Yellowbelly and Murray Cod

[Coomerith]

Keen to hear peoples thoughts on catching Yellas And Murray Cod with regards to Water temps and barometric pressure. All comments welcome!

[rabbi]

Hi Coomerith,
I fish the western dams and rivers and although I Live on the coast now I did grow up around copeton and pindari dams.
As far as barometric pressure goes, a dropping barometer will put the fish down but if it rains they will come on the chew quickly as with a rising barometric pressure. 1020 cod aplenty as they say(doesnt work all the time though as there are other factors).

A mate and I went to the Gwydir a number of years back and fished a few kms of the river around 10am onwards and it was hot and humid with a lot of cloud cover and a low barometric pressure.
Got zip on the way down the river so we had lunch and worked our way back. Caught and released 16 cod in the same water we had fished hours earlier with quite a few larger fish. Nothing had changed apart from the fact it was lunchtime?? Go figure!!
The dams releasing cold water will put them off the bite in the rivers downstream as they have nowhere to get away from cold water when the rivers flowing. The dams are a different matter again..
I always base my trips around time of year and moon phase.. works for me..
cheers,steve.

[Coomerith]

Steve - do you prefer a new or full moon??

[rabbi]

I prefer a new moon or the dark leading up to a full moon.
I reckon that if there is a full moon in the sky whether it be night or day the fish go shy.
I use surface lures whenever possible and the cod would be explosive on the surface before the moon came up and as soon as the moonlight hit the water we could see the cods backs cruising along behind the surface lures but they wouldnt strike the lure..
Thats why I chase jew away from the moon as they are ambush fish as well.
Its funny that when I used to live in Inverell I used to catch hundreds of cod a year and got quite bored chasing them and now I live on the coast and get a lot of big fish on lures here I always hang out for a cod trip out west again..
Must be the environment and serenity out there (not in school hols though).
cheers..