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Really LOW water...and still dropping


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I've been out on the Murrumbidgee quite a few times in the past 10 days, mainly land based and once in the boat. The river is lower than it has been for years, with very little flow happening. Lack of good water flow tends to shut the fish down for bait fishing but usually improves it for casting lures around. Less water and more exposed snags making casting spinner baits and lures better. HOWEVER, the low water has consequences...it's harder to get around the river without running aground. So results wise I've caught more than a dozen small Cod using bait and a few on surface lures.

I've been exploring new areas of the river for land based fishing spots, heading down dirt tracks and fire trails and chucking a bait in at likely spots. I replaced the rod and reel which was dragged into the drink a few weeks back and christened it with a nice fat Cod (53cms) taken on cheese.

The boat trip was an early morning visit and a slow cruise up stream tossing surface lures around the stumps, until the sun started to eat away the shadows. Then I switched over to spinner baits but came up empty on that particular front. Got a few 60cm+ specimens using TAYLOR MADE surface lures...great fun seeing the lure smashed on the surface in semi light conditions.

So if I were to sum up in terms of when I was working, it's more work for less pay. Must be why I don't miss working. LOLpost-20708-0-38028300-1458960982_thumb.jpgpost-20708-0-79824100-1458960905_thumb.jpgpost-20708-0-43906700-1458960579_thumb.jpgpost-20708-0-42060500-1458960617_thumb.jpgpost-20708-0-72127600-1458960652_thumb.jpgpost-20708-0-38271500-1458960694_thumb.jpgpost-20708-0-39120100-1458960729_thumb.jpgpost-20708-0-73171600-1458960771_thumb.jpgpost-20708-0-14578800-1458960822_thumb.jpg

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"So if I were to sum up in terms of when I was working, it's more work for less pay. Must be why I don't miss working. LOL"

Yeah sure Neil. LOL. Another great report. The water level must rise soon. It is almost time to water sub country. Good to see that there are a lot of small cod in the system.

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"So if I were to sum up in terms of when I was working, it's more work for less pay. Must be why I don't miss working. LOL"

Yeah sure Neil. LOL. Another great report. The water level must rise soon. It is almost time to water sub country. Good to see that there are a lot of small cod in the system.

There's a lot of BIG Cod in the system John. Just a matter of getting at them when they're hungry. I'll keep trying as long as I'm able. VERY frustrating when the water depth prevents launching the boat/fishing to a small area, which everybody ends up using. A kayak would be ideal if I wasn't partly disabled. SUCH IS LIFE...

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Keep it up Neil us city slickers need hope when we come your way

G'day Swordie, I'm hoping there'll be another 30 -50 cms for the Winter when it's the best time for the big ones. Gunna need a lot of rain up in the dams though.

Whatever it ends up being, I'll be out there trying to get among them with the lures and spinner baits...all being well.

If it drops much more I may need to head to the coast for my fishing fix. LOL

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Mate I was on the Mitta Mitta a week ago and she's low they are dropping next to nothing out of Dartmouth. Apparently the same in the Tumut nothing out of Blowering! Made for excellent trout fishing though on the fly and reports of good cod from the Hume weir up to Tallandoon on the Mitta. Great catches mate good to see good cod numbers in the bidgee. Love the reports

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Wow you always seem to get good results. What region of the Murrumbidgee do you frequent? Tried around Darlington pt a few times but only manage some carp. Do you fish for Cray's at all?

G'day. I usually roam the Bidgee between Narrandera and Darlington Point, although the point is a seldomly used option because of the lower than (anywhere else) water levels. I do get a lot of Yellowbelly below Gogelderie Weir using shrimps and worms (on the hook together). There's a total ban on Murray Crayfish in the Bidgee for the past few years, due to declining numbers. Cheers.

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luderick -angler, on 27 Mar 2016 - 2:54 PM, said:

Mate I was on the Mitta Mitta a week ago and she's low they are dropping next to nothing out of Dartmouth. Apparently the same in the Tumut nothing out of Blowering! Made for excellent trout fishing though on the fly and reports of good cod from the Hume weir up to Tallandoon on the Mitta. Great catches mate good to see good cod numbers in the bidgee. Love the reports

Pretty low everywhere although I was in Wagga today and the river had a nice flow happening. With a bit of luck most of it will make its way down below Berembed and Yanco Weirs. Fingers crossed.

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swordfisherman, on 26 Mar 2016 - 11:00 PM, said:

I reckon me and the bride might head down there for some big fish if she likes :whistling:

Keep me posted if you do head this way and I'll try to catch up. Will be away all of April, sailing the seven seas with the Mrs.

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Wow you always seem to get good results. What region of the Murrumbidgee do you frequent? Tried around Darlington pt a few times but only manage some carp. Do you fish for Cray's at all?

G'day. I usually roam the Bidgee between Narrandera and Darlington Point, although the point is a seldomly used option because of the lower than (anywhere else) water levels. I do get a lot of Yellowbelly below Gogelderie Weir using shrimps and worms (on the hook together). There's a total ban on Murray Crayfish in the Bidgee for the past few years, due to declining numbers. Cheers.

Ok cool. I didn't know that about the Cray's. I just remember an old fella at the caravan park had some traps once and I was talking to him about them. Although this was a few years ago now.

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post-20708-0-99022900-1459195641_thumb.jpgpost-20708-0-66475200-1459195720_thumb.jpgpost-20708-0-63015200-1459195752_thumb.jpgpost-20708-0-83796700-1459195785_thumb.jpgpost-20708-0-48923200-1459195822_thumb.jpgpost-20708-0-52591600-1459195855_thumb.jpgpost-20708-0-30789000-1459195885_thumb.jpgpost-20708-0-48614100-1459195924_thumb.jpgpost-20708-0-53857700-1459195965_thumb.jpgpost-20708-0-72550500-1459195996_thumb.jpgpost-20708-0-11480800-1459196031_thumb.jpgHad another trip out early Monday morning and fished for 6 hours. Started off with surface lures, trolled a shallow diving Cod lure and finished up casting spinner baits into (what looked like) some very promising structure. The fish, which would have been there, didn't want to play. Ended up with nothing for the day, except for some nice photos of the (even lower) river environment...oh and this cheeky cockatoo which was eying me up when I got a bit close to his favourite drinking spot. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

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What colour spinner baits are you using Neil ?

Depends on the conditions I find when I get there, water flow, light, etc. I actually have lots of spinnerbaits and buzzbaits which I managed to buy as a bulk lot. So I vary the type, colour, weight depending on what I think will work. I like black with colours...red ,purple, green. I firmly believe that the biggest factor with Cod is a) whether they're biting B) casting where they are and c) whether they're lure shy (which happens when places are getting hammered TOO regularly.

Had a lucky event when I last went out. A boat pulled in at the ramp when I was loading mine on the trailer. We got talking and the guy (Jeff) is from Wagga. Turns out that he makes spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, etc under the name Assassin spinnerbaits. I had a look at them and they are really good quality and about half the price of the usual stores. Postage is very reasonable, too. He gave me his details. If you want the details let me know. These are very good quality product. He does really big doubles for half price too. Why the question and what is your slant on the colours issue? I'll look forward to your response. Cheers.

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Photo 4 shows very low water, almost puddles. It would not want to be much lower or it would not be flowing at all. There must be very little irrigation happening. Pity about the fish being shut down.

Hi John, true and there's no irrigation happening at present. I've never seen the water so low. Biggest problem that it creates for me is limiting access to much of the river. There may be 20 kms of river between boat ramps but if I can only travel 1km before running aground (and everyone else too)...it upsets the equation. Just have to keep trying. Won't catch many sitting at home. Cheers.

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Neil I know of that guy who makes the lures and I was going to say all the colours I have tried the purple head with red eyes and purple skirt with stinger hook and drop bear squidgee in 100 ml on the stinger and double colarado blades in size 5 work by far the best and the bigger colarado blades let you wind very very slowly

Thanks for your input Stewy. I've had a few Cod on purple lures with either single or double Colorado blades. Funny how some anglers swear by a particular lure and others take a more "open mind" approach to the same situation. I know Cod anglers from both persuasions. I haven't been using lures and spinnerbaits long enough to be totally convinced, either way. I REALLY enjoy the process...feeling a Cod latch on to a lure, spinnerbait or surface lure is a great experience. Especially when you have put in the perfect cast and get smashed straight away. Interesting that the squidgee is on the stinger hook. That would leave quite a long tail on the spinnerbait. Cheers.

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I'm with you Stewy. That's the usual way for sps to fit with a stinger hook. I envisaged the sp just being attached to the stinger which would set it back another 3-4 cms. You just never know what's going to work do you? When you think about spinnerbaits, they're an amazing creation. They look nothing like a fish but obviously the fish is responding to movement, vibration and proximity. They certainly work, that's for sure. I've just started using surface lures in the past few months and am looking forward to the Winter months to target some big cod. Just hoping for some more water in the river to make getting around a little easier. Time will tell.

One of the great things about fishing is the unpredictability. Just when you think you have the solution, something happens to change your mind. What works one day is crap on another day. Ultimately it's the fish that determine whether we'll have an ordinary day or an extraordinary day. When they're on it becomes monotonously easy to catch them...when they're not, it's very frustrating. That's what makes it so exciting...the challenge presented by "just one more cast".

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