Curtis Parker
Sponsored Freshwater Specialist
Curtis has been a freshwater fishing specialist for his whole life and made the move from Penrith to Jackadgery many years ago to be closer to the opportunities, particularly big, wild river bass and wily Murray Cod. He’s a sponsored angler and active on social media, where he shares his fishing knowledge.
Curtis’ Top Tips For Glenlyon Murray Cod
- Don’t start fishing straight away, especially if you’re not on the water during the peak bite windows. It’s better to use the slow times to explore the system with your side scan sonar looking for areas where bait are holding and return to them during the peak times.
- Lot’s of focus these days is on the flats and points, don’t forget that cod like timber and granite boulders too, just as they always have. There are plenty of less pressured fish to be found by fishing these structures.
- Peak periods occur in the days leading to the full moon, with peak times always the low light periods at either end of the day. A stable barometer doesn’t usually fish very well, fish tend to be more active when the barometer is either rising or falling. Cod can be caught all year round in Glenlyon, but late May is Curtis’ favourite time.
- If you’re on bait at the prime times but not getting bites it’s time to start switching lures and working through your box. Try lots of different things until you find something that works.
Curtis’ Preferred Cod Tackle
- Curtis like baitcast gear for his cod fishing and favours Edge Rods of around 7ft coupled with Daiwa Zillion reels loaded with 50lb braid and finished with a 1.5 to 2m of 50lb fluorocarbon leader.
Curtis’ Best Cod Fishing Lures
- The Castaic 8” BD Shad swimbait is always tied on to one of his rods when he’s fishing Glenlyon. Curtis finds swimbaits fish more consistently that topwater lures, with less missed fish. He uses the Castaic swimbait in the pre-dawn and dawn period as well as the dusk and early evening. If he’s on bait during the peak bite periods he’ll fish these baits slowly with plenty of changes of pace and lots of pauses. Often fish respond to the change of pace and winding quickly before stopping suddenly can often incite a strike. These lures can also be used on a constant retrieve, which is a good strategy if you’re not confident that you’re on fish and want to cover maximum ground during the prime bite periods.
- 1oz New England Chatterbait is a great lure that pumps out a stronger vibration than most other chatterbaits and is relatively snag-proof. Curtis switches to these when the sun hits the water and bounces them into logs, boulders and other structure, often fishing them quite deep.
- The Jackall Gigantarel is a Curtis’ third pick. It is fished the same way as the Castaic BD Shad, Curtis has both rigged on separate rods and switches between them to find which is fishing the best on the day.
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