A continuous trail of river bound traffic rolled through town in the lead up to the Easter holiday break. Despite the hype and hysteria surrounding the blue green algae, the traditional Easter camp along the Murray River was alive and well.
The opportunity to sip a brew around the glowing embers of a bank side campfire is an Aussie tradition that’s set to the aroma of a slow-cooked camp oven or a char burnt billy of gum smoked tea. With rods at the ready a feed of fresh fish for Good Friday lunch was planned and the stakes were high, even though a packet of fish fingers were carefully stowed in the esky should the fish refuse to cooperate.
I love the Murray at this time of the year and the awesome camping and fishing to be had there. The smiling faces of children eagerly gathering bait from the numerous shrimp traps set in front of camp is a prize in itself, let alone the catch at the end of the day. A container of worms or a finger thick grub will do the job, as will a bucket full of pincher armed yabbies. All manner of these are carefully rigged and cast from boat or bank, and the waiting game begins.
In the lead up to the Easter break the fishing was good in most areas. Swan Hill had good numbers of cod on both bait and lures near the Floodway.
Local tackle proprietor Jim Credlin said the fishing has been excellent, and with the river on the rise he expects good catches of perch on bait. Credlin also said the Wakool River at Kyalite has fished well for both perch and Murray cod. Credlin went on to say Boundary Bend has fished well for several weeks now with Murray cod to 90cm landed on trolled lures. Black and yellow StumpJumpers have been the lure of choice, with Old Mates and Codzillas not far behind. Cheese still continues to tempt a few fish and is not bad on a biscuit either should the angling be a little slow.
The Murray River at Wemen has seen good numbers of cod to 80cm caught on lures. Some solid perch have also been caught in this area on bait fished tight to the timber.
Several big cod have been caught in the pool water both above and below Mildura this past month on trolled lures. Perch have been having a crack as well, especially on smaller lures and bobbed baits of shrimp and small yabbies. As the water temperature continues to cool, we enter what I consider to be the start of the big cod season. Crisp mornings and cool nights make for excellent camping, so from an angling perspective what better time of the year to be out chasing a monster cod along the Murray River.
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