New England Cod Foray

[bersim]

If you're keen for a cod report then sit back and relax as this is going to be a long one with heaps of cod...

Last week the decision was made to head up for half a week of chasing murray cod in the New England region.  After booking a nice farm stay cottage seeing as the whole family was coming along, Dad and I began packing the lures and gear in anticipation for the trip to come.  After arriving on Tuesday afternoon I was keen to do some exploring to try and nab a cod before the trip had even really started!

We headed off to try a couple of likely looking spots and rivers, throwing all sorts of surface lures to try and entice a hungry murray cod from the depths.  After the rain set in we still remained keen to start the trip on a high, and shortly after arriving at our last spot Dad got smashed by a hungry surface feeding cod!  Sadly this fish didn't hook up but it still made us super excited and keen to keep fishing!  As the sun began to drop and the rain drops in our hair began to freeze, it seemed like a pretty good time to head home for a hot shower and some dinner before heading off to bed.  

Day 1:

After waking up pretty early to find out that there had been large amounts of rain, we were a little on edge to find out whether the river that we had planned on fishing was still clear and looking extremely fishy.  You can pretty much guess how we were feeling after seeing that it looked like this .  

All that driving and we weren't going to be able to catch any cod for the trip...?  No way was that happening!  We decided that this wasn't going to stop us finding a fishable river so we spent the day exploring all of the nearby creeks and man was it worth it!  We found a small yet very awesome looking stretch of river that seemed as if it hadn't even seen a drop of rain in months!  It still had a little bit of weed on the surface in parts, but had plenty of large boulders and logs; a perfect lair for a large green fish.  We had a quick flick at the very start of the place which looked nowhere near as good as the rest, however we managed to land 2 nice little cod on jackal and sebile lures.  

That was a nice little start to the trip and we knew that it would only get better from here.  At this stage it was getting late in the day and we decided to leave the creek and return early in the morning due to our long day of driving that we had just had.  

Day 2:

We ended up getting away pretty late from the house this day so I had to rule catching my first early morning surface cod off the the list for that morning.  However we still had a great few hours catching and hooking many nice cod on jackall cranks, stump jumpers and D&S lures.  The country that we were fishing around was just spectacular with large boulders as well as plenty of wildlife coming down to check us out.  I'd also like to add that the new car is performing well above my expectations and there was nowhere that it couldn't get us!  It was great being able to see a track near the river and bounce our way along the grass to get there.  

Some of the places looked extremely fishy and generally a fishy snag did hold a fish 

Below is a picture of a nice under water boulder that I hooked a reasonably small fish off, bouncing my lure into his hide out.  I dropped this fish at the bank but all of this is on the go pro.  I will be making a video of the trip when I get the time...

After a fair bit of walking along pretty easyish sheep trails Dad and I left Beth to have a break so we could explore further up the untouched river.  It was a pretty nice place to relax as a few cod were caught from this hole.  

Much to our surprise Dad caught a lovely redfin perch... an unexpected by-catch but most welcome considering its very pretty colouring.  This got me thinking maybe there won't be any cod beyond this point... and oh man was I wrong!

We decided to head back at this point still not knowing what lay ahead...

On the way back Beth picked up a beautiful cod on a stump jumper, no PB but a great fish and she was stoked!  

She thought this would be the cod for the trip and although she had that title for a fair while, it was soon to be claimed by Dad.  On our way home (we had dropped the kayaks and walked the banks) I picked up a nice cod yet again on the jackal crank and 8-16lb Nordic Stage Favourite.  

Loving the new set up!

Day 3:

After a few days of working out where the cod were sitting and what they were feeding on, the fishing started to really ramp up.  I decided to try a larger style D&S cod lure made by Matt and Al on the site ( @Bommie and @big al ).  This had such an awesome action and I hooked up to a great fish at the start of the day but sadly dropped it due to it being hooked on the head.  A little while later after bobbing it near a nice snag a large cod came up and boofed it off the surface, sadly not hooking up!  Couldn't believe I'd lost 2 cod for the day now so after getting my act together I finally landed a cod on the awesome looking lure!

On my way back it was beginning to get dark so I decided to try a jackall pompadour which costs a fortune so better work!  After a few casts the water erupted and I was extremely happy to land my first surface cod ever from just behind my left shoulder!  What a hit!  I opted for a 10-20lb nordic and it was great for whipping the heavy lure with great accuracy.  

Who would ever want to come home embarrassed to say they only caught a 40cm cod on surface... not me so I kept fishing so I could upgrade to this stumpy old fatty.  It was cool cause I had seen this fish follow in my lure the day before!

After getting in this beauty Dad wanted to have a try of the lure, and of course I let him have a few sympathy casts seeing as he hadn't got a cod on surface yet.  I don't think any of us could believe our eyes at what happened next!  In my opinion it just didn't seem possible but Dad flicked back out into the open water very close to where the water had just exploded and the lure was absolutely devoured with a gun shot like "BANG".  This fish was no baby and Dad was so happy to land his PB 63cm cod!  The poor pompadour was now 1 hook down and had war wounds all over it 

After calling it a day while we were still on a high I said "hey I think I should just have 1 cast under the bridge before we get into the car".  First cast into some very skinny water and the car gets a nice little wash as a 54cm cod smacked my lure off the surface!  Anyone think this sort of looks a little trout cod like even though it's clearly a murray?

Day 4:  

Got up at 4:30am and was down to the river in no time for a fun little solo trip.  No one else wanted to come as they were exhausted from the previous few days.  I didn't even feel a slight bit of tiredness with murray cod on my mind!  First hit of the day and no hook up so I kept fishing hoping for a few more fish.  Remember how I said that we saw a few nice holes past the redfin spot?  Well they were just loaded with surface munching cod!  First cast and I hooked up to a great looking fish!  A quick selfie and back she goes.

I then moved a few metres down the hole and started fishing a different snag.  4 solid hits later and I have another surface cod in my hands.  

I then moved a few metres further down and another nice surface cod is in my hands!  This shows how aggressive they are.  Not even hooked in the mouth.  

Moved down again and another fish.  This one came from the boulder just under the surface to the left of the big one in the picture.  

And below is sadly the last fish of the trip.  I had to be back by 8:00 so I sprinted back happy with 5 solid surface fish and about 5-10 other hits!

Here is a shot from where one of the cod came from.

 

Hope everyone enjoyed reading the report.  I decided to make it lengthy seeing as AFO doesn't get a huge amount of cod trips popping up .  Hopefully heading back down in the next few weeks with Wayne if all works out.

James

[Binder]

Wow they were certainly on the chew!

You all did very well!

[Dinodadog]

Great read and some lure munching cod amongst that lot, I'll just have to get down that way.

 

Dino

[bersim]

Thanks guys!  It sure is a lot of fun @Dinodadog.  If you like the odd mary as by-catch then this would be heaven for you! 

[ellicat]

Woah ! What a trip !

Thinking of heading down that way myself soon. Might see you and Wayne on the road.

No idea on the 'trout cod' question. Never seen a trout cod and haven't read about or seen pictures for over 10 years.

10/10 for the report. It really has me enthused.

[kmcrosby78]

SUPER report and some fantastic cod there James, well done. Some nice looking lures there, I particularly like the pattern on the Stumpjumper Beth caught her cod on.  Did you lose many?

[bersim]

Thanks @ellicat glad to hear that it's got you pumped up!  Send me a PM if you want any more info about our trip in preparation for yours .

Yeah the frog like pattern on the stumpy looks great doesn't it @kmcrosby78!  With good knots, quality gear and swimming into the water to get the lures we didn't lose any throughout the entire trip.  Certainly makes the trip cost a lot less especially when the lures being thrown are up around the $25-35 mark!

James

[John]

Great report!!

[Angus]

Very very cool man. Oh dear... Another trip added to to the bucket list hahaha.

 

Angus

[samsteele115]

Wow, what a report!!! Loved every bit of that one. Great stuff James, yes i also would love to do this one day.

[bersim]

Hahaha well I've lined up another trip this weekend so that's saying something about how much fun these fish are to catch! @Angus

The surface hits are just insane!  Video to come...

James

[bersim]

5 minutes ago, samsteele115 said:

Wow, what a report!!! Loved every bit of that one. Great stuff James, yes i also would love to do this one day.

Thank Sam, I reckon it would be something you would really enjoy.  Can't wait to show you the surface hits!

[Luvit]

Gets the juices running James. Great photos and will be dreaming about cod all this week now.

Dust off the gear and get ready.

If next weekend is as good as your one, I'll be very happy.

[bersim]

Haha glad to hear it's got you keen!  I'm really excited.  Hopefully with the bit of rain, the water is now back to normal and the fish are a bit woken up!  

 

[Glenn S]

Great report mate, i really enjoyed reading that and looking at the images and now like everyone else i wanna do a cod trip!

 

Cheers ,Glenn.

[bersim]

Haha wow it seems like I've caused some serious problems for everyone!  Good to hear 

[basshunter1987]

This is fantastic man, really good stuff. My sister bought me a Pompadour for Christmas, most expensive lure I've ever owned! So now I need to work out how to use it.....haha!

[bersim]

Thanks @basshunter1987.  They are an awesome lure with a great action.  Just throw it out to the structure - could be an underwater boulder, logs etc and a slow constant retrieve.  I think the constant retrieve really gets the reaction bite and it definitely makes you change your pants after the session .  It's got such a great paddling action and causes heaps of commotion in an otherwise quiet hole.