Murrumbidgee River 30/11/08

[high_speed_metal]

Not sure if a lot of you get into the fresh water but hey, you should!!

Thought I would have a go at doing a review for the Murrumbidgee River in Canberra, I have fished this river for the mighty Cod for around 12 years and find it one of my favorite spot to fish for this monster… If you want to catch decent sized fish from this water you have to walk... walk… walk some more and you got it, keep walking!!! Traveling light is a must!! (6 lures a bottle of water and a small first aid kit is all I take) of course take spare leader line and so on. Small overhead reels I find are good in open water but for most spots along this water you have no room to cast to the good snags and so on, hence why I took my SOL this time around, and let me tell you it made life a lot easier, although I get more power from the overhead ye old eggbeater has won me over from now on..

So anyway, After hiking down river for 3 hrs I get to my section called “The Green Mile” a stretch of river that has given me Cod to the size of 45lb land based. I pull out my gear and rig up (don’t try and walk this terrain with lure and leader on, you will be sorry!) 10lb 3ft leader on 10lb braid with a gold stump jumper, I was not hoping for much as it was 12pm and the sun was punishing, I was into the third retrieve about 2mtrs from the snaggy bank and BANG the surface exploded, I see the big tail of at least a 20lb fish just crack my lure so hard my hat just about fell off!!! He had an unstoppable run and made waste of my 10lb leader… So out comes the 20lb leader and another gold stump jumper.. I always use SJ in gold, as it has by far been the best lure in these waters for Cod... (And snags)

I walk down another 20 yards and first cast got a big hit and miss, so I sat there and about 8 casts later in the same line, pulled out the nice little one on the photo bellow.. Although a small fish I was glad I got to land one after the punishing hike…

I lost 3 decent sized fish between 20 and 30lb One to 10lb leader and the other 2 to pulled hooks… it is hard to fish for such a large fish in small waters and so many snags, almost locked drag is a must…

These fish are VERY aggressive at the moment, so if you live in Canberra do yourself a favor!!!

Below in the photos the river shot is one of my Favorite type of areas to cast!! Two incoming currents past either side of a nice rock with a deeper hole behind it…. COD love these areas on the bidgiee…

This is also what’s left of my new stump jumper after only 4 cod… these fish are mean!!

Edited December 1, 2008 by high_speed_metal

[Babsie]

Nice fish mate, what was the water like down there? Has it cleared up after the rains?

[high_speed_metal]

Nice fish mate, what was the water like down there? Has it cleared up after the rains?

It was not clear but lets say I have always got bigger cod after a nice downfall...and my PB while it was pissing down rain.... I would normally cross the river at certain rapids to the side I like to fish but that was out of the question this time with the rain they got......

As you can see in the pic its nice and brown, I guess that's where gold lures come in handy.

[arpie]

Well done HSM!! YOu should go down to Mulwala for the Cod Classic this weekend????

CHeers

Roberta

[high_speed_metal]

Well done HSM!! YOu should go down to Mulwala for the Cod Classic this weekend????

CHeers

Roberta

Yeah that could be alright!!! Not sure if I would get into comp fishing, Guess I should give it a go some time... Boat would help a little...

Cheers for the PM as well, Email sent.

[Hodgey]

Not sure if I would get into comp fishing, Guess I should give it a go some time... Boat would help a little...

It is a comp by name only There are some big name fishos attending to give pratical demos on lure and fly fishing, casting comps, etc. Its more of a massive 'get-together' than a tournament like the ABT for example.

Congrats on the great report mate. Love the idea of walking the weeds in search of ol' blue eyes. The DVD Luring Murray Cod showcases this style of fishing perfectly. Keep the reports coming!

Cheers

Hodgey

[Steve07]

Nice report & photo's of some pretty good fishin mate,shame you couldnt stop the big one but that's fishin

hey.Looks a nice area to throw a lure as long as your fit enough to walk a few miles,but its definately

worth it for nice cod like that.

Well done!!

Steve

[nemo1203]

Thats nice native u landed there, i would love to land one of them...well done

[dean]

Nice fish, well done I can see why the 10lb leader didn't last long. Look forward to reading the next report.

Dean

[dougtovey]

great report nice fish and sounds like a good adventure just my style.

well done

[high_speed_metal]

great report nice fish and sounds like a good adventure just my style.

well done

Its an adventure all right, I have not done the walk in a few years and my legs are stuffed!

On another note anyone who wants to do this with me next time I go down to Canberra (Jan at this point) feel free to send me a message. catching twice the fish is more fun! There is also yella's to be had.

I'm thinking of maybe hiking down on a sat, fish through the night with surface lures and bait and hike out Sun.

[huckfinn]

Hey mate thats a nice cod from the river, i fish for them in the summer so far my biggest is around 60cm but my mate got a 110cm from Lake Tuggers,

Wonderin if you could share any tips, spots anything ive been keen for a while to land a cod out of the river,

THanks, Jeremy