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Cod & Kids
By Warren (Wazza) Smith
Christmas time 2017/18 and it was time for a visit back to Bathurst to catch up with my family and friends. My lovely wife Tarn couldn't make the trip this year because of work commitments, so it was just Kirby, Jamie and myself that jumped on the plane from Darwin for the trip down south. I love the great fishing that's found across the Top End of Australia, but I really look forward to the visits back home to spend time on local waterways chasing a variety of fish species. It's the Murray cod though that I really enjoy targeting.
Bathurst and the surrounding western NSW country side were experiencing a dry summer of late which meant minimal water flows in a lot of rivers and creeks. Some rivers had stopped flowing altogether, leaving only the large and mostly permanent water holes along their courses. Bathurst is luckily positioned in an area where you can access several rivers and creeks that hold Murray cod as well as some great fishing in the half a dozen or so impoundments that are found in the surrounding area. Burrendong and Wyangala just to name a couple.
The first couple of days were spent catching up, but it didn't take too long to start thinking about seeing what we could do about putting Kirb's and Jamie onto their first Murry cod. Both boys were keen and had caught yellowbelly, redfin, carp and trout on previous visits, but not a cod. To help in achieving this milestone we called in the secret weapon, Uncle Ken. There may be someone that knows the area's fishing spots better than my brother, but I just haven't meet them or heard of them yet. He also seems to spend about 300 days of the year on the water as well (must have won lotto).
The first outing was to be an afternoon session to a couple of waterholes that had produced some nice cod for my father and myself the previous year. We arrived on the river's edge around mid-afternoon and the water was flowing slowly and had a bit of colour to it from the hoards of carp stirring the bottom up.
Spinnerbait lures were the first choice as not only are they great producers of fish, they have the ability to bump and bounce over and around logs and rocks without snagging up (most of the time). We walked to the head of the big hole, which has some nice big boulders and a heap of fallen trees that made the perfect spot to start.
It didn't take too many casts before excited yells from Jamie let us all know that he was on. By the size of the boils on the water surface it was looking to be a nice one as well... then the fish made a strong run into the sunken timbers and became snagged up. Uncle Ken came to the rescue and soon had the fish out and swimming freely again. The cod still had plenty of sting left and it took Jamie back towards the timber a few more times before finally being led into the shallows so we could get a look at it.
Murray cod are spectacular looking fish, with their mottled yellows, greens, whites and blacks and this one was a prime example. At 85cm it was a great fish for Jamie to start his cod fishing career. He was super stoked and after a couple of quick pics he released it back into its home. Ken and Jamie kept working the head of the hole, while Kirby and I moved further along where a large rock bar jutted out mid-stream, with a conveniently placed tree caught on the end of it.
Kirbs was casting out towards this feature and letting the spinnerbait sink to the bottom, before starting a retrieve that had the blades pulsing nicely. It happened about six casts later, just as he was about to lift the lure out of the water, right at his feet. The look on his face was priceless. The cod had plenty of snags to run into, however Kirby did an excellent job at keeping it clear and it wasn't long before he had it in the shallows. At a tad over 80cm it was another great fish and a great start to his cod career. A couple of pics and Kirbs sent the fish back to its home among the sunken rocks and timbers. The smile on his face showed he was equally as stoked as his younger brother.
Ken and Jamie joined us on the rock bar and shortly after Jamie was hooked up again. This cod fought strongly and Ken and I thought it might be a better fish as both of us had caught and released a cod around the metre mark at this spot a year ago. Impressive boils breaking the water surface kept us guessing right up until it was laying alongside the rocks we were standing on. Not the metre plus fish but another cod around the 80cm mark.
This fish was quickly released and not long after Kirbs had another greenfish grab the spinnerbait at his feet again. This one went around the 70cm mark. I had a few casts in the bottom of the hole but only received a couple of bumps without hooking up. With the sun starting to set we headed back to the 4x4 for the trip home.
The next outing for us was going to be a camping trip over three nights, so with the camping gear packed we set out for a different river system. There wasn't much water flowing in this river but it had some beautiful long deep holes that the fish would hopefully be hanging out in. As the shadows gradually grew longer in the afternoon the fish started to get active. No big cod were encountered but we had a ball landing several smaller ones that afternoon.
Next morning we fished the same waters again, for a few more cod and then made the decision to move camp further downstream. By the time we had camp set up it was around midday, so a carp outing was on while waiting for the more productive evening session to get serious about chasing those greenfish again.
Sight casting to carp in shallow water is great fun and we scored well this day. As the cool afternoon rolled in we moved back to the deeper holes where we scored a few fish, before a pretty wild storm moved over us and put an end to fishing. We packed up next morning and headed back to town to have a clean up and work out our next trip.
We have just returned from our 2018/19 visit to Bathurst and it was a very different trip fishing wise compared to last year. Most fishos would have seen or heard of the fish kills affecting many of our western flowing rivers and a lot of the spots we visited were very different to last year. We only managed a few cod over a week's fishing and both boys failed to catch a cod this trip. Here's hoping things change for the better sooner rather than later.
Gear List
Baitcast reels matched up with a rod around 5'6" to 6'6" and rated around the 6kg work fine. I just bring my barra rods and reels, which are the same and are loaded with 30lb braid. Fluorocarbon leader around 20lb to 30lb serves us well. Spin reels around the 3500 / 4500 size, loaded with 20lb / 30lb braid and matched up with rods around the 6'6" to 7'6" are also used. Spin rods are great for targeting carp on soft plastics as you can cast the lighter weights.
Lures
Our go-to lures are TT Lures Tornado and Striker spinnerbaits in 1/2oz size. We use different colours and also spinnerbaits with Willow blades and Colorado blades. It's a personal choice and both preform well. Spinnerbaits can be dragged through some pretty gnarly country without snagging up and regularly produce more hits than other types of lures.
Big paddle tail soft plastics, such as the ZMan 6" SwimmerZ and ZMan 8" Mag SwimZ also produce fish for us. There's a squillion hard body lures out there that are suitable for chasing Murry cod and I always have some in the tackle box to suit the different depths we encounter.
Surface fishing for cod is one of the best things a fisho can experience. Lure makers are producing some truly great lures purposely designed for targeting greenfish on the surface and the size people are throwing around call for specialised tackle. I'm happy casting surface lures around the 80mm to 150mm size around and find some of the bigger models hard work.
Let's hope western NSW receives some significant rainfall this year as I'm already looking forward to our end of the year visit / cod trip.
Warren (Wazza) Smith
Gear List
TT Lures Striker Spinnerbaits
TT Lures Tornado Spinnerbaits
TT Lures HeadlockZ HD Jigheads
TT Lures SnakelockZ Jigheads (weedless)
ZMan 6" SwimmerZ
ZMan 8" Mag SwimZ