Episode 16: Murray Cod Fishing With Rod Mackenzie

Rod’s Tips For Big Murray Cod Fishing

• Do the research to find out where the big fish are consistently being caught and choose a destination where the chances of finding big fish are high and make sure your tackle, knots and gear are in good condition before you leave home.
• Use social media and fishing reports to piece together where the big fish are being caught and try to figure out the spots where Murray cod are consistently being caught, then try and find out what the lunar phase and weather conditions were like when the fish were caught. Be a “fish detective”.
• If you’re fishing an area you haven’t fished before, concentrate on the structure that typically holds Murray cod, such as deep bends on rivers, rock bars and old logs. As a rule of thumb, the older and larger a log is, the larger the cod it’s likely to hold.
• Upgrade treble hooks and split rings, use fairly heavy line and a heavy drag. The aim is to keep a cod moving forwards and out of the structure in the first few seconds to prevent it turning back to cover and allow the fight to take place in more open water.
• Rod fishes surface lures at either end of the day during the low light periods when fish are closer to the surface. He switches to hard body lures as the sun gets higher in the sky and fish retreat back further into cover. Through the middle of the day he’ll fish deeper along the snags with spinnerbaits. He also mentions that fish don’t follow rules, so it doesn’t hurt to try mixing the lures up regardless of time of day.
• Rod believes that cod learn to recognise the sound lures make and can become wary of taking lures with sounds they associate with a threat. “The less sound the better”.

Rod’s Tackle For Murray Cod Fishing

• Rod uses a 7 foot Venom Rod in the 8kg line class, with a long grip and couples it with a Combat reel loaded with 50lb braid. This outfit allows for long casting and has the power to stop very large cod when fished as Rod describes

Rod’s Three Top Lures For Targeting Cod

• JJ Lures No 1 Stumpjumper is a good-sized, strong actioned Australian-made lure that’s prefect for Murray cod fishing. A great benefit of this lure is the ability for it to “back out” of snags when the angler stops retrieving, allowing it to be worked close to and even through heavy cover.
• Bassman Spinnerbaits are great when the fish aren’t reacting to hard bodies, or if you need to fish deeper. Different styles are used for different conditions: A 4×4 is great for shallower water, a deeper one with some size is the DT, a willow leaf 1 oz model is perfect when there is more current as the blades won’t catch the current as much.
• Surface lures account for a lot of big Murray cod, especially early morning and late afternoon. Many different brand and models work, the main thing is to fish them close to cover.

Best Times To Fish For Murray Cod

• March, April and May are the best months and fish are more active and aggressive when there is a sharp rise or drop in barometric pressure. A steady barometer usually fishes poorly.