FISH & BOAT, February 2019- P37 Fishing From previous page It belted a quarter ounce, yellow skirted, twin-bladed model, which resembled nothing that I had ever seen swimming in the river (or ocean, for that matter!) But the bass was interested and struck hard. Many more have done so since! This day the decision was made to switch to a McCod, single bladed yellow/orange skirted spin- ner bait of 1oz weight. The lure was dropped right into the fish’s home territory – under the branch. If it spooked; too bad! If it did get fired up at the intrusion; good! If it struck the lure; even better! It struck on the second cast. I pondered the cod’s reaction over a rum that night as I sat around the campfire. It had taken more than half an hour to stir that fish into striking. Was it the change of lure to a spinnerbait? Was it the rude in- trusion of dropping the lure almost, right on top of its head as opposed to dragging lures through, or past, its territory? Or was it just the time for the fish to start feeding? I dis- cussed these points with mate, Les Teeth of cod are numerous and sharp. This fella, all tagged up, is ready for release. Reibelt, who was out at Glenlyon at that time. Les is a well-known, well-respect- straight down onto the fish, was when entering these submerged, or It was time to move to open banks The big spinner bait lure was ed fisherman. Many refer to him as the final straw. We then discussed partly submerged, forests. But there and work the points. Two more cod lobbed right in tight against the “The Cod King”, as his status as a fishing the timber, before putting are some rules that apply which al- were taken, one of 63cms and thetrunk of a big, old, gnarled and knot- cod fisherman is legendary. And for in a night session tossing big sur- ways help me to get started. other 56cms. Nice fish. But not a ted ironbark tree that I was target- very good reasons - he has caught face lures at one of the many points Every dam is a series of flooded metre! ing. The count got to five, and the more than 1300 cod, with 100 ofaround the lake. A storm rolled inrivers, creeks and gullies. It is im-Late afternoon of day six and thelure seemed to stop. I waited, and those captures being fish of more from the southwest, and it rained portant to locate and map thesewind dropped out to a steady 10nothing happened. Then started the than a metre in length. and rained. Then blew a gale! submerged features when you firstknots and swung to the sou-east.retrieve. The line moved sideways, In fact his one hundredth, metre Day two was cold and wet. Thevisit the area. In most circumstanc-Les had taken another two nicethen dropped vertical. I kept wind- plus Murray cod was caught when barometer dropped to 1009 hecto- es, the densest stands of timber are fish of around 80cms and pointeding, not sure of what was happening. we fished Glenlyon in November.pascal (hPa) and the whole water-along, or adjacent to, these old wa-me in the direction of the timber,Deep down I could see the lure Like I said, a legendary figure in cod way closed down. Day three was the tercourses. These are the places to with some specific instructions –pulling over large branch of the old fishing, as well as a good bloke. same. start searching. Secondly, it pays to big baits, big fish! And work the big tree. It was rising vertical, very un- Les shed a lot of light on the reac- Day four and I ventured out and look for any other features immedi- tree trunks! A few thoughts raced natural! And behind it was a mon- tion of that 65cm cod. “Light”, that bounced around in the 600mmately adjacent to the old watercourse,through my head. ster cod nudging the spinnerbait as put another nine cod in my boat, un- slop. The wind was It belted a quarter ounce, e.g. features such I followed the old creek bank up it rose. Like me, it too was confused. der what could only be described as, south-to-south- yellow skirted, twin-bladedas rock outcrops,beyond an area called “The Caves”Not sure of what to do I dropped the “trying conditions”. westat 20 knots, sunken timber, and moved from the edge of thelure back. The fish had a whack, but Les was not surprised at the fish’s andit was cold. model,which resembled mounds etc. Fish bank out onto the flooded creek flats it was more of a head slap than an non-acceptance of the lures in the The water temper- nothing that I hadever seen will hold overwhere there was some large standingactual strike. It did not come back, first instance.fish had probably only recently fed.In his opinion, theature was 20C. I swimmingin the river (or and around these timber. I switched from my Saun-no matter how hard I tried. In hind- The school of bony bream and yel- took four small codetween 52cms andb ocean, for that matter!) asthroughoutthey movetheders made hard bodied timber min-now, which had proved so deadly onsight, I should have kept the lurecoming and worked it over the log. lowbelly only five metres away from 58cms along with five big yellowbel- water column. And finally, when the cod occupying the point drop- Les informed me that this is a com- its position at the log was proof of ly. These fish were all taken whilst amongst the timber, look for domi- offs, to a Reibelt built 1½oz spinner mon occurrence when fishing for this. His second point was that trolling the deep drop-offs wide nant timber structure - old trees that bait. cod amongst the timbers. And the cod, when actively feeding, will take of the points. At least there were will not only afford cover but offer It was always going to be toughrule is, “keep the lure moving in the up a particular (often specific) sta- some fish feeding. Les nailed three shade as well! fishing. And after an hour of tossing same direction” and quite often the tion that gives them a great vantage cod between 67cms and 109cms (a Day five was again cold and windy. that lure on one-handed baitcasting fish will strike right at the branch, or, point (and therefore, the advantage) metre + fish). The bigger fish were Fishing amongst the timber withgear, both my arm and wrist wereimmediately after it passes over and to prey on schooling baitfish. amongst the timber. lures was difficult. The strength feeling the strain. I hesitated on the begins to drop again. Deep under a log is not a feed- Lake Glenlyon has a lot of timber of the southerly had built up to 20 next cast. It was a mistake! The quest continues. ing station! My success, with the upstream of the main basin. These knots, with gusts to 27 knots. Not spinnerbait, was that it, “really did stands occur in the areas of the old good in a 3.85m, V-nose punt. Even A beautifully marked 63cm upset the fish.” It (the lure) was in creek flats and along the walls of the the Minn Kota could not hold the cod taken on a Saunders lure. its home territory, and he (the fish) gullies. Like most anglers, I find it boat in position long enough to al- was not going to move. That second a rather daunting task to identify low me to effectively work a cast at cast, and the fact that the lure came where the fish might be holdingthe trees. The gnarled and knotted Iron bark tree where Bill encountered a meter plus cod. A school of yellowbelly sitting just wide of the log that produced Bill’s first cod of the trip.