Batlow

Breaking out the big guns

BATLOW Wayne Dubois

waynedubois@westnet.com.au Now that the Murray cod season is finally officially open in all waters, it’s time to break out the big lures in hope of that fish of a lifetime. The target species over the last few months has been golden perch but this will change this month as anglers switch from small lure and bait presentations to large ones to increase their chances of hooking into a Murray cod or two.

There were some absolute cracking Murray cod caught last season, with the pick of these being caught by persistent night fishos. Good numbers of smaller fish can be caught during the day, either casting or trolling, but the really big fish are very hard to entice whilst the sun is up, and hence the big fish are best targeted at night.

COD TROLLING

Trolling for Murray cod during the day requires a different technique to trolling for Murray cod at night. The reason for this is that most cod will sit either close to the bottom or right on the bottom, and they almost The smaller trout streams in the area have been running a banker for months, and the result is huge numbers of well-conditioned trout. The small streams make a great alternative to the larger rivers in the area.

in the shallows.

So it makes sense that during the day it is best to troll your lures as close to the bottom as possible to give you the best chance of enticing a strike, whereas at night a lure that runs shallower and even in mid water should casting a go. If you have never tried it I highly recommend it, as the reaction strike from a big Murray cod whilst retrieving your lure is second to none. Sometimes it feels like you have been electrocuted or even slapped hard, the hits are that violent. If you are

Casting lures like this Insanity Tackle DDG glidebait for Murray cod is one of the most addictive ways to target these iconic fish.

always will be near some sort of structure during the heat of the day. That being said, they will still feed if something comes close enough, but they generally will not chase anything too far from the safety of their chosen snag.

Under the cover of darkness Murray cod feel much more at ease, and will leave the safety of their snag and cruise around in search of food. They can be found hunting in mid water at times, and they are frequently encountered gorging themselves right up give you a better chance of connecting to a fish than a lure that is running along the bottom. There are certainly exceptions to this, like all things in fishing, but at Blowering Dam in particular this trend is pretty consistent. COD CASTING

Casting lures rather than trolling them is becoming much more popular on the freshwater fishing scene. This is most evident at Blowering Dam where 10 years ago you would rarely if ever see someone casting lures, and now it seems every third or fourth boat is giving the faint-hearted I probably wouldn’t recommend it as the adrenalin goes into overdrive and the heart almost always skips a beat or two when the cod first hits, or you first see the true size of the beast you have hooked.

In saying this, I still haven’t really described just how awesome the feeling is of that first big strike from a big native. Trust me – once you start this type of fishing you will be hooked and will find it hard to go back to trolling.

Some of the best lures for casting at Blowering whilst targeting the Murray cod are the ever-reliable spinnerbaits, chatterbaits and large soft plastics. Large swimbaits and glidebaits are another great casting lure for big Murray cod, especially in less snaggy areas. These fish see a lot of spinnerbaits, so if you’re using spinnerbaits I strongly recommend the use of singlebladed spinnerbaits. These spinnerbaits will still have enough flash and vibration The Tumut River has been living up to its reputation as the most consistent trout fishery on the mainland of Australia, with countless trout of this size littered throughout the entire river system.

to attract the fish, while not scaring them in the process.

For anglers that have caught Murray cod in every conceivable way and are looking for new challenges, why not try catching a Murray cod on fly this season? Fly fishing for Murray cod is not as hard as people would have you believe. You just cast the flies into exactly the same places as you would your lures, and retrieve them in a similar way. Simply cast to your chosen snag, weed bed, drop-off or other suitable fish-holding structure and allow your fly to sink into the strike zone, then slowly and methodically strip the fly back to your feet or the boat, the same way you would a lure. Some days, fast constant strips are what is needed, but generally a slow, steady strip is all that is needed, interspersed with the odd pause to allow your fly to sink back down into the strike zone.

It is also worth noting that when fishing for Murray cod, more often then you only need to cast short distances to cover the small snag etc. that you think the fish is holding on. You don’t need to be able to cast a million miles when fly fishing, and you can teach yourself the fundamentals by watching an instructional DVD or YouTube clip. You’ll learn to cast the short distances required for catching Murray cod on fly in no time at all. Just like lure casting, once you start this form of fishing you will find it hard to do anything else.

Until next article, good luck, good fishing, and tight lines.