South Australian Angler – June 2018

the river towards the NSW border.
If the wind is up, I head anywhere
north of Morgan, as this allows escape
from the afternoon breeze, which can
often get pretty wild in the southern
reaches. Once I’m content on where I’m
heading for the day, I can pick a time to
leave so that I can be on the water just as
it starts to get light. Simply set the alarm
and be ready for the mornin road trip!
Starting the day on the cod
There is something quite magical
about first light on the Murray River. I
love the changes in colour as the sun
begins to rise, the hundreds of birds
calling it in, and the fact that most of the
time you can have a piece all to yourself.
This is, without a doubt, my favourite
time to be casting cod lures in search of
a big fish.
There are a couple of options you can
try at first light. Firstly, drifting the cliffs
is an excellent choice. The cliffs are just
one long piece of opportunity, where a

fish can turn up pretty much anywhere

along their entire length. If there is no

wind around, try to position the boat

at the upstream end of the cliff so that

you can slowly drift down with the

current. We have a rule of only casting

downstream of the boat, which not only

keeps the drift at a perfect rate, it will

also result in a lot less snagged lures.

When you do happen to snag and aren’t

able to flick the lure off, you are able to

wait for the boat to drift over it while the

other angler continues to fish.

I find the best position to sit is just

a couple of metres off of the edge,

and that way casts can be fanned in all

directions ahead of the boat, covering

the water very effectively. When I’m

fishing timber, I actually prefer to go

against the current where possible.

Fishing timber requires very accurate

casting, and I find this much easier

with better control of the boat. On the

Murray, timber usually goes in runs,

where particular banks have many snags

along one side. It is very important to

remember that each and every one of

these snags has the potential of holding

cod, so you need to work each one over.

The moment you skip one, you could

be passing by the only feeding cod you

might encounter for the day.

Whether I am casting a crank bait

or spinnerbait, I will always place a few

casts down one side of the timber, a few

across the front and then a few down

the other side. The same goes for every

snag in the run until I come across the

one that has a feeding fish on it. You

never really know whether that is going

to be the first cast for the day or the

very last!

Regardless of whether I am fishing

the cliffs or casting at snags, I pretty

much only ever tie on a Storm Arashi

Deep25, Stumpjumper in size one, or

FT Lures Raider spinnerbait. I may take

as many as six boxes of lures with me,

Even smaller cod are superb fish to catch

uoS

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