Murray Cod Lures

Lures That Push Water

Cod have a genuinely broad diet, from small fish and yabbies to frogs and mice, so a lure doesn’t need to match anything precisely, but it does need to push water. In the murky water that describes much of the Murray-Darling system for a good part of the year, fish find a lure by vibration as much as by sight, and displacement matters more than realism. That’s why our Murray cod range leans on a few proven styles rather than one hero lure. Deep-diving, big-billed crankbaits like the Austackle Wobbler are easy to work around snags and right into the face of a fish. Jointed, segmented swimbaits, from around 100mm up to the 180mm Afishlure Poddy Mullet, give a large, fish-like profile and plenty of movement. Afishlure’s Lively Crayfish and prawn-style lures imitate food cod eat all year, and they’re worth having for the days a fish ignores a baitfish profile. Our range is built around these styles rather than heavy spinnerbaits, and surface lures such as poppers, frogs and mouse patterns come into their own on warm, still evenings when fish push up onto shallow flats to feed.

Working a Surface Lure

Surface fishing is where cod fishing gets properly addictive, and also where patience pays off most. The Austackle Spritz and Big Spritz have two tow points, giving a popping action from the lower point and a walk-the-dog action from the upper one, so one lure covers two styles. Whichever you choose, a slow walk, a long pause right beside a log, and the discipline to leave it sitting will often draw the take. Our range also covers frogs and mouse-style lures like the Afishlure Hunt Mouse for dusk and after dark.

Tackle for a Short, Brutal Fight

Tackle for cod needs to be built for the fight you’ll actually have, which is a short, brutal one at close range with timber on every side. Baitcast outfits paired with heavy braid and a strong monofilament or fluorocarbon leader are the usual choice, because anything lighter simply won’t turn a big fish’s head before it reaches the snag it launched from. Our Krypto 8 Ultrabraid tops out at 50lb, and our Krypto Shock Leader comes in 50, 60 and 80lb, which covers the leader end of a cod setup. This is heavier gear than most Australian freshwater fishing calls for, and it’s worth setting up a dedicated cod outfit rather than trying to stretch a bass rod to do a job it was never built for.

Seasons and Closures

Cod fishing follows water temperature closely, and it follows the rules even more closely. In New South Wales, Murray cod can’t be taken from 1 September to 30 November, covering the spring spawning period, with Copeton and Blowering dams exempt. Victoria uses the same dates, but its exemptions are much broader: the closure does not apply to waters south of the Great Dividing Range (except the Yarra River), the Wimmera and Millicent basins (except the Wimmera River), or a list of named waters that includes Lake Eildon, Lake Eppalock and Cairn Curran Reservoir. Queensland has its own closure in the Murray-Darling drainage, from 1 August to 31 October, with Beardmore, Connolly, Cooby, Coolmunda, Glenlyon, Leslie and Storm King dams exempt. South Australia has its own rules as well, so always check your state’s current rules and the specific water before you plan a trip.

Outside the closure, summer and into early autumn are the most reliable, once fish have recovered condition and the water has warmed. Low light at dawn and dusk, and overcast or humid days, generally outfish the middle of a bright, still afternoon, while cold winter water slows fish right down and rewards slower, smaller presentations.

Where to Fish

Classic Murray-Darling cod water includes Lake Mulwala on the NSW-Victorian border, Copeton Dam and the Gwydir system, the Menindee Lakes on the lower Darling, and the Murrumbidgee River through the Riverina, along with countless smaller creeks and billabongs that hold fish few anglers ever target. These same systems often hold carp in genuinely frustrating numbers, and a cod angler working timber will regularly find carp finning over the shallows on the same drift.

The Most Common Mistake

The mistake we see most often, both from visiting anglers and locals who should know better, is fishing too fast and too far from cover. Cod don’t move far to eat, so a lure worked briskly past the edge of a snag gets one look and a refusal, while the same lure worked slowly right against the timber, with pauses right in the strike zone, gets eaten. The second most common error is going too light on leader out of habit from other lure fishing, then losing a good fish in the snag it just came out of. Treat every cast as though the next bite could be the biggest fish you’ve hooked this year, because down the Murray-Darling system, on any given cast, it genuinely could be.