The sport that keeps on giving – why I love fishing in new places

News / Blog, Northern Tablelands

There are a few things in fishing that really excite me. The first is site casting a fish. The second is catching big fish in skinny water. Both of these strike a chord with the idea big fish can sometimes be sitting at your feet waiting to pounce on a lure right in front of your face. Is there anything else more exciting than that?

I used to think Spanish mackerel and others in the pelagic family had this category in the bag due to their acrobatic aerial assaults on big stick bait lures. That was until I ventured out west to the little town of Tenterfield to meet up with Harry Davey – a local Murray cod fisherman and OzFish project officer. After three days of fishing in the skinniest of water and casting at snags no further than two meters from the bank – I found a new front runner for my favourite form of fishing… wild river Murray cod.

The places these fish live is astonishing. Not just because of the frosty mornings, beautiful red gums and oversize boulders surrounding their home. It’s because the places you are casting your lure is a minefield of fallen timber, flowing water and overhanging trees sitting no more than a few centimetres off the water’s edge. Fishing in the backwaters of Tenterfield will teach you two things: how to cast accurately and how to retrieve a lure from a snag.

As I stood on the edge of a protruding root ball casting away in temperatures of -5 degrees, I couldn’t help but think of the fact that somewhere below me was a 30kg Murray cod sitting under a log waiting to hit the roof of the water’s surface. While that might seem like a bit of an ambitious statement, some of the locals might go as far to say it is an understatement.

The cod that live in the rivers and creeks of these areas are highly residential and mark out their territory. Often, if you catch a fish once, or see it follow your lure, it will still be there years after. The snags are their home.

So, if you are like Harry, my fishing buddy for the day who ventures down to these waters on a weekly basis, you start to know how long the fish has been there and how big it has grown.

When an old tree or branch gets washed down into the water, it won’t take long before a Murray cod will use that as its place to rest, ambush prey and breed. It makes sense right? If you are looking to preserve energy and go unnoticed, then the best place to do that would be a big hollowed-out log that you can station under. The astonishing element for me, however, is how close to the bank these logs sit.

We caught four cod over the course of our fishing trip out west, and all four of them came from a log and branch that was no more than a couple of feet from the nearby grass or shrubs. If you were standing on the edge of the creek, you could poke a stick at these fish, literally.

For many, this might seem like common knowledge. But for a young fisho from the coastal waters of NSW, it’s yet another thing to add to the knowledge bank when it comes to our native inland freshwater fish.

Our technique throughout the few days of fishing was almost entirely centered on mimicking insects, small bugs and lizards or frogs scurrying along the surface of the water. Yep, you heard that correctly. We were throwing large topwater lures in water that was no more than a few meters wide. At first, I thought that the splash when the lure lands would scare the fish. Turns out, according to the locals, that the louder the splash, the quicker you get the cods attention; that will only leave its snag if the meal is worth it. (I wonder if the same principle works when you cast in a tree, for the 10th time…)

As I drove home after the trip,  I began to distill some lessons from the week. Nothing major, just a few little takeaways that I will remember for the next time I venture 6 hours west in search of a Murray Cod. Here is what I settled on:

  1. 40 per cent of their diet comes from overhanging trees, so cast as close to the bank as you can
  2. Don’t be afraid to throw surface lures; they are biologically designed for hunting prey off the top of the water
  3. Be quiet when walking the banks. These fish sometimes live no more than a few meters from the tree line, and will be spooked by your presence.
  4. 4-8kg Bait caster rod with a 3000 size reel is a good starting point for a day’s walking the bank. These fish hit hard, and then settle down when the fight continues.
  5. Cast, cast, cast – there is a difference between casting in the right spot, and getting one to eat.

Until next time, cod. Back to the salt for me.