I hit Melville for the first time yesterday and the thing that struck me was the amount of weed in the water.
Launching and landing I kept expecting to stand on a cobbler, or possibly something else.
Just wanted to ask if anyone has stepped on a cobbler at Melville or any other stingy things in all that weed?
I didn't look too hard, but I didn't see anyone wearing water footwear and there were a lot of people (learners under instruction etc) walking around in the weed.
What's the risk?
if you land your kite on the road i hear the cobs give you mad respect and leave you alone..try this maybe?
Select to expand quotecauncy said..
Kiters are officially gay
Well at least you're happy to admit it.
Select to expand quoteoceanfire said...cauncy said..
Kiters are officially gay
Well at least you're happy to admit it.
I remember 15 years ago sitting with my son in england watching the likes of Steve Irwin wrestling crocks and catching killer snakes, along with the late Malcolm Douglas, and thought this is where I need to live, fast forward to today where people take their kids to watch queers parading at an event called mardi gras, and people post about the threat and risks of cobblers,
Bit harsh! I've stepped on one and it was seriously unpleasant. Not life threatening, but I don't want to do it again for sure. Also got bitten by a wobbegong in the seaweed too and that was not so bad.
I haven't heard of many cobbler incidents at that part of the river.
You do need to be very careful in the mandurah estuary. The baby boomer generation is their normal style nearly wiped the entire breeding population out and they thought that could be the end of them. (You know we have a pub down here called cobblers right?)
Then with the old netting restrictions had an effect, and about two years ago the population has started to explode. Don't believe me go down at night with a powerful light and a gidgy (oops was gonna leave that bit out 
)...great eating fish...
But yeh, crawling with em down here and Dave's right, a cobbler sting fcks you up.
...and cauncy is right to..
Select to expand quoteKozzie said..
whats a cobbler...
I asked the same question 6 weeks ago,think its a small fish with a spike,bit like a stonefish or fortique fish 
Select to expand quoteKozzie said..
whats a cobbler...
A West Australian 'cat fish' kind of fish that has three prongs/barbs on its head that sting like a mofo if/when you stand on them. In light of stepping on one a few yrs back, I've found them to be a most pleasant tasting fish..... 
If you want more info on cobblers - www.fish.wa.gov.au/Documents/recreational_fishing/fact_sheets/fact_sheet_cobbler.pdf
Some of you guys seemed to have missed my intent.
I was asking if they were around cause I want to strap a couple to my feet next time I go kiting, that way like you, I can reserve the macho right to beat off beat my chest and point at all the nancy boys who dare to ask a simple question.
Given that even the blowies seem to have perished recently (lack of oxygen?) I reckon theres little chance that any cobblers are there....I've been windsurfing and now kiting at least once or twice a week at Melville since 2005 and never stepped on/seen one.
We used to go prawing in the river at applex around 15-20 years when I was younger and used to all ways wear shoes so I think they only come into shallower waters out at night time...
Don't worry dachopper, I don't take my red cape kiting.
Thanks daddy cool and glasstraxx, I was thinking along those lines.
Used to go prawning a fair bit when I was younger, cobblers were always a worry, picked a few out of the haul at times.
Bravest group of people I saw once wrre dumping their catches in a big bucket and digging straight in without even looking for the cobblers.
Of course cauncy probably would have bobbed for them like apples.
If you do happen to step on one you will know as the agony in the affected limb will have you contemplating amputation as
preferential.
However, boil a kettle, put your foot in the hottest water you can stand and the pain will miraculously dissappear.
Contemplate a tetanus injection too.
Stood on one in the weed at Lancelin once. Spent the night with foot in bucket, as water cools, pain returns.
Select to expand quoteglasstraxx said..
We used to go prawing in the river at applex around 15-20 years when I was younger and used to all ways wear shoes so I think they only come into shallower waters out at night time...
they don't just come out at nighttime . I stepped on one new years day 2012 at peli point . F$ck me the most painfull thing i have experienced .
Select to expand quotedachopper said..
It's not the cobblers you need to worry about...... It's the bull sharks :)
Bull shark don't have poisonous spikes so it is ok to step on them
fifteen years ago the gay population in australia grew by one...
well two, if you include his son
Select to expand quoteoceanfire said..
I hit Melville for the first time yesterday and the thing that struck me was the amount of weed in the water.
Launching and landing I kept expecting to stand on a cobbler, or possibly something else.
Just wanted to ask if anyone has stepped on a cobbler at Melville or any other stingy things in all that weed?
I didn't look too hard, but I didn't see anyone wearing water footwear and there were a lot of people (learners under instruction etc) walking around in the weed.
What's the risk?
I think you'll find cobbler was almost declared extinct in the Swan not so long ago, after all the riverside bereding zones were ripped out for freeways and housing. So if you do step on one, make sure you catch it, put it in surgical spirit and note time. location, extent of injury before you hand it to the authorities who will ask you a clipboard-long number of questions about it. You can only then scream for a day in blood-curdling pain. You OK with that? Good. Carry on.
Select to expand quotealverstone said..oceanfire said..
I hit Melville for the first time yesterday and the thing that struck me was the amount of weed in the water.
Launching and landing I kept expecting to stand on a cobbler, or possibly something else.
Just wanted to ask if anyone has stepped on a cobbler at Melville or any other stingy things in all that weed?
I didn't look too hard, but I didn't see anyone wearing water footwear and there were a lot of people (learners under instruction etc) walking around in the weed.
What's the risk?
I think you'll find cobbler was almost declared extinct in the Swan not so long ago, after all the riverside bereding zones were ripped out for freeways and housing. So if you do step on one, make sure you catch it, put it in surgical spirit and note time. location, extent of injury before you hand it to the authorities who will ask you a clipboard-long number of questions about it. You can only then scream for a day in blood-curdling pain. You OK with that? Good. Carry on.
Deal
Select to expand quoteKBwhokbs said..
However, boil a kettle, put your foot in the hottest water you can stand and the pain will miraculously dissappear.
This is an example of why the internet can be totally retarded. ^^^
It's chock full of very bad advice.
If you carry out the above quote, you'll end up in the Burns Ward of the nearest hospital.
For pain relief, seek an anaesthetic shot from your local doctor.
Obviously you don't pour boiling water on your foot, but the advice to put your foot in the hottest water you can without burning is the current recommended treatment by all the first aid courses and Surf life saving WA.
or get your boyfriend to hold your hand , and you can get through the pain together
I think your just playing cauncy but if not....the pain from a cobbler is the worst pain I've ever felt personally and re the hot water-exactly what I was instructed to do by nurse and worked a treat.
Select to expand quotewaveslave said..KBwhokbs said..
However, boil a kettle, put your foot in the hottest water you can stand and the pain will miraculously dissappear.
This is an example of why the internet can be totally retarded. ^^^
It's chock full of very bad advice.
If you carry out the above quote, you'll end up in the Burns Ward of the nearest hospital.
For pain relief, seek an anaesthetic shot from your local doctor.
The toxins in a cobbler sting (and similarly in rays etc) are made up of a bunch of proteins that are broken down by heat - the more heat the quicker the proteins (and therefore the toxins) break down.
Boiling water & pouring it over your foot is most likely going to end with more pain 
, but from my experience of stepping on a cobbler, the hotter the water the better. I had an anaesthetic shot after my foot spent hours in a bucket of almost boiling water, but once that wore off, it was back into the bucket of almost boiling water.
Select to expand quoteJuddy said..
the hotter the water the better.
When you boil up that kettle,
you might be wise to have a thermometer on hand.
Water at 60C will cause third degree burns in 5 seconds.
