New England Rivers

Leaping lizards in December

NEW ENGLAND RIVERS Adam Townsend

It is all about the cod this month! As of 1 December, in NSW, all Murray cod waterways are now re-opened for fishing. After a 3-month rest, the cod should be ready to fire up again and willing to eat most types of lures and/or bait, if you wish to target them that way.

Although I do love chasing those extralarge winter fish, there is something about the summer months that is hard to beat when targeting Murray cod. There always seems to be a bulk amount of wildlife around in the warmer months, both above and below the water’s surface, which always seems to keep the adventures outdoors very interesting.

This season could be very different from the past couple, with the amount of water the country has received this year after the record rainfalls we have had. Although the New England area has not been in complete flood like many places along the coast, it has definitely had its share of rain. Many of the rivers have broken the banks several times, seeing the local impoundments reaching well over full capacity and with more rains predicted for this summer season, I would imagine the Lizards, waterhens, snakes, birds, mice, frogs, craybobs, shrimp, baitfish and Christmas beetles are abundant at this time of year, so replicating them will give you a good chance at catching cod and golden perch. Two of the author’s favourite lures and outfits: Megabass Vatalion, Cod King 250mm ‘Bony Bream’, Murasame 751M 7’5’’ Medium 2-6oz 15-35lb, and Murasame 7101H 7’10’’ Heavy 3-8oz 25-50lb rods. The reel is an Abu Garcia Toro 300 spooled with 40-50lb line.

This chunky Murray cod ate a prototype swimbait close to 200mm long, right before dark on a stormy afternoon.

rivers and dams will stay full and overflowing for a while yet, and with the creeks and rivers flowing harder than normal, targeting the back eddies and slower-flowing parts of the systems should give you a pretty good chance at finding an active fish willing to eat a bait.

Throwing topwater lures around early in the morning and late in the afternoon would definitely be one of my favourite fishing styles at this time of year. As mentioned, there is plenty of wildlife about, and lizards such as skinks, bearded water dragons and blue-tongue lizards can be found very abundantly in the summer months, especially along the water’s edge. This is another perfect reason to keep something very similar in your tacklebox.

Two other lure types I would recommend to keep

close at this time of year are a nice medium-sized swimbait you are confident in, along with a chatterbait of some type. With only these three lure types, you can pretty much cover all levels in the water column, from the surface, all the way to the river bed.

Pindari Dam is one of the many waterways that closed during the Murray cod spawning period, and is now opened back up to targeting of Murray cod again. With so much flood water about and lots of debris floating into the dam, be mindful when boating around at full speeds. The same thing will go with Copeton and many other dams around NSW at the moment. All in all, it should shape up to be another awesome month for fishing, and just getting outdoors in general, especially as the weather

continues to warm up.

One thing to keep in mind though with the dams being at full capacity, is that it does limit the camping spots a lot. For this reason, it does pay to be respectful when finding camping spots and fishing around other people.

Although it will be mainly all about the Murray cod this month, it is worth mentioning that pretty much all waterways across NSW are now opened back up to fishing for bass and trout. Bass season opened on 1 November in the smaller systems, and trout season opened up several weeks beforehand. With so many species to target and many waterways to explore, it will be a cracking month to be on the water.

The full moon will be above on the 8th of this month, with the new moon falling on the 23rd.

Good luck to all getting out on the water this month, and fingers crossed for another awesome season ahead.

Matching the hatch with reptile-style lures, such as this ‘water dragon’ wake-bait, can be very successful at this time of year.