The thought that dominates the mindset of many anglers is that the deeper the water, the better, and the closer the lure gets towards the bottom, the better. However, we face the question – is deep too deep for lures? Are deep holes actually worth fishing?

This is a situation that occurs in both fresh and salt water, and in many cases deep holes produce, but sometimes it pays to change things up when it comes to cod fishing. Especially during the winter months fishing around the Mildura area – changing things up could be the best thing you’ll do! The water temperature will drop significantly leading into the winter months, and the smaller fish species will begin to die off due to that drop in water temperature, whereas the larger cod will be on the hunt to find food that will soon be scarce.

Working for ‘Go Outdoors Mildura’ for over three years has given me the opportunity to listen and learn from those out there fishing everyday. Every day I use to listen to anglers’ stories and successes with different techniques and strategies on how to catch fish is a day well spent. I use my days off to experiment and play around with what people have been doing to test out their theories. Testing different depth divers in different depths of river, different lures for different trolling runs, and different coloured lures at different times of year can pay off.

Looking up to great local anglers such as John Menhenett from a young age was a great way to break into the industry. John Menhenett is a teacher, and a very successful angler that I listened to growing up while trying my luck at catching a 1m+ Murray cod. Every spare chance I used to get at school I’d be in his office talking about fishing and how he had achieved the monsters he had.

Recently, he bought up using standard diving lures compared to deep divers. With the winter months coming up, the standard divers will be the go-to lure. The Koolabung Codzilla 6m+, and the JD Python 140mm standard diver will be two of the go-to lures while chasing the big boys around this winter. The hard part will be pushing through the chilly morning and numb fingers this winter but to those that do will be the ones ripping into awesome cod.

The standard-to-deep diving concept is definitely worth trying over the winter. It is an important concept that is worth keeping in mind when chasing your next monster Murray cod – you don’t always have to be deep to get that fish of a lifetime.