What a tough few weeks we’ve experienced in the New England. Many of our waterways are suffering from weedy, low and discoloured water. Adding plummeting air/ water temperatures into the above scenario has now resulted in lots of casting practise on the river.
Current low water levels have exposed thousands of yabby holes along the river banks; perhaps fish were now gorging themselves on these high protein crustaceans. For the most part, over the last few years, our Murray cod flies have started increasing in physical size. Knowing that kids love to constantly eat snacks and sneaky meals, well now we’ve prepared the cod snack.
A fly, that’s a tad under 11cms in length, but packs some serious street credit when dealing with those tough fishing times. Get the tie right and it provides plenty of movement thanks to the use of natural fibres, even though the main ingredient is Arctic fox tail and Senyo’s laser dub head, there’s lots of room to add your own variations.
We have two hook options, both Gamakatsu, either the B10s in 2/0 or a Saltwater SL12s in 4/0. To improve hook up rate we now tend to open up the hook bend slightly.
Tail: short pinch of Buck tail, to prevent tail wrap. Big fly fibre, Arctic fox tail, optional Ostrich feathers/ Peacock hurl/ Silicon skirts. A few strands of Crystal flash mixed in.
Body: Rabbit crosscut, Marabou, Schlappen feathers is another optional.
Lead wire:0.15 gauge
Senyo’s Laser Dub is used to form a simple sturdy head and trimmed into shape. For durability we use Clear Cure 3D Dumbbell eyes in 8mm, to avoid the lost eye syndrome.
Weed guard: 60lb looped mono weed guard. Nick

With a wet and boring Australia Day long weekend, I thought I’d put together a short headcam clip from one of our earlier trips.
Filmed during late December last year, the object of the day was to find deep pockets of hidden water along the river. It’s in these pools you’ll find the resident Murray Cod very willing to take a well presented fly.
Upon reaching the river, we split up and scurried off on our separate ways. Weaving and dodging under the bottlebrush choked river bank at a frantic pace, trying to find any windows in the undergrowth. The object was to look for any potential water that we could explore with the aid of our float boats.
Meeting back at the Ute sometime later, we set about a game plan that would involve having to deflate the boats several times throughout the day. With no other way, but to portage past the shallow, fish devoid sections.
Our expectations were high as we worked the first run with enthusiasm, an overgrown area that I’m sure no fisherman could ever fish successfully from the bank. Even though the water looked to have potential, Jason could only manage one cod that was hiding deep under an overhanging limb. Somewhat disappointed, we both headed downstream to the next pool. One that we both knew would hold a good population of fish. But beyond our expectations, the next thirty metres of river was an absolute mine field of hungry cod and every few metres of river was action packed. It was one of those spots were every few casts something exciting was happening. At one stage Jason found himself connected to a big cod, one that he had no control over, but once again had a thirty pound tippet fail under the pressure from these strong native fish. Slowly the bite tapered off as the river started to become shallow and weedy.
Reaching the end of the hole, the river started to become just a series of large granite rock pools. The cod in these sections were incredibly hungry and it wasn’t uncommon to have several little cod fighting to eat our flies
When you can land three cod in four casts, proves we had found a mother load of silly fish. As the sun dipped low we started to find better quality fish hiding amongst the babies.
Unfortunately we failed to capture a lot of good footage using the head cam, due to card failures. But as the rain continues to fall over the long weekend, I know these areas will fish even better next time. Nick

I always get nervous when people join me for a fishing session, knowing that unstable weather can wreak havoc on our native fish. John Everett would be arriving today just as the condition where forecasted to turn ugly, afternoon storms could make this trip difficult.

With very little flat camping ground on offer, we selected an area that would be easier for us to drive out of if it decided to rain.

Inflating our water striders we ventured upstream into the “Bronx” area, so overgrown with bottlebrush its bloody dangerous for rod tips and a real nightmare for casting. Usually it’s a productive area, except for one cod that smashed a bendy roller popper, it was extremely quiet. I had my suspicions the low river levels may contributed to our steady progress. Working back downstream, we searched for deeper water with hopefully a little less weed to contend with.

When John opted for a modified Dobson fly, things started to happen for him. The fish where beautifully conditioned and very fit, problem was they were never really ‘on the bite’ it was a case of being patient and keep casts in the zone.

There were a lot of slow patches during the day, for an hour or so things would go quiet. Concentrating through these patches was tough, often our casting mojo would be lost and end up firing casts into overhanging foliage.

By 4:30pm clouds started to roll in, signalling things could get rough very soon. The faint sound of thunder confirmed what was about to head our way, what happened during the next hour was crazy fishing. All of a sudden we were both busy into fish. When John found himself connected to an absolute animal, I finned over and watched the battle unfold. The fish forced the Largemouth Bass rod into ridiculous bends with every powerful surge. Netting the fish wasn’t easy considering its bulk at 87cms it was totally out of proportion to its length, unfortunately for John It regurgitated most of its stomach and bowel contents over his new boat, what a horrendous smell. I quickly snapped some photos and left John with it.

Flashes of lightening indicated this incredible late session may come to an abrupt end, simply for life preservation. Out of curiosity we changed to floating fly lines and surface poppers.

John could do no wrong and next cast he witnesses the most aggressive surface strike imaginable. The big cods head breached clear out of the water, even from the other side of the river the strike sounded impressive. The fight was a letdown, but who’s complaining when an 85cm cod takes a surface fly like that. Unfortunately Johns luck ran out minutes later when a cod decided to steal his only articulated popper. The bad run continued when the storm finally caught up with us, producing a very sudden downpour. Forced back to camp, we prepared for the barrage of storms that was heading our way. The sudden temperature drop indicated that hail wasn’t too far away.

In the morning the cooler water temps really put a dampener on things. John worked his surface fly incredibly slow and managed to find an aggressive cod on duty.  I found a cod hiding deep in the undergrowth, which abruptly stole my popper. By lunch things warmed up and we continued to add to the tally of the fish. John lucky streak continued when I found his missing popper, floating amongst a cluster of floating weed.

Arriving at a very reliable snag, I encouraged John to put a fly deep into the centre of the mallee. As if on cue the snag produced a fish, unfortunately it quickly managed to stitch him up within seconds, very funny stuff.

Once again, cloud and strong wind rolled in early, this time it looked we were about to receive some really bad news. The decision was made to head home early.

John really honed his skills over the weekend and between us we landed 16 Murray cod on fly, in pretty ordinary conditions.                            Nick

 I often forget how effective surface fishing for Murray Cod can be, our rivers in the New England has some of the most consistent top water fishing available.  When conditions turned cloudy on one of our latest trips, I took the gamble and chose to fish the surface. (Check out some of the highlights from the day’s effort we captured using a Vio headcam). Jason typically played it safe and stuck with his lovingly constructed sub surface patterns, which contained very minimal flash material.  Fishing together, our game plan involved peppering casts under blossoming callistemon trees. This would give the fish the option of taking either of our flies, but I prefer to view the strike from a Cod.  During the day many of the surface strikes failed to connect, on many occasions they’d managed to somehow to doge that ultra sharp hook point. By around midday the sun broke through the clouds and revealed the true clarity of the river. From this point on things quietened down, we had to rely on throwing subsurface flies in order to get the bite. Jason was tallying up a steady number of fish on a 6/0 olive emu huntsman fly, while I flavoured a lightly weighted rust brown/black coloured Mega Dobson. We discovered many of the Cod were laid up under the midstream boulders/rock bars, due to the super clear water the best option was to nymph fish our flies along the most promising areas.  Most times they’d attack the helpless dead drifted fly; otherwise it was a case of imparting a few small twitches to encourage a strike. It was truly remarkable day with an estimated 20-25 cod on fly.

Jason flavoured a Scott s4s 8ft 10wt fly rod, while I used a Hard Core Elements 10wt, 8ft custom native specs flyrod. Both rods were kitted out with RIO Outbound Short floating/inter sink tip flylines.                 Nick

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Don’t let anyone tell you cod fishing is glamorous, it’s far from it!  Usually it involves a lot of sweat, fatigue and plain hard work. Our latest overnight trip was one of the most gruelling adventures we’ve experienced.

Typically, trekkers plan their trips down to every intricate detail; I’m not one of them. If Jason only knew that I was still deciding which direction we’d be heading to in the morning, he’d probably take over as trip co-ordinator.

Next morning we reached the river, instantly we were blown away by the rugged, brutal landscape and water clarity. Spotting cruising cod was kind of fun, but boy they were spooky!  We had to have a total rethink of tactics to fish this water; it was a case of dredging fly’s in the deep gorge channels.

By three o’clock we reached the end of the longest pool, deep water was replaced with more familiar banks. Callistemon trees and snags lined the water’s edge, cicadas droned noisily from the overhanging she oaks. Better still the sun was setting behind the hills and it was getting quite dark. This was the time to see if they’d respond to a surface fly. Respond they did!  The 50 metre tail section of the pool, was a surface smashing arena.  I landed 7 cod and had so many failed hook ups I stopped counting. Meanwhile Jason had worked his way downstream, into classic nursery water, baby cod smashed his 4/0 big poppa well into the darkness. With the aid of headlamps we made it back to our Hilton Hotel bush accommodation.

Camping and sleeping don’t really mix to well for me; I suspect I might have some sort of sleeping disorder and at 3am the sounds of cod smashing surface, lured me back onto the water. Surface fishing at night is something I haven’t trialled many times in the past. Having a ¾ moon overhead, visibility was okay and most casts somehow landed on the water.  From now on, that’s all going to change after that mad surface bite. The cod ranged from small to very small, but what a session! 

Packing the Floatboats we progressed through a heavily timbered and beautiful deep gorge, fishing was a patience game using slow inter sink tip flylines.  Possibly express sink flylines may have helped the situation, we’ll find out next time!  Jason opted for smaller subtle flys. This seemed to be the key for these timid granite gorge cod.

With time getting away, the river dropped abruptly into a steep rock lined gorge, we parked the boats and climbed high up on the rocks to get a better view of the surroundings.  Things turned hectic when we spotted a 1mtr+ cod cruising the water’s edge, we could see multiple cod in this pool as well as numerous catfish guarding their nests.  Jason slid frantically down the rocky bank with flyrod in hand, while I called the shots from high above.  Unfortunately our mythical big cod disappeared into the depths, undeterred we spent several hours sight casting and catching these cruising cod.  Leaving this special place was very difficult; managing this while hauling heavy backpacks up so many steep hills was a chore. Doing it during the blazing midday heat was painful.  It doesn’t matter how much hardship we endure on these trips, we’ll always go back!                                                                Nick

With Murray Cod season opening still another 4 weeks away, I predict things may get tough this summer. Once again Mother Nature refuses to deliver rain; if things don’t improve we may be facing lower than acceptable water levels. When the natural river flow ceases, we can be assured the dreaded weed will return. Without flow the river will become ultra clear, causing the fish to become very cautious and timid. Sunrise and sunset will always be considered peak times to fish, avoiding the bright day light hours as much as possible. “Work” and “Time Constraints” are two words that often leaves us fishing the midday runs.

The first obvious signs to look for are 1) fish following, and then turning away 2) fish, flash/ rolling 3) fish, tail nipping flys.

Let’s look at several tactics and equipment that increases the chance of success.

·         For starters always use quality polarising sunglasses in conjunction with a wide brim hat. These two items will help identify fish holding structure, such as boulder/ rock bars and submerged logs.

·         Switch to an intermediate sink tip fly line, which will give a very slow subtle fly sink rate. 

·         Do nothing retrieve (nymphing), this is a very effective method to utilize. Just cast along submerged boulders/ rock bar drop offs and let it sink deep, maintain flyline contact (ready for the strike), then apply the very occasional twitch. In the clear water, most times you’ll spot the inquisitive fish cruise out from under their cover and inhale the fly. If not, I’ll excite the fish into striking by employing a short darting action to the fly. Number one rule is to maintain line tension, slack lines and weed guards are a sure way to lose fish.

·         Avoid bright colours and excessive flash materials, pink/ black Mega Dobson were great during the early high water season, now I prefer to use natural colours such as black/ rust browns with a splattering of bronze Gliss n Glow. I’ve reduced the weighted eyes to 3/16 to increase fly action and stepped up the mono weed/ snag guard to 80lb Rio Heavy Tippet material, full confidence is guaranteed with this set up.