The fish of a life time slipped passed his lips as shaking hands and excited chatter filtered from the small group of anglers gathered round the monster cod. Lying helpless on the bank it had to be at least 90lb plus. Once again, the excited angler in disbelief at his luck repeated the words, ‘fish of a lifetime’. A short time later, the fish was bludgeoned, and then paraded around before being dissected for the table. Fish of a lifetime, never a truer word spoken, as no one else will ever have the opportunity to tangle with this mighty fish again!

Caught under the Walkool bridge on a grub this fish is now gone forever and the one thing you can be sure of, it won’t be replaced in your or my lifetime.

The law and a fishing license is all that’s required to pass judgment. The law is an ass and the piece of paper that condones the act, reinforces that the most intelligent of life on this earth is also the most destructive. We as humans seem hell bent on stuffing every thing we come in contact with.

The trend of tight lines and bent rods has altered little over the past month, with plenty of fish being caught. While most of the action has taken place on bait due to high and dirty water conditions, a few reports have started to filter in by those using lures. With most rivers dropping, the momentum of lure caught fish should begin to escalate over the coming weeks.

One river that has fished well over the past month has been the Murrumbidgee. It’s one of the few rivers where water clarity has remained clear, providing some great entertainment for those casting spinnerbaits or trolling lures. For a small body of water, it holds some lunking great cod, just ask Dave Hodge about the one that gave him a whooping on a Bassmann Spinnerbait a while back (big unstoppable fish!). The amount of power it unleashed left us both wondering how you stop a fish like that on conventional tackle.

With a bit of luck I will let you know before the season ends.

Over the coming weeks with water levels down along the Murray, most sections will begin to clear. From Swan Hill to Mildura the lure brigade will be out in force and the reports of big cod will begin to filter in. With some of the best big cod water left on the Murray River, it’s a stretch of water well worth a visit.

With three big cod up around the 100lb mark caught already this season you couldn’t ask for a better start. Let’s hope the fishing continues in this vein over the coming months. You never know, number four may be waiting for you. One can only hope.