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landing your lure or bait in the right spot is an essential part of angling success.

Casting is something many anglers take for granted; if it lands in the water then that’s often deemed as close enough. Whether fishing with bait or lures, being able to place a cast on the money can often mean the difference between a creel full of fish, or nothing.

A recent trip to the Bidgee near Balranald was proof in itself to the benefits of casting accuracy. Having just received a rise in water levels, the local fish population were making the most of the newly covered ground. As the waters began to recede, the fish continued to feed against the bank making the most of the available tucker on hand. Fishing from a boat, the method used on this occasion was to cast small spinner-baits and blades along the edge of logs as hard up against the bank as the accuracy factor would allow.

Any cast that fell short of its intended mark by even a foot generally went unscathed, while those that landed only inches from the bank were often belted on the second or third turn of the handle. The distance between success and failure in this case was a matter of inches, but that was all it took.

This sort of scenario presents itself in many facets of fishing, be it casting a bait along the edge of a current line or flicking lures around the timber, the benefits of accurate casting are many. Practice is what makes perfect and this can be as simple as a few targets in the back yard set up at different distances. With a little practice, it doesn’t take long to hone this important skill.

For those that intend on going to the Cod Classic at Mulwala on the first weekend in Dec you have the perfect opportunity to see what a lot of practice can achieve. Dave Hodge the master caster will be doing a few demos over the weekend and his awesome ability is something to behold. Just one of his many freakish feats is to hit a plastic bottle thrown into the air; this is hard enough to do with a shotgun let alone a casting plug. Dave will be the first to admit that his ability to catch fish while others are left wanting, is thanks in a large part to his casting ability. Don’t underestimate the smaller points of angling, when you really need them its amazing how big they suddenly become.

A simple question and one I’ve been asked at least a squillion times, what is the best lure for Murray cod? Rod Harrison or Harro, legend fishing- scribe best answered this when he wrote; cod lures can be many spanners and screwdrivers in a toolbox. Sometimes a pair of pliers will get you by, but there will be situations where you’d trade them all for a socket wrench or Allen key.

Harro with a solid cod taken on a 150 ml AC Invader. The right tool for the job on that day.

That simple explanation about sums it up. The many moods of Murray cod is what dictates the lure style best suited to the job as do many natural variations including water depth, available cover and so on. If you understand the make up of a particular lure and the effects certain conditions place upon it, you will then understand where it can be used to greatest effect. It’s the angler more so than anything else that constitutes the success of any one particular lure.

Crank it up a gear. This nice cod was fooled with a fast retrieve using a Rapala X- Rap.

It has often bothered me to think on the feeding nature of giant Murray cod. Some days they lay sullen to the point of arrogance as they refuse to except the most well presented bait or lure. Even when delivered amongst the snags and into the dining room they will presume to eyeball the offering snubbing it in a manner more befitting a well pampered moggy than that of a fish. Bloody frustrating to say the least but to their comparative benefit, cod don’t openly groom their lower extremities with their tongue whilst wearing that same smug look of contentment. And yes there are other ways to provoke a reaction other than with the swinging of a boot. When cod are in this mood you can choose to cut your losses and target other more willing fishes such as golden perch. Or, kick your cod fishing ideals up a gear and use speed as an option. We have had great success using speed as a way to invoke a reaction strike from fish that seem otherwise shut down. So successful has it been that we have made room in the tackle box to harbour several lures more suited to top end blue water trolling than the snaggy depths of the Murray River.  Worthy of a little effort this style of lure burning has the ability to prompt a strike where other methods fail.  So next time the fish seem a little reluctant why not kick things up a notch and see if you can’t draw that all important reaction strike.

Cod thumb or perhaps cod hand, either way Murray Cod have very sharp teeth.

If I had a dollar for every lure we have retrieved from the Murray River covered in teeth marks and sporting a short length of mono or braided line, I could possibly retire. To the uninitiated, it’s a great find but it is also a hard luck story of the one that got away. Contrary to popular belief Murray cod have teeth, and while they are not of the style that sharks possess, they are sharp nonetheless. These teeth are like small fine needles, rows and rows of them curved back in a fashion that is designed for grasping and holding baitfish and other items of prey. If you put your hand in their mouth to remove a hook, you will quickly find out that they are also very effective at removing skin. These injuries are often referred to as cod thumb, and are a painful trophy for he or she who has caught a fish. When a large cod inhales a bait or lure, they instinctively throw their head from side to side during the fight. This action is similar to a rasp working across your line and without the use of a heavy mono leader, in most cases the line will part. In time, the fish will spit the lure out and it will float to the surface covered in teeth marks and sporting a short length of line. It’s a revolving tale of cod fishing woe that can be fixed simply by learning how to rig a mono leader.

In fact when targeting any big fish be it Murray cod, Barramundi, kingfish etc it is advisable to use a mono leader. Leader materials are many; Fluorocarbon has been touted in recent times as the be all and end all of leader materials. This is possibly true in lighter gauges when targeting bream, bass and other smaller fishes. When you begin to run leaders 50lb and above many Fluorocarbons will not meld well when tied onto the main line. They display a memory that will often see them spring back from the knot. Softer materials form far better knots that not only pull up tight but also run through the guides more smoothly when casting. Many anglers don’t run a leader simply because they are unsure how to tie one. A simple answer to this problem is to drop into your local tackle shop and get them to give you a demo. There are also a number of books available on this subject with Geoff Wilson’s Knots and Rigs providing several clear step-by-step versions of the leader knot. Next time you have the good fortune to find the gnarled up lure with the short length of line you can fish comfortably in the knowledge that running a leader is one less way to loose a fish.

Yes Golden Perch will take surface lures. This is the third one I have seen caught on top in just a few sessions which proves its not just a fluke. Smaller surface lures seem to tempt Golden Perch where the larger models are more inclined to atract the attention of Murray cod. So targeting golden perch on surface lures is indeed a legitimate technique worthy of further exploration.

This Golden perch snatched a Koolabung Codwalker from the surface in broad daylight

One small change can make a big difference.

Like all sports, fishing is no different in that one small adjustment or change in style can throw your whole game out of balance. This can be viewed or dismissed as a slump in form or simply a run of hard luck. There are two things you can do when experiencing an angling slump. Firstly, you either ride it out, or you can work out why it is happening. Good anglers make their own luck and if it’s gone astray, chances are it’s your own doing.

Last season over the course of several trips to the Murray River, good mate and fishing companion Gus Storer gave me an absolute caning. With a string of giant cod over several trips, it seemed Gus could not put a foot wrong. With a five-dollar wager forked out on each of these occasions not to mention a dint in the pride, this slump was beginning to hurt. It wasn’t as though the chances weren’t coming my way, quite the opposite. My strike ratio was almost double that of Gus but his hookup rate was running close to 100%. Where he was pinging almost every fish that took his lure, I was lucky to get one in four.

We were both using the same make of spinnerbait rigged with stinger and soft plastic trailer, this was obviously not the problem. Our retrieval speed was similar so too were the areas we were fishing. After some thought and a few more missed strikes the answer finally came. A strong man, Gus has a unique if not bazaar style where he holds the very butt of the rod in his hand and winds with the rod tip held high. This looks very uncomfortable but it works for Gus and who am I to question a man with wrists strong enough to do this all day? Myself, on the other hand had progressed over the season from holding the rod low and to the side to holding it at the same low angle but now pointing it straight at the lure during the retrieve. Similar to looking down the barrel of a gun, everything was directly in line with the target.

The problem had been in front of me the whole time. Cod are an implosion feeder, this means that they inhale their prey along with a vast amount of water that is expelled through the gills. The problem with a straight down the line retrieve is that there is very little if any give in the line or the rod. This means that when a fish implodes upon the lure it cannot be drawn into the mouth, hence so many solid strikes for so few hookups. Lift the rod as in the case of Gus, or simply turn it to the side a fraction during the retrieve and the lure can be drawn backward through movement in the rod tip. This is even more pronounced with a supple or relaxed grip, not so relaxed that the rod is torn from the hand by the strike. Yet soft enough so that rod and hand are drawn far enough for the lure to be inhaled. You would be amazed the difference this small adjustment made over the next few trips where I managed several good fish for as many strikes and recouped a little of the hard earned cash Gus had previously won. The little things in fishing make the big difference.

Catch more fish using a stinger soft plastic combo.

While many anglers are still yet to fully grasp or accept the full potential of spinnerbaits as an effective lure on an ever-increasing variety of fish. Those that have tasted success still debate the pros and cons surrounding the need to add a stinger soft plastic combo to this style of lure. The addition of a stinger is not a new concept but one that has been used by some anglers for near on twenty years. Understanding why and how fish feed is to realize the benefits of running a stinger soft plastic combo on spinnerbaits especially where native fish are concerned.

To the small predatory fish, the overall effect of the flashing blades on a spinnerbait is possibly not viewed as a single identity but instead as a writhing cluster of small baitfish. Amongst the flash and pulsing skirt, there is a lot going on not to mention the vibrations sent forth by the turning blades. It’s a swimming smorgasbord and the wiggling tail of a trailing soft plastic is an opportunity to good to refuse. In nature, its instinctual for the strong to predate upon the weak and those that lag behind are the first to fall. With the addition of a stinger soft plastic combination, this illusion is portrayed and smaller predatory fish like golden perch consistently fall for this instinctual take. At least 70% of golden perch we catch over any given season are pinned on the stinger hook alone, reason enough to run one. When it comes to larger predators like Murray cod, the benefits to running a stinger hook are a lot more obvious.

Unlike smaller predators, Murray cod especially larger fish will view the spinnerbait as a whole or single item of prey, something to be scoffed in a single mouthful. They will rarely nibble at the offering; instead they will engulf the whole thing in a single implosion of water. In this case, the soft plastic stinger combination is not so much about presenting the weak or slow straggler its about adding bulk and providing the means to carry an extra hook. A large meal is far more likely to create a response from a large fish as in energy spent for that regained. The extra hook itself is simple mathematics you double your chances of coming up solid and when it comes to hooking into a giant cod then I’m all for those odds. At a guess, I would rate at least 30% of our hook- ups on large Murray cod would come on the stinger hook alone.

The majority of the overall catch would be made up of the fish being caught on a combination of both hooks with the rest caught on the front or pre rigged hook alone. It really comes down to one simple question why as an angler would you not want to increase your hook up rate by adding a stinger? It’s a question that in common sense terms escapes me and the answer I suspect hinges more on tempting fate than tempting fish.

The downside to swinging an extra hook is that most anglers are of the opinion that it will increase the chances of becoming snagged. And while there may be some credence to these thoughts, the overall increase in snagging is very small. When you wind a spinnerbait it travels in an upright position whether it has one hook or two does not alter the angle on which it swims. This vertical presentation allows the spinnerbait to ride the timber well so long as you keep up momentum. Increased snags come from pausing the spinnerbait when they come up against a snag this allows them to fall on their side. You should not pause the spinnerbait until you have hoped over the snag it is then you can allow it to freefall a small distance down the other side before you recommence the wind. This technique is deadly on cod and a shore fire winner when practiced correctly. There is however, a notable increase in snagging when you look for depth with your first cast, this is especially true if you allow it to freefall all the way to the bottom. Once again, this allows the spinnerbait to fall on its side opening up the opportunity to snag. In saying that, this is exactly the way I fish them on the first cast to any snag. Being struck deep on the drop has yielded me many a large cod and those capture well and truly over shadow the inconvenience of a few extra snags.

Spinnerbaits are an excellent lure that have the effect to create plenty of opportunity, having the foresight to rig them with a stinger soft plastic combo provides the means to grasp it when it presents itself.