#murray cod

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the murray cod ^

Fish stockings have caused huge problems in the USA: could the same happen here?

Fish stocking is often hugely popular amongst recreational anglers. It seems obvious, if there aren’t enough fish, put more fish in. Problem solved. However, the reality is much more complex. Stockings can be great and can support and grow important recreational fisheries in the right circumstances. However, there are numerous examples where stocking programs have caused problems for wild fish…

STALKING GREENFISH – The Swimbait v Soft Plastic Impoundment Challenge!

By Simon Cardone

My personal cod quest began in in the year 2000 and has since taken me all over Australia fishing fast flowing gin clear waters right through to giant murky slow-moving rivers and everything in between.

Like most cod fishos that I know, the search for new locations and different methods to catch greenfish is constant, so with some of the reservoirs managed by SA Water finally being opened to the public of South Australia for recreational activities I immediately purchased a fishing permit and got out exploring.

Happy Valley

The closest reservoir just minutes from my home is Happy Valley, located about 25 minutes’ drive South from the Adelaide CBD. Prior to Happy Valley being opened for fishing in December 2021, it was decided to stock the reservoir with 1000 mature murray cod ranging from 2 to 9kgs in weight so that visiting anglers could have something to target apart from the noxious redfin perch and carp that already inhabited the impoundment.

This proved to be a great move, as the cod immediately started feeding and spread out quickly to all parts of the reservoir. The fish were attacking all manner of artificial lures and almost everybody who had a crack in the early days ticked a murray cod off their bucket list. This feeding frenzy didn’t last however as the cod started to see more lures, they become more selective when it came to what to eat.

Changing Tactics

Due to the Happy Valley cod being smaller sized fish in the 50-80cm range, I initially opted to target them with golden perch tackle, casting 50 – 70cm crankbaits. This worked a treat for the first few weeks, but then the crankbait bite shut down, partly because the bait fishos had moved in and the cod were now feasting on an almost daily diet of chicken and cheese!

This required a rethink on my part, so I decided to walk the banks and fish in places where other people weren’t. Sticking with a seven foot 3-6kg rod matched to a 2500 sized reel spooled with 15lb braid, I tied on a 20lb fluorocarbon leader and grabbed a couple of packets of four and five inch Bite Science paddle tailed plastics. Selecting the appropriate jig heads required a little bit of trial and error, but I have now opted for a ten gram standard 4/0 jig head for the five inch plastic when fishing deeper water, and a 3.5 gram 1/0 weedless jig head for the four inch plastic when fishing shallow water.

After a few fishless sessions with the crankbaits under the belt, I was quietly optimistic that the switch to a more life-like presentation might get me back on the winners list. My hunch proved to be correct, with a brace of hungry cod in my first two sessions exploring new water. A simple slow roll is the preferred retrieve method after allowing the plastic to hit the bottom initially.

Enter the Swimbait

Observation of the immediate environment will always be a key to fishing success, whether on the day or in the future. While the soft plastics were still nailing cod after a few months of fishing, I had noticed a pattern where most of the hits and hook-ups were occurring in a metre or less of water over either rocky bottom or on flats with reeds and weed beds.

For my next outing I decided to leave the plastics at home and cast swimbaits exclusively. I tied on a 190mm Shimano Arma Joint to my 40lb fluorocarbon leader on my swimbait setup and it has stayed there ever since! Again, success was immediate, if not stunning! The short hour-long session yielded five fish from six hook-ups, including three in as many casts. My son also got his first cod off the top on a surface paddler during our brief mission. Again, a simple slow roll is the best retrieve for this lure type – the action is so lifelike.

Of course, I had to try and replicate the results the following week, and yes, the swimbait delivered – it was no fluke. I encouraged a mate who had been struggling to get a fish for a while to give the swimbait a crack and his first session out managed to land seven cod from ten hook-ups – champagne fishing in anyone’s book!

The Verdict

So which lure is best? There was only one way to find out. I spent the last six months of the year fishing with both lure types during all my sessions at the ressie. I have fished at various times of the day in various locations and in all types of weather. And the fish tally is about 50/50 after all this time. Some days both lures have success, on others it’s one or the other, but the numbers don’t lie!

Overall, the soft plastic is the more versatile of the two lures, given you can rig it differently to suit the water depth and surrounding structure. So, on days when the fish are sitting out a little deeper it is a clear winner. As mentioned earlier, the lighter spin outfit used to throw the soft plastic gives the cod a chance to give an honest account of itself as a hard-hitting sportfish – the drag peeling shallow water runs are fantastic!

The most exciting lure in terms of the strike and crunch factor, is the swimbait. Nine out of ten strikes are off the surface – these fish are hell bent on killing the larger prey item and are not messing around. After the initial chaos, generally the fish I have encountered are relatively easy to subdue on the swimbait setup I run. On some days I have had cod follow the lure all the way to my feet, including two cod that hit each other as they both tried to slam the lure!

Go Your Own Way

With both land based and fishing from canoe or kayak being permitted at the reservoirs here in South Australia, fishing with soft plastics and swimbaits are methods that every angler should have up their sleeve for those times when trolling a deep diver or casting a crankbait or spinnerbait isn’t creating any interest from the resident cod – this has been accepted practice by most switched-on cod fishos in the eastern impoundments for some time now.

I highly encourage you to go out and explore your local impoundment either for the first time or with some of the methods I have described – especially with many of the rivers and creeks across the Murray-Darling basin in flood at the time of writing - you might be pleasantly surprised with the results.