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Report: Cod season spin-out!

HOT westerly winds blasted the already parched country, while grass that until recently had held a touch of green had now burnt off. Rivers suffering the effects of low rainfall had all but stopped flowing. Summer was here, but significantly more importantly the 1st of December heralded the new start of cod season!

I was fishing the start of the season with friends Rod Allen and Kim Nguyen, a couple who I first fished with recently during the hectic golden perch springtime bite at Burrendong Dam. There they took their first ever golden perch and reckoned they’d had two of their best days fishing ever.

Now their intentions had switched to catching their first ever Murray cod. Rod had asked me in the lead up as to what lures he would need for cod, a question I found hard to answer. Basically, the best Murray cod lure is the lure that consistently catches fish, but as we know what works this week can be totally different to next week…

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Ken took all of these lures along for the cod season opener but only the spinnerbaits got a run! If you’re on a good thing, stick with it! 

I love lures that have big bibs and grab lots of water and shake the rod tip with a deep throbbing action, but a noisy bibless lure will at times outfish all others, as will soft plastics, surface lures and so on.

What I did stress most importantly to Rod and Kim was to get hold of some spinnerbaits as, historically, Wyangala Dam has been spinnerbait heaven … but would it be the same this year?

With a proliferation of lure makers about it is great to have so much choice when ordering spinnerbaits; this can be done easily through social media and there are plenty of options with things such as lure weight, blade configuration, blade colour, blade type, head colour, skirt colour, and trailers.

I gave Rod the details for Simon Taylor who manufactures Edgecrusher Lures and told him to get a few from him. As to what colours, watermelon, black, and red and brown are good places to start.

I must admit I like the big throbbing Colorado blades when chasing Murray cod. Simon had made me a 3oz spinnerbait that measures a bit over 300mm when swimming and about 200mm wide.

A 3/4oz spinnerbait is considered large, so picture this multiplied by four and you have an idea of what I planned to drag about Wyangala in search of big cod.

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This Edgecrusher spinnerbait features an innovative head design that can be filled with scent.

We met at the boat ramp in the main basin a bit before sunrise. The tinny was quickly unloaded and fishing gear installed. In the dim dawn light I tied on a number 1 Stump Jumper and Rod and Kim also went for some bibbed lures.

Trolling on the electric we worked along a rocky bank and then over “Cod Rocks“ for no enquiries. Time for a change. I switched to the 4X large spinnerbait and had moved only a short distance and the lure was absolutely smashed! I struck and it felt like a stick was pinned to the lure but a small cod had fashioned itself into the shape of a banana and had two hooks firmly embedded in its mouth as it spun its way back to the boat.

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There were also some nice golden perch amongst the feisty cod.

A quick release and Kim was delving into the tackle bag and emerged with heaps of nice new spinnerbaits. After making a selection and tying it on we started a slow troll again. The big lure got smashed again but the fish was dropped before making it to the boat.

Moving across to a rocky point we threw out a sea anchor and trolled on the outboard into the increasing wind; we hadn’t travelled 50m when the big SB got smashed again but failed to hook up.

Prolific weed beds are a feature in the main basin of Wyangala and these, along with rocky banks and lay down timber as well as protruding points are the places to target as the main basin lacks the forests of drowned timber the two river arms support.

The weed curtain starts around 15ft so I worked the edge of the weed and the 20ft mark pretty consistently. It was while we touched the weed edge that Kim’s rod began bucking wildly … she had hooked her first Murray cod. After a good fight a 61cm cod slid into the Environet and posed for a picture with a very excited angler.

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Kim Nguyen looking very pleased with her first Murray cod.

It was then the cod regurgitated its entire stomach contents onto the floor of the boat in an attempt to rid itself of the spinner bait still hanging its mouth. The fish had been feeding on gudgeon which were using the weed for cover. This opened up many options including fishing the weed with flies imitating gudgeon or soft plastics rigged weedless. I don’t think I had any chance of changing the method of fishing just then though as Rod had switched to a spinnerbait as well.

In no time at all Rod had caught his first Murray cod and then took a nice golden perch as well.

The cod were really active in low light levels and we were bashed and smashed from pillar to post during those pre-dawn starts or from sunset into dark. Eventually we’d landed around two dozen Murray cod and one golden perch – how many hits and dropped fish we’d had would only be a guess.

There is currently a proliferation of small cod in Wyangala Dam and many now fall into the legal take size of 55cm, which worries conservation minded anglers – there’s also a proliferation of very large cod as well.

A mate of mine, Kurt McNamara, was fishing the timber up in the river arms and caught and released a 105cm Murray cod also on a spinnerbait. People in the cabin beside Rod and Kim also caught a 105cm cod, so I’m guessing there will be many more around that size caught and released in coming months. Note – there is a slot limit on Murray cod of 55cm – 75cm in NSW.

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Kurt McNamara with his 105cm cod taken around timber. Image: Courtesy Kurt McNamara

While I took along I don’t know how many bibbed, bibless, plastics and surface lures, all fish were taken on spinnerbaits but we didn’t vary our techniques from what worked – trolled spinnerbaits.

While we had all good intentions of doing some surface luring after dark the dark coloured spinnerbaits were getting smashed with such regularity, sometimes half a dozen times in a 200 m run that we just stuck to catching fish and eventually retired to the cabin with sore arms, huge smiles and a touch of sunburn. And if smiles are any indication of a successful Murray cod fishing trip, then Rod and Kim had had one in spades!

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