We started our Murray cod fishing early today. We got up at 4:20 AM and were unlocking a gate before 5. Its late spring here in the bush of Australia and the birds were singing. The leaves on the trees and shrubs are new and still that brighter early season green. Josh Hutchins guided his son Hunter and I by headlamp to our first fishing spot. The tiny hole didn’t look like much, but it wouldn’t take long to realize Josh got us up early for this pool for a reason.
The goal this morning was to get nine year old Hunter his first Murray cod on fly. Though only nine, Hunter can already cast a 9-weight with a big Blane Chocklett popper far enough to catch fish. I kicked back and watched. It was especially cool because it reminded me of my first ever opening day of trout season on the Ipswich River in Massachusetts with my dad.
Hunter started at the lower end of the pool and Josh had him ease his way up. Yesterday, most our fish came in the deepest rockiest parts of the pools, but before sunrise it was quickly evident that the Murray cod were cruising all over feeding in the low light. Young Hunter is learning the strip set and he had a couple different cod explode on his popper in less than a foot of water but didn’t come tight.
It’s normal to miss a few strikes from cod. You can do everything right and not hook up. As mentioned yesterday, these cod have very hard mouths with lots of small teeth blocking places to parch a hook. But persistence always pays off in fishing. Less than 30 minutes into our day, young Hunter was proudly posing for dad. I’m most certain dad was the prouder one behind the camera!
During our first hour of fishing I think every Murray cod in the river was feeding. Each good looking location provided a hard strike and places that looked fair, they still enticed a strike or at least a good swirl. I had one big fish take a shot at my popper. It was a tricky spot to set the hook because my line was hanging off a ledge. There wasn’t an alternative around this. In any case the big fish (Josh says he’s 15lbs) sipped my fly but I missed him.
When I missed the big boy, I gave him a five minute rest. My hook never touched him so there was definitely a chance. When I made the next cast I had to settle for this smaller guy here – not bad.
We fished and hiked for six hours this morning. We covered some serious ground. Some was treacherous rock terrain through and around the river. Other times the river was too rocky and we had to tramp through tall grass. Australia is crawling with poisonous snakes so the tall grass wasn’t a favorite part of the morning for us. Luckily all we ran into were cool looking lizards.
I’ve already mentioned how beautiful this little river is but my writing doesn’t do it justice. Nor can I describe how small and unique it is yet its home to some dang good sized Murray cod. By noon between the three of us we’d caught over a dozen Murray cod. I got up on a high rock and took in the scenery and birds while the Hutchins boys worked over the last couple of pools.
We packed our morning session in around noon. We’d fished our way about a mile downstream from where we parked Josh’s Toyota. It was scorching hot out and covering the grueling terrain back wasn’t exactly a blast. I’m more than impressed that Hunter only asked “how far are we dad” only three times.
We took a break for a few hours to beat the heat then started a new 24 hours adventure. Josh’s friend Russell, the owner of the 8,000 acre ranch with the Murray cod river, invited us to fish with him tonight and tomorrow morning and stay at his cabin. His cabin was a one hour 4 wheel drive through heaps of Eastern gray kangaroos, wallabies and wallaroos.
The cabin is so far out in the boonies its incredible. When we arrived at 5 PM the scorching heat still hadn’t let up. Josh and I grabbed a seat on the porch and a cold beer from the Yeti. The birds were singing and the sounds of cicadas and grasshoppers are loud. Its very much like being in true jungle.
Russell arrived shortly after and it was time to go fishing. He has a side-by-side so we loaded our rods and packs and went. This rig is by far the best for getting around this tough turf.
We fished two beautiful pools tonight – a couple of both Russell’s and Josh’s favorites. But you may remember how our phenomenal fishing yesterday evening ended abruptly like someone turned a switch, tonight the switch had already been turned. Despite how good looking the water was tonight, the cod were scarce.
This isn’t to say we didn’t stick a few fish, but not many. And the ones we caught were less than our average size. They did devour poppers and high riding big white streamers however and that’s always a blast.
We’re cooking up steaks and freshly killed pig chops for dinner along with the rest of our corn on the cob and broccolini. The pigs are a nuisance on the property and one of Russell’s favorite hobbies is hunting them.
That’s all for today. It was another beauty of a day. I’m so grateful to Josh for taking me on this amazing Murray cod Australian experience. I’m sad to say, tomorrow morning will be my last bit of fishing for 2025 and then the long journey home begins. Let’s end it big!