Episode 455: Lake Eildon Murray Cod With Kate Norman

Kate’s Top Tips For Murray Cod Fishing

• Eildon is a very big body of water and it’s easy to spend a lot of time moving around looking for fish. But you don’t have to travel too far from the boat ramp and it’s usually better to focus on putting in time in an area that you know or suspect holds some fish.
• People love to fish through the day, but Kate gets the best results fishing after dark. Fish will often move out of hard structure and into more open waters around underwater plateaus and flats under cover of darkness. The bigger fish tend to be in these areas, rather than steep rocky banks.
• Look for places that are tucked out of the wind and away from boat traffic. Perfect conditions for Kate tend to be still days and nights, though she finds an approaching storm front can sometimes stir up some action.
• At night the fish often come away from structure and are a little easier to extract.
• Be careful not to set the hook the instant you get a bite as cod have huge bucket mouths and feed by imploding on the lure. Soft hands will allow the fish to get the lure down a little more and increase the chances of the hook finding the inside of the fish’s mouth.
• It’s important to upgrade the hooks and rings on your big cod lures. 100lb decoy rings are a must, along with 4x 1/0 to 2/0 Owner trebles for strength and penetration.
• If you’re having a tough session and are feeling frustrated, stop fishing for a bit, have a bite to eat and start again feeling a bit fresher. Also try switching up the lures and techniques if the fishing is tough.

Kate’s Murray Cod Fishing Tackle

• Kate likes the Wilson Venom 8kg baitcast and 7’6” Wilson Venom Swimbait rods. She couples these with 13 Fishing Concept A3 baitcast reels, 40lb of drag and are ideal for stopping rampaging Murray cod. Suffix 131 50lb Braid and a 50lb Shimano Ocea leader complete the outfits.

Kate’s Top Lures For Murray Cod

• The Megabass Vatalion 190mm jointed swimbait is subtle and is a great option for Eildon. This lure is Kate’s go-to and she’ll always have a rod in the boat rigged with this lure ready to go. They can simply be slow rolled as slowly as you can with the lure still working, Kate finds that fish tend to spook if you pause the retrieve. Make sure that you retrieve the lure all the way to the boat, it’s not uncommon for a large cod to nail the lure almost boat side. Can be fished unweighted over shallower water, but Kate will often be fishing them in 3-10m with a ½ to ¾ oz chin weight.
• Megabass 10” Magdraft rigged with a stinger is very effective on Murray cod. This is a good lure to use if the fish seem to be spooking from the Vatalion. It’s fished the same way as the Vatalion
• The Rapala XRap Peto is a hybrid hard and soft body lure that is great when the fish are a bit spooky. It’s a slow sinking lure but can be used with a chin weight also. Kate likes this lure when there’s a couple of metres of water over the structure. Once again, if you find that the fish are spooking at the other two lures you might find that this smaller profile lure is more effective.