Last night was the end of two back to back travel days here in Australia. Thursday, I left the Wildcard mothership in the Wessel Islands closing the book on my Yellow Dog / Aussie Fly Fisher hosted trip. Then I flew to Sydney and stayed at Joshua Hutchins house (owner of Aussie Fly Fisher). Yesterday Josh and his nine year old son Hunter and I drove for eight hours from Sydney to the edge of the Australian Outback to do three days of freshwater fishing for a fish called the Murray cod (Maccullochella peelii).
The Murray cod is not a cod at all. It’s not only Australia’s largest freshwater fish but in fact one of the world’s largest. The biggest on record was almost 6 feet in length and weighed 250 lbs. This pretty warmwater game fish is sort of a smallmouth bass crossed with a walleye with a head and mouth similar to that of a snook. They are strangely soft to the touch and broad across the back. They have cool almost snakish type markings stitched together in white, yellow, olive, brown and black. When you look down their backs there are vermiculation’s kind of like what you find on a brook trout.
Like all of the worlds giant freshwater fish, Murray cod became critically endangered due to overfishing and habitat loss. During my first trip to Australia back in 1996 I investigated opportunities to catch a Murray cod. I was quick to learn that most of my Australian friends hadn’t even caught one because populations had been decimated. I’m thrilled to say that since then, 30 years of strict fishing regulations, habitat improvement and stocking have brought them back and in some of their native waters of the Murray-Darling River system the Murray cod are flourishing.
In some remote regions Murray cod populations have recovered so well that Josh’s Aussie Fly Fisher offers guided trips for these fantastic fish. I’m grateful that Josh has generously invited me to fish with he and Hunter for three days at one of his locations.
We’re staying in a cabin at a tiny RV park in the middle of nowhere with close access to a Murray cod river that passes through more than 8,000 acres of private land. Josh has become friends with the landowners and made arrangements to have full access.
While normally Murray cod fly fishing days start early, usually an hour before sunrise, today we started at gentleman’s hours – meaning around 8 AM. Our decision to sleep in was a combination of needing some time to get organized this morning and collect keys for gates, but also because the area is experiencing a cold front. It was a brisk 58° when I made my first cast. Fortunately the sun raised things dramatically by mid-morning and our next two days temps will be back to normal – which is hot!
While Murray cod can get quite large, specimens more than 30” are uncommon. But just because it’s possible to find a lunker, I’m using my 9-weight Winston. And because I’m living out of a Yeti duffle for three weeks, I’m making my SA WF9F Tropical Grand Slam saltwater flats line I used in the Wessels do the job here too. It’s actually fine because we’re fishing mostly poppers and streamers around rocks and ledges and though this morning wasn’t hot to start, it sure was by the time we got to midday.
The river is beautiful. Its small and bouldery with a visibility of a few feet. It consists of short little rapids and water falls then long slow moving deep pools.
Josh sent me first into a really beautiful looking pool and hung back and took photos. Most of the photos you see in today’s and the next two blogs will likely be taken by Josh. I’ve been enjoying his photos and videos for years. Be sure to check out some of his works on IG at Aussieflyfisher.
I was quick to learn the cod enjoy holding deep and close to the rocks. They weren’t right up by the waterfalls and rapids like trout and other species for that matter. I landed my first by prying him out from between a couple rocks with my streamer in slow water. What a cool new species for my list!
We worked that first pool for about 45 minutes. There was a lot of good looking water in that pool and I had one more fish look at a popper, but the one I got was all we got. We spent the morning driving from pool to pool. Josh has one heck of a nice Toyota. There’s no doubt my Explorer, the Silver Bullet, would not have survived the roughness of today’s backcountry driving.
By midday I started getting the hang of Murray cod fishing. It was all about reading the water and then being ready for the strike. These fish have a hard jaw with a ridge of tiny teeth. The best method to connect is to jab them good with a long powerful strip set and then keep stripping until you can’t. They will make a strong pull back for the rocks but like any fish, if you can disorient them fast you have a good shot.
After an excellent morning fishing, I think we landed four cod, we took a break from the heat. We had lunch on our last location then wandered back to the cabin for midafternoon naps. Things warmed up very nicely. I’d guess it was easily in the 80°s. Then we headed back out around 4 PM.
We fished further upstream from this morning in much different type of water. Rather than rocks and forest, the structure we dealt with tonight were weeds and open farmland. The river was very slow and wide here and you had to work your fly between the weeds. If you could guide it through, you’d move a fish often.
Between about 5 and 7 PM our fishing was incredible. While we thought we did well landing four Murray cod this morning, this afternoon we landed well over ten. I know I got about seven myself and several were nice ones like I’m holding here.
We didn’t leave fishing until pitch dark which is at about 8:15. Though Josh thought our best fishing would be at dark, it truly ended around 7. Murray cod behavior must be like many fish such as brown trout or smallmouth bass, something changes and the bite simply shuts off.
We’re back at the cabin cooking up some brats and corn on the cob on the grill. I’m in a short sleeve. It’s pretty darn nice – especially when I just looked and saw that its -4° in Hayward Wisconsin. I should probably feel guilty but I don’t. There’s only two more days of this great trip then I’ll be home too.