One of the best day's fishing ever!

[poddy mullet]

The Macquarie River is flowing steady and clear at present, and is producing some amazing catches for lure casting anglers. Mick Coad, Brett Kleppe, Neil Duncan, Daniel Withers and I hit a local reserve at the crack of dawn on Sunday morning, and enjoyed one of the best native fish lure casting sessions I have ever seen on Dubbo’s Macquarie River.
Hiking approximately five kilometres, over the course of the morning we managed seven Murray Cod, and four huge Trout cod, as a bi-catch of the Murray Cod we were targeting. Spinner baits bent at ninety degrees, and stretched split rings were a common occurrence as the Macquarie River fish were in an early morning feisty feeding frenzy, belting almost any colour lure, and often when the leader knot had already been retrieved back through the top guide of the rod. For the morning fishing we landed 11 fish, consisting of seven Murray cod, and four large trout cod.
The penalties for being caught in possession of a Trout Cod are severe and it is totally illegal to fish for the species, but they are becoming a more and more regular bi-catch for those fishing for Golden Perch and Murray Cod along the Macquarie River in and around the Central West Region.
Trout Cod have officially been known to grow to 16 kilograms, or 35.2 pounds, and are a highly aggressive fish with plenty of potential to become a self-sustaining freshwater sport fishing species. Local legends even speak of the species reaching a massive 30 kilograms, or 66 pounds, in the Central West region.
It is fantastic to see the species thriving in certain areas in the Macquarie River, and if all fishermen and women continue to respect the endangered status assigned to the species, it may not be long until we see Trout Cod population numbers soar to a level where they may be legally targeted by freshwater anglers.
If you happen to catch a fish you suspect of being a Trout Cod, but you are not quite sure, one way of telling for certain is by looking at the jaw area. A Trout Cod’s top jaw overhangs the bottom, whereas a Murray Cod has a larger bottom jaw which overshoots the top. Trout Cod must be released without harm immediately after being caught.
Matt Hansen

[Boat Hog]

Hi Matt,

Nice fish there. Thanks for the informative write up. Great to hear the trout cod are doing well.

Cheers

[wamjam]

Thanks for the great report Matt. How big of an area do the trout cod cover ??. Are they in the Murray.

Scott

[poddy mullet]

Hey Wamjam,
Once relatively common throughout a large part of the Murray-Darling system, now reduced to two breeding populations in the wild - the Murray River from Yarrawonga downstream to the Barmah Forest and a translocated population in Seven Creeks near Euroa in Victoria. Being re-stocked as part of the trout cod recovery plan with fish bred by New South Wales and Victorian Fisheries and by Native Fish Australia (Victoria).
Although originally there was considerable overlap in range between the two species, trout cod generally prefer cooler and faster water than Murray cod. Recent historical research into the past range of trout cod has shown that although there were very rare captures of trout cod as far down stream as Mildura, these were exceptional and by the early decades of the twentieth century this fish was no longer found so far downstream. Moving upstream to Swan Hill, trout cod were becoming more common and in waters upstream of Albury/Wodonga trout cod became the dominant species in foothill and upland waters.
Info from http://www.nativefish.asn.au/troutcod.html

Cheers, Matt Hansen

[quarmby]

Fished Macquarie at Dubbo on Monday, ended up landing 10 murray cod from atleast 20 strikes. Great to see so many fish throughout a small section of the river looks like local stockings are making all the difference here.