All the joys of winter fishing but those willing to sacrifice their warm cosy bed for a cold boat seat and a frost bitten face are bound to reap the rewards.
Nothing quite beats those still early mornings with the fog slowly lifting from the water and the sound of cockatoos and galahs screeching in the background, while you cast or troll your lure into the depths of the river waiting in anticipation for that unforgettable strike from the mighty Murray Cod.
Marty Smith recently spent his 50th birthday fishing with his great mate Rob Menadue around the Benarca Bend area.
It was a day out that Marty won’t soon forget catching a very healthy 97cm cod. What a great way to spend your birthday. Congrats on your fish and happy birthday, well deserved and well guided, Rob.
There have been a few good cod taken in the Murray River around the Picnic Point area casting hard bodied lures, one of those fish coming in at 101cm.
The usual suspects Tim Rose and Glenn Higgins are still getting among some healthy fish with Glenn catching another ripper of a cod, this one coming in at 94cm, taken on a slow sinking spinnerbait.
He also caught a few smaller cod and a solid 50cm yellowbelly.
Tim not missing out either, caught a cod up to 61cm on a blue frog chatterbait.
Ryan Wharton reeled in a 54cm cod and Darcy Pogue also got a few nice cod, with one up to 72cm.
Justin Adair and his partner Taneesha Pentony put in the hard yards trolling lures around the Benarca Bend area with good results, Justin catching a solid 75cm on a black oargee and Taneesha catching a 63cm along with a 57cm on a green stumpjumper lure.
I also trolled up a couple of small cod around the Deni Boat Club, this area fishes well due to the amount of submerged timber and depth of water.
They say that Murray Cod aren’t to fussy when it comes to what they will eat.
Well this is true as there’s been many reported catches of cod that have eaten dim sims, cocktail frankfurts, bacon, cabana and the list goes on.
I was recently shown footage of a solid 95cm cod that decided to have eggs for its breakfast.
This particular Cod engulfed a full hard boiled egg; it’s just amazing what these fish will eat.
The Billabong is still fishing well with reports that the yellowbelly and cod are still on the chew.
Pete Wills was lucky enough to catch a few small yellowbelly and a nice 57cm cod using shrimp and worm combination.
There’s also been a couple of reports of some small cod and Yellowbelly being caught in the Mulwala channel.
Paul Telford was lucky enough to bluff a solid 45cm Yellowbelly into taking his slowly rolled soft plastic lure.
I was also lucky enough to land an absolute mega mud marlin (carp) measuring in at a whopping 95cm also caught on a small soft plastic lure.
Fishing light spinning gear in the channels is an awesome way to catch fish and is also useful casting your light spinners and soft plastic lures.
If you see or suspect illegal fishing, please call 13FISH (133474). Make the call and make the difference.