Cod on fire

[rod_k]

Just spent 3 days in Nth NSW chasing Murrays with ausfish mates Neil C and screaming eagle. We picked up 39 cod (all released) caught in the different spots we went to. Most were caught on big spinnerbaits which worked well in the weedy low water conditions. Highlights included double hookups in the canoe, fish off consecutive casts to the same snag, follows from 80cm cod in clear water and the capture of a 90cm wild river cod by Neil. Neil had flown down from Mackay for the trip and had an absolute blinder landing 21 fish...............not sure if we will ask him again! Pics of the big one will be posted soon.

rodo

[rod_k]

As promised above here is one of the pics of that 90cm cod my mate Neil got last weekend. To minimise stress on the fish we both got into the water with it and only lifted it out for the photos.

rodo

[Voltzy]

TOP fish!!

[bazzz]

Excellant catch, sounds like a great trip.
I,m heading off on a Cod expedition myself in a couple of weeks up to the Tenterfield area, wondering what sort of spinnerbaits you were using, size, type, colour etc and did you have any luck with the deep divers?

thanks Baz

[Neil_c]

Bazzz

Most fish were taken on a Stanley Wedge brand spinnerbait I can't remember the weight. The skirt colour is mainly white with some green flecks. Others were caught on a black model. Deep divers weren't much good because of excessive weed but did score a couple of fish.

With a crimped down barb on the spinnerbait they would get a solid hookset in the corner of their jaw and be easily released.

Neil

[rod_k]

Bazz,

We also fished the Mole R near Tenterfield and to say it was low would be an understatement...........as it was bloody low. Not sure where you planning on heading but the Mole dosnt have a great deal of water in it right now..............which might concentrate the fish so good luck to you. We only fished it for a few hours one morning which got us 3 cod around 50cm and 1 or 2 other hits on diving lures. Because the water was so low we moved on to the other spots which were much more productive.

rodo

[Fitzy]

Great stuff fellas! Nice fish.
I'm half tempted to go for a drive south or west myself after seeing that.

Fitzy..

[bazzz]

Thanks for the info Neil

Rodo,
We are heading to the Severn river just outside Tenterfield for 4 days, I've heard that the water level is pretty low as well but apparently there are a lot of deep holes.
What lures were you getting the fish on?
Bazz

[rod_k]

hey bazz

On that trip with Neil, we caught 36 of our 39 fish on spinnerbaits. Almost all of the holes had weed or slime so the spinners worked better than divers. Neil had a magic white one and I caught all of my fish on a black/blue 3/8 tandem willow spinner, which i grabbed from my local Big W store in brissy! The technique that worked best was to cast the spinner out either near structure you could see or into the middle of the hole (over/into structure you cant see) and let it sink to the bottom and then VERY slowly retreive, with some stops to let it sink back into the depths, so you can feel it bumping into structure. If you feel whacks or taps from cod, but no hookup just continue the retrieve (holding on firmly!). A few times we had many hits on a retrieve before a fish was hooked up - sometimes after 20 mins of casting to the same place or the next cast.......you never know!. Also pls crush the barb on the spinner as the cod invariably hook up on them very well (corner of the jaw everytime) and you wont loose any by crushing it.

The good parts of the Severn are a fair way south west from Tenterfield. Broadly speaking try either above or below the dam and if you put the time in you will catch cod. And yep the water is very low - so you will have to do a fair amount of walking to the deeper holes. For eg. one day we probably walked a good 10km for our fish.........hard work but worthwhile.

good luck

rod

[Neil_c]

The "magic" spinnerbait was a 1/2oz job.

I keep telling ya Rod you just can't beat class

Neil