he watch his dream fish swim away last year but he also had to tend with seeing photos where his younger brother had nailed some nice cod from the river, something which he hadn’t done himself, let alone the holy grail of catching a metre Cod. Closed season came and went and now he was juggling year 12 and his 35 hr work commitments, while still determined to land his first river Cod, and the hope that it would be his first metre plus fish. 2024 was the year to do it with the Murray River fishing so well,and it took 4 months for him to get his first river Cod, but it was 30cm short of his goal. Although happy, that burning desire still ate him alive, and like the year before, everysecond he had spare, he was down the river casting his arm off or trolling with me. It almost seemed like it wasn’t going to happen and doubt, and what we call “fish depression” started to creep in. Jump forward to June and a hastily planned 2-day trip had us fishing around Loxton chasing his dream. To put it short, he ended up whipping my but with 7 Cod while I only managed 3, and finally nailing his metre fish at 101cm. All of the last 2 years of hard work and persistence had paid off, and it was a super proud Dad moment. Everyone in the Lower Murray Lure Fishing Club got around him sending messages of congratulations knowing how much he wanted it, and how much time he spent achieving his goal.
Lucas Weaver