Murray cod are on the bite

I suppose that statement could be a bit of a contradiction in a lot of cases. I know I’ve done a lot of fishing that’s just plain hard work, both mentally and physically. The last thing you feel at the end of the day is relaxed.

Fishing can be as hard or as easy as you want to make it so after a big New Year’s Eve, I suppose the sort of fishing I’m talking about is the “ drown a worm while having a snooze under a willow tree” sort.

That’s probably not a bad way to go about it at the moment. Plenty of Murray Cod, in particular, are being angled at the minute.

The Murray above and below Albury is still going well.

Tommy Groch visited the Compleat Angler during the week bragging about how he and a couple of his mates had picked up 13 cod angling in the upper Murray. All these caught in just a couple of days over Christmas.

Quite a few of those were keepers too, he told me, so I’m a little disappointed I didn’t get so much as a sniff.

The other comment Tommy made was that they all came in on cheese.

It’s amazing the things a cod will eat. It’s probably easier to write a list of what they won’t have a crack at rather than what they will.

I honestly believe they are just a cross between a vacuum and a garbage disposal unit.

There’s virtually nothing they won’t eat.

Over the years, we’ve probably all heard of the galah’s, rosellas, eggs, water rats, ducks, lizards, platypus etc being found in their gut. Golf balls aren’t that uncommon in populated areas either. The traditional baits included eggs, bardie grubs, yabbies, worms, fish and shrimp, with a couple of odd ones like bullock spinal cord and all kinds of different road kill but nothing seems to be off the menu these days.

Cheese is a hot favourite; chicken in just about any shape or form, onions, dim sims, the list just goes on. Nothing seems to be off limits to these fish anymore. It probably never was but no one thought to give all that rubbish a shot.

Lures have been doing pretty well too, with good reports coming in from just about everywhere from anyone using spinnerbaits and hardbodies. There’s also been a big rise in popularity in those surface lures of late.

There’s also been an increase in the noise coming from gum trees, with Cicadas getting about in good numbers so maybe the surface lure surge is not a coincidence.

Trout are going pretty well in Dartmouth at the minute and you don’t necessary have to be extra deep. I’ve spoken to a couple of fishos who caught the bulk of their fish at six metres using a variety of tassies and king cobras.

We’ve had more good reports on reddies again during the week.

Chris Rudd and wife Pauline caught a couple of nice yellas and also kept three or four reddies around the 35- 40cm mark on Tuesday morning. These were all caught casting vibes and blades.

Darren Sinclair also had success, picking up another good bag the same day on a mixture of yabbies and casting jackalls.

Anyhow, have a great new year.

Russ’s Rippa: One only 85ltr esky, normally $349.00, now $180.00.