Murray River Boofing

[Truedogz]

I've had a fair bit on work wise with nearly 10 days straight, bar Anzac day, coming up. I thought I'd better take the opportunity with a couple of days off to do some boofing!

Headed up to the Murray River in the general area of where we have our FV cod trip:

First job was prepare dinner. I slow cooked Osso Bucco in the camp oven. As Con the fruiterer used to say, Beeewdifull:

Saw a few boats on the river, had a chat to a few people. They said the cod were quiet, very little trolling, with a few small ones on cheese. The water temperatures are starting to fall so it is heading to the time where the cod fishing quietens off.

In the evening I headed off with my new combination for flicking heavy lures - a Veritas swimbait rod and a Shimano Tranx reel. I picked up both on specials. The Tranx is a beautiful reel, very smooth and I think a better machine than the Curado I use on my other rod. Anyhow, I nailed my first cod off the top on the new combo, about 40 cm. It looked small compared to the Tranx reel. I caught another similar sized fish, a couple of other small boofs and that was the first evening:

Up early next morning I went out with my old combo, picking up this nice 60 cm fish:

Half an hour later I landed this beauty which I guessed at close to 90 cm:

Having got the fish up a steep bank I wasn't keen on lifting it again onto a brag mat so I roughly laid the mat quickly alongside. The fish was between 88-90 cm, so not a bad guess:

At that point I was really happy, having caught a cod off the top near 90 cm a fortnight after catching a metre plus fish. Fifteen minutes later I got hit by a metre plus fish which headed out into the fast water and went under a snag. I didn't see the fish and the boof wasn't as thunderous as the one in the Goulburn two weeks ago, but the way it peeled line off the drag left no doubt that it was a serious fish. Foolish me, I had earlier backed the drag off and that may have cost me, but it might have done me anyway. I didn't do my block, that's the luck of fishing. Guys like Davek and Milzee are doing their best to get a metre cod and really I am being spoilt hooking two in a fortnight. I suppose the positive thing was if I keep trying I will get another metre cod some time .

I went out in the evening fishing surface lures on the edge of fast water. I had several boofs, hooking one fish of about 60 and another of at least 70, both of which got off. So I got a doughnut for the last evening, but it wasn't boring. I am doing all of the surface fishing from the bank as I don't have a boat which makes things hard: I can't get to all the good spots I see and I can't drag hooked fish away from snags. I have to also give many spots a miss as the bank is often undercut and if I get a good one I won't be able to land it. As fishing off the bank limits my options I tend to work over good looking spots thoroughly.

Several people have asked me about the fast water ambush spots I target, well here is a pic of one, its where I hooked the big one this trip:

You can cast the surface lure into these eddys and it will often sit there out of the main current. You can twitch it a bit to get the attention of fish, then work it out into the current, where the fish will then hit it before it gets away. I've had a lot of success with this approach. It doesn't seem to matter how deep or fast the water is, cod will hit lures off the top in these locations.

So three sessions fished for 2, 2 and zero fish but pretty good quality. I didn't bother drowning a bait and these days I almost exclusively chase cod with surface lures. I might be catching fewer cod but the quality is good and the boofs are amazing!

Best Wishes

Truedogz

[smile0784]

Well done

[Sinsemilla]

Osso bucco and surface strikes.. A man can't ask for more than that! Cheers for the report Truedogz. It's always a pleasure.

Anth

[Lightningx]

Nice report and pics :thumbsup:

[Millzee]

Great stuff Will, good to see your still hooking up.

[davek]

Good work once again Will, seeing as I have a 5 day weekend coming up I had better get out amongst them, :a_goodjob: cheers davo

[Texas]

Great report and photos, Will
Got a stump like that on the Mitchell, I'm eyeing off
Not just a scientist, but an MKR finalist (on the Murray anyway)
Cheers Gra

[ecoronad]

" At that point, I was really happy".... understatement of the year I bet. Bloody hell, I would have been shouting and jumping out of my skin!!! Monster cod caught; land based; off the surface; on the biggest river in Australia - with Osso Bucco too. Fishing nirvana.

How early did you start in the morning?

[Boonanza]

Really great report Will and some cracking fish mate :thumbsup:

[greggo]

Great report, you gotta love surface fishing Cod. ( I think someone's addicted! )